The TrainingBeta Podcast: A Climbing Training Podcast

Jesse Grupper is a 27-yr-old climber who frequents podiums at international competitions, has climbed up to 5.15a and has flashed up to 5.14c. He is an amazing climber. AND I LOVE watching Jesse Grupper in climbing comps. His infectious smile, his tenacious try-hard, and his incredible climbing strength and skills are exactly why I watch climbing comps in the first place. I was so thrilled that he agreed to an interview, and I asked him a lot of questions about his approach to climbing, his detailed training program, how he maintains a positive mindset while climbing and competing, and how he’s coping with a current finger injury. Support the show and get tons of bonus content over at Patreon at www.patreon.com/trainingbeta.

This is an actual coaching session done by Coach Matt Pincus with a climber named Kyle Smith, who has a full-time job and wants to send his first 5.13a (7c+). Matt asks him a bunch of questions about his schedule, goals, weaknesses, injuries, and helps Kyle make a plan to get him to his goal. Regardless of where you’re at in your own climbing, listening to this coaching session will give you insights into the questions you need to be asking yourself about your own life, goals, and climbing in order to make a plan for yourself. If you want help with all of that and you’d like Matt to coach you through it, he’s taking new clients right now and you can find more info about his services below. WORK WITH MATT AS YOUR COACH

Bronwyn Hodgins is a 31-year-old Squamish-based professional climber and climbing guide whose main focus until recently was big wall and crack climbing. In 2022 she sent Necronomicon (5.13d/14a), which is one of the hardest roof cracks in the world. Before that send, she had climbed up to 5.13d sport and 5.13c trad. In the summer of 2022, Hodgins and a team (including her husband, Jacob Cook) made a film about an expedition where they spent 65 days putting up many first ascents in Greenland, traveling between climbs via sea kayak. In fact, she’s made a lot of films and you can find them all here. Needless to say, she is an accomplished, well-rounded climber and adventurer and I have a lot of respect for that. When I read about her recent ascent of La Rubia (5.14c / 8c+) in Villanueva del Rosario, Spain, I was intrigued. How did a big waller who’d climbed just one 5.14a sport route sent a long, burly 14c in Spain? So I asked her to be on the show to talk about her training and preparation for the route. Turns out it’s a great story and she has a lot of wisdom to offer us. Bronwyn Hodgins Interview Details Her climbing story – how she became a pro climber Big wall experience Crack climbing training How she got shut down hard on La Rubia and then trained for a year to send it Visualization on projects Managing fear of falling The festival for women and gender expansive people she’s putting on in July How running mid distance for so long prepared her for route climbing Bonus Content on Patreon redpointing tactics on outdoor routes her diet what her lifestyle and finances are like as a pro climber sexism in climbing and guiding Support the show and get all of the bonus episodes plus nutrition and mindset training at www.patreon.com/trainingbeta    

This is a replay of an episode that originally aired in January, 2023. 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! Show Links Get the 5.12 Breakthrough Series AND the Steep Climbing Workshop for 30% Off Work with Alex as your coach Have questions? Email alex@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com

Ben Hanna is a 25-year-old professional climber originally from New Mexico. He climbs hard sport routes outside and he’s active in competition climbing. He started climbing at the age of 10 and quickly gained notoriety as a youth competitor. He’s gone on to podium at 2 national championships and climb 5.15a. I wanted to talk to Ben about how he trains, what his competition mindset strategies are, and what it’s like to be a professional, full-time climber. He goes into detail about his “early life crisis” when he decided to put his faith in a coach to help him really level up his climbing abilities. It worked, and we go into exactly what he did during that long training phase and how it changed his body. We also talk about the mindset tools he uses, the books he reads on the subject, and how he implements having a growth mindset and having a different definition of success than just winning and sending. Bonus Content on Patreon redpointing tactics on outdoor routes his diet honest conversation about his weight management tactics and my thoughts on that You can find all of that bonus content and the uncut, ad-free video episode without intro or outro on my Patreon page. GET THE AD-FREE INTERVIEW AND BONUS CONTENT

In this episode, I talk about how I've worked through my negative feelings about being a short climber. I used to care a lot about not being acknowledged for things I thought were harder for me as a short climber, and I used to feel envious of taller climbers' long reach. But having done the kind of work I will guide you through in this episode, most of the time I honestly don't care anymore what other climbers are doing or how hard something feels for me as a short climber. This episode will give you a roadmap to look at your own feelings, values, and thoughts about the situation so that you can enjoy climbing for what it is to YOU - not how it compares with someone else's experience. Get more mindset and nutrition coaching advice like this on my patreon: www.patreon.com/trainingbeta  

