The TrainingBeta Podcast: A Climbing Training Podcast

TBP 040 :: Nina Williams on Training for V13, Comps, and Diet

About Nina Williams
Nina Williams is a boulderer (and budding trad climber) who lives and trains in Boulder, CO. She's climbed V13 and she won the Dark Horse comp in 2015, but she spends most of her energy climbing outdoors and training for that. Being a full-time sponsored climber, she's able to travel often, and she's spent time in Australia, South Africa, Switzerland, Hueco Tanks, and other popular climbing destinations. I sat down with Nina to talk about how she trains, what she eats, her attitude toward climbing, and what it's like training and climbing with Alex Puccio.  
What We Talked About
Why she did highball boulders and why she doesn't anymore
Where her climbing is going
Why trad climbing is so satisfying to her
How she changed her approach to comp climbing
Who trains her
Her home training set up
What she eats and why
Related Links
Nina Williams on Instagram
Nina Williams on Facebook
Trailer for Za, a movie about Nina, Daniel, Nalle, and Dave Graham
Training Programs for You
Check out our Route Climbing Training Program for route climbers of all abilities.
Our other training programs: Training Programs Page.

TBP 039 :: Dave MacLeod on Training, Injuries, Diet, and Fear

 
About Dave MacLeod
Dave MacLeod is one of the most famous climbers, having put up many first ascents of sport, boulder, mixed, and trad climbs. Honestly, I'm not going to do him justice with a short introduction of his climbing and career, as he's accomplished so much in his 37 years. So here's his Wikipedia page. Please read it - it's fascinating. 
What We Talked About
His climbing career
How he's trained for different projects
How mixed climbing helps him to train for sport and trad 
The mistakes most climbers make in their training
Excelling even when the pressure is on
How he deals with fear on scary routes
His secret diet (exposed! woohoo!)
Related Links
Dave's blog: www.davemacleod.blogspot.com
Dave MacLeod on Facebook
Training Programs for You
Check out our Route Climbing Training Program for route climbers of all abilities.
Our other training programs: Training Programs Page.
 

TBP 038 :: Tom Randall on His Nerdy Training Methods

 
About Tom Randall
Tom Randall is one of the infamous Wide Boyz offwidth climbers from Sheffield, England. He's climbed 5.14 offwidth, trad, and sport climbs, and he's a professional climbing trainer as well. He and his team at Lattice Training put hard science and historical data from other climbers into their training plans and robust assessments of their clients. He's pretty nerdy, in the best way possible. 
What We Talked About
His assessment of Seth's climbing strengths and weaknesses
How he works with clients
Training for crack climbing
Pinky crack drills
Free soloing 3,000 routes
Case study of bouldering client
Sample Assessment of One of Tom's Clients
Intro to "Jack Daniels"
 
Jack is a 34 year old climber who has always been told by his friends that he has good finger strength, but never quite seems to transfer it to his projects. He either gets pumped too quickly on sport routes that feel within his redpoint ability and falls off when the moves are continuously strenuous, or on long style boulder problems he hits "The power-out wall" at about 60 seconds. He'd like to understand what factors are limiting his physical performance.
 
--> Assessment feedback for Jack Daniels
Related Links
Lattice Training: www.latticetraining.co.uk
Tom Randall on Facebook
His coaching partner, Ollie
Tom Randall on Instagram
Training Programs for You
Check out our Route Climbing Training Program for route climbers of all abilities.
Our other training programs: Training Programs Page.
Please Review The Podcast on iTunes!
Link to the TrainingBeta Podcast on iTunes is HERE.
Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world ;)
Thanks for listening!

TBP 037 :: Thomasina Pidgeon on Climbing V12 at Age 40

Podcast is on iTunes is HEREDirect Download: LINKDate: December 7th, 2015
About Thomasina Pidgeon
Thomasina Pidgeon is a Canadian boulderer - one of the strongest Canadian female climbers, actually, having done over 40 boulders V11 to V12. She's also competed quite a bit, and been quite successful on national and international levels. She does this at the age of 40, all while living out of her van, which she's done since she was 19 years old, and while raising her 9 year-old daughter. 
What We Talked About
Van life and being a mom
Her training regimen designed by Steve Maisch
What's different in her climbing now that she's 40
How she trains now vs before she started competing
Her success on a high fat diet
Related Links
Thomasina's website: www.thomasinapidgeon.blogspot.com
Thomasina on Facebook
Thomasina on Instagram
Training Programs for You
Check out our Route Climbing Training Program for route climbers of all abilities.
Our other training programs: Training Programs Page. 
Please Review The Podcast on iTunes
Link to the TrainingBeta Podcast on iTunes is HERE.
Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world ;)
Photo Credit
Mike Chapman
Thanks for listening!

