Rock climbing puts a lot of stress on our fingers. If a 150 pound climber hangs from eight fingers, each finger carries an average of almost 19 pounds!

The ego can have a significant impact on your climbing. Without even knowing it, it’s existence can be what is holding you back from being the great climber that you are indeed capable of.

Most climbers spend lots of energy trying to find ways to climb better. A survey I did of climbers a couple years ago suggests that the joy of accomplishment fuels 60% of climbers to train and keep climbing.

Don McGrath is the co-author of Vertical Mind who has come up with website Masterrockclimber.com to help climbers train both physically and mentally.