Top Episodes of 2021

Dave MacLeod is a professional climber from Scotland and might be the best all-around climber in the world. Dave also has two master’s degrees and has authored two books. We talked about improving from 13d to 14d in 18 months, the ritual of approaching the fingerboard, how to reduce the risk of tendon injuries, interpreting scientific research, nutrient density, and more.

Joe Kinder is one of the hardest-working route developers in North America. We talked about his recent ascent of ‘Kinder Cakes’ 5.15a in Rifle, CO, putting up routes in mediocre rock, leaving a legacy through route development, his love of projecting, current training approach, fashion influences, creating LOV, and his experience with cancellation and rebuilding a new life.

Emil Abrahamsson is an elite boulderer, route setter, and YouTuber from Sweden. We talked about goal setting and projecting his first V15 as a V9 climber, the importance of psych and inspiration, experimenting with hangboarding two times per day, how to do one-arm pullups, sharing the experience of outdoor climbing through films, and making a living through his YouTube channel.

Tom Herbert is known as the usefulcoach, and is a leader in climbing sports nutrition. We talked about common themes in clients he works with, his philosophy of getting climbers to eat more calories to support a higher training volume, muscle protein synthesis, carbohydrate recommendations and timing, food quality, leucine supplementation, and much more.

Hazel Findlay is a professional climber and mental training coach from the UK, known for her boldness on dangerous and difficult trad routes. We talked about common themes in mental coaching, how the ego manifests in our climbing, supporting your partners, fear of falling, and Hazel’s mental approach while projecting the legendary ‘Magic Line’, her first 5.14c.

Ron Kauk is a legendary Yosemite climber. He recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his many accomplishments, within and beyond climbing. We talked about life in Camp 4 in the 70s, climbing ‘Astroman’ with John Bachar, influential music and books, stories from a brief career in Hollywood, doing the FA of ‘Magic Line’, his non-profit Sacred Rok, daily practices, connecting with Mother Nature, and much more.

Tom Randall is one of the Wide Boyz, and the cofounder of Lattice Training. We talked about Tom’s cellar, meeting Ollie Torr and starting a coaching company, how he and Ollie trained each other's weaknesses, having patience, key shoulder exercises, hangboard principles, stories from the Late Night Climbing Show, and Tom shared his insights into my own finger strength journey.

Nathaniel Coleman is the men’s silver medalist of the Tokyo Olympics. We talked about his preparation for the games, training in a climbing sauna, the Olympic experience and winning silver, favorite root beer, Kendama as focus training, chess, why Nathaniel still practices the basics of climbing, doing the FA of ‘The Grand Illusion’ V16, and sport climbing plans.

Eric Hörst is the author of the international bestselling book Training for Climbing and the founder of PhysiVantage. We talked about his dual career as a meteorologist and climbing coach, early route development, how training has evolved, the roles of campusing vs. hangboarding in improving finger strength, why coaching is like 3D chess, and how to train your core.

Steve McClure is one of the best rock-climbers in the world, having made the FA of the hardest sport route in the UK at 9b (5.15b), at age 46. We talked about early hitchhiking stories, discovering sport climbing, the three parts of climbing ability, how to improve over the long haul, foot-on campusing, and much more.