The TrainingBeta Podcast: A Climbing Training Podcast

Coach Matt Pincus hasn’t had regular access to a route gym in more than 10 years, and he doesn’t think it has held his sport climbing back at all. Right now I do almost all of my climbing on routes in the gym. So we came at this one from opposite sides.
Matt explains who should use a commercial route gym and who probably doesn’t need to. Then we talk about how to use one on purpose instead of just going because you’re a route climber. He splits gym sessions into three kinds (performance, training and practice), gives examples of each from his coaching, and talks through one of my own recent gym sessions on air.
What we talk about
Who should use a route gym, and who probably doesn’t need to
3 factors to weigh when deciding whether to climb routes indoors
The difference between performance, training and practice sessions
Why most climbers settle for an “accidental mix” of all three
Session examples from Matt’s coaching:
A simulated outdoor day
An aerobic capacity session
A second-try sending session
Links
6-Month Package - Coaching with Matt (on sale until November 22nd, 2026)
Questions for Matt: matt@trainingbeta.com
Black Diamond video with Seb Bouin on balancing training and outdoor climbing
Train with Coach Matt Pincus This Winter
Matt is taking a small group of climbers for one-on-one coaching through a 6-month package, at his most affordable rate. The sale runs for two weeks only until November 22nd. Six months isn’t an arbitrary length. Figuring out the “it depends on the person” questions in your training takes time, and so does the work to actually change things.
You’ll start with a 60–90 minute intake call on Zoom to go over your climbing, goals and training history. Then you and Matt will build a plan that fits your schedule and the facilities you have. He programs about four weeks at a time in TrueCoach. You log each session and hear from him several times a week, and every four weeks or so you’ll have a check-in call to look at what’s working, adjust and plan the next block.
Sport climbing, trad or bouldering, he’d be psyched to work with you. Sign up at the link below, or email matt@trainingbeta.com with questions.
Learn More about Working with Matt

Dr. Jared Vagy, “The Climbing Doctor,” is back on the podcast to talk about crimping. Specifically, he covers the finger and hand muscles most climbers never train, and why that might be important for your pulleys and overall hand health.
Jared has a new book, The Resilient Climber, which breaks down 40 climbing movements by their mobility, strength, and movement demands. In this episode he applies that framework to the crimp. His core argument: climbers train their long finger flexors in one direction, over and over. That’s a lot like runners who build huge quads and hamstrings but neglect the side-hip muscles that stabilize the knee. The smaller stabilizing muscles in the hand get left behind, and Jared sees that pattern constantly in injured climbers.
Show Links
The Climbing Doctor: Jared’s site, with free blog posts and programs
The Resilient Climber
Climb Injury-Free
Videos from the episode:
Finger extensor strengthening
Pom-pom gripping
Pen rolling
Finger joint decompression
Jared sees climbers in person in Los Angeles and does remote sessions for climbers in CO, UT, and CA. He also keeps a referral list of climbing-savvy providers on his site.

Coach Matt Pincus recently got back from an extremely productive 2-month bouldering trip to Rocklands in South Africa, and he’s on the podcast to tell us all about it.
Matt’s hardest boulder to date is V12, and on this trip he sent 36 new boulders:
3 x V11
4 x V10
4 x V9 (1 flash)
9 x V8
1 x V7
9 x V6
and a bunch of V5 and lower
At one point, he sent a double digit boulder 6 sessions in a row climbing day on day off!
In the episode, he explains:
how he prepared for the trip (not much)
how he planned out his climbing schedule
how he maintained his skin
why he didn’t focus on any one boulder for very long
what he realized he needs to train that he's been neglecting for years
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Matt had such an amazing trip after making the lifestyle changes this past year that he talked about in ​his last interview​.
--> Listen on Apple
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Or find episode 319 of The TrainingBeta Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
This episode was just super exciting to hear about all the success Matt had – sending is fun, and it’s gratifying to see all of Matt’s hard work as a climber pay off for him this year.
Matt Can Help You Send Too
Matt can help you reach your own climbing goals, whether they’re with bouldering or route climbing. He’s available for coaching 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 duration of your training program.
He’ll help you get stronger and he’ll cater to your specific goals so that you can go out and send your dream boulders and routes.
​Learn More about Working with Matt

Coach Zoe Sayetta is back on the show, and this time she’s talking about something she’s been seeing constantly in her coaching: athletes who have trouble holding two feelings about the same performance at once. You either crushed it or you blew it. You’re a good slab climber or a bad one. There’s no room for “I’m proud of this AND I’m disappointed by this,” and Zoe thinks that binary trap is quietly shaping how climbers see themselves, compete, and recover from setbacks.
We get into how to actually sit with disappointment instead of talking yourself out of it, why social comparison isn’t automatically the enemy, what it looks like to let a competitive “killer instinct” back into a team culture built on support, and why owning your biggest goals out loud matters more than people think. We close on a heavier but important topic: body image, RED-S, and eating disorders among elite climbers, and how coaches can respond responsibly when they see an athlete in trouble. Find Zoe at www.sayettacoaching.com.

