The Testpiece Podcast

Melina Costanza is an 8x US National Champion. Sometimes as a youth, sometimes as a collegiate, sometimes in Open, sometimes in bouldering, sometimes in lead, sometimes both. Yes, last year at Open Nationals (2023) she won both Bouldering and Lead.  She is set to compete in the 2024 Open Nationals coming up in a week, so after you listen to this podcast make sure to mark your calendars for October...

Ward Byrum is the Director of Routesetting for all Movement gyms in the East Region. Yes, that Movement. The biggest climbing gym chain in America and probably the world. That means that Ward and his team decide what the climbing will be like for thousands of climbers. Scratch that, ten’s of thousands of climbers. It might even be hundreds of thousands of climbers or even millions! But hey, who’s...

Tom Randall is an iconic climber and founder. You might know him as one of the Wide Boyz , as one of the founders of Lattice Training , as a high level coach, or for his 5.14 Trad FA’s or even his FA of the worlds hardest crack boulder, aptly named “The Kraken” [V13]. Ya, Tom’s done it all, and has helped the best in the world do it even better. In this chat, Tom gives a masterclass on what actual...

David Fitzgerald is back after an absolutely incredible season. Dave was previously on for Testpiece Episode #55 , a total fan favorite. Last season Dave had a list of climbs in different styles to tackle. Tierrany, a V14 endurance bloc in Yosemite. Equanimity, a V15 ultra tech testpiece in Tahoe. Lucid Dreaming, the V15+ straight forward power problem in Bishop. And Big Z, a V16 power endurance m...

Garrett Gregor was the head routesetter for the Paris Olympics boulders! That’s all you need to know. Just stop reading this description and start listening now. Garrett is also an accomplished competitor, placing as high as 4th at Nationals, an experienced coach at the legendary Team ABC, and did we mention he’s an elite routesetter?! IFSC Level 5, etc, etc etc…. Didn’t you already see that he wa...

Dr. Tyler Nelson is the founder of Camp 4 Human Performance , a company focused on bringing the principles of sport science to climbing.  Tyler is focused on being a cutting edge resource for training and rehabilitation of climbers. This means he is always knee deep in research papers from all sorts of sports and asking how we might apply those lessons to climbing. Then he explores these potential...

This is the episode to learn everything about one of, if not the, most important parts of our climbing kit — chalk! The real topic here is how to maximize friction between your hands and the holds, which is crucial for sending your hardest. Kevin Brown joins the pod and goes deep on the science of how to get the best friction on holds. He talks about the chemical make up of the best chalk, what it...

Professional climber, coach, routesetter, and frequent Testpiece podcast guest, Tim Kang , is on the pod this week to share his thoughts about the Paris 2024 Olympics. Tim may be best known for his highball ascents that culminated in the film Focus , but Tim is also a seasoned competition climber with multiple World Cups under his belt. Tim loves competition climbing and studies in deeply. Hear hi...

Tom O’Halloran is arguably the best climber in Australia. He’s an Olympian, he’s climbed 15a and v14, and done FA’s nearly up to those grades as well. But the reason we wanted to have him on the podcast is because of the amazing YouTube content he puts out. He dives into the nuances of hard climbing in a way that actually helps people climb hard. Tom shares his knowledge in an open and honest way...

Ethan Salvo is back on the podcast! Ethan's first episode (linked here) was a fan favorite so when Josh visited Squamish for a few days they met up do an impromptu live/in-person recording. Since the last recording, Ethan has climbed arguably the hardest climb in Squamish, The Singularity . The experience he had on it was fascinating and made him question everything he knew about hard climbin...

Noah Wheeler and Benn Wheeler represent the next generation of climbers. At 21 and 19, they are some of the strongest board climbers in the world and their styles reflect that. They also are bring a unique point of view to the world of climbing content with their YouTube channel, Wheel Rock . These brothers have climbed up to V16 outdoors, FA’d up V14 (in the first 3 months of climbing outdoors!),...

AJ has been competing at the highest level for decades. She has won multiple Bouldering World Cups and she climbs just as hard outdoors with her iconic send of The Swarm (v13/14) in Bishop which was recently featured in Reel Rock . AJ also coaches some of the top up and coming Youth Athletes (one of her athletes recently won Nationals), through her business Delphi Climbing . In this podcast AJ giv...

