TBP 249 :: How to Break into 5.11 Climbing with Coach Alex Stiger

In this episode, I talk with Coach Alex Stiger about the most common mistakes made by climbers who are trying to break into 5.11 climbing. 5.10 climbers make up the bulk of Alex’s clientele, so her experience with this group is vast. In this episode she outlines the most important things you need to do in your climbing and training to reliably climb 5.11’s.

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 5.10 who can not climb 5.11 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:

• How to practice technique and skills
• Which technique and skill drills to do
• How to practice staying composed while climbing
• Honing the skill of resting
• How to decrease intimidation of the grade
• How to learn from your falling experiences
• How to structure your climbing days and weeks to reach this goal
• 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 level or below, or if you’re just not consistently climbing 5.11’s and you’d like to. Even if you are climbing 5.11’s consistently, I think a lot of her tactics will help you!

If you’re interested in learning more about this topic in a really immersive way, check out the 5.11 Breakthrough Course coming up January 16th.