Programming
The 1-6-3 Rule
Tags: Habits, Intensity, Motivation, Pain, Planning, Quality Training, Training
By Steve Bechtel Training can be fun. It can also be a huge effort. Usually, it’s somewhere in between. One big mistake first-time trainees make is thinking that it’s going to be fun the whole time. Think about it…remember how exciting the first day of school was? That first kiss? The day you bought a…
Breaking Free of the 7-Day Week
Tags: Bouldering Training, General Training, Indoor Climbing, Planning, Program Design, Tactics
By Steve Bechtel The structure of time, of the calendar, and of months is incredibly useful in society, but is often more a problem than a solution for athletes. Even though we live on a 24-hour schedule, and most of us work or go to school for five days followed by two days off, our…
Progress
Tags: Cragging, Planning, Programming, Redpoint Pyramids, Training
By Steve Bechtel It happens every year at a hundred different climbing areas. There is a glimmer of talent, a hint of drive, and a motivated climber is born. He cruises up through the grades, doing several 5.10 and 5.11 routes with his friends, he makes progress, and then he starts to pull ahead. Finally,…
E-Stim Might Make You Weaker
Tags: E-Stim, Endurance, Recovery, Training
By Steve Bechtel I am as excited about the next big thing in training as the next guy. When Electronic Muscle Stimulation (E-Stim) came on the scene, I could almost feel my forearms getting stronger just thinking about it. It was a great idea for climbers; a way to train the forearm muscles when you…
Less is More – One Reason Your Training Plan is Failing
Tags: Focus, Programming, Simplifying Training, Tactics
By Steve Bechtel Some people train so that they can climb better. I am convinced, though, that some people train so that they can make up cool spreadsheets and obsess over numbers. They start to lose touch with the basic rules of training, and add, add, add more stuff until they don’t have any room…
Minimalist Training
Tags: Indoor Climbing, Minimal Training, Planning, Program Design, short workouts
By Steve Bechtel Minimalist training has been around in some form or other for years. And when I talk about minimalist training, I’m not just talking about doing jack shit and calling it good enough. I’m talking about doing the minimum necessary training to see continued progress. Undoubtedly, doing more of a particular thing works…
40 Workouts, 8 Weeks
Tags: Conditioning, Dan John, Discipline, Kettlebells, Quality Training, Strength Training
by Charlie Manganiello SFG II Is Your Strength Glass Half-Full or Half-Empty? 40 Workouts – 8 Weeks… It’s so easy you won’t do it. Disclaimer: I did not invent this. I plucked this gem out of a book called Easy Strength written by Dan John and Pavel Tsatsouline. I know, they sound like strong dudes,…
Call it What You Want, Periodized Training Works
Tags: Bompa, conjugate periodization, Matveyev, nonlinear periodization, Periodization, Planning, Program Design
By Steve Bechtel I get a ton of questions about whether periodization is effective. The answer, unequivocally, is yes, periodized training works. The confusion comes in that many climbers don’t really know what periodization is. In fact, many climbing coaches read an article or two about classic periodization models (i.e. Bompa or Matveyev) and they…
More On Periodization
Tags: Bompa, Charlie Francis, Periodization, Planning, Program Design
By Steve Bechtel I remember the first time I learned about classical periodization plans. The whole idea of planning out my training according to easily defined phases which would lead to spectacular results appealed to the eternally plateaued climber in me much the way x-ray specs appealed to me as a nine-year-old. I tried a…
The Value of a Climbing Coach
Tags: bouldering coach, climbing coach, climbing trainer, coaching, hiring a coach
by Steve Bechtel Thirty years ago, almost none of us had coaches. I remember road tripping down to the front range for some competitions, and climbing against a young kid from Colorado Springs named Kevin Gonzales. He was good, younger than we were, and super strong. Most intimidating of all, though, was that he had…