The TrainingBeta Podcast: A Climbing Training Podcast

TBP 184 :: Carbs for Climbers – How Much, What Kinds, Timing, and Why In this episode, I talk all about carbohydrates and how to use them properly in your diet to help your climbing performance, energy levels every day, overall mental well-being, and body composition. Carbs are a tricky topic because we’ve been taught to fear and hate them, even though in reality they’re what fuel strength and power activities. They’re also paramount to keeping your blood sugar and mood stable all day every day, as well as helping you to fall asleep and stay asleep. If you’re eating the wrong kinds of carbs in the wrong amounts at the wrong times of day, in conjunction with the wrong amount of protein and fat, you’re going to have issues. But if you know some basic guidelines around carbs, including what kinds to eat, how much of them, and when, it can make a world of difference in your life and your climbing. These changes can literally happen overnight, so listen carefully to this episode and try to make some tweaks to your diet for some potentially big changes. This is a recording taken from a 5-day nutrition challenge I did last year in front of a live zoom audience. I talked for about 15 minutes on the topic and then took a bunch of questions from the audience (very common questions, so they’re quite relevant). A Little about Me After completing my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Zoology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, I did a 4-year nutrition certificate program at Seven Bowls School of Nutrition, Nourishment, and Healing. I graduated in 2007 as a Certified Integrative Clinical Nutrition Therapist. During those 4 years, I learned about not only nutrition, but herbs, homeopathy, and other alternative practices. I’ve been seeing clients since 2007 and I’ve worked exclusively with climbers since 2013. Nutrition Coaching with Me If you’re looking for help with your own nutrition and you feel like you need personalized coaching, I’m taking new clients right now. I also have a program that is self-paced with 4+ hours of video from me, PDF’s, and meal plans laid out for you. You can find more information about my services and the program at www.trainingbeta.com/nutrition. You’re welcome to email me at neely@trainingbeta.com if you have any questions at all.   Episode Details Common symptoms of low and high carbs in my clients.  The right kinds of carbs help stabilize blood sugar, which keeps your energy levels up for longer.  What about vegetables? Sugar consumption guidelines Sample meals afternoon fatigue Low energy for workouts Poor recovery the next day (especially after big day outside) Sugar cravings Food obsession Always hungry Snacking a lot at night Poor sleep Things I see happen when people don’t eat enough carbs or too many, especially in the morning   Show Links Work with me one-on-one or do my self-paced program

How to Break Into 5.13 with Alex Stiger In the episode, Coach Alex and I tackled the topic of breaking into 5.13 and what you need to do physically and mentally to do it. We both share our experiences of our first 5.13’s, which were quite different actually, and our processes of projecting things that are hard for us. We talk about how to turn the try-hard switch on and off on hard routes, and how to stay focused and calm enough to not overgrip and get super pumped. We also talk about resting tactics, and how important it is to be able to rest on hard routes, whether it’s on the route, between burns, or the days leading up to getting on your project. Alex even shares some resting drills to use to practice at the gym. We discuss how your training needs to change from generalized strength and technique to more route-specific technique and strength building. And how to do that in the gym. I talk a little bit about proper nutrition on projecting days (and the days leading up to them) and Alex shares her story of how I helped her tweak her diet to make her projecting days more productive. We also discuss advanced techniques like heel hooks and knee bars, as well as some mental tricks for avoiding overwhelm on big projects. I loved this conversation with Alex, and whether you’re breaking into 5.12+, 13- or 5.13, the tips in here should help you.     Episode Details Our first 5.13a’s and how hard they felt for us, mentally and physically Our processes for projecting hard things How to turn the try-hard switch on and off on routes Resting tactics and drills Why skipping clips is not always the answer to being pumped Transitioning from general training to specific technique building Nutrition for big projects Avoiding overwhelm on a daunting project How many tries is too many tries Why it’s ok to not get to the top on your first tries   Show Links Work with Alex as your coach Join Alex’s next Team Program Work on your nutrition with Neely Have questions? Email alex@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com   Please Review The Podcast on iTunes Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

