Programming
Adaptation
Tags: Adaptation, Adaptation Persistence, Change, Expertise, Planning, Quality Training, Training
by Steve Bechtel On an intuitive level, we all understand the basic principles of training. These principles include specificity, individuality, and overload, among others. Most basic of all the principles is the idea of adaptation; we adapt to the demands placed upon us. Sports science has logically followed the lead of Hans Selye, who put…
The Todd Skinner Workout
Tags: Conditioning, Endurance, Fatigue, Finger Strength, Intervals, Power Endurance, Todd Skinner
By Steve Bechtel Once upon a time, there were no climbing gyms. There were good climbers, among them my friend Todd Skinner, who did a fair amount of hard training off the rock. During the late 1980s, Todd and some friends developed a freestanding “box” of slats with several different sizes of wooden edges attached…
Factors Affecting Training Outcomes
Tags: Adaptation, Fatigue, Focus, Pain, Planning, Recovery, Training
By Steve Bechtel Imagine, if you will, two friends that are the same age, same height, weight, etc. Imagine they both start climbing at the same time, both follow the same training program, and both show steady progress. They climb at the same crags, usually together, and start projecting the same route. You might think…
Understanding the Lactic Energy System
Tags: Conditioning, Endurance, Fatigue, Intervals, Power Endurance, Quality Training
by Steve Bechtel If you’ve ever climbed to the top of a strenuous route, you’ve felt the burn. If you’ve ever trained super-hard, you’ve felt the debilitating soreness the day after the session. Undoubtedly, you’ve also read or been told that one or both of these is due to lactic acid buildup in your muscles….
The 2014 Survey
Tags: Assessment, Expertise, Finger Strength, Movement, Questions, Survey
By Steve Bechtel When I was in college, I got interested in which physical traits and abilities were consistent among high-performing climbers. At that time, in the mid-1990s, there were some basic assumptions and many things we considered common sense. It was clear that climbers had to be relatively thin, relatively strong, and somewhat flexible….
Good Training
Tags: Assessment, Goal Setting, Habits, Planning, Quality Training, Training
By Steve Bechtel If you’ve ever had breakfast at a Las Vegas buffet, you know that quantity doesn’t always mean quality. At first glance, more seems to be better…but the lackluster experience and the ensuing gut ache will remind you that getting a lot means nothing more than getting a lot. My brother-in-law, Matt, is…
Write It Down – The Value of a Training Log
Tags: Assessment, Feedback, Goal Setting, Habits, Planning, Programming, Quality Training, Training
by Steve Bechtel When I first sit down with a new athlete, the first thing I ask them is where they want to go. The question usually goes like this: “In six months, what do you want to have accomplished?” That part is easy for most of us – the dreaming is not hard to…
Don’t Train – Practice, part 2.
Tags: Motivation, Planning, Practice, Progress, Quality Training, Skills, Talent, Training
by Steve Bechtel The first article on practice covered the general idea that you should consider your climbing practice, and some general ideas on what that meant. In this follow up, I’ll answer questions that the first article raised, and give some specifics on how to re-structure your training sessions to include a focus on…
Don’t Train – Practice.
Tags: Feedback, Habits, Planning, Practice, Quality Training, Skills, Talent, Training
by Steve Bechtel “You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way.” – Michael Jordan The term “training” is over-used. People refer to any and everything they do in climbing as training, yet training is a very specific…
Getting Back to Top Form Quickly
Tags: Conditioning, Endurance, Finger Strength, Intensity, Nutrition, Planning, Quality Training
By Steve Bechtel In a perfect world, we’d redpoint hard routes every weekend, all year long. We’d always feel recovered, and we’d be able to boulder at our limit one day and free big walls the next. But in this world, we have obligations, injuries, and seasons that keep us from climbing well for large…
Problems With Projecting
Tags: Planning, Programming, Project Climbing, Quality Training, Second Tier, Training
By Steve Bechtel Project climbing – trying a very hard route over and over with the goal of eventually climbing it in one push – is one of the most fundamentally rewarding facets of rock climbing. It drives us to higher grades and teaches all sorts of valuable lessons. But like anything beneficial to us,…
Do Less
Tags: Do Less, Focus, Motivation, Programming, Progress, Training
by Steve Bechtel It’s a great honor for me to be asked training advice, but it’s also a circle of frustration. The only thing that keeps me from strangling the climbers that contact me, receive advice, and ignore the advice is the fact that I do the same thing myself. Most of us inherently understand…