Why Climbing Psychology?

We believe that by applying the scientific principles of psychology to sport of climbing, we can help climbers, coaches and parents reach their mental potential.

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Our Services

We help you leverage the power of mental strength to be the best athlete, coach or parent you can be. We work individually or in group settings. This can be done in person or online via video call, in German and English.

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Questions?

If you have any questions or you are interested in collaborating, you are always welcome to contact us and leave us a message at any time without obligation.

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Blog
HOW TO BE CONFIDENT IN YOUR BODY
HOW TO BE CONFIDENT IN YOUR BODY

8 tips how become confident about our own body and ourselves.

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GUEST BLOG BY NUTRITIONIST AMANDA WATTS: DOES BMI MATTER IN CLIMBING?
GUEST BLOG BY NUTRITIONIST AMANDA WATTS: DOES BMI MATTER IN CLIMBING?

There’s been some talk of implementing BMI cut-offs for competition climbers, as a way to keep climbers healthy and eating disorder free. Is BMI the right tool for the job are there better red flags to look for?

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WHAT THE ADULTS WORLDS & YOUTH WORLDS HAVE IN COMMON
WHAT THE ADULTS WORLDS & YOUTH WORLDS HAVE IN COMMON

Despite the physical and mental strain these competition cause, one thing both the Adults Worlds and the Youth Worlds have in common: falling and failing.

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THE MENTAL REQUIREMENTS OF EACH DISCIPLINE
THE MENTAL REQUIREMENTS OF EACH DISCIPLINE

Every discipline is exciting and challenging for its own reasons. Not only on a physical level, also on a mental level: every discipline requires different mental strengths and capabilities.

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HOW TO DEVELOP A HEALTHY BODY IMAGE
HOW TO DEVELOP A HEALTHY BODY IMAGE

How can we foster the development of a healthy body image? What’s rather unhelpful? Here are your ideas and suggestions.

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HOW COACHES IMPACT A FEMALE ATHLETE'S BODY IMAGE
HOW COACHES IMPACT A FEMALE ATHLETE'S BODY IMAGE

How does coaches’ communication influence female body image?

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THE TREND OF TEENAGERS IN THE LEAD CLIMBING ELITE
THE TREND OF TEENAGERS IN THE LEAD CLIMBING ELITE

The last lead World Cups have been pretty interesting to watch. Not least since really young, teenage female athletes are fighting their way up to the world elite. Is there a trend in climbing where teens will peak in their teens such as in other leanness-focused like gymnastics? What risks and benefits does this involve?

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THE FEMALE BODY IMAGE IN CLIMBING
THE FEMALE BODY IMAGE IN CLIMBING

As a climber, we are constantly torn between told how to look like by society and how to look in order to be strong and achieving our goals. This constant dissonance between our ideal social body image and ideal athletic body image can cause insecurity, disorientation and in turn, can have effects on our mental health.

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HOW MUSIC CAN REGULATE OUR EMOTIONS, INCL. PLAYLIST
HOW MUSIC CAN REGULATE OUR EMOTIONS, INCL. PLAYLIST

Being able to control our mood can be very helpful – especially in passion and emotion rich sports like climbing. Music can be one useful strategy to handle negative emotions like distress, nervousness, or anxiety.

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WHY EMOTIONS ARE IMPORTANT IN CLIMBING
WHY EMOTIONS ARE IMPORTANT IN CLIMBING

Emotions can influence a result, particularly in highly competitive situations. Emotions arise through our actions and are dependent on previous experiences we have made as well as on how we judge these situations

