The TrainingBeta Podcast: A Climbing Training Podcast

TBP 006: A Talk with Kris Hampton about Training, Rapping, 14a, and TrainingBeta

May 3, 2014

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This interview is with Kris Hampton, a climber, trainer, artist, business owner, and all around great guy. I met him last fall at his home crag, the Red River Gorge, when we both had projects in the Motherlode (I was on Snooker and he was on Transworld Depravity).

He's a super chill, obviously smart guy, and we were quick friends. It wasn't long 'til he was writing the 8-Week Endurance Training Program for TrainingBeta (here), and we were discussing all the ways we wanted to improve the online availability of climbing training advice.

As a climber, he started out as a trad guy and then years later switched over to sport, early in his 30's. He quickly realized that if he was going to keep up and meet his own personal climbing goals, he'd have to get strategic about his training, especially because he's so busy with life outside of climbing. So he learned as much as he could about training tactics, and quickly took himself from a 5.11 climber to a solid 5.13 climber, now on his way to hopefully sending his first 5.14a.

He represents those people who do NOT climb full time, who do not live on the road. He speaks for and to those climbers who only have a couple days a week to crush it outside (if that), and need to make the most of their time out there, which he does himself handily.

What We Talked About

How and why he learned so much about training
Life as a rap artist, and his new album
Having a real job and a real life and still training and climbing hard
Why he gave up offwidth and crack climbing and started sport climbing
His current 5.14a project
How he approaches new training clients
All about the 8-Week Endurance Training Program he wrote for TrainingBeta