TBP 036 :: Steve Bechtel Interview #2

About Steve Bechtel I was honored and excited to interview the great Steve Bechtel for a second time. Steve is a long-time climber and trainer who knows his stuff when it comes to getting strong, catering to individual training needs, and staying lean, among many other things. Steve runs ClimbStrong.com, a website where he writes articles and training programs for climbers. You can subscribe to the site to get full access to all of his info. He also runs a gym in Lander, WY called Elemental Fitness, where he works with climbers and athletes of all kinds. What We Talked About What makes a good climbing trainer Confusion about periodization Confusion about finger training Repeaters vs. Eva Lopez training Climbing as training for climbing Listener questions Related Links Steve’s website, Climb Strong at www.climbstrong.com Climb Strong on Facebook: www.facebook.com/climbstrong Steve’s gym in Lander is Elemental Performance and Fitness at http://lmntl.net Steve’s book about strength training on trainingbeta. Training Programs for You Check out our Route Climbing Training Program for route climbers of all abilities. Our other training programs: Training Programs Page.

TBP 035 :: Isabelle Faus on Sending V14

About Isabelle Faus
Isabelle Faus is a 22 year-old boulderer out of Boulder, CO. (Yes, I know that a lot of my guests are from Boulder, but there are just so many amazing climbers here!) Isabelle climbed her first V14 in South Africa recently, and has done several V13's, including Nuthin' but Sunshine in a day. She also just started sport climbing and did her first 5.14a the other day. She'll tell you all about her climbing, training, and diet in this episode. 
What We Talked About
Her bouldering career highlights
How her coach as a child taught her so much about training
Her weekly schedule for workouts and climbing
Exactly what her workouts look like
How she makes it work without sponsors
How she stays injury-free
Lots more
Related Links
Isabelle on Instagram: @Fausey
Isabelle on Island.io
Training Programs for You
Check out our Route Climbing Training Program for route climbers of all abilities.
Our other training programs: Training Programs Page.
FrictionLabs Discount
FrictionLabs (my favorite chalk company by far) is offering you a discount on their awesome chalk - woot!
Please Review The Podcast on iTunes!
Link to the TrainingBeta Podcast on iTunes is HERE.
Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world ;)
 
Thanks for listening!

TBP 034 :: Justen Sjong on Improving Your Mental Game

About Justen Sjong
Justen Sjong is a prolific climbing coach out of Colorado, who's also had a successful climbing career, having established up to 5.14a big walls with none other than Tommy Caldwell, and crushing 5.14 sport climbs across the globe. He currently works out of Movement Climbing and Fitness in Boulder and does online coaching via www.climbingsensei.com. He has a thing or two to say about climbers improving their mental game and becoming better climbers overall. 
What We Talked About
The difference between a climbing coach and a climbing trainer
When to say "take" on routes
How he coaches Alex Puccio
How to increase confidence, and why it's important
How your body language can influence your climbing performance
Lots more
Related Links
Justen's online climbing services: www.climbingsensei.com
Training Programs for You
Check out our Route Climbing Training Program for route climbers of all abilities.
Our other training programs: Training Programs Page.
FrictionLabs Discount
FrictionLabs (my favorite chalk company by far) is offering you a discount on their awesome chalk - woot!
Please Review The Podcast on iTunes!
Link to the TrainingBeta Podcast on iTunes is HERE.
Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world ;)
Photo Credit
Andrew Burr Photography
Thanks for listening!

