The TrainingBeta Podcast: A Climbing Training Podcast

TBP 235 :: How to Get Better at Climbing by Watching World Cups Jul 19, 2023

In this episode, I talk with Coach Alex Stiger about what she learns from watching all of the Climbing World Cups and how she uses those videos to teach her clients about their own climbing. You can passively watch any sport you want, but if you’re actually an athlete in that sport, you can turn those viewings into active learning sessions by asking yourself a few questions and being really observant.

Here’s what we talked about:

Why she chose this topic right now
Why it’s important to have heroes in your sport
What World Cup climbers can teach you
- What good climbing actually looks like
- What trying hard looks like
- How to be brave and try hard til the end
- Awareness of rope management while climbing
- Confidence in your body type by watching similar climbers at an elite level
- Normalizing success, failure, disappointment, elation, etc. while climbing
- What questions to ask yourself while watching in order to get the most out of it
- Having goals after watching
Why you should actively watch other climbers at the gym and at the crag (and who to watch)
Specific resources to watch
Things to be aware of for your own well-being while watching

I really loved how organized and thoughtful Alex was about this interview. I learned a lot and will be watching World Cups with a new lens now, and I hope you will too.

Show Links

Enroll in Alex’s 5.12 Breakthrough Series until July 28th, 2023
Work with Alex as your coach
Try out our Bouldering Training Program
Have questions? Email alex@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com

TBP 234: Thomas Cunningham on Biohacking for Climbing Performance Jul 13, 2023

Back in April, I published an episode with Thomas Cunningham all about how he trains efficiently as a busy dad and ER physician to be able to send up to 5.14c projects in only 10-15 days outside climbing per year. You can listen to that episode in the link below:

Listen to my first interview with Thomas

In that episode, we started talking about how he uses the Whoop (a wearable bio tracking device), continuous glucose meters, and some other biohacking type stuff, but the interview would’ve been reallllly long if we’d gone into all of it in details. So I asked him to come back for a second interview to talk about all of that. We’ll be doing another one soon on using bloodwork to optimize supplementation, etc. for climbing performance soon.

So who is Thomas?

Thomas is a 36-year-old emergency medicine physician and father of 3 children from Louisville, KY who’s been climbing for around 20 years. After talking to him for a while, I realized he is SUPER scientific about everything he does in climbing. This is no surprise because he’s quite an overachiever in his academic/professional life as well.

He’s published a bunch of academic papers, he was chief resident at the University of Louisville Department of Emergency Medicine a while back, and WHILE he was doing that, he started a medical device company, Inscope Medical, and was VP of Innovations. He also completed an IronMan while he was an intern resident.

Here is his CV if you’re interested.

He’s an ambitious person, to say the least, and that means he has less time than some of us for climbing and training.

Only getting outside climbing around 10-15 days per year, and focusing all of that time on very hard projects, he has learned that his training and all of his days outside have to be hyperfocused and specific.

He also has to optimize his body for all the training he does and to be in peak performance mode when he’s trying to send. He’s used a continouse glucose meter (CGM) on himself in the past and he asked Sam Elias and Jonathan Horst to start wearing one in order to help them optimize their fueling for climbing.

He came into this interview with data on both of them (and himself), including what they were eating before using the CGM, the changes they made to their diets after and while using it, and the effects it had on their climbing. The CGM basically takes a reading of your blood glucose every 5 minutes so you can see in real time how each food/meal affects you.

We also talk a little more about the Whoop in this episode, which I’ve now gotten 6 of my friends and family using. It’s really interesting looking at the data each day about your sleep quality/quantity, how recovered you are, your HRV, and all kinds of stuff I’ve never paid attention to before. Thomas goes into how exactly he uses the whoop and how I’ve been using it myself.

This episode was really fun for me because this stuff as a nutritionist is extremely interesting. I hope you love it too!

Oh, and if you want to work with Thomas, you can do that by clicking on the link below:

Work with Thomas on Your Own Biohacking

TBP 232: A Roadmap and a Checklist for Sending Route Projects Faster May 24, 2023

In this episode, I sat down with Coach Matt Pincus to talk about his infamous “checklist” that he uses when he’s projecting a route (or a boulder – but usually routes). As a coach, often Matt’s job is less about creating strength training programs and more about using tactics to get people up their projects in an efficient way.

He’s found that he’s been having a lot of conversations with clients lately about how to approach their route projects, now that it’s climbing season in a lot of places. This episode is dedicated to helping people approach hard projects (and sometimes even not-so-hard projects) to help keep yourself motivated and on the trajectory to a send.

Matt uses a checklist of links and accomplishments he wants to make on a route before the final checkbox of sending. He shares how he creates that list, depending on what kind of route it is.

He also talks about the following:

A couple examples of his own project checklists
3 things he sees people do wrong while projecting
Planning your climbing day efficiently
Top down vs ground-up
When to start being tactical on a route
When to start giving redpoint burns

Show Links

Train with Matt Pincus

If you want Matt to help you with your own goals, whether they’re with bouldering or route climbing, he’s available for month-long commitments where he’ll talk with you over zoom and create a program for you and keep in touch with you via the TrueCoach app throughout the month.

He’ll help you get stronger overall and cater to your specific goals so the timing is right for you to send when it’s time to send.

Learn More about Working with Matt

TBP 231: Common Sense Energy Systems Training with Alex and Matt May 10, 2023

In the episode, I sit down with Coaches Matt Pincus and Alex Stiger to discuss how they go about training their clients in the different energy systems. The “energy systems” we’re talking about are power endurance, endurance, strength, and power.

Basically, they both feel like these things are extremely confusing to climbers, and they wanted to simplify what those systems require, what it takes to train them well and efficiently, and what workouts they prescribe for each of them.

The thing is that it’s not super clear-cut because in climbing, we’re constantly switching from energy system to energy system. We’re not usually climbing at an easy steady state for very long, and we’re also not usually climbing super powerfully for very long. We go in and out of trying hard, resting, climbing easier stuff, etc.

So they do their best to explain what is categorized as which energy system and exactly what to do, and when, in order to get better at one or all of them.

As always, they did an amazing job of preparing for this interview, and both of them have so much experience at this point with training people that their advice is truly simple and easy to follow. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.

Show Links

Bouldering Training Program 35% Off

If you’re tired of going into the gym without a plan and you want a clearly laid-out program made by an experienced coach, our Bouldering Training Program is just that. And it doesn’t cost nearly as much as working one-on-one with a coach. Matt Pincus created this online subscription bouldering program based off of what has been super successful with his clients over the years.

There are 3 levels of training available to you, depending on how much experience you have with climbing training. You’ll go through non-linear cycles (learn more about what that means in the link below) of training power, strength, skill drills, and throughout it all you’ll be gaining all-day capacity.

Hundreds of people have felt an increase in their bouldering ability within weeks of being on this program, and you can too. It’s 35% off right now, and you get a 7-day free trial to see if it works for you. Go to the gym with a plan in your hand, trust the process, and see results.

CHECK OUT THE BOULDERING PROGRAM SALE

TBP 230 :: Alex Stiger on How to Approach the Different Angles of Climbing Apr 26, 2023

Steep Climbing Workshop May 2nd, 2023

Coach Alex Stiger is hosting a 2-hour presentation + Q&A on how to train for steep climbing on the wall and off the wall. She’ll be using a series of videos and other resources to describe some climbing drills, strength training tactics, and mindset shifts to help you feel less intimidated and more confident on steeper angles of climbing.

Alex will show you all the drills, all the strength exercises, and all the mindset practice you need to unlock steep climbing for yourself. You’ll find out exactly what to incorporate into your training plan and climbing sessions in this 2-hour workshop.

What: Live presentation with Q&A throughout and afterward
When: May 2nd at 6-8:15pm MDT
Where: Zoom (you’ll receive details after purchase)
Recorded: Everything will be recorded in case you can’t make it live
Online Course: 3 months access to videos, drills, etc, from the presentation
Cost: $39

If you sign up by this Friday, April 28th, you’ll be entered in a raffle to win Alex’s recent 5.12 Breakthrough Series (all the recordings), which is about 7 hours of video/audio content and worth $147.

Sign Up for the Steep Climbing Workshop

How to Approach the Different Angles of Climbing

In this episode, I talk with TrainingBeta Coach, Alex Stiger, about the differences between the different angles of rock climbs:

slab
vertical
slightly steep (less than 30 degrees)
standard steep (30-45 degrees)

We go over our own experience and mindset around each angle of climbing, what skills are involved with each, how to strength train for each, and mindset issues that come up around all of them.

This is a lovely little exploration into the nuances of all of these different angles of climbing, and once again, Alex came prepared with a detailed outline of information that’s usable right away and interesting to listen to. She truly is such a keen observer of our sport.

Show Links

Enroll in Alex’s Steep Climbing Workshop
Work with Alex as your coach
Have questions? Email alex@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com

Photo Credit

Daila Ojeda enjoys the views of Monaco while climbing at La Turbie, France. Photo by Colette McInerney @etteloc

TBP 229: Thomas Cunningham Climbs 14c as an ER Doc and Father of 3 Apr 19, 2023

A couple weeks ago, Sam Elias texted me and said, "Hey. This ER doctor here in Louisville just sent his first 14c... He's SUPER intelligent and really researched about training, nutrition, and personal optimization. I think y'all should have him on the podcast. He has a lot to offer."

Turns out this was his second--not first--14c, which I found out in my interview with him, but everything else Sam said about Thomas was spot on, and I was psyched to reach out to him for an interview.

Thomas is a 36-year-old emergency medicine physician and father of 3 children from Louisville, KY who's been climbing for around 20 years. After talking to him for a while, I realized he is SUPER scientific about everything he does in climbing. This is no surprise because he's quite an overachiever in his academic/professional life as well.

He's published a bunch of academic papers, he was chief resident at the University of Louisville Department of Emergency Medicine a while back, and WHILE he was doing that, he started a medical device company, Inscope Medical, and was VP of Innovations. He also completed an IronMan while he was an intern resident.

So he's an ambitious person, to say the least, and that means he has less time than some of us for climbing and training.

Only getting outside climbing around 10-15 days per year, and focusing all of that time on very hard projects, he has learned that his training and all of his days outside have to be hyperfocused and specific.

He takes us through his training program, including how he trains aerobic capacity, power, power endurance, and strength. He also talks about his research (he's also a researcher!) on the use of a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to figure out what food fuels him best, and at what times of day.

He's currently doing some experimentation with Sam Elias with a CGM, and Thomas and I talked about having a part 2 to this discussion to go more in-depth about that and how he uses other monitors like the Whoop in his every day life and training. More to come on that, though.

This interview and our talk afterward actually inspired me to get a Whoop myself (no affiliation, but check it out if you're interested in biodata).

Oh, and we also talked about how he rehabbed not one but two pulley ruptures and came back stronger afterward.

I loved this talk - it was super inspirational on all levels - and I hope we hear a LOT more from Thomas in the coming years. He will be an asset to the climbing community to take us to the next level in training scientifically, like so many other mainstream sports have already done.

TBP 228 :: Majka Burhardt on Being a Pro Climber while Raising Twins Mar 30, 2023

In this interview I talk with professional ice and mixed climber, Majka Burhardt, about her new book, More. In it, she describes the transition she went through from being a full-time pro climber to having twins and balancing her life with her two children as a new part of it.

The book is a compilation of letters she wrote to her kids through the first 6 years of their lives about the emotional rollercoaster she went on trying to balance it all. Not only is Majka a climber and a mother, she also founded an international non-profit called Legado that works with indigenous cultures to make sure they have what they need for their communities and their environments to thrive. We discuss how she makes time for all of the things she juggles in her life so successfully.

We talk about how motherhood changed her life as a climber, how it affected her relationship with her husband, and how she’s grown from it. We talk about how female climbers have very few rolemodels for how to be a climber and a mother and make it all work, and we talk about how her parenting style is so different from what she received as a child (it’s really quite progressive).

