Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast

2020 has been a challenging year with a global pandemic, a COVID lockdown at home (or two), and limited climbing travel for many of us. We're now entering the holiday season, with COVID lingering, but hopefully, it will bring some opportunity to celebrate (in small COVID-safe groups?), reset our training, and renew our mindset and body. Is this a good time to take a month off from climbing? NO! Th...

Are you ready to rethink what's possible in your climbing life? There's a good chance that your perceived limit is actually a self-imposed imaginary boundary! Once again this month, I present an episode of Training Cafe, my twice-monthly video Livestream coaching show on YouTube and Facebook live. The main topic delves into pursuing next-level projects...and the importance of challenging your inne...

In this episode, Eric welcomes you into the Training Café...which is his live coaching video stream broadcast every other Monday. So in this podcast, you'll hear Eric's TC broadcast which includes in-depth coaching on effective projecting...and reveals the "secret" to sending! Eric also answers a slew of viewer questions on training, injury, nutrition, and more. You can participate in future Train...

Legendary climber, Wolfgang Gullich, famously said that "the brain is the most important muscle for climbing". Sure, strong fingers are important--but there are many strong-fingered climbers who never reach their potential. The pursuit of better climbing is ultimately an inward journey to gain mastery of the mind. Developing stronger "mental muscle" will enable you to achieve beyond your current i...

You've been dreaming about your boulder project, dream route, or road trip. You've trained smart and hard. Your psych is high. You're ready to crush! So, how can you best transition from gym to outdoor climbing, and what can you do to perform your best on weekends outdoors or on a long trip? In this episode, Eric presents a series of powerful tips that you can take to the send bank! He also provid...

What makes great climbers great? What are the distinct and rare character traits that make climbers like Tommy Caldwell, Alex Honnold, Margo Hayes, Adam Ondra, and Alex Megos (I call this group "CHHOM")--and others like them--the barrier-breaking and transcendent climbers that they are? You might be thinking of things like "strong fingers", "low bodyfat, and "excellent sponsorship". Surely these a...

As physical as climbing is, it is even more mental. Being technically sound and physically strong is not enough to navigate a high-ball boulder problem, personal-best redpoint, intimidating big wall, or treacherous mountain. Ultimately, you climb with your mind—your hands and feet are simply an extension of your thoughts and will. Becoming a better climber, then, requires that you improve your men...

Climbers are drawn to the challenges and potential adversity of the steep. Great climbers embrace grand challenges--and almost certain adversity--in achieving hard and rare accomplishments. This podcast will equip you with five powerful strategies to leverage, in times of hardship and adversity, as you pursue big goals both in climbing and in your everyday life. And now in this era of COVID-19, yo...

These are crazy times we're living through with the COVID crisis. Most of us are self-quarantined...left to train on a home wall, hangboard, and whatever else we can kludge together. My personal initiative during the growing stay-at-home spell is doing twice-weekly livestream videos that I call "Training Café". You can view these shows--and submit training questions--during the livestream shows si...

An often-used proverbial phrase, to encourage optimism and proactive action in the face of adversity or misfortune, is to "make lemonade out of lemons." In this podcast, Eric Hörst presents a hopeful mindset and approach for persevering through the COVID-19 crisis. He details five tips for effective home training and fostering a stronger immune system. Employing this guidance will lower your risk...

In this episode of Ask Coach Hörst...Eric answers 9 wide-ranging questions from listeners. Some of the topics covered are...hangboard training, diagnosing a finger injury, autoregulation use in competition, energy system training, optimal training for a Masters climber, protein requirements, and blood flow restriction training. Listen in! Podcast Rundown 0:15 - Introduction to Ask Coach Horst 1:45...

4 Tips to Improve the Quality of Your Training and Accelerate Progress Toward Your Goals! It's been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing expecting to get different results. Progress demands change. Doing hard things demands great change. Uncommon success demands uncommon self-awareness, discipline, and effort. This podcast presents four ways to refine, re-invent, or perhaps...

It's the dawn of a new decade, and so I wanted to take this rare opportunity to record a unique and, hopefully, impactful podcast. The topic is... effective training for the climb that is your life. This is a short and fast-paced episode, so I hope that you can find some quiet time to listen closely...and think critically about the 10 tips and concepts that I present. Please listen with an open mi...

