Lattice Training Podcast: Recent Episodes

Lattice Training

Hosted by Lattice Training - the world's leading climbing coaching and training company - this podcast features discussions and interviews with many of the planet's best climbers and coaches. We delve into the details of what works and what doesn't when it comes to training, performance and recovery. Whether you're just starting out climbing, or a professional athlete, there is an incredible depth of knowledge throughout the episodes! For further support and knowledge please check out Lattice 365, our exclusive membership group.

In the second half of this two-part series, Ollie Torr is joined by international coach Jesse Firestone, Lattice coach Jemma Powell, and elite climbers Will Bosi and Aidan Roberts to delve deeper into the nuances of strength and conditioning in climbing.

Jesse Firestone brings his expertise as a renowned U.S.-based climbing coach, known for his holistic approach to athlete development. Jemma Powell, a seasoned Lattice coach with over 25 years of climbing experience, shares insights from her work with climbers across various levels. Will Bosi and Aidan Roberts, both at the forefront of elite climbing, discuss how tailored strength and conditioning programs have influenced their performance and progression.

Key Topics Covered:

The importance of individualised training programs for climbers.
Addressing the specific needs of female, older, and younger athletes in strength and conditioning.
Strategies for integrating strength training without compromising climbing technique.
Managing fatigue and recovery to optimise performance.
Real-world experiences from elite climbers on balancing training and climbing.

Join us as we explore these topics and more, providing valuable insights for climbers and coaches aiming to optimise performance through personalised strength and conditioning strategies.

Listen to Part 2 now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your preferred platform.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this in-depth episode, hosts Maddy Cope and coach Flo Tilley explore the intricate relationship between flow state, climbing performance, and mindset. Flow, often described as a state of effortless control and total absorption, is more than just a performance booster, it’s a transformative mental space where climbers feel deeply engaged and in sync with their challenges. Maddy and Flo dive into the science of flow, sharing practical techniques to cultivate this state by balancing skill and challenge, embracing playfulness, and applying mindfulness.

Listeners will also learn how self-compassion plays a pivotal role in allowing climbers to quiet self-criticism and focus on being present. The hosts discuss how coaching can facilitate an individual’s exploration of their personal experiences, leading to breakthroughs in both mental strategies and climbing performance.

Whether you’re battling mental barriers or looking to improve your performance, this conversation will help you tap into the flow state and find joy in your climbing journey.

Takeaways:

Flow is a natural experience that happens when skills and challenges align.
Embracing playfulness and self-compassion can make it easier to access flow.
Mindfulness helps slow down negative thoughts, creating space for peak performance.
Coaching and self-reflection are powerful tools to enhance your mindset and approach to climbing.

🎧 Dive into this episode now and learn how to cultivate flow, conquer mental barriers, and bring more joy into your climbing. Link in bio!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Weightlifting in climbing. It’s one of the most debated topics in the sport, and we’re diving into it with the people who coach the best in the world.

In this two-part conversation-style series, host Ollie Torr is joined by an expert panel of performance coaches and elite athletes to explore the evolving role of weightlifting in climbing, looking at strength, injury prevention, mindset, and longevity in the sport.

We’re talking to:

Steve Thompson – Lecturer and Head of Strength and Conditioning at Sheffield Hallam University. UKSCA-accredited coach with research expertise in resistance training, periodisation and performance. Steve also works with GB Diving and professional football teams.
Dave Mason – Former GB team athlete and IFSC World Cup competitor, now elite outdoor climber and coach. Dave has worked with climbers from youth squads to elite performers, blending strength training with movement and mindset.
Jemma Powell – A Lattice coach, mother of two, and former GB climber. Jemma specialises in coaching pregnant and postpartum athletes, helping them rebuild strength safely and sustainably. She also works with weekend warriors and performance climbers, with a strong focus on injury prevention, movement quality, and mindset.
Jesse Firestone – US-based coach and founder of JFire Climbing. Jesse offers personalised, sustainable coaching for climbers of all levels, including elite competitive and outdoor climbers, focusing on holistic progress and long-term development.

You’ll also hear real-life experiences from athletes at the top of the sport:

Aidan Roberts breaks down how he stays strong on the road with portable training and why specificity beats max effort.
Will Bosi shares why he’s not lifting right now, but might again soon.
Drew Ruana gives insight into his use of lifting for power, endurance, and competition prep.

In Part 1, we explore how climbers and coaches are rethinking lifting, moving beyond outdated fears of bulking and into smarter, tailored training for every phase of the season.

We’ll cover:

Why climbers are finally embracing strength work (and who needs it most)
How top-level athletes integrate lifting without compromising performance
What female climbers should consider with hormones, pregnancy, and strength training
Portable solutions: what athletes like Aidan use while travelling full-time
The compound lifts that actually carry over to climbing, and how to use them
Why “doing less” might be the smartest thing for your climbing

Whether you’re curious about hypertrophy, looking to prevent injuries, or trying to train sustainably, this episode offers insight for climbers of every level.

🎧 Stay tuned for Part 2, where we dig deeper into hypertrophy, burnout, identity shifts, and the long

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this intimate and deeply thoughtful conversation, climbing legends Tom Randall and Ollie Torr dive into the often unspoken realities behind long-term progression in climbing. From failed redpoints and painful finger joints to redefining success in the face of stress and burnout, this episode is a masterclass in psychological resilience and personal growth.

Tom opens up about one of his hardest trips to date, the shifting goalposts of elite performance, and how a mindset of "letting it brew" can lead to more rewarding outcomes - even in failure. Ollie brings his coaching lens to the table, unpacking how climbers can adjust training and expectations when life throws curveballs.

Whether you’re navigating injuries, balancing life and climbing, or just need a reminder that growth isn’t linear, this one’s for you.

Key topics include:

The psychology of projecting routes
Why letting goals “brew” improves performance
Pain tolerance and aging in climbing
Balancing sponsorship with personal struggles
Finding joy in the process, not just the send

Tune in to hear how two of climbing’s most influential voices navigate the long road, and why the best projects take time.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this episode of the Lattice Training Podcast, Ollie Torr sits down with Drew Ruana, one of the strongest and most analytical climbers in the game today. Drew shares an unfiltered look into his training philosophy, his unique approach to projecting, and how he’s balancing high-level climbing with a degree in computer science.

From discussing his "Level 4 Beta" system of optimising climbing efficiency to deep-diving into the mental aspects of performance, burnout, and progression, this conversation explores what it takes to push climbing limits—both physically and mentally.

Other topics covered:

The role of structured vs. intuitive training
How weightlifting and non-climbing strength work fuels his performance
The mental side of climbing, burnout, and staying psyched long-term
Why goal-setting and patience are the most underrated tools in high-performance climbing
His long-term aspirations, including a book on climbing performance

Drew is known for sending some of the hardest boulders in the world, but in this conversation, we get a deeper look at the mindset and method behind his success.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this episode, Ollie Torr is joined by Aidan Roberts, Andy Cave, Maddy Cope, Tom Herbert, and Dr. Ed Gibson-Smith to explore one of the most debated supplements in climbing—creatine. Does it actually help climbers perform better, or is it just another fitness industry fad?

The panel breaks down the science and real-world applications of creatine, tackling common questions and misconceptions. Who benefits most? Does it improve power and endurance, or could it even hinder performance? How do diet and training style affect its effectiveness? And what about the infamous "flash pump"—is it a genuine concern or just gym bro nonsense?

Ollie even puts creatine to the test himself:
🗣 “Before this podcast, I was taking 5g of creatine every day… now I’m taking none. Here’s why.”

Key Takeaways:

Power vs. Endurance: How creatine impacts different climbing styles.
Recovery & Performance: Does it actually speed up recovery and help you send harder?
Creatine & Weight Gain: Busting myths about ‘bulking up’ in climbing.
Flash Pump Debate: Real concern or exaggerated worry?
Diet & Absorption: Does your diet affect how well creatine works?

Join us for a science-backed discussion on whether creatine is a must-have for climbers or just extra weight in your pack.

👉 Tune in now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen!

Edward Gibson-Smith's Data 👉 https://latticetraining.com/blog/creatine-podcast-supporting-visuals-by-dr-ed-gibson-smith/

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this episode, Ollie Torr sits down with world-class climber Will Bosi, fresh off his impressive ascent of Excalibur (9b+). Will delves into the intricacies of his multi-year journey with the route, sharing insights into the beta refinements and the patience required to conquer one of the world's most challenging climbs. They discuss the significance of micro-beta adjustments, the balance between power and endurance, and the mental fortitude needed to tackle such formidable projects.

Beyond Excalibur, Will reflects on his broader climbing journey, including his transition from competition climbing to outdoor pursuits. He shares experiences from notable ascents such as La Capella (9b) and his first ascent of King Capella (9b+) in Siurana, Spain. The conversation also touches on his groundbreaking repeats of some of the world's hardest boulder problems, including Burden of Dreams (V17) and Return of the Sleepwalker (V17), highlighting his versatility and dedication across climbing disciplines.

Key Takeaways:

Beta Breakthroughs: Discover how micro-adjustments in positioning and technique can unlock new levels of performance.
Balancing Power & Endurance: Learn about the unique challenges presented by short, intense routes and how to train for them.
Managing Conditions & Patience: Understand the importance of adapting to environmental factors and maintaining patience throughout long-term projects.
Transitioning from Competition to Outdoor Climbing: Gain insights into Will's journey from the competition circuit to achieving remarkable feats on natural rock.
Future Aspirations: Hear about Will's upcoming projects, including potential trips to Flatanger to explore routes like Silence (9c) and his ambitions within the UK climbing scene.

👉 Don't miss this in-depth conversation with one of the world's leading climbers. Tune in now to gain valuable insights into the mindset, training, and perseverance behind some of the most challenging ascents in climbing history. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this episode, Ollie Torr is joined by coach and physiotherapist Stian Christophersen to dive deep into the art and science of injury management in climbing. Stian shares his insights on balancing the training load, understanding pain perception, and the psychological tools that aid recovery. From the importance of optimism and goal-setting to the evolving role of technology in rehabilitation, this episode is packed with practical advice for climbers of all levels.

Stian also dives into the fascinating concept of the “comfort crisis” – a phenomenon affecting modern athletes who avoid discomfort and challenges. He explains why stepping outside your comfort zone is essential for resilience, performance, and overall growth.

Key Takeaways:

Pain doesn't always equal injury – learn the difference.
Early loading for injuries: why it works and how to start.
The importance of optimism in injury recovery and beyond.
Balancing intensity and volume in climbing training.
Managing training load to reduce injury risks and maximise performance.

👉 Don’t miss this deep dive into climbing injury management's practical and psychological aspects. Tune in now to learn how to train smarter, recover faster, and climb stronger.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this episode, Lattice coach Ella Russell chats with climbing icon Melissa Le Nevé to dive into her incredible journey from competition success to legendary outdoor ascents. Melissa shares her experiences, from claiming the first female ascent of the iconic Action Direct (9a / 5.14d) in the Frankenjura to her current project on the historic Dreamtime (8C / V15) in Ticino.

They explore Melissa’s unique approach to training, including her recent gains in finger strength, her passion for combining climbing with paragliding, and how she balances bouldering, sport climbing, and multi-pitch routes like Le Voyage (E10 7a) and Delicatessen (8b / 5.13d). Whether you're seeking training inspiration or simply love hearing from the greats, this episode offers something for everyone.

Key Takeaways

Melissa’s transition from competitions to iconic outdoor challenges.
Behind the scenes of her first female ascent of Action Direct and her ongoing work on Dreamtime.
The difference between French and British training approaches and how Melissa saw surprising finger strength gains.
How paragliding complements her climbing lifestyle.
Her plans for future projects, including Biography (9a+ / 5.15a) and Bon Voyage (9a E12).

Don’t miss this epic episode! Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favourite podcast platform.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this episode of the Lattice Training Podcast, Coach Cam joins Maddy Cope to explore the ins and outs of endurance training for climbers, setting the record straight on common myths and highlighting what really works. With expertise spanning climbing physiology and performance, Cam and Maddy dive into how climbers can strategically improve endurance, whether through low-intensity steady state (LISS) training or high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Together, they discuss the importance of energy systems, the right mix of aerobic and anaerobic conditioning, and how climbers can self-experiment to personalize their training for maximum results.

Cam also introduces his structured, step-by-step self-experimentation process to help climbers hone their endurance training over time. With insights into recovery, progressive overload, and energy efficiency, this episode is packed with practical advice for climbers at every level.

Key Takeaways:

Endurance training benefits both boulderers and sport climbers
LISS vs. HIIT: How each impacts energy systems and performance
Essential recovery strategies for improving endurance
Why personalized, progressive training matters more than high-intensity alone
Practical tips for tracking, testing, and evaluating training effectiveness

Whether you’re new to climbing or looking to break through a plateau, this episode equips you with the knowledge and tools to take your endurance training to the next level!

Links mentioned in the episode:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329814457_The_determination_of_finger_flexor_critical_force_in_rock_climbers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwrzgg3jkFQ
https://latticetraining.com/blog/training-series-finger-strength/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeJc34LZIWI&t=800s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EY3XA7e-pw&t=645s

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this episode of the Lattice Training Podcast, host Tom Randall chats with climber and coach Billy Ridal about his recent free ascent of The Nose on El Capitan. They explore Billy's journey from competition climbing to the world of big walls, discussing the physical preparation, mental resilience, and tactical planning essential for success on one of the world’s most iconic climbs.
Billy shares his insights on transitioning to big wall climbing, the endurance training required, and how his competition experience played a crucial role. The discussion also highlights the upcoming film, The Nose Job, set to release on November 7th, which captures Billy’s and Alex Waterhouse's climb of The Nose. Their journey from the competition circuit to Yosemite's big walls is a tale of adaptation, physical preparation, and mental resilience on one of the world's most iconic routes.
If you're curious about the skills, strategies, and mindset needed for big wall climbs, this episode is packed with valuable insights from one of the sport’s rising stars.
Key Takeaways:

Billy Ridal's free ascent of The Nose on El Capitan
How competition climbing skills apply to big walls
Endurance training and preparation for big wall climbing
Highlights from the upcoming film The Nose Job

Join Tom and Billy for an in-depth discussion that offers a mix of technical advice and gripping adventure stories from the world of big wall climbing.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this special episode of the Lattice Training Podcast, host Tom Randall sits down with elite climber Will Bosi to discuss his remarkable second ascent of Spots of Time (9A/V17) on Helvellyn. Will offers a deep dive into the physical and mental challenges behind his historic climb, sharing the preparation, training strategies, and mindset that helped him send one of the toughest boulders in the world.

Will reveals how he adapted the original sequence for his own climbing style and collaborated with fellow climber Aidan Roberts on beta, making this achievement a true test of both physical endurance and climbing intellect. They also explore Will’s unique approach to training—mimicking moves from the ground to conserve energy and protect skin—and how this method helped him succeed.

In addition, the discussion touches on grading comparisons between other legendary climbs, including Burden of Dreams and Alphane, and Will’s thoughts on pushing the limits of elite bouldering. Will also shares insights on his new chalk brand, Bosi Blizzard, crafted to tackle tough conditions and support endurance on the sharpest holds.

With insights into the mental toughness needed to handle the pressure at the top, and a sneak peek into his future projects, this episode is a must-listen for climbers aiming to understand the mindset behind high-level ascents.

Key Takeaways:

Will Bosi's adaptation of beta and sequence for Spots of Time
Unique training methods to conserve energy and protect skin while preparing for a major project
The mental preparation required for tackling world-class bouldering challenges
How Will’s Spots of Time send compares to other 9As he’s tackled
The evolution of climbing grades, including potential V18 projects
What’s next on Will’s radar, from Japan’s hardest boulders to new UK projects

Tune in now for this exciting discussion on breaking boundaries in the climbing world!

And for Bosi Blizzard checkout https://williambosi.com/

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Ever wonder what it takes to break through the hardest routes? In this episode, elite climber and coach Jen Wood shares the tactics that took her from tough projects to climbing 8c and beyond. Jen breaks down the practical strategies she uses, showing how they can be applied by anyone working on a project, regardless of grade. Whether you’re pushing through the 6s or aiming for 8s, this episode offers valuable insights into building momentum, mastering outdoor sessions, and refining your approach to projecting.

Topics Covered:

Jen shares how consistently climbing outdoors, even just twice a week, has transformed her approach and improved her ability to recognise climbing techniques and tricks.
Jen explains how she has built her climbing capacity and improved her skills on higher grades.
The importance of knowing when to push through difficult moves and how breaking down routes into manageable sections can make hard sends more achievable.
Accessing Try-Hard Mode, and how Jen started power screaming and learning to push her limits.

For more insights into the world of climbing, projecting strategies, and mental resilience, listen to the full episode on all major podcast platforms.

As a thank you for tuning in, enjoy 15% off Lattice Training Plans with the code PODCAST15.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Ever wondered how hard Olympic level athlete train? In this episode highlight, which is a thirty-minute snippet of the full episode, host Josh Hadley talks to renowned coach, Ollie Torr, about the high-level physical and mental training that goes into preparing Olympic athletes.

Key topics include:

Training volume – Ollie explains how elite climbers train between 30-40 hours a week during their base season, including long hours on the wall and skill development.
Execution and super compensation – Ollie describes the process of pushing athletes into “training holes,” where they continually push beyond their limits before tapering to recover and reach peak performance.
Staying in the game: The importance of mental toughness and consistency, with athletes needing to prioritise training and withstand immense physical and emotional pressure to stay at the top level.
Lower body strength & grip training: With dynamic movements and evolving setting styles, climbers need to focus more on leg strength, opposition, and less traditional components of grip training as the holds are getting larger, such as wrist strength, open drag grip positions, and wide pinches.

For more insights into the world of Olympic-level training and the challenges faced by athletes, listen to the full episode on all major podcast platforms.

As a thank you for tuning into this episode, enjoy 15% off Lattice Training Plans with the code PODCAST15.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this episode of the Lattice Training Podcast, host Teresa sits down with British climber and coach Jen Wood, who recently made history with her impressive ascents at Kilnsey and Water Cum Jolly in the UK. Jen also opens up about her toughest first ascent yet—Vela Stivina in Croatia—sharing how the unique climbing style there pushed her both mentally and physically to new limits.

