The TrainingBeta Podcast: A Climbing Training Podcast

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.

New 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. We'll also take questions from you guys and answer them on these episodes. This week, we decided to start with finger training, since it's such a popular topic.  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 1 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.  What We Talked About How he likes to train finger strength Who should train finger strength and who should not What "repeaters" are 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  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 Neil Gresham   Neil Gresham is a British climber and trainer who's been training people for about 20 years now. He's the training columnist at both Climbing and Rock & Ice magazines, and has written extensively on the topic. At 44, he's still pushing his limits on sport climbs (14b last year), ice climbs, and deep water solos, among other types of climbing. Although he has no formal background in training (I'm finding that to be irrelevant in these interviews), he's studied the literature on climbing training and other related sports. But most of all, he's debatably one of the most experienced climbing trainers out there, having been doing this pretty full time since the 1990's.  He also wrote an interesting article recently about his ketogenic diet that's made a huge difference in his climbing and body composition, which I responded to with my own podcast episode about the diet. We talk about his experience with keto and exactly what he eats on it.  What We Talked About Case study of 5.10/11 climber trying to break into the next level How he helped fix a client's elbows in a matter of weeks How to break into 5.11 or 5.12 What the ketogenic diet is and how he's improved on it The most important overall exercise for a climber Neil Gresham Links Neil Gresham's website Awesome video of Neil training and redpointing

About Jorg Verhoeven Jorg Verhoeven is a professional Dutch climber who lives and trains in Austria. He's done about 150 world cups (in both bouldering and routes), and he won the Overall Lead World Cup in 2008 and was World Youth Champion twice. He did the 4th free ascent of The Nose on El Cap (5.14), and he recently did Wheel of Life (V15). He was on the cover of Climbing magazine for his historic repeat of The Nose, which further piqued my interest in this all-around badass climber. I wanted to know how he's capable of doing it all, so we chatted about his training, his attitude about climbing and life, and how he keeps it fun and interesting for himself. What We Talked About How he trains in his limited gym facility Whether or not he does finger training and campusing (very interesting answers) His internal struggle on The Nose How he trained for the Nose His very specific training for World Cups and other comps Jorg Verhoeven Links Jorg on Wheel of Life (V15) (Video) Jorg Verhoeven on The Nose (Video) Jorg Verhoeven on Facebook

About Neely Quinn Neely is your host for the podcast every week, but she's also a practicing nutrition therapist, and has been since about 2007. She's helped hundreds of people lose weight and get closer to optimal health. She takes an individualized approach to nutrition, and in this podcast episode she tackles weight loss for climbers and how to approach it properly (if you need to approach it at all).  Weight Loss for Climbers Calories Carbs Food Sensitivities When to see a doctor Overtraining Want to work with Neely one-on-one? Her nutrition coaching page: www.trainingbeta.com/nutrition-coaching Email her at neely@trainingbeta.com

About Ethan Pringle Ethan Pringle is a 29 year-old professional rock climber who's had immense success in the competition scene as well as on real rock. He made the 2nd ascent of Jumbo Love (5.15b) and has done a few V14s and is working on his first V15 (The Nest). He's an all around strong, determined climber, and I wanted to know what makes him tick. What We Talked About How he prepared for Jumbo Love How he stayed motivated on Jumbo Love for 7 years How depression has affected him and his climbing Getting over psychological plateaus Future goals Ethan Pringle Links Ethan on Jumbo Love (Video) Ethan Pringle on Instagram Ethan Pringle on Facebook