Assessment

Session Variability – Low-Hanging Fruit

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By Steve Bechtel When it comes to performance, every single climber I have ever known has struggled with plateaus. In fact, when someone I talk to seems to just keep getting better, I’m more inclined to punch them in the face than to hear another word of how fun it all is and how they…

6 Takeaways From Coaching Youth Climbers (That Every Rock Climber Needs to Hear)

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By Ken Klein Coaching youth climbers is the most rewarding work I have done in my life. It just so happens that it may also be the most exhausting as well. When I started coaching Team Whetstone in Fort Collins, Colorado, there were 17 kids on the team. When I left that count had jumped…

What Got You Here? Do You Even Know?

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By Steve Bechtel Maybe this was a really good year and you sent a project or two. Or maybe it was more like my year last year and you weren’t all that happy with how things went. The biggest question to ask, in either situation is this: “What did I do that led me to…

In-Depth: How To Keep A Useful Training Log

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Are We Assessing the Right Things?

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by Ken Klein, NASM, PCC   This past August we were winding down the Climb Strong training camp in Lander, WY and Steve Bechtel said something that really stuck with me. A participant asked about assessments and Steve replied that if we piled all of our physical assessment numbers together we probably wouldn’t be able…

Wooden Boxes and Dumbbells B&W

The 2014 Survey

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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….

Climbing Notes in Notebook with Pen

Write It Down – The Value of a Training Log

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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…

Kerry Demo

Training Age

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by Steve Bechtel Want to get good at climbing? Be patient. Every month at our gym, we have a training meeting with the entire coaching staff. These meetings range from exercise technique to invoicing to habit change – basically everything you can imagine when it comes to training athletes. A few years ago, I talked…

Alex Bridgewater Toes to Bar, Photo by Mei Ratz

Good Training

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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…

Get It Exactly Right

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by Steve Bechtel You’ve heard it many times – when someone sends their hardest it feels effortless. We talk about it as the “flow” state or as having an out-of-body experience. No matter what you call it, it’s a performance state you’d like to recreate as often as possible. We usually see ourselves get to…

Steve Bechtel Airdyne b&w, photo by Mei Ratz

Three Mistakes You Might Be Making in the Gym

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By Steve Bechtel Training is all about progress. Unless you just love to train (I’d rather watch Deadwood), you’d better be seeing some results for the hours you spend flogging yourself. What we see in most climbers, though, is really just slight decreases in fitness throughout the year, and then an occasional return to a…

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