Author, psychologist, researcher, and clinician Aric Prather, PhD  talks about the practical advice he wrote about in his book The Sleep Prescription: 7 Days to Your Best Rest and the work he does in his sleep clinic. In this interview he offers clear steps to help you sleep better so you can feel more recovered, energetic, and calm in life and in climbing.  Things people do to help them sleep that actually undermine sleep How to use cognitive behavioral therapy to sleep How to properly wind down before sleep Thoughts on drugs and supplements for sleep Using sleep diary Importance of standardized wake-up time Using sleep deprivation to increase “sleep drive” to eventually improve sleep How to deal with rumination that keeps you awake Bonus Content on Patreon There’s some bonus content from this episode on Patreon. what he thinks of the drug I was on (mirtazapine) for sleep and histamine use for sleep why my alphabet game puts me to sleep most of the time some thoughts on biomarker testing to figure out why you’re not sleeping why nightly wake-ups might not be so abnormal. You can find that bonus content and the uncut, ad-free episode without intro or outro on my Patreon page.  Help support the show and get nutrition and mindset coaching on Patreon. 

I talked with coaches Alex Stiger and Matt Pincus about how they coach their clients to make the best use of their time outside of work to train and climb. And I talk about how to eat well throughout every day to fuel yourself for climbing and training, regardless of what your busy schedule looks like. We looked at three case studies: The 9-5 employee Shift workers (health care workers, etc) Parent who may or may not have a job Things We Covered How to fit training in even on work days for a shift worker What to do on days off after shift work stint is over Nutrition tips for shift workers Should 9-5’ers focus on bouldering to make the most of their time? How often to be training and climbing Making sure to vary sessions Different climbing/training schedules for weekend warriors How to avoid overtraining Importance of having a plan B if you’re a parent Usefulness of home walls for parents Bonus Content on Patreon Patreon Bonus Content There’s some bonus content at the end of this episode about: Having FOMO when we see pros’ training plans on social media How to know what’s right for YOU Minimum effective dosage of hanging and weight lifting How my climbing training has evolved to be almost completely on-the-wall and why that’s still considered “training” What is “training” exactly? You can find that bonus content and the uncut, ad-free episode without intro or outro on my Patreon page. GET THE RAW INTERVIEW AND BONUS CONTENT

This is a repost of the interview Steven Dimmitt did with me on episode 214 of The Nugget Climbing Podcast. In it, I talk about how mindset coaching massively improved my climbing and my life, why I got into coaching, and we do some coaching on Steven throughout the interview. Thank you to Steven for having me on the show again. I always love talking to him :)  After the interview, we did some bonus questions from his patrons about nutrition, coaching, and the business side of things. We get into it about being entrepreneurs and what it's really like for me/us as business owners, and you can find that plus the uncut video of this interview on the TrainingBeta Patreon. 

In this episode, Dr. Tyler Nelson talks about some advancements in training finger endurance that he's discovered with his patients and in the research. He describes in detail how we can be more efficient with our finger training to get the most out of our sessions. More Details Continuation of our last episode on finger endurance Difference between passive and active grip in finger training What a protocol using this new info looks like Research backing it up His thoughts on the no-hang protocol Why he sees pulley cysts all the time in his injured patients Get Bonus Content on Patreon Tyler was kind enough to provide me with 5 videos from his upcoming course on Upper Extremity Testing for the TrainingBeta Patreon page. In these videos, he clearly demonstrates how to do these 5 tests on your fingers using a Tindeq: 5-second Hang Aerobic Capacity Anaerobic Capacity Anaerobic Power Finger Max Curl Test Watch those videos and all the other podcast bonuses by signing up for a free 7-day trial on Patreon.  

