Episodes Feed
EP 178: Ethan Pringle Returns
Ethan Pringle is back on the podcast! We talked about our first few weeks in Rocklands, the style of climbing here, his plans to try Monkey Wedding 8C, nemesis boulders, micromanaging holds, two habits that Ethan does every day, taking your time while executing hard moves, adjusting on holds, and Ethan talked about his dad’s life after his stroke, his final weeks, and his passing on November 6, 2022.
EP 177: Tiba Vroom
Tiba Vroom is a Dutch professional climber and cofounder of Wildflower Climbing Gym. We talked about the pressure that comes with early success, her first trip to Magic Wood and sending Riverbed 8B, confronting fear of failure, separating self-worth from performance, being the 8, starting a non-profit gym in the Netherlands, taking responsibility for your life, dream climbs in Fontainebleau, and more!
EP 174: Bernd Zangerl
Bernd Zangerl a bouldering legend from Austria. We talked about his early climbing and making the 2nd ascent of Dreamtime, some of his proudest FAs, how he recovered from a career-ending injury in 2016, his mindset for highballs, meditation and the power of the mind, believing in love, our impact as climbers, sustainability, and discovering world-class bouldering in the Himalayas.
EP 173: Louis Parkinson
Louis Parkinson is a London-based climber and coach and is one of the best in the world at teaching dynamic movement. We talked about the benefits of indoor climbing, how practicing comp-style boulders can help your rock climbing, sending his first 8B in Magic Wood, timing your breathing with hard moves, skill drills for experienced climbers, how to break down dynamic movements, cultivating confidence, and much more!
EP 170: Karly Rager & Casey Elliott
Karly Rager is back on the podcast and is joined by Casey Elliott to talk about the factors that affect climbing performance. We’ve got three engineers in one podcast, and we geek out on the data! Do things like weight, height, and ape index affect how hard you can climb? Is max finger strength more important than days spent climbing outside? Listen to find out!
EP 166: Will Bosi
Will Bosi is a 24-year-old climber from Scotland who has emerged as one of the best climbers in the world. This interview is hot off the press! Will made the second ascent of ‘Burden of Dreams’ V17 less than two weeks ago and joins us for a proper geek out about the send. We talked about his process of projecting the replica and the actual boulder, his feats of finger strength and where to draw the line between party tricks and useful strength, doing the second ascent of ‘Mutation’ at Raven Tor, his absolute dream project, and much more!
EP 165: Charlie Schreiber
Charlie Schreiber is a world-class climbing coach who has helped day 1 athletes become National Champions, 5.14d sport climbers, and V15 boulderers. We talked about the value of asking “why”, giving kids hard work and then reward, finding fresh lemons to squeeze, puzzle books and getting inside the mind of the puzzle maker, our shared goal to climb V13, how to have a good poop in the morning (every time), and much more!
EP 155: Caleb Robinson
Caleb Robinson is an ex-competitive soccer player, elite boulderer, route setter, and photographer. He started climbing at age 17 and sent his first V13 in just four years. We talked about the biggest lessons he learned from competitive soccer, how deadlifting fixed his back, a typical week of training, his finger training journey, the power of consistency over time, finding his artistic expression in photography, and much more!
EP 145: Katie Lamb
Katie Lamb is one of the top female boulderers in the world. We talked about her early climbing and falling in love with bouldering, climbing her first V14 and what led to her breakthrough in the last two years, projecting tips, superpowers, lifting weights, balancing training with outdoor climbing, what it will take for her to reach the next level, and working in climate data science.
EP 142: Aidan Roberts
Aidan Roberts is a 23-year-old from the UK, who has emerged as one of the strongest boulderers in the world. We talked about training for his trip to Switzerland to try Alphane V17, differences among top boulderers, how Aidan developed his climbing style, addressing finger weaknesses, training using replicas, his goal-setting philosophy, plans to train for Burden of Dreams V17, considering our environmental impact as climbers, and much more.