TBP 182 :: How Brian Lichtenheld Climbs Outside 4 Days a Week With a Demanding Job Brian Lichtenheld is one of my close friends and one of my favorite climbing partners. I asked him to be on the show because I don’t know another non-professional climber who is more psyched on climbing, and I wanted to share his infectious positive attitude with you. No matter what season it is, Brian climbs outside a LOT. During the spring, summer, and fall, he’s basically outside 4 days per week, and that is on top of having a very demanding 50 hour-a-week job as a Certified Financial Planner. He’s also devoted to spending quality time with his girlfriend, as well as having regular volunteer commitments, among other interests. Despite having time commitments and life stressors like the rest of us, Brian just makes it work all the time, rain or shine, and I’m constantly inspired by him. In our conversation, we talk about why climbing is so important to him and how he manages his schedule to accommodate everything. We talk about his level-headed approach to long-term projects and how he never tosses wobblers or seemingly ever even gets upset when he fails. Over the years, Brian has only gotten stronger and better at climbing, and at the age of 36 he has climbed 182 routes between 5.13a and 5.14a. He’s a solid climber, and we can all learn something from him about making it work, no matter what. Brian Lichtenheld Interview Details Who Brian is: his work, other activities, relationships, volunteering How he climbs 4 days a week outside How he balances his relationship with his girlfriend with climbing (she’s not a climber) How he injects his core value of sustainability into his job as a certified financial planner How he structures his days to fit it all in What he loves about climbing soooo much What he’s learned about his vegan diet and recovery/fueling How resting more actually helped him What training he does and how he fits it in Show Links Brian’s Instagram Brian’s 8a.nu scorecard Brian’s work bio Our training programs   Please Review The Podcast on iTunes Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

Understanding and Assessing Your Injuries with Dr. Evan Ingerson Dr. Evan Ingerson is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and Board Certified in Orthopedics who works at his practice Mend in Colorado. Evan is a physical therapist who specializes in treating rock climbers. He uses the most up-to-date evidence in his practice to get climbers out of pain faster. Evan works to identify the underlying cause of the problem and uses a combination of manual therapy and advanced exercises to return climbers to the wall better than they were before. He treats climbers at all levels, from beginners to international competitors and has the experience and equipment to create high level exercise programs specifically catered to the unique challenges of rock climbing. In addition to being a board-certified specialist in orthopedics, Evan is a lifelong climber and 10-time national competitor. Evan is also one of Coach Alex Stiger’s physical therapists, and she recognized that his cutting edge approach to injuries was something she wanted the TrainingBeta community to be exposed to. So she interviewed Evan all about how to assess and understand your injuries as a rock climber so you don’t feel lost when you have one. In this interview, she and Dr. Ingerson discuss how to know when to go to a doctor, a surgeon, the ER, a PT, an acupuncturist, or some other specialist. They also delve into the contentious topic of whether or not to ice an injury, and so much more… Even if you don’t have an injury right now, this interview will help you figure out a plan if you ever do get injured.   Climbing Injury Interview Details What to do immediately following an injury When to get an x-ray or other imaging When to use a brace When to do dry needling, and what that is When to get spinal manipulations/adjustments How to choose a medical professional to help with sport specific injuries When to consult with a surgeon Managing low-level injuries on a climbing trip     Show Links Work with Evan at his clinic Mend Evan’s article on TrainingBeta about the posterior chain  Work with Alex as your coach Gymnastic Rings Workshop for Climbers   Please Review The Podcast on iTunes Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

