The TrainingBeta Podcast: A Climbing Training Podcast

About Margarita Martinez My first experience of Margarita Martinez was at the Red River Gorge, watching her dance her way up Bohica 5.13b. She ended up falling on it, but I remember her laughing as she fell, and then talking to her later she was as chipper as could be. In this interview, that positive outlook on life and climbing is very apparent.  Margarita is originally from Puerto Rico, but moved her in her late teens to be a ballerina, which she did for over a decade. She had to quit dancing because she could no longer travel and raise 3 children. She wanted something to fill the dancing void in her life, and at the age of 34 she found climbing. Since then, she's suffered several heartbreaking injuries and surgeries (broken back, broken ankle, and most recently a serious shoulder issue), but she's persevered and steadily climbed through the grades.  Last year, at the age of 58, she sent her first 5.13d in Maple Canyon and has not slowed down since. That was after she was told by a surgeon that she needed to have a shoulder replacement and quit climbing forever. Our good friend, Esther Smith (the PT who's been on the show a couple times) helped her fix her shoulder, and she's now climbing and training harder than ever.  Margarita Martinez Interview Details  In this interview, Margarita talks about her evolution as a climber, how she trains, and how she does things differently now that she's a little bit older. What We Talked About Training for first 13d at age 58 How she deals with having rheumatoid arthritis How she approaches climbing and training at age 58 What the MaxiPull is and how it helps her endurance Why she weight lifts and what she does Her training/climbing schedule Margarita Martinez Links Margarita's article "15 Truths About Being A Climber" How to Make A Maxi Pull - from Margarita's Facebook page Esther Smith's article on how to Hang Just Right (which Margarita uses) Margarita's shoe insert company (for stinky climbing shoes): www.DryPointe.com  

About Danny Robertson  Danny Robertson is a climber who lives in Carbondale, Colorado on the Western Slope. He's a 41-year-old Rifle regular who's been climbing for about 15 years. He's a full-time 7th-grade teacher, so he has summers off with his wife Wendy, who's also a teacher. This affords them some great climbing trips and projecting time.  Danny and Wendy have been listening to the podcast for a while, and they told me a few times when I saw them that they'd changed their training practices based off of what they'd learned from the podcast. When Danny sent his gnarly 3-year project, The Crew (5.14c), this fall, I decided I needed to know his secrets.  Prior to that he'd done a bunch of 14a's, and he considered himself to be sort of stuck at that level for about 10 years. After changing his training, he was doing 14a's and b's much more quickly than ever, and ultimately sent his mega project, The Crew.  Danny Robertson Interview Details Scheduling training with full-time job Training without a good gym What he learned from the podcast How yoga fixed his shoulder Training outside - paradigm shift Why more is not better  

About Esther Smith Esther Smith is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, and the owner of Grassroots Physical Therapy in Salt Lake City. She is a 5.13- climber who’s reaped the benefits of her own physical therapy practices, having healed a shoulder injury through exercises, stretches, and alternative therapies. She works almost exclusively with rock climbers, which is rare for a physical therapist. For a complete bio and list of certifications and qualifications, please visit www.grassrootsphysicaltherapy.com. This is my second of three interviews with Esther, the first one covering shoulder injuries. This interview is all about elbows. During the interview, you’ll hear Esther talking about the videos she created to help you understand what she’s trying to explain. You’ll find those videos below, as well as the video tutorials she has for sale on her new website, www.selftreatment.com, which very well may make your elbow pain go away without the help of any practitioner.     Esther Smith Interview Details  In this interview, Esther talks about how to know what elbow ailment you’re suffering from, how to treat it, and how to prevent it from happening again. What We Talked About 3 most common reasons for elbow pain Poor climbing form that leads to elbow pain 4 most crucial exercises for elbow treatment Golfer’s and Tennis elbow treatment When to rest and when to climb through it       Videos for Elbow, Shoulder, and Finger Care 4 Essential Exercises  In this video, Esther Smith shows Brittany Griffith how to do the 4 essential exercises for climbers.   Rice Bucket Exercises  In this video, Esther Smith shows Brittany Griffith how to use the rice bucket properly for elbow, wrist, and finger injuries.   How to Hang Right  In this video, Esther Smith explains how to hang right on a hangboard, expanding on her article for BD on that topic.  Video Tutorials for Elbow Injuries Esther created two videos to help you treat Tennis Elbow and Golfer’s Elbow (common climber ailments described in the interview) that are each an hour long. You have to pay for these videos, but it’s well worth the investment if you struggle with elbow pain.     Esther Smith Links My first interview with Esther about shoulders Esther’s website: www.grassrootsphysicaltherapy.com Esther’s new website with resources for injuries: www.selftreatment.com Esther’s article on how to Hang Just Right Free videos about treating elbow pain