TBP 033 :: Will Anglin on Training Efficiently

TrainingBeta Podcast on iTunes Date: November 4th, 2015
(Get 10% off Armaid by using "climb" at checkout.)
About Will Anglin
 
Will Anglin is a 27 year-old climber and head climbing trainer at Earth Treks in Golden, CO. He minored in Exercise Physiology in college and is a certified personal trainer, and he's studied climbing training quite a bit. He trains people in person and online. One of the reasons I wanted to interview him is that he's not only a well-respected trainer, but also a prolific climber himself, having sent V13 and 5.14.
He has a lot to say about training, and this was a dense conversation (in the best way possible).
What we talked about:
The importance of strength training
Difference between strength and power
His weekly training schedule during 50-60 hour work weeks
Whether or not you should train to exhaustion
Why he thinks using a weight vest during campusing is "safer" than not
Who should be campusing
Why he does weighted pull ups and why you should maybe not
Things We Mentioned
Will's website
Tension Climbing (coming soon)
Will's article on finger strength training
I'm doing nutrition consults one-on-one with people again on a limited basis. If you're interested, email neely@trainingbeta.com
Discount on ArmAid
If you haven't heard of the ArmAid yet, definitely give it a look-see. It's a nutcracker-type self-massage tool for your poor, overused arms, and it actually works.
We wrote a glowing review about it here.  Use the code "climb" at checkout for a 10% discount!
 
Training Programs for You
Check out the Route Climbing Training Program for route climbers of all abilities.
Our other training programs: Training Programs Page.
If you'd like to place an ad on the podcast, just email us at info@trainingbeta.com.
Please Review Us on iTunes!
Link to the TrainingBeta Podcast on iTunes is HERE.
Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world ;)
Photo Credit
Thanks to Matty Hong for the photo of Jon Cardwell.
Thanks for listening!
 

TBP 032 :: Nathan Drolet (Average Joe Climber) Trains Smart and Climbs Hard

Date: October 5th, 2015
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About Nathan Drolet
 
We met Nathan Drolet in the Red River Gorge a couple years ago when his badass girlfriend, Natalie Hawley, was projecting 8 Ball while I was working on Snooker. We ran into them a lot over that season in the Red and in Chattanooga, where they now live. 
What I noticed about Nate is that he's a calm, collected, strong, solid climber. He was obviously dedicated to climbing, having moved to the Red to work at Miguel's so he could pursue it full time. He's climbed up to 5.14a and V11, and he won the 2011 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell. And he's a really nice guy.
When I asked you all a while back for suggestions for "everyday climbers" (ie not pros) whose training has paid off, several people suggested Nate, so of course I had to interview him to find out how he does it.
What We Talked About
How he stays strong living on the road
How he uses breathing to create power and to relax
How he trained back flagging
His new interest in lifting and how it's changed his climbing
Whether or not he runs and why
Diet 
Mental training
Training Programs for You
Check out the Route Climbing Training Program for route climbers of all abilities.
Our other training programs: Training Programs Page.
Please Review The Podcast on iTunes!
Link to the TrainingBeta Podcast on iTunes is HERE.
Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world ;)
Thanks for listening!

TBP 031 :: Ben Moon on Training and Climbing Through The Decades

Direct Download: LINKDate: August 20th, 2015
About Ben Moon
Ben Moon is an iconic climber from England who's accomplished much in his 40-year climbing career. He's 49 years old and just sent 9a (5.14d) this year, after having put up the first of the same grade in 1990 ("Hubble" in France). He's bouldered up to V14, and he does all this while running a successful climbing company called Moon Climbing and raising a child with his wife. He also created the classic Moon Board and the Moon Fingerboard, designed for the stronger, more massochistic among us.
I wanted to talk to this legend about how he's achieved all of this, and he kindly granted me an interview. By the way, there are 2 Ben Moon's in the climbing world: this English Ben Moon and the videographer/climber Ben Moon who lives in the U.S. and recently made a video about Denali the dog.
What We Talked About
Here's what English Ben Moon and I talked about:
His history as a climber
Hubble, the first 8c+ ever, and how it got upgraded to 9a
Training for and sending 9a at age 49
How he trains in general
His thoughts on the Moon board and the Moon Fingerboard
Whether he's just genetically gifted or if he has to train hard
Training and projecting on a tight schedule
How he's doing on Northern Lights, another 9a
Related Links
Moon Climbing: www.moonclimbing.com
Video interview of Ben Moon on his recent 9a ascent of Rainshadow
Moon Climbing on Facebook
Training Programs for You
Check out the new Route Climbing Training Program for route climbers of all abilities.
Our other training programs: Training Programs Page.
Please Review The Podcast on iTunes!
Link to the TrainingBeta Podcast on iTunes is HERE.
Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world ;)
Thanks for listening!