The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training for Climbers [Paperback]

Arno Ilgner (Author), Jeff Achey (Editor), Tracy Martin (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2006

Mental training is scarcely covered in the climbing literature, yet it is as important to performance as strength, flexibility, and technique. In his unique approach to mental training, Arno Ilgner draws essential elements from the rich 'warrior' literature, as well as from sports psychology, and combines these with his extensive climbing experience to create The Rock Warrior`s Way. Here is a comprehensive program for learning how to focus your mental resources during a challenging climb. It includes step-by-step guidance on motivation analysis, information gathering, risk assessment, mental focus, and deliberate transition into action. Poor use of attention creates fear, which can manifest itself as anything from performance anxiety to sheer terror. By using attention more purposefully we can understand how fear is created, deal with it effectively, and free ourselves to get back in touch with a far more powerful motivating force--our love of climbing. We can then create the kind of unbending intention that leads to outstanding performance. The Rock Warrior`s Way is a revolutionary program for climbers who want to improve both their performance and their enjoyment of climbing.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Arno Ilgner distinguished himself as a pioneering rock climber in the 1970s and 80s, when the top climbs were bold and dangerous first ascents. These personal exploits are the foundation for Ilgner s unique physical and mental training program--The Warrior`s Way. In 1995, after a thorough search of the literature and practice of mental training and the great warrior traditions, Ilgner formalized his methods, founded the Desiderata Institute, and began teaching his program full time. Since then, he has helped hundreds of student sharpen their awareness, focus attention, and understand their athletic (and life) challenges within a coherent, learning-based philosophy of intelligent risk-taking. Ilgner considers the joy and satisfaction in the effort the journey intimately linked to successful attainment of goals, the destination. Alumni of his courses now include some of the nation s most prominent climbers. Ilgner has run clinics in the north- and southeastern U.S, to California, Canada, and the U.K. He has worked with young competition climbers and written national magazine articles based on his methods. He holds a BA in geology, spent several years operating his own geological consulting firm in the Wyoming oil fields, acted as Chief Financial Officer for an industrial tool distribution company, attended the Army Ranger School, and served a non-combat tour of duty in Korea. He currently resides with his family near Nashville, Tennessee.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Desiderata Institute; 2nd edition (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974011215
• ISBN-13: 978-0974011219
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #48 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Miscellaneous > Sports Psychology

More About the Author

Arno Ilgner distinguished himself as a pioneering rock climber in the 1970s and '80s, when the top climbs were bold and dangerous first ascents. These personal exploits are the foundation for Ilgner's unique physical and mental training program--The Warrior's Way®. He has helped hundreds of students sharpen their awareness, focus attention, and understand their athletic (and life) challenges within a coherent, learning-based philosophy of intelligent risk-taking. Ilgner considers the joy and satisfaction in the effort - the "journey" - intimately linked to successful attainment of goals, the "destination."

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Seminal Mind Training June 27, 2004

By Jim Okel

Format:Paperback

As a casual acquaintance of Arno's over the years, I was gratified and pleased by how good his book turned out to be. It stands as a high water mark in the human potential genre. Well written and clear, Arno and Achey bring high theory down to earth (or the high cliffs as it were). As most people can imagine the challenge that hard rock climbing is, the lessons in this book could well be applied to help one deal with any challenge. In other words, you don't have to be a climber to get allot out of this book.

Regarding the falling issue mentioned a few reviews back, I have to defend Arno and make it very clear that he does not advocate taking falls willy nilly. What he does advocate is taking responsibility for one's willingness or unwillingness to fall and making that choice based on the best possible information at hand, unfettered by an irrational fear of falling that prooccupies attention and leads to the dreaded 'overgrip'. His fall drills are designed to lesson that kind of fear by making falling a known experience rather than a boogie man that robs one's attention and strength.

Where a climber likes to be on the safety - risk continuum is unavoidably a personal decision. Better to come to that decision with as much skill and information as one can gather. Nevertheless, regardless of how much you know and how strong you are, if you are challenging yourself at the edge of your abilities, you will still have to make your move and shove off into the unknown. That's the beauty of climbing.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars American Alpine News Editor November 7, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Who hasn't, at some point in their climbing career, felt the cold knot of fear in the belly, and an internal dialogue that goes something along the lines of, "I wish I wasn't here; the pro sucks, just get me through this and I won't climb again, or at least for a week." And yet, as Arno Ilgner points out, you chose to go up that route. Once you make the choice, you should contrinue to stay in charge of choices, and this internal dialogue can sap your ability to do the route. Ilgner's "The Rock Warrior's Way" is an excellent primer for mental training for climbing.

Ilgner addresses seven processes of what he calls "the warrior's way" that can lead to better climbing: becoming conscious, life if subtle, accepting responsibility, giving, choices, listening and the journey. Ilgner's main thesis is that the ego seeks glory without effort, and that the ego distracts you from learning from the experiences you undergo. By learning to turn off the ego, and climb for the challenge alone instead of the rewards of being able to say you did a hard route, you become more attuned with your climbing. Once you learn to accept the situation as it is, instead of wishing for it to be easy, you can learn how to deal with it. After all, if all climbs were easy, you might as well just climb a ladder.

Ilgner does seem to have more of a sport climber mentality in at least one area--his acceptance of falling. He even encourages you to practice falling so you can learn to deal with the fear of it. For me, at least, this casualness about falling can have serious consequences. On ice, for instance, falling is a really bad idea; so too in the mountains. Any fall can have serious consequences, and I feel that courting an attitude that you can always anticipate the consequences of a fall belies the nature of physics and chaos theory, so I found it grating.

Other than that one caveat, there is a lot of information in here that could benefit any climber. Ilgner also includes a series of training exercises at the end of the book that can be used to help implement the precepts of the book. "The Rock Warrior's Way" can help every climber improve.
--Candace Horgan, American Alpine News

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripped Magazine - Sonnie Trotter December 29, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Since the day I started climbing I always felt there was a strong mental aspect to our sport. It became obvious to me when I started following Eric Hörst's mental tips and found jumps in my ability. I felt more powerful even though my muscles had not grown any stronger.

After breaking through small barriers, I realized there was another world of mental training, but I had no idea where to turn. There were authors putting out psychological books for other sports, but climbing has always been more complicated. Arno Ilgner has filled this gap with his new book, The Rock Warrior's Way.

Don't let the cover fool you. When I first picked it up, my impression was that this book was dedicated to old school trad methods. This could not have been further from the truth. This book is for all climbers. Some of his themes are self observation and the importance of separating our identity from our experiences and responding to them with patience and intelliegence.

Ilgner finds a way to make order of chaos. He's found a way to express our mental habits that everyone can understand and he's created simple and effective ways to address our problems. Whatever your level of climbing, you will walk away from this book with valuable lessons.
--Sonnie Trotter, Gripped magazine