Our partners at Fixed Pin Publishing recently received six “Advanced Copies” of The Rock Climber’s Training Manual in the mail. Last weekend I headed up to their offices (Ben’s dining room) to get a sneak peek at the goods. These six books are the first off the press, and were air-mailed to be used for marketing…
The Rock Climber’s Training Manual is now available! Order your signed copy HERE We get a lot of comments from folks that they would love to use the Rock Prodigy training method, but they can’t because they don’t have access to the right tools; primarily a hangboard and campus board. They may live in…
Throughout my first several years of systematic training, I believed the Strength Phase (in which hangboard training is the primary activity) was the most “important” phase. That is, I thought the quality of the Strength Phase was the key predictor of whether the upcoming season would be successful or not. If the phase was flat, I…
A couple of my friends recently introduced future rock stars into the world, so with them in mind, Mike and I asked our wives Janelle and Kate to help us draft a few tips on climbing with an infant. Everything written here is twice mother-approved (grandmother, not necessarily 🙂 ). This post assumes mother and father are…
After sending Breakin’ the Law, I faced the kind of dilemma I always dream of: what to do with my remaining two climbing days. I thought something in the 5.14a-range would be a good goal; something I had a good chance to send in the time remaining, but not a sure thing. I spent the night…
I’m currently reading The Sports Gene by Sports Illustrated writer David Epstein (Read a brief overview here). It’s a fascinating treatise on what sports science has uncovered so far about the components that contribute to elite athletic performance. The book elaborates on the fundamental “nature vs nurture” question as it applies to athletics; how much…
On rare occasions I take a short hiatus from thinking about training, writing about training, and training, to actually go rock climbing. Over the New Year’s Holiday the family and I headed west to the warm climes of St. George, Utah for a week of climbing. St George is home to a vast array of…
As implied here, I’m inspired by the climbing career of the legendary Jerry Moffatt. During his prime, Moffatt was the best climber in the world, and he dominated on redpoints, onsights, boulders and competitions. What inspires me most though, was his commitment to hard work and his dedication to training. He was a phenom in his…
Campusing is one of the best training activities for climbers who are looking to improve explosive power and contact strength (detailed rundown on these terms here). However, campusing is one of the most difficult training activities to perform well. Many would-be campusers struggle during the initial stages of learning to use this tool, they become frustrated, and so…
Last year I discussed at length the benefits of Campus Training, how to perform a Campus workout, and how to fit such workouts into your training schedule. Next week I plan to describe how to get the most out of your campus sessions. Campusing “well”, will reduce the risk of injury, improve your performance on…
The Rock Climber's Training Manual 