This was a super inspirational conversation, and if you’re a parent or an aspiring parent, Majka’s wise words will likely resonate with you.

TBP 227: How to Stay Motivated (Almost) All the Time with Alex Stiger Mar 15, 2023

Climbing Fitness Breakthrough Series

Before we get started, Coach Alex Stiger is hosting a 4-part series all about how to increase your overall climbing fitness. She will do 4 weekly 90-minute zoom calls starting March 21st all about how to use efficient, quick sessions in the gym to reliably make you feel stronger and have more endurance.

The cost is $147 (2-payment option available), and you’ll get all of the recordings of the zoom calls, a group Slack channel where you can ask Alex questions for the month, plus a bonus recorded coaching session with one of the participants.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FITNESS BREAKTHROUGH SERIES How to Stay Motivated in Your Climbing

In this episode, I talk with Coach Alex Stiger about the ways she stays so motivated in her climbing almost all the time. It’s actually really amazing to me that she’s so psyched so often…

Alex is a firm believer that if we are enjoying what we’re doing, we will make the most progress in whatever we’re doing. AND we’ll have an amazing happiness-building activity for the long haul.

These are some of the questions we pondered in this episode

Should training be torture??
Why is that concept so romanticized
Why do we treat climbing and training like two separate things?
How did old school mentalities shape how we are approaching our sport today?
How can we stop believing that doing things we don’t want to do will make us better?
How did our childhood sports and gym class shape the way we think about climbing and training?

One of Alex’s superpowers is staying psyched 80+ % of the time, and she thinks that partly comes down to her being homeschooled and always being able to choose what she was doing with her time. We talk about how her habits and her great success with horsemanship in her younger years really shaped how she thinks about climbing now.

She doesn’t do what she doesn’t want to do. She gives herself freedom to choose between structures and that works really well for her.
She knows exactly what is on her “love to do” and “don’t love to do list” and she checks in regularly because it changes.
She recognizes that what might affect her climbing and training psych the most is life factors and she takes that really seriously. Her desire to enjoy her sport is a driving force to de-stress, optimize, create space, and in general increase her well being. Stress is a big enemy of motivation!

The Tools She Uses to Help Keep Motivation High

We talk about all of these tools in detail in the interview.

Other people
Routine
Timers
Measuring progress
Setting mini goals
Having a hard session time stop
Regular “want” weeks
Fueling for my sessions
Strategic planning to avoid feeling late or rushed
Mental check ins (green, yellow, orange, red)
Acknowledging “druthers” out loud
Gratitude practice

You’ll find a lot of common sense tactics to make our sport sustainable, but also some surprising little hacks that Alex has come up with to make it fun for herself almost all the time. I loved this talk with Alex 🙂

Show Links

Enroll in Alex’s Climbing Fitness Breakthrough Series
Work with Alex as your coach
Have questions? Email alex@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com

TBP 226: How Bridget Roell Went from 13a to 14a with Coach Matt Pincus Mar 08, 2023

This episode is a bit different in that Coach Matt Pincus is the interviewer/coach and I (Neely) am just in it to introduce Matt and his guest, Bridget Roell. Bridget is a long-time climber who was working her first 5.13b when she first reached out to Matt a few years ago to coach her.

Through the training and tactics they employed, she was able to send her first 5.13b's, her first 5.13c’s, and her first 5.14a, which was her long-term goal. In this conversation, they talk about the changes they made in her physical training and her redpointing tactics that helped her the most. They also discuss her goals going forward and help her with her training right now.

This one was super inspirational for me, and it really highlights Bridget’s commitment to putting herself out there with her climbing and Matt’s ability to figure out exactly what any level of climber needs to improve.

Show Links

Train with Coach Matt Pincus
Bridget’s Instagram @bridget.roell

Train with Matt Pincus

If you want Matt to help you with your own goals, whether they’re with bouldering or route climbing, he’s available for month-long commitments where he’ll talk with you over zoom and create a program for you and keep in touch with you via the TrueCoach app throughout the month.

He’ll help you get stronger overall and cater to your specific goals so the timing is right for you to send when it’s time to send.

Learn More about Working with Matt

TBP 225 :: Dr. Tyler Nelson on Unlevel Grips for Finger Injuries and Training Feb 22, 2023

In this episode, Dr. Tyler Nelson talks about a small but very effective change to make in your finger training protocol to help you get stronger and avoid injuries.

Last year, Tyler saw over 600 patients with finger injuries, and he believes that using unlevel edges that are bigger than what we’ve been told to use could have, in part, prevented those injuries while still making the climber stronger.

This interview was really fascinating to me. I didn’t even know what an unlevel edge could possibly look like, but Tension Climbing has created a board with them and it’s called the Whetstone Board.

Here’s part of the description of it from Tension:

The top jug on the Whetstone is something new. The edge profile was designed to promote a more “active” grip and reduce “over-wrapping” the wrist. A series of “ergo-bumps” was included to both improve the comfort of the grip and also to act as an edge that can be draped in an open-handed grip to more evenly distribute force between each finger as an aid for rehabilitating some finger tweaks.

This is not meant to be a Whetstone advertisement and I have zero affiliation with them, just fyi. But what Tyler is talking about in the episode are those “ergo-bumps” you see in the photo above.

As always, I learned a lot from this episode and now I kinda want to get a Whetstone board…

About Tyler

Tyler owns and operates Camp 4 Human Performance, a chiropractic sports medicine clinic and strength & conditioning business in Salt Lake City. While earning his doctoral degree, he completed a dual program Master’s degree in exercise science at the University Of Missouri. While in graduate school he worked with the University of Missouri athletics department and currently is employed through two colleges in Utah.

He is certified through the National Strength and Conditioning Association as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and spends any extra time in his life with his wife and 4 kids or trad climbing or bouldering.

You can find Tyler in Salt Lake City at his clinic or online, Camp 4 Human Performance, where he tests athletes, creates training programs, and treats all kinds of athletes for injuries.

Other Episodes with Tyler

Episode Links

Personal website: camp4humanperformance.com
Take an online class with Tyler: camp4humanperformance.com/store
Do a consultation with Tyler
Instagram: @c4hp
Facebook: @camp4chiropractic

TBP 224 :: Dr. Jen Dragonette's Psychological Tools for Climbers Feb 01, 2023

This episode is one of the most meaningful episodes I’ve ever done, and I’ll tell you why in a sec. In it, I talked with psychologist Dr. Jennifer Dragonette about DBT, which stands for Dialectical Behavior Therapy, for a whopping hour and a half!

DBT is a set of psychological tools developed by Marsha Linehan to help people truly process and deal with emotion dysregulation, interpersonal conflict, and the everyday issues of daily life. DBT is very important in my own life because it’s what lifted me out of my most recent major depressive episode in 2017 and has helped me have way lower levels of anxiety and depression than I ever have before.

It helped save my life, to be honest. So when Dr. Jen contacted me to be on the show to talk about how DBT can help climbers, it was a full-body yes from me. I’ve incorporated DBT into my own climbing, and I’ve seen the incredible results it can produce in every part of life.

Dr. Jen does an excellent job of explaining some of her favorite DBT tools and how they can be used in climbing for things like:

fear of falling
knowing how you want to proceed when you’re having a bad day climbing
managing the urge to grab a draw, say take, give up, or not take enough rest
communicating effectively with your partners or spotters about what you want from them
how to allow our emotions to flow through us and out of us so we can move on

I also go into some very personal details about how some OCD tendencies played out in my life to contribute to severe anxiety and how DBT helped me stop the OCD behaviors. As well as how I’ve been using DBT tools to help overcome body image issues.

As a climber and a psychologist, Dr. Jen has such a deep understanding of how these tools apply to climbing that you’ll hopefully feel confident using them in your very next climbing session. She’s clearly very adept at teaching DBT, and I enjoyed every moment of this conversation 🙂

Show Links

Dr. Jen’s website: drjenniferdragonette.com
Some basics about DBT and workseets: https://dbt.tools/
The program I did in Boulder, CO was the Dialectical Behavior Therapy Intensive Outpatient Program at BCH

TBP 223 :: How to Be a Stronger, Better Boulderer Jan 19, 2023

In the episode, I sit down with Coaches Matt Pincus and Alex Stiger to discuss how they go about training their clients to be better boulderers. They’re both pretty psyched on bouldering themselves, so we also talk about how they train for bouldering in their own lives.

When we started talking, I was assuming they were going to tell me all the ways they have boulderers get stronger in the weight room and on the fingerboard, but we really only talked about that for a little while.

What they did focus on were the things they find to be way more important for that in real life… things like how to get yourself to try harder, how to change your sessions to be more structured and less “just bouldering,” and how important mobility training is to boulderers. There’s a lot of tactical talk in this episode about what it takes to be a good boulderer overall.

More Details

How to get yourself to try harder and how to quantify it
Structured flash practice drill
Hardest boulder circuit drill
How to approach a boulder strategically instead of just throwing yourself at it
Thinking in terms of style instead of grade, and how that helps you work your weaknesses
Some talk about how to fall appropriately, and when not to fall
Finger training, what weight training to do, and why it’s all even more important to do for bouldering
When to shelve training and just go bouldering, and for how long that’s sustainable

Show Links

35% Off Bouldering Training Program

If you’re tired of going into the gym without a plan and you want a clearly laid-out program made by an experienced coach, our Bouldering Training Program is just that. And it doesn’t cost nearly as much as working one-on-one with a coach. Matt Pincus created this online subscription bouldering program based off of what has been super successful with his clients over the years.

There are 3 levels of training available to you, depending on how much experience you have with climbing training. You’ll go through non-linear cycles (learn more about what that means in the link below) of training power, strength, skill drills, and throughout it all you’ll be gaining all-day capacity.

Hundreds of people have felt an increase in their bouldering ability within weeks of being on this program, and you can too. It’s 35% off right now, and you get a 7-day free trial to see if it works for you. Go to the gym with a plan in your hand, trust the process, and see results.

CHECK OUT THE BOULDERING PROGRAM SALE

TBP 222 :: Breaking into 5.12 Climbing with Coach Alex Stiger Jan 04, 2023

In this episode, I talk with Coach Alex Stiger about the most common mistakes amde by climbers who are trying to break into 5.12 climbing. Sending 5.12 is the most common goal among her clients, so she has quite a bit of experience with the minutiae of what it takes to do that.

She will share her personal experience of her first 5.12’s and what she learned from her trials and tribulations. She’ll then go into the mindset shifts that are required to jump into the coveted 5.12 territory, and how she helps people do that.

While you might predict that strength training is one of the main tools Alex uses with her clients in this situation, it is not, as she says it is very rare to find a person who is climbing 5.11 who can not climb 5.12 with the strength they already have.

So while we spend a few minutes talking about strength training, you’ll find compelling evidence in this episode that that may not be your issue. Here are some of the other topics we discuss:

Why technique and staying calm are so important
Honing the skill of resting
How to decrease intimidation of the grade
How to learn from your falling experiences
How to have more of a competition mindset
What to climb on in the gym if you’re trying to send 5.12
A better alternative to having a perfect pyramid before entering into 5.12 territory
Why repeating climbs that are sort of hard for you is an important strategy

We talk about a lot in this episode, and I highly recommend it if you’re at the 5.10 or 5.11 level, or if you’re just not consistently climbing 5.12’s and you’d like to. Even if you are climbing 5.12’s consistently, I think a lot of her tactics will help you!

5.12 Breakthrough Series

Coach Alex Stiger is hosting a 4-part series all about how to break into 5.12 climbing. She will do 4 90-minute zoom calls starting January 17th all about what holds people back from sending 5.12 consistently and exactly what you can do to break your 5.11 plateau.