Jen discusses her journey, from projecting challenging routes in different climates to her preference for climbing in warmer weather, which has become a key part of her training philosophy. As someone who stepped back from competition climbing, Jen offers a candid reflection on how this shift has reshaped her approach to coaching and outdoor adventures.

Key Takeaways:

Consistency is Key: Regular time on the rock is essential for building both skill and confidence.
Weather Matters: Jen’s preference for warmer conditions shows how the right environment can elevate performance and enjoyment.
Stepping Back to Move Forward: Taking a break from competitions gave Jen a fresh perspective, allowing her to refocus on her passion for outdoor climbing.
Training Smarter: Jen highlights the differences between preparing for competitions and training for outdoor climbs, emphasising the need to adapt strategies.
Balance is Crucial: Rest and recovery are essential for staying at peak performance while pursuing a variety of climbing goals.
Climbing Pitfalls: Jen shares common mistakes climbers make when trying to progress to higher grades and offers tips for overcoming these hurdles.
Mental Fortitude: Breaking complex moves into smaller, achievable goals is key to pushing your limits.
Embracing New Challenges: Success doesn’t always come in the form of initial goals, but personal achievements along the way can be just as rewarding.
Expanding Comfort Zones: Exploring different climbing styles and routes helps climbers grow and tackle fresh challenges with renewed confidence.

Jen's story is a reminder of how taking on new challenges—whether it’s a first ascent or switching focus from competition to outdoor climbing—can lead to remarkable achievements. This episode is filled with insights to inspire climbers of all levels, offering practical tips and an inside look at Jen's unique approach to climbing and coaching.

Stay tuned for more from Jen as she sets her sights on new adventures, including a potential first ascent in Kalymnos!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today's Lattice Podcast, host Maddy Cope sits down with Sarah Duvall to explore the critical need for improved postpartum care, protocols, support, and education for women. Together, they uncover the significant gaps in research and recovery protocols for postpartum women compared to other injuries.

Key Topics Include:

Sarah’s Climbing Comeback: Sarah shares her personal journey of returning to climbing after pregnancy, highlighting the challenges she faced and valuable lessons learned.
Core & Pelvic Floor Strength: Why prioritising core and pelvic floor strength is essential for postpartum recovery.
Addressing Pubic Symphysis Pain: A discussion on common issues like pubic symphysis pain and the importance of addressing muscle imbalances before and during pregnancy.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today's Lattice Podcast highlight, host Tom Randall sits down with legendary climber Steve McClure to delve into injury prevention and the nuances of climbing as we age. Life gets more complicated as you get older, but finding inspiration from motivated and strong friends can make a world of difference.

Highlights from this Discussion Include:

Life and Climbing: How increasing life complexities make it harder to push climbing limits as we age.
Motivation from Peers: The crucial role of being surrounded by motivated and strong friends for ongoing inspiration.
Ageing and Genetics: Understanding the impact of genetics and self-care on ageing climbers.
Maintaining Muscle Mass: The importance of maintaining upper body muscle mass with age.
Endurance and Power Endurance: How these aspects can still be improved, despite potential declines in finger strength.
Flexibility Changes: Noting how flexibility evolves, with the lower body often retaining better range of motion than the upper body.
Motivation and Enjoyment:Emphasizing the importance of motivation and the joy of climbing in maintaining progress over time.

This episode is just a thirty minute highlight from a more in-depth conversation covering additional insights on balancing life and climbing as we age. For the full discussion, tune in to the complete episode available on all major podcast platforms.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this episode of the Lattice Podcast, host Josh Hadley sits down with renowned coach Ollie Torr, who has guided multiple Olympic athletes and collaborated with national teams worldwide. Together, they delve into the rigorous and strategic training required for Olympic climbers, revealing what distinguishes potential Olympic medallists from other elite international competitors—both in terms of personality traits and training approaches.

Key Takeaways:

The key differences between international competition climbers and those poised to win Olympic medals
The vital role of a strong support network, including parents, coaches, physiotherapists, and media managers, in an athlete’s journey to success
The importance of physical training focused on building resilience, cultivating the ability to push limits, and embracing challenges
How training cycles, including deliberate "training holes" and super compensation, push athletes to their peak performance
The significance of dedication, sacrifice, and trust in the training process for achieving success at the highest level
The role of genetics and body type in climbing performance, alongside the impact of lifestyle choices and the joy of training

Don’t miss this latest episode and elevate your climbing knowledge with expert insights from Josh Hadley and Ollie Torr.

And best of luck to all the GB athletes in Paris 2024!

Tune in to the Patient Advocacy Voices Podcast today
Join Sanofi's Eric Racine to meet the unsung heroes leading patient advocacy organizations
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

This is the second of a two-part episode, Tom Randall sits down with Steve McClure, one of the UK's most accomplished rock climbers, to discuss what it means to continue pushing boundaries and achieving peak performance in your 50s. Steve’s remarkable career includes first ascents and repeats across bouldering, sport climbing, trad climbing, and big walling. He achieved his highest sport climbing grade at 46 years old, ‘Rainman’ 9b at Malham cove, defying expectations and setting an inspiring example for climbers everywhere.

Topics Covered:

Life in Decades: Steve reflects on how his life has evolved from his 20s and 30s into his 40s and 50s, including changes in family, work, and climbing.
Changes and Challenges: The main changes and challenges Steve has experienced as he’s gotten older.
Climbing Performance: Which aspects of performance continue to improve with age and which tend to stagnate or decline.
Training Focus: How Steve works on maintaining and improving his performance.
Balance Shift: How his focus has shifted between bouldering, sport climbing, and trad climbing over the years.
Performance Energy: Where Steve currently focuses most of his performance energy.
Effective Training: What training methods are working for Steve now and how have they changed.
Common Mistakes: Common errors ageing climbers make and how to avoid them.

As a thank you to our listeners, we have an exclusive offer: Get 15% off our Lattice Training Plans with the code PODCAST15.

Tune in to this insightful conversation to learn from an absolute climbing legend. Listen to the full episode on all major podcast platforms 📲

Tune in to the Patient Advocacy Voices Podcast today
Join Sanofi's Eric Racine to meet the unsung heroes leading patient advocacy organizations
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today’s Lattice Podcast Highlight, host Tom Randall sits down with the legendary Steve McClure to discuss the secrets behind maintaining and performing into your 50s. Steve's storied career includes ground-breaking ascents and impressive repeats across all climbing disciplines, making him a unique authority on the subject.

Highlights from this discussion include:

Emphasising the importance of aligning training with specific climbing goals for optimal results.
Understanding and addressing weaknesses
Importance of top-quality trainers
The significance of dedicating undistracted time to climbing and how full-time commitment can lead to substantial improvements.

This 13min episode is just a highlight from a more in-depth conversation that delves into the evolution of climbing grades, training methods, and Steve’s unique approach to staying at the top of his game.

For the full discussion, tune in to the complete episode available on all major podcast platforms.

As a thank you to our listeners, get 15% off our Lattice Training Plans with the code PODCAST15.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this two-part episode, Tom Randall sits down with Steve Mcclure , one of the UK's most accomplished rock climbers, to discuss the evolution of climbing grades and the psychology of operating at the limit. Steve's remarkable career includes first ascents and repeats across bouldering, sport climbing, trad climbing, and even big walling.

His notable achievements include ‘Mutation’ 9a+/5.15a at Raven Tor which was upgraded from 9a/5.14d making it one of the first of this grade in the world, and the first ascent of ‘Rainman’ 9b/5.15b at Malham Cove, the first of this grade in the UK.

Topics Covered:

➡️ Operating at the Limit.

➡️ Key Factors: What makes climbers excel or struggle at the limit?

➡️How climbing grades have changed over his career and the industry's influences.

➡️The roles of gear, training, psychology, and tactics in grade evolution.

➡️ Elements of training that had the biggest effect on Steve’s performance.

➡️ Predictions on where climbing training is headed and emerging opportunities.

As a thank you to our listeners, we have an exclusive offer: Get 15% off our Lattice Training Plans with the code PODCAST15.

Tune in to this fascinating conversation to gain insights from one of the UK’s climbing legends. Listen to the full episode on all major podcast platforms!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today's Podcast Highlight, we delve into the world of climbing with Jana Švecová, an accomplished climber currently taking on the challenging boulder problem Terra Nova, graded 8C+.

Here are the key insights from our conversation:

Approaching Goals with Determination: Jana shares her approach to climbing goals, emphasising the importance of focus and determination while enjoying the journey.
Dealing with Doubts and Criticism: Despite facing doubts and criticism, Jana stays resilient and trusts in her abilities, showcasing the mental fortitude required in climbing.
Training with Lattice Training: Jana discusses her experience training with Lattice Training and the remarkable improvements she's seen in her climbing performance.
Exploring Climbing Opportunities: Jana encourages climbers to explore the diverse climbing opportunities in the Czech Republic, highlighting its unique challenges and rewards.

This Podcast Highlight offers a glimpse into Jana's climbing journey and her passion for the sport. For the full conversation and more insights, listen to the complete episode available on all major podcast platforms.

Do you want to start your training journey? As a thank you to our listeners, we have an exclusive offer, get 15% off our Lattice Training Plans with the code PODCAST15.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today's Lattice Podcast, host Tom Randall sits down with coach Maddie Cope to delve into the evolution of education and training in the climbing world. They discuss significant changes in three key areas: energy systems, female athletes, and strength and conditioning. Tom and Maddie share insights on how understanding and approaches have transformed over the years, leading to positive outcomes in climbing performance and training effectiveness.

Main topics include:

➡️ Energy Systems: Improved categorisation and understanding of energy systems have enhanced training effectiveness and load management.

➡️ Female Athletes: Education on the menstrual cycle and female physiology has empowered female climbers, improving training structure and performance.

➡️ Strength and Conditioning: Shifts in attitudes towards strength and conditioning now emphasise specificity, progressive overload, and injury prevention, with a focus on core and upper body strength.

If you enjoyed this episode, let us know in the comments below!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today’s Lattice Podcast Highlight, hosts Maddy Cope and Tom Randall discuss Lattice's brand-new online flexibility training course. This course emphasises the importance of education and knowledge-sharing in climbing training, focusing on three main goals:

➡️ Educating climbers on methods beyond passive static stretching

➡️ Integrating flexibility training into overall training programs

➡️ Helping climbers select exercises based on their flexibility level.

The course provides step-by-step guides and assessments, to transform your approach to flexibility training and promote a sustainable, informed method.

Highlights include:

➡️ Training Frequency

➡️ Menstrual Cycle Considerations

➡️ Structured Approach

➡️ Evolving Training Culture

➡️ Active vs. Passive Stretching

➡️ Importance of Education

📍 This episode is a highlight from a more in-depth conversation coming next week, covering additional insights on flexibility training, energy systems, and optimising performance for climbers.⁣

Special Offer Ends Soon, 1st July at Midnight: Get 20% off the Flexibility Deep Dive course and our cork yoga Flex Mat. Don’t miss this chance to elevate your training!

https://latticetraining.com/product/flexibility-course-bundle/

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this week’s podcast join Lattice Training coach,Josh Hadley, and fellow coach
Fran Giacomozzi, as they answer your burning questions about flexibility training for climbers.

Josh and Fran dive into how to improve flexibility, starting with practical tips on specific stretches, including how to utilise different types of stretches such as tempo.

Key Topics Covered:

Integrating flexibility with climbing
At-home body weight exercises
Essential strength training tips for climbers with hypermobility
At-home body weight exercises, including upper body
Managing soreness and dealing with injuries
Strategies to maintain consistent stretching, including setting targets and measuring progress

Join us for this comprehensive episode as Josh and Fran share their expert insights on flexibility training for climbers. Whether you’re struggling with hypermobility, looking to improve your range of motion, or seeking motivation to stretch consistently, this episode is packed with valuable advice and practical tips.

If you enjoyed this episode, let us know! We’d love to do more Q&A sessions in the future. Plus, get 20% off the Flexibility Deep Dive course and our cork yoga Flex Mat - ends 1st July at Midnight.

https://latticetraining.com/product/flexibility-course-bundle/

Don’t miss out—tune in to the full episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more! Enhance your climbing flexibility and performance with the expert guidance of Josh and Fran.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today's Lattice Podcast Highlight, coach Maddy Cope is joined by coach Billy Ridal to discuss the challenges and insecurities faced while climbing a difficult pitch on a big wall. They delve into the physical and mental efforts required to overcome insecurities and stick with the climb.

Topics include:

Facing Climbing Challenges: The physical and mental efforts needed to tackle difficult pitches on big walls.
Recovering from Errors: The importance of making small errors and being able to recover from them.
Confidence & Climbing: How confidence levels can vary between climbers during challenging ascents.

This episode is just a highlight from a more in-depth conversation that explores additional insights on managing nerves, maintaining focus, and handling time constraints during multi-pitch climbs. For the full discussion, tune in to the complete episode available on all major podcast platforms.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today's episode, host and coach, Maddy Cope, is joined by Dr. Sarah Duvall, a women's health and fitness specialist, to explore the intersection of climbing, fitness, and motherhood. Maddy brings her experience from coaching elite climbers post-partum such as Emily Harrington, and her passion for climbing to the conversation as she delves into Sarah's expertise. With over 15 years in the climbing industry and a background in coaching and climbing performance, Maddy is excited to learn from Sarah's wealth of experience.

Together, they uncover practical strategies and exercises to enhance your climbing journey, whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out. From managing fear and anxiety to finding balance and prioritisation, this episode is packed with valuable insights:

Topics include:

Insights into Sarah's personal climbing journey postpartum and her impressive climbing achievements.
The importance of breathing techniques and core strength for climbers, particularly during pregnancy and postpartum.
Practical exercises and tips for improving breathing patterns and core engagement.
Strategies for managing fear and anxiety when returning to climbing postpartum.
Finding balance and prioritisation in different seasons of life.

Don't miss out on this empowering conversation with Dr. Sarah Duvall. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more.

Some links from Sarah to help support the podcast:

Heel hooking hamstring strain strengthening prevention protocol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqvTjDcGZXQ&t=9s
Advanced hip rotational exercises: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoC5YhmojGQ&t=37s
Drawing in vs abdominal brace: https://youtu.be/WA-mFvykZ9k?si=hQVcYeG1TDquRDpK
Rib cage mobility breathing exercise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1AkIPbnbfg
Pushing vs pulling and core pressure: https://www.instagram.com/tv/B4ezNr6HXGu/?igsh=dHB1dHllbTB6dDBm

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today's Lattice Podcast highlight, host and coach Josh Hadley sits down with coach Cameron Hartley to explore two interesting theories. The ‘Central Governor Theory’, which suggests that a system in our brain signals when it's time to stop exercising to prevent potential harm, and the ‘Psycho-Biological Theory’, which integrates psychological constructs into our understanding of endurance performance.

Highlights from this discussion include:

Understanding exercise cessation: The role of the brain in regulating physical limits according to the Central Governor Theory.
Integrating psychology in endurance: How the Psycho-Biological Theory emphasises the perception of effort and motivation.

This episode is just a highlight from a more in-depth conversation that covers additional insights on endurance performance and how these theories can be applied in training. For the full discussion, tune in to the complete episode available on all major podcast platforms.

Tune in for this captivating episode highlight on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Join us for an inspiring podcast with Jana Švecová, an accomplished climber who is currently pushing her limits on the boulder problem Terranova, which was established by Adam Ondra in the Czech Republic back in 2011, it’s currently graded 8C+/V16, and with no repeats, it’s rumoured it could be 9A/V17. Jana's dedication and goal-oriented mindset have propelled her to become one of the strongest female boulderers in the world. In this episode, she shares valuable insights on setting and achieving goals, dealing with pressure and criticism, and finding joy in the process.

Topics include:

Setting and achieving goals in climbing: Jana discusses the significance of setting goals and how it has fueled her progress.
Trusting yourself and overcoming doubts: How Jana has dealt with doubts and criticism from others throughout her climbing journey. She shares her strategies for staying focused, trusting her abilities, and not letting external opinions hinder her.
Finding your own fun in climbing: She shares her perspective on what brings joy in climbing and the variety of challenges it offers.
Challenges and rewards of climbing in cold weather: Her experiences climbing in different weather conditions and insights on preparing and adapting to these challenges.
Embracing adaptability during climbing trips: Climbing trips don't always go the way you expect, Jana explores the importance of adaptability, maintaining a positive mindset, and finding opportunities for growth even when faced with obstacles.
Exploring the climbing opportunities in the Czech Republic: It’s hidden gems!

Join us in today's episode where Jana Švecová shares her passion for climbing, her personal insights, and her excitement for future climbing projects. Tune in on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or your preferred platform to gain valuable insights from one of the climbing world's strongest women.

The Neil Ashton Podcast
This podcast focuses on explaining the fascinating ways that science and engineering...

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Today's highlight is on Emily Harrington's postpartum journey, including her rapid recovery and return to climbing and skiing.

Emily faced criticism for her decision to resume physical activities soon after giving birth, but she stood firm in her belief that it's essential to do what feels right for oneself.

Join us as Emily opens up about the challenges of navigating postpartum life, including the emotional and physical toll of breastfeeding and the pressures of body image.

Topics Covered:

Birth Experience and Early Postpartum Period
Challenges of Body Image and Breastfeeding
Return to Climbing and Skiing

Join us as we gain valuable insights from Emily Harrington's postpartum journey, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this episode, join host Tom Randall as he sits down with Jill Whitaker, she is a 61-year-old climber and mother of two accomplished pro climbers (Pete and Katy Whitaker). She is a testament to the power of perseverance and dedication!

We will explore Jill's remarkable journey into climbing post-60 and her unique perspectives on training and climbing.

Main topics:

Jill's climbing background: From her early years in trad climbing to her rediscovery of the sport and return to climbing.
Starting training and setting goals: How she juggled supporting her children’s climbing alongside her own training after a long break from the sport.
Jill's training program: Insights into her training program, focusing on multiple areas including; pulling strength, finger strength, and maintaining power endurance and flexibility.
Experiences with testing climbing performance: Jill's experiences with testing, and the positive feedback she received from friends.
Climbing trip to Leonidio, Greece: Highlights from her recent climbing trip, where she achieved personal bests on some challenging routes.
Reflections and Advice: Jill reflects on her climbing journey and the impact of structured training on her performance. Plus, advice for climbers of all ages seeking to improve..

