Table of ContentsPsychological RequirementsPhysiological ProfilingPsychological Skills TrainingPhysiology of Training StressRecoveryClimbing as a sport has many different physiological demands, it relies on the aerobic and anaerobic alactic energy systems in due to its short duration but high intensity of the sport. Due to the strength and conditioning required for climbing and the very short recovery periods between climbs, there is usually insufficient time for adequate aerobic metabolism recovery. It has been shown that the concentration of lactate in the blood is very high during climbing. A high concentration of lactate in the blood leads to decreased handgrip endurance as well as fatigue throughout the climb. Levels have been shown to increase up to 3-10 mmol/L. However, it is important to note that anaerobic recovery also occurs through aerobic metabolism and the athlete may be climbing for many hours and will rely on the oxidative system for muscle contraction and recovery for high intensity activity throughout the climb, Philips, Sassaman, Smoliga, 2012. Isometric contractions are vital in climbing because they help stabilize the body while the climber decides their next move. Long periods of time in static positions can result in an elevated heart rate and increased oxygen delivery, causing activation of the muscle metaboreflex. The long duration of isometric contractions causes muscle fatigue. It is therefore extremely important to include isometric contractions in training programs at different joint angles in resistance training exercises. An example of this would be a seated leg curl held at a 45 degree knee flexion for a set period of time. Full-body power movements are widely used in rock climbing, one example being the "dyno," when a climber jumps from one surface in an attempt to reach another inaccessible hold. This requires great strength and activation of the knee, hip and ankle extensor muscles. Power exercises are essential to improve these movements. Exercises that may be helpful include the hang clean and push press. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Psychological Requirements Different stimuli require a climber to handle and respond to them correctly in order to be successful in a climb or competition. Psychological demands are often performance anxiety and fear of falling. Certain stimuli are considered stressful, causing distress or anxiety, leading to negative effects in some, while in others they are considered positive and improve function. Negative effects resulting from stimuli can cause a discrepancy between demands and athletes' ability to meet them. An example of negative effects is the fear of falling which is a non-associative phobia and can develop without any trauma. Alternatively, positive affect may increase the ability to respond to the demands of stimuli by exerting more effort and improving. According to Niewunhuys, Pijpers, Oudejans & Bakker (2008), in their research, a climber's cognitive ability is essential to success and is integrated into the ability to plan a technical route and plan a strategy that maximizes movement efficiency . This is all based on the athletes' climbing style, abilities and body type. There may bemultiple ways to complete a route, or maybe just one, and climbing experience plays a major role in this. Becoming familiar with a climbing route is associated with decreased anxiety as well as climbers showing confidence in their abilities to complete more difficult climbs. Physiological profilingIn elite bouldering competitions it has been recorded that winners have certain anthropometric characteristics showing that this could be an important factor in winning, which is not unusual in other sports. For this reason, the athlete will be tested in different areas, one of them being an anthropometric and strength characteristic test to find out weight, height, muscle mass (kg), muscle mass index, grip strength, specific strength and body fat percentage. This test will be used to see where the athlete is physically at to then determine if they need to change their training and diet before competitions, also determining where they need to work on their strength and grip. According to Michailov, Mladenov, and Schöffl (2009), in their research "Anthropometric and strength characteristics of world-class boulders", they examined the anthropometric and strength characteristics of 7 world-class female boulder climbers around the same age as the 21-year-old athlete. Mean BMI, muscle mass and body fat were 20.4, 16.6 and 41.6 and grip strength (kg) and specific strength (kg) were 28 and 21.6, allowing for better understand how to train to achieve this goal for competitions. There will also be an anaerobic threshold test, both ventilatory and lactate, this is important in bouldering competitions as the athlete does not have much recovery time and must remain in isometric contractions for some time to plan the next movement, so it is vital to train to achieve a faster muscle recovery time and also to improve their VO2max. To measure the ventilatory threshold, the athlete will have to breathe into a machine during high intensity training and will also perform isometric exercises and then take a quick finger blood test to measure the accumulation of lactate in the blood. The appropriate psychological profiling for this athlete would be the "performance profile", Butler and Hardy, 1992, based on the personal construct theory of Kelly, 1995, where the athlete's strengths and weaknesses are identified and written down to give the athlete and coach a better understanding of overall performance and progress. Performance is broken down into psychological, physical, social, technical and tactical aspects, this allows the athlete to put themselves at the level they think they are thanks to a scale system from 1 to 10 as well as in collaboration with the coach, setting a level. from 1 to 10 on which will serve as a basis for establishing a goal. Performance profiling is vital for improvement and progression, it will identify and give appropriate intervention. The different aspects could be that the athlete places himself on a low scale in terms of footwork or confidence. The emphasis will therefore be on these characteristics while less time will be spent on elements like speed, endurance and awareness that the athlete could exceed. Psychological Skills Training Before competitions an athlete should mentally prepare, using the “performance profile” of Butler and Hardy (1992) he can see what needs the most attention. When confidence is low, the athlete may use a method called self-talk, Hardy, (2006). This is a declaration..