The cost is $147 (2-payment option available), and you’ll get all of the recordings of the zoom calls plus a bonus recorded coaching session with one of the participants.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE 5.12 BREAKTHROUGH SERIES Show Links

Enroll in Alex’s 5.12 Breakthrough Series
Work with Alex as your coach
Work on your nutrition with Neely
Have questions? Email alex@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com

TBP 221: Good Crag Etiquette for Great Climbing Days Dec 14, 2022

In this episode, Coach Matt Pincus and I discuss the extremely important topic of crag etiquette. As more climbers join the sport and crags and boulder fields become more crowded, there’s a growing need for us all to be on the same page about who gets to climb when, how to communicate with each other, and what our expectations are of each other in general.

This conversation’s purpose is to bring some difficult topics into the light and hopefully to help climbers understand each other better, have more tools to use with each other in sticky situations, and to–more than anything–help us all have an amazing and safe time climbing outside with each other.

Here’s what we talked about:

Communication

a. Who’s climbing when b. For how long c. Permission to join bouldering crew d. Brush holds e. Beta sharing desires f. Encouragement desires

Taking up space

a. Yard sale b. Loud conversations c. Taking long time to get ready when there’s a queue d. Talking to belayers

Impact on others

a. Smoking b. Music c. Screaming performatively on climbs d. Wobbling e. Yelling at ppl for waiting for a route you’re currently on f. Dogs

I hope this conversation sparks conversations of your own with your climber friends!

Show Links

Do an hour coaching session with Matt for 15% Off
Work with Matt as your coach
Do Matt’s Bouldering Training Program for 35% off
Have topics you want us to cover? Email matt@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com

TBP 220 :: Tactics for Sending Long Pumpy Routes with Coach Alex Stiger Dec 08, 2022

In this episode, I talk with Coach Alex Stiger about the tactics she used to send Silky Smooth, 5.13c (8a+) in the Red River Gorge last week without training endurance beforehand. She went into the trip feeling like she had low endurance, in fact, but she used specific tactics to send the route in 7 sessions.

There are a lot of little tips and tricks in this episode, and so many observations that Alex has made over the years about endurance climbing, including:

Maintaining Composure
Breathing
Pump Management
Nailing Sequences instead of Winging It
Eliminating Fear
Managing Discomforts
Increasing Confidence
Having Patience with the Process
Dealing with Cold Weather Climbing
Eating for Cold Weather Pumpy Climbing

We actually spent quite a bit of time talking about making climbing in the cold more tolerable, so if you’re a cold-a-phobe like I used to be, this is a good one to listen to!

I learned some things from this episode, and Alex is really good at calling out issues and then making very relatable, useful suggestions that you can put into practice right away.

Show Links

Get Alex’s Holiday Workshop Bundle
Get the Route Climbing Program Holiday Discount
Get the Bouldering Program Holiday Discount
Work with Alex as your coach
Work on your nutrition with Neely
Have questions? Email alex@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com

TBP 219 :: How David Farkas Changed His Nutrition to Improve His Climbing Nov 16, 2022

David Farkas is a 49-year-old climber who works as the Adult Programming Manager at The Front Climbing Club in Salt Lake City, UT. He’s been climbing since 1991, and found himself in a bit of a slump with his climbing and nutrition when he signed up to work with me in 2018.

After working together on his nutrition and him working on his climbing training with various trainers and coaches, he went from climbing 5.10 to 5.12 in about a year, lost some weight he’d been trying to lose, and found that his energy levels were much better. He also found relief with some digestion and skin issues he was having.

In this episode, we talk about the struggles he went through before, during, and after working with me, and what kinds of things we changed about his diet and lifestyle to get him the results he wanted. He was living in a van at the time, so we talk about how to improve your diet even if you don’t have a kitchen of your own.

David is one of my all-time favorite clients, and the results he’s seen are inspirational (but not abnormal when working with nutrition), so I asked him to share his story. I was impressed with his willingness to be vulnerable and honest about his journey, and I hope you love it as much as I did.

Work with Me on Your Nutrition

I’m currently taking new clients, and if you’d like to work with me to improve your climbing performance, overall energy levels, digestion, and blood glucose, I’m here for you.

We can do an hour session, a month session, or you can do my self-paced nutrition course: Nourish and add a single session onto that for more personalization.

>>>Find Out More about My Nutrition Services

TBP 218: Intermittent Fasting and The Keto Diet for Climbers Nov 02, 2022

In this episode, I talk about the pros and cons of the ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting for climbers. In my sessions with clients I often get questions about these very popular diet tactics, so I wanted to lay out in plain terms what I see happen–both good and bad–when climbers try them.

This recording is taken from my Nourish program, which is a self-paced online course I created for climbers to help them change their diet so they can improve their climbing, energy levels, sugar cravings, and digestion. Check out the program here.

Work with Me on Your Nutrition

If you’re looking for help with your nutrition and you feel like you need personalized coaching, I can work with you on an hourly or a monthly basis to help you increase your energy levels, improve digestion, and feel more satisfied every day. I also have a course just for climbers that is self-paced with 4+ hours of video from me, PDF’s, and meal plans laid out for you.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY NUTRITION SERVICES Other Nutrition Episodes

TBP 217 :: Kevin Roet on Climbing Psychology for Optimal Performance Oct 26, 2022

Kevin Roet is a climbing instructor from the UK who’s been teaching workshops on climbing psychology for about 7 years now. He recently wrote a book, Climbing Psychology: Mind Training for Optimal Climbing, all about the topic, and I wanted to have him on the show to talk about the things he most commonly helps people with in regards to climbing psychology.

This was a really enjoyable conversation for me, not only because Kevin is a humble Brit who’s well-versed in this topic, but also because it’s one of my own favorite topics. We talked about how he helps people with the fear of falling, the fear of failure, and recognizing their negative mindset.

We also went over the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset, what exactly the flow state is, the psychology of pumped forearms!, and performance anxiety. We also discuss the overlooked importance of communication between belayer and climber, and how much that can affect your climbing negatively or positively.

I hope this conversation helps you dive a little deeper into your own psychology, and maybe take some steps to work on your mindset in climbing.

Show Links

Kevin’s website: riseandsummit.co.uk
Get Kevin’s book in the UK here or in the US here
Rise and Summit Instagram @rise_and_summit
Work with me on your nutrition: www.trainingbeta.com/nutrition

TBP 216 :: Hazel Findlay on Overcoming the Most Common Fears in Climbing Oct 19, 2022

You may have heard me say that I’ve been doing some mental training coaching with Hazel Findlay this year to help with some fears and mental “blocks.” Well, it’s been so valuable working with her that I wanted to have her on the show to talk about some of the same things we’ve talked about in our sessions together.

Hazel is a 33-year-old professional climber and mental training coach. She made a name for herself at a young age for her bold trad ascents, having been the first British female to send E9 (basically 5.13d but with death fall potential).

She went on to be become the first British female to send 5.14b, and this year she did her first 5.14d (9a). She’s also done a lot of big wall climbing, having done the 3rd ascent of Magic Line (5.14c R, 8c+, E10).

About 7 years ago, she began coaching after completing 2 coaching programs, and she’s been seeing clients ever since. This year she created an online program for climbers, which I took and highly recommend, called Strong Mind. And now, she’s offering the Strong Mind Community, which is an ongoing learning experience for climbers all about mental training.

I wanted to have her on the show to talk about some of the most common things she sees that are holding climbers back mentally. We discuss the ins and outs of fear of falling, fear of failure, and social fears, and how she helps people work through all of them. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.

Show Links

Hazel’s Strong Mind Course
Hazel’s Strong Mind Community
Hazels Instagram @hazel_findlay
Skills and Drills Workshop with Alex Stiger

TBP 215: How We’ve Grown as Coaches Over the Years (Matt, Alex, Neely) Oct 13, 2022

In the episode, I sit down with Coaches Matt Pincus and Alex Stiger to discuss how our coaching styles, confidence levels, and tactics with clients have changed over the years. Matt and Alex talk about their practices as climbing coaches and I discuss my practice as a nutrition professional.

Some things we all have in common are that we’re less perfectionistic and rigid in our coaching now than when we first started, and that we focus on different facets of climbing or nutrition now than in years past.

We also go over what we believe to be the most important values of coaching, like professionalism, honesty, and compassion.

We also do a check-in about all of our big fall climbing projects, and some of us are doing better than others… 😉

Show Links

Do an hour coaching session with Matt
Work with Matt as your coach
Do Alex’s new workshop on Skills and Drills
Work with Alex as your coach
Work with Neely as your nutritionist
Have topics you want us to cover? Email matt@trainingbeta.com, alex@trainingbeta.com, or neely@trainingbeta.com

TBP 214: Matt Pincus’s 4 Most Common Pieces of Advice to Climbers Sep 29, 2022

In this episode, Coach Matt Pincus talks about the most common advice he gives to his climbing coaching clients. He finds that he has really similar converations with many of his clients, so over the years he’s come up with 4 sayings that he elaborates on during client calls.

We’re not going to get into the nitty gritty of sets and reps or specific ways to train in this episode, but you will likely find some nuggets that will help you Occam’s razor your climbing and training days.

Show Links

Do an hour coaching session with Matt
Work with Matt as your coach
Do Matt’s Bouldering Training Program
Have topics you want us to cover? Email matt@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com

Train with Matt

Coach Matt Pincus provides training plans to climbers of all levels from anywhere in the world. If you need help with your climbing strength, power, mental game, skills, or tactics, Matt can help you. He will sit down with you over zoom to find out your goals, your available equipment, and time restrictions and then create a month-long plan for you on the True Coach app.

You’ll have access to Matt via email and the app for however long you work with him. He also offers one-hour consultations if you just want a few questions answered or to help you build your own training program. Find out more at the link below.

TRAIN WITH MATT

What to Eat at the Crag for Optimal Climbing Performance Sep 15, 2022

In this episode, I talk all about what to eat at the crag and the couple days before going to the crag so that you can have all-day energy and climb hard.

I know it’s tempting to just not eat all day at the crag so you can feel “light” and climb hard, but the truth is that we need food at regular intervals every day, especially when we’re trying to perform athletically at a high level.

So I’ll tell you what foods to pack in with you, what kinds of nutrients to focus on, and how to structure your day so it feels doable to get all the food you need. Not only will this help your performance on that day, but it’ll also help you recover better so you don’t feel like you got hit by a truck the next day.

This is a recording taken from a 5-day nutrition challenge I did in 2020 in front of a live zoom audience. I talked for about 15 minutes on the topic and then took a bunch of questions from the audience (very common questions, so they’re quite relevant).

Nutrition Podcast Episodes in This Series

TBP 209 :: Calories for Climbing Performance and Body Composition

TBP 190 :: Meal Timing for Climbing Performance and Recovery

TBP 184 :: Carbs for Climbers – How Much, What Kind, Timing, and Why

TBP 175 :: Protein for Climbers 101 – How Much, What Kind, Timing, and Why

A Little about Me

After completing my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Zoology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, I did a 4-year nutrition certificate program at Seven Bowls School of Nutrition, Nourishment, and Healing. I graduated in 2007 as a Certified Integrative Clinical Nutrition Therapist.

During those 4 years, I learned about not only nutrition, but herbs, homeopathy, and other alternative practices. I’ve been seeing clients since 2007 and I’ve worked exclusively with climbers since 2013.

Nutrition Coaching with Me

If you’re looking for help with your own nutrition and you feel like you need personalized coaching, I’m taking new clients right now. I also have a program that is self-paced with 4+ hours of video from me, PDF’s, and meal plans laid out for you.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MY NUTRITION OFFERINGS

TBP 212 :: Dr. Tyler Nelson’s New Insights on the Limits of Fingerboard Training Aug 31, 2022

In this episode, Dr. Tyler Nelson talks about his new insights about the longstanding use of the fingerboard to train finger strength in climbing.

Once again, Tyler pored over the research and wants us all to know that there are limitations to how fingerboard training translates to actual rock climbing. He talks about the physiology of hangboarding and two potentially better ways to train finger strength.

Tyler also wrote an article about this topic, which you can find here.

