
The TrainingBeta Podcast: A Climbing Training Podcast
Hosted by climber, nutritionist, and mindset coach, Neely Quinn, The TrainingBeta Podcast is a regular conversation with rock climbing’s best and brightest, including pro rock climbers, climbing trainers, and other insightful members of the climbing community. You’ll learn how to train for climbing, how to fuel yourself well for climbing, and mindset strategies to help you perform well on the wall and have a great time doing it. Whether you’re a beginner climber or a seasoned pro, you’ll learn something from these conversations, or at the very least, get really stoked to climb and train.
Latest episodes

Apr 9, 2025 • 52min
TBP 286 :: Correlation Between Finger Strength-to-Weight Ratio and Climbing Performance with Tyler Nelson
I asked Dr. Tyler Nelson to come back on the show to talk about some new research about finger strength-to-weight ratio and climbing performance. In other words, how much does all that finger training really affect how hard you climb? He goes over some studies done on the topic and we talk about the point at which people see diminishing returns and how (if at all) training your fingers contributes, or is correlated, to injuries.

Mar 26, 2025 • 1h 1min
TBP 285: Climbing Training Success Story - From 10a to 12a in 3 Months
Lea Cleary, a 40-year-old machine learning engineer from Boston, shares her inspiring journey from a 5.10a to a 5.12a in just three months. Overcoming performance anxiety and fear through mental training, she worked with Coach Alex Stiger to shift her mindset and embrace the joy of climbing. They focused on self-awareness, emotional management, and enjoying the process rather than just achieving grades. Lea now climbs with confidence, regularly sending 5.11s, and hopes to inspire others to conquer their fears and reach new heights.

Mar 12, 2025 • 1h 14min
TBP 284: Overcoming Mindset Hurdles in Projecting with Sport Psychologist Madeleine Crane
Madeleine Crane is a Sport Psychologist from Austria who runs www.climbingpsychology.com. In this episode we discussed the mental and emotional struggles that many people encounter while projecting climbs. Hopefully this discussion will help you bring awareness to your own mental experience and give you some tools to deal with fear of failure, negative comparison to others, and knowing when to call it quits on a project.
Madeleine is offering a 30% discount on her mental skills training programs at unblocd.com using the code “trainingbeta” at checkout.

Feb 26, 2025 • 1h 23min
TBP 283: Using Mindfulness to Overcome Fear and Anxiety in Climbing - Alex Bridgewater
Alex Bridgewater is a Sport Psychologist who works with climbers and other athletes to help them be the best person they can be. That work carries over into their sport to make them perform well and have a great time doing it. He uses mindfulness, acceptance, and commitment theory as part of his practice, and in this episode we dive into what that means.
Alex is also a climbing coach at ClimbStrong.com and has been for about 7 years. He recently finished his Master’s degree in Sport and Performance Psychology and now has a consulting business at www.InnerSourcePerformancePsychology.com, where you can work with him from anywhere in the world.
What We Talked About
How values play into climbing performance & training
How to incoproate joy and play into climbing
Mindfulness, acceptance, and commitment theory
Mindfulness in injuries
Mindfulness with fear in climbing
Mindfulness exercises
Who could use a sport psychologist
Need Help with Your Climbing Training?
TrainingBeta was started in 2012 to provide people with all kinds of resources about training for climbing. We offer expert advice on how to get stronger, braver, and more skillful in your climbing with these offerings:
climbing coaching
training programs online
nutrition coaching
mindset coaching for climbers
injury rehab programs
blog posts
podcast episodes
We are here to help you with your climbing training needs! You can always email us at info@trainingbeta.com if you have any questions about what program or service is right for you.
All Training Options

Feb 12, 2025 • 1h 32min
TBP 282: How Steve Bechtel’s Training Philosophies Have Changed in the Last Decade
Steve Bechtel is one of the OG big daddies of climbing training. He founded and runs climbstrong.com where he has 19 coaches helping climbers all over the world get better at their sport. He’s written countless books, a ton of online climbing training programs for climbstrong, he’s hosted training seminars around the US (that I had the pleasure of teaching at), and is an accomplished 5.14 climber himself.
He was my 7th guest on the TrainingBeta Podcast back in 2014, and I’ve had him on many more times after that (see below for the list). We decided it would be fun to catch up on how things have changed in the climbing world and how his philosophies have evolved in the decade since we started collaborating.
What We Talked About
His growing understanding of how your training “age” affects your programming
Assessment use now vs before
More focus on how mental/emotional aspects affect climbing performance
How our waning attention spans affect our climbing and training
6 Things that go into building a training plan
What’s changed in his own climbing and training
New appreciation for using aerobic endurance training instead of power endurance
Where training is going in the next 10 years
Previous Podcast Interviews with Steve
TBP 007: Training, Finger Strength, Power Endurance, Weight Loss, and Running
TBP 036: Periodization and Finger Training Confusion, Psychology of Change
TBP 080: How to Design a Training Program for Yourself
TBP 110: Training Endurance for Climbing
TBP 147: Steve Bechtel, Kris Hampton, and Tom Randall on Best Practices for Training at Home

