Setting goals in training for climbing

Goal setting can be an invaluable tool as it enhances and strengthens motivation and self-confidence, focuses attention, encourages individuals to develop strategies for achieving their goals and enhances persistence.

There are two types of goals to identify:

Outcome goals

Such as competition position, wining or losing, comparing yourself to others, on sighting a particular grade.

Process goals

Quality of performance, regardless of outcome i.e. moving well on a particular route even though you may not have made it to the top.

Below are some guidelines to help you set your goals:

1 Goals should be specific
2 Goals should be measurable
3 Goals should be challenging but still realistic and achievable
4 'Difficult' goals lead to a higher level of performance than 'easy' goals
5 Use short term goals in order to achieve long term goals


Process goals are necessary to prevent outcome goals becoming dysfunctional. To be effective you must fully accept your goals. Goals need to be written down and closely monitored through feedback i.e. either by yourself, or by peer assessment or appraisal (or both). You need to be flexible, both in time and choice, in order to take account of any:

• Illness, injury, work commitments, etc.
• Goals obtained earlier or later than planned
• Goal setting exercise

Fill in the following questionnaire to help set your goals. Make a note of the dates to monitor and measure your progress.

Name ................................................................................................................

My ultimate goal in climbing is:

...........................................................................................................................

I believe I am capable of achieving this by (state when)

...........................................................................................................................

In order to reach the standard necessary to achieve my ultimate goal above, I will need to be able to achieve this intermediate goal:

...........................................................................................................................

and this should happen by (date):.....................................................................

As a first step towards achieving this intermediate goal, I will need to achieve the following:

...........................................................................................................................

by ................................................................

Now that my overall targets have been set I need to consider how I am going to get there. I have looked into my strengths and weaknesses and identified several attributes I feel needs to be improved. The attribute I want to work on most is:

...........................................................................................................................

I am going to measure progress in the development of this attribute in the following way:

...........................................................................................................................

If I am unsure as to how to measure progress in my chosen attribute I will do the following:

a)......................................................................................................by.............

b)......................................................................................................by.............

c)......................................................................................................by.............

I intend to start working specifically on improving this attribute (state when):

...........................................................................................................................

so I will measure my performance on this date

...........................................................................................................................

I expect to see noticeable improvement in this attribute within (state duration):

.............................................................................................................................

so I will measure my performance again on (date)...............................................

To improve my performance in this attribute I will do the following:

.............................................................................. how often?...........................

.............................................................................. how often?...........................

.............................................................................. how often?...........................

The second attribute I most want to work on is:

...........................................................................................................................

I am going to measure progress in the development of this attribute in the following way:

..............................................................................................................................

If I am unsure as to how to measure progress in my chosen attribute I will do the following:

a)..............................................................................by....................................

b)..............................................................................by.....................................

c) .............................................................................by .....................................

I intend to start working specifically on improving this attribute (date):

...........................................................................................................................

so I will measure my performance on this date..................................................
I expect to see noticeable improvement in this attribute within (state duration):

...........................................................................................................................

so I will measure my performance again on (date).............................................

To improve my performance in this attribute I will do the following:

a)............................................................................ how often?...........................

b)............................................................................ how often?...........................

c)............................................................................ how often?...........................

The third attribute I most want to work on is:

............................................................................................................................

I am going to measure progress in the development of this attribute in the following way:

...........................................................................................................................

If I am unsure as to how to measure progress in my chosen attribute I will do the following:

a)..............................................................................by....................................

b)..............................................................................by.....................................

c) .............................................................................by .....................................

I intend to start working specifically on improving this attribute (date):

...........................................................................................................................

so I will measure my performance again on (date).............................................

I expect to see noticeable improvement in this attribute within (state duration):

...........................................................................................................................

so I will measure my performance again on (date)............................................

To improve my performance in this attribute I will do the following:

a)............................................................................ how often?...........................

b)............................................................................ how often?...........................

c)............................................................................ how often?...........................