The “10-4 Rule” for Effective Projecting & Steady Improvement

A question I’m often asked is….how much time—or attempts—should you put into a project route, before taking a break and working on other climbs. My short answer (with a few caveats) is that it’s best not to get bogged down by long-haul projects—you will improve as a climber faster by sending lots of routes just below your limit, rather than hanging all over (and repeatedly falling off) a single project route that’s beyond your limit.

In this podcast I’ll detail my “10-4 Rule” of projecting, which gives guidelines and solid reasoning to keep your projecting efforts brief….to around 10 attempts over 4 days. (Personally, I halve these amounts and, thus, limit myself to a total of about five attempts over two days.)

Podcast rundown:

00:55 – Introduction: How much time should you spend projecting limit routes?

3:12 – The “10-4 Rule” for effective projecting and steady improvement

12:55 – Caveats: When to break the 10-4 Rule

16:20 – Bonus: The “80-20” guideline for outdoor climbing time

20:48 – Ask Eric!

21:22 – Can someone who gets into climbing as a young adult progress to climb at a world-class level?

27:00 – “Last minute” training advice for a slightly out-of-shape route climber going on a climbing trip in one week?

29:50 – Final remarks.

Music: Misty Murphy

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