Advertise on podcast: The TrainingBeta Podcast: A Climbing Training Podcast

In this episode, Coach Alex Stiger gives some sage advice to beginner climbers about how to get off to a great start in your climbing journey. Alex is a climbing coach to all levels of climbers all over the world, but she was also the program director and head coach at a climbing gym for years. She knows a LOT about the proper ways to spend your time, invest in resources, and self-reflect in order to become the best climber you can be in the shortest amount of time.  Interview Details Classes and instruction you should get 6 Biggest mistakes to avoid (shoes, poor movement habits, etc.) 8 Technique and skill tips that will make a huge difference How to avoid injury Cultivating good climbing relationships I think that even if you’ve been climbing for a couple of years, this episode could have a lot of great information for you, or if you hang out with beginner climbers, this episode will give you a lot of knowledge to share with them! Join Alex's wait list to work with her as your coach at trainingbeta.com/waitlist.  

In this episode I do a full mindset coaching session with Maren Krammer, a 33-yr-old climber who struggles to feel like she is a part of the community when she’s surrounded by stronger climbers than herself. She feels shy, stifled, and unwilling to try hard for fear of judgment and rejection from others. It affects her self-esteem and hinders her climbing progression, and she wanted to work through it. We do a full 60-minute mindset coaching session where we break down her thoughts, emotions, limiting beliefs, and gremlin talk (the voice that says “you’re not good enough”). By the end, Maren has a clearer understanding of why she feels so intimidated around stronger climbers and tools to help her be confident in herself and feel more a part of the community. Work with Me on Your Mindset in Climbing If you want to work with me one-on-one, I’m accepting new mindset coaching clients. We can work on your fears in climbing, performance anxiety, and anything that is holding you back from enjoying climbing. Go totrainingbeta.com/mindset for more info. 

Natalia Grossman is a 24-year-old American professional climber who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. She broke onto the World Cup scene in 2021 when she became the overall Bouldering World Cup champion and finished in second place in the overall Lead World Cup. That same year, she won World Championships in Moscow in Bouldering and placed 2nd in Lead. She proceeded to win the overall Bouldering World Cup in 2022, 2023, and 2024, making her the most successful American World Cup climber in history. In 2022 she came in 3rd place for the overall Lead World Cup season. In 2023 she also won the Pan Am Games in Santiago in both Bouldering and Lead. She qualified for the Olympics in 2024 and finished in 11th place. In February of this year (2025), she unfortunately tore her ACL and meniscus, and sprained her MCL during a training session and had to have surgery. She is now about 9 months out from surgery and has won both competitions she entered: the Lead North American Cup in Salt Lake in August and the Bouldering Pan American Cup in Colombia in November. Besides competition climbing, she has sent up to V14 and 5.14c outside, but has focused most of her time and training on World Cup comps. Natalia graduated from University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in psychology and is considering getting her master’s in mental health counseling. In this interview, we talk about her comeback from her surgery, her mindset for competition climbing, and her training, among many other things: More Details: How she injured herself Her injury rehab and how it’s changed her as a climber How she got so good at climbing What impact her coaches have had on her What sets her apart from other climbers What it’s like competing with your best friends How the pressures to be light have affected her What she eats What she sacrifices to be a champion How she trains It was an honor to interview someone I have watched compete for years (I love watching World Cups!), and I appreciated Natalia giving us her time and being so vulnerable in sharing about her life.

In this episode, Coach Alex Stiger and I reflect on the important lessons and mindset shifts we've gained after NOT sending projects. Whether it's a renewed motivation to train and grow as a climber or the realization that we just don't want to try that hard anyore, we go through the gammut of what we have experienced as a result of not sending. Alex asked her clients about their own learnings from not sending and shares them in this episode. Some Things We Talked About What deconstructing that attachment to sending can do for our climbing and life Tools that have helped Alex and her clients start approaching possible failure with curiosity, confidence, and even some joy vs avoidance, anxiety, and dread Fact vs. fiction about what the experience of sending/not sending actually does to us

