The TrainingBeta Podcast: A Climbing Training Podcast

Improving Overall Fitness for Climbing This week, in our sixth mini episode of Ask Kris, we talked about how to improve overall fitness for climbing. I was actually a little bit confused about what "fitness" really meant, and Kris helped me understand what it is and how to gain more of it.  Here's what we talked about: What fitness actually is Specific workouts you should do to train fitness How I should train for my long-ass route project Who needs fitness?  How a workout that has no climbing in it can improve your climbing fitness Train Your Fitness with Kris's Programs All of the programs that Kris wrote for trainingbeta.com have a focus on overall fitness. He's a big advocate for creating great all-around athletes because he believes that strong people make strong climbers.  If you want 3 complete workouts every week to get you stronger and help you stay injury free, check out our bouldering training program or our route training program. More about Kris Train with Kris one-on-one or online  Train bouldering or route climbing using one of Kris's programs on TrainingBeta Kris's 6-Week Power Endurance Program   Please Review The Podcast on iTunes! Link to the TrainingBeta Podcast on iTunes is HERE. Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world ;)  

About Aaron Mulkey This is an interview with Aaron Mulkey, the 39-year-old who was dubbed the "Patriarch of Cody Ice" for his 100+ first ascents in the Wyoming area. We dig in to what motivates him to find new routes and climb so hard, all while maintaining a full-time high-stress job and helping to raise two teenagers.  He's been training his butt off and divulges all the details about his daily, monthly, and yearly cycles of training so he can stay strong all year.  More About Our Talk Ice climbing training and how it ties in with climbing and kayaking training How his tenacity and stubbornness help him succeed How he trains fitness for all-day climbing Training with Connie at the Alpine Training Center How he maintains a full-time job and still finds time to climb Aaron Mulkey Links Aaron's website: www.coldfear.com Aaron's Instagram: @coldfear Aaron climbing ice in Norway (Video) Training Programs for You Check out our Route Climbing Training Program for route climbers of all abilities. Our other training programs: Training Programs Page.

Improving Core Strength for Climbing This week, in our fifth mini episode of Ask Kris, we talked about how to improve core strength for climbing. Having just spent last week in Rifle on my project, I realized that I need to gain a lot of core strength myself, so I loved this episode.  Here's what we talked about: What our "core" actually is What exercises you should do to train core strength How I should train for my core-intensive kneebar crux Why we don't train core with low reps/high weights How to train your lower back to avoid injury Train Your Core with Kris's Programs All of the programs that Kris wrote for trainingbeta.com have a focus on core stability and strength. If you want 3 complete workouts every week to get you stronger and help you stay injury free, check out our bouldering training program or our route training program. More about Kris Train with Kris one-on-one or online  Train bouldering or route climbing using one of Kris's programs on TrainingBeta Kris's 6-Week Power Endurance Program Freebie Core Workout Do all of the exercises below without stopping, except for the noted rest times.  TRX Pikes (Video): Reps: 25 Rest: 10 seconds TRX Saws (Video): Reps: 25  Rest: 10 seconds AB Hip Raises (Video): 25 reps  Rest: 10 seconds TRX Planks (Video): 1 minute Sets: 2-4 Rest: 1-2 minutes between sets Toes to bar Reps: 15 Sets: 4 Rest: 1 minute between sets Ab Roller Reps: 20 Sets: 4 Rest: 45 seconds between sets V-Ups (Video) 25 v-ups Sets: 4 Rest: 90 seconds between sets All done - nice work!  Please Review The Podcast on iTunes! Link to the TrainingBeta Podcast on iTunes is HERE. Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world ;)    

About Mathilde Becerra This is an interview with 25 year-old Mathilde Becerra, who's on the French National Climbing team. In 2015, Mathilde ended up in the top 10 overall in lead climbing, and even though she doesn't have much time for outdoor climbing, she has climbed up to 5.14a and V11 outside. You may have heard Mathilde's name in my last interview with Sean McColl because she's his long-time girlfriend. I thought it'd be really interesting to hear from a European lady crusher. She started climbing when she was a kid, and excelled very quickly. In this interview, we talked about what it's like being on the French team (as opposed to the US or Canadian team), how she makes it work financially as a full-time pro climber, and how she trains physically and mentally to perform so well at comps. More About Our Talk What her training cycles look like How she trains for route climbing and bouldering Aerobic conditioning How she trains to be more dynamic as a short climber Her strong opinions on bodyweight and climbing performance Her diet Mathilde Becerra Links Mathilde's website: www.mathildebecerra.com Mathilde on Facebook Mathilde's Instagram: @mathilde_becerra Mathilde in Bishop in 2015 (Video) Training Programs for You Check out our Route Climbing Training Program for route climbers of all abilities. Our other training programs: Training Programs Page.  

Shoulder Care for ClimbersThis week, in our fourth mini episode of Ask Kris,wedecided to talk about shoulders - one of my favorite topics.Alot of climbers have shoulder issues, and we discuss how toavoidinjuries and how to prevent them.  Most common shoulder issues for climbers When to see a doctor What exercises you should do for injury prevention What exercises you should avoid when you have an injury More about Neely's experience with shoulder surgery Train Your Shoulders with Kris's ProgramsAll of the programs that Kris wrote fortrainingbeta.comhave a focus on shoulder stability, strength, andinjuryprevention. If you want 3 complete workouts every weektoget you stronger and help you stay injury free, check outourboulderingtraining program or our routetrainingprogram.  More about Kris TrainwithKris one-on-one or online  Train bouldering or routeclimbing usingone of Kris's programs on TrainingBeta Kris's 6-Week Power Endurance Program Please Review The Podcast on iTunes!Link to the TrainingBeta Podcast on iTunes is HERE. Please give the podcast an honest reviewoniTunes here to help the show reach morecuriousclimbers around the world ;)

