your transparency and honesty about mental game and nerves are super refreshing, as a competitor and a climber you’ve taught me more about this sport and becoming great than nearly anyone else. Keep up the great work.
You are by far the greatest bouldering youtuber out there. Not only the quality of the videos is impressive but obviously you are also one of the strongers out there making indoor videos of yourself. Thx so much for doing this it´s amazing to watch
I hope I speak for all of your regular viewers when I say that we're insanely proud of you and how well you did in Santiago. I know you're your own biggest critic so you're never going to be happy until you're on top of the podium, and I get it, but keep in mind just how amazing it is that you placed #15 among some of the absolute best climbers in the Western Hemisphere. You are a force to be reckoned with and your hard work is clearly paying off, so keep at it and you're going to be top dog in no time!
Thanks for the candor! We all have bad days for whatever reasons. I found the narration of your internal dialogue applicable to many sports and even to an office setting where you have an important meeting and things aren't clicking as quickly as you'd like (tho strictly mental, still applies). You're right, it's not the end of the world. Just a bad day. Keep chalkin and talkin and making vids! I love 'em!
Good attempts Zach! It's great to hear so much honesty coming from you and other comp climbers (Toby Roberts, Erin Mcneice, etc.) about the process and how to maintain an overall positive mentality. Really helped with my injuries + progress towards healing!
hey Zach and Madi, awesome to have met you two this Monday at Rose Bloc, very humble and kind. Last day in Montreal today, Beta Bloc is the last on our list. Thanks for inspiring us to climb hard!
I can tell I've become really invested in your progress as I've never had such sweaty palms watching a climbing video! When your foot slipped on the M2 in Semi's I audibly gasped.. and then you sent it! It's so impressive how well you are able to remember your thinking and feelings after the fact. Do you take any notes? Or is it just etched in your brain? I love hearing about the mental side of things because it really humanizes you. Sucks that your body wasn't in the right place and your mind followed :( But onto the next one! Allez! Much love from a fellow Canadian
Haha that’s awesome glad I could keep you on the edge of your seat 😎🙌 Since I’m so immersed in the event the thoughts & emotions really stick with me so I can usually remember how I was feeling for weeks following! And thanks! Can’t wait to rep Canada some more next year 🇨🇦!
Such a great retrospect on the mental game and all the little decisions you might have done differently! Something that helps me a lot in work or prep or really anything, is regularly asking myself "is what I'm doing right now what me a week from now would be happy with?". Like ok I'm about to not do any climbing for 24 hours before a comp is me a week from now going to wish I had. I've got a job interview in 2 days and I know I feel a little shaky on some answers, is me a week from now going to wish I just ran through some practice real quick and got a more confident mindset. Retrospective looking back on things we do always feels so clear on mistakes we made, so I just try to play the retrospective looking back as I'm still in the moment to change things.
Keep your head up, the mental game is hard. Always great to hear your honest thoughts, but focus on the positives (amazing qualifier round) and take the rest as a growth opportunity! High gravity days are real :)
First of all, thank you for your wonderful content!!! Second, correct me if i'm wrong, but the main benefit of thinking in how others are doing would be if the extra pressure helped you improve your focus and performance. It might happen in rare cases, but most of the time a simple "let's enjoy the challenge, let's be grateful for being here" approach may work better in stressful situations. :) All the best!
21:21 Here is your smack in the face: if you ever doubt yourself on the wall, remember a random RUclips commenter (me) believes in you you’re the best mf climber in the world 😤
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 just focus up on the next one… it was just a bad feeling day that is all, you know u had that, and I applaud you for reflecting, recording and sharing your experience, either future you, or us, or both will make use of that some day … stay strong brotha 💪🏼💪🏼 . . “you can’t win them all” Janja: watch me 👀
i suggest you to watch "How I Won Climbing Gold In Paris" by Toby Roberts , he also went through the mental part, but managed to push through with his dad. Also nice of you to show us your failed comp journey
I like your two first boulders in semi shaky but you fought well and succeeded. I'm happy to see you compete. I wish you would not focus on bad feelings. Positive thinking can help, my way of helping it in competition is to avoid these by never letting myself reflect on feelings. It's OK to have quick flash of bad thoughts but let it slide and continue on your path. Just know that bad feelings can come at any time but there are good ones too following, that how you're feeling isn't how you will perform, it's often the opposite. picture a sharp shooter, that presses the trigger slowly and is supposed to be kind of surprised when the shot goes, just to avoid any jerk that will affect accuracy, in competition you go out there to perform kind of mindlessly and whether you succeed or not should be a surprise, without any assumption, so you avoid self influencing the performance with thoughts.