About Matt Pincus Matt is a boulderer and a sport climber based out of Wyoming. He splits his time between training at home in Jackson and traveling to pursue his climbing goals around the world. Matt is also a coach at TrainingBeta and he’s been seeing clients from around the world since 2017. He’s currently taking 4 new clients, so if you’d like to work with him, you can sign up here. Matt created our Bouldering Training Program, which is a non-linear plan that will help you gain strength, power, skills, and work capacity. There’s also a maintenance block worked into the program so you can continue to train lightly during your performance phases. Learn More about the Bouldering Program Here   Grades – How to Keep Your Ego in Check and Use Them to Your Advantage In the episode, Coach Matt Pincus and I wax philosophical about climbing grades. This is a ubiquitous topic that all climbers discuss, and a topic that can derail a climbing day or motivate the heck out of a climber. We go over why there is so much discrepancy in grades between different crags and bouldering areas around the world, as well as within climbing gyms. And we talk about why ultimately it doesn’t matter what something is graded – it’s about what a climb can teach you. But there are some grievances aired and some pleas for certain behaviors to change when it comes to discussions of grades. This conversation definitely included some coaching tidbits from Matt on how to approach grades, but we also just kind of… talked. I hope this helps you get your thoughts on grades more crystal clear so you can more easily move through any discomfort about grades (“This climb is WAY harder than what the grade says!” or “Why can’t I do this – this grade is usually easy for me?” or “That can’t possibly be that hard of a grade – I did it so easily…”). Enjoy!   Episode Details The subjective nature of grades around the world Importance of taking grades with a grain of salt Why things are graded the way they are, and why some areas are stouter than others Particularly why Rifle has an abundance of hard 13d’s How to think of a route that’s hard for the grade as a personal challenge rather than a punch to the gut How I deal with the “unfairness” of being short The importance of climbing style and perception of difficulty Remembering that it really just doesn’t matter   Show Links Bouldering Program (Levels 1-3) to help you work your way up the grades Work with Matt as your coach Work with Neely as your nutritionist Have topics you want us to cover? Email matt@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com   Please Review The Podcast on iTunes Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.   Photo Credit Photo of Matt Pincus on The Plastic Shaman 5.14a by Liz Rasnick @escharas21

I’m Taking New Nutrition Clients I’m currently taking on 5 new nutrition clients, so if you’re looking for help on optimizing your diet for climbing, or you have some other health issues you’d like help with, I’m here for you! You can find out more about my nutrition offerings here. About Laura Schmidt My original idea for this podcast was to have a former nutrition client on the show to do a refresher session with them. I thought I’d show you how I work with clients and let you learn from their situation and how I worked with them. When my former client Laura Schmidt responded to my call for potential interviewees, she said she’d love to be on the show and that things were going really well for her. But I had no idea how well they were going until this interview happened. She basically had a life transformation since working with me a year ago, and it had a lot to do with her willingness to fully embrace the suggestions I made for her diet, sleep, and exercise habits. In the episode, Laura Schmidt talks about the changes she made to her diet and lifestyle since we worked together and how they improved her energy levels, her climbing, and her quality of life. We worked together for one month, and when I first met her, she had a food aversion, meaning she really didn’t enjoy eating, and she had some disordered eating behaviors. Her energy was very low most of the time, and she had a hard time getting through workouts or climbing days without feeling totally exhausted during and after her sessions. She was underweight and not where she wanted to be with her climbing. Through working together, I made suggestions to make her meals more palatable, encouraged her to eat 3 full meals per day instead of snacking all the time, and I gave her some solid recommendations for calorie and macro amounts to help stabilize her energy. In this conversation we talk about the changes she made, what it meant for her lifestyle to make those changes, and how they affected her health and well-being. Her energy is much better, she’s climbing harder, her mood is better, and she has a much better relationship with food now. Honestly, Laura’s eating was pretty similar to what I see most of my clients doing when we first start working together. Don’t feel like you won’t be able to relate with Laura because she has an aversion to food; she was forcing herself to eat, and it was the same types of things (and at the same times of day) that most people do, so these changes I suggested to her will likely apply to you, too. She is so passionate about this topic now because she feels so much better. We discussed in detail the changes she made, talked about how she fuels now for climbing days, and how all of this affected her relationship with her daughter and her daughter’s relationship with food. I’m so excited for this episode to be out in the world because it just shows you how incredibly powerful small changes to your diet can be. I hope you enjoy it! Laura Schmidt Episode Details Her aversion to food How she overcame a plateau in her climbing through food She was “on paper” doing all the right things, but it wasn’t working So tired she couldn’t train or climb really Doctors couldn’t help her Her thoughts on caffeine now and before we worked together What happened with her body image through this transformation How she has energy to have passions now How her energy increased so much A diet log analysis to help her make things even better Show Links Work with me on your nutrition Laura's Instagram: @girlmeetsjoy   Please Review The Podcast on iTunes Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