Shaina Savoy is a 30-year-old climber who lives in Las Vegas who also happens to be a very good friend of mine AND TrainingBeta's social media manager. I've known her for years, and have watched her evolve into an amazingly strong 5.13+ climber who has a strong passion for nutrition. She recently finished a program at NTI to become a Nutrition Therapist Master and is now seeing nutrition clients. I'm an Integrative Clinical Nutrition Therapist and have been seeing nutrition clients since 2007. I've been working almost exclusively with climbers on their nutrition since 2013 and I have an online nutrition program for climbers.  Shaina and I answered a bunch of questions we received from our Instagram audience about nutrition for climbers. Questions We Answered Some general indications for water consumption? What is the best advice that climbing coaches can give youth athletes? When to diet & drop fat? Plant based nutrition for climbing Supplements! Favorite crag candy Is it common to be more injury prone when dieting? Nutrition tips for waking up in the middle of the night Nutrition for aging climbers and injury prevention Most accurate way to determine daily caloric needs? Thoughts on sugar, specifically foods with added sugar? Advice for people with history of disordered eating who want to be lean Bonus Content on Patreon

I sat down with current (and past) professional climbers Emily Harrington, Paige Claassen, and Angie Payne to talk about how becoming mothers in the past couple years has changed their lives as climbers.  Emily Harrington is known for her hard sport ascents (up to 5.14b or 8c), her one-day ascent of El Cap, her ascents of Everest and other big peaks, and her epic skiing accomplishments.  Paige Claassen is known for her hard sport ascents (up to 5.14d or 9a) and her recent ascent (post baby) of a V14/5.14d in Rocklands.  Angela Payne is known for her accolades as a competition climber in the 2000's and the fact that she was the first woman to send V13.  But beyond that, they're really incredible, dynamic, intelligent people who grew up together. Their close relationship and the fact that they all became mothers at around the same time is part of why I asked them to be on the show all together as more of a friendly conversation between old friends. I wanted to give the world more of an in-depth picture of these elite climbers' lives than we see on social media.  What We Talked About How they all love being a mom even more than they thought they would How being a mom has changed their climbing What's been harder about motherhood than they thought it would be Any long-lasting physical changes they've experienced, and how that's affected their climbing Where they are now in their climbing compared with pre-baby Some interesting comments they got on social media throughout pregnancy and motherhood Some awkward comments they got in person about their bodies, etc How they've been affected mentally in their climbing by having a child  Whether or not they think their best days of climbing are still ahead of them Bonus content on Patreon There's some bonus content at the end of this episode about how they would've liked to have been talked to by strangers and friends during pregnancy and afterward, whether they want more kids, and how their sponsors responded to their pregnancy. You can find that bonus content and the uncut, ad-free episode without intro or outro on my Patreon page. I hope you love this conversation as much as I did! It's not only for mothers, but for anyone who wants to understand motherhood through elite climbers' eyes. 

Kelly Birch is a 29-year-old climber living in Boulder, Colorado who sent her first V14 last fall. She has many, many double digit boulders under her belt. She is an incredible climber and has been really vocal on her Instagram about using weight training in her climbing training. She actually competed in power lifting for a while when she took a 5-year break from climbing after getting burnt out on competition climbing as a youth. We talk in depth about the following: her training program how and why she incorporates heavy weight lifting into her program what she thinks are the most important things to focus on when training for bouldering. how she manages her schedule with a full-time job how she fuels nutritionally for climbing and training some of the difficulties with nutrition and body image that exist in the climbing world how she approaches climbing with a mastery mindset There’s some bonus content at the end of this episode about core training, hip mobility, how she deals with failure in climbing, and how to train efficient movement that you can find on my Patreon page.   ----more----   Get More Training Advice on Our Patreon You can find bonus content from this episode and other climbing training advice, as well as nutrition and mindset education on our Patreon. Become A Patron   ----more---- Show Links Kelly Birch Instagram: @kellyabirch Listen or Watch the the uncut video with no intro or outro on Patreon Get nutrition and mindset education and tools on Patreon Start a training program built by TrainingBeta  