Throughout the conversation, Jill's journey serves as a testament to the power of a positive attitude, perseverance, and the importance of having a structured training program.

Do you want to start your training journey? As a thank you to our listeners, we have an exclusive offer, get 15% off our Lattice Training Plans with the code PODCAST15.

Tune in to gain valuable insights and inspiration from Jill Whitaker's incredible and wholesome attitude towards the sport and life, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this podcast highlight, Tom Randall and Will Bosi discuss various aspects of Will's climbing projects, aiming to understand the mental process of walking away from a project. They also touch on Will's future plans for 2024 and whether Will will try a 9c route any time soon.

Listen to the Podcast highlight, or the full episode on our Spotify, Apple Music, Stitcher, and many more!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today's Lattice Podcast, Coach Josh Hadley sits down with Dr Simon Fryer to discuss the challenges of testing rock climbers, highlighting the differences between climbing and other sports.

Dr Simon Fryer is a Senior Lecturer in Sport & Exercise Physiology at the University of Gloucestershire, with a PhD in biomedical science. His background is in sports, exercise, and biomedical science, with a specialist interest in cardiovascular and cardiometabolic physiology. As an exercise physiologist, he delivers a range of Sports and Exercise Science courses and his research focuses on the impact of exercise and physical activity on health, disease, and sports performance, specifically concerning the cardiovascular and cardiometabolic systems. He has also delivered many talks on the importance of physical activity and health, such as his TEDx Cheltenham talk "Are You Sitting Comfortably?"

Key topics include:

Health benefits of climbing
Misguided information in the climbing community
The inconvenient truth about getting good at climbing
Importance of base training and lower limb strength
Advice for pursuing an academic or research route

We also cover:

Importance of peripheral adaptations in climbing and the role of aerobic fitness
Current best practices for testing climbers, including occlusion tests and near-infrared spectroscopy
Vision for the future of climbing performance testing, including the use of big data and technology

So whether you’re a sports science advocate, or simply curious to hear more of the science behind climbing, take a seat and enjoy today’s podcast through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

May seem like an obvious question, but in this podcast highlight, Nate Williams shares his experience with projecting Return of the Sleepwalker, a V17/9A boulder problem, and the challenges he faces with friction control and conditions. Nate also talks about his projecting and beta sharing with Will Bosi, and how they optimise weather and friction conditions for best attempts.

Tune in to the full episode highlight on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more!

LatticeTraining #LatticePodcast #BurdenOfDreams #Projecting #ClimbingTraining #Bouldering #Klettern

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today’s Lattice Training podcast, coach Josh Hadley sits down with coach Cam Hartley to discuss three key areas;

Training myths and misconceptions
Psychobiology and endurance performance
Importance of consistency in training for climbing

Cam is not just one of the strongest members of the Lattice Training coaching team, but also has a BSc in Sports Science and wrote his research paper on the strength differences between the strongest and weakest hand. Since then he has begun a PhD on the impact of mental fatigue on health and performance in rock climbing athletes.

As Cam is a specialist in psychobiology and its relationship to performance, Josh and Cam start to explore the psychobiological model of endurance performance and its implications for training and performance. They also delve into the aerobic and anaerobic thresholds and the importance of training in specific zones to optimise endurance. So if you are psyched about training your endurance and improving performance, this is a great episode for you!

So whether you want to understand how to improve your endurance training, or just looking to debunk some climbing training myths, tune in to today’s show. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

People regularly get confused between a pulley strain and an irritation of the tendon, which Huffy has called 'crimp finger'. In this podcast highlight it explains the differences between the two to enable you to diagnose the correct injury so that you can seek the correct treatment.

This podcast highlight is a snippet of our podcast with GB climbing physio, which covers various topics related to climbing injuries and rehabilitation.

Tune in to the full episode highlight on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this week’s podcast, join Lattice Training coach, Josh Hadley, as he is joined by pro climber, Nate Williams, who has been projecting ‘Return of the Sleepwalker’ (V17/9A) in Las Vegas, USA, which recently saw its second ascent, by Will Bosi in February 2024. Nate’s been working on this well-known climb for over 2 seasons, since sending the stand-start version ‘Sleepwalker’ (V16/8C+) back in December 2020. In this episode, we delve into Nate's climbing journey, understanding the intricacies of this famous V17/9A boulder problem and how this recent ascent changes what he will do next.

Nate discusses his past, growing up and being mentored by Jimmy Webb, his conversations with Daniel Woods discussing a new boulder that later became Sleepwalker, and how he went from competing nationally to being a fully outdoors climber. Josh delves into his remarkable journey and learns what it takes to project at your limit and unlock new potential.

Other topics include:

Who is Nathan Williams?
How Jimmy Webb influenced Nate’s style of climbing
The commitment to the process of projecting and how what to think about when choosing a boulder at your limit
Differences between the stand (Sleepwalker, V16/8C+) and the sit (Return of the Sleepwalker V17/9A)
How to build friction and how holds differ in their texture
Supporting Will Bosi with his recent ascent and differences in their approach
What is next for Nate after ROTS?

And much more!

Tune in for this captivating episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more! As we discuss the ripple effect of Will Bosi's recent ascent of "Return of the Sleepwalker" and its implications for Nate's own journey.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this episode, join host Tom Randall for an in-depth conversation with climbing legend James Pearson. James recently established ‘Bon Voyage’ (E12), a route he boldly suggests is the world's hardest trad climb, pushing the boundaries of difficulty and safety in the sport.

James Pearson is a household name in the climbing world, known for his ground-breaking first ascents like ‘The Walk of Life’ (E9), as well as ascents of some of the world's hardest sport climbs. Despite that, there has been controversy surrounding the grading in his earlier career.⁣

Although his earlier efforts faced some controversy, with a few of his climbs like The Groove being downgraded after establishment. This criticism, which even included accusations of overgrading for media attention, forced James to re-evaluate the entire grading system.

The experience turned out to be a turning point for James. He spent years rebuilding his confidence and credibility as a climber, making significant ascents in Europe. This included repeating the downgraded ‘The Walk of Life’ and tackling other difficult routes like ‘Tribe’ (E11) and ‘Lexicon’ (E11 7a).

So when James established 'Bon Voyage' in France and felt it was his hardest route yet, he initially hesitated to propose a grade. However, after witnessing other accomplished climbers struggle on the route, James decided to propose the world's first E12 once again, ten months after his initial ascent. This episode dives into James' experience with 'Bon Voyage' and the lessons learned from his past grading controversies, but also the validation James received when none other than Adam Ondra, successfully repeated the route and agreed with the E12 grade.

In this episode, James dives deep into:

Sharing ‘Bon Voyage’ with Adam Ondra

What makes this route unlike anything else out there
Adam Ondra’s approach to risk
What beta Adam Ondra used for this epic route
Who else is trying ‘Bon Voyage’
The evolution of trad grades and why did James propose the controversial E12 grade for ‘Bon Voyage’

This episode is a must-listen for any climber interested in the cutting edge of trad climbing, the ever-evolving world of grading, and the unique perspectives of two climbing legends!

Don't miss this captivating episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Tune in to today's episode as host and coach Maddy Cope chats with climber and coach Billy Ridal about his six-week American adventure to free climb El Capitan's The Nose (5.14a/8b+). This historic route, famous for its challenging granite smears, was first aid climbed over 47 days by Warren Harding and various others in 1958 and first free-climbed by Lynn Hill in 1993 (an ascent which was well ahead of it’s time!) With such a legacy, it's no surprise Billy and Alex set their sights on it.

Billy shares how his long-held dream of climbing big walls led him to El Cap, where he and his partner Alex Waterhouse etched their names in history as the first Brits to free climb The Nose. From weathering storms in a leaky portaledge 1,500 feet above the ground to making the most of daylight with early starts, Billy recounts their journey.

Topics Include:

What inspired Billy and Alex to take on The Nose's challenge
How they got stuck in the two main crux’s of the route
Their plan if one of them couldn't climb a specific pitch
How they used innovative thinking to overcome various weather conditions
The highs and lows of portaledge life
Maintaining high morale under time pressure

And much more!

Tune in for this captivating episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more! Hear firsthand the amazing story of determination, friendship, and triumph on The Nose.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today’s podcast, Lattice Coach, Mina Leslie-Wujastyk, delves deep with Emily Harrington into her recent transition to motherhood with partner, Adrian Ballinger, and their son, Aaro. Emily shares insights into her decision to have a child amidst their adventurous lifestyles and careers, and navigating the uncertainties that came with it.

Emily, a multidisciplinary athlete, has major achievements, not just in international and national sport climbing competitions, but also in big wall climbing, alpine climbing, skiing, and more. The North Face athlete ascended some of the most challenging routes and ascents, including sport climbing up numerous routes in the 5.14 range, Mount Everest, and free climbing El Cap in a single day via Golden Gate.

The discussion explores various aspects of Emily's journey, including her experiences during pregnancy, her expedition to Baffin Island while expecting, and her candid reflections on postpartum life. Emily opens up about her birth experience, returning to movement and climbing, managing body image issues, and finding balance between motherhood and her athletic identity.

Emily reflects on her attitudes toward risk as a mother and the evolution of her goals since having Aaro, sharing the challenges and triumphs of parenthood in the world of professional climbing. Emily also shares practical tips and tricks for managing training, travel logistics, and sponsorship commitments while being a devoted mother.

Topics include:
- Decision-making process behind starting a family amidst adventurous careers
- Emily's pregnancy journey and managing climbing and risk during this time
- Expedition to Baffin Island while expecting and decision-making process
- Experiences and challenges of postpartum life, including returning to climbing
- Reflections on attitudes toward risk as a mother and evolving goals
- Practical tips and tricks for managing training, travel logistics, and sponsorship commitments

Join us for this enlightening conversation with Emily Harrington, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more. Don't miss out on this opportunity to gain wisdom and inspiration from one of the most accomplished climbers of our time.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Get ready for an eye-opening episode! Hosts Josh Hadley and Jonny Kydd sit down with renowned physiotherapist Paul ‘Huffy’, a climbing injury expert with over 25 years of experience. He is known for attending the Olympics as Shauna Coxey’s physio, and for having an impressive track record in diagnosing and treating the range of injuries climbers face.

Discover the most misunderstood climbing injuries, common myths debunked, and get insider tips for effective rehab. Paul shares his insights of common injuries, both indoor and outdoor, drawing from his wealth of experience.

Ever wondered about Shauna Coxsey's physio secrets? Paul spills the beans on lessons learned, from elite climbing to influencing the culture of "training for climbing." Get ready for practical training advice straight from a climbing injury expert.

Topics include:

Most misdiagnosed injuries in climbing?
Unhelpful physio advice climbers should look out for?
Other than finger injuries, what are the most common injuries climber’s face?
Lessons learned from being a physio to GB climbing star Shauna Coxey?
What do climbers keep getting wrong in the 'training for climbing' culture?
Training advice, from top physio, which climbers everywhere can benefit from?

Ready to boost your knowledge of climbing injuries? Join us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more! Don't miss out on expert insights to enhance your climbing journey.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today's podcast, host Tom Randall sits down with athlete Will Bosi, delving into his recent trip to Arco, Italy. Where Will was attempting to secure the second ascent of Excalibur (5.15c/9b+), and looking ahead at his plans for 2024 and his upcoming trip to the USA.

Reflecting on his multiple trips to his project Excalibur, Will gives an overview of his projecting strategies and how he coped with the challenging weather conditions (which when climbing at this level takes a lot of mental control!). Tom also drew on questions fans have sent to us, asking about Will's experiences during his trip to the Czech Republic, where he successfully sent Nova (8C/V15) while attempting Terranova (8C+/V16). Plus delving into, his thoughts on Simon Lorenzi’s beta on Burden of Dreams (9A/V17) in Finland.

The podcast covers a range of topics, including:

How to use replica training and optimise your climbing performance
Navigating challenges and frustrations during a projecting trip when it feels the world is against you
Defining success in the face of a non-sending trip
Will Bosi's goals for his upcoming trip to the USA
The importance of resting and effective skincare in climbing
Simon Lorenzi’s insane beta on Burden of Dreams
How a climber’s strengths influence their projecting strategies

And much more!

If you’re looking for more juicy insights on Will Bosi’s projecting strategies, or want to know what he is going to try next, head over to our podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today’s podcast, host and coach Josh Hadley sits down with coaches Roz Frugtniet and Jonny Kydd to discuss their common mistakes, challenges, and tactics for climbing projects.

Roz is an experienced sport climber, having climbed multiple 8c routes and was the first British woman to flash 8a+ (Face de Rat, 8a+/5.13c, in Ceuse, France). Joined by, Jonny a renowned boulderer, who recently ticked his 5-year project that took him 110 sessions (The World is Yours, 8C/V15, in Biblins Cave, UK) showcasing his expertise in long-term projecting.

Their diverse backgrounds set the stage for an interesting conversation where the coaches share their distinct tactics and rituals for the crucial "send go!" Host and coach, Josh, explores the intricacies of bouldering while figuring out how many sessions is too little or too long to be considered a climb at your limit.

Other topics include:

Unlocking the power of knowing your project's finish
Harnessing video beta to its maximum potential for accelerated learning
Strategising for non-sending sessions
Managing the mental demands of longer-term climbing projects
Discover the crucial role of a supportive climbing partner in your success

And much more!

So if you want to know more on how to improve your projecting session, head over to our podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today's podcast, we have one of our athletes, Mary Eden, also known as @TradPrincess joining us with Tom Randall. She has recently achieved the first female ascent of one of the hardest roof crack climbs in the world, Black Mamba (5.14b/8c) in White Rim, Utah.

This route had its first ascent in 2019 by the Wideboyz, but it remained unrepeated until this year. The climbing powerhouse, who mentors many new crack climbers, wanted to take it a step further and attempt this gnarly route.

They talk through Mary’s approach to climbing and training, highlighting how she has never thought of herself as a ‘talented’ or ‘natural’ climber. They delve into the lifestyle challenges that accompany training and climbing when pushing higher grades.

Key topics covered include:

Mary's climbing journey and her limited knowledge of training methods in the early years
How she embraces the concept of learning through failure and the impact this has had on her climbing
How her approach to climbing and training differed as she progressed to 5.12a/f7a
What training strategies did she adopt that propelled her into the 5.13a/f7c+ grades
Sharing top tips she has learnt over five years of focusing on pushing her climbing performance

Want to hear more from Mary Eden and Tom Randall? Head over to our podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Lor Sabourin has been in the climbing scene for a while now! They made the first no-falls ascent of the route, ‘Cousin of Death’ (5.13+/7c+) in Northern Arizona, back in 2020. Then in 2021, they did an impressive ascent of ‘East Coast Fist Bump’ (5.14a/8b+).

This was only the beginning though, this autumn, Lor outdid themselves by sending the infamous “Stranger Than Fiction” (5.14b/8c). This was the first redpoint since the first ascensionist Mason Earle sent the route in 2015.

Lor’s projecting process fascinated and continues to impress us here at Lattice, as they have a unique approach to dealing with the physical, mental and technical aspects of projecting complex routes over a long time period. Whilst Lattice has worked with many athletes over the years who’ve had season-long projects, it’s always remarkable to see someone achieve their multi-year project!

Key topics:

Lor finding and sampling ‘Stranger than Fiction’
Mental tools for dealing with the uncertainty of technical trad routes
The type of training they did with their Lattice coach Maddy Cope
Using gratitude as a tool when long-term projecting
Juggling work with the climbing lifestyle
Tools they used to progress every season on ‘Stranger than Fiction’
How their training led to a leap in their bouldering grade

Want to learn more about how a Performance Coaching Plan can help you achieve your goals? Head over to the Lattice Training website to find out more!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Today Tom Randall and Ollie Torr take a step back from being humble and name some of the biggest names Lattice has worked with.

They dive deep into the details behind Alex Honnold, Toby Roberts, and even Emily Harrington’s coaching. But these are just some of the major clients Lattice has worked with, so grab a cup of tea and tune in for a juicy podcast!

The main topics are:

Are Pros all-rounders?
Choosing priorities
Is it better to climb or train more?
Is it better to work finger strength on the wall or on a fingerboard?
What type of endurance works best?

With lots of examples based on the notable climbers we work with.

What are you waiting for? You can find our podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Today’s guest is Dan Hipkiss, the coach to 'The Stoltman Brothers', who have held multiple World’s Strongest Man titles, a few world records and multiple international competition podiums. Dan also coaches others in the sports of powerlifting, CrossFit and Olympic weightlifting, giving him a varied background in performance training.

Seeing that Dan also rock climbs, and understands the fundamentals of the sport, host Tom Randall invited him on to pick his brain in the hopes of learning new perspectives on training for climbing.

The main topics are:

Frequency and volume of strength training
Training weaknesses and de-prioritising strengths
Injury prevention for strength athletes
Using deload cycles as a tool for getting stronger

Want to learn more about how these sports can influence your climbing? You can find our podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Tom Randall couldn’t be more excited because in today’s podcast, the Wideboyz have come together to discuss Pete Whittaker’s latest 9a Trad send, Crown Royale!

Tom and Pete discuss all the training behind this monstrous climb. Plus, they dive in into some of Pete’s assessment techniques before training, with Pete even spilling some key tips that helped him adapt his training for his project.

Key topics include:

How Pete self assesses before training
His training structure and how it has evolved
Replica Training
What he has learned from climbers with different strengths (i.e Magnus)
How he stays motivated

What are you waiting for? You can find our podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Welcome to another exciting episode of 'This or That,' where our host, Tom Randall, is about to challenge our guest's climbing training preferences. Today's special guest is none other than Ollie Torr, the co-founder of Lattice and one of our world class coaches in the Lattice team.

While we all recognize Ollie for his exceptional coaching skills, what you may not know is that he brings a wealth of experience from his years in gymnastics and coaching training. His background equips him with a unique and expert perspective when tackling these rapid-fire questions. So, find a comfortable seat because Tom and Ollie are about to dive deep into the following debates:

-Kilterboard or Moonboard
-10mm or 20mm for finger strength
-ARC and continuity or high-intensity intervals for route climbers
-Low reps or high reps for building strength
-Starting young and specializing or beginning later and pursuing a broader approach
...and that's just the beginning. Stay tuned for a lively discussion on these topics and more!