New Gymnastics Rings Workshop with Coach Alex Stiger Do you want to know more about using the gymnastics rings as a training tool for climbing?  On Tuesday, October 6th at 6-7:30pm MDT, Climbing Coach Alex Stiger will be hosting a very affordable, 90-minute workshop where you’ll learn the key considerations for using gynmastics rings in your training plan. You’ll Learn… How to properly use the rings How to scale workouts for different ability levels How to avoid common, potentially injurious, mistakes Coach Alex’s favorite exercises Recording will be sent out at the end if you can’t make it to the live event Sign up for the Rings Workshop   Making the Most Out of A Bad Gym Session with Alex Stiger  In the episode, Coach Alex and I tackled the topic of making a gym session really count, and how to stay in a positive mindset even when you’re having a bad session. It’s easy to get derailed in your climbing session if you do poorly on a route, can’t make move, or just feel tired in general and lack motivation. We talk about things you can do to keep your motivation high and to make small wins in your sessions. She provides drills and exercises you can use to keep yourself in a growth mindset as opposed to a fixed mindset, and we talk about what those things are. Alex is about to start her next 6-week Team Training Program with 12 team members, and this is the most hands-on way to work with Alex. If you’re interested in being part of her next cohort, you can sign up here. Earlybird sign-ups end Wednesday, September 15th, 2021 and there are only a handful of spots left!   Episode Details What constitutes a “bad” or “good” session for both of us Common triggers for bad sessions and what to do about them How to have an adjustable plan for each session How to scale sessions or exercises to fit your psych and energy levels Don’t try to salvage the shipwreck… How to take grades out of the equation at the ym Climbing and training at your appropriate challenge level Chess tournaments for her as one of the very few females at them Our recent big sends after surgery Mastery exercises to keep your sessions very focused   Show Links Take Alex’s class on Rings for Climbers Join Alex’s next Team Program Work on your nutrition with Neely Have questions? Email alex@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com   Please Review The Podcast on iTunes Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world.

About Lor Sabourin In the episode, I talk with Lor Sabourin, who is a successful climber and a mental training coach for The Warrior’s Way, where they travel to teach clinics and work one-to-one with climbers of all levels. Lor is also a graduate student on their way to becoming a counselor. I met Lor a long time ago at the base of Dinosaur Rock in the Flatirons, where I was struck by their calm demeanor and friendly smile. I’ve followed Lor on Instagram since then and have been continually impressed by their ability to talk about difficult subjects with eloquence and humility. Lor recently became the first non-binary climber to climb a 5.14 route on traditional gear when they clipped the chains of Sedona’s East Coast Fist Bump (5.14a). I wanted to talk to them about what that projecting process was like, how they improved their climbing so quickly, and what kind of response they’ve gotten from the climbing community about it. We also talked about some mental aspects of climbing, which is what they work on with people every day, and Lor’s insights did not disappoint. They also shared about their experience of coming out as non-binary, and how that affected their relationships with friends and how it affected their climbing. For some reason I feel a kinship with Lor, and I always like talking to them. In this interview we navigated difficult topics, sometimes with less panache than I would’ve liked (on my part), but these are the conversations that need to happen at the moment, even if they’re not easy. I VERY much appreciated Lor’s willingness to be open and vulnerable in talking about personal things.   Lor Sabourin Episode Details What they did to improve climbing in such a short amount of time Eating disorder from the age of 7 How their eating disorder was connected to their gender identity How they felt about being the “first non-binary person to send 5.14 on gear” How we can deal with feeling entitled in climbing and “wanting something for nothing” Dealing with “bad mental days” Building self compassion in climbing and in life Hot they navigate school, work, and climbing in terms of time management How they like van life long term How climbing is a mindfulness exercise   Show Links Article on Rock & Ice about Lor Lor’s Coaching Page on Warrior’s Way Lor’s Instagram Take Alex’s class on Running for Climbers Join Alex’s next Team Program       Photo Credit Photo of Lor by Blake McCord @blakemccordphoto