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Exactly one year ago, the Passchendaele Bouldering Festival, organised by @pinnacle_sports , took place in Stanthorpe, Queensland (Australia). I was running a sport psych workshop about dealing with the fear of falling. Fear of falling is something we naturally have to face in climbing. It's a basic human instinct to be afraid - some are just better at dealing with it and some have more troubles. The good news though is that we can all learn how to better deal with it (if we want). . How do you overcome your fear? . Photo: @dan_godson_photography . --------------------------------------------- #climbingpsychology #climbing #klettern #nature #mountains #bouldern #bouldering #grimper #escalade #escalar #climbing_is_my_passion #climbing_pictures_of_instagram #womensbouldering #bloc #bouldering #climbinglife #rockclimbing #outdoors #neverstopexploring #ipreview via @preview.app
Today is World Mental Health Day. The perfect opportunity to create more awareness for mental health, particularly in sports. Here are some facts about mental health that I thought you should know about: 1) 1 in 5 Australians, Americans and Austrians as well as 1 in 4 Austrian adolescents are currently suffering from a mental health problem – but only very few seek for help. E.g. not even 20% in the case of an eating disorder (in Austria). 2) Mental illnesses have increased by nearly over 40% worldwide in the last 20 years and is continuously growing. 3) Mental health is a key factor in every professional discipline – doesn’t even matter whether it’s in sports, business or school. 4) There are big mental health benefits of physical activity on a recreational level, such as the social interaction and support you get, e.g. going climbing with other people, the improved mood, increased self-confidence and self-esteem because of engaging in challenging physical activities as well as the distraction from day-to-day stressors. 5) Even though there are many benefits of recreational sports on our mental health, there might be difference if we do sports professionally. In our society, athletes are (still) not associated with mental health issues. They are celebrated for their success and achievements – however, they are not immune to mental illnesses. In turn, they might even be at increased risk due to the risk of injury, constant pressure, living away from home, competitive failure and overtraining, which can all together lead to psychological distress. . Because mental illnesses are still taboo or rarely talked about, it is so important to create awareness and have an open conversation about it. Drawing attention to an issue makes more people aware it exists and, in turn, leads to more understanding. The more (professional) athletes talk, the more fans might be inspired to seek help for themselves (remember, 1 in 5 has to struggle with mental health issues... That's a lot!). #climbingpsychology #mentalhealth #climbing
Time flies! A bit over a month ago, I joined the training camp of the @kletterverbandvorarlberg in Frankenjura. We had great weather, great weather conditions and played lots of "Werewolf" in our free time. Obviously, we also listened to a lot of music whenever we were driving to the crag. So at the end of the training camp, we decided to make a playlist with all the motivating songs we listened to! The playlist is now open available on Spotify. Have fun listening! ✌🏽🎢🎧 . Thanks to everyone for your song suggestions! πŸ₯° #climbingpsychologymusic . --------------------------------------------- #climbingpsychology #climbing #klettern #nature #mountains #bouldern #bouldering #grimper #escalade #escalar #climbing_is_my_passion #climbing_pictures_of_instagram #womensbouldering #bloc #bouldering #climbinglife #rockclimbing #outdoors #neverstopexploring
As promised, there is a new blog post up: how to be more confident with your body - with a few easy little exercises that take no time. To develop a healthy body image, we have to be confident in our body first. . Let me know what you think - maybe you have ideas and strategies yourself that make you feel more proud of your body and yourself? . πŸ“· @dan_godson_photography . --------------------------------------------- #climbingpsychology #climbing #klettern #nature #mountains #bouldern #bouldering #grimper #escalade #escalar #climbing_is_my_passion #climbing_pictures_of_instagram #womensbouldering #bloc #bouldering #climbinglife #rockclimbing #outdoors #neverstopexploring
The other day I received another message by an athlete, telling me that she often gets comments like "your shoulders are bigger than mine", "you are probably stronger than me" or "How much do you train? Shall we do arm wrestling?" Pretty charming, isn't it? πŸ€¦πŸ»β€β™€οΈ Well tbh, it's quite annoying. . The best solution for "problems like this" would obviously be if people stop comparing, judging and making inappropriate comments, of course. But we have to be honest, we are most likely not going to change this. We can create awareness and share our stories – which I think is absolutely important in this matter. . But even more important it is, to develop a healthy and most importantly confident body image ourselves – so we are NOT bothered by it, get annoyed or upset. Option A is changing others – that's pretty hard, plan B: changing our perspective and how we deal with it. . Here are some tips how to develop a healthy and confident body image – and not care about what others say (the list will be continued – probably in a blog post): 1) Write a list with all the things your body can do. 2) Write a list with ten things you like about yourself. Keep it somewhere where you can read it, whenever you need a little reminder. Remember: you don't need to like EVERYTHING about you. