August climbing update

I'm looking at my July climbing progress article . I feel like that after doing several routes that were quite fear inducing. Recently I feel less fear when I am on new 7-/7 (6b) routes.  I even did an outdoor 5c route where I actually fell because a handhold I grabbed came off. At the time I thought I was too close to the ground and would hit the ground for sure, but luckily my belay partner caught me so I was totally fine.

For August, I haven't been able to pull harder, but I recognize I would be able to do a 6b route better if I could sustain hard pulls for several moves. So what I am lacking is power endurance. I also recognize that if I had (sustained) stronger finger strength then I would be able to master this grade. I also need much better footwork, because there are some tricky parts where I felt like my feet and hip placement have not been ideal. For lower grades I could just compensate by hanging onto the handholds stronger; but for this grade and higher, the handholds are not nearly as good, so the feet better be more solid and balanced to hold my body weights.

- My core also needs to be stronger. I had less of a body tension issue this month, but maybe I just didn't go on a route that put me in really odd position.

- Regarding fear about being out of balance (at 6b, this will probably change when I climb a higher level): 

•  Less of a problem unless I am very tired. So I am more used to certain positions now. They used to feel imbalanced, now I know my body can still hold the position without falling off. 

- Fear of heights: less of a problem this month

- Fear of falling: having actually fell outside, it's less scary for now.

- This month I started grabbing the quickdraw when I felt like I was not going to hold a position stable. This was a no-no for me before, and now I seem to just care less. I don't know if this is a good or bad development.

I hope by the end of the year I would be more comfortable lead climbing 6b's. Specifically, I hope to improve my power endurance, my footwork, and my core strength. I think losing some weight (3-4kg) would help a lot too.