About Tyler

Tyler owns and operates Camp 4 Human Performance, a chiropractic sports medicine clinic and strength & conditioning business in Salt Lake City. While earning his doctoral degree, he completed a dual program Master’s degree in exercise science at the University Of Missouri. While in graduate school he worked with the University of Missouri athletics department and currently is employed through two colleges in Utah.

He is certified through the National Strength and Conditioning Association as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and spends any extra time in his life with his wife and 4 kids or trad climbing or bouldering.

You can find Tyler in Salt Lake City at his clinic, Camp 4 Human Performance, where he tests athletes, creates training programs, and treats all kinds of athletes for injuries.

Other Episodes with Tyler

Episode Links

Article on this same topic
Personal website: camp4humanperformance.com
Take an online class with Tyler: camp4humanperformance.com/store
Do a consultation with Tyler
Instagram: @c4hp
Facebook: @camp4chiropractic

Learn More from Tyler: If you want to work with Dr. Tyler Nelson on an individual basis for injuries or strength training, he offers remote consultations to people all over the world. He also teaches online classes on strength training and injuries. Learn more.

Training Programs for You

Do you want a well-laid-out, easy-to-follow training program that will get you stronger quickly? Here’s what we have to offer on TrainingBeta. Something for everyone…

At-Home Training Program: trainingbeta.com/covid
Personal Training Online: www.trainingbeta.com/coaching
For Boulderers: Bouldering Training Program for boulderers of all abilities
For Route Climbers: Route Climbing Training Program for route climbers of all abilities
Finger Strength : www.trainingbeta.com/fingers
All of our training programs: Training Programs Page

TBP 211: Matt Pincus Talks Endurance Training for Climbing Aug 24, 2022

In the episode, Coach Matt Pincus talks about the different kinds of “endurance” in climbing, and how to train each of them. We go over the anaerobic lactic system (power endurance), the aerobic system (long-form endurance), and the anaerobic alactic system (power) and the differences between them.

Then Matt goes through some different training methods for each and how to incorporate those into your training program. I also selfishly ask Matt about what I’m doing to train endurance to get his opinions on it, which was super helpful for me.

Show Links

Do an hour coaching session with Matt
Work with Matt as your coach
Do Matt’s Bouldering Training Program
Have topics you want us to cover? Email matt@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com

TBP 210 :: Crag Dog Training with Jenna Teti Aug 03, 2022

This episode is a LITTLE bit different than all my others in that we’re going to be talking about training, but for a different species: dogs! So many climbers have dogs, and because climbing has gotten so popular in the past couple decades, there are more and more dogs at crags and boulders.

Sometimes this is an amazing thing and sometimes dogs can be a little out of control. So I asked my dog trainer, Jenna Teti, to come on the show to shed a little light on some things we can do to get our dogs to behave better at the crag and boulders (and all the time).

Jenna is the owner and Head Trainer & Behavior Consultant at Think Smart Dog Training out of Longmont, Colorado, where I live. She has a LOT of certifications in dog behavior, and here is her description of what she does from her website:

As a behavior consultant, my goal is to go beyond teaching you and your dog skills. I work with the human client to help them better understand their dog and their behavior in a way that is informative and fun! With this deeper understanding of not just the individual dog but dogs as a whole, we can address behavior and approach it from a place of compassion and understanding that builds a stronger relationship with your canine companion as you work through the behavior modification process.

Jenna has helped me a ton with our young heeler mix, Willa, by changing the way we approach training. We talk about that in this episode, along with crag behaviors such as being able to just chill while we’re climbing, not being reactive to people and dogs, coming when called, and more.

I hope this helps you have a better experience outside climbing with your dog!

Here’s my dog, Willa, trying to be a good girl at the crag 🙂

More Details

How she works compared to other famous dog trainers
Difference between positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and punitive training styles
How to get your dog to chill at the crag and at home
How to get your dog to relax without overexercising them
Why she thinks it's fascinating that so many climbers have herding dogs
How to improve the all-important recall ("come") with your dog
How to train "leave it" for when your dog gets into something it shouldn't
What to do instead of punishing a dog
How much time to spend training each day
Setting up an environment at the crag for success
Her thoughts on e-collars

Show Links

Reach Program: www.trainingbeta.com/reach
Reach Program Discount: Code “Reach” for $50 off the program
Work with Jenna in person or online
Email Jenna at hello@thinksmartdog.com
Instagram @thinksmartdogtraining

TBP 209: Calories for Climbing Performance and Body Composition Jul 29, 2022

New Nutrition and Training Program: Reach

Coach Alex Stiger and Neely Quinn are hosting an integrated climbing training and nutrition program starting on August 8th, 2022 for 4 weeks! If you want to up your game in nutrition and in climbing training (and learn more about what Alex talks about in this article), you can check it out in the link below.

In the program, you’ll get a 4-week training program from Alex, a comprehensive nutrition course + one-on-one time with Neely, plus weekly live meetings with Alex and Neely and a lot more.

As a podcast listener, you get $50 off the program using the code “Reach” at checkout.

Use Code “Reach” at Checkout for $50 Off of Reach

Calories for Climbing Performance and Body Composition

In this episode, I talk all about how to figure out how many calories–how much food–you should be eating in your meals, snacks, and throughout each day in order to feel energized, climb well, and have the body composition that’s right for you.

We’ll talk about how to objectively and mathematically determine what is a good calorie amount for YOUR body to help you be your best all day every day.

As for the body composition portion of this episode, yes, I’m going there. This is a difficult subject because there’s so much anti-diet rhetoric out there that it’s almost sinful to talk about weight or fat loss at all. But MOST of my clients come to me wanting to lose weight, and they’ve been taught their whole lives how to do it all wrong.

So my goal is to give people the same advice I give my clients: measured, sustainable methods for changing your body composition at a reasonable rate. I get pretty real in this episode and it’s not something I’ve really talked about much on this podcast before. I hope this real talk is helpful for you!

This is a recording taken from a 5-day nutrition challenge I did in 2020 in front of a live zoom audience and I added some bits to the beginning and end about the topic.

A Little about Me

After completing my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Zoology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, I did a 4-year nutrition certificate program at Seven Bowls School of Nutrition, Nourishment, and Healing. I graduated in 2007 as a Certified Integrative Clinical Nutrition Therapist. I’ve worked exclusively with climbers since 2013.

Show Links

Reach Program: www.trainingbeta.com/reach
Reach Program Discount: Code “Reach” for $50 off the program
Episode on Carbohydrates
Episode on Protein
Episode on Meal Timing

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

TBP 208 :: Alex and Neely's Biggest Nutrition and Training Mistakes Jul 19, 2022

Free Masterclass on the 5 Most Common Mistakes in Training and Climbing

Next Tuesday we’re doing a free, live masterclass on zoom to talk about the 5 most common training and nutrition mistakes climbers make and how to avoid them.

When: Tuesday, July 26th at 6-7:30pm Mountain Time

Where: Zoom call

Hosts: Alex Stiger and Neely Quinn

What: 60-minute presentation and 30 minutes of Q&A from live audience:

How to avoid common training mistakes
How to avoid common nutrition mistakes
How to make your outdoor climbing experiences more fun and productive
Efficient training and nutrition methods

*Masterclass will be recorded for anyone who can not make it to the live event.

>>>Sign up for the Free Masterclass Here

TBP 208 :: Alex and Neely’s Biggest Nutrition and Training Mistakes

In this episode, I talk with Coach Alex Stiger about our own biggest mistakes in climbing, whether they’re about training, climbing tactics, or nutrition. We both picked about 6 things that stuck out in our minds as WRONG, and we talked about what we’d do differently if we could and what people can do to avoid our own mistakes.

We both talk about pretty vulnerable personal eating habits we’ve overcome that did not help our climbing. But we also talk about various forms of overtraining, undertraining, being stuck in our ways, getting injured from too much training, and lots of other stuff.

This episode is sort of a preamble to our free masterclass on Tuesday, July 26th about the most common nutrition and training mistakes we see our clients making. You can sign up for that free event here.

Show Links

Our upcoming free masterclass on the biggest mistakes our clients make
Our upcoming 4-week joint nutrition and training program called Reach
Have questions? Email alex@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com

TBP 207 :: Allison Vest on Transitioning from Comp Climbing to Rock Climbing Jul 13, 2022

Allison Vest is a 27-year-old climber who lives in Salt Lake City. She’s originally from Minnesota and moved to Canada when she was 7, where she fell in love with climbing. She had a lot of success competing as a Canadian, winning the Canadian Bouldering Nationals in 2018 and 2020 and winning Canadian Lead Nationals in 2019.

In August 2019, Allison became the first female Canadian climber to send V13 when she did The Terminator in Squamish, which you can watch a video about here. She’s since done 4 more V13’s. This February, she became the first female Canadian climber to send V14 when she did Show Your Scars in Ogden, Utah.

She’s known for her hilarious antics on Instagram, but also for her huge ape index (+7), which at 5’6″ makes her reach the same as a 6’1″ person.

Allison was recently featured on Tyler Nelson’s Instagram (@c4hp) because Tyler tested her one-arm strength and her finger strength and said, “If I didn’t see it myself, I’d have trouble believing it.” Basically, she’s the strongest person (not just female) he’s ever tested, and he was completely blown away by that.

She’s kind of an anomaly, and she talks about how she’s gotten so strong in this episode. She wasn’t always that way.

Last year she decided to take a break from competition climbing to focus on climbing outside, so I wanted to talk with her about why she’s taking that break, how that transition has been, whether she misses comp climbing, and what the differences are in her training and performance tactics between outside and indoor climbing.

She’s also been vocal on social media recently about body image insecurities, and I thought it was incredibly brave of her to come out with this post on Instagram. She started it with, “I always worried that I didn’t look enough like a fitness model to be a professional athlete, and have been self conscious of the fact that I don’t have a resting six pack.” We talked about that and the response she’s gotten to her vulnerability online.

We also talked about eating disorders among competition climbers and what, if any, responsibility the IFSC or other climbing organizations have in helping climbers or disqualifying them from competitions.

We talked about so much… wow. I also got to ask her about her mindset in competition climbing vs outdoor climbing and how she deals with being a person who wears her heart on her sleeve (I can relate).

I loved this talk – I’m a huge fan of Allison’s and I was grateful for the chance to get to know her a bit. I hope you love it too :)

Allison Vest Interview Details

Why she’s taking a break from comp climbing and how it’s going
What she thinks about FFA’s
What she’s had to learn in transitioning to outdoor climbing
How the gymnastic style of comp climbing translates to outdoor bouldering
Mental differences between comps and outdoor projects
What her coach taught her about spiraling mentally
What sets her apart physically and mentally from other climbers
Her thoughts on her physical strength feats
Body image issues and how she’s successfully dealing

Show Links

TBP 206 :: How Matt, Alex, and I Are Approaching Our Mega Projects Jul 06, 2022

Work with Matt or Alex as Your Climbing Coach

Matt Pincus and Alex Stiger are both experienced climbing coaches who will work with you from anywhere in the world to help you create and reach your climbing goals. They can either consult with you on making your own program or they will create a detailed program for you based on your lifestyle and equipment availability.

WORK WITH MATT OR ALEX How Alex, Matt, and I Are Approaching Our Mega Projects

In the episode, I sit down with Coaches Matt Pincus and Alex Stiger to discuss how we trained and prepared for our projects, which are the hardest routes we’ve tried. We go over what the projects mean to us, how we stay mentally focused, and what we’re doing this summer to train for when the weather gets better.

This is an intimate look at how two climbing coaches and I think about and physically prepare for hard rock climbing, and I hope it gives you some inspiration and ideas for your own projects!

