Ben Hanna is a 25-year-old professional climber originally from New Mexico. He climbs hard sport routes outside and he’s active in competition climbing. He started climbing at the age of 10 and quickly gained notoriety as a youth competitor. He’s gone on to podium at 2 national championships and climb 5.15a. I wanted to talk to Ben about how he trains, what his competition mindset strategies are, and what it’s like to be a professional, full-time climber. He goes into detail about his “early life crisis” when he decided to put his faith in a coach to help him really level up his climbing abilities. It worked, and we go into exactly what he did during that long training phase and how it changed his body. We also talk about the mindset tools he uses, the books he reads on the subject, and how he implements having a growth mindset and having a different definition of success than just winning and sending. Bonus Content on Patreon redpointing tactics on outdoor routes his diet honest conversation about his weight management tactics and my thoughts on that You can find all of that bonus content and the uncut, ad-free video episode without intro or outro on my Patreon page. GET THE AD-FREE INTERVIEW AND BONUS CONTENT

In this episode, I talk about how I've worked through my negative feelings about being a short climber. I used to care a lot about not being acknowledged for things I thought were harder for me as a short climber, and I used to feel envious of taller climbers' long reach. But having done the kind of work I will guide you through in this episode, most of the time I honestly don't care anymore what other climbers are doing or how hard something feels for me as a short climber. This episode will give you a roadmap to look at your own feelings, values, and thoughts about the situation so that you can enjoy climbing for what it is to YOU - not how it compares with someone else's experience. Get more mindset and nutrition coaching advice like this on my patreon: www.patreon.com/trainingbeta  

Author, psychologist, researcher, and clinician Aric Prather, PhD  talks about the practical advice he wrote about in his book The Sleep Prescription: 7 Days to Your Best Rest and the work he does in his sleep clinic. In this interview he offers clear steps to help you sleep better so you can feel more recovered, energetic, and calm in life and in climbing.  Things people do to help them sleep that actually undermine sleep How to use cognitive behavioral therapy to sleep How to properly wind down before sleep Thoughts on drugs and supplements for sleep Using sleep diary Importance of standardized wake-up time Using sleep deprivation to increase “sleep drive” to eventually improve sleep How to deal with rumination that keeps you awake Bonus Content on Patreon There’s some bonus content from this episode on Patreon. what he thinks of the drug I was on (mirtazapine) for sleep and histamine use for sleep why my alphabet game puts me to sleep most of the time some thoughts on biomarker testing to figure out why you’re not sleeping why nightly wake-ups might not be so abnormal. You can find that bonus content and the uncut, ad-free episode without intro or outro on my Patreon page.  Help support the show and get nutrition and mindset coaching on Patreon. 

Coaches Alex Stiger & Matt Pincus discuss training climbers with full-time jobs. Topics include fitting training into workdays, nutrition tips for shift workers, bouldering for 9-5 employees, avoiding overtraining, and balancing climbing with work. Bonus content covers FOMO, training plans, hanging, and more.

This is a repost of the interview Steven Dimmitt did with me on episode 214 of The Nugget Climbing Podcast. In it, I talk about how mindset coaching massively improved my climbing and my life, why I got into coaching, and we do some coaching on Steven throughout the interview. Thank you to Steven for having me on the show again. I always love talking to him :)  After the interview, we did some bonus questions from his patrons about nutrition, coaching, and the business side of things. We get into it about being entrepreneurs and what it's really like for me/us as business owners, and you can find that plus the uncut video of this interview on the TrainingBeta Patreon. 

Dr. Tyler Nelson discusses advancements in finger endurance training, emphasizing efficient training methods and the difference between passive and active grip. He shares insights on a new protocol backed by research, challenges the 'no-hang protocol,' and addresses pulley cysts in injured patients. Bonus content on Patreon includes videos demonstrating upper extremity testing.

Shaina Savoy, a Nutrition Therapist Master, and Neely answer Instagram questions on climbing nutrition. Topics include water consumption, advice for youth athletes, dieting timing, plant-based nutrition, supplements, injury prevention, caloric needs, sugar intake, and advice for those with disordered eating. They also touch on Patreon bonus content about dietary habits and climbing mentality.

