EP 38: Solomon Barth — Up-Down-Ups, Veganism, and Working to Live (and Make a Difference)

Solomon Barth is a Stanford University graduate and software engineer. We talked about Solomon’s impressive two-week trip to Smith Rock, working with Alex Bridgewater to improve his footwork and bulletproof his fingers, training endurance using up-down-ups, veganism, working in tech, his desire to help make positive change in the world, and gunning for 5.15.  

Support on Patreon:

patreon.com/thenuggetclimbing  

Show Notes:  

http://thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/solomon-barth  

Nuggets:  

2:29 – Solomon’s recent climbing trip, bad weather, and land hurricanes  

3:49 – Back in the gym after COVID  

5:11 – Solomon’s Smith Rock trip  

10:56 – Tactics for flashing routes  

14:29 – Being a training geek and reaching out to Climb Strong for coaching  

16:54 – Working with Alex Bridgewater and bulletproofing his fingers on the hangboard  

19:03 – Solomon’s experience with the Go-A-Hundred hangboard program  

21:11 – Takeaways from working with Tyler Nelson on finger injury prevention, and why “active recovery is the only recovery” for pulleys and tendons  

25:01 – Working on footwork with Alex  

27:19 – Working on his weakness every session, and bookending sessions with slab climbing  

30:37 – Solomon’s experience with alactic circuit training  

35:07 – Up-down-ups with Maya Madere  

39:31 – Up-down-ups specifics and clarifications  

43:46 – Solomon’s thoughts on running and cardio  

46:49 – Practicing pacing, and how Maya learned to climb faster  

48:18 – Reigning in the volume  

49:18 – Solomon’s experience and evolution with veganism  

54:14 – The vegan alternative food that Solomon is most excited about right now  

54:58 – Why Solomon doesn’t put much stock in nutrition, and letting go of sacrifices to perform better  

57:27 – Rituals, and “climbing is just for fun”  

58:41 – Book recommendation: ’Sacred Cow’ (link in show notes)  

1:00:09 – Simon’s tech job, school vs. work, and studying computer science  

1:02:51 – Balancing a full-time job with climbing, a desire to help make positive change, and taking time to learn more about the world  

1:06:22 – Why Solomon feels that Social Media “wasn’t for him” and thoughts about the potential of becoming a professional climber  

1:08:17 – Goal setting  

1:10:31 – Plans to project 5.15?  

1:11:19 – Margo Hayes, ‘La Rambla’, and shifting to sport climbing  

1:13:54 – Jailhouse, kneebars, and projecting ‘The Green Mile’ with Conner Herson  

1:17:46 – Using Jailhouse as a training ground, and kneerbar progress  

1:20:48 – Plans for Maple and Rifle  

1:21:29 – Gratitude  

1:22:24 – Solomon’s two book recommendations (see show notes for links)  

1:25:00 – “I guess I have an Instagram…”