@@richardsonsclimbing you're very kind, always answering ! thanks. When I was young (your age) I didn't understand really what sport psychology was about, because I didn't need it, and now being more experienced, I have clues but no use for it. What I was lacking then was discipline and understanding how to build myself progressively, but you don't lack any of those, I feel that only tweaking the mind could make you reach your full potential.
yeah, when i watched the semis, maybe 3 days later on youtube i was very psyched for you to get to the finals. and when you got to the 3rd one (i saw some tops before your attempt) i was ok he will stick to the beta with the undercling, but no, you opted for the dyno to the left, and then i was ok it is difficult that way, maybe he will revert to the previous beta with the undercling, but you used the dyno beta again. so question: how did you feel with that beta in that stressfull moment? at the last boulder i was thinking (again after seeing how some other guys was doing on it) about how did you get to the point before the paddle for the green slopers, like i rewatched it ten times and was there is something with the feet, when generating the paddle jump, don't know maybe they were too low or? never the less:) keep going. now i am trying your kilter boulders. up to v5. trying the v6, but man i have to be more jumpy and decisive.
Yeah on number 3 it felt like using the undercling was really hard so I thought maybe skipping it would be easier. But then the slip method felt similar so I couldn’t decide which was better! I wish I tried the undercling one more time though. On number 4 I think it was a lack of try-hard and focus! It was a good reminder to always keep fighting till the end Nice good luck on the kilter boulders 💪
Where exactly in the video did you see, hear or deduce that Zach is not training his mind? Or - what were you expecting to hear or see in the video that would have given you the indication that he was training his mind? My bad if you were meaning to just make that statement outside the context of this video, and I would absolutely say I agree. But if you're referring to this video I'd be honestly curious to learn from what you mean, since I don't understand.
Sounds like you struggle with consistency. I wonder why you didn't stretch or do mobility on the day-off in between quals and semis. We saw you do very well in the past when you have a strong day. But one of the most challenging things, for any athlete, is how to perform when you need to - without being overly aggressive on yourself (which seems like what happened here, mentally), but focusing on having fun. I imagine if you had thought "well, I'm having a weak day, I'm probably not qualifing for finals - might as well have fun climbing instead of pressuring myself to perform" you might have had a very different result. Just some thoughts, I'm not an athlete myself and would never compete for bouldering besides for fun.
your transparency and honesty about mental game and nerves are super refreshing, as a competitor and a climber you’ve taught me more about this sport and becoming great than nearly anyone else. Keep up the great work.
That’s so awesome to hear 🙏🔥
You are by far the greatest bouldering youtuber out there. Not only the quality of the videos is impressive but obviously you are also one of the strongers out there making indoor videos of yourself. Thx so much for doing this it´s amazing to watch
Thanks that means a lot! 🙏
Ya, Zach and Maddie are pretty awesome! Great content! Amazing climbers!
Yeah, them and TAMY Climbing Channel
I really appreciate that you share your honest feeling during the comp. ❤
I hope I speak for all of your regular viewers when I say that we're insanely proud of you and how well you did in Santiago. I know you're your own biggest critic so you're never going to be happy until you're on top of the podium, and I get it, but keep in mind just how amazing it is that you placed #15 among some of the absolute best climbers in the Western Hemisphere. You are a force to be reckoned with and your hard work is clearly paying off, so keep at it and you're going to be top dog in no time!
