Cafe Kraft: Upper Body Mobility Drills
Climbing and training place serious physical demands on our upper body. These demands result in continual wear and tear on joints like shoulders and elbows. One only has to look at the ever-increasing number of shoulder injuries in climbers to see this situation needs to be taken seriously. Ultimately, the best [...]
Tension Climbing – Foundations
It doesn't take long on the internet to find loads of new climbing training exercises. Quite often, exercises are even presented as some kind of shortcut to climbing improvement. Combine this abundance of information with the fact that our scientific understanding of the foundations of climbing training and performance is [...]
Transcript Highlight: Roane Van Voorst and Hazel Findlay on Exercising the “Fear Muscle”
Two weeks ago, I (Matt Pincus) shared an excerpt from the TrainingBeta Podcast episode with Dutch climber and researcher Roane Van Voorst about how Lynn Hill deals with fear. The episode itself is about Van Voorst's book Fear! in which she interviews top climbers (and other extreme sports athletes) about how they manage [...]
Matt Pincus: 4 Keys to Limit Bouldering
A staple of most training programs is that they contain some kind of bouldering. Even programs designed for route climbers typically have a bouldering component. The reason for this is that bouldering is a simple and efficient way to train strength and power. While you are undoubtedly familiar with bouldering, if you [...]
Top 5 Route Climbing Articles
Route climbing has its own unique set of techniques, strategies, and training considerations. At times, route climbing can often feel casual. Afterall, a day at the crag doing routes well within your ability is simple enough and downright fun. However, things get more complicated when you start pushing your limits [...]
Matt Pincus: Fitting Everything In
A big question I get from my athletes is about fitting everything into their training schedule. After all, there are only so many hours in the week and you need rest days so fitting everything in can be difficult. However, we all know it's important to limit boulder, campus, hangboard, lift [...]
Transcript Highlight: Roanne Van Voorst on How Lynn Hill Deals with Fear
Fear can be one of the most limiting factors in climbing performance. The fear of falling is probably the most common climbing fear and we are all familiar with climbers who become paralyzed with fear as soon as a bolt reaches their waist. Chances are you were even that person [...]
Natasha Barnes: A Simple Intermediate Program
In the past couple months, we've shared a series of articles by climber, chiropractor, and sports injury rehabilitation specialist Natasha Barnes. These two articles have been Natasha's attempt to lay out some general principles about training that she feels climbers neglect and undermine their training efforts as a result. The first [...]