About Sean McColl This is an interview with 28 year-old Sean McColl, a well-known Canadian climber who's accomplished amazing things both outdoors and in competitions.  I can't describe his amazing accomplishments better than he does on his website, so here's an excerpt...  "Sean was the Canadian Youth Champion in his age group ever year from 1999-2005 having won every National Championships he attended. During his youth career, Sean claimed 5 world titles; since no other youth competitor has won more titles; this achievement is unsurpassed in youth climbing history to this day." "Since Sean started competing on the World Cup circuit, he has won 4 events (2 in bouldering, 2 in lead) and been on the podium another 23 times. Sean has won the Overall CombinedRankings and has been 2rd and 3rd in the Lead and Boulder Overall rankings respectively." "As an outdoor climber, Sean has onsighted 5.14a (8b+) and climbed multiple 5.14d’s (9a). On the bouldering side, Sean is one of a dozen climbers in the world to flash the grade of V13 (8B) and redpoint V15 (8C)." He seems to only be getting stronger as he gets older. In March of this year (2016), he won the Rab CWIF, a big competition in Sheffield, England, where he beat out Ty Landman, Jimmy Webb, and Jorg Verhoeven (video). He spends most of his year training for competitions, and only sometimes makes it outside to climb on real rock.  Whew! Sean is a badass. We've all seen videos of his crazy training (here he is on the campus board), but I wanted to find out more details about how he trains.  What We Talked About How he trained as a kid What his training cycles look like Training for bouldering vs route climbing Campus board, fingerboard, climbing drills His schedule His diet Sean McColl Links Sean's website: www.seanmccoll.com Sean on Facebook Sean's Instagram: @mccollsean Sean on Dreamcatcher (14d in Squamish) (Video)

Training for Bouldering vs Routes This week, in our third mini episode of Ask Kris, we decided to talk about the similarities and differences between training for bouldering vs routes, and what crossover there is between them. Why route climbers need to train power and how to do it Why boulderers need to train fitness and how to do it The best climbing drills for each The best weight lifts for each Relevant Links More about Kris Train with Kris one-on-one or online  Train bouldering or route climbing using one of Kris's programs on TrainingBeta Kris's 6-Week Power Endurance Program Please Review The Podcast on iTunes! Link to the TrainingBeta Podcast on iTunes is HERE. Please give the podcast an honest review on iTunes here to help the show reach more curious climbers around the world ;)

About Teal Dreher This is an interview with Teal Dreher, a V8 boulderer who climbed through the grades in just a few years using various training programs. She also regularly puts in 70 hours per week as an environmental engineer, so I thought she'd be a perfect person to represent normal non-pro climbers.  She takes us through her evolution of climbing training, starting with the Anderson brothers' program, then through Eric Horst's teachings, and finally with our very own Kris Peters, who she's currently training with.  I honestly loved talking with Teal because I felt like we could relate on climbing on a different level than my pro climber guests. I hope you like this very informative conversation as much as I did! What We Talked About V8 in 3 years Anderson Bros' program vs Horst's program vs Kris Peters' program Juggling training and working Teal Dreher Links Teal's website: www.tealasaurus.wordpress.com Teal's Instagram: @tealasaurus Teal on Barfly V8 in Little Cottonwood Canyon (Video) Training Programs for You Check out our Route Climbing Training Program for route climbers of all abilities. Our other training programs: Training Programs Page.

New Ask Kris Mini Episodes! We're going to do something new on the podcast every week (or as often as we can). Kris Peters and I will be tackling a specific subject and hashing some details out for about 15 minutes. Don't worry: I'll still be doing the regular podcast episodes every week, too! We'll also take questions from you guys and answer them on these mini episodes. This week, in our second episode, we decided to talk about the three best lifts for rock climbers. Kris Peters is a climbing trainer who's worked with some of the strongest climbers in the world, as well as a ton of regular Joes like you and me. He's seen his methods work on 100's of climbers so far, and so I thought I'd give him a platform to share his knowledge with you guys. Here's episode 2 of "Ask Kris", and hopefully we'll get one out every week. If you have a question for him, email me at neely@trainingbeta.com and we'll try to answer it. 3 Best Lifts for Climbers Why climbers should weight lift Why some strong climbers can get away with not weight lifting What the 3 best lifts are, why, and how to do them Kris Peters Links More about Kris Train with Kris one-on-one or online Kris's online programs you can start following today with 3 workouts/week (bouldering and route training) Kris's 6-Week Power Endurance Program

About Mercedes Pollmeier   This is an interview with Mercedes Pollmeier, a Strength and Conditioning coach out of Seattle, Washington. She has a Master's degree in Human Movement and started working with climbers of all abilities, including elite level/competition climbers, in Colorado. Currently she works at the Seattle Bouldering Project with climbers and other athletes of all ability levels. I wanted to ask Mercedes about her training philosophies, and how she trains intermediate climbers in particular.  Also, if you detect an accent, it's Australian. She came to the States in the early 2000's and promptly got rid of her accent, which I find amazing, seeing as how I can't even lose my Wisconsin accent... What We Talked About 5.10 and 5.11 training What ARCing is and how to use it How to break into 5.11 or 5.12 Training for 5.11 vs 5.13 The most important lifts for a climber Her book on training, Simple Strength Mercedes Pollmeier Links Mercedes Pollmeier's website Mercedes' article on Quadrupedal Movements for Climbers Mercedes' book, Simple Strength, on Amazon Training videos by Mercedes Training Programs for You Check out our Route Climbing Training Program for route climbers of all abilities. Our other training programs: Training Programs Page.