I was interviewed on the Nugget! This is a re-post of an interview with me on the Nugget Climbing Podcast with host Steven Dimmitt. I love being on the other side of an interview occasionally, and Steven is a fantastic interviewer. We had some laughs, talked about some serious stuff, and I feel a little vulnerable about how much I shared personally, honestly.  I'm an open book, but when it's recorded and put out to the world, it's a little nerve wracking! I hope you enjoy this interview and maybe get to know me a little better (than you even wanted to). Here's Steven's description of the interview from his site, and he has some other good show notes on the episode page if you're interested. Neely Quinn is the founder of TrainingBeta, and the long-time host of The TrainingBeta Podcast. We talked about Neely’s health journey and discovering paleo, not wanting a boss, why she decided to create TrainingBeta, lessons learned from hosting 160+ interviews, injuries and surgery, project piano pieces, kids vs. houses, and her new puppy named Willa. You can learn more about Neely at trainingbeta.com Show Links This episode on The Nugget Climbing Podcast website My Nutrition Program for Climbers: Nourish Work on your nutrition with me

New Running Class with Coach Alex Stiger Do you LOVE to run but don’t know how to fit it in with your climbing? In just a couple weeks, Climbing Coach Alex Stiger and Running Coach Sean Hopkins will be hosting a very affordable, 90-minute class where you’ll learn the key considerations for balancing training for climbing and running. You’ll Learn… Which strength training exercises are great for climbing and running How we can warm up appropriately to avoid injuries How running can help you perform better as a climber Template training plans for 3 running distances (5k and under, 10k, and 10k+) Sign up below and you’ll be the first to be notified when the class is ready for purchase. Get on the Wait List for the Running Class Here     The Art of Trying Hard in Climbing with Alex Stiger  In the episode, Coach Alex and I tackled the nebulous topic of trying hard in climbing. Like, really trying hard. A couple years ago, Alex spent some time working with Coach Hazel Findlay and realized that she needed to work on her own try-hard. So she went through a transformation in her mindset that led her to not only understand the importance of trying hard, but how to make it a practiced skill for herself and for her clients. Alex Stiger is a coach at Movement Climbing and Fitness in Boulder, CO and a Performance Climbing Coach for TrainingBeta. She’s been on numerous episodes of the podcast and will continue to be until we run out of things to talk about in climbing. She’s currently in the middle of a very successful 6-week Team Training Program with 12 students, and she’ll be taking on another team in the fall. This is the most hands-on way to work with Alex, so if you’re interested in being part of her next cohort, you can sign up here.   Trying Hard Episode Details How to make trying hard a skill instead of a windfall Why trying hard is arguably the most important part of sending What does trying hard look like? Her year-long journey with learning how to try hard List that everyone should make to qualify their own try-hard How Alex overcomes obstacles to trying hard How my husband gets himself to try hard How to deal with fear of injury due to trying hard   Show Links Take Alex’s class on Running for Climbers Join Alex’s next Team Program Work on your nutrition with Neely Have questions? Email alex@trainingbeta.com or neely@trainingbeta.com