Coach Matt Pincus and I sat down and talked through 3 habits that we have formed over months or years that have led us to become better climbers.  Matt’s 3 Habits Doing his finger training as part of his warmup for indoor sessions Having a clear plan/objective for every day out Questioning why he falls off by asking, “Why?” three to five times Neely's 3 Habits   My "Three Questions" that keep me in a positive headspace Continual fall practice Nudging myself to get on things that intimidate me  Link to Matt's 6-Month Coaching Package - www.trainingbeta.com/matt

Dr. Tyler Nelson came on the show to talk about common wrist injuries and how to rehab them so you can get back to climbing and training how you want to. You may remember that I had wrist surgery on my TFCC and my husband had wrist surgery for ulnar impaction syndrome, so I inject some anecdotal information into the talk, too. Episode Details some common wrist injuries how they happen what aggravates them in climbing what you should do about them specific exercises to heal and strengthen them how to continue climbing during your injury (when appropriate) how to get a good diagnosis from a professional my own experience with a full TFCC tear and my surgery for that my husband's wrist surgery for ulnar impaction syndrome Episode Links Wrist Loading Instagram Post  TFCC Instagram Post Wrist Pain Rehab Online Course Camp 4 website: camp4humanperformance.com Patreon and Podcast: patreon.com/c/C4HP_/home Take an online class with Tyler: camp4humanperformance.com/store Do a consultation with Tyler for coaching or an injury Instagram: @c4hp

Dr. Jared Vagy is a physical therapist and a climber who’s incredibly motivated to help other climbers heal their bodies. In this interview, we talk about capsulitis, which is a common finger injury that climbers get. He describes what capsulitis is, how it happens, how to avoid it, and how to treat it if you have it. Find more info on Jared and this episode at trainingbeta.com/media/jared-vagy-capsulitis. Resources from Episode Peer reviewed case study on capsulitis How to use a finger trap for capsulitis Jared’s book Climb Injury-Free. Order his book here.    

The Enneagram is a personality typing method that I’ve been super interested in for a few years now. I try to type all of my friends, my clients, and other people around me to help me understand them better and have more compassion for them. Knowing my own type has helped me have more compassion for myself and to identify areas I want to improve on in my life, in and outside of climbing. I recently met Becca Droz of sunrise-mindset.com, who is certified as an Enneagram coach, and she’s a climbing coach and guide. She often ends up talking with her clients about what Enneagram type they are and how it shows up for them. I asked her to be on the show to talk about what each of the types looks like in people in general, and how the types show up for us as climbers. We talk in depth about all of the types’ core fears, motivations, strengths, and challenges. We talk a little more extensively about our own types (I am an 8 and she is a 7). Resources Mentioned Becca’s website: sunrise-mindset.com Enneagram Test on Becca’s site: sunrise-mindset.com/enneagramtest Greece trip with Becca: sunrise-mindset.com/greece Suzanne Stabile Books on the Enneagram: Amazon list Suzanne Stabile podcast: The Enneagram Journey  The Enneagram Institute RHETI Test: www.enneagraminstitute.com Integrative 9 Enneagram Test: www.integrative9.com Wisdom of the Enneagram Book: Amazon

Jana Unterholzner has her master’s degree as a Sport and Performance Psychologist and she recently helped create an online course at unblocd.com to guide climbers through mentally recovering from injuries. I asked her to be on the show to talk about some of the tools and information she provides in that course. In this episode, we both share some of our key experiences going through our own injuries and Jana talks about the following: Why the mental side of injury matters as much as the physical How injury recovery can mirror grief in practice Strategies for working with fear after injury Why tracking progress makes such a difference Reframing injury: challenge vs. threat Building resilience (vs. being born with it) The role of self-compassion in recovery Tools for managing negative thoughts What kind of support actually helps during recovery Why rehab consistency is tough — and what helps Growing into someone new, rather than ‘getting back’ to your old self The people at unblocd.com are offering you a 30% discount on all of their programs, including the new Injury Recovery program, and their mini programs at unblocd.com using the code “TRAININGBETA30” at checkout.