Effective training can't be haphazard, nor done ad-lib. In this podcast, you'll learn a supremely effective conceptual model for training that adopts an "intelligent system" approach. Eric describes the nine elements of an intelligent system, and how you can incorporate this system to optimize training results and accelerate goal pursuit! RUNDOWN 1:30 – Intro to the TFC podcast 3:19 – Learning to...

If you're serious about training and climbing your best, then you must be serious about performance nutrition. The foods you consume play a central role in energy production, training adaptations, muscle recovery, connective tissue health, and your strength-to-weight ratio. Combined, these nutritional influences are nearly as significant as the influence of your training program--and, if you get b...

In a departure from my usual lecture style podcasts, I'm happy to feature a guest on this month's podcast--Dr. Tyler Nelson, a chiropractic physician and owner of Camp 4 Human Performance in Salt Lake City. This is my first podcast interview in about a decade--I believe my last audio interview was with Alex Honnold soon after his free solo of Half Dome (2008). Maybe some day I'll dig out that podc...

This is fourth in a series on sinew training with a specific focus on climbing injuries and prevention. Incidence of climbing injuries is growing, and overuse injuries to the fingers, elbows, and shoulders are common among beginners and expert alike. Eric lays out the perfect storm of factors that make upper extremity overuse injuries so common. You will learn countermeasures to reduce your injury...

In this episode of Ask Coach Hörst...Eric answers 7 wide-ranging questions from listeners. Some of the topics covered are...energy system training for alactic power, climbing-specific aerobic energy system training, Tabata training on a hangboard, advice for a beginner wanting to hangboard train, the pros/cons of Ketogenic diet, accelerating healing of an A2 pulley injury. Listen in! Podcast Rundo...

What makes great climbers great? What are the distinct and rare character traits that make climbers like Tommy Caldwell, Alex Honnold, Margo Hayes, Adam Ondra, and Alex Megos (I call this group "CHHOM")--and others like them--the barrier-breaking and transcendent climbers that they are? You might be thinking of things like "strong fingers", "low bodyfat, and "excellent sponsorship". Surely these a...

Sinew training. What the heck is that? Chances are you've never heard of "sinew training"...or even thought about it. After all, genetics and "luck" dictate the properties of our tendons and ligaments, right? WRONG! A growing body of recent research has shown that athletes can play an active role in developing stronger, higher performing tendons and ligaments by way of specific training and nutrit...

In this episode of Ask Coach Hörst...Eric answers 7 wide-ranging questions from listeners. Some of the interesting topics covered are...the science of "supercompensation", the use of gymnastic exercises in training, dealing with recurrent injuries, fingerboard training, mental training and "head space" development, endurance training, running, and more! It's 45 minutes of training-for-climbing inf...

This may be the most important podcast you've heard in a long time...or, perhaps, ever! If you engage in hard finger training, frequently push your physical limits, and/or occasionally experience tendon or joint pain...then this podcast could be a game-changer for you. Traditionally, tendons and ligaments (such as the A2 pulleys of the fingers) have been viewed as inert structures that changed lit...

Get ready for some breakthrough research-based information that, I believe, is revolutionary for hard-training climbers! The topic is sinew training—that is, new training and nutritional interventions shown to promote tendon, ligament, and muscle matrix strength and health. We all know how hard climbing (and training) is on the flexor tendons and ligament pulleys of the fingers, as well as the elb...

New Year's is a great time to think deeply about your goals, re-evaluate your course and strategy, and perhaps even reinvent yourself! Taking your performance to the next level—in climbing or anything—demands CHANGE, courage and commitment, and consistent goal-focused action. In this episode, Eric takes you through a series of thought-provoking exercises and, along the way, he will arm you with po...

This episode provides critical framework and guidelines for effective hangboard training. Based on 30+ years of hangboard training experience--and the latest research--you'll learn the importance of a proper warm up, why you must train different finger grip positions, how to maintain forearm muscle balance and lower injury risk, as well as valuable tips on organizing your hangboard training for op...