We recently spent a few days in Wyoming to take advantage of the last week of Kate’s maternity leave. Sinks and Wild Iris are among our favorite crags. I can’t ever recall having a bad day at Wild Iris. Even when I get bouted by a project there (which happens often enough), the warmup climbs…
The Rock Prodigy Training Center is now available for purchase from Trango’s website! The initial manufacturing run produced a modest number of units, so order right away if you want to be the first climber on your block to have one. This ground-breaking hangboard was designed by me, with help from my brother Mike and Lamont…
Last week the Lazy H Barn was the star of its own film. A big part of launching the Rock Prodigy Training Center is creating a few short videos about the board (describing the key features of the board, how to install it, and how to use it), and Trango decided to use the Lazy…
My training philosophy emphasizes finger strength training above all else. For a number of mostly obvious reasons, I’m convinced that finger strength is the single most important physical factor (as opposed to mental or technical factors) in rock climbing. That said, there are other elements of physical strength that are relevant, and worth training, if…
The initial production run of the Rock Pordigy Training Center was completed last week! Here’s a picture courtesy of my friends at Trango. At this point the actual product is ready for sale, but we’re still finalizing the packaging. We’ve written instructions for installation and put together instructions for an intermediate workout that will be…
Almost like clockwork, every year I find myself struggling to hangboard through the month of August, seemingly the hottest month of the year. In order to be fit in time for prime Fall sending conditions, most of us will need to do some form of training in late summer, when conditions are far from ideal. …
It’s been a nice long summer and as usual I’ve been neglecting my blog. I have some good excuses this time around though. I’ve been really busy the last six months or so working on three exciting projects (well, two really). The first one came to fruition on June 28th, when my second child, Amelie…
I’m heading out to Smith Rock in a few days for a two-week trip. The climbing at Smith is extremely thin and technical — and difficult to prepare for. I believe strongly in taining and I generally feel that using indoor tools is superior to “just climbing” outside (for building strength, power, and endurance). That…
Over Easter Weekend the family and I flew out to San Diego to visit our good friends Rob and Julie and their toddler Samuel. The first day we headed out to JTree for some mellow sight-seeing and car camping. This wasn’t a climbing trip but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check out JTree’s…
When I built my gym in the Lazy H, I never really put much thought into the angles of the walls. I mocked it up with the joists and basically just eye-balled it. Almost immediately it became clear that my campus board wasn’t quite as steep as it should be, and this has been an…
The Rock Climber's Training Manual 