Coach Alex Stiger joins Neely to break down what a "plateau" actually is — because most climbers lump together very different problems under that one word, and that's part of why it's so hard to get unstuck.
In this episode:
The three patterns of progress: linear, growth-spurt, and wave
Four types of plateaus — psych, strength, grade, and mental — and why the fix is different for each
Why some plateaus don't need fixing at all
Zooming out before zooming in: consistency, overusing what already worked, trap grades, recovery, and structure
Alex's story of climbing better while getting weaker, and what that reveals about false narratives
Practical tools to progress in every session
Why changing your partner, gym, or discipline is one of the fastest ways out of a rut
Alex has three coaching spots open right now for the first time in a long time! Email her at alex@trainingbeta.com to work with her.
 

Lillian Frances is a rock climber, music producer, and the author of Finger Banging for Climber Boys, a 50-page illustrated guide to female sexual pleasure, consent, and communication written for the climbing community. She makes a compelling case that asking for what you want isn't a mood-killer: it's the thing that makes everything better, on the wall and off it.
We talk about how to set boundaries before a sexy situation escalates, why saying no is actually hot, how "belay on / climb on" is consent too, and why the way a partner reacts to a "no" tells you everything you need to know about them. Fair warning: we use explicit language throughout. 

Chuck Odette is 70 years old, has been climbing for 47 years, and is currently projecting 5.13 with a hip replacement on the horizon and a shoulder replacement behind him. His partner Maggie is 56 and working toward yet another 5.14 send a year out from her own shoulder surgery. Together they've been living and climbing full-time out of a trailer for 11 years, having retired at 59 and 45. In this episode, we talk about living peacefully together in small quarters, navigating a number of surgeries, why Chuck has always prioritized building muscle over staying light, Maggie's experience with menopause and rebuilding muscle in her 50s, how they train outdoors full-time, and the dietary shift in Chuck's early 40s that took him from 5.13- to his first 5.14a in a six-month period — the same year he became a grandfather. This one is for anyone who has ever wondered if you can still climb hard past your 30s and 40s. 

Coach Matt Pincus recently sent a three-season project at Wolf Point, and we thought you might be able to take something away from his experience on it. He changed a lot of things about his life in order to send this route. While Matt has sent numerous 5.14a's and b's at Wolf Point, this route was 5.13d, but it was more challenging for him in a few ways. In this episode, we talk about exactly what he changed in his training and his lifestyle in order to send the route and become a healthier human in the process. 

Dr. Maria Stefania Ionel is a clinical and sport psychologist, postdoctoral researcher, and 8b climber based in Romania who has spent the last decade studying the psychology of climbing specifically. In this episode we talk about what personality traits actually predict climbing performance (grit and openness to experience top the list), the difference between fear of falling and climbing anxiety, perfectionism as a double-edged sword, and how to recognize athletic burnout before it becomes something more serious.
Maria is currently running a research study on stress, burnout, and mental health in climbers of all levels. If you've been climbing for at least a year — any discipline, any level — you qualify. It's four surveys over four weeks and fully anonymous.
👉 Take the survey: https://unibuc.questionpro.com/a/TakeSurvey?tt=T/9YT60gbdYECHrPeIW9eQ%3D%3D
Full show notes with links to Maria's research and contact info: trainingbeta.com/media/maria-stefania-ionel-burnout

Neely Quinn and climbing coach Alex sit down to talk through one of the most common — and least discussed — challenges in climbing: the friction between partners. They cover emotional projection, mismatched goals, unsolicited beta, belay trust issues, passive aggression, sacrifice dynamics, competition between partners, and trip planning stress. Both share candid stories from their own partnerships, and Neely explains what couples coaching for climbers actually looks like and how she helps partners hear each other differently. Whether you climb with a romantic partner, a close friend, or a family member, this one will resonate.