Tune in to today's podcast, which is available on various platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, etc., and learn from one of the best coaches out there.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Welcome back to the Lattice Training podcast! Today, we have Ollie Torr joining our host Tom Randall, for an insight into coaching V17 climbers, preparing for the Olympics and much more 😏

From coaching, Will Bosi and Toby Roberts, Tom and Ollie also have coached Tommy Caldwell and are coaching Alex Honnold for his next projects. So what is required from a coach to be able to help these high-end climbers? And how do you make the most of training when injured in order to keep at the top of your game?

Well, brew some tea and have a sit because these questions and many more will be answered in today's podcast 😉

Main topics:

When does training 'weaknesses' stop being useful?
How do climbers prepare for the Olympics?
Game-changing exercises for climbing
Most overrated climbing exercises
How to make the most out of an injury and come back stronger?
Coaching V17 climber?
-Replica training being at the cutting edge of climbing

Are you psyched to hear all about coaching some of the best climbers in the world? Tune in to today's podcast, which is available on various platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, etc., and learn from one of the best coaches out there.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this episode, Tom Randall has a relaxed and insightful chat with Lena Müller, the creator of the Ecopoint concept. Lena introduces us to her fresh take on climbing, which has been making waves on news pages and social media over the past year.

After completing the 'Prinzip Hoffnung' E9/8b+ trad route using only public transport in 2020, Lena coined the term Ecopoint to capture her sustainable climbing philosophy. Join Tom and Lena as they discuss the importance of this approach for a more sustainable climbing community and dive into the strategies she's encountered while embracing this approach style.

Main topics discussed:

-Defining Ecopointing

-When did Ecopointing start

-The limitation and future of ecopointing

-How you can do your part

Curious to learn more? Check out Lena’s website for inspiration and information!

https://ecopointclimbing.com/

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today's episode, Tom Randall sits down with Eric Hörst, to discuss the changes and needs of the body with age, when climbing and training.

We've been listening to your feedback and understand the importance of addressing training for climbers in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. That's why we're thrilled to have Eric on the show, as he brings a wealth of experience, having trained and performed throughout various stages of life, including his current age of 59.

During this episode, Tom dives deep into Eric's training journey, exploring how his approach has evolved over time. They discuss key topics such as strength and power training, the relevance of endurance training for older athletes, and Eric's effective use of high-intensity interval training. Additionally, they touch upon recovery strategies, including work-to-rest mesocycle lengths, and Eric shares a valuable lesson from his personal nutrition journey.

Whether you're a seasoned climber or just starting out, this conversation with Eric Hörst offers practical tips and insights tailored specifically for climbers in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. Tune in to the Lattice Training Podcast as Tom Randall and Eric Hörst guide you through the fascinating world of training for experienced climbers.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this second part of Tom Randall's conversation with Allegra Maguire, they delve into the captivating topic of the Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning (ZOF).

If you're looking to take your climbing performance to the next level, this episode is a must-listen. Tom and Allegra unpack the concept of the ZOF and reveal how understanding and harnessing it can lead to incredible breakthroughs on the wall.

Discover practical strategies for identifying your own ZOF, from seeking external feedback to leveraging the power of journaling. But that's not all – Tom and Allegra go beyond theory and share actionable techniques to help you actually get into your ZOF. You'll learn how to create routines, leverage music, harness the power of breathing exercises, and utilise effective self-talk to unlock your optimal mental state for peak performance.

Whether you're a beginner climber seeking to enhance your mindset or an experienced athlete striving for that competitive edge, this episode is packed with valuable insights and techniques to help you tap into your Individual Zone of Optimal Functioning.

Don't miss out on this game-changing conversation! Tune in to the Tom Randall Podcast and join Tom and Allegra as they guide you on a journey towards unlocking your full potential and reaching new heights in your climbing performance.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Welcome to another Lattice Training Podcast! In this episode, host Tom Randall is joined by a special guest, Allegra Maguire, an expert in the psychology of climbing.

Allegra is a Mental Coach and co-founder of Climb in Flow, known for her insightful YouTube channel, Climbing Psych. With a strong academic background in psychology and currently pursuing a PhD in Decision Making at Linkoping University in Sweden, Allegra brings a unique perspective to the field of climbing. Her work involves helping both professional and non-professional climbers enhance their mental game, manage fear, and build confidence.

In this first part of the two-part episode, Tom and Allegra dive deep into the topic of mindset and performance, specifically exploring the concepts of growth and fixed mindsets in climbing. The conversation also touches on the relationship between mindset and talent, providing valuable insights for climbers at all levels.

As a coach with a focus on practical application, Tom is excited to learn from Allegra's expertise and share her insights with the audience. Whether you're a beginner climber or a seasoned pro, this episode promises to provide practical tips and strategies for optimizing your mindset and improving your climbing performance.

So, tune in to this captivating conversation between Tom Randall and Allegra Maguire as they explore the fascinating intersection of mindset and climbing performance.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

We all know that endurance and power endurance training is incredibly effective on either a circuit board or on a rope inside or outside. But which is most useful? When should we prioritise one over the other? Is it even possible to say that one tool is better than the other?

In this episode, host Tom Randall delves into the pros and cons of circuit boards versus roped climbing with the aim of helping you make the best training decisions for your climbing goals. Tom highlights the unique advantages of both training tools and offers valuable insights into how they can be used to complement each other for maximum benefit.

Tune in to this episode to gain a better understanding of when to choose circuits and when to choose roped climbing. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced climber, Tom's insights will help you to optimise your training regimen for the best results.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Welcome to Episode 3 of the "This or That" series, where Tom Randall delves into the complex debate route climbers often face: Should you prioritize endurance or strength training and what are the benefits and drawbacks of each? In this comprehensive episode, Tom explores both of the training methods, examining how they can affect climbing performance, style, and long-term development.

Key topics covered in this episode:

The benefits and drawbacks of strength training for route climbers
The advantages and disadvantages of endurance training for route climbers
The impact of each training method on climbing performance, style, and recovery
Finding the right balance in your training regimen to suit your individual goals and physiology

Equip yourself with the knowledge to make well-informed decisions about your route climbing training. Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel to get more This or That" series episodes to take your climbing performance to new heights!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Welcome to Part 2 of the "This or That" series, where Tom Randall unravels the climbing training conundrum: Strength Training vs Power Training. In this captivating episode, Tom sheds light on crucial aspects such as:

Deciphering the right choice between strength and power training
The unique benefits and drawbacks of each approach
Incorporating maximal force, muscle size, and muscular coordination in your training regimen
Improving chances of injury prevention while optimizing climbing progress

Tune in to this latest episode to help you make well-informed training decisions that align with your climbing goals. Equip yourself with the knowledge to optimize your strength and power training journey!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Welcome to the inaugural episode of the "This or That" series, a podcast that explores the ongoing debates amongst climbers on which training method to choose. Tom Randall breaks down the classic dilemma of bouldering system boards versus general bouldering, providing the pros and cons of each method.

With the main topics being...

Benefits and limitations of bouldering system boards and general bouldering
Advantages and disadvantages of each method
Scenarios under which climbers should focus on one or the other
How to use a balanced approach of both to improve your training

So, if you're a climber looking for guidance on which training method to choose, tune in to the "This or That" series!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this episode, host Tom Randall and his guest Lisa Bastian take a step away from the usual training discussions to delve into the world of philosophy and ethics.

Lisa is an assistant professor at VU Amsterdam who specializes in Ethics, Epistemology, and Political Philosophy. She initially contacted Tom regarding Will and Aidan's public training efforts on the Burden of Dream replica, and her expertise in ethics led her to question the impact that training on replicas may have on climbing, particularly in regard to the possibility of a flash ascent. Lisa even wrote a whole article on this, which you can find here, or in the link below.

As Tom and Lisa discuss the relevance of philosophy and ethics in climbing, they touch on the importance of ethics as a fluid concept that changes over time. They also explore the breakdown of a logical framework that can be applied to all ethical questions.

One of the concepts Lisa breakdown is of a "flash" ascent and delves into the impact that replicas have on the athletic achievement and the ability to plan and execute a climb. She also discusses the importance of distinguishing between going against ethics and taking away value in climbing.

This episode offers a unique perspective on the intersection of philosophy, ethics, and climbing, and provides valuable insights into the impact of replicas on the climbing community. Tune in to hear Tom's engaging discussion with Dr Lisa Bastian!

Article on Ethics of Replica training: https://latticetraining.com/2023/04/21/does-flashing-a-replica-count-as-the-send/

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this captivating episode, renowned climber Will Bosi joins his long-time coach and trainer, Tom Randall, to discuss his incredible ascent of the elusive V17, "Burden of Dreams." Will shares insights into his journey, the challenges he faced, and how his early years in climbing shaped him into the athlete he is today. From his international competition days battling it out with Tomoa Narasaki and Jakob Schubert, to his impressive first ascents and recent accomplishments, Will's story is one of determination and passion.

Dive into an in-depth conversation covering topics such as Will's experience with replica training, the impact of climbing Alphane on his performance, and his thoughts on live streaming his climbing efforts. Learn how he manages expectations, deals with pressure, and maintains his skin while attempting challenging climbs. Plus, get the inside scoop on his views on climbing shoes, chalk, and even electric fans for boosting performance.

Whether you're a climber, a fan, or simply curious about the world of elite climbing, grab a cup of tea and settle in for an engaging and inspiring conversation that explores the limits of human potential and the future of climbing performance.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

You are on your climbing trip, and the weather takes a turn...well you are in for a treat because today's podcast is a special one! As Tom Randall and Anna Hazelnutt wait for the rain to go away, they got to ask each other some quick-fire questions.

From favourite system board, to hang Vs no hang exercise preferences, this out-of-the-box podcast is here to get you thinking about your training favourites! And since it is the first one of its kind, let us know if you enjoy it. Plus if you have some questions you'd like to ask yourself, reach out to us on our social media platforms.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today's podcast, Tom Randall sits down for a solo recording on strategies and approaches to training and performance in climbers in their 40s and beyond.

Tom has been a professional athlete through his 20s, 30s and now 40s and is ready to share the learnings behind performing and feeling your best when training and climbing. He will cover time management, recovery, training sessions, deload cycles, stress, sleep, and injury. Plus some of his insights on how to make the most out of limited time, focus on important aspects of training, and plan for stress factors and sleep.

As we age, recovery becomes increasingly important. Tom will lay out his strategies for working with this, including changing your trip plans and adding new stimuli to training. He'll also touch on the importance of deload cycles and how to handle injury.

Overall, this podcast is packed with information that is relevant to climbers of all ages. Tom's personal experience and expertise make him the perfect guest to share his insights on how to stay on top of your game as you age. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this informative and inspiring podcast!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today's podcast episode, Tom Randall sits down with James Pearson, one of the most exceptional climbers of his generation in the UK. Tom and James discuss his impressive career, which started with him pushing the cutting edge of the UK climbing scene in trad and hard bouldering as a teenager, after just four years of climbing. Since then, James has climbed all over the world, making a name for himself by establishing and repeating many of the world's hardest trad lines, and flashing V13s back when almost no one in the world was doing it.

Despite James's numerous accomplishments, he remains a relatively unknown figure outside of the climbing world. In this podcast, Tom and James dive deep into how he has maintained his consistency of performance and what really drives him. They also discuss his recent achievements, such as completing the hardest trad route of his career and coming close to flashing Neil Gresham's bold new E11.

This episode promises to be an insightful and inspiring discussion for climbers and non-climbers alike. So, whether you're a fan of hard climbing or just looking for motivation, be sure to tune in and listen to James's story, available on various platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher etc., and learn from one of the best climbers out there.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Today we have the second part of the two-part podcast featuring pro climber Hazel Findlay. Hazel has made a name for herself in the climbing world with her impressive trad ascents up to E9/10 and recently made headlines with her repeat of the challenging Esclatamasters 9a route in Perles.

In the first part of our podcast, Tom Randall and Hazel focused on the physical aspects of climbing, exploring the methods, insights and takeaways from her training with Lattice through her coach Maddy Cope.
Today, we will delve into the mental side of climbing, discussing the psychology and mental preparation and techniques that allowed Hazel to train effectively, project and perform on her 9a. Whether you're a seasoned climber or just starting out, don't miss this opportunity to learn from a true expert and find inspiration for your own climbing journey.

John Kettle's book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rock-Climbing-Technique-Practical-Movement/dp/1999654404/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?adgrpid=135296940233&gclid=Cj0KCQiAorKfBhC0ARIsAHDzslv7KVZ5VJ79IuCyej6CSQn-h91hTW8e-CnMGThaplZvYhHZULWWEZwaAnBNEALw_wcB&hvadid=584800588510&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=1007064&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=14622397484465433647&hvtargid=kwd-815159373797&hydadcr=24954_1816940&keywords=john+kettle+climbing+technique&qid=1676516509&sr=8-1

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Join us for an exciting two-part podcast featuring pro climber Hazel Findlay. Hazel has made a name for herself in the climbing world with her impressive trad ascents up to E9/10 and recently made headlines with her repeat of the challenging Esclatamasters 9a route in Perles.

In the first part of our podcast, Tom Randall and Hazel will focus on the physical aspects of climbing, exploring the methods, insights and takeaways from her training with Lattice through her coach Maddy Cope. In the second part, we will delve into the mental side of climbing, discussing the psychology and mental preparation and techniques that allowed Hazel to train effectively, project and perform on her 9a. Whether you're a seasoned climber or just starting out, don't miss this opportunity to learn from a true expert and find inspiration for your own climbing journey.

John Kettle's book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rock-Climbing-Technique-Practical-Movement/dp/1999654404/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?adgrpid=135296940233&gclid=Cj0KCQiAorKfBhC0ARIsAHDzslv7KVZ5VJ79IuCyej6CSQn-h91hTW8e-CnMGThaplZvYhHZULWWEZwaAnBNEALw_wcB&hvadid=584800588510&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=1007064&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=14622397484465433647&hvtargid=kwd-815159373797&hydadcr=24954_1816940&keywords=john+kettle+climbing+technique&qid=1676516509&sr=8-1

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

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Looking for a podcast that has more big grade talk, more cutting edge performance discussion and even more obscure facts about Aidan and Will, then look no further…

Tom Randall sat down to chat with Aidan Roberts and Will Bosi when they were at the Lock Up HQ filming for the Burden of Dreams replica recently. Tom aimed to dive into the details of what makes these guys tick, how they're training and preparing for climbing the world's hardest projects and what are all the little details that make the difference.

Here are some teasers of what topics are in store for you!

Who's got the strongest fingers
Their superpowers
Transitioning from comps to outdoor climbing
Does climbing get 'better' at the cutting edge?
Training with replicas
Burden of Dreams
Strongest boulderers in the world right now
Defining moments in their careers

If you want even more, don't forget there's also the YouTube episode about Burden of Dreams to go with this one as well!

Full podcast available on the Lattice Training website and any major podcast platform (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher etc) 🤳

climbingpodcast #latticetrainingpodcast #latticetraining #Power #climbingtraining

In this podcast, coach Maddy Cope talks to Joy Black who you may know as @calliejoyblack, who returns for another insightful episode. Joy is a strength coach for pregnant and postpartum climbers and is currently 10 months postpartum herself. She educates about the pelvic floor, strength training and breathing as they relate to training during pregnancy and after birth.

In this podcast, the conversation is all about Diastasis Recti. Diastasis is one of the most common terms seen online when looking into exercise during pregnancy and postpartum. As with many topics, the wealth of online information doesn’t necessarily make it clear what it is and how best to climb and train during pregnancy and postpartum to minimise the impact and allow good recovery. So in this episode, Maddy and Joy hopefully can clarify it for you.

In this podcast Joy explains:

What diastasis is and why it happens during pregnancy
Common misconceptions
Explains the difference between coning and doming and what these signify
How to feel and monitor your diastasis
The role of the deep core muscles and how we can manage the stress on our linea alba
A practical way to find your deep core
Core training for climbers during pregnancy and postpartum
Hanging exercises during pregnancy and returning to these postpartum
Ways in which we can modify or find appropriate exercises, taking diastasis into consideration
Ideas for warming up before climbing to help connect to our breath and deep core

If you want to check out a more general conversation Maddy and Joy had about strength training during pregnancy and postpartum, check out this episode.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this podcast Maddy talks to Steve Thompson from Sheffield Hallam University about power and how we may approach developing our power for climbing.
Power is an element of training that can cause a lot of confusion, yet it is an attribute that many climbers put on a high pedestal and seek to improve. Steve explains what power is and how we can best think about power when it comes to sports (and climbing). He talks about the big picture approach to developing power in a sustainable way, as well as different ways in which this may be integrated into a person's training:

The definition of power and how we can think about this in a sport context
The relationship between force and velocity
Intention and monitoring training
Approaches for developing power
Intention in training

In case of any questions, Steve is contactable on Twitter (@steve381), Research Gate (Steve Thompson) and via email (s.w.thompson@shu.ac.uk)

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this podcast, Maddy talks to Uzo Ehiogu, a physiotherapist, lecturer and strength and conditioning coach, about lower limb injuries in climbing. With an increasing amount of information about injuries in climbing, we find ourselves swimming in content focused on the upper body (shoulders, elbows, fingers). This is understandable given the nature of climbing, however, it can lead us to neglect the lower body when it comes to understanding injuries and strength development. The lower body plays a huge role in tension in climbing and in this podcast Uzo discusses:

The common lower limb injuries in climbing
The mechanisms of injury in the lower body when climbing
Differences between approaching acute and chronic injuries
How to approach rehabilitation back to full strength
Differences between lower limb injuries in climbing compared to other sports such as football
Methods for developing strength for heel hooks after injury (or before!)

Uzo is the lead clinician at Inside Edge Physiotherapy, a physiotherapy clinic for climbers based in Birmingham (UK) at the Depot Climbing Centre: https://www.insideedgephysio.com.