I talked with psychotherapist Tyler Stableford about some different therapy modalities that are super useful for rock climbers to help us feel more content and fulfilled in climbing (and in life). Tyler is a long-time climber out of Carbondale, Colorado, who recently switched careers to become a therapist. We talk about how Internal Family Systems (IFS), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Ketamine Assisted Therapy (KAT), my coaching techniques, and other modalities can help release trauma and build awareness about how our minds work. This can help us create new, positive behaviors and thought patterns. Tyler and I got very personal and vulnerable, talking about how these modalities have helped us continually work through our own stuff, and how they can be applied to climbers who struggle with things like: low self worth trying to find happiness through achievements not accepting where they’re at in climbing feeling shame about their climbing We tried very hard to give tangible, useful advice that you can use right now without seeing a therapist or coach. But we both strongly urge people to work with someone if you can. I absolutely loved this conversation and it’s one of my favorite episodes ever. I really hope you enjoy it too. Show Links Tyler Stableford private practice: www.stablefordcounseling.com Tyler’s portfolio from his previous career in film The Body Keeps the Score book by Bessel van der Kolk M.D Work with me on your mindset in climbing ----more---- Work with Me to Start Loving Climbing Again  I’ve been talking to a lot of climbers lately who have lost their passion and joy in climbing because they’re comparing themselves to others, feeling disappointed with their performance, and putting a lot of pressure on themselves to be doing better, faster. I have been there myself, and I’ve worked on all of it intensively over the last few years. Through all of this work with coaches and self-reflection, I’ve come out on the other side having WAY more fun in my climbing and feeling mostly positive emotions in all of my climbing sessions. I went to school to become a coach to help people on exactly this thing (among other things, but this is my favorite). Let’s work together by having skillful conversations over zoom to uncover what’s going on underneath all those negative thoughts and feelings and make a tangible plan for you to start enjoying the process of climbing more and caring less about what others think of you. Let’s get your joy back in climbing. WORK WITH ME ON YOUR CLIMBING MINDSET   ----more----   Get Bonus Content, Ad-Free Episodes, Nutrition, and Mindset Advice on Patreon   You can find even more on all of these topics on our Patreon in the form of bonus episodes, recorded mindset and nutrition coaching sessions, uncut interviews, and nutrition and mindset advice.   Become a Patron  

I talked with psychotherapist, Sarah Brock Chavez about neuroplastic pain, which is pain that comes from a sort of misfiring in your brain because your thoughts and emotions cause you to feel unsafe when you experience the pain. I don’t want to say that this kind of pain is “all in your head” because that’s probably not how the professionals would want me to refer to it, but it’s kind of that. This past October 2023 I had a lot of neck pain and nothing was helping it. Finally I was introduced to the concept of neuroplastic pain and I immediately felt relief from the pain simply by recognizing that I was afraid of the pain and that I had been sending messages to my brain that I was not safe. By doing somatic tracking (objectively and calmly noticing the pain) and sending messages to myself that I was indeed safe and that this was just a misfiring in my brain, the pain subsided. Sarah Brock Chavez works with people on all of this as a therapist and she is incredibly well-versed in the science and the practicalities of getting yourself out of pain. If you’re experiencing pain of any kind, it’s worth listening to this episode to find out if your pain qualifies as neuroplastic and what to do about it.   Show Links Sarah Brock Chavez private practice Blue Sage Therapy: www.sarahbrockchavez.com The Way Out book by Alan Gordon Podcast “Tell Me about Your Pain” on neuroplastic pain Work with me on your mindset in climbing Work with Me to Start Loving Climbing Again  I’ve been talking to a lot of climbers lately who have lost their passion and joy in climbing because they’re comparing themselves to others, feeling disappointed with their performance, and putting a lot of pressure on themselves to be doing better, faster. I have been there myself, and I’ve worked on all of it intensively over the last few years. Through all of this work with coaches and self-reflection, I’ve come out on the other side having WAY more fun in my climbing and feeling mostly positive emotions in all of my climbing sessions. I went to school to become a coach to help people on exactly this thing (among other things, but this is my favorite). Let’s work together by having skillful conversations over zoom to uncover what’s going on underneath all those negative thoughts and feelings and make a tangible plan for you to start enjoying the process of climbing more and caring less about what others think of you. Let’s get your joy back in climbing. WORK WITH ME ON YOUR CLIMBING MINDSET

Coach Matt Pincus uses climbing drills in his coaching (and his own climbing) all the time. He also put them into every single training session in the Performance Training Programs he built for TrainingBeta. But what do you imagine when you think of climbing drills? Maybe practicing heel hooks or drop knees? Perhaps you imagine practicing dynamic moves or campusing? Or maybe you have no idea what a climbing drill is or why you would do one. That’s what this episode is for. In every other sport, there are drills: basketball, soccer, baseball, horseback riding. Heck, in every HOBBY there are drills: piano, singing, chess, etc. – all in the name of getting better at the activity and making certain movements or thought patterns second nature. But in climbing we sort of gloss over that, opting to just have fun and climb instead. In this episode, Matt is going to talk about some of the drills he uses in his coaching, why he uses them, why it’s so important to practice them regularly, how to incorporate them into your climbing, and how even the most elite of climbers benefit from doing drills. More Details: Why Drills? Elements of Deliberate Practice Being Intentional Appropriate Difficulty Getting Feedback Willingness to Struggle Willing to Struggle Examples of Drills Contrast Warmup + One-Leg Climbing Memorization Drills Pacing Drills: Attack and Defend and Sprint Laps Common Pitfalls and Questions I hope this helps you gain more mastery in your climbing – this info has definitely helped Matt, his clients, and the community in our Performance Training Programs. Show Links Performance Bouldering Training Program ($18/mo with a 7-day free trial) Performance Route Climbing Training Program ($18/mo with 7-day free trial) Train with Coach Matt Pincus 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 and he’ll cater to your specific goals so that the timing is right for you to send when it’s time to send. Learn More about Working with Matt

