The Go Again Drill

Committing to big or scary moves can be really hard.

I’ve found over time that when climbers really try to complete a move or sequence, when they’re unencumbered by fear or doubt, when they really stretch far and believe in grabbing the hold - they succeed. We tend to form standards in our mind for how certain moves “should” feel and when we fail to meet those standards due to fatigue, uncertainty, etc. we often come up short; either in distance or in our resolve to stick the move. So how do we train to improve that resolve?

The mental component of committing to a move or sequence is extensive and worth its own blog post so I won’t get into that now. Physically though there are drills, repetitions that we can practice to reinforce the movement patterns that accompany committing moves. The Go Again drill is designed to do exactly that by setting two distinct goals that simulate real world climbing moves.

This drill has the climber make a near max reach move to a hold they can latch, then without moving their hands or feet, they reach again just past the hold they have to something slightly further away at max extension. This drill inherently builds a lot of body tension because the climber has to stay so close and tight to the wall but it also reinforces the muscle memory of reaching through full extension.

The Go Again drill is great for lots of athletes because it scales so well to varying experience levels and doesn’t require a lot of space. This drill can be performed on a spray wall, systems board, or even a campus board set up. I also really like it because it’s not route setting specific which can be harder with other bouldering style drills.