Uzo is also an author and co-author of book chapters in The Shoulder Theory and Practice (High performance rehabilitation for the climbing athlete), and Climbing Medicine - A practical guide (Chapter 21 Injury prevention, Chapter 20 Climbing rehabilitation).

And if you enjoyed those reads, then also take a look at his peer reviewed journals on climbing injuries and speed climbing training:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33189522/
https://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/Abstract/9900/Strength_and_Conditioning_Considerations_for_Speed.40.aspx.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this podcast, Ella Russell talks to Dr Nicky Keay, an honorary clinical lecturer in the division of medicine at University College London. She lectures and researches in areas of exercise endocrinology, with publications in this field. Nicky’s clinical endocrine work is mainly with exercisers, dancers and athletes, with a focus on relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S) and athletes navigating perimenopause/menopause.

In addition to being the author of the British Association of Sports and Exercise Medicine (BASM) Health4performance.co.uk online resource. She is also a medical advisor to Scottish Ballet and a keen dancer herself.

With her recent and first book, “Health Hormones and Human Potential: A guide to understanding your hormones to optimise your health and performance”, we couldn't wait to have her back on the podcast!

Some of the topics covered in this podcast are;

What hormones are and why they are so fundamental to our bodily functions.
How hormones influence our adaptations to training (or not as the case may be).
What can happen when we don’t get the balance of training/climbing, recovery and nutrition right from a hormonal perspective.
How do we spot if we’re moving into a state of non-functional overreaching and when this might tip into overtraining syndrome;
What can we do if we find ourselves in a state which points towards non-functional overreaching?
How can AI help us to identify if we are getting the balance right hormonally.
How do our gut microbes use hormones to influence our physical and mental health.
What can we do to improve our gut microbiome diversity and when should we do this.

For Nicky's website check got to:
https://nickykeayfitness.com/new-book/

And to buy her book go to the following sources:

https://www.sequoia-books.com/catalog/keay/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hormones-Health-Human-Potential-Understanding/dp/191411020X/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=sPuam&content-id=amzn1.sym.9987c01f-79a1-401b-8cc0-4469362e1651&pf_rd_p=9987c01f-79a1-401b-8cc0-4469362e1651&pf_rd_r=EEXVF42265K8000CC4TZ&pd_rd_wg=90KJl&pd_rd_r=88d69466-d18b-452b-b2a4-12a55632c3a2&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mr_hp_atf_m

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

You might well have heard of today's guest, Ryan Devlin as he has become pretty well known for hosting his podcast - The Struggle Climbing Show. Over the years he has interviewed a number of fantastic and legendary climbers including: Alex Honnold, Lynn Hill to name a couple.

However something you might not know about Ryan, is that he has been a Lattice client for the last few years. So today coach Tom Randall is flipping the mic and putting Ryan on the interview podium to chat about his own personal climbing and training journey.

Ryan is a father of two and also holds down two jobs. On top of this he has improved his climbing grade from f6c+ to f7b+ just in the last year, so he has a lot to share on the hard work he has put in. Although elements of his climbing journey has been discussed previously in some of his own interviews, today we will deep dive into his personal 'climbing struggles'.

Topics covered:

Ryan’s background in climbing and the journey up until starting a training plan
What goals he set for himself and how his move to Red River Gorge impacted this
Meeting Eric Horst at the crag and his initial experiences with training
Ryan’s assessment strengths and weaknesses and how he tackled his finger strength
Converting power endurance into performance
What did deload weeks involve.
His goals for flashing 12a and redpointing 13a
How running The Struggle Climbing Show has helped his climbing
This coming season and plans for a Lattice Training collab!

Link to Ryan's podcast:
https://www.thestruggleclimbingshow.com/

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this podcast, Maddy sits down with Kevin Roet to talk about the fear of falling and ways to integrate fall practice into climbing. Psychology and fear are complex topics, but fear of falling is undoubtedly something that impacts many climbers' enjoyment and performance. Kevin described his personal journey that has led to him writing a book on this topic; Climbing Psychology: Mind training for optimal climbing performance

Main topics:

Kevin’s journey and overcoming fear of falling
Developing self awareness
Understanding the theory alongside implementing the practice
Focusing on the process and understanding your expectations
Managing risk in fall practice
Kevin’s approach to practical application of fall practice outdoors

Links to book here:

https://shop.riseandsummit.co.uk/

https://www.wolverinepublishing.com/store/climbing-psychology/

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today's podcast, Tom Randall talks to Renee McGregor, a hugely experienced sports dietician whose career has spanned 20 years, including the London Olympics, Rio Paralympics and Commonwealth Games in Queensland.

She’s also recently written a (5th) book ‘More Fuel You’ which covers the nutritional needs for sport participation, training, competitions etc. This book looks at a number of the most popular diet options for athletes including low carb, vegan and intermittent fasting.

One additional area that today's podcast will focus on is the topic of dysfunctional relationships with food that some athletes may experience at some point in their life and how this impacts their performance, health and long-term careers.

Where Renee's journey in food and nutrition started
Classic misunderstandings athletes have in her industry
How do elite athletes differ from amateurs
How sports differ from each other
How the concept of fueling changes with age
Key differences in Orthorexia, Anorexia, Bulimia and Binge Eating Disorder
Pros and Cons of diet choices
Important fueling element of the different population type groups

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

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Today coach Maddy Cope talks to John Kiely who is an elite performance coach and lecturer with experience across numerous sports.

John explains the importance of our mindset and beliefs when it comes to training. It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking physical adaptations are a case of “training stimulus in”, and “gains out” and in turn this has led us to coin the terms “responders” and “non-responders”. John explains the deeper complexity of physical adaptations in terms of the impact of our perceptions and introduces the concept of predictive processing and coding. and the idea of responders and non-responders.

This podcast is a call for us to think more about our training approach, be curious about our monitoring and what works for us at any given time, and build trust in the process.

Main topics:

The importance of trusting the process in training
A discussion of the generalisation of training principles
Understanding the complex of adaptation
The importance of mindset in training

John's email and social media for queries:
jkiely@simplysportssci.com

https://twitter.com/simplysportssci

https://www.instagram.com/simplysportssci/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-kiely-a77b9119/

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/John-Kiely/research

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Healthy Lifestyle Solutions with Maya Acosta
Are you ready to upgrade your health to a new level and do so by learning from experts...
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

In this podcast Lattice coach Maddy Cope talks to Dr Stacy Simms, a sport physiologist from New Zealand that has focused on female physiology in her research as well as published books. She is perhaps best known for coining the phrase “women are not small men”.

In this episode we talk about the menstrual cycle, how Stacy views the current research, and how she arrives at practical application of this information in a training context.

Some of the topics covered in this episode are:

Changing the conversation around the menstrual cycle
An overview of the menstrual cycle
The different areas of research when it comes to the menstrual cycle
The idea behind phase based training
Tracking
Supplements
The hormonal changes that occur in the lead up to the menopause
Training during perimenopause and post menopause
Changes in body composition and nutritional considerations

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

HOT OFF THE PRESS! Aidan Roberts just climbed Alphane, a 9A in Chrionico this week, so we got him to sit down with Tom Randall interview to discuss the news, the process and Aidan’s history with this line.

This is the second ascent after Shawn Raboutou, and one of the few 9A/V17s in the world right now. The interview is broken down into sections few, which should give everyone something to go away with, whether you’re in the double digits yourself or you’re interested in what process someone goes through to work towards a project at their limit.

The big areas we discuss:

The history of Alphane and Aidan’s first season
How he prepared for this past Switzerland trip
His thoughts on the line and what he’s up to next
Q&A session with Lattice audience

Specific topics and questions covered:

When did he first try the problem
Who did he try it with and how did they climb/project?
How his first trip went and what he learnt
How he prepared with his coach, Ollie Torr, for his follow trip
What ‘on the wall’ and ‘off the wall’ training he used
His thoughts on teaming up with Will Bosi for a ‘Team Trip.’
How the project sessions broke down, and what approaches they both used
The send go
His next projects in Switzerland and ‘Alphane Right Hand’ line
How he balances repeats vs FAs
His historic approach to mileage vs projecting. Which does he do more?
What training has had the biggest impact ‘on rock’ for him
How much a week he trains
How long does he rest between burns
What degree of ‘perfection’ does he look for in a move before making links
His thoughts on Burden of Dreams, Isles Sit Start & Superpower
What’s harder than Alphane? Is anything flying under the radar?

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

If you’re new to boulder projecting or even reasonably experienced, then this episode is for you! In today’s recording, we have Tom Randall giving his experience and advice on how to increase the chances of a successful tick this season, via his ‘Top 10’ strategies.

Each of these approaches can be used in almost any situation and when you find ways to combine many of them on the same day, then you’re really winning! Projecting is about bringing all of your hard-won training improvements to the table and utilising them via the right strategies and tactics to achieve your goals. Like many approaches in climbing, these can be refined and learnt over the years, so get started now to improve your own journey.

Tom’s Top 10 Strategies:

Skin management
Ladders, pad stacks and top ropes
Learning weird positions and rests
Who’s beta is best?
Power spotting
Replica work at home
Warm ups and flexibility
Visualisation on dynamic moves
Multiple shoe options
Not starting at the start…

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

If you’re new to projecting or reasonably experienced at redpointing, then this episode is for you! In this episode, we have Tom Randall giving his experience and advice on how to increase the chances of a successful tick this season, via his ‘Top 10’ strategies.

Tom is no stranger to projecting, having had hundreds of successful redpoints over the last two decades including many multi-year projects. The approaches that you hear Tom explain in this podcast are ones which are directed mainly at beginner to intermediate climbers, but may also be missing strategies that some of you advanced climbers out there haven’t considered.

Here’s the lineup of the top 10 strategies discussed:

Energy wasting and conservation
Clipsticks
YouTube and video beta
Using tiredness to your advantage
Brushing as a method for familiarisation
End-of-day recaps
Learning your rests
Route maps and topos
Using early lead attempts for mental improvements
Choking and the use of ‘top down’ links

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this episode, we’ve got Adam Fiala and Tom Randall back to finish off what they started in this 2-part storytelling podcast. If you’re looking for the first section of the journey where Adam shares his story about the dream to climb his first 5.14 you can find it here http://mujsuplik.blogspot.com/p/dancing-with-wolves-blog-series.html .

The interview is structured in the same manner as part 1, where Tom narrates the blog on behalf of Adam as English isn’t his first language. He then follows up with questions relevant to each stage of Adam’s development and goal to climb his project.

As a recap of part 1, they covered:

Adam’s climbing and training history
Common misconceptions about working with a coach
Details of Performance profiling
Lattice’s different approach to training
Nutrition behind Adam’s training, and his fears of weight gain

In part 2, they cover:

The specific details of his training program
The unexpected social implications of the program
Some of his doubts about the program
His first time on real rock after 16 weeks of training
The importance of assembling hard “side projects” for confidence
First time on the “main project”
The hard truth about training
His thoughts on gaining weight and how it influenced his performance on the rock

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Tom Randall returns in another 'solo podcast' for part 2 of the Power Endurance series. In this episode, he dives into the aspects of performance and preparation that have the greatest effects on the projecting and redpointing process. We can't really overstate how important these factors are and how much the use of them is the crowning glory on top of all the hard training you've done over the years. Get these sorted and you'll be ticking harder and faster, more consistently!

Like Part 1 (specificity of technical, physical and psychological factors), this one breaks into three parts:

Tactical

Dialling the crux
Dealing with the redpoint crux
Clips and quickdraws
Time of day and crag conditions
Top down tactics

Physical

Training and projecting at the same time
Pace training
Gaining training volume on rests
Warm up tricks and tips

Psychological

Visualisation away from the crag
Controlling allostatic load
Your 'perfect day' list
Expectations setting
Remaining process focused.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today's podcast Maddy Cope talks to Martina Demmel. Martina started climbing at the age of 15, and is now 20, and despite the fairly short climbing career so far, she has a vast number of hard sport climbs under her belt.

Her sport climbing is characterised by fast ascents and hard onsights, as well as achieving so across many different styles. Last year she climbed her first 9a - Joe Cita - and joined the small club of female climbers that have on sighted 8b+, with her onsight of Humildes pa Casa.

Main Topics:

Martina’s background in skiing and how this translated to climbing
Building a large pyramid and climbing routes quickly
Being short and finding your own beta
Mindset and approach to climbing
Different ways of approaching outdoor and competitive climbing

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In todays episode, Tom Randall sits down with Lor Sabouring, who is an unwavering advocate for the non-binary and trans community in climbing, and has a lot to share. Their work in Warriorsway is very valuable, equipping climbers with resilient and flexible minds to deal with stress and anxiety. These mental tools are not just useful for climbers but can come in handy for everyday life.

Tom and Lor met through the trad community in USA, with both having a common interest in crack climbing. Lor keeps crushing outdoor climbing, as they are not only a training leader for Warriorsway, but also a rock guide and professional climber who has climbed up to 5.14, with some pretty scary sends.

So, if you're interested in some food for thought, take a listen to today's podcast and let us know if you enjoyed it!

Main topics:

How Warriors way helped them with their fear of falling
Mental Toughness VS Mental agility
How to tackle controllable and uncontrollable factors in climbing
Realistic climbing journaling
Limits VS Boundaries
Tips on fear of falling

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Having a family and climbing means a lot of planning and rotating your projects in order to be able to project without missing prime seasons in different crags. So, today we have the second part of Martin Keller's interview with Tom Randall, where they reveal some of their secrets for juggling it all.

Martin, or @swizzybouldering is known by some for getting fairly obsessed with
performing, which has resulted in him sometimes over training, not resting and
not looking at conditions. However he has started to see the benefits of a more
structured approach, as well as picking and choosing the days to get his
project. So tune in to find out more about his approach in this department.

Main topics:

Being obsessed with a project and how to manage optimal conditions
Benefits of fingerboarding with a structural plan
Managing training with family
Putting it all together at the end (timing, little extras, partners, and doubt)

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

On a rare occasion, you get a climber who has climbed impressive grades, but their performance metrics put them on weaker grades. Typically this means that the climber has something special or elite about another facet of their performance, away from pure physiology. And what better way to understand this better than for Tom Randall to sit down with Martin Keller, who is also known as 'SwizzyBouldering', to talk about how he approaches his projecting and has become one of these rare cases.

Today's podcast will be about all things projecting, and how strategy, mindset, and technical preparation to deal with the exact physical demands of the rock can help you send harder!

We hope you enjoy it, and remember to keep an eye out for part 2.

Main topics:

Deciding on a project
How early do you visit a project and try the moves?
What is your strategy for breaking it down?
Do you use certain tools that others don’t? Fans, ladder, rope?
What’s important for mindset in projecting?

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today's podcast, Tom Randall sits down with one of Australia's most accomplished rock climbers, Tom O'Halloran. Having competed in the recent Tokyo Olympic games, bouldered up to V14, and also sport climbed 9a, this guest is a world class disciplined climber with a lot to share.

In addition to his impressive climbing career, Tom has a family and a day job, so he has learnt a lot of valuable time managing skills in order to keep pushing his climbing to the limit. All of this will be discussed in today's podcast, but if you are keen to see more of Tom O'Halloran, then do check out his YouTube channel (link below), where he goes behind the scenes and mindset of climbing performance.

The main topics for today are:

Australia's Climbing scene
Sport climbing for Boulderers
Bouldering for Sport climbers
Climbing grade progression
Juggling Sport vs Route climbing and training plan periodisation
Projecting at your limit

Tom O’Halloran’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmMVI9Gf_VbPx_L9_6wrvpA?app=desktop

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Today we have another returning guest having previously chatted on the show, with her partner in crime Kyra Condie. Who is both accomplished in indoor competitions as well as in outdoor climbing, having climbed up to V14! Please welcome back to the show .... Allison Vest!

Allison first came to the attention of us at Lattice through a piece of data funnily enough. Quite some time ago, Tom Randall was compiling a list of the greatest finger strength levels ever measured in female athletes and Allison was right at the top.
Naturally, he wanted to dig into the information a bit further as the numbers were pretty outrageous!

Over the last few years, Allison has risen to the position of one of the most accomplished outdoor boulderers in the world having climbed up to V14, which is also on top of a track record of multiple competition podiums for indoor competition climbing. On top of this, she’s someone who has a prolific social media presence, seamlessly connecting between content that’s both light-hearted and serious, but always with such an accessible style. We wanted to get her back on the podcast to talk about all things performance, training and bouldering focused.

Tune in to hear all about:

Her transition from coached to self-coached climbing
How she manages training vs performing
Her thoughts on resting
How she trains on a fingerboard
What her ‘personal bests’ or scores on a fingerboard are
Testing with Camp4 Human Performance
Working ‘strengths’ vs working ‘weaknesses’ in climbing
Her personal warning signs for when to not strength train
How to access the ‘top end’ in bouldering
How she deals with the ‘a Muerte’ attitude towards training and performance

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this episode, we have one of the Lattice athlete team, Anna Hazelnutt, returning to the podcast with Tom Randall to discuss her incredible run of climbing performance since last year. We last interviewed her, with just a few trad leads under her belt and her first 5.14 sport climb. Since then, she’s gone on to repeat two of the most iconic E9s in the UK - ‘Once Upon A Time In The Southwest’ and also ‘Walk of Life’ in a remarkable trajectory of grade.

We talk to Anna about why she originally chose to try Once Upon A Time In The Southwest, how she justified attempting an E9 with almost no trad experience and her methods for controlling fear and anxiety in stressful situations. She also shares with us her strategies for breaking down projects, all the way from the start to the middle ‘messy’ region and finally the ‘end’ where an attempt is imminent.

Finally, Anna talks through how she’s specifically dealt with the 2 current season projects (Walk of Life and The Quarryman) and her ‘book chapter’ approach for breaking down long and hard routes that take multiple sessions. Tom also discusses the ‘uncertainty bucket’ concept and how this relates to his own climbing and those projects he’s shared with Anna as a climbing partner this past year.