Drew Ruana is one of the strongest boulders in the world. Period. He over a hundred V14+ sends, and lots of then are V16. While some other climbers may have that amount of blocs under their belt, no one has accumulated this many in such a short time. Drew goes into his infamous “Send Colorado” journey, which is his goal to send all V14 and up boulders in CO (nearly 200!). He shares some of the one...

Felipe Camargo is one of the top climbers in our sport with sends up to 9b and V15. That’s impressive… But what’s more impressive is that he began climbing Brazil where there was no professional climbers, no routes past 8b+, and no modern training facilities. Felipe managed to send the iconic 50m 9a+ Papichulo by mainly training on a 3x3m spray wall at 85+ degrees! And even more incredible, is tha...

Tim Kang is a frequent guest on the podcast, but now you get to hear him do a more typical interview. Tim is a professional climber and coach that has competed at the World Cup level, won a Psicobloc competition, climbed v14 and 5.14d, but he is best known for his daring sends of the wildest highballs in Bishop which culminated in the popular film Focus . Tune in to hear Tim’s arc as a climber, fr...

 Greg Loh was one of the strongest boulders in the world during the mid 90’s and early 00’s. He traveled all over the world putting up FA’s of V13+ and climbing with the best. He competed in WC’s, the X-Games, and even won Nationals twice for speed climbing.    He is known for being one of the first people who truly embraced bouldering as a discipline in itself. This is back when bouldering was ex...

Entitlement is the opposite of flow and perhaps the most damaging frame to have over the long term in your climbing. This can come from training, previous sends, or comp placement. Hear stories about Daniel Woods and other pro-climbers who have avoided this frame. And hear from Tim Kang and Josh Horsley about how they coach others and themselves to guard against it. SHOW NOTES: NEW!! Testpiece Poc...

We love board climbing. And if you do too, or even if you are just board curious, this episode it for you. The history of boards, board training, board ethics, board best practices, the future of boards. BOARDS!! This was a special in person recording in Colorado with part of the Tension Climbing crew ( Will Anglin , Michael Rosato , and Quinn Spadafora ). This episode was recorded the day after J...

Dave Burleson is one of the top agents for professional climbers. He's part of Reppa Athlete Managment that represents athletes like Sean Bailey, Nathaniel Coleman, Nina Williams, Jesse Grupper… the list goes on, but all of them have been on the podcast so we put them here first!  Before being an agent, Dave worked at the iconic brands Petzl and The North Face as an athlete coordinator / mana...

 Episode #100!!!! Thank you all for the support. What a journey it’s been. This episode was an absolute banger that encapsulates a lot of the Testpiece message.    Tim and Josh break down the ‘Simple’ path that the best climbers follow to being great. And then they detail the appropriate role that strength plays in this path.    They also go over the latest news and cover the amazing media that ha...

Nina Williams pushes the limits in every discipline of climbing there is… comps, bouldering, highball bouldering, big wall, sport climbing, and even free soloing. In this episode she takes us through a harrowing experience she had while free soloing the Casual Route of the Diamond, a multi pitch 5.10. Nina ended up off route during the climb and thus onsight free soloing, 800 feet off the deck. Ni...

Tim Kang was just in SLC for the World Cup and NACS. He got to watch and session with some of the best climbers in the world. Hear from Tim what his major takeaways were that can help you too. SHOW NOTES: Honnold’s Comments About Competitions and $ Petzl Roc Trip James-Caro Wedding Present Join Patreon: HERE Follow us on Instagram: HERE Visit our podcast page: HERE

Davin Bagdonas has developed 1000’s of climbs all over the world. Elite climbers, fellow adventurers, and previous podcast guests, like Jimmy Webb, Jamie Emerson, Roman Yalowitz, Eric Jerome call up Davin when they want to go on a wild adventure to try to find the best boulders in the world. Davin takes us on a trip around the world to places fraught with danger, and explains this up and comping l...

You’re midway through a redpoint burn and you’re tired. There’s a bunch of moves to go and you tell yourself that you’re so tired right now there’s no way you’ll ever send.  But the truth is, you have no idea how far you will get or if the send is actually right there for the taking. You can’t trust your feelings! Tim and Josh tackle the problem of doubt creep and how to find actual success during...

Palmer Larsen is one of the top coaches in the country. This podcast has soooooooooo many helpful tips and frameworks to get you to the next level. DO NOT MISS his description of how to foster an environment for long term success via deliberate practice @ ~1:28! He is the head coach of Momentum Climbing Team, in SLC, one of the top climbing teams in the country. He oversees 80 kids every week AND...