EP 60: Leif Gasch
March 15, 2021
Leif Gasch has been a climber for over 25 years and now works as a trainer and coach. We talked about his path from construction to coaching, balancing training with a physically demanding job, how to be a better weekend warrior, mini-goals, breaking into new grades, warming up for hard redpoints, and much more. You can learn more about Leif at substr8climbing.com
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts
Support the Podcast:
Other Podcasts Mentioned:
Videos:
Routes Mentioned:
‘Frogger’ V9, Hueco Tanks, TX
‘The Plague’ V10, Cody, WY
‘Less Than Zero’ 5.14b, Poptire Cave, UT
‘White Wedding’ 5.14a, Smith Rock, OR
‘Lucky Pigeon’ 5.13c, Smith Rock, OR
‘Latin Lover’ 5.12a, Smith Rock, OR
‘Chemical Ali’ 5.14a, Smith Rock, OR
‘Atomic Cow’ 5.13d, Wild Iris, Lander, WY
‘Atomic Stetson’ 5.13c, Wild Iris, Lander, WY
‘Cow Reggae’ 5.13b, Wild Iris, Lander, WY
’Strawberry Roan’ 5.13c/d, The Roan, Lander, WY
‘Day of the Dead’ 5.14a, Ghost Town, Lander, WY
‘Walking Dead’ 5.13c, Ghost Town, Lander, WY
‘Hellbound’ 5.14a, The Roan, Lander, WY
Leif’s Links:
Nuggets:
4:36 – “Back porch kind of a deal”
5:28 – Living on the road during covid, and moving back to Lander
8:06 – The pod, Leif’s first trip to Hueco with Scott Milton, and sending Frogger
11:18 – Years of cherry-picking, new development in Hueco, and becoming a guide
12:51 – Early carpentry, becoming an electrition, and building a house
15:40 – Growing up on a ranch, hunting, and climbing Devils Tower
17:54 – Climbing in Cody, ‘The Fuz’ climbing gang, teaching, and falling in love with climbing
21:45 – “You come to Lander, you gotta bring your own job!”
23:32 – Living with artists, ‘The Plague’, and Leif’s intro to training for climbing
25:46 – Lifting weights in college, and the rocket ship analogy
29:12 – Sticking with the training process, “it takes time”, and Leif’s first 5.14b
35:57 – Learning to stick with it, mental carry over, and testing to be an electrition
38:38 – Moving away from the trades, relating to blue-collar workers, and starting SUBSTR8
42:04 – How Leif educated himself to become a better coach, remote vs. in-person coaching, and being receptive to critique
45:42 – The PCC
49:06 – The 75/25 rule, and designing skill drills
54:40 – On the wall tension building, crunches, and the shortcomings of limit bouldering
58:56 – Core tension, the posterior chain, and an example of building tension on the wall
1:02:39 – The benefit of having a specific goal
1:04:19 – The drill Leif learned from Kris Hampton at Power Company, and learning to create more tension through the feet
1:07:10 – Patron Question from Donovan: What should I work on to break into 5.13?
1:19:50 – Patron Question: How can I be a weekend warrior?
1:31:53 – Mini goals
1:34:31 – Patron Question from Tyler: Tips for non-professional climbers?
1:39:03 – Patron Question from Matt: Recommendations for someone who works a physically demanding job in the trades?
1:43:49 – Patron Question from Moritz: Leif’s weight when he climbed 5.14b?
1:45:38 – My restricting eating story, training heavy, and being an opportunivore
1:54:40 – Patron Question from Moritz: Can Leif do a front lever yet?
1:56:43 – Patron Question from Nolan: What does your warmup look like for a hard redpoint?
2:05:14 – Patron Question from Steve Bechtel: How did Leif deal with and get past a severe finger injury?
2:16:01 – ‘Strawberry Roan’
2:26:01 – Patron Question from Darren: Send goals or dream route in Lander?
2:31:11 – Patron Question from Darren: Does it feel like a disadvantage being a big dude pulling on small monos in Lander?
2:33:08 – Grateful for friends and family