Topics covered:

Anna’s background in highball climbing and sport climbing
Her first trip to the UK and how an E9 was chosen
The process of projecting Once Upon A Time In The Southwest
How she controls her fear and anxiety on lead
Anna’s ‘book chapter’ method for visualising and breaking down projects
How her current projects have gone and what she’s learnt
The ‘uncertainty bucket’ concept
Her plans for the future

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

For today's podcast, Tom Randall sits down with Molly Mitchel, a pro climber with a very unique story. Having come out of a climbing gym, she is now a rising star in the trad community. Who seemingly quickly decided to get into hard and very bold trad, having done accents in Colorado mountains, including China Doll, a super techy 5.14 climb.

With more danger inevitably comes more risk and Molly sadly broke her back on her project "Crank It" 5.13+. Having fractured L2 and L3 vertebrae, getting back climbing can be a daunting and lengthy process. However, this really didn't stop her, and in 2021 Molly reached out to Lattice to get some coaching for overcoming her physical and mental trauma in order to finally send this route!

So sit down and enjoy this coach-to-athlete interview as Tom and Molly discuss the work they put together in order for her to revisit the scene of her accident and conquer her demons.

Topics covered:

Molly's indoor climbing journey
Her first Trad climbing experiences
The mental game needed for bold climbing
How her accident impacted her approach to climbing
Setting goals to work on mental trauma, and commuting to them
What Molly learned from the whole process
Final stages of projecting, including mental state control and confidence

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Have you ever wondered about extreme margins of performance, well today's podcast is the right one for you! Dominic Rowe, a client of Lattice, just got his first 8a / V11 under 2 years, and we couldn't be prouder. His amazing progress in an insanely small amount of time just blows our minds, so we had to have him come in and talk about it all.

Training and hard work are all part of the equation, but what really gets climbers to accomplish such hard grades so early on? Well, Tom Randall sits down with Dominic to talk about tactics, hard work, and the passion behind his journey. So grab yourself a pair of headphones and get training with the motivational story behind this speedy progression!

Main episode topics:

Dom's Boxing and athletic background
Transferable skills
What he learnt from his professional elite climber friends
How he projects like a professional climber
His view on mindset and performance for growth and progress
Why climbing makes him so happy

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In today's Lattice podcast, we bring you Moonboard Royalty, the one and only, Mr Ravioli Biceps! Most of you probably already know him for his impressive and focused Moonboard achievements over on his Instagram. Ravioli has completed 413 of the benchmarks Moonboard 2016 set up, and most of the 2019 set up, placing him among the elite. Ravioli also has his fair share of outdoor ticks, with grades up to V14, so he is definitely very capable in both formats of bouldering.

We will be keeping Ravioli's anonymity, but don't worry as there is much more to Ravioli than his nickname. So sit down, or if you're training, prepare your headphones, because we will learn all about this veteran of system boarding and what his approach to projecting is like.

Topics covered:

Why the name RavioliBicepts?
When did his focus on MoonBoarding start?
What Ravioli's warm-up and projecting looks like
Does he go back to old projects?
What he has gained from being so focused
Common MoonBoard misconceptions
Ravioli's very strong sense of community and how it links to his MoonBoarding Journey

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Are you obsessed with fingerboarding? Well, grab a seat and listen up as we delve into the world of beastmaking! In this episode Tom sat down with one of the founders of Beastmaker, Dan Varian, a fingerboarding expert. As you probably know Dan is no stranger to training and also has multiple FAs, repeats of v14s and hard trad routes, to name a few of his climbing achievements.

It's tricky to know where to start in interviewing Dan, as alongide an impressive ticklist and running a successful business, Dan also manages to juggle family life as a loving husband and father. So this episode is not just for climbers trying to reach the next level in their own climbing, but also for those who manage a busy working and family life!

Topics covered:

Why Dan first started fingerboarding.
How Beastmaker came to be.
What does his training look like.
What his approach is to finding new FAs.
How he juggles Work, family and getting outdoors.
How impactful ageing and becoming a parent is for him.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to achieve your climbing goals? Some people would argue you need the right facilities, equipment, time, low work stress and perhaps professional support to reach such high climbing grades, however, some individuals have proven that this is not necessarily true. Regardless of your personal approach, training for your goals is a process. In speaking to high-level climbers and athletes, we can always learn another side to the coin, and perhaps find tactics to deploy into our own training.

So, this is exactly what Andre Neres and Tom Randall are talking about today. Andre is a climber from Portugal who managed to climb 9a before the first commercial gym was even open in his home country while juggling busy family life and the all so common 9-5 working week!

Part of his success can be narrowed down to travelling as much as possible to famous crags, in order to learn from some of the best climbers out there. As such, Andre has acquired years' worth of knowledge, so this podcast is definitely not one to miss.

Topics covered:

Why Andre started climbing.
His mindset and training structure.
What the climbing scene is like, in Portugal.
Advice and experience gained from his climbing trips.
Future Climbing Goals.

For Andre's famous R9ad video, go to the following link: https://vimeo.com/80941121

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

On this episode we have guest host Lattice coach Josh Hadley with Tom Merrick - who you may well know from YouTube! Tom has an amazing 8-year fitness journey in callisthenics and flexibility and is not only a great inspiration online with all of his drills and training, but is also a coach and specialist in bodyweight skills. This kind of training and sport not only provides great strength and flexibility, but also control of your body and movement, which can be hugely transferable in climbing, whilst breaking away from traditional forms of training.

In this episode we cover:

How Tom became a Coach and Athlete
Biggest flexibility mistakes
Tips for breaking the struggling cycle and making progress
How much flexibility do we actually need
Risks associated with flexibility
One-arm pull-ups and front levers

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

On most of our Podcasts, we would usually sit down with elite climbers or complete specialists in niche areas of our sport, but today we have something a little different and we want to talk about what it is like to be on the journey of training and focusing on your goals.

Focusing on the progress and what is actually done through training, Tom Randall sat down with Elizabeth Zang a previous client turned Lattice ambassador. She shares a lot of her journey online and isn't afraid to speak her mind through her social platforms, in a way that a lot of people can relate to.

Do not be fooled, this podcast will not just talk about the highs, but also the lows, and how consistency ultimately rewards us in the long term.

Topics covered:

Elizabeth's climbing background
Where her climbing started
Expectations and reality of her first training plan
What you should know before starting a training plan
Journaling and Sharing on Social Media
Current and future goals

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Do you want to know more about how to juggle and manage a million different things, and what the process of dealing with setbacks looks like?

Tom Randall is known for juggling a lot, however, Favia Dubyk not only works very hard hours but is also able to train at a higher level, showing us how you can do it all with the right time management. Not to mention Favia has had quite a few setbacks, including being diagnosed with lymphoma during med school and the ongoing challenges it brought. Believing in perseverance and in finding opportunities in the setbacks, Favia keeps proving that humans have much more capacity than we realise!

Being the amazing human being she is, Favia is always thinking outside the box and impressing not just her coach Josh Hadley, but everyone here at Lattice. So, we hope you enjoy today's podcast!*

Main Topics:

Favia's Working life
Her Climbing Life
Managing work life with climbing
How and when to prioritise climbing
Training and outdoor climbing management
What to do if a setback occurs
Opportunities and outcomes of setbacks
How is her Hueco V12 project going

*Apologies if the sound is a bit off, Tom was kicked out of the main Lattice HQ office by the team. We promise we are working towards getting a better podcast studio set-up asap!

Favia's Doctor Service: https://drfavia.com/

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this podcast, Tom and Maddy sit down to talk about the role of expectations and satisfaction in climbing. Both Tom and Maddy have thought about the mindset with respect to their own climbing, and discuss their different approaches. Expectations and satisfaction are linked, and as such it is important to think about and manage our expectations, as well as what we define as a success, especially when trying projects that challenge us. Some the topics discussed in this conversation are;

Expectations and how they play into climbing
Expectations as a distraction and fear of falling
The process of asking yourself honest questions
Reflection, morphing memories, and having well informed expectations
The link between expectation and satisfaction
Exploring what we value in our climbing in order to get the most satisfaction
Success without sending?
Sending and satisfaction?

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this Podcast, Tom Randall has a chat with Adam Fiala, which is going to be quite different from anything you've heard on the Lattice Podcast before. We will have both a narrated interview and an insightful chat into the journey that our client took with us to climb his first f8b+ (5.14 USA route grade).

This comprehensive look into his training and performance will have us read out some of the stages of his journey directly from his blog. Plus some teasing out of ideas to see if Adam gives a bit more information of what it is like working with us at Lattice.

Because Adam has written such an in-depth piece of writing about his climbing, we’re going to split this interview into 2 parts. Also, we would like to give credit to David Goggins audible book for the concept of narration with an interview, as it is an absolutely brilliant format.

Lastly, we just want to let you know about the 2 variations of Adam’s blog - there’s the full unedited version on his own website and a condensed version in 2 parts on our website. There is always so much we can learn from understanding the experience of others, so we hope you enjoy this episode.

Adam’s climbing and training history
Common misconceptions of working with a coach
Details of Performance profiling
Lattice's different approach to training
Nutrition behind Adam's training, and his fears of weight gain
Training programme details
Details on his project attempts
The hard truth about training

Link to Adam's Blog: http://mujsuplik.blogspot.com/p/dancing-with-wolves-blog-series.html

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Steven Dimmitt AKA ‘The Nugget Climbing Podcast’ is the founder and owner of one of the hottest (and most interesting) interview shows in the climbing industry right now. It has only been going just over 2yrs but has already had a huge impact on the climbing community and features tonnes of well-chosen and crafted interviews with pros, coaches and climbing personalities.

His show has featured some of the great climbers of all time and clients we’ve also tested or trained ourselves - including people like Ben Moon, Hazel Findlay and Steve McClure. Steven was also a client of ours at Lattice, some years ago, but connected with us again recently with Tom Randall as a guest on his own show.

This got us thinking, if we’ve got someone who’s spent the last 2 years interviewing some of the world’s best climbers and most interesting members of the community, then surely he’s observed some patterns and commonalities between all these individuals?

In this episode, Tom chats to Steven about some of the guests on the show, how he pulls information from his sources and has utilised it in his own climbing or with his own clients and finally what he’s learnt from his experiences of living and working on the road whilst trying to perform.

Find out more about Steven’s podcast here and his Patreon here.
You can also find him on Instagram here!

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Today Tom Randall talks with Anoushé Husain, who just set the Guinness World Record for the greatest vertical distance climbed on a climbing wall, one-handed, using the same hand in an hour.

Anoushé had joined Tom for a podcast in early 2021 on the topic of overcoming setbacks, as life keeps sending her curveballs. However, this athlete has just become more resilient and stronger than ever. So today's podcast will go into the mindset and training leading to this new world record, from goal setting to the strategies she uses to overcome though times and find her own opportunities.

So get ready to get pumped with this podcast!

Details of what the Guinness Record involves.
The initial formulation of the plan and how the process looked.
The key to staying on track, despite setbacks.
Does Anoushé set herself up for success and prepare for setbacks?
What did she get out of this project?
Advice on how to find opportunities when you get setbacks in your own journey.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

After our recent interview with training legend Eric Horst, we've got another major contributor to training, performance and climbing rehab on the Lattice Podcast - this week we are chatting to Tyler Nelson, AKA Camp 4 Human Performance.

Tyler's content on Instagram really gets people thinking, as he explores new approaches to rehab and climbing performance. His curiosity for evidence-based practice makes him an unstoppable energy for trying things others could never think of!

Since a lot of Tyler's work aligns with what we do here at Lattice, Tom Randall sat down with Tyler to get his thoughts on the following topics:

Which sports away from climbing does Tyler draw knowledge from, and what are the nuances of this?
What are climbers currently doing that concerns him injury-wise, and how can they prevent / improve this?
What is the future for the use of training and assessment, and the tools/gadgets/apps related to it?

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Pull up a chair and grab yourself a line of developer code, you're about to listen to a bit of the story all about the origins of Crimpd!

Tom Randall sat down with one of the founders of Crimpd, Peter Klimek, to take a step back in time to where things all started between Lattice and Crimpd. They discuss how the partnership came about, all the way through to where we're looking to go in the future and where training and technology could potentially go.

This one's very much of a 'behind the scenes' chat of all things Lattice & Crimpd, so if you're not aware of what the Crimpd App actually is, go and download it right now so you know what they're talking about!

Topics covered:

Peter’s background in IT and tech and how he got into app development from cyber security.
The origin story behind Crimpd, the collaboration with Lattice and how it all happened.
What are the key features to getting an app experience right and how does this relate to training.
What is Crimpd next developing.
What he would advise to anyone interested in working in the tech sector.
What is the future of apps and tech in climbing, and its influence on training.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this podcast Maddy talks to James Spragg, a cycling coach and physiologist, about energy systems. James talks through the different energy systems, the relationship between intensity and energy system contribution, takes a deep dive into the aerobic energy system and how to train it effectively, and talks about profiling our energy systems in order to inform training.

Topics covered:

1:30 - A bit about James and his journey in cycling, academia and coaching

3:35 - James’ PhD

7:30 - Overview of energy systems

13:06 - Energy systems are synergistic

14:01 - The hyperbolic force-time relationship

18:03 - The relationship between intensity and energy system contribution

21: 40 - Cause of muscle fatigue

27:45 - The aerobic system and sustainable exercise

29:52 - The importance of capillarisation and training the aerobic system

37:30 - Lactate. The myth demystified.

42:09 - Pump, RPE and the feeling associated with training the aerobic system in long duration and interval sessions

46:00 - Why power endurance doesn’t maximise aerobic system development

50:00 - The glycolytic system; discussion of adaptation pathways

55:44 - Recovery from aerobic base sessions and frequency

58:00 - Getting the aerobic base training in. Spinning plates in training.

1:00:32 - What impacts rate of adaptation in aerobic training

1:03:00 - Previous training history and getting back to a certain level faster

1:06:00 - Different ways to get to the same goal. Exploring different approaches effectiveness through testing, intervention, retesting

1:13:05 - Different training scenarios and approach people can take to address training for a sport project

1:24:36 - Balancing strength and endurance

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this podcast, Maddy talked to Emily Elgar, who is a pelvic health physiotherapist based at Katie Bell Physio in Sheffield. They talk about topics relating to pregnancy and postpartum, such as pelvic health, delivery and recovery, and pelvic organ prolapse. Emily talks about her approach to pelvic health during pregnancy and postpartum, from her perspective as a life coach as well as for exercise. Emily also shared a number of great resources that support this conversation that can be found in the show notes.

Some of the topics covered are;

The changing landscape of pelvic physio in relation to pregnancy and postpartum
Back and pelvic girdle pain and how we can manage it
The pelvic floor; finding it, training it and timeframes
Delivery and initial recovery postpartum
C-section recovery
Pelvic organ prolapse.

This is a massive area, with so much to delve into. If you are interested in strength training then check out our podcast with Joy Black, or our podcast with UMI-Health about the pelvic floor.

Resources from Emily:

Reframing return-to-sport postpartum: the 6 Rs framework

https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/54/6/360

https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/committee-opinion/articles/2020/04/physical-activity-and-exercise-during-pregnancy-and-the-postpartum-period

Home Page - Burrell Education

Home Page - Squeezy (squeezyapp.com)

www.hlp-therapy.co.uk (c-section)

Its You Babe V2 Supporter | StressNoMore (Prolapse support)

Kegel Exerciser with App | Perifit - Perifit (United Kingdom)

Elvie Trainer | Smart Pelvic Floor Exerciser and App | Elvie | Elvie

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

This episode is a BIG one! We’ve got on the show today, Eric Horst, one of the original founding fathers of modern training theory for climbing and a total legend of the climbing world in general…. This episode is going to be hardcore training and more training!

In many ways, what we’ve tried to achieve at Lattice has been built upon the foundation of work, theory and practice of climbers like Eric who have made a significant contribution to the industry’s knowledge via books, podcasts, videos and many articles.

As there’s an almost unlimited amount of items we’d like to cover in this interview, we’ve tried to distil down Eric’s knowledge, opinion and experience into a number of ‘big ticket’ items that relate to many of us, when it comes to climbing training and performance. Sit back, grab yourself a cup of tea and enjoy…

Key topics in this episode:

Endurance
Strength
Performance Profiling
Fingerboarding
System boards

For anything related to PhysiVantage please check out Eric’s in depth website over at: https://physivantage.com/

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

You DM'd us, and we have answered, so today we have the guy who gained everyone's attention in early 2021 with his infamous 30-day fingerboard routine. We cover a broad range of topics, which should answer all of the questions you sent to us via Instagram, and other social media!

Emil is an incredibly experienced climber, representing Sweden in competitions, climbing outdoors, and of course sharing his journey through his Youtube channel. Recording his training, and sharing his big goals of sending "The Big Island", Emil really shows his versatility as a climber. So, don't expect this interview to be all about fingerboarding!

Lastly, he has recently made the choice to move full time into a 'van-life' way of living, committing to full-time climbing and filmmaking. Other than his fingerboard experiment, we will also discuss how he balances indoors vs outdoor climbing and what he’s experienced during his transition to van living.

How Emil's fingerboarding idea started
Emil's reaction to the feedback from the fingerboarding video
Will he repeat or change the fingerboarding procedure from the initial video?
How this fingerboarding procedure affected his strength
How he balances indoors with outdoors
How Emil's height or weight affects this performance
Where the focus for "The Big Island" came from
Footwork
Van life
Internal and external expectations with YouTube
So far what have been the pros and cons of this change
Where Emil sees himself in the near future

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Welcome to part 2 of this interview with the climbing legend Dave MacLeod. This week Lattice coach Maddy delved even deeper into Dave's climbing and training approach, by diving straight into chatting about his famous nutrition experiments and approaches to balancing a keto diet with his own training and climbing.

We also hear more about Dave's personal standpoints on nutrition and the mental aspects related to dieting, particularly in the climbing world.

As providers of nutrition services and information to the climbing community, we know all too well about the risks and the strong feelings that can be attached to dieting*, especially alongside high intensity training, so this is also covered in this interview.

Don't forget to catch up on Part 1, where Dave and Maddy discussed;

📌Dave's approach to training and climbing
📌How he applies his understanding of science to his practice
📌How the mental side of climbing evolved for him
📌His process on hard climbs and headpoints
📌The consideration of specificity in training for climbing goals
📌Stepping things up to 9a+ 🔥

*Please note that nutrition is highly individual and if you are struggling with disordered eating you should seek the help of a qualified professional.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In the Lattice Training podcast today we have another guest from the arm lifting world whose long term track record of training, competing and record breaking accomplishments is rarely rivalled across the grip strength sports. It’s rare that we get to interview someone who’s really been focusing on something so specific to climbing performance - AKA grip strength - for over 20 yrs.