EP 137: Drew Ruana & Cameron Hörst
Drew Ruana is back on the podcast and is joined by his friend Cameron Hörst, who is one of the best young sport climbers in the country. We talked about lessons they’ve each learned from recent sends, what it was like growing up as kid crushers, training for bouldering vs. sport climbing, how to stay strong while projecting, Drew’s thoughts on climbing V18, and Cam’s thoughts on climbing 5.15c.
EP 136: Dan Varian
Dan Varian is an elite boulderer from the UK and the cofounder of Beastmaker. We talked about a finger strength test that Dan had me do, how to measure the load distribution across our fingers, silver bullets in finger strength, how to activate lazy fingers, why Dan is focusing his training on high angle crimps, his recommendations for me, and wrist training for Fontainebleau.
EP 127: Jesse Firestone
Jesse Firestone is an elite boulderer, a climbing coach, and a climbing philosopher. He’s also a good friend of mine from Oregon. We talked about quantum leaps in our progression as climbers, Jesse’s top 3 tips for climbers at different stages, non-physical factors that affect our performance, tips for flashing hard boulders, training changes after age 30, and much more.
*If you liked my episodes with Emil Abrahamsson and Martin Keller, don’t skip this one!
EP 117: Yves Gravelle
Yves Gravelle is a V15 boulderer from Canada and a 3x APL World Champion (i.e. grip competitions). We talked about lessons from grip training that we can apply to climbing, the importance of simplicity and consistency, how to break down a bouldering project, basing your training on the demands of a specific goal, top 3 finger training methods, how to train full crimps, and much more.
EP 116: Paul Robinson
Paul Robinson is one of the top boulderers in the world and has been climbing at a V15 level for more than a decade. We talked about building his new house, recovering from neck surgery, his recent diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, climbing 1000+ V11s or harder, his analogy of climbing as a book, hardest FAs, trying to climb V16, travel routines, filmmaking, and much more.
EP 113: Ned Feehally
Ned Feehally is Shauna Coxsey’s husband. (Just teasing Ned!) Ned is a top-level boulderer from the UK, the cofounder of Beastmaker, and the author of Beastmaking. We talked about his background in climbing, how Beastmaker got started, Ned’s approach to finger training, the benefits of board climbing, using ankle weights for body tension, and much more.
EP 112: Favia Dubyk
Dr. Favia Dubyk is a pathologist, cancer survivor, Ninja Warrior, cat lover, and badass boulderer. We talked about the connective tissue disorder that led her to specialize in lowball roof climbing, what it was like to go through cancer and chemotherapy, how she became one of the strongest people in the world at pull-ups, learning how to dyno, and her current V13 lowball roof project.
EP 110: “The Verm” Returns
This is round 2 with John Sherman aka “The Verm”. We sat in the desert near Hueco Tanks and chatted over a few beers. We talked about ‘Wheatiesgate’ and the lost art of heckling, finding and developing areas before the internet, dealing with aging, photographing and studying birds, life lessons, injury stories, and John’s favorite beers.
*I recommend listening to my first episode with Verm (EP 108) before this episode.
EP 109: Martin Keller
Martin Keller is a Swiss boulderer, climbing coach, and teacher, and is known for his long-term dedication to his bouldering projects. We talked about spending 150+ days projecting his FA of ‘Ninja Skills Sit’ V15/16, how to change our brain chemistry, how Martin trains on his outdoor projects, and how changing his mindset unlocked his hardest climbs.
EP 108: John Sherman
John Sherman is a bouldering legend. His nickname “Verm” (short for “Vermin”) is where the “V” in our bouldering grade system came from. We sat down in a cave in Hueco Tanks and talked about what bouldering was like 30+ years ago, early climbing shoes, highballing before crash pads were invented, out-of-body experiences, and how some of the boulders got their provocative names.