Episode Details

Where we all are in our processes with our projects
What our projects are
What the projects mean to us in our climbing careers
Our mental processes on the route
Our tactics for redpointing
Whether comparison with others affects our processes
How to keep a growth mindset on hard projects
What we would’ve done differently to prepare
How we’re all training this month to prepare for better weather
How to be mentally fresh while projecting

Show Links

Do an hour coaching session with Matt
Work with Matt as your coach
Do Alex’s new workshop on Fear of Falling
Work with Neely as your nutritionist
Have topics you want us to cover? Email matt@trainingbeta.com, alex@trainingbeta.com, or neely@trainingbeta.com

Fear of Falling Workshop

Coach Alex Stiger is hosting a Fear of Falling workshop next Tuesday, July 12th, where she’ll guide you in systematically overcoming your fear of falling in climbing. It will be a 2-hour live workshop on zoom (recorded) plus 3 months’ access to an online course with videos and resources from the workshop.

Learn More

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

Photo Credit

Photo of Neely Quinn on Tombraider 5.13d by James Lucas @james_lucas

TBP 205 :: Going from 5.11 projects to 5.11 Warm-ups with Erin Ettenger Jun 22, 2022

Erin Ettenger is a 25-year-old software engineer who lives in Seattle, Washington. I asked Erin to be on the show because she uses our Route Climbing Training Program and has had some amazing success on it, so I wanted her to share her story with you all.

Through using the program (and adapting it intelligently to her own needs), she gained work capacity, meaning she can now climb more routes in a session, and she improved her overall strength levels.

She went from mega-projecting 5.11a to regularly warming up on 5.11a's in a relatively short time. She'll tell you all about what she liked about the program, what was hard, and how all of this has translated to her outdoor climbing.

TBP 204: Mistakes Made in Matt Pincus's Own Training Plan Jun 01, 2022

In the episode, Coach Matt Pincus talks about how he trained all winter/spring for his 5.14b project in Wyoming this summer and some mistakes he made along the way.

While Matt is a seasoned coach and climber, he was under some various constraints that made training challenging this year. One of those constraints was that Matt was working at a restaurant and coaching for a total of about 70 hours per week, so his plan needed to be efficient.

The other is that he only had a board to climb on the entire time, and not that much other equipment. He made some mistakes along the way and suffered some consequences, and he’ll tell you all about what he learned in this episode.

I think anyone listening to this episode will learn a few things about proper training tactics, whether you have similar constraints or not.

Episode Details

What he did (and is doing) to train for his 5.14b project this summer
What went wrong
How he fit training in to 70+ hour work weeks
Injuries/inflammation that occured
How he’s dealing with those consequences now
What he would’ve done differently
What he learned as a coach from his own mistakes

Show Links

Do an hour coaching session with Matt
Work with Matt as your coach
Do Matt’s Bouldering Training Program
Have topics you want us to cover? Email matt@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com

Train with Matt

Coach Matt Pincus provides training plans to climbers of all levels from anywhere in the world. If you need help with your climbing strength, power, mental game, skills, or tactics, Matt can help you. He will sit down with you over zoom to find out your goals, your available equipment, and time restrictions and then create a month-long plan for you on the True Coach app.

You’ll have access to Matt via email and the app for however long you work with him. He also offers one-hour consultations if you just want a few questions answered or to help you build your own training program. Find out more at the link below.

TRAIN WITH MATT Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

TBP 203 :: Under-the-Radar V14 Boulderer Katie Lamb May 25, 2022

Katie Lamb is a 24-year-old boulderer out of the Bay area who has proven her abilities over and over with consistent sends of V14 boulders. Included in her resumé are The Swarm (V13/14) in Bishop, New Base Line (V14) in Magic Wood in Switzerland, Jade (V14) in Rocky Mountain National Park, Direct North (V14) in Bishop, and so many more.

She’s a Stanford graduate and works half time as a data scientist focused on clean energy, but her main priority is climbing. She’s surprisingly not sponsored, and I asked her why that is and if she would be a full-time climber instead of working as a data scientist.

I also asked Katie about what sets her apart from other climbers–what makes her sooo good at bouldering. She started climbing at a really young age just outside of Boston on a youth team that emphasized the importance of outdoor climbing. She’s taken those values to heart and hasn’t competed indoors for a long time, preferring to spend all of her time outside on hard projects.

One of the reasons I asked Katie to be on the show is that I heard about her willingness to rest a lot when she’s projecting. I really appreciated that coming from such a strong climber, as most super strong climbers I know do not rest more than 1 or 2 days at a time, ever.

Katie tells us all about her mindset in climbing, her training program she just started (and whether it’s helping her), and how she’s prepping for her summer Rocklands trip. I really enjoyed talking with Katie, and I found myself mulling over some things she’d said for weeks after we talked. She’s wise beyond her years and takes this sport very seriously – I hope you enjoy!

Katie Lamb Interview Details

How she developed as a climber
Why she goes after aesthetic, historic lines
Why she’s not just a sponsored climber
Why THINKING about climbing a lot helps her send
Why she only climbed every 5 days while trying The Swarm
Whether or not she’d be happy just climbing and not working
How many is too many tries on a boulder – when she gives up
What sets her apart from other climbers
Her new strength program from Natasha Barnes
Why she regressed on her project recently

Show Links

Photo Credit

Photo of Katie on The Penrose Step (V14) in Leavenworth, Washington by @keenantakahashi

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

TBP 202: Dr. Tyler Nelson on Youth Finger Injuries Apr 27, 2022

In this episode, Tyler explains the most common youth finger injuries, what ages are at highest risk, how to mitigate them, and what to do if a youth climber has a finger injury.

Once again, Tyler pored over the research and is sharing this information with us so that youth coaches and parents are better equipped to understand these injuries and avoid permanent damage to their kids.

Tyler Nelson has a lot of qualifications, so I’m going to let his website sum those up for you:

Tyler is a second generation chiropractor whose father was a leader in chiropractic sports medicine for many years. In graduate school he did a dual doctorate and masters degree program in exercise science with an emphasis on tendon loading. He completed his masters degree at BYU and was a physician for the athletics department for 4 years out of school. He currently is the owner of Camp4 Human Performance where he treats clients through his license as a chiropractic physician. He also is an instructor for the Performance Climbing Coach seminar series and a certified instructor for gobstrong. When he’s not working he’s climbing or hiking outside with his family.

You can find Tyler in Salt Lake City at his clinic, Camp 4 Human Performance, where he tests athletes, creates training programs, and treats all kinds of athletes for injuries.

Other Episodes with Tyler

Tyler Nelson Interview Details

What the most common youth injuries are
Why youth injuries can be confusing
Most common age to get injured
Risk factors for youth injuries
How to properly diagnose A2 pulley vs. stress response injury
Who to see about these injuries
How to mitigate risk factors
What it means to “spin your wheels” on the wall

Tyler Nelson Links

Climbing Wall Association Summit where Tyler will be presenting
Personal website: camp4humanperformance.com
Take an online class with Tyler: camp4humanperformance.com/store
Do a consultation with Tyler
Instagram: @c4hp
Facebook: @camp4chiropractic

Learn More from Tyler: If you want to work with Dr. Tyler Nelson on an individual basis for injuries or strength training, he offers remote consultations to people all over the world. He also teaches online classes on strength training and injuries. Learn more.

Training Programs for You

Do you want a well-laid-out, easy-to-follow training program that will get you stronger quickly? Here’s what we have to offer on TrainingBeta. Something for everyone…

At-Home Training Program: trainingbeta.com/covid
Personal Training Online: www.trainingbeta.com/coaching
For Boulderers: Bouldering Training Program for boulderers of all abilities
For Route Climbers: Route Climbing Training Program for route climbers of all abilities
Finger Strength : www.trainingbeta.com/fingers
All of our training programs: Training Programs Page

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

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TBP 201 :: Dr. Jared Vagy on Finger Injuries and Protocols Apr 13, 2022

Dr. Jared Vagy is a physical therapist and he’s a climber who’s incredibly motivated to help other climbers heal their bodies. In this interview, we talk about new research about common finger injuries in climbers and how that’s affected his protocols for healing them. We did another interview about fingers a long time ago in Episode 116, but this is an update to that information and a deeper dive into it.

Jared’s book Climb Injury-Free is on its seventh print run and is back in stock (finally). Order his book here.

This interview is super in-depth and he describes exact protocols to use on finger injuries, so I hope it helps you out if you have a finger injury now or if you have in the past.

More Details

40% of climbing injuries are fingers!
Most common finger injuries and how they happen
Pulleys vs tendons explained
How to diagnose finger injuries
How new research has affected his protocols
What the popping sound is during an injury
How long recovery takes
Two ways to approach pulley sprains
Medications and devices to use to heal
What side-to-side pain means
Protocol timelines
Long-standing finger injuries
Using hangboard for recovery

Other Interviews with Dr. Vagy

Interview #1: We talked in general about how to heal injuries, but since that time he has gotten way more specific about the steps we need to take to address them.
Interview #2: He talked about how to heal shoulder impingement.
Interview #3: We talked about rotator cuff injuries and neck strain.
Interview #4: We discussed finger pulley sprains.
Interview #5: We discussed elbow injuries.
Interview # 6: We talked about hip injuries.

Jared Vagy Professional Credentials

Dr. Vagy is an authority on climbing related injuries. He has published numerous articles on injury prevention and delivers lectures and seminars on the topic. He received his Doctorate in Physical Therapy (DPT) from the University of Southern California, ranked the number one DPT Program in the nation for the last decade by US News and World Report.

He is now a professor at the University in the DPT Program. As a Doctor of Physical Therapy in clinical practice, he went on to complete a one year residency program in orthopedics and a one year fellowship program in movement science. He is a Board Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist.

Supporting Videos from Episode

Video describing pulley injury anatomy, biomechanics and research

https://youtu.be/YU2-K4NFXnk

Video describing pulley diagnostic classifications and rehab

https://youtu.be/SFqAbKRYwgw

Diagnosis and classification

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/578853358356324847/

Return to climbing and hanging timelines

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/578853358366092458/

Rock Rehab Protocol Links

Dr. Vagy has created 6 injury protocols using his Rock Rehab Pyramid method that are available on TrainingBeta. You can find out more about his methods by clicking on any of the links below. You can see a description of all of the protocols (which we’ve made available for $15 each) at www.trainingbeta.com/rock-rehab.

Dr. Jared Vagy Links

Jared’s book, Climb Injury Free
Website: www.theclimbingdoctor.com
Instagram: @theclimbingdoctor

TBP 200 :: Coach Alex Stiger's Training Plan to Climb Her First 5.14a Apr 06, 2022

6-Week Team Training Program Starts April 18th

On April 18th, Coach Alex Stiger’s 4th cohort of her Team program will begin!

This is a group training program that ALSO provides you with a training program built just for you. You’ll be getting to know a small group of no more than 12 people, talking with them every week. You’ll get a lot of one-on-one time with Alex, and you’ll also get everything below…

More one-on-one time – 2.5 hours instead of 1.75 hours over the 6 weeks (that’s more one-on-one time than any other coaching option)
Team zoom meetings every week that will be recorded – get climbing video analyzed, ask questions, go over specific topics
Completely individualized 6-week training program for just you
Intensive 6-week online course – video tutorials, deep dives into important training and mental topics to help you improve quickly
Anytime Q&A via individual messaging or group chat
Weekly feedback on climbing and training videos you take during the course
Direction on how to continue with your training after the course
Full access to Alex’s past workshops during the program (Hangboarding, TRX, Rings, and Skills & Drills Workshops)
Learn and grow with a team! This is an underrated way of reaching your potential. Teammates can be the difference between you doing the work and you keeping the status quo.

Early bird pricing lasts until the 13th, so if you want to get this at the best price, go get your spot now.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SKILLS & DRILLS WORKSHOP Coach Alex Stiger’s Training Plan to Climb Her First 5.14a

In this episode, I talk with Coach Alex Stiger about how she’s training to prepare to send her first 5.14a this summer/fall. This is a rare exploration of an experienced coach/climber’s process around building their own training program.

Alex has asked for the help of a couple trainers, a PT, and she’s doing work on her mental game as well in order to achieve this big goal. She’s taken everything she knows about training to build out an objective plan for herself for 8 weeks before she begins going to her project.