About Josh Dreher Josh Dreher is, among many other things, the husband of Teal Dreher, who was my first "normal person" interview on the podcast. I wanted to do another "normal person" interview, and I thought that Josh would be the perfect follow-up to Teal. I keep putting "normal person" in quotations because Josh is actually quite strong: a V12 climber. So he's not exactly normal. However, he's had much of his success in the past year and a half after losing about 40 pounds and training diligently in his home gym. I found out in the interview that he actually attributes at least 60% of his newfound success to losing weight.  He's been climbing for about 15 years, and he'd done 6 V10's or harder in that time. After the serious training and the weight loss, he's done 36 V10's or harder, and 2 of those were V12's, which he'd never climbed before.  Pretty impressive. He also has a full-time job and really only trains in his garage, so I thought we could all learn a thing or two from him.    Josh Dreher Interview Details Scheduling training with full-time job How he lost 40 pounds Why he stopped running  Moon board training Home gym setup The workout he did right before the interview How he's designed his training plan Dealing with sweaty hands

About Jess Simmons Jess Simmons is a Registered Yoga Teacher (200-RYT) and Personal Trainer (NASM CPT) on a quest to climb harder and healthier. She integrates the physical, mental, and spiritual practices of yoga with modern exercise science for a holistic approach to training for climbing. While we think of yoga as just this tool to help us be more flexible, Jess talks about why it's way more than that: it gives us the ability to calm ourselves down in an uncomfortable situations, it gives us more strength physically, and helps us have better balance, among other things.  Jess wrote an article called "The Unsung Benefits of Yoga for Climbing" for TrainingBeta that describes some of the yoga poses she suggests in this interview. It contains helpful photos and thorough instructions for how to do the sequences.  Jess Simmons Interview Details In this interview, Jess talks about how yoga does all of these things, and she tells you what she thinks are the 5 most important poses for climbers.  What We Talked About Daily yoga sequence for climbers What kinds of yoga to avoid How you can overtrain with yoga and climbing Using breath in yoga helps climbing Yoga for shoulders Jess Simmons Links Jess's website: www.yogaclimbfitness.wordpress.com Jess's article on TrainingBeta about yoga for climbers Work with Jess at 3ClickFitness as your personal trainer

About Alex Stiger  Alex Stiger is a good friend of mine and one of the most interesting people I know. She's been a mentor to me in climbing, riding horses (she was my trainer for a while), and chess (she taught me how to do tournaments). She's not only a V9 and 5.13 climber - she's also the highest rated female chess player in Colorado, a badass breakdancer, and a bona fide horse whisperer.  She's a 27-year-old, 5'0" woman who discovered climbing 12 years ago. She's gone through her ups and downs with climbing, but has recently enjoyed consistent progress through training and nutrition.    Alex Stiger Interview Details During her time as the head coach of the kids' climbing team at the Spot Gym in Boulder, Colorado, she's seen a lot of improvements in her own climbing. I wanted to ask her about how she coaches her kids, and how she's gotten so strong in the past couple years.  What We Talked About How she trains her kids team How horsemanship and chess relate with coaching and climbing What makes a good kids' coach Should kids campus? How her climbing performance shot up Sending her first 5.13s How she lost weight and if it affected her climbing

About Dr. Chris Heilman Dr. Christina Heilman is a Sports Psychologist, as well as a personal trainer (CSCS and ATC) who earned her PhD in Sport and Exercise Psychology from the University of Utah. She is an avid skier, but loves a lot of sports, including all aspects of rock climbing.  She does work with athletes of all kinds, one-on-one and in group/team settings. She's also in the process of writing a textbook on sports psychology.  Chris is the same sports psychologist you heard Sam Elias talk about in my interview with him about his experience with the BD Bootcamp. He credited Dr. Heilman with a lot of his success after the bootcamp because she helped him become calmer and more focused on and off the wall.    Dr. Chris Heilman Interview Details I talked to Chris about how we can all become calmer and more focused as climbers (and in general), and about her experience living and working with the guys' BD Bootcamp in 2015.  What We Talked About How she works with people How she came back from a devastating gymnastics injury Breathing exercises you can start doing right now How you can make yourself calm down using just one word Why you should start your day with goal setting Being in "flow zone"