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses – and that's ok. But be aware of your strengths, be proud of what you like about yourself. Both in climbing, in your private and your professional life! 3) "You are the average of the 5 people you spend most of your time with". Surround yourself with positive people. It is easier to feel good about yourself and your body when you are around others who are supportive and who recognise the importance of liking yourself just as you naturally are. . Have a nice weekend! The next steps will follow in another post. πŸ˜‰ . --------------------------------------------- #climbingpsychology #climbing #klettern #nature #mountains #bouldern #bouldering #grimper #escalade #escalar #climbing_is_my_passion #climbing_pictures_of_instagram #womensbouldering #bloc #bouldering #climbinglife #rockclimbing #outdoors #neverstopexploring
Hello πŸ‘‹πŸΌ to everyone who is new here! I'm Madeleine (founder of @climbingpsychology) and I'm a sport psychologist and systemic coach from Austria specialised in the psychology of climbing. I've been climbing myself for more than 20 years and have been really passionate about it since day 1. I live and work relatively close to Magic Wood, so if I'm not working - you have a good chance of finding me there. πŸ˜‰ . Nowadays, I mostly go bouldering and I tend to get pretty ichy whenever I can't climb for a long time. πŸ€·πŸ»β€β™€οΈ Besides that I'm really looking forward to the ski touring season in winter, I love baking, I'm good at killing my "useful" plants (like herbs or tomatoes) and have a weakness for Schaumrollen & cinnamon rolls. . If you want to know anything else, have any other questions or want to say hi, let me know in the comments! 😊 . --------------------------------------------- #climbingpsychology #climbing #klettern #nature #mountains #bouldern #bouldering #grimper #escalade #escalar #climbing_is_my_passion #climbing_pictures_of_instagram #womensbouldering #bloc #bouldering #climbinglife #rockclimbing #outdoors #neverstopexploring #ipreview via @preview.app
I believe one of the most important things in life is to know what you can and what you can't do, what your field of expertise is and what's not, where you have to ask for help and what you can do yourself. . For this same reason, I love working interdisciplinarily: I might be an expert in psychology but tbh I have no clue about nutrition (except for knowing that too much chocolate might not be that healthy for me 😜). . When I started the discussions about healthy body image in climbing, I was focusing very much on the psychology of it. However, many of you raised questions that weren't in my expertise anymore - such as about girls in comp climbing not having their period anymore, how the BMI can be used as a tool to measure whether someone's healthy or not - or whether that's bullshit, etc. For this reason, I had asked @a.mandawatts - one of the best nutritionists and dietitians I know, plus a super strong climber herself - whether she'd be interested in writing an article about this topic from her perspective. And she said yes! βœ¨πŸ™πŸ» . If you haven't read her blog post yet, make sure you do. You find the link in my bio! If you have any questions for her, send her a message! . Thanks for all your discussions, inputs & shares! You're great - that's exactly how we can increase the discussions about this important topic and create more awareness! πŸ’™ . πŸ“· @a.mandawatts . --------------------------------------------- #climbingpsychology #climbing #klettern #nature #mountains #bouldern #bouldering #grimper #escalade #escalar #climbing_is_my_passion #climbing_pictures_of_instagram #womensbouldering #bloc #bouldering #climbinglife #rockclimbing #outdoors #neverstopexploring
Over the past month, we have had a big discussion about how to develop or have a healthy body image in climbing. To approach this topic interdisciplinarily, I have asked Australian nutritionist @a.mandawatts from @thrive_nutritiondietetics to give us an insight on this topic from a dietitian's perspective: . Is BMI the right tool for the job or are there better red flags to look for? . There is a new blog post up on the homepage. You can find the link in my bio. . @a.mandawatts is a nutritionist and dietitian from the Blue Mountains in Australia. When she's not working, you find her climbing in the Blueys. But most importantly: she's an absolute legend! I am super proud and grateful to have her sharing her wisdom with us on this platform. If you have any questions for her, don't hesitate writing to her directly. 🌟 . --------------------------------------------- #climbingpsychology #climbing #klettern #nature #mountains #bouldern #bouldering #grimper #escalade #escalar #climbing_is_my_passion #climbing_pictures_of_instagram #womensbouldering #bloc #bouldering #climbinglife #rockclimbing #outdoors #neverstopexploring #healthbodyimage #bodyimage #thrivenutritiondietetics #nutrition #bmi