In this short episode, I talk about the incredible sugar cravings I used to have that would lead to regular binges and how I stopped them. I talk about what this taught me as a nutritionist and how I've honed that knowledge into a way of eating that decreases sugar cravings by a LOT.  I'll go over what things to change about what you're eating, when you're eating, and why it's important to make these changes. Today's episode is actually a reading of an email that I put out today to my email list. I'm doing a 5-day deep-dive into nutrition this week with my email list, and if you'd like to join that list you can do that here.  Join the Email List for Regular Training, Nutrition, and Mindset Content I'm also doing a flash sale of 40% off of my Nourish program, which is an online video program that takes you through the process of working with me as a nutrition client and educates you on deep learning topics.  You'll learn: How much you need to be eating at meals and snacks When you should be eating during the day to optimize energy levels, performance, and recovery How many grams of protein, carbs, fat, and sugar you should be consuming every day and every meal Nutrition 101 on macros, calories, etc Primer on how to deal with emotional eating What to eat out at the crag Which supplements to take, if any Meal plans for many different caloric needs  Use Code "Save40" at Checkout for 40% Off Program Until Sunday the 29th

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.

Last month, I went on a climbing trip where I just let myself do whatever I wanted, whether it was toproping 5.11’s or taking big whips on 5.13a’s, onsighting runout 5.12’s or toproping 5.12+’s. I did what my heart told me it wanted to do and I almost never felt stressed while climbing. It was the epitome of fun, and it was very different than my normal approach to climbing trips where I pick an objective and focus on it for the trip. In contrast, last month Alex Stiger went on a trip where she picked a project and focused on it her whole trip. In fact, including her warm-ups every day, she only climbed on 3 routes the entire time she was in the Red River Gorge for I think a 10-day trip. Both of us walked away feeling like we’d had great trips and wouldn’t change anything about them. We both had fun, we both stayed true to our goals, and we both felt accomplished at the end. In this episode, Alex Stiger, Matt Pincus, and I discuss the pros and cons of each of these kinds of trips as well as a different kind of trip where you’d pick a goal other than sending one route, but the trip would be goal-oriented nonetheless. Perhaps you’d try to do a certain number of a certain grade, or onsight a certain grade. We talk about different trips we’ve gone on and what we learned from each, how each left us feeling at the end, and why Alex and I chose to have the trips we just did. This is a bit of a meandering discussion between climbers who are also friends. There’s no real “training” advice in here – just a lot of insight into how each of us operates, where we are in our lives regarding climbing, and how we try to make our experiences as positive as possible. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did 🙂

Are you preparing for a trip to Hueco Tanks? Whether that trip is coming up in a month or sometime in your future dreams, this episode will help you know what to train, how long in advance to train, and what other preparations you can make to have a successful trip to this magical sandstone bouldering area. In this episode, we talked about the following: Who this episode is for Minimum amount of time you need to prepare for a bouldering trip Challenge of talking about this in general terms What Matt is focusing on now in preparation for his trip to Hueco in January Hard projecting or lots of boulders on your trip? How to prepare for a more grueling climbing schedule on a trip How to train in the gym for Hueco Injury prevention for Hueco specifically Training for stand-out or extreme holds/body positions Matt’s training schedule every week until his trip Matt will be doing a couple more episodes on specific climbing areas to help you have a successful trip. Most likely he’ll be talking about the Red River Gorge and Wild Iris, but let us know if you have suggestions! Show Links Performance Bouldering Training Program ($18/mo with a 7-day free trial) Performance Route Climbing Training Subscription Program ($18/mo with 7-day free trial) Train with Coach Matt Pincus   Try the Performance Route Climbing Training Subscription Program If you want Matt to help you with your route climbing goals, he created an extensively detailed route training program that will help you gain strength, endurance, and work capacity so you can climb harder routes, get less pumped, and have more deliberate training sessions. There are 3 levels of the program with 50 days of training in each of them – that’s 3-6 months of training written out for you step by step. The program is $18 per month and you can try it out for free for 7 days and cancel any time. Learn More about the Performance Route Training Program