Becoming proficient (or excellent) at any sport requires focused practice of new skills and tactical weaknesses. Consider common skill practice regimens in other sports--basketball players practice shooting from all over the court; football teams practice key plays over and over, and golfers hit hundreds of balls at the range. All these forms of practice are performed outside of competition and in preparation for peak performance on game day. Yet for most climbers, everyday on the rocks (or in the gym) is "game day" as they focused their efforts on redpointing, on-sighting, or sending high-end boulder problems.

In this section you will learn how to elevate your climbing through regular practice of technique and climbing tactics. You will learn what's involved in acquiring a new climbing skill or move, and how the brain creates software called "schema" to execute the move (in the future) and to make approximate solutions, on the fly, to unknown moves. Applying these skill-training strategies while climbing both indoors and outside will reveal a more efficient, more intuitive style of moving over stone. In the end, you will be climbing harder but with less effort--just like the pros do who, regardless of the sport, always make it peak performance look easy!