We talk about how she assessed her strengths and weaknesses in order to prioritize what she’s doing to train. We talk about how she’s cultivating a beginner’s mindset, why she incorporated running into her program, and how she uses journaling and video of herself climbing to take a more objective view of things.

She also shares her schedule from Monday to Sunday every day so you can see exactly what she’s doing.

This program is specifically built for Alex, and you should not copy it. But we go through how she KNEW what was appropriate for her, and you can take that knowledge to help build your own program.

Episode Details

Why this climb is so important for her, and why she’s ok with walking away empty-handed
Why chilling and doing what she wants has been an important part of this training
How she uses journaling, tracking, and vieo analysis
How she assessed her strengths and weaknesses to build her program
Importance of guidance on training, even for a coach
Why she used to hate assessments and why she loves them now
Her Monday through Sunday training schedule for 8 weeks before the season
How/if she’ll train while she’s trying to send
How to use video analysis in your own training

Show Links

Join Alex’s 6-Week Team Training Program
Work with Alex as your coach
Work on your nutrition with Neely
Have questions? Email alex@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com

Photo Credit

Photo of Alex competing in the Cookie Jar Competition at Movement Boulder by Michael Emery Hecker @sayless.meanmore

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

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TBP 199: Alternatives for When You're Too Tired for Your Session - Pincus Mar 30, 2022

In the episode, Coach Matt Pincus discusses the common issue of not having the energy to execute a programmed session. I’m sure you’ve been at the gym with the intention of projecting routes or doing some limit bouldering, only to find that you can hardly get off the ground on your warm-ups. Whether you have a training program written by another coach or by yourself, Matt goes over some alternative plans for limit bouldering sessions, strength sessions (outside of climbing), and volume/endurance sessions.

You don’t have to scrap the whole session (unless you really need to do that). You can make the most out of a crappy day by lowering intensity or working on skills, for instance. We go over it in detail so you can easily make a plan B next time this happens to you.

Episode Details

Why it’s normal for not every session to feel great
Acceptable choices for what to do instead
Limit bouldering alternatives
Strength training alternatives
Volume climbing alternatives
Why an endurance session may not be a good alternative to limit bouldering
Why you feel bad some days, and how to avoid it more
Figuring out the “why” of your session to make a plan B
How to practice skill instead of strength
Why it’s a mistake to blow off strength sessions
Why doing even 60% of max efforts helps gain strength

Show Links

Do an hour coaching session with Matt
Work with Matt as your coach
Do Matt’s Bouldering Training Program
Have topics you want us to cover? Email matt@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com

Train with Matt

Coach Matt Pincus provides training plans to climbers of all levels from anywhere in the world. If you need help with your climbing strength, power, mental game, skills, or tactics, Matt can help you. He will sit down with you over zoom to find out your goals, your available equipment, and time restrictions and then create a month-long plan for you on the True Coach app.

You’ll have access to Matt via email and the app for however long you work with him. He also offers one-hour consultations if you just want a few questions answered or to help you build your own training program. Find out more at the link below.

TRAIN WITH MATT Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

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TBP 197: Sending 50 5.13’s by the Age of 50 - Lillian Chao-Quinlan Mar 16, 2022

TBP 197 :: Lillian Chao-Quinlan, President of Sportrock, on Sending 50 5.13’s by the Age of 50 Lillian Chao-Quinlan is a climber in her early 50’s who is also the president of Sportrock Climbing Centers in Virginia. She began climbing when she was 30 years old and soon realized it was what she wanted to spend her life doing and teaching, so she quickly moved up the ranks at her gym, landing in the role of president. In the past 17 years, she’s worked tirelessly to make Sportrock an inclusive, high quality climbing gym where her employees and gym members can thrive.

A few years ago, Lillian realized that she’d sent 43 5.13’s, so she resolved to climb 50 5.13’s by the time she was 50 years old. In this interview she describes how she was able to surpass that goal, and what she has learned through her years of climbing and running a large climbing gym. Her mindset with climbing–and life in general–is applaudable and her devotion to personal growth is calculated and inspirational.

In this talk we discussed the mental and physical tactics she used to send her first 5.13d at the age of 49 and to reach her goal of 50 5.13’s by 50, her mnemonic strategies she uses in her everyday life to learn and grow, and how the pandemic has affected her and her businesses. Basically, Lillian bestows upon us the wisdom she’s meticulously cultivated through the years, and I’m so happy I was able to have this talk with her 🙂

Lillian Chao-Quinlan Interview Details

How her former career as a teacher has transferred to her job as president of Sportrock
The result of her goal to send 50 5.13’s by the age of 50
“Do one thing well, do all things well,” a life motto from her mother
How running a company of over 200 people gives you perspective on clibming
Questions she asks herself before and during hard climbs
Her “why” for climbing and how it’s evolved over the years
“Every day is a bonus day for all of us” wisdom from her father
REACH – Her mnemonic for self-growth everyday
How to continue to make Sportrock excellent in industry and not fall into a competitive mindset
The pivotal moment in her life when a teacher told her she was not smart
Her perspective on age in climbing, and her climbing goals going forward

Show Links

Instagram for Sportrock @sportrock
Sportrock website: Sportrock.com
Video on her being president of Sportrock and her upbringing as a 1st generation Taiwanese American
Article about Lillian
Rock & Ice Article about Lillian doing 50 5.13’s by age of 50

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

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TBP 196 :: Keenan Takahashi's Pursuit of Progression and Perfection Mar 10, 2022

Keenan Takahashi is a 30-year-old professional climber who has sent boulders up to V15. Originally from Davis, California, he started out as a skater and transitioned to climbing at about 17 years old. I wanted to talk with Keenan because–let’s be honest–I love his moustachio… and because I wanted to understand what sets him apart from other climbers.

He’s climbed all over the world, he’s in countless videos (just google his name), and he clearly tries VERY HARD to excel at this sport. He’s intense and light-hearted all at the same time. He’s confident and humble at the same time, and I admire all of those qualities very much. I was honored to have a Skype sit-down with him from his van in Yosemite.

We talked about his journey in climbing and what sets him apart as a climber, which he thinks is his obsessive personality. Honestly, I’ve never thought that being obsessive was a positive quality, but after talking to him I kind of want to cultivate more of it in my climbing life. His pursuits of progression and perfection in bouldering have led to an illustrious resume so far, and the fact that he JUST started training a couple months ago makes me think that maybe he’s just getting started.

I walked away from this interview feeling soothed and inspired all at once. He’s well-spoken and self-aware, which always makes for an excellent discussion, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Keenan Takahashi Interview Details

How he developed as a climber
How progression is the thing that drives him in all his pursuits
How skateboarding and bouldering are similar
How his obsessive nature has helped him
Why climbing keeps him awake at night
How visualizing climbs makes him climb better
What “good tactics” are to him
What sets him apart from other climbers
How much to rest between burns
Whether his body/recovery has changed since he was 17
Training now – his protocol and results he’s seeing
Plans after being a pro climber

Show Links

Instagram @keenantakahashi
Work on your nutrition with me

Photo

Photo of Keenan in Bishop by @ktlambies

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

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TBP 195 :: How to Assess and Improve Your Climbing Skills with Coach Alex Stiger Mar 02, 2022

How to Assess and Improve Your Skill Set in Climbing

In the episode, I talk with Coach Alex Stiger about how she assesses her clients’ and her own skill level and then how she helps her clients (and herself) improve upon it with drills and objective learning.

This is a big one, and I walked away from this conversation sort of blown away by how much I’ve been missing in my climbing training all these years. There’s SO MUCH more I could’ve been doing this whole time to make improvements where hangboarding or other strength training just can’t help.

We go over in depth how Alex first analyzes her clients’ technique, skills, overall usage of their bodies, and tactics. She describes how she quantifies everything to make it less nebulous and more objective, and then creates drills to see objective improvements going forward.

We then talk about 7 experiences Alex has had while climbing outside that have led her to change her tactics, improve her skills, and be able to practice all of it further in the gym and outdoors.

I really hope you listen to this because whether you’re a 5.8 or a 5.14 climber, you will likely learn something and maybe even be inspired like I am to start incorporating this stuff into your own routines.

Episode Details

How training actually held her back from climbing well in the beginning
Her repeating climbs until they feel “good” has helped her
How Alex assesses skills and technique in clients
Key things to focus on with your feet, hips, arms, and hands
Why practicing basics is so important
How much of your climbing should be spent trying hard vs. gaining mastery
How climbing in Font drastically improved her footwork and overall climbing ability
How resting less can help you send hard routes
How she gets herself to climb faster while still having good technique
How being injured has actually expanded her skill set
How to cultivate using momentum instead of raw strength/power

Show Links

Do Alex’s Workshop on Skill Building
Work with Alex as your coach
Work on your nutrition with Neely
Have questions? Email alex@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

TBP 194 :: Goal Setting in Climbing with Matt Pincus and Alex Stiger Feb 23, 2022

Matt Pincus and Alex Stiger are both experienced climbing coaches who will work with you from anywhere in the world to help you create and reach your climbing goals. They can either consult with you on making your own program or they will create a detailed program for you based on your lifestyle and equipment availability.

WORK WITH MATT OR ALEX Goal Setting in Climbing

In the episode, I sit down with Coaches Matt Pincus and Alex Stiger to discuss how we approach goal setting for ourselves and for our clients. Goal setting can be overwhelming and it’s easy to get lost in the details while overlooking the big picture (and vice versa).

We go over our personal goal setting strategies, how fear of failing can affect people in their goal-setting, things to consider when you’re setting goals for a climbing trip, and how to stay grounded in our OWN goals without comparing ourselves too much with the person who’s warming up on our project.

Episode Details

What we’ve all been focusing on in our lives lately
How we all approach goal setting for ourselves
How fear of failing can affect goal setting, and what to do about it
Removing the pressure of time from goals
The question Alex always asks her clients after they tell her their goal
Whether or not you have to have a goal
Whether or not you need to have a solid pyramid before progressing to the next grade
Trip goal-setting examples
Alex’s tips to stay grounded when she starts comparing herself to others
Having goals for each session, and the importance of fall-back goals

Show Links

Do an hour coaching session with Matt
Work with Matt as your coach
Work with Alex as your coach
Work with Neely as your nutritionist
Have topics you want us to cover? Email matt@trainingbeta.com, alex@trainingbeta.com, or neely@trainingbeta.com

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

TBP 193 :: How Bobbi Bensman Is Still Climbing 5.13 at 58 Feb 16, 2022

Where to start about Bobbi Bensman?? Bobbi has been climbing since 1980 and was basically the Alex Puccio of her time. She was a professional climber for 21 years until she transitioned to a full-time job as a sales rep for outdoor companies and became a mother to two daughters.

In her time as a pro climber, she helped forge the way for strong female climbing by doing one of the first 5.14a female ascents, which was quickly downgraded after her send. We talk about how controversial that – and other – downgrades of hers were and how she dealt with that at the time.

We talk about how her climbing and training have changed – if at all – as she’s gotten older, and how becoming a parent changed her climbing and lifestyle.

Bobbi has an unquenchable thirst for climbing and has never stopped being motivated by her goals. She does whatever it takes to follow her passions and she’ll tell you all about that in the interview.

I’ve gotten a lot of requests recently for interviews with older climbers, so I hope this is helpful to hear how Bobbi is still sending basically just as hard now as she did 30 years ago.

Bobbi Bensman Interview Details

Most notable ascents
Sexism in climbing
Climbing 5.14 and having it immediately downgraded
Why she resisted doing this interview
How she improved at climbing with no indoor gyms in the beginning
216 5.13’s in her life so far
How her training has evolved over the years
How motherhood changed her lifestyle
How full-time job changed her life and climbing
How she can tell that age is a factor now
Her goals for this year (and every year)

Show Links

Instagram @bobbibensman
Work on your nutrition with me

Photo

Photo of Bobbi on Helicopter V6 by @dog_man_van

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

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TBP 192 :: How My 68-Yr-Old Mother-In-Law Still Climbs 5.12 Feb 09, 2022

Elyn Lytton is a 68-year-old climber from Colorado who started climbing in her early 50’s and is still regularly crushing 5.12’s (indoors and on toprope). She is also my mother-in-law and I’m constantly impressed by her. She’s a really good example of a person who does things in the name of sustainability, meaning, she LOVES climbing and will do whatever it takes to be able to do it for many more years.

