BONUS: Alex Bridgewater — Getting Strong, Speed Walking, and Self-Belief

Alex Bridgewater is a high-level rock climber who moved to Lander, WY in 2016, to train at Elemental as part of the Climb Strong Program. Alex now works for Climb Strong as a coach. We talked about his transition into coaching, managing a chronic back injury, favorite barbell and bodyweight exercises, speed walking, and the importance of self-belief.  

Support on Patreon:

patreon.com/thenuggetclimbing  

Show Notes:  

http://thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/alex-bridgewater  

Nuggets:  

1:26 – Skating, early climbing, competing, and mentors  

5:46 – Climbing in college and meeting Charlie’s brother Mike  

7:27 – Alex’s first time swinging a kettlebell  

8:26 – Plans for the ‘PreMuir’, and starting to train with Charlie  

11:49 – Coming to Lander and learning about strength training  

13:41 – Learning on the fly on the side of El Cap  

16:21 – Getting sold on training, moving to Lander, and getting started with Climb Strong  

22:15 – Discipline, second-tier routes, and volume days  

25:04 – Kettlebell swings, and Alex’s back injury  

28:53 – Setting the goal of being injury-free for a year  

29:32 – The exercises that made the biggest difference for Alex’s own climbing  

32:41 – Unilateral vs. bilateral exercises, Zercher squats, and goblet squats   

39:02 – Kettlebells for climbers with limited overhead mobility, and bodyweight strength training  

40:45 – Example bodyweight exercises, and handstand pushup progressions  

43:02 – Alex’s experience at the Strong First bodyweight certification, and benefits of bodyweight strength training  

45:43 – One arm one leg pushups, and body awareness and control  

47:48 – Reading Stuart McGill and fixing his back with core exercises and speed walking  

50:57 – The McGill Big Three  

51:43 – More speed walking  

53:40 – Alex’s current training, barbell overhead press, and deadlifting from blocks  

57:12 – Alex’s most recent hangboard cycle (Ladder program with two grips)  

1:00:16 – Current climbing projects, and the history behind ‘Fibinachi Shimmer’  

1:02:26 – Alex’s takeaways from the training camp  

1:08:53 – The one piece of advice Alex took away from Jonathan’s presentation  

1:11:55 – Alex’s future with Climb Strong, and Climb Strong as a collective  

1:14:08 – One thing that holds us back, the importance of taking the steps, and pushing ourselves  

1:16:43 – Social media, “can’t”, and confidence  

1:17:43 – Carlo Traversi’s insight  

1:18:42 – Positivity  

1:20:10 – “Just go up there and try”, a becoming a better person  

1:21:54 – “To the death.”  

1:23:14 – Showing emotion, “Leave it up there”, and try hard