Maximum Climbing: Mental Training For Peak Performance And Optimal Experience (How To Climb Series) - Softcover

"There are volumes of books on how to train your body for climbing, but Maximum Climbing teaches you how to climb better by flexing the most critical muscle-the three pound one between your ears. Using a highly detailed step-by-step process that is clearly presented for beginner to expert climbers, Eric Hoerst instructs on mental training. His book runs that gamut from A to Z, but my favorites include how to manage fear, build confidence, and focus-three areas all of us need to work on by, until now, didn't even know where to begin."-Duane Raleigh, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Rock and Ice "For anyone interested in learning more about how the mind works and how important psychological factors are in determining the quality of our experience and performance, Maximum Climbing is a useful and fascinating read. In this powerful text, Hoerst presents an impressive collection of mental training techniques, practice exercises, and insights for climbers at all levels of ability."-Lynn Hill, first woman to climb 5.14 "Eric Hoerst's Maximum Climbing fills a deep need for a training book that explores the broad array of elements that make a climber, fully integrating the physical, technical, mental, and spiritual. This is a book as much about the soul as grit, as inspiring as it is educational."-Susan E. B. Schwartz, author of Into the Unknown: The Remarkable Life of Hans Kraus "Eric Hoerst's new book Maximum Climbing, provides climbers with a clear path to athletic mastery. As a climber and performance coach, I've sought out every piece of information I could find on improving athletic performance. Use the methods put forth in this book, and you will improve; not just as a climber, but as a human being."-Steve Bechtel, CSCC, Elemental Training Center "Dissolving the illusion of mind/body separation, Eric Hoerst's Maximum Climbing shows the way to achieve what I like to call one's Vertical Path: a completely holistic state of being in which the spirit-the essence of climbing-is woven into the tapestries of our lives."-John Gill, legendary boulderer and master of rock

Eric Hoerst brings unprecedented clarity to the many cognitive and neurophysical aspects of climbing and dovetails this information into a complete program, setting forth three stages of mental training that correspond to beginner, intermediate, and elite levels of experience and commitment-the ideal template to build upon to personalize one's goals through years of climbing to come.