14 snips
Jan 29, 2025 • 1h 10min
TBP 281 :: How to Gain Financial Freedom So You Can Climb More - Meghan Walker
In this engaging discussion, Meghan Walker, a personal finance writer and financial coach, shares her journey from journalism to the FIRE movement. She delves into strategies for achieving financial independence, including mindful spending and travel hacking. Meghan emphasizes the importance of open conversations about finances, offers savvy tips on credit card rewards, and discusses tools for effective budgeting. Listeners will discover how to balance enjoying life while building a secure financial future, making financial empowerment feel attainable.

Jan 9, 2025 • 1h 37min
TBP 280: Lessons Alex and Neely Learned about Climbing in 2024
In this episode Coach Alex Stiger and I talk openly about what we learned in 2024 about ourselves and our climbing, for better or for worse. We each chose the 5 most poignant things we learned and discussed each in depth.
Alex’s List
She realized she’d been protecting herself from fear and discomfort for a long time – wants to break out of that
Managing stress load outside of climbing and how that affects her climbing
Neurodivergence in climbing: her new diagnosis
Learned how to find her own beta!
Learne about how to stay positive on above max level routes
My List
Don’t ignore my body! (I have an injury I could’ve dealt with a long time ago)
Finances and climbing: we embraced FIRE this year so that we can eventually climb more
I can project hard things without freaking out now because of the mindset work I’ve done
Age is not an excuse
Patriarchy in climbing: how it shows up and how I’ve approached dismantling it in my life
Some of the things we talk about in this episode have been very private to us until this very public conversation, so please give us grace as we explore new concepts and talk them out with each other as friends!
Work with Me on Your Mindset in Climbing
If you want to work on your fear, anxiety, and performance mindset with me one-on-one, I’m accepting 6 new clients to do 3 months of work (6 sessions) on all things climbing.
I’ve been climbing for 27 years, and I feel uniquely qualified to act as both your coach (asking you questions only you know the answers to) AND your mentor (giving you advice) in climbing.
I am a Certified Professional Coach and will hold a safe space for you to explore your thoughts and feelings about any topic you want to discuss. We will make goals for each session, and I’ll hold you accountable to carrying out the homework I give you during each session. I’m really looking forward to working with you!
Work with Me on Your Climbing Mindset

Dec 18, 2024 • 1h 9min
TBP 279: Overcoming Fear of Climbing Above Bolt - A Mindset Coaching Session
In this insightful session, guest Nathaniel Lamont, a dedicated Canadian sport climber, tackles his fear of falling above bolts. Over six years of climbing experience, Nathaniel’s struggles resonate deeply within the climbing community. They explore the psychological roots of his fear and establish strategies for gradual exposure through intentional fall practice. The conversation emphasizes the importance of communication with belayers and techniques like mindfulness. This honest discussion inspires climbers to confront their fears, enhancing both skills and confidence.

Dec 4, 2024 • 1h 44min
TBP 278: Using Zen Philosophy for Performance Anxiety, Fear, and Grief with Francis Sanzaro
Francis Sanzaro is a 45-year-old climber out of Carbondale, Colorado who's been climbing for about 30 years. He got his PhD in the Philosophy of Religion and has been studying the practice of Zen for decades. In recent years, he started applying Zen more directly and intentionally to his climbing and found that his performance and his enjoyment of the sport increased dramatically, so he wrote a book about it: The Zen of Climbing. I HIGHLY recommend the book!
I had him on the show to discuss the book and to have him tell us exactly what it means to apply Zen philosophy to your climbing. It's not complicated and you can start using these principles right away. What I took from the book is that I don't have to have as many emotions about climbing as I think I do. All I'm doing is trying my best to get to the top of a climb, and that's all it really needs to be.
What we talked about:
What Zen is as it relates to climbing
How to use Zen with performance anxiety
How to practice Zen in everyday life
Dealing with failure using Zen practices
Dealing with FEAR using Zen
Using Zen in his grief process after (and during) losing both of his parents recently

Nov 12, 2024 • 1h 18min
TBP 277: Climbing Sessions to Train Power Endurance, Endurance, and Strength
Coach Matt Pincus discusses some drills he uses with his clients and himself to train the different energy systems in climbing: power endurance, strength, and endurance.
More Details:
Overview of the energy systems
Differences between practice sessions and performance sessions
Sample sessions
Power endurance session
Endurance Session
Strength/Power Session
When you'd want to train each of these energy systems
How many sessions you'd want to do of each
When to do them in conjunction with each other
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