Yes I agree it’s always important to look at the bigger picture! It’s not too bad of a climbing career in the grand scheme of things :)
Thanks for the candor! We all have bad days for whatever reasons. I found the narration of your internal dialogue applicable to many sports and even to an office setting where you have an important meeting and things aren't clicking as quickly as you'd like (tho strictly mental, still applies). You're right, it's not the end of the world. Just a bad day. Keep chalkin and talkin and making vids! I love 'em!
🙏
Good attempts Zach! It's great to hear so much honesty coming from you and other comp climbers (Toby Roberts, Erin Mcneice, etc.) about the process and how to maintain an overall positive mentality. Really helped with my injuries + progress towards healing!
Thank you Zach for sharing all your training and comps!! It is truly inspiring and helps me so much as a USA youth climber
Yesss that’s what it’s all about!!
this is my favorite climbing channel.. and it’s not even close!
Just wondering, how long/intense is your first session that you are able to be fresh enough to feel even stronger/better on your second day on?
Congrats for how far you've come!
hey Zach and Madi, awesome to have met you two this Monday at Rose Bloc, very humble and kind. Last day in Montreal today, Beta Bloc is the last on our list. Thanks for inspiring us to climb hard!
Yeah it was nice to meet you!
Aw yeahh you’re gonna be amazing with the setting there 🤩
Thanks for sharing your honest feelings! Cheer up and enjoy the climbing and incoming comps!
Youll be back stronger and better than ever next time! keep up the awesome work man!!!!!
Yeah ! Way to go mate !
so cool how youre being so honest with us. THANKS!
I can tell I've become really invested in your progress as I've never had such sweaty palms watching a climbing video! When your foot slipped on the M2 in Semi's I audibly gasped.. and then you sent it!
It's so impressive how well you are able to remember your thinking and feelings after the fact. Do you take any notes? Or is it just etched in your brain? I love hearing about the mental side of things because it really humanizes you.
Sucks that your body wasn't in the right place and your mind followed :( But onto the next one! Allez!
Much love from a fellow Canadian
Haha that’s awesome glad I could keep you on the edge of your seat 😎🙌
Since I’m so immersed in the event the thoughts & emotions really stick with me so I can usually remember how I was feeling for weeks following!
And thanks! Can’t wait to rep Canada some more next year 🇨🇦!
Such a great retrospect on the mental game and all the little decisions you might have done differently!
Something that helps me a lot in work or prep or really anything, is regularly asking myself "is what I'm doing right now what me a week from now would be happy with?". Like ok I'm about to not do any climbing for 24 hours before a comp is me a week from now going to wish I had. I've got a job interview in 2 days and I know I feel a little shaky on some answers, is me a week from now going to wish I just ran through some practice real quick and got a more confident mindset.
Retrospective looking back on things we do always feels so clear on mistakes we made, so I just try to play the retrospective looking back as I'm still in the moment to change things.
Yeah that sounds cool! If hindsight is 2020 then maybe we ought to use it preemptively 😉
Thanks for the advice and good luck with the interview 💪
Keep your head up, the mental game is hard. Always great to hear your honest thoughts, but focus on the positives (amazing qualifier round) and take the rest as a growth opportunity! High gravity days are real :)
🙏
So insightful dude! You'll get it next time
Always learn from your comments! This was more the mental, rather than the physical, but still insightful
Thanks as always for sharing Zach, your content is always the best, even if you don't make it to first in the comp.
Let’s go Mr.Richardson ❤
In Zach we trust
First of all, thank you for your wonderful content!!! Second, correct me if i'm wrong, but the main benefit of thinking in how others are doing would be if the extra pressure helped you improve your focus and performance. It might happen in rare cases, but most of the time a simple "let's enjoy the challenge, let's be grateful for being here" approach may work better in stressful situations. :) All the best!
