Strength and motor intelligence

This was asserted by a successful Pirelli advertising campaign with Carl Lewis, and it’s true! Strangely, in the climbing environment, there are many systems to train conditional abilities, but when it comes to the ability to intelligently use and control strength, endurance, etc., everything is left to chance. Yet this is the most beautiful, interesting, and difficult aspect to achieve. But how does one learn all this?

The Caruso Method was born to answer this question; in practice, it sets the arduous goal of putting a person in the condition to make the best use of their resources regardless of the training they have at a given moment and the level they possess. In other words, through technique, the ability to find the best motor solutions in different climbing situations is developed. All the techniques of the Method therefore work specifically towards the development of motor capacity and intelligence.

The MC has identified the techniques that constitute the “fundamental” movements, or “archetypes,” from which infinite possible variants originate, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each and their usefulness on different types of terrain (sloping, vertical, overhanging).

The learning process of these techniques makes the body more “intelligent” and sensitive, and the climber increasingly capable of independently choosing, based on their psycho-physical characteristics, the most suitable technique in various situations, making all the necessary, infinitesimal variations that the case requires. In fact, although the identified techniques are finite in number – making their transmission and therefore teaching possible – it is a gross error to think of applying them rigidly, just as it is wrong (and absurd) to think, during a game, of being able to kick a ball always with the same angle and power, as happens in the “ideal” training situations, or to ski down an irregular slope always at the same speed, with constant curves in radius and angle. However, this does not mean that these fundamentals, based on scientific principles and the laws of physics, do not exist or can be changed or distorted without real reasons.

In other words, the Method is based on the belief that the evolved athlete uses and develops mental and cognitive faculties by training technique and coordination abilities, whereas the layperson believes that knowledge hinders so-called “instinctive” (i.e., random, based on involuntary automatisms) movement.

In conclusion, learning the techniques of the Caruso Method facilitates and speeds up learning by avoiding mistakes, acquiring the most favorable motor patterns, improving body coordination, encouraging correct breathing, and intervening in the ability to manage fear and emotions.