Eric Roussin, is from Canada and has a long history of competitive arm wrestling, having started as a teenager in 1996 and has been competing in Grip Sports for just over 10 yrs. He won the Canadian overall National Title 5yrs in a row and also a gold medal in the World Arm Lifting Championships on the Rolling Thunder and has the world record on Napalms Nightmare and 2 arm thick bar lift.

Interestingly, Eric is a blend of competitor and historian so he’s got an incredible knowledge of what’s developed over time and an understanding of training and performance methodology, which at Lattice, we’re always interested to learn more about!

Check out in the show notes at the bottom, some really useful links provided by Eric, who kindly provided us all with some signposting to learn more on this front.

In today’s episode we covered:

What got Eric into arm wrestling originally and his formative years of training.
What he thinks about grip or hand strength in arm lifting and the repercussions for training methodology or approach.
His thoughts on the differences between arm lifting and arm wrestling.
How he trains for grip lifting, rather than grip pulling or hanging.
Whether he does any cross-training.
How important he thinks strength in the entire kinetic chain is. Are there any common “weak” links he sees?
What does the grip sports community think of fingerboarding.
What are the King Kong Grip Challenges.

David Horne - site: http://www.davidhorne-gripmaster.com/index.html

David Horne Basic training routine video: https://youtu.be/FGuVJAj96SE

Grip Board (the world’s most popular grip strength related forum): www.gripboard.com (event King Kong details can be found in the Grip Contests section)

Popular facebook page for all things grip: https://www.facebook.com/groups/330749460395996 Eric’s websites: www.canadagripsport.com & www.thearmwrestlingarchives.com

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Settle down and get comfy because Dave MacLeod is in the house and you are going to want to hear this one! We were recently lucky enough to have Dave MacLeod come down to the Lattice Training HQ and dive into all things climbing and training!

In this podcast Dave and Lattice coach Maddy Cope sat down and had a good old chat!

Tune in to find out more about;

📌Dave's approach to training and climbing

📌How he applies his understanding of science to his practice

📌How the mental side of climbing evolved for him

📌His process on hard climbs and headpoints

📌The consideration of specificity in training for climbing goals

📌Stepping things up to 9a+

This interview covers many things in between these topics, so be sure to tune in for so much more - plus we've also split into two parts, so keep an eye out next week for part 2.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Today we have a true legend of finger strength - the one and only Yves Gravelle. He has some of the strongest fingers in the world, pound for pound and has demonstrated this in both the climbing and arm lifting world, whilst also holding down a full time job and the added role of parenting on top of that.

In terms of his climbing, Yves is an International comp athlete, having represented Canada for a number of years, he’s bouldered V15 and repeated and established multiple problems in the double digit range. For Arm Lifting, he is 3 x APL World Champ, the lightest person the lift the Thomas inch dumbbell and has a PB of 105kg on the Rolling Thunder.

**If you’re someone who’s interested in the opinion, practices and methods of an athlete at the top 0.0001% of their game, when it comes to building strong fingers, then listen in hard!

In this episode we cover the following topics:**

Yves's classic feats of strength.
His early climbing years.
The tools in the last 20 yrs that he's felt were most effective.
How often he trains grip strength.
How he balances that with normal climbing.
What has been the role of arm lifting and when he got into it.
Are arm lifters doing anything different to climbers?
Hang vs lift tools for finger strength training.
How he 'transfers' his training strength across into climbing.
His balance of low intensity and high volume training.
How he trains with limited time and resources.
His tips for climbers getting into their first season of arm lift training.

Yves' Sponsors: Bloc shop, Kailas, Tembo, Digit Climbing, Xcult USA, Coyote rock gym

His YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/yvesgravelle/videos His Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yvesgravelle/?hl=en

I’m from Ottawa, Canada

Been climbing for 22 years.

Ex Canadian National Bouldering team member. 7-8 time???

3 x arm lifting World Champion (APL federation)

8C boulder

Multiple World records and class world records order in the sport of Armlifting.

Feats Highlight

- lightest person the lift the Thomas inch dumbbell

- 6mm one arm pull-up and deadhang

- lattice test edge + 32kg

- 105kg on the rolling thunder

- 1-5-9 with construction gloves

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Tom Randall is back with another solo podcast session, following on from the recent "Common Mistake in Endurance Training" that was very popular. Like the previous format, he explores the big issues that climbers will typically have when training or preparing their power endurance.

In part 1, he breaks down the critical factor of 'specificity' and why you need to address it on the three fronts of technical, psychological and physical preparation. Ignoring, or wrongly addressing almost any of these elements will significantly impact both the effect of your training and the performance outcomes. Get them right though, as you're talking about huge steps towards success!

Technical:

Rock types and associated movement patterns.
Specific move types and efficiency within them.
Learning how to climb fast AND slow at your project/goal grade

Psychological:

Accessing your 'try hard' zone with correct focus and frequency
Learning to relax to the demands of the goal and not 'wasting' energy.
Training to rest appropriate for your project.
Chalking up ratios
Terrain recognition and environmental stress/familiarity
Fears of heights, exposure and falling

Physical:

Pacing for contraction and relaxation ratios.
Hold size and types relative to muscle activation and soft tissue demands.
Specificity of project demands on ancillary muscle groups such as core, back and legs.
Skin and pain conditioning
Respecting the specificity of volume, intensity and 'section' interval frequency when training

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Today’s guest is one of the best climbers in the world right now. He’s redpointed 3 9b+’s and 7 9b’s, and won multiple IFSC world cups. Yes, it is the one and only Stefano Ghisolfi! The journey that this athlete has taken in the sport is a remarkable one, not simply because his incredible grades, but because he has so many relatable actions that many of us can also deploy in our own climbing pathway. Sure, we may not all reach 9b+ or Olympic selections in our life, but at our own personal level there are strategies that pay off ... big time.

Those key strategies discussed come down to:

Playing to your strengths and understanding how you can work on your long term (changeable) weaknesses.
Building a solid grade pyramid of performance, experience and skill.
Appropriate methods for making a change in performance metrics. What strategies actually work for the thing you're trying to alter.
Working on your fear and mindset in a performance setting.

Around these topics, we discussed - amongst other things:

His first competition at 14 and how only 3 years later he’d got a podium and also competed in the Senior world champs and placed 10th in combined.
What his early journey in climbing looked like. How quickly did he go through the grades?
His first 9b Lapsus.
His views on repeating some of the world’s hardest routes like Change, Bibliographie, Perfecto Mundo. How important is this process/goal?
His repeat of Bibliography and proposed 9b+ grade vs 9c.
How much bouldering does he do compared to sport climbing? Does it change at different times of the year?
How does he fit in fingerboard work and other forms of more 'basic' S&C?
His fear of heights, falling and exposure.
How does he identify what he wants to work on each season?

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

This episode's guest is professional climber and competition athlete Staša Gejo, who's track record is rarely matched. She has stood in every single position - gold, silver and bronze - across a variety of competitions from World Games, World Champs, European Champs and World Cups, climbed V13 and puts out consistent content on her social channels and YouTube channel which shares her thoughts and journey in climbing.

**Her top level track record extends way back from 2015 where as a junior competitor she won the World Junior Champs in bouldering and combined, so there is a big depth of experience and expertise here. What’s so cool about Staša is that not only is she operating at the top end, she's also really good at communicating her thoughts about her journey in the sport. The ups and downs and also what works well when it comes to performance - especially around some recent dialogue on the topic of weight.

We talked about:**

Her experiences with weight control and early journey as a comp athlete.
The repercussions of a calorie controlled diet at 1200/day.
How does her healthy weight management look these days.
What does her indoor vs outdoor training and performance habit look like.
Her thoughts on mixing forms and disciplines for performance and training.
What does her specific finger strength work look like.
How much strength work she finds optimal per week.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

On today's show we have Kejt Najman, who sits in the 'sweet spot' of training knowledge as she's both a coach and internationally acclaimed athlete. She was World Weighted Pull Up Champion in 2019 & 2022, Polish Champion four years running, has bouldered 7C and sport climbed 7c (before concentrating on her competitions in recent years) and also works as a strength and conditioning coach for climbers.

At Lattice we greatly value those who have a blend of sports science and practical knowledge - it's the area where 'science' meets 'art' and 'subjectivity' in training. In another knowledge packed episode Tom explores Kejt's methods and experiences in upper body strength training, how she works on herself as an athlete and also her approach to her own clients.

Kejt's original journey as an athlete - couldn't do a single pull up initially!
How much she trained in the earlier years and what methods she used.
Her approach to 'push' vs 'pull' gym work.
Low specificity vs high specificity training.
Kejt's experiences as an elite plant-based athlete.
Her next steps and thoughts on training as a 40 year old athlete.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Part 2 of '10 Things That Matter More Than You Think'
Climbing performance is fairly complex because there's so many moving parts to the equation and many of the skills take years, if not decades, to perfect. Fortunately, Tom Randall is on the podcast in this episode to give you another 'solo' session on what things really make a difference in climbing your best.

In this second part, he dives into a variety of factors that probably don't get enough discussion, but make a massive difference to your climbing. Get over half of these items ticked off and perfected, and you'll probably see 1-2 grades of climbing improvement at your projecting level in a single season.

Hip position
Ladders and dogging tactics
One Last Go
Power training
Supportive partners
HIPS: How close, how far left or right and how much you throw them. Get strong in the entire ROM
TACTICS: Ladders, ab ropes and spotter shoulders for feeling holds, starting higher up, dogging with clip stick, clipping in tight, get a power pulls and many more...
ONE LAST GO: Sticking around, trying even when you’ve given up, learning your mind-body connection when you’re at your limit, trying to be the last person to have a go every session
.
POWER TRAINING: Execution of strength/force with speed, efficient movement that’s sport specific, power training in 'peak' cycles, trying projects that you can’t do statically
SUPPORTIVE PARTNERS: The 'fun' factor, verbal and video feedback, accountability, absorbing your partner's practices.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In the words of one of Grip Sport's legends, Eric Roussin, the relative newcomer of Tanner Merkle has seriously ruffled some feathers in the Arm Lifting World. Three years running International King Kong Champion and outright holder of the Captains of Crush Silver Bullet Record, his incredible grip strength showed immediately.

Unusually for an elite arm lifter, he was previously a top level US competition climber (2nd at US Boulder Nationals). Tanner transitioned away from high climbing to really explore his gift and passion for grip strength, which clearly set him apart in both climbing and grip sports.

Tom sits down with Tanner to explore his early days in climbing, how he transitioned his training through the two sports and where he feels there's transfer and knowledge to be applied across both of the disciplines. This episode is the first a number of interviews we're doing with world famous grip strength athletes, diving into the methods, knowledge and strategies they've evolved over their own journeys to the top.

We talk (amongst other things) about:

What exactly are Grip Sports and Arm Lifting.
What is different about the tools used in this sport compared to climbing?
How Tanner transitioned from climbing to Grip Sports.
How to train for Arm Lifting vs pulling or hanging in climbing.
His CoC Silver Bullet record.
How he trained for specific records.
His thoughts on Cross Training
How he tackles training "the entire kinetic chain" in Arm Lifting
Issues around weight, mass and how it relates to Grip Sports vs Climbing.

The beat is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

Climbing performance is fairly complex because there's so many moving parts to the equation and many of the skills take years, if not decades, to perfect. Fortunately, Tom Randall is on the podcast in this episode to give you another 'solo' session on what things really make a difference in climbing your best.

In this 2 parter, he dives into a variety of factors that probably don't get enough discussion, but make a massive difference to your climbing. Get over half of these items ticked off and perfected, and you'll probably see 1-2 grades of climbing improvement at your projecting level in a single season.

Obviously, if you're already at a Dave Graham level of obsession and strategy, then this can act as a list to give yourself a big pat on the back as you'll find that he and all the rest of the pros are seriously paying attention to these factors. They are not to be taken lightly!

Shoe choice
Skin quality
Humidity and wind speed
FULL warm up
Visualisation
SHOES: Heels, toes, downturn, rubber, tightness, stiffness
SKIN: How dry, how thick, cuticle pain, smoothness
HUMIDITY & WIND: Friction and grip effect, humidity limits, glassy skin, cold vs wind.
FULL WARM UP: Fingers, core (esp posterior chain), flexibility, power, knowing the demands on your goal
VISUALISATION: Timescales and frequency of visualisation, how long can you sustain a visualised sequence, internal vs external, hyper-detail

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

In this episode we take a dive into the history of climbing training and performance with Peter Beal. With over five decades of climbing and training experience under his belt, we thought there was no better person to talk about what has occurred in the training side of the sport since the 70s and how this has impacted performance at the top end.

Peter has been climbing hard since 1977, with a specific focus on bouldering which is unusual given the decade in which he started - it was hardly recognised as its own 'thing' at the time! With ascents up to V12, he is also a contributor across publications like Rock & Ice, UKC, The Alpinist and also the author of the book - Bouldering: Movement, Tactics and Problem Solving.

Peter is a training and performance focused guy, having trained methodically for going on 40 yrs and also operates as a climbing coach for local climbers in Colorado operating right up to the elite end of the scale for just over 20yrs. For all the above mentioned history and background, I thought this would be the perfect person to have on the show to talk about how climbing and performance has changed over the last 5 decades.

Peter Beal Instagram
Peter Beal's local (amazing!) gym:

1970s

Jim Holloway - front levers and gymnastic strength training feats. Ascents of V12-13!
Pete Livesey and training at Leeds wall, raising the standard in leading from E2-E6
Tony Yaniro - FA of Grand Illusion 8a/+ in 1979

1980s

Enter John Bachar! 2 arm pull ups at +63kg and 1 arm pull up +5.5kg
Moffatt, Bachar etc, all possibly started with the first bit of fingerboard training
1984 C’était Demain V11 – Fontainebleau, by Godoffe
1988 - The campus board & Wolfgang Güllich

1990s

1990 Hubble - 8c+ but maybe the world’s first 9a?
Action Directe 9a 1991
The Sheffield Schoolroom - built in 1993 by Gavin Ellis, Ben Tye and Andy Coish
Replicas, system board climbing, systematic endurance training, campus boards, and early fingerboarding all find their ground.
1996 - Open Air by Huber as the first 9a+ (upgraded later from 9a)

2000s

2000-2002 for long and shorter V15s (Hollow Mountain Cave and Monkey Wedding)
2008 - 9b Jumbo Love
Indoor Walls really start to have an international impact en masse.

2010s

2012-2013 3 x 9b+ all by Adam Ondra!!
Early 2010-2015 massive explosion in indoor bouldering
2016 - Burden of Dreams V17 – by Nalle Hukkataival
2017 - Silence 9c by Ondra
The Moonboard, Kilterboard and Tension Board go big.

Last year, we had a parenting-focused interview on the show with Caro Ciavaldini joining Mina (who's also recently a new mum!) for a discussion about climbing and training post pregnancy. We had some great feedback from you guys on the content, which also included a request to do a "dad" version of the interview....

So here it is folks. You asked and we will always try to deliver! Two Lattice dads - Tom Randall and coach Jon Procter sit down to chat about their own experiences since having children. Never ones to sugar coat, Tom and Jon share their ups and downs and some of the strategies they've used to maintain a path of progress and performance in climbing.

Key topics discussed:

Tom and Jon's parental set up.
The early days of changing lifestyle and how this affected training and performance.
Methods for managing time and energy with less sleep or less "free" time in the week.
Split sessions for training and climbing.
Training Mesocycle lengths and format
Home training set ups.
Differences in endurance vs strength training as a parent.

You can find Mina and Caro's interview here if you're interested in that one too!

In this podcast Maddy sits down with coach Josh, who is our in-house flexibility specialist. Josh has invested his time in both understanding the science of flexibility but also putting it into practice. His development of our flexibility plans has greatly impacted the work we do with clients and as a bonus point, has just about resulted in him reaching his goal of side splits!

How to take a practical approach to flexibility training
Understanding your biomechanics to get the stretches right for your level
The importance of strength through ranges of motion.
His approach to the “how” of flexibility training. This is so important for pushing the training (yes, flexibility training should feel challenging!), keeping motivated and monitoring progress.

Topics discussed:

1) Why flexibility is important and how it plays into performance in climbing

2) What is the process you go through when it comes to improving flexibility?

3) The concept of leverage and how we can use gravity to provide the right challenge level.

4) How muscles and joints don't work in isolation, and therefore how we can best facilitate our stretching in certain positions.

5) Length before strength. Session ordering for improving flexibility and strength through a large range of movement.

6) As with many exercises the "how" is important when we train flexibility. Josh talks about setting tasks in flexibility training.

7) ‘Feeling’ before ‘form.’ What should the main focus be?

Whilst we often concentrate specifically on the physical aspects of training and performance, we also have a real passion for psychology and how it relates to climbing. In this episode, I we have a psychology specialist - PhD student and researcher Allegra Maguire, who specialises in applied decision making.

**Allegra went from 6a to 7a+ in a single year in climbing and has a practical interest in applying her psychology expertise into the climbing arena itself. In this podcast Tom and Allegra discuss the topic of “mental toughness” and how it applies to sport training and performance.

What is mental toughness.
How does this differ from resilience?
The 4 Cs model of mental toughness.
Mental toughness as a predictor of performance
The state/trait debate, including definitions
Interventions and practical examples**
Environmental influences
Challenge management
Social support
Reflection training

Allegra's Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh_uKaHT6EWvyZG55rhYK3Q

Instagram: @climbin.psychology @allegra_maguire

Mindfulness: https://www.headspace.com/

MT test: https://mentaltraininginc.com/services/mental-toughness-test

Part 2 of the "Endurance Mistakes" of Climbing Training!

Endurance training is a foundational element of performance preparation or training for almost every athlete, no matter what their discipline. Boulderers, sport climbers and trad climbers should all be completing phases of endurance training during their year. What is also common across these disciplines, is a consistent set of mistakes that climbers typically make when completing this type of training.

