Slacklining has improved my mental game in climbing
I just wanted to share a bit about how consistent slacklining has upped my climbing mental game. About 2 months ago I ruptured my A4 pulley and I picked up a slackline immediately as a hobby replacement. I’ve been slacklining consistently since then, twice a week on average and recently graduated from a 15m 50mm ratchet set up to a 25m 25mm primitive set up.
I started returning to the climbing gym two weeks ago and have slowly been working back up to being able to try hard again. Something I’ve noticed now is that I have a lot less hesitation when making bigger moves on boulders and on the lead wall. My fear of falling has almost dissipated and I suddenly feel a lot more comfortable with feeling unstable on the wall. As a result, I’ve been able to commit much better on the wall and climb better as a result i.e. having to take less pauses to mentally regroup, finishing climbs in lesser attempts since I have better commitment. I realise I am now making moves that I would have dropped earlier on in the past due to mental discomfort. And I know for sure this is not a climbing strength gain as I was out for 6 weeks due to my pulley rupture (although I did do some gymming during that down time). I’m not sure if this has been a physical or mental change from slacklining, maybe a bit of both, but it’s been so good discovering what slacklining has done for my climbing.
I’ve been climbing for 8 years and just wish I had slacklined sooner as it would have really helped my progression as a climber. I love slacklining so much now and still continue to do it alongside climbing. Sometimes I fear that my interest in slacklining might outgrow my interest in climbing.