Climbing Training
Atomic (Climbing) Habits
Tags: Habits, Performance, Planning, Ty Mack
By Ty Mack The year I turned 40 I finally learned how to read. Actually that’s a bit misleading, as I have been devouring all sorts of fiction ever since primary school: classics, crime novels, sci-fi, you name it. But non-fiction nearly always left me cold. Sure, I slogged through plenty of it out…
Get Strong Using Reps In Reserve
Tags: Jacob Carr, Planning, Reps in Reserve, Strength
by Jacob Carr When thinking about our strength workouts, we often aim for a specific rep range or rate of perceived exertion (RPE) at a specific load. This is a tried and true method of strength training, and when put into practice can produce great strength results. I recently had an athlete struggling to make…
Train Like You (Should) Eat
Tags: Micah Elconin, Nutrition, Planning
by Micah Elconin Long before my career coaching rock climbers, I worked as a private chef. My niche was healthy cooking and menu planning for those on restricted diets. I worked with all sorts of clients. From those battling cancer to the rich and famous, I developed and prepared menus that fit the specific wants,…
Injuries: Probably Not Your First Rodeo, Nor Your Last
Tags: AJ Sobrilsky, climbing injuries, Injury Prevention, planning and progression
by AJ Sobrilsky As a climber, coach, and physical therapist who specializes in treating rock climbers and mountain athletes I half heartedly joke that there are 3 guarantees in life: death, taxes, and injuries. I’ve yet to meet any athlete, new or seasoned in the sport, that hasn’t endured some level of physical complaint or…
Catch 22
Tags: Catch 22, Jacob Carr, Planning, planning and progression
by Jacob Carr At the age of 49, 6 days before his 50th birthday, Kelly Slater won the Pipeline Pro with a performance well above his competitors. His performance wasn’t necessarily amazing because of the way he surfed, but how he surfed. His tactics, his positioning, his poise was still head and shoulders above his…
Mettle, Steve’s New Book, Launches April 15th
Tags: mettle, new book, Steve Bechtel
METTLE is a collection of articles, essays, and stories of the training process. A climbing coach for over 25 years, Steve Bechtel started writing about training and performance as a way to organize his thoughts around the craft of climbing. In 2007, he launched Climb Strong as a blog, which then grew into a source…
The Bouldering Warm-Up, In-Depth
Tags: Bouldering, Power, Warm-Ups
The key to climbing hard comes down to two things, really – holding on to small holds and doing hard moves. We can break these components down into discrete exercises, or we can package them together into the best climbing exercise there is: bouldering. Bouldering, for most of us, should be about going into the…
Logical Progression for Bouldering
Tags: Bouldering Training, logical progression, nonlinear bouldering
The Logical Progression book details a surprisingly effective program of nonlinear training for rock climbers. The program is simple, flexible, and enjoyable…and follows a simple series of workouts. In general, athletes are asked to do an Integrated Strength workout, followed by a hard bouldering session, followed by a session designed to increase their endurance. Although…
Work Capacity – Climbing Hard All Day Long (part 2)
Tags: Alpine Training, Endurance, Fitness, Stamina, Work Capacity
By Steve Bechtel “Work is never fun, especially when you’re measuring it in watts per hour.” – The Man In part two of this article, we’ll talk about contrasting work capacity (WC) with your normal strength training (ST), and why you really can’t maximally train both. In WC training, it’s all about tolerating a high,…