I sat down with current (and past) professional climbers Emily Harrington, Paige Claassen, and Angie Payne to talk about how becoming mothers in the past couple years has changed their lives as climbers.  Emily Harrington is known for her hard sport ascents (up to 5.14b or 8c), her one-day ascent of El Cap, her ascents of Everest and other big peaks, and her epic skiing accomplishments.  Paige Claassen is known for her hard sport ascents (up to 5.14d or 9a) and her recent ascent (post baby) of a V14/5.14d in Rocklands.  Angela Payne is known for her accolades as a competition climber in the 2000's and the fact that she was the first woman to send V13.  But beyond that, they're really incredible, dynamic, intelligent people who grew up together. Their close relationship and the fact that they all became mothers at around the same time is part of why I asked them to be on the show all together as more of a friendly conversation between old friends. I wanted to give the world more of an in-depth picture of these elite climbers' lives than we see on social media.  What We Talked About How they all love being a mom even more than they thought they would How being a mom has changed their climbing What's been harder about motherhood than they thought it would be Any long-lasting physical changes they've experienced, and how that's affected their climbing Where they are now in their climbing compared with pre-baby Some interesting comments they got on social media throughout pregnancy and motherhood Some awkward comments they got in person about their bodies, etc How they've been affected mentally in their climbing by having a child  Whether or not they think their best days of climbing are still ahead of them Bonus content on Patreon There's some bonus content at the end of this episode about how they would've liked to have been talked to by strangers and friends during pregnancy and afterward, whether they want more kids, and how their sponsors responded to their pregnancy. You can find that bonus content and the uncut, ad-free episode without intro or outro on my Patreon page. I hope you love this conversation as much as I did! It's not only for mothers, but for anyone who wants to understand motherhood through elite climbers' eyes. 

Kelly Birch is a 29-year-old climber living in Boulder, Colorado who sent her first V14 last fall. She has many, many double digit boulders under her belt. She is an incredible climber and has been really vocal on her Instagram about using weight training in her climbing training. She actually competed in power lifting for a while when she took a 5-year break from climbing after getting burnt out on competition climbing as a youth. We talk in depth about the following: her training program how and why she incorporates heavy weight lifting into her program what she thinks are the most important things to focus on when training for bouldering. how she manages her schedule with a full-time job how she fuels nutritionally for climbing and training some of the difficulties with nutrition and body image that exist in the climbing world how she approaches climbing with a mastery mindset There’s some bonus content at the end of this episode about core training, hip mobility, how she deals with failure in climbing, and how to train efficient movement that you can find on my Patreon page.   ----more----   Get More Training Advice on Our Patreon You can find bonus content from this episode and other climbing training advice, as well as nutrition and mindset education on our Patreon. Become A Patron   ----more---- Show Links Kelly Birch Instagram: @kellyabirch Listen or Watch the the uncut video with no intro or outro on Patreon Get nutrition and mindset education and tools on Patreon Start a training program built by TrainingBeta  

I talked with psychotherapist Tyler Stableford about some different therapy modalities that are super useful for rock climbers to help us feel more content and fulfilled in climbing (and in life). Tyler is a long-time climber out of Carbondale, Colorado, who recently switched careers to become a therapist. We talk about how Internal Family Systems (IFS), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Ketamine Assisted Therapy (KAT), my coaching techniques, and other modalities can help release trauma and build awareness about how our minds work. This can help us create new, positive behaviors and thought patterns. Tyler and I got very personal and vulnerable, talking about how these modalities have helped us continually work through our own stuff, and how they can be applied to climbers who struggle with things like: low self worth trying to find happiness through achievements not accepting where they’re at in climbing feeling shame about their climbing We tried very hard to give tangible, useful advice that you can use right now without seeing a therapist or coach. But we both strongly urge people to work with someone if you can. I absolutely loved this conversation and it’s one of my favorite episodes ever. I really hope you enjoy it too. Show Links Tyler Stableford private practice: www.stablefordcounseling.com Tyler’s portfolio from his previous career in film The Body Keeps the Score book by Bessel van der Kolk M.D Work with me on your mindset in climbing ----more---- Work with Me to Start Loving Climbing Again  I’ve been talking to a lot of climbers lately who have lost their passion and joy in climbing because they’re comparing themselves to others, feeling disappointed with their performance, and putting a lot of pressure on themselves to be doing better, faster. I have been there myself, and I’ve worked on all of it intensively over the last few years. Through all of this work with coaches and self-reflection, I’ve come out on the other side having WAY more fun in my climbing and feeling mostly positive emotions in all of my climbing sessions. I went to school to become a coach to help people on exactly this thing (among other things, but this is my favorite). Let’s work together by having skillful conversations over zoom to uncover what’s going on underneath all those negative thoughts and feelings and make a tangible plan for you to start enjoying the process of climbing more and caring less about what others think of you. Let’s get your joy back in climbing. WORK WITH ME ON YOUR CLIMBING MINDSET   ----more----   Get Bonus Content, Ad-Free Episodes, Nutrition, and Mindset Advice on Patreon   You can find even more on all of these topics on our Patreon in the form of bonus episodes, recorded mindset and nutrition coaching sessions, uncut interviews, and nutrition and mindset advice.   Become a Patron