In this conversation, we discuss her approach to climbing and what she does to make it work for her body (with the aches and pains that come with age). We also talk about how she started lifting heavy weights in the past couple years in order to improve her bone density, and how that’s working out for her.

Elyn has had setbacks with chronic migraines and arthritis/hand pain in the past, and we talk about how she’s tackled those things successfully through diet so that she can climb several days a week pretty much as hard as she wants now.

Something that’s always struck me about Elyn is her ability to bend “norms” and just do what’s right for her. For example, she only top ropes and she never climbs outside. She doesn’t have any desire to do either of those things, but she loves climbing and gets a great workout all the same, and she encourages her climbing partners to take care of themselves in the way that she does, too. We talk about how people put pressure on each other (and themselves) to do more, more, more with climbing, but how sometimes that’s not best for everyone for physical and mental reasons.

I’ve gotten a lot of requests recently for interviews with older climbers, so I hope this is helpful to hear how Elyn makes climbing work for herself. But even if you are still a very young climber, there’s something to be learned from her wisdom.

Elyn Lytton Interview Details

Why she started climbing in her fifties
How she fit climbing into her schedule with a demanding job before she retired
How she deals with osteoarthritis in her fingers
How she cured chronic migraines
How her diet helps her climb hard and recover well
How lifting heavy weights helped her osteoporosis and her climbing
How climbing has changed her life for the better

Show Links

Instagram @elynlytton and @belayoptics
Use our Bouldering Training Program

Photo

Family selfie! From left to right: Neely Quinn, Seth Lytton, Elyn Lytton on top of a lighthouse in Florida

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TBP 191 :: Matt Pincus on Navigating Training Options if You're in a Plateau Jan 26, 2022

TBP 191 :: Matt Pincus on How to Navigate Training Options if You’re in a Plateau 25% Off Bouldering Program

Our Bouldering Training Program is on sale for 25% off the normal price (regularly $27/month and now $20/month) with coupon code “bouldering.” The program consists of 3 levels, depending on your training experience, and it will help you get stronger, more powerful, and have more all-day capacity.

If you sign up for the program by February 2nd, you’ll be automatically entered to win a free hour-long consultation with Coach Matt.

Sale Ends Friday, February 4th, 2022.

USE CODE “BOULDERING” FOR 25% OFF PROGRAM How to Navigate Climbing Training Options if You’re in a Plateau

In the episode, Coach Matt Pincus and I talk about navigating the overwhelming number of training options that are available to us now. Matt’s noticed that a lot of his clients come to him confused about what is the best way to train, given there are SO MANY ways to train, programs to follow, and trainers to choose from.

We try to help guide you in your decisions about the who, what, and where, and to empower you to do what’s right for you at this time in your life.

Episode Details

Why there’s no universal “best” training program
What to do if you’re overwhelmed by choice
2 questions to ask yourself when you’re designing a training program
Why there’s no substitute for climbing outside
How to pick a program or a trainer
The elements of a simple but effective training program
How to approach WHEN to train

Show Links

Get 25% off Bouldering Training Program with code “bouldering” until Feb 4th
Do an hour coaching session with Matt
Work with Matt as your coach
Work with Neely as your nutritionist
Have topics you want us to cover? Email matt@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

TBP 190 :: Meal Timing for Climbing Performance and Recovery Jan 19, 2022

In this episode, I talk all about how to time your meals and snacks to help your climbing performance, energy levels every day, overall mental well-being, and body composition.

You might think that when you eat food isn’t really that important – or maybe you haven’t given it much thought. But the truth is that it can be almost as important as what you eat when it comes to performance, recovery, and overall well-being. I’ll go over some sample meal/snack time schedules and tell you about the mistakes I see many people making with it.

I’ll also go over the truth about recovery meals/snacks. Is it super important to eat right after working out? And if so, what should you eat?

This is a recording taken from a 5-day nutrition challenge I did last year in front of a live zoom audience. I talked for about 15 minutes on the topic and then took a bunch of questions from the audience (very common questions, so they’re quite relevant).

A Little about Me

After completing my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Zoology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, I did a 4-year nutrition certificate program at Seven Bowls School of Nutrition, Nourishment, and Healing. I graduated in 2007 as a Certified Integrative Clinical Nutrition Therapist. During those 4 years, I learned about not only nutrition, but herbs, homeopathy, and other alternative practices. I’ve been seeing clients since 2007 and I’ve worked exclusively with climbers since 2013.

Nutrition Coaching with Me

If you’re looking for help with your own nutrition and you feel like you need personalized coaching, I’m taking new clients right now. I also have a program that is self-paced with 4+ hours of video from me, PDF’s, and meal plans laid out for you.

LEARN MORE ABOUT NUTRITION COACHING Show Links

Work with me one-on-one or do my self-paced program

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

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TBP 189 :: Lucie Hanes- Running and Climbing and Eating Disorder Recovery Jan 12, 2022

TBP 189 :: Lucie Hanes- Running and Climbing and Eating Disorder Recovery

Lucie Hanes is a 27-year-old climbing coach out of Eagle, Colorado, who is pursuing her Master’s of Science in Applied Sports Psychology.

I met Lucie in the Wicked Cave in Rifle last summer, and the next time I heard from her was when she reached out via email in response to the episode I did with Matt Pincus about running and climbing.

In that episode, Matt and I basically conclude that running isn’t going to help your climbing, and that it may in fact hinder it. And that there are other more effective ways to train endurance for climbing.

Lucie emailed me to say that she was not only a high performing climber (having sent numerous 5.13’s), but also a high performing ultra runner. She wanted to tell the story of how it’s possible to do both sports well as a counter to my episode with Matt.

Lucie is incredibly passionate about both of her sports, and my conversation with her ended up being even more enlightening than I thought it would be because it turns out she’s also in recovery from an eating disorder. And she’s very open about it, so a lot of our conversation ended up being about body image, disordered eating behaviors, her health consequences of underfueling, and how she’s recovering from all of it.

While she does provide details about her training for both running and climbing – and how she does both at the same time – I want to stress that this is not necessarily something that all humans can imitate without negative consequences. Lucie will admit herself that she may be an outlier, and she also concludes at the end of our talk that running may be inhibiting her climbing abilities and vice versa.

So this is NOT an episode wherein we are wholeheartedly advocating for people to train for running and climbing at the same time, and do it with the gusto that Lucie has. I honestly considered not publishing this episode because I knew it would be triggering for some people.

But after a lot of thought, I decided that this episode could be very helpful for people who struggle with disordered eating and over-exercising behaviors. Lucie is finding that she is healthier and happier now that she’s eating properly to fuel all of the exercise she does, and that is the lesson I want everyone to hear.

I want to thank Lucie for her willingness to talk about difficult things; Her vulnerability is invaluable to us all. I very much enjoyed this talk with her, and I felt super connected to her during it. I wish she lived closer to me so we could hang out, honestly.

If you’d like to work with Lucie, you can find her at www.insideoutathlete.com, where she consults with athletes on mental strength coaching in sport & performance.

Lucie Hanes Interview Details

Why running is her form of moving meditation
Her running and climbing achievements
Her studies and aspirations as a sport psychologist
Why she feels the need to be doing something physical all the time
How the low points of her eating disorder and RED-S felt
Tools she uses to deal with body image as her body changes
How she trained for both sports during her eating disorder vs how she trains for them now
What she thinks about running for climbers in general and how she thinks it affects her own climbing

Show Links

Instagram @luciehanes
Lucie’s coaching website: InsideOutAthlete.com
Train with Coach Alex Stiger in her Team Program starting next Tuesday, January 18th

Photo Credit

Photo of Lucie climbing by Charlie Postlewaite

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

TBP 188 :: Rest - How Much Is Too Much and Navigating the Holidays Dec 15, 2021

About Matt Pincus

Matt is a boulderer and a sport climber based out of Wyoming. He splits his time between training at home in Jackson and traveling to pursue his climbing goals around the world. Matt is also a coach at TrainingBeta and he’s been seeing clients from around the world since 2017. He’s currently taking new clients, so if you’d like to work with him, you can sign up here.

Matt just started offering 1-hour remote coaching sessions so you can get your training questions answered and have guidance on how to build out a training program for yourself. Consider this offering as a gift for the climbers in your life, or for yourself if you’re not ready to commit to a coach full-time.

>>>Get an Hour of Coaching with Matt Rest – How Much Is Too Much and How to Navigate the Holidays

In the episode, Coach Matt Pincus and I talk about rest. We’ve been getting a lot of questions from our clients who are scared to take off any time from climbing over the holidays for fear that they’ll lose all of the gains they’ve worked so hard for.

Matt describes 3 client scenarios with different circumstances and the guidance he gave about rest:

A person who just came off a performance cycle and is a little tweaky and is going home to visit family for a week.
A person who has a climbing trip coming up 2 weeks after a trip home to visit family for a week.
A person who doesn’t have a climbing trip coming up and is going home to visit family for 10 days.

We give our own anecdotal stories about whether or not resting has hurt or helped us in the past, and we talk about professional climbers’ use of long and short rest periods.

We also discuss what the research says about how long it takes to actually lose strength and endurance during taper and off-season periods in other sports.

Enjoy!

Episode Details

My story about sending after 5 days completely off
How Matt is guiding his clients during the holidays
Expectations for when you come back from a full rest period
What to do if you really want to keep training while you’re on vacation and only have minimal equipment
What the research says about how much rest it takes to see declines in performance

Show Links

Do an hour coaching session with Matt
Bouldering Program (Levels 1-3) to help you work your way up the grades
Work with Matt as your coach
Work with Neely as your nutritionist
Have topics you want us to cover? Email matt@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com
Research Mentioned

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Photo Credit

Photo of Adam Peters on Make It A Double by Matt Pincus @mpincus87

TBP 187 :: Matt Samet on Training and Climbing Hard at 50 and Route Development Dec 09, 2021

Matt Samet is the editor of Climbing Magazine, the author of several books, a prolific route developer, and a very strong and dedicated climber. He’s also a friend of mine and someone I respect a lot, so I’ve been wanting to interview him for a while.

He’s a father of 3, works full-time, and just sent a 5.14 project a couple days before his 50th birthday, which is the same max grade he was sending 20 years ago. It’s always inspiring to me to see people just make it work in climbing, even if they have a million things going on in their lives and are at an age many climbers believe to be limiting.

Another notable thing about Samet is that he battled an addiction to benzodiazapenes and other psychiatric drugs for over a decade, and he still deals with neurological consequences of that. He’s had to alter the way he trains and his expectations of himself, and yet he still gets out climbing and trains more often than most of us ever will.

In this interview we talk about his dedication to route development, how his training has changed over the years, his stint with anorexia and how he’s overcome it, among many other things.

I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did.

Matt Samet Interview Details

Why he loves route development so much
How route development can be a thankless job (and why he doesn’t care)
Gender bias in route development
How he’s doing now since being off all drugs since 2006
Long-term nervous system effects from psychiatric drugs
How he makes time for climbing while being a dad and working full-time
How his wife deals with him wanting to climb all the time
How having kids changes your relationship
How age plays a role in his climbing at 50
His decades-long bout with anorexia
How he’s changed his eating and how that affected his climbing
What he hopes to achieve going forward (he’s not slowing down)

Show Links

Instagram @phorrizzler6514
His book about Benzos: Death Grip: A Climber’s Escape from Benzo Madness
The Crag Survival Handbook: The Unspoken Rules of Climbing
The Climbing Dictionary: Mountaineering Slang, Terms, Neologisms & Lingo: An Illustrated Reference
His article in Outside Magazine about benzo addiction: “Beauty in the Breakdown”

Photo Credit

Photo of Matt on Nephson (5.13+) at Hillbilly Rock in the Flatirons by Ryan Pecknold

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

TBP 186 :: Dr. Tyler Nelson's New Injury Prevention and Warm-Up Protocol Dec 01, 2021

Dr. Tyler Nelson’s New Injury Prevention and Warm-Up Protocol

In the episode, Tyler explains how we should be warming up our youth teams (and ourselves) in order to make climbing sessions more effective, and more importantly, for injury prevention.