In this episode I do a full mindset coaching session with Robyn Steuber, a 33-yr-old climber whose main barrier in climbing is her fear of falling and inability to try hard above her bolt. She also struggles with performance anxiety and fear of failing. So I did a complete one-hour session with her, just as I would with any climbing client, and we dissected exactly what she's afraid of and made a plan for her to start overcoming her fears. We discussed fall practice, quantitative ways for her to start learning how to try hard in general (and eventually above her bolt), and I gave her strategies for dealing with the big emotions that come with a stressful day of climbing.  If you want to work with me on your own mental barriers in climbing, visit www.trainingbeta.com/mindset.

Dr. Katie O'Brien is a functional medicine doctor who specializes in perimenopause, and in this episode she goes into great detail about what perimenopause is and how to navigate it with hormones, supplements, nutrition, and lifestyle choices so you can continue climbing hard in your late 30's, 40's and beyond.  This episode is not just for perimenopausal women! This is for everyone so that you, as a woman, can be sure you recognize signs and symptoms of perimenopause when they happen (and know what to do about them), and so that you, as a man, can help advocate for the women in your life. This is crucial for every woman's health and happiness. I hope you get a lot out of this conversation :) Dr. Katie's new supplement FemmeMD - get 20% off with code friends20: https://shop.femme-md.com/

Ryan Devlin invited Neely Quinn (the host of The TrainingBeta Podcast) to be on his podcast, The Struggle Climbing Show, to talk about perfectionism in climbing. Neely talks about common symptoms of perfectionism in climbers, how it can hold people back, and how it's actually kind of a super power. She also did some coaching on Ryan to help him enjoy climbing a little bit more, instead of being so intent on constantly achieving big things in his climbing. Ryan kindly shared this recording of the interview with Neely to share on this podcast, but it was originally published on The Struggle Climbing Show, which you should definitely check out. 

In this episode I did a full nutrition session with a climber, Katelin Hollowell who was struggling with intense sugar cravings and some weight gain. I treated this episode as I would any client session and asked her a bunch of questions about her goals, her lifestyle, her training, etc., and then I looked at her diet log on the MyFitnessPal app and gave her some concrete suggestions for what to do next. I then asked her for an update about three weeks after our initial conversation and I included that at the end of the episode.  If you want to follow along with her diet log screensharing that I did during the episode, you can watch this episode on video on youtube. If you'd like to work with me on your nutrition, I'm currently taking new clients and would love to help you!    I also mentioned in the podcast that I created another podcast! It's completely off the topic of climbing and it's called The Spelling Bee Podcast, where I quiz you on the spelling of 10 challenging words each week and teach you about the origins of the words. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts :)   

Kat Lumby is a Sport and Exercise Psychologist in Training (SEPiT) out of Wales, UK who works with all kinds of athletes, especially climbers and surfers. She has been a climbing coach for many years and has been able to take her skills to the next level with her SEPiT education. In this episode she talks about the specific kind of therapy she uses with athletes to deal with fear (and other barriers to performance). It’s called Rational Emotion Behavioral Therapy (REBT), and she will literally take you through the “ABC’s” of this modality. She also does a quick therapy session with me during the interview where we talk about my fear of falling. We come to some pretty great insights, which I’ve been using ever since in my climbing sessions. We also talk about some research she did on climbers and how you can put this kind of concrete thinking to use in your own climbing. You can work with Kat Lumby as your coach or your sport psychologist at labyrinthclimbing.co.uk.

I recently received an email from someone asking for a podcast episode that talked about resting. They wanted to know how elite/pro level climbers spend their rest days, how often they rest when they’re projecting, when they’re training, and generally just how they think about rest. So I reached out to a bunch of elite climbers and got 13 responses to these three questions: How many days a week do you rest when you’re projecting? What about when you’re in a training cycle? What do you do on your rest days in terms of physical activity when you’re projecting? What about when you’re in a training cycle? How old are you and how long have you been climbing? They sent me emails or a voice memo and here’s who responded: Emily Harrington Alex Honnold Lynn Hill Hazel Findlay Jonathan Siegrist Bill Ramsey Katie Lamb Paige Claassen Matt Pincus Alex Stiger Luke Parady Sam Elias Dusty Rasnick In this episode I’ll give you a short bio of each of these climbers and then either read or play you the recording of their response. Hopefully you learn something from this episode, but mostly it’s just interesting to see how pro/elite climbers approach resting. Enjoy!