About Esther Smith Esther Smith is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, and the owner of Grassroots Physical Therapy in Salt Lake City. She is a 5.13- climber who's reaped the benefits of her own physical therapy practices, having healed a shoulder injury through exercises, stretches, and alternative therapies. She works almost exclusively with rock climbers, which is rare for a physical therapist. I wish I lived in Salt Lake City so I could go see her myself! For a complete bio and list of certifications and qualifications, please visit www.grassrootsphysicaltherapy.com. In this first of 3 interviews with Esther, we focused on shoulder injuries and how to heal them. Esther Smith Interview Details Esther recently acted as the physical therapist for the women's Black Diamond Bootcamp, where she helped Babsi Zangerl heal a shoulder injury WHILE she was training hard.   Babsi's shoulder issues and how she healed How Esther healed her own shoulder injury The most common shoulder injuries Proper fingerboard posture to avoid injuries What exercises to do to support shoulders How much pain is too much? Esther Smith Links Esther Smith's website: www.grassrootsphysicaltherapy.com Esther Smith's article on how to Hang Just Right  Esther working with Babsi in her BD Bootcamp Video  

About Beth Rodden Beth Rodden is a climbing icon and absolutely a hero of mine. She broke barriers for women in sport climbing and big wall climbing, being the first American woman to climb 5.14b, the first woman to free 2 routes on El Cap, and one half of the 3rd team to free The Nose (with then husband Tommy Caldwell). She also put up what was, at the time, the hardest climb in Yosemite, Meltdown (5.14c). She did Meltdown in 2008, and soon after started dealing with some major injuries, including surgery for a torn labrum, finger pulley tears, and a broken ankle. Then, after her body started healing up, she became pregnant with her husband Randy Puro, and she had their son Theo in the Spring of 2014. Beth Rodden Interview Details Beth is starting to get back into training and climbing a little harder, and I was honored to sit down and talk with her about where she is now as a climber, how motherhood has changed her, and how she used to approach training and climbing. Her most memorable climbing achievements How she trained with Tommy Caldwell FA's, FFA's (free), and FFA's (female) Dealing with and learning from injuries Tough pregancy and post pregnancy How motherhood has changed her What her goals are now

About Dan Mirsky Dan Mirsky is an understated crusher. I’ve been watching him gracefully take down rock climbs all over the country for the last 10 years. In 2013, we witnessed his fitness (literally) in The Red when we were next door neighbors at Lago Linda’s. And then a few months later he was kind enough to show us around The Cathedral/Wailing Wall, giving Seth and me encyclopedic beta on the entire crag from the ground. He chucked a couple laps on Golden (14b) that day right after sending Route of All Evil (14a) in the Virgin River Gorge that morning. Mirsky is PSYCHED to climb and psyched to see others succeed. He’s a bright-eyed, happy, almost boyish guy with a sneaky sense of humor and a willingness to get a little crazy with friends. He knows everything about the places he climbs because he’s obsessed with all things climbing. He’s sent 30+ 5.14’s up to 5.14c, having taken down The Crew (14c), 50 Words for Pump (14b), Bad Girls Club (14c), Lungfish (14b), and lots of other hard stuff, including an FA of Solid Gold (14c), the direct line to Golden (read his “The Day I Sent Solid Gold” from EveningSends.com). Dan Mirsky Interview Details Last year, Dan did the Black Diamond Bootcamp with Joe Kinder and Sam Elias, and he experienced some serious gains on actual rock because of it. Because of that success and his newfound psych for training in a structured way, he took a job as a trainer in Salt Lake City at The Training Room at The Front. In this second interview with Dan Mirsky we talk about his BD Bootcamp success and the novel concept that is The Training Room. How the BD Bootcamp changed him Sending spree followed by plateau Started training other people The Training Room - what is it? Cardio habits now? Diet is super important to him Current projects and city life