Once again, Tyler pored over the research and came up with a very progressive way of doing things – much differently than what we’re used to. Gone are the days of just warming up for climbing by doing some easy climbing: there’s actually a better way.

Tyler Nelson has a lot of qualifications, so I’m going to let his website sum those up for you:

Tyler is a second generation chiropractor whose father was a leader in chiropractic sports medicine for many years. In graduate school he did a dual doctorate and masters degree program in exercise science with an emphasis on tendon loading. He completed his masters degree at BYU and was a physician for the athletics department for 4 years out of school. He currently is the owner of Camp4 Human Performance where he treats clients through his license as a chiropractic physician. He also is an instructor for the Performance Climbing Coach seminar series and a certified instructor for gobstrong. When he’s not working he’s climbing or hiking outside with his family.

You can find Tyler in Salt Lake City at his clinic, Camp 4 Human Performance, where he tests athletes, creates training programs, and treats all kinds of athletes for injuries.

Tyler’s ability to question what we take for granted and provide relevant research is unparalleled, and I was psyched to hear about this new way of doing things. He is well-spoken and a wealth of knowledge about how the human body responds to climbing and training.

Other Episodes with Tyler

Tyler Nelson Interview Details

Why just climbing easy stuff isn’t the most effective way to warm up
How to warm up instead using a series of exercises to prep your whole body to try hard
How this way of warming up is good for injury prevention for climbers
The youth teams he’s tested this on have all had great results
How to incorporate it into team practice or your own climbing

Tyler Nelson Links

Personal website: camp4humanperformance.com
Take an online class with Tyler: camp4humanperformance.com/store
Do a consultation with Tyler
Instagram: @c4hp
Facebook: @camp4chiropractic

Learn More from Tyler: If you want to work with Dr. Tyler Nelson on an individual basis for injuries or strength training, he offers remote consultations to people all over the world. He also teaches online classes on strength training and injuries. Learn more.

Training Programs for You

Do you want a well-laid-out, easy-to-follow training program that will get you stronger quickly? Here’s what we have to offer on TrainingBeta. Something for everyone…

At-Home Training Program: trainingbeta.com/covid
Personal Training Online: www.trainingbeta.com/coaching
For Boulderers: Bouldering Training Program for boulderers of all abilities
For Route Climbers: Route Climbing Training Program for route climbers of all abilities
Finger Strength : www.trainingbeta.com/fingers
All of our training programs: Training Programs Page

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

TBP 185 :: Running for Climbing Fitness: Does It Work? And How to Avoid Common Mistakes Nov 12, 2021

Running for Climbing Fitness: Does It Work? And How to Avoid Common Mistakes

In the episode, Coach Matt Pincus and I talk about running for climbing fitness. In our practices as a coach (Matt) and a nutritionist (me), we see a lot of people who run in the name of climbing training. But there are some common mistakes we see people making in their training schedules, their nutrition practices, and their reasoning behind their actions.

We talk about some better choices people can be making with their running, whether it’s scientifically been shown to help with climbing fitness at all, and how to proceed with your running and climbing regimens.

Enjoy!

Episode Details

How common running is among our clients
#1 Question to ask yourself about running if you’re a runner
Running for weight loss from a nutritionist’s perspective
How Matt creates training programs for people who want to run
Pushback that runners give Matt and his responses to that
Transitioning from one sport to another, whether it’s running, skiing, biking, etc
What needs to happen nutritionally to train running and climbing at the same time
3 biggest mistakes people make nutritionally with fueling for exercise
How to recover really well

Show Links

Bouldering Program (Levels 1-3) to help you work your way up the grades
Work with Matt as your coach
Work with Neely as your nutritionist
Have topics you want us to cover? Email matt@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

TBP 184 :: Carbs for Climbers - How Much, What Kind, Timing, and Why Nov 03, 2021

TBP 184 :: Carbs for Climbers – How Much, What Kinds, Timing, and Why

In this episode, I talk all about carbohydrates and how to use them properly in your diet to help your climbing performance, energy levels every day, overall mental well-being, and body composition.

Carbs are a tricky topic because we’ve been taught to fear and hate them, even though in reality they’re what fuel strength and power activities. They’re also paramount to keeping your blood sugar and mood stable all day every day, as well as helping you to fall asleep and stay asleep. If you’re eating the wrong kinds of carbs in the wrong amounts at the wrong times of day, in conjunction with the wrong amount of protein and fat, you’re going to have issues.

But if you know some basic guidelines around carbs, including what kinds to eat, how much of them, and when, it can make a world of difference in your life and your climbing. These changes can literally happen overnight, so listen carefully to this episode and try to make some tweaks to your diet for some potentially big changes.

This is a recording taken from a 5-day nutrition challenge I did last year in front of a live zoom audience. I talked for about 15 minutes on the topic and then took a bunch of questions from the audience (very common questions, so they’re quite relevant).

A Little about Me

After completing my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Zoology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, I did a 4-year nutrition certificate program at Seven Bowls School of Nutrition, Nourishment, and Healing. I graduated in 2007 as a Certified Integrative Clinical Nutrition Therapist. During those 4 years, I learned about not only nutrition, but herbs, homeopathy, and other alternative practices. I’ve been seeing clients since 2007 and I’ve worked exclusively with climbers since 2013.

Nutrition Coaching with Me

If you’re looking for help with your own nutrition and you feel like you need personalized coaching, I’m taking new clients right now. I also have a program that is self-paced with 4+ hours of video from me, PDF’s, and meal plans laid out for you. You can find more information about my services and the program at www.trainingbeta.com/nutrition.

You’re welcome to email me at neely@trainingbeta.com if you have any questions at all.

Episode Details

Common symptoms of low and high carbs in my clients.
The right kinds of carbs help stabilize blood sugar, which keeps your energy levels up for longer.
What about vegetables?
Sugar consumption guidelines
Sample meals
- afternoon fatigue
- Low energy for workouts
- Poor recovery the next day (especially after big day outside)
- Sugar cravings
- Food obsession
- Always hungry
- Snacking a lot at night
- Poor sleep
- Things I see happen when people don’t eat enough carbs or too many, especially in the morning

Show Links

Work with me one-on-one or do my self-paced program

TBP 183 :: How to Break Into 5.13 with Alex Stiger Oct 21, 2021

How to Break Into 5.13 with Alex Stiger

In the episode, Coach Alex and I tackled the topic of breaking into 5.13 and what you need to do physically and mentally to do it.

We both share our experiences of our first 5.13’s, which were quite different actually, and our processes of projecting things that are hard for us. We talk about how to turn the try-hard switch on and off on hard routes, and how to stay focused and calm enough to not overgrip and get super pumped.

We also talk about resting tactics, and how important it is to be able to rest on hard routes, whether it’s on the route, between burns, or the days leading up to getting on your project. Alex even shares some resting drills to use to practice at the gym.

We discuss how your training needs to change from generalized strength and technique to more route-specific technique and strength building. And how to do that in the gym.

I talk a little bit about proper nutrition on projecting days (and the days leading up to them) and Alex shares her story of how I helped her tweak her diet to make her projecting days more productive.

We also discuss advanced techniques like heel hooks and knee bars, as well as some mental tricks for avoiding overwhelm on big projects.

I loved this conversation with Alex, and whether you’re breaking into 5.12+, 13- or 5.13, the tips in here should help you.

Episode Details

Our first 5.13a’s and how hard they felt for us, mentally and physically
Our processes for projecting hard things
How to turn the try-hard switch on and off on routes
Resting tactics and drills
Why skipping clips is not always the answer to being pumped
Transitioning from general training to specific technique building
Nutrition for big projects
Avoiding overwhelm on a daunting project
How many tries is too many tries
Why it’s ok to not get to the top on your first tries

Show Links

Work with Alex as your coach
Join Alex’s next Team Program
Work on your nutrition with Neely
Have questions? Email alex@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

TBP 182 :: How He Climbs Outside 4 Days a Week With a Demanding Job Oct 14, 2021

TBP 182 :: How Brian Lichtenheld Climbs Outside 4 Days a Week With a Demanding Job

Brian Lichtenheld is one of my close friends and one of my favorite climbing partners. I asked him to be on the show because I don’t know another non-professional climber who is more psyched on climbing, and I wanted to share his infectious positive attitude with you.

No matter what season it is, Brian climbs outside a LOT. During the spring, summer, and fall, he’s basically outside 4 days per week, and that is on top of having a very demanding 50 hour-a-week job as a Certified Financial Planner. He’s also devoted to spending quality time with his girlfriend, as well as having regular volunteer commitments, among other interests.

Despite having time commitments and life stressors like the rest of us, Brian just makes it work all the time, rain or shine, and I’m constantly inspired by him.

In our conversation, we talk about why climbing is so important to him and how he manages his schedule to accommodate everything. We talk about his level-headed approach to long-term projects and how he never tosses wobblers or seemingly ever even gets upset when he fails.

Over the years, Brian has only gotten stronger and better at climbing, and at the age of 36 he has climbed 182 routes between 5.13a and 5.14a. He’s a solid climber, and we can all learn something from him about making it work, no matter what.

Brian Lichtenheld Interview Details

Who Brian is: his work, other activities, relationships, volunteering
How he climbs 4 days a week outside
How he balances his relationship with his girlfriend with climbing (she’s not a climber)
How he injects his core value of sustainability into his job as a certified financial planner
How he structures his days to fit it all in
What he loves about climbing soooo much
What he’s learned about his vegan diet and recovery/fueling
How resting more actually helped him
What training he does and how he fits it in

Show Links

Please Review The Podcast on iTunes

Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

TBP 181 :: Understanding and Assessing Your Injuries with Dr. Evan Ingerson Oct 07, 2021

Understanding and Assessing Your Injuries with Dr. Evan Ingerson

Dr. Evan Ingerson is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and Board Certified in Orthopedics who works at his practice Mend in Colorado.

Evan is a physical therapist who specializes in treating rock climbers. He uses the most up-to-date evidence in his practice to get climbers out of pain faster. Evan works to identify the underlying cause of the problem and uses a combination of manual therapy and advanced exercises to return climbers to the wall better than they were before.

He treats climbers at all levels, from beginners to international competitors and has the experience and equipment to create high level exercise programs specifically catered to the unique challenges of rock climbing. In addition to being a board-certified specialist in orthopedics, Evan is a lifelong climber and 10-time national competitor.

Evan is also one of Coach Alex Stiger’s physical therapists, and she recognized that his cutting edge approach to injuries was something she wanted the TrainingBeta community to be exposed to. So she interviewed Evan all about how to assess and understand your injuries as a rock climber so you don’t feel lost when you have one.

In this interview, she and Dr. Ingerson discuss how to know when to go to a doctor, a surgeon, the ER, a PT, an acupuncturist, or some other specialist. They also delve into the contentious topic of whether or not to ice an injury, and so much more…

Even if you don’t have an injury right now, this interview will help you figure out a plan if you ever do get injured.

Climbing Injury Interview Details

What to do immediately following an injury
When to get an x-ray or other imaging
When to use a brace
When to do dry needling, and what that is
When to get spinal manipulations/adjustments
How to choose a medical professional to help with sport specific injuries
When to consult with a surgeon
Managing low-level injuries on a climbing trip

Show Links

Work with Evan at his clinic Mend
Evan’s article on TrainingBeta about the posterior chain
Work with Alex as your coach
Gymnastic Rings Workshop for Climbers