Posts
BLOG: Congratulations on Your 3% Gain in Finger Strength
Tags: Planning, Steve Bechtel, Steve's Blog
A QUICK NOTE: The new BLOG articles are where Steve’s monthly newsletters will live on the Climb Strong site. Instead of blasting full articles into email inboxes, we’re providing a snippet, and linking them here for those who’d like to read the whole thing. By Steve Bechtel …too bad you solved the wrong problem. Pyrrhus…
Some Specifics about Specificity
Tags: climbing, Fitness, Practice, Specificity, Tactics, Ty Mack
By Ty Mack A Cautionary Tale My good friend and longtime climbing partner Kirk Billings used to spend his winters bouldering in Hueco Tanks and cooking at Todd Skinner’s training compound. He got to climb with many of the top climbers of the era and witness all manner of novel approaches to climbing and training….
Watch: Breaking Mental Barriers
Tags: Alex Bridgewater, climbing, in-depth video, mental barriers, mental skills, Planning, Program Design, Programming, Tactics
Mental skills training is often overlooked by climbers but they are incredibly important to unlock an athlete’s full potential, along with cultivating a healthy relationship with an individuals climbing. In this video Alex discusses how to break through mental barriers to climbing performance. Article: Athletic Identity: Complexity of the “Iceberg” https://tinyurl.com/yfj22a47 Book: Psychology of Enhancing…
The Rapture of Performance
Tags: climbing, Micah Elconin, Performance, Practice, Tactics
By Micah Elconin The season is changing. As temps drop and days shorten, I feel a sense of urgency ignite inside me. It’s performance season. For better or worse, cool dry air tends to make rock a bit stickier. So most of us count on the Fall for creating conditions that support big goals. Yet,…
BLOG: Staying Strong
Tags: Planning, Steve Bechtel, Steve's Blog
A QUICK NOTE: The new BLOG articles are where Steve’s monthly newsletters will live on the Climb Strong site. Instead of blasting full articles into email inboxes, we’re providing a snippet, and linking them here for those who’d like to read the whole thing. By Steve Bechtel Once in a while, we have these moments….
Planning For The Off-Season
Tags: limiters, Periodization, Planning, Steve Bechtel, weaknesses
By Steve Bechtel It seems weird to start looking at time off from outdoor climbing right in the middle of the outdoor season, but I think it is more and more essential to come into each season-even the off-season or training season-with a solid plan to help you get the most out of it. When…
Watch: Specific Trip Prep
Tags: climbing, climbing trip, in-depth video, Planning, preparation, Steve Bechtel, Tactics
All too often we train extensively for a climbing trip to a new area, have big plans for performing at a high level, and then fall short of our goals. Where do we go wrong in our preparation for these trips? In this video Steve lays out a framework to train in a way that…
Rachel’s Body Tension Drills
Tags: drills, Movement, Rachel Speer, Skills, tension
By Rachel Speer Imagine this: you’re climbing on an overhang, gather up your strength and lob for the next hold that puts you in just a bit of a stretched position. You successfully grab the hold, but before you can even begin to move on, your hips sag away from the wall and you find…
Watch: Tension Techniques
Tags: Body Tension, Charlie Manganiello, climbing, in-depth video, Planning, Strength, Tactics, tension
Tension is King. In climbing or strength training the ability to generate tension is critical to perform hard movements or lifts, and avoid injury. Everyone generates tension naturally to some degree while performing difficult movements, but many fail to correctly engage all of the muscles they could through intentional practice. In this video Charlie will…
No Bad Foods
Tags: diet, Nutrition, Performance, Taylor Carr
By Taylor Carr, MS, ISSN-SNS, PN1 There are no bad foods. You may be thinking what do you mean there are no bad foods?? Can I really eat candy bars for dinner and still send my project? This statement is one that can bring strong emotion and certainly a lot of questions. The good…
Watch: Integrated Strength
Tags: climbing, in-depth video, Planning, Program Design, Programming, Recovery, Recovery Weeks, Steve Bechtel, Strength, Tactics
Everything about training for climbing is complicated. It is an exercise in compromise – focus on power and you lose endurance, too much time getting your fingers strong, and your redpoint grade drops. Over the years, there have been many creative solutions proposed to solve this problem. Many programs are more or less stolen from…
Partnership
Tags: climbing, Fitness, Micah Elconin, Practice, Tactics
By Micah Elconin Whether you like it or not, climbing is generally a social activity. Someone has to hold the other end of the rope for those redpoint attempts and my guess is you’d rather have a few extra pads and a spot when topping out that high boulder problem. Finding a climbing partner can…