The TrainingBeta Podcast: A Climbing Training Podcast

About Colette McInerney   Colette McInerney is a 34-year-old climber who's been living on the road climbing for the past decade or so. She makes a living as a videographer and photographer all over the world. She's climbed up to 5.14a, and she just did another one of Black Diamond's training bootcamps to see how strong she could get. I wanted to interview Colette because she's really intriguing to...

About Jonathan Siegrist Jonathan Siegrist (or J-Star) is a 31-year-old professional rock climber from Boulder, Colorado. He grew up with his ever-psyched climbing dad, Bob Siegrist, trying to get him to love the sport as much as he did. He didn't really take to it until his late teens, though. Since then, he's become one of the world's most prolific sport climbers. To date, he's climbed four 5.15a...

About Sam Elias One of my first memories of Sam Elias was this: he was climbing on The Crew (14c) in Rifle, and he'd skipped 3 clips in a row on the top half. He was climbing to the death, screaming with every move, and then he fell and came dangerously close to being impaled by a tree right below the route. That tree has since been removed, and Sam has since sent the route. I think that scene per...

About The Access Fund The Access Fund is an organization dedicated to keeping climbing areas open for climbers while keeping land owners happy with those climbers. Since 1981, the organization has been helping to end disputes between climbers and landowners and buying climbing land and making it available for us, among many other things. For a full history and overview of the Access Fund, go to th...

Date: July 15th, 2016 Google Play For Android Users iTunes Show Page Online Training Vs In-Person Training for Climbing This week in our Ask Kris episode, we talked about the pros and cons of 3 different training types: In-person training with a coach one-on-one Online training with a coach one-on-one Online training without a coach one-on-one Hopefully this will shed some light on what you should...

Date: July 11th, 2016 Google Play For Android Users iTunes Show Page About Joe Kinder This is an interview with Joe Kinder, a 36-year-old climber from New Hampshire who was one of our sport's first professional (aka paid) athletes. He's climbed up to 5.14+ sport and 5.13+ trad, and he's given back much to the sport by developing a whole lot of new routes all over the US. He's well known for his co...

Date: June 23rd, 2016 Google Play For Android Users iTunes Show Page Training for Climbing on A Time Budget This week, in our tenth mini Ask Kris episode, we talked about how you can train at home or in the gym on a time budget. We talk about what boulderers should focus on as opposed to route climbers, and how you can train at home or in the gym in less than an hour 2 or 3 times a week. More Deta...

About Joshua Rucci This is an interview with Joshua Rucci, a collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coach in the Southeastern Conference (in Athens). He currently coaches women's basketball and women's gymnastics, and he has experience coaching all kinds of athletes, including the Chicago Bulls. He has always been passionate about helping athletes get better and reach their potential. Upon arriving...

Efficient Home Training for Climbing This week, in our ninth mini episode of Ask Kris, we talked about how you can train at home efficiently, no matter what equipment you have to work with. We go through a few scenarios, ranging from a guy Kris worked with who had only a few basic pieces of equipment, all the way up to someone who has a home wall, weights, and other equipment at home.  He also giv...

About Dr. Tom Hackett This is an interview with Dr. Tom Hackett, a shoulder, elbow, and knee surgeon who performed all three of my husband's and my shoulder surgeries. Dr. Hackett works out of the acclaimed Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colorado, and has extensive training in arthroscopic treatment of sports-related injuries. Before he was a surgeon, he worked as a mountaineer and a climbing guide, so...

How to Use A Heart Rate Monitor for Training and How to Increase Your Lactic Acid Threshold This week, in our eighth mini episode of Ask Kris, we talked about two related topics: lactic acid thresholds and heart rate monitor training. Lactic acid is basically the stuff that builds up in your body to make you feel "pumped", and it comes partially from having a high heart rate during activity.  In t...

About Lynn Hill This is an interview with Lynn Hill, who's arguably the most famous climber of all time. She was the first person to free the Nose on El Cap (5.14-), the first woman to climb 5.14a, the first woman to onsight 5.13b, and she was a fierce competitor. She has over 30+ international titles and claimed 5 victories at the Arco Rock Master. More than once, she was the only person - man or...

Are You Overtraining? This week, in our seventh mini episode of Ask Kris, we talked about the signs and symptoms of overtraining, and how much rest people really need.  Here's what we talked about: What overtraining looks like How long you should feel tired after starting a training program The emotional effects of training and overtraining Sugar cravings, hunger, and overtraining Kris's Programs...

About Ryan Vachon This is an interview with Ryan Vachon, a 43-year-old who won the Ouray Mixed Climbing Competition this year (2016) and sent Saphira, M15- shortly afterward. As a full-time climate scientist at his company, Earth Inititiatives , he has a lot on his plate. He's the ultimate weekend warrior, and he puts in long hours of training most weeks in order to stay super fit.  Ryan is a Rab...

Improving Overall Fitness for Climbing This week, in our sixth mini episode of Ask Kris, we talked about how to improve overall fitness for climbing. I was actually a little bit confused about what "fitness" really meant, and Kris helped me understand what it is and how to gain more of it.  Here's what we talked about: What fitness actually is Specific workouts you should do to train fitness How I...

About Aaron Mulkey This is an interview with Aaron Mulkey, the 39-year-old who was dubbed the "Patriarch of Cody Ice" for his 100+ first ascents in the Wyoming area. We dig in to what motivates him to find new routes and climb so hard, all while maintaining a full-time high-stress job and helping to raise two teenagers.  He's been training his butt off and divulges all the details about his daily,...

Improving Core Strength for Climbing This week, in our fifth mini episode of Ask Kris, we talked about how to improve core strength for climbing. Having just spent last week in Rifle on my project, I realized that I need to gain a lot of core strength myself, so I loved this episode.  Here's what we talked about: What our "core" actually is What exercises you should do to train core strength How I...

About Mathilde Becerra This is an interview with 25 year-old Mathilde Becerra, who's on the French National Climbing team. In 2015, Mathilde ended up in the top 10 overall in lead climbing, and even though she doesn't have much time for outdoor climbing, she has climbed up to 5.14a and V11 outside. You may have heard Mathilde's name in my last interview with Sean McColl because she's his long-time...

Shoulder Care for Climbers This week, in our fourth mini episode of Ask Kris,wedecided to talk about shoulders - one of my favorite topics. Alot of climbers have shoulder issues, and we discuss how toavoidinjuries and how to prevent them.  Most common shoulder issues for climbers When to see a doctor What exercises you should do for injury prevention What exercises you should avoid when you have a...

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 a...

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 eac...

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 brother...

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...

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...

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 train...