Josune Bereziartu on Training

How much do you value the mental side of climbing?
I think that the mental aspect is one of the most important things when a climber works on a project. I believe that each person was born with a capability to develop their mental power. Our mental power pushes our body to go further; in other words, our body follows our head.

Have you ever got seriously injured during climbing?
No, never; I´ve been very lucky with that. Once I injured a tendon pulley, because I was overtrained and I was still doing campus board training. I heard a sound inside my finger. One month later I was OK.

I know you had a serious accident while working with an electric drill and you cut a tendon in your hand. How do you remember the time of recovery, which took three months? Was it easy without climbing?
Nooooo, very hard, especially because before the accident I had been in the best form in the season. It was hard to understand why it happened at that time but then I became obsessed with the desire to be able to use the finger as before. The doctor knew that I was a climber and did a very god job. I started again without any problems with the finger.

Do you plan periods of complete rest from climbing throughout the year? I mean periods of two or three weeks off. Some say it’s good for health and motivation…
I need those periods, but I rest mostly mentally. So when my motivation decreases, my form goes down immediately, and in those periods - normally in November-December - I climb easy routes. But I never give up climbing completely.

What kind of supplementary training – like yoga, running, stretching or gymnastic exercises – do you do?
Most of all, I walk in the mountains on rest days.