How to optimize your brainpower for climbing training
Most climbers training to improve are busy people. Outside of climbing, we’re balancing jobs, relationships, eating well, sleeping well, and occasionally squeezing in time for what is probably an overdue load of laundry. Climbers who train are used to consistently and intentionally making time for gym sessions amidst everything else going on. Especially when our days feel full, it’s important to consider how physiological factors affect when we choose to train.
Designing your day according to your chronotype can help you get the most out of your training session. A chronotype is an individual's natural inclination toward specific patterns of sleeping and waking. It describes the timing of when a person feels most alert and energetic during a 24-hour period, as well as when they prefer to sleep. Chronotypes are influenced by biological factors such as circadian rhythms, genetics, and age, as well as lifestyle and environmental factors.
The two main chronotypes are “larks,” who are most alert in the mornings, and “owls,” who are most alert in the evenings. These categories are supported by numerous studies investigating our bodies’ unique biological rhythms. Most people can intuitively state their preference for focusing in the morning or the evening, but these preferences are actually rooted in our physiology: various hormones associated with energy and focus are released at different times of day for different people.
Training well requires full focus. If you have the ability to choose when to train, consider how your chronotype can support your goals. Personally, I know I focus best in the mornings. Whenever possible, I give those hours to my training sessions. When I’m training, I want to give myself every advantage to do my best and make my session count.
Researchers at the Sleep Research Center at Loughborough University in the UK developed an evidence-based questionnaire to help you determine your chronotype (Magness 2017). The full questionnaire is linked in the sources below, but this short summary can get you started:
If you were entirely free to set up your evening, with no commitments in the morning, what time would you go to sleep?
You have to do 2 hours of physically hard work. If you were entirely free to plan your day, when would you do this work?
You have to take a 2-hour test, which you know will be mentally exhausting. If you were entirely free to choose, when would you choose to take the test?
Additionally, research shows that mental fatigue can negatively impact training performance. In a study led by Samuele Marcoa, 16 subjects cycled to exhaustion at 80% of their peak power output after 90 min of a demanding cognitive task (mental fatigue) or 90 min of watching emotionally neutral documentaries (control). After the experiment, a mood questionnaire revealed a state of mental fatigue that significantly reduced time to exhaustion compared with the control condition. Mentally fatigued subjects also rated perception of effort during exercise to be significantly higher than as reported by the control group. Lastly, mentally fatigued subjects reached their maximal level of perceived exertion faster and stopped earlier than in the control condition.
In a literature review investigating the effects of mental fatigue on physical performance, Marcoa and others analyzed eleven additional studies. Generally, the finding was a decline in endurance performance (decreased time to exhaustion and self-selected power output/velocity or increased completion time) associated with a higher than normal perceived exertion.
For climbers, this means that not only does the time of day you choose to train matter, but also what you do before training matters. This means it’s harder to give your best effort after a long day at work or a stressful commute.
I know that many people don’t have the luxury of choosing exactly when to train. But, maybe we can make small adjustments to give ourselves a physiological advantage. A ‘lark’ may choose to wake up earlier and get to the gym before even touching their email inbox. An ‘owl’ may intentionally insert a cognitively-recharching activity between their workday and their training session. A nap is an ideal way to reset your available brainpower, but other ways to do so could be slowly savoring a nourishing meal, or taking your dog for an unhurried walk before heading to the gym.
What happens in the gym is influenced by the larger picture of your life outside the gym. Making small changes can help you prioritize your progress and commit to getting the most our of your sessions.
Sources
Horne, J.A., and Östberg, O. "A Self-Assessment Questionnaire to Determine Morningness-Eveningness in Human Circadian Rhythms." International Journal of Chronobiology, vol. 4, no. 2, 1976, pp. 97-110. (Full Questionnaire)
Marcora, Samuele, et al. "Mental Fatigue Impairs Physical Performance in Humans." Journal of Applied Physiology, vol. 106, no. 3, 2009, pp. 857–864.
Stulberg, Brad, and Steve Magness. Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success. Rodale Books, 2017.
Van Cutsem, Jeroen, et al. "The Effects of Mental Fatigue on Physical Performance: A Systematic Review." Sports Medicine, vol. 47, no. 8, 2017, pp. 1569–1588.