Yes that does sound like a good mindset :)
21:21 Here is your smack in the face:
if you ever doubt yourself on the wall, remember a random RUclips commenter (me) believes in you you’re the best mf climber in the world 😤
Ahaha thank you 😭🙏
Unfortunate you didn't make finals, but well done Zach! A big inspiration watching your vids
Wish you all the best for 2025 and I‘m looking forward to watching you growing mister unstoppable:)
Boulder 5 round 1 sick problem solving on the wall I could see the thought process
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 just focus up on the next one… it was just a bad feeling day that is all, you know u had that, and I applaud you for reflecting, recording and sharing your experience, either future you, or us, or both will make use of that some day … stay strong brotha 💪🏼💪🏼
.
.
“you can’t win them all”
Janja: watch me 👀
🙏❤️
It was already over :)
Damn
i suggest you to watch "How I Won Climbing Gold In Paris" by Toby Roberts , he also went through the mental part, but managed to push through with his dad. Also nice of you to show us your failed comp journey
I like your two first boulders in semi shaky but you fought well and succeeded. I'm happy to see you compete. I wish you would not focus on bad feelings. Positive thinking can help, my way of helping it in competition is to avoid these by never letting myself reflect on feelings. It's OK to have quick flash of bad thoughts but let it slide and continue on your path. Just know that bad feelings can come at any time but there are good ones too following, that how you're feeling isn't how you will perform, it's often the opposite. picture a sharp shooter, that presses the trigger slowly and is supposed to be kind of surprised when the shot goes, just to avoid any jerk that will affect accuracy, in competition you go out there to perform kind of mindlessly and whether you succeed or not should be a surprise, without any assumption, so you avoid self influencing the performance with thoughts.
Yeah this is a good way of thinking 💪
Thanks 🙏
@@richardsonsclimbing you're very kind, always answering ! thanks. When I was young (your age) I didn't understand really what sport psychology was about, because I didn't need it, and now being more experienced, I have clues but no use for it. What I was lacking then was discipline and understanding how to build myself progressively, but you don't lack any of those, I feel that only tweaking the mind could make you reach your full potential.
yeah, when i watched the semis, maybe 3 days later on youtube i was very psyched for you to get to the finals. and when you got to the 3rd one (i saw some tops before your attempt) i was ok he will stick to the beta with the undercling, but no, you opted for the dyno to the left, and then i was ok it is difficult that way, maybe he will revert to the previous beta with the undercling, but you used the dyno beta again. so question: how did you feel with that beta in that stressfull moment?
at the last boulder i was thinking (again after seeing how some other guys was doing on it) about how did you get to the point before the paddle for the green slopers, like i rewatched it ten times and was there is something with the feet, when generating the paddle jump, don't know maybe they were too low or?
never the less:) keep going. now i am trying your kilter boulders. up to v5. trying the v6, but man i have to be more jumpy and decisive.
Yeah on number 3 it felt like using the undercling was really hard so I thought maybe skipping it would be easier. But then the slip method felt similar so I couldn’t decide which was better! I wish I tried the undercling one more time though.
On number 4 I think it was a lack of try-hard and focus! It was a good reminder to always keep fighting till the end
Nice good luck on the kilter boulders 💪
If you're not training your mind then you are failing to do what is necessary to reach your full potential.
Where exactly in the video did you see, hear or deduce that Zach is not training his mind? Or - what were you expecting to hear or see in the video that would have given you the indication that he was training his mind? My bad if you were meaning to just make that statement outside the context of this video, and I would absolutely say I agree. But if you're referring to this video I'd be honestly curious to learn from what you mean, since I don't understand.
Sounds like you struggle with consistency. I wonder why you didn't stretch or do mobility on the day-off in between quals and semis. We saw you do very well in the past when you have a strong day. But one of the most challenging things, for any athlete, is how to perform when you need to - without being overly aggressive on yourself (which seems like what happened here, mentally), but focusing on having fun. I imagine if you had thought "well, I'm having a weak day, I'm probably not qualifing for finals - might as well have fun climbing instead of pressuring myself to perform" you might have had a very different result. Just some thoughts, I'm not an athlete myself and would never compete for bouldering besides for fun.