Movement Blog

Here at Movement Fountain Valley, we're so psyched to introduce our new gym director team. We'd like you all to meet Tiff, who stepped into the Gym Director Role back in October, and Tara who became our Assistant Gym Director earlier this November. Together, they make up “TnT” — a powerhouse team dedicated to keeping the stoke alive and the community thriving. Tiff and Tara aren’t new faces around here. They’ve each been integral parts of the Movement family for years, bringing their passion for climbing and community to every aspect of what they do.

I’ve been climbing for 8 years and I know I’ve accomplished so much, but every now and then I can’t help but compare myself to other climbers. Sometimes I look around and I get a little discouraged when I see other people, who’ve been climbing for much less time than me, working on climbs that I can’t even touch.

When I think back on one of the proudest moments of my climbing career, I almost immediately remember one of my worst experiences. Both occurred at Indian Creek, Utah.

Above photo: Approaching the crux on Cannibals, 5.12d at Donner Summit. This isn’t going to be another train harder, work out more, get stronger fingers-type article—because, while these articles are important and valuable, they’ve already been written. Instead, this is what I do mentally when I want to climb harder. Let’s face it, we all want to get better. It’s why we love climbing. There’s always a challenge, whether you’re looking to climb your first 5.10 or 5.13. In my 14+ years of climbing, these are my time-tested tips on how to push your climbing level to the next grade.

When I began training more seriously for climbing, I came across Eric Horst’s thoughts on fear of failure and fear of falling in Training for Climbing, and it changed how I saw the impact of climbing on my life. Failure is a good thing in climbing. How you learn from failure determines how you grow as a climber, and falling is a symptom of failure. Lots of women and men talk about being afraid to fall, but I’m betting there are many women like myself who are afraid to fail.