EP 12: Mike Doyle — Lessons From 10+ Years of Coaching, Onsighting Tips, and Working Extra Remotely

Mike Doyle is an elite-level rock climber who balances climbing with a career as a software engineer. He also has a long history of competition climbing and coaching. We talked about lessons learned from 10+ years of coaching, his training philosophy, onsighting tips, go-to climbing shoes, surfing, and the best breakfast he’s ever had.  

Support on Patreon:

patreon.com/thenuggetclimbing  

Show Notes:  

http://thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/mike-doyle  

Nuggets:  

2:06 – Mike’s go-to breakfast, and the best breakfast he’s ever had  

3:09 – My climbing gym trip  

3:25 – Mike’s early climbing and first (and last) experience with mountaineering  

5:58 – Moving to Vancouver for college, coaching at the North Vancouver gym, and the stacked field of young climbers that came out of that program  

8:29 – The culture that lead The Edge climbing team to be so successful  

9:50 – Mike’s competition career and why he transitioned away from competitions  

11:16 – Mike’s evolution as a coach, early coaching mistakes, the importance of building relationships with the kids on the team, and finding individual triggers   

17:55 – Enjoying coaching, fear of falling, the story behind ‘Spank the Monkey’, and setting up a top rope on ‘Rude Boys’  

21:58 – Flexibility training, and why Mike wouldn’t pay himself to be his own coach  

23:25 – The best piece of coaching advice Mike ever got, and the importance of making the training environment fun  

25:45 – More time in the gym, and “That’s when you learn technique is when you’re tired.”  

26:49 – “Strength training is simple.”   

28:13 – How Mike thinks about block training vs. integrating training with climbing   

31:14 – Some of the nuts and bolts of Mike’s hangboard training—specifically how he prepared for ‘Necessary Evil’ (reference the TrainingBeta podcast episode linked above for the exact workout he was doing)  

32:29 – Mike’s struggle with one-arm hangs  

34:46 – Doing a single 10-second full crimp hang for recruitment  

37:30 – Mike’s lineup of holds and the importance of sticking to a program  

38:09 – Why strength = endurance, and training yourself to recruit less (i.e. relax your grip) on a hangboard  

40:09 – Climbing tired to improve efficiency/movement economy  

40:50 – Mike’s thoughts on the Moonboard, and “Every tool has its applications.” 

42:00 – Nagging injuries and thoughts on climbing hard in the future and what that means  

43:06 – Mike’s ‘Remote Controlled Climbing Life’, dreams of traveling and climbing, and the story behind ADATO   

46:43 – Why Mike still works 60+ hours per week  

49:32 – Creating boundaries around work, “ride or die”, and the balance that Mike hopes to achieve with his current company and work life  

52:28 – Working “extra remotely”, two-month trips, and needing a change of scenery  

54:54 – A few things Mike looks for in a potential “extra remote” work space  

55:32 – Mike’s keyboard and mouse recommendations (Kinesis–link in show notes)  

57:06 – The Canadian Alpine Trilogy  

1:06:32 – “It’s the Rockies.”  

1:07:33 – Mixing in other climbing with the trilogy and plans to go back this summer  

1:08:40 – Necessary Evil and necessary diligence  

1:11:47 – Climbing as an escape vs. having a focusing project, takeaways from projecting Necessary Evil, and support from the climbing community  

1:15:15 – Why Mike’s process on Necessary Evil resonated with so many people  

1:16:04 – Mike’s (lack) of unfinished business, ‘Just Do It’, and how he goes about onsighting and redpointing on road trips  

1:18:54 – Onsighting tips  

1:20:38 – Why Mike love the La Sportiva Genius and why it has become his go-to onsight shoe  

1:23:50 – Mike’s favorite stiff shoe for face climbing and the shoes he wore on To Bolt  

1:25:01 – The advice Mike would give himself at age 18, climbing standards when Mike climbed his first 14a vs now, Adam Ondra’s onsight attempt on Necessary Evil, and why I think ‘Just Do It’ is in the bag for Mike ;)  

1:29:51 – Surfing and Mike’s recent trip to Costa Rica   

1:33:30 – What’s next for Mike, his elbow injury, running for fitness, and the one thing about running that translates most to climbing   

1:35:34 – Upcoming trips  

1:36:31 – Woodford story