- [Host] How to develop
your love of flying. - One, two, three, woo! - [Host] Nice! - Yeah! - All right. So in previous videos, I've gave you a lot of motivation on why you need to work on your fear of falling and how that
makes you climb better and enjoy the sport overall more. And in this one, I'm going to give you
a step-by-step guide, how to do a fear of fall training. So this type of training is great if you are about to go
on your climbing trip. In fact, me and Hannah, we were preparing for a new trip to Italy, (laughs) - Hell no! Ben! Ben! The car's are coming! What the f-- - And we still had our
ambitious pre-corona plan - So... what's then? - 7C? - 7C. - So you will see how
that went in other videos. But before that, we went
to the gym to warmup Hannah's love of flying. (dramatic music) Okay. Let's begin. So find a wall in the gym, which has the best holds and ideally is slightly overhanging, use all the holes from all
the routes you can reach. It's not about climbing
a route at this point, it's more about falling. And before going into lead falls, let's get really comfortable
on top rope first. So climb a bit and start taking those little falls. If you never did a fall before, don't try to climb all the way to the top for your first fall, because the higher you
go, the scarier it is. - I don't trust it. - My whole body is shaking. (beep) no, no I cannot.
I cannot, I cannot. - So keep going up, taking these small falls until you have absolutely no problem of letting go anymore. At this point, it's time to do a game, which I call touch and fall. So you do a move up, touch something and fall. This exercise is amazing. It trains your brain to
commit to the movement and that it's okay. So next time on the route, you will try the move instead of freezing and being unable to do it. So slap the wall, fall and repeat as many times
as you feel you need until you're absolutely comfortable. At this point, you will be very comfortable at taking straight falls. So it's time to try some swings and don't get surprised that these swings will feel really scary because for most people, it is. So start small and of
course do both sides. And finally, I would say be creative, try different things. Maybe try climbing more overhanging stuff, because some people are afraid to take top rope falls on overhangs, because we are afraid to swing backwards. Or maybe try to ask
your belayer to give you a little bit more slack so you can experience a
little bit bigger fall. And the keyword here is a little bit. You don't want to freak yourself out, do small, progressive steps
in all of this training Okay, time for lead falls. If you think that going
from top rope climbing to lead climbing is a big step, I'm about to show you how to make it a tiny, tiny baby step. So you will be very, very comfortable. So start by climbing several quickdraws, clip above yourself and take a fall. (upbeat music) Easy, right? It looks and feels exactly
like a top rope fall, because it is a top rope fall - you're clipped above yourself. Еxcept that the fall will
feel a little bit harder because you have less rope, but nothing to worry about. So we'll repeat this process on the way up on every single quickdraw. See it even looks boring. You're not falling at all. The only way to run into
trouble at this point is if you choose a route
which is too hard for you. So again, jugs are your friends. Okay. So once this clipping above yourself and falling becomes boring to you, it's time to start playing. Clip above yourself, but go a little bit to the side so that the rope doesn't
go between your legs, but is on the side of you and take a fall. Then try to go to the
side a little bit more. And of course try the other side. Once you are fine with little swings, then do a touch and fall game. And then anything else
that you come up with. So congratulations, you're lead climbing and you're taking lead falls. Great? Great! Let's go to bigger falls. So exactly the same process as before, but instead of clipping above yourself, now you're clipping at your waist level. Although this fall was completely fine, if you're not very experienced, avoid falling on first quickdraws, it's safer and it will
extend the life of your rope. - What? Oh. - So keep climbing up and clipping at your waist level and taking falls. And of course, all of this is a perfect time for your belayer to practice soft dynamic belaying. Yay. Once you are bored at straight falls, it's time to play. (upbeat music) - [Host] So how was the swinging? - Not that much comfortable, but completely okay. It was a very soft catch and it was okay. I'm curious how I feel when
it comes to bigger swings. quickdraw here was okay, but quickdraw here, maybe not okay. - [Host] Okay, let's try. - Yes. No! (laughs)
- Yeah! - All right, same process as before, except this time you're taking falls when your quickdraw is at your knees. And again, don't do these falls very low. As you can see, our first fall
was around fifth quickdraw. If you do it lower, then you won't have
luxury for a soft catch. It's not going to be a
pleasant fall for your climber. It's not good for your mind. And it's not good for your rope. (upbeat music) Since Hannah was taking these falls
without any problems anymore, it was time to find something else. What? Why suddenly she was
afraid to take this fall, which looks very safe? It's quite simple. We get used to familiar situations. So rope goes between our legs. We did this many times. We are fine. But now both legs are on one side, the rope goes somewhere here. It's new. It's unfamiliar. It's scary. So, how was it? - A little scary. Especially from, search for the position you dislike the most and then fall. It was like, why the
hell should I do this? - [Host] (laughs) And how was it? - It was okay. I'm curious how I will act on real rock, because I try to avoid these
positions on real rock. - [Host] Well, we will test, right? - Yes, I think so. Yeah, but the rest is cool. Now I checked, I like pendulum swings. - [Host] You already like it? - Yeah. I like it. It's the most fun actually. - [Host] So from hate
to love in five falls. - Yes. - [Host] Nice! - Yes! - [Host] That's good! Another very, very common fear is to fall while clipping. That's why most people
when they're very tired, they don't even try to clip they grab the quickdraw. To cure this, you can
practice clip dropping. Climb to the quickdraw, take the rope, touch the rope to a quickdraw, but don't clip, instead, take a fall. (upbeat music) And another thing you can try is the game where the belayer says, "fall" and climber has to fall
without any hesitation. And to make this even more interesting, climber is also not allowed to clip without the belayer saying clip, you have to keep climbing until belayer says clip or fall. - [Host] Yes! No! No! So here is another example of how the brain freaks
out in new situations. Although she did much bigger falls before, but now the idea of skipping the quickdraw just a little bit, already freaked her mind out. Outdoors, distances between bolts can be much bigger. So it's a good idea to practice a little bit of flying. Touch the next hold then drop! Yeah. - Fall? - [Host] Yeah. - No! - [Host] Come on. If you just did something which was really scary for you, do it again and see maybe this time it's going to be better. So I was trying hard to challenge you. How was that? - The last one was challenging. It was really challenging. Even when I did it the
second time I was like, breathe out and let go. Nothing will happen. Yeah. But I'm now well-prepared for our trip I think. - [Host] Nice! Sometimes people contact me and ask me to help them
to deal with their fears. So instead of wasting your money, grab a friend and try everything
you've seen in this video and probably you won't even need me. Although if you want to say thank you for me for doing this video, the best way is to click the join button and become a member of my channel. So thank you. And for now I go edit our Italian trip and Hannah's ambitious
plan to climb a seven C and you keep climbing, keep falling. It's going to be better and see you in the next one.