In part two of this podcast, Tom Randall talks about the "Style" aspect of endurance work which encompasses both grip types and terrain angle. Both of these factors in your endurance training will affect the outcomes in technical, psychological and physical performance or adaptation.

Main grip types you want to consider:

Micro edges (less than 10mm)
Mid-sized edge (20-30mm)
Pinches
Slopers, big open holds
Pockets

Main terrain angles to train on:

Slab
Vertical
Steep up to 30 degrees
Steep 30-60 degrees
Roof

Technical outcomes:

Lack of skill or technique in using particular grip types. Finger, hand and wrist positioning as well as body position especially with things like slopers etc.
Lack of movement efficiency appropriate to the terrain angle. Movement on a slab is not the same as a 45 degree wall!
Low skill set in hold-specific or angle-specific rests.
Under developed technique in pacing for particular terrain angles.

Psychological outcomes:

Not enough familiarity or exposure to specific holds or angles. Impacts confidence, anxiety levels and state management.
Likelihood of lower onsight ability that fitness or technical ability should dictate.
Problem solving skills for terrain type underdeveloped. Will affect onsight and redpoint grade.

Physical:

Terrain-specific mobility/flexibility and also finger-hand-wrist-forearm ROM appropriate to grip type.
Focusing volume of training on the wrong terrain type will under-develop the muscle groups specific (and limiting) to the terrain you do want to perform on.

Endurance training is a foundational element of performance preparation or training for almost every athlete, no matter what their discipline. Boulderers, sport climbers and trad climbers should all be completing phases of endurance training during their year. What is also common across these disciplines, is a consistent set of mistakes that climbers typically make when completing this type of training.

In part one of this podcast, Tom Randall talks about the "Intensity" aspect of endurance work and how high, moderate and low intensity work affects the outcomes in technical, psychological and physical performance or adaptation.

Low intensity endurance examples: Continuity or ARC training
Moderate intensity endurance examples: 50:50s or Polarised Continuity
High intensity endurance examples: 1 On 1 Off or 2 On 1 Off

Technical outcomes:

Speed and pace of climbing.
Playing to your personal technical strengths, not working weaknesses

Psychological outcomes:

Good at trying when fresh, but not when fatigued
Low or high 'suffering' thresholds
Time spent working on 'flow' and 'highly efficient and relaxed' climbing

Physical:

Neurological e.g. de-recruitment training stimulus
Structural e.g. hypertrophy or vascularisation
Metabolic e.g. muscle enzyme activity

**In this show, we have Zo Northcutt, who has a unique story. Like many of us, they are training and progressing towards their own climbing goals. Unlike most of us, however, they have a brain tumour.

Zo is one of those individuals whose resilience and strength positively affects others around them. They have dealt with pain and trauma, but they also find a way to find joy and share that with others despite some of the struggles. We discuss with Zo, their brain tumor - named Fred - the battle of staying active despite setbacks in life and also the work that they do in the LGBTQ+ community. Zo is a queer, gender fluid climber who’s also started a number of community initiatives in their local area.

You can find more of Zo on Instagram via this link.**

We discuss:

What their brain tumour, Fred, means for their life and climbing
How they get perspective and deals with setbacks
The role of their partners and housemates in support
Dealing with unknowns whilst working with coach Maddy
Changes in the climbing community diversity
The biggest impacts to individuals and communities
Online vs in-person behaviours and how we can all move forward in these areas

Training Plan Adherence - what does the sports psychology say?! In this solo-podcast session by Tom, he takes you through the 3 areas of behaviour that will massively increase your chances of following through on your plans and reduce the chances that it will feel like a struggle.

Keeping It Fun!

Add in your friends and/or family - rely on them for accountability and support and fun banter!
Initially, do what you like, not what you struggle with.
Add in new skills to your training plan. Learning and the associated quick success feelings will make you feel great.
Always begin slow on a training plan initially. Plans are hard to follow anyway, don't make it even harder by putting crazy high training loads into the first mesocycle.

Check Your Life Realities

Convenience will help massively. Look at the aspects of time, location and conflicts of scheduling
Start with a routine and with time it'll become a habit
Prioritise your training. Do not try to do all of your training with you're tired at the end of the day, even if you're a busy person!

Tracking

Keep your data collection simple. Less that 5 metrics is a good place to start.
Put your tracking records where you can see them regularly and where you can't possible lose them!
Retest if you get strange results.
Remember that data is just a feedback. Aim to have as little emotional attachment to your scores whether they are positive or negative. Focus on trends and not individual data points.

**George Brill is an anthropologist currently working on his PhD in locomotor performance at Cambridge Uni and has previously worked with the Lattice coaching team sharing his findings from the studies of the tree climbing Batek Tribes of Malaysia and also his passion for free diving.

In today’s podcast, Tom and George explore some of the evolutionary history of tree climbing, what this has taught him about movement and also some of the parallels that free-diving may have with climbing performance.

You can find more about George and his work at:

Instagram: George Brill Website: Georgebrill.co.uk Key concepts and terms covered:**

What is an anthropologist and how does this possibly relate to those of us interested in climbing?
What is locomotor performance?
What is the “elastic concept” of the body?

Interview Topics:

The Elastic Concept of locomotor performance.
Batek Tribe studies and practicalities.
What can we learn from tree-climbers?
What are the similarities and difference between tree climbing and rock climbing?
What does an ideal tree climber looks like… age, size, weight, areas where they’re strong, flexible etc.
Bergmann’s and Allen’s rules and relationship to climbing.
Do the Batek tribe train for tree climbing? What’s valued most in tree climbing?
Risk and the culture surrounding it in the Batek.
Freediving Mind-body connection: visualisation, using the link to our advantage

Lattice coaches Tom Randall and Maddy Cope sit down to discuss their own experiences and their work with clients on two topics, of which at least one, will resonate with almost all climbers out there.

The first is the fear of falling and the second deals the subject of goal setting. Whilst these may appear somewhat separate at first glance, Maddy and Tom have worked with both during their pro climbing careers and also help their clients improve on both fronts.
Fear of falling

The fear of falling can be particularly challenging for climbers who flip between cycles of training (indoors and on a bouldering wall a lot of the time) and performance on rock as they're very different in terms of the exposure or fall practice/experience that occurs. A trip to Spain mid-winter for performance can be problematic when a climber hasn't been on a rope for potentially a few months!

How long does it take to build confidence or reduce fear?
Can it be "trained" before a trip?
Are there any quick fixes?

Goal setting

Alongside this form of fear, is also some anxiety and stress that climbers feel around how to create and manage goals. Some goals are small, some are larger and much more extensive in the time they require, but almost all follow a similar process. Maddy and Tom discuss a number of strategies they use themselves and also with their clients and athletes.

Exploring "value" in goals.
Having a strategy in preparing for setbacks towards your goals.
How your goals match your climbing "way of thinking" or personal attitude towards growth or learning.
The concept of "holding lightly" to goals.

In this latest video and podcast episode, Lattice coach Ella Russel is joined by Dr Emma Ross and Dr Bella Smith from 'The Well HQ' (Instagram - @thewell_hq).

Tune in for some brilliant discussion by Ella, Emma and Bella, as they address common questions about hormonal contraception for the female athlete.

Intro: (0:00)
Types of contraception: (2:40)
Personal experiences: (9:33)
Choosing a contraceptive: (20:27)
Tracking your period: (22:16)
Effect on training adaptation: (25:37)
Outro: (28:03)
Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

Download the Crimpd App:
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In this long form conversation Maddy and Joy talk about strength training during pregnancy and postpartum. They cover the changes that occur during pregnancy and how these impact climbing.

This provides the foundations of understanding how we can get back to training and climbing after being pregnant. Coming from a strength and conditioning background Joy talks about weight training, choosing appropriate movements, and how to progress these. Not everyone is comfortable with doing weights, so some of the exercises discussed in this podcast may benefit from in-person sessions to learn how to do them.

Joy provides great content in this area on her Instagram (@calliejoyblack) so if you are pregnant, have been pregnant, or are planning to become pregnant in the future check it out!

In this latest podcast episode, we had Tom Randall sit down with Mary Eden: AKA @tradprincess to talk about how she trains, prepares and performs for trad climbing.

Mary has been working with Lattice and coach Jen Wood for a couple of years and has steadily progressed from her first 5.12 in the summer of 2018 to her first 5.13 in mid 2019. From there, she's gone on to complete multiple 5.13 ascents in various crack styles, including some of the best runs of "offwidth form" that have ever been witnessed in the US scene.

Mary talks about her process for preparing physically, mentally and technically for her hardest sends - including general preparation for climbing trips/seasons. She also shares her experiences with how much sport climbing and bouldering has improved her trad climbing.

The world's first 9b? Maybe.... maybe not! Or is it just a really hard 9a+?!

Will Bosi recently made the long-awaited 2nd ascent of Steve McClure's "Mutation" at Raventor which was first put up in 1998 - yes that's before Will was even born! On the back of an incredible run of form from Will - multiple 9a to 9b+ sport routes, and countless V12-V15 boulder sends this year, he's been on the form of his life. Yet despite this, Mutation took some serious effort to complete and pushed Will to really get everything just right.

Tom Randall sat down with Will to chat through the whole story behind his ascent of Mutation. When he first started trying it, what the process involved and what he really thought about the grade. They dive into the nuances of vertical-style limestone crimping, how some things are just "hard to do" and what lies ahead for Will's next season.

Don't forget to check out Will's YouTube channel 'William Bosi' for some awesome send footage from his brilliant season so far and more.... www.youtube.com/WilliamBosi

Special thanks to Birds of Birds, Will Bosi, Adidas and Five Ten and photo credits to Band of Birds.

One of our clients - @austinclimbing was kind enough to sit down with us recently and talk us through his personal journey to climb his first V12 - God Is In The Details, Fort Leavenworth. You can hear the full analysis and breakdown of his time with coach @procterjonathan in his interview with @tompaulrandall over on our podcast. If you prefer written formats, there's also a full blog!

Austin and Tom talk about:

Training to be project specific
Using AnCap to for long problems
How variety of stimulus changes so much
Making rest intentional
Fuelling for projecting on the day
Controlling anxiety on the project

If you're a Fort Leavenworth fan, also go and check out Austin's youtube channel - he puts up loads of beta on there - especially for those shorter climbers!

Does 10k Instagram followers make you pro climber? Are the new generation of pro's training differently? Do you live the everyday life of a pro?

All these things are discussed by Tom and Rhos as they unpack their own habits and the habits they see in other professional climbers. This Ask Lattice follows a topic we have been discussing on our own Instagram and delves into the main differences between pros and beginners. This is not to say any habit is right or wrong and simply changing behaviours does equate to a performance short cut! However we do find these topic fascinating and full of lessons we can takeaway while thinking critically about our own training habits.

Intro: (0:45)
Pro climber vs pro punter: (1:45)
What do we see high end climbers do with finger strength and the fingerboard: (3:45)
Elite level system board vs entry level: (6:45)
Elite level endurance sessions vs entry level: (9:45)
Beginners flexibility vs pros: (13:30)
A beginners training structure vs a pros: (16:55)
Lifestyle of beginner vs pro: (22:55)

Tom and Rhos sit down to discuss their opinions and experience on some of the modern day ‘hot topics’ in climbing. Is your climbing negatively impacted by too much indoor climbing? How to complete a 'deload week'? Whose opinions should you be listening to? Tom and Rhos have very different backgrounds in climbing and their experiences are quite different, despite both being in the elite climbing category - this episode just goes to show there's more than one way to be a pro.

Intro: (0:50)
Value of indoor vs outdoor climbing?: (3:20)
Would you prefer to be overachiever or underachiever?: (10:50)
Who’s opinion in climbing actually counts?: (11:55)
What can/should a Deload week look like?: (19:10)
Quality vs quantity: (23:00)

In this latest episode of Ask Lattice coach Ella is joined by Dr Nicky Keay, a medical doctor specialising in sports endocrinology, where they discuss the perimenopause.

They talk through when the peri-menopause might begin, key symptoms to look out for, how hormonal tests can help, and some tips and suggestions for symptom management. Having gone through the menopause, she also gives some insights into her personal journey and how she has managed symptoms, expectations, and her training.

Please note that none of the content covered in this podcast is intended to provide specific medical, physical or mental health advice, and should not be relied upon as such. The views, information, or opinions expressed during the podcast are solely those of the individuals being interviewed and do not necessarily represent those of Lattice Training and its employees. We would strongly recommend that you seek advice from a medical professional if you have any questions or concerns arising from the issues or matters covered in this podcast.

Intro: (0.00)
Defining perimenopause and menopause: (6.40)
The influence of genetics: (9.08)
Using hormonal tests to predict perimenopause?: (12.22)
Symptoms of perimenopause: (19.35)
Cross over with symptoms of low energy availability: (22.08)
Personal symptoms and experience of perimenopause: (24.10)
Are PMS symptoms an indicator of severity of perimenopausal symptoms?: (32.48)
Hormone tests to diagnose perimenopause - Female Hormone Mapping with Forth With Life: (36.35)
Symptoms postmenopause?: (48.32)
Using HRT - risks & benefits: (49.30)
Non-hormonal alternatives: (56.45)
What about testosterone?: (1.01:35)
Vaginal estrogen & lubricants: (1.03:30)
Other self help remedies: (1.05:35)
Training & nutrition during perimenopause: (1.06:10)
Gut health & supplements: (1.09:10)
Personal approach to training during perimenopause (1.15:30)
Continuing with HRT postmenopause? (1.20)

Find out more about Dr Nicky Keay here: https://nickykeayfitness.com/

Find out more about the Female Hormone Mapping from Forth With Life here: https://www.forthwithlife.co.uk/female-hormone-mapping/

Further reading and resources:

British Menopause Society: https://thebms.org.uk/

NICE menopause guidelines: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng23

Rhoslyn Frugtniet is one of the newer coaches at Lattice Training and has a wealth of experience in climbing and training. Rhos has climbed to elite levels in multiple disciplines including an impressive flash of 8a+ sport. She is a GB climbing athlete and has coached junior athletes. In this episode we ask Rhos about how she trains, how she balanced performing in multiple climbing disciplines and how she flashed an 8a+!

0:43 - Intro
1:18 - Flashing 8a+
5:00 - Inspirational Climbers
6:53 - Favourite and least favourite form of training
9:43 - Being an all-rounder

Jonny Kydd is one of the newer coaches at Lattice Training and has a wealth of experience in climbing and training. Jonny has a BSc and MSc in Sports Science so he's got the theory covered! He's also an extremely accomplished boulderer having climbed V14, establishing many first ascents and is getting close on his multi-year V15 project. In this Ask Lattice we ask Jonny about what his formal education brought to his own climbing and coaching, how previous sports have influenced his progression and his top tips for projecting at your limit. Don't miss this one!

0:19 - Intro
0:44 - What did Johnny learn from formal education applying to climbing
3:09 - Core training every morning?
4:38 - Going from tennis to climbing
7:59 - What would you tell your beginner self now
12:19 - Boulder projecting tips

For anyone, climbing 5.14 is a big dream . It's a big grade, it's a big barrier and one that many feel is utterly out of their range. We sat Tom Randall down with US sport climber Anna Hazelnutt to talk about how she got to the mighty 5.14a (8b+) in just 8 years of climbing and why her recent successes are just the start.

In this latest podcast, we delve into Anna's projecting process, what her relationship with training has been and how she also pursues a variety of climbing disciplines over the years. As a graduate in neuroscience, her approach is often a very thoughtful one (plenty for us to all learn from!) and interestingly her path to high-end climbing started in earnest with quitting her 9-5 and moving abroad to climb...

You can find her YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyGqObd717uKwGWf_KdNbXw
Her Instagram account is:
https://www.instagram.com/annahazelnutt/?hl=en

Buckle in for an interesting interview Latticers!

Photo cover credit: @austinkeithphoto

Inspired by an overwhelming response on a recent Instagram series, we covered the '5 Biggest Mistakes' that climbers make in their training. We know lots of you had more questions from this series, so we had Coaches Josh and Ollie sit down on the 'Ask Lattice' sofa to go over these 5 points in more detail, to answer your questions!

Intro - (00:39)
Mistake 1, Training fingerboarding or campusing at the end of the session - (1:22 )
Mistake 2, Not resting! - (5:12)
Mistake 3 , Overworking! - (12:42)
Mistake 4, Training junk mileage in your specialisation! - (16:42)
Mistake 5, Climbing on the same angles of terrain - (22:52)
Conclusion / Outro - (27:27)

In this episode of Ask Lattice Josh talks to Nutritionist, Ed Smith, all about his history of calisthenics training and how it has impacted his climbing performance. Ed had spent years in the gym strength training and playing many different sports before finding climbing. From then calisthenics became his main form of strength and conditioning.

0:00 - Intro
3:39 - What is Calisthenics?
5:20 - Would you recommend calisthenics as a method for climbers?
6:40 - What does your strength training look like now?
9:50 - Do you need to be lifting heavy to climb well?
12:05 - Does learning to climb, when already very strong, hinder your progress?
20:05 - What would you say to someone that claims they are a non-responder to strength training?

In this episode of Ask Lattice Josh talks to Nutritionist, Ed Smith, all about what we can do as climbers to support our training and what some of the most common mistakes are. Ed is currently studying a PhD in nutrition, focused on the nutritional intake of climbers. So we are getting insights hot off the press. Ed also covers one of the most asked questions we get asked as coaches, "what's the best way to cut weight for my peak" and if this is even necessary.

This conversation ran over as we continued to talk to Ed about his experience with calisthenic training. Ed is total beast at this form of training and has many years under his belt. Watch this space, we'll release this episode in our next Ask Lattice.

0:00 - Intro
1:05 - Haribo or banana?
3:00 - What common habit would you recommend adding/changing for most climbers?
6:50 - What is the best/safest method to cut weight?
15:10 - What does a nutrition plan look like?
24:05 - Any interesting findings so far in your PhD?
32:52 - What can climbers do to better understand their diet?

In this latest Ask Lattice video and podcast, climbing coaches Ollie and Josh sit down on the sofa to discuss the upcoming events in Tokyo, breaking down the disciplines that will take place and what we might expect from the athletes competing, along with their predictions of how the athletes might perform.

In this latest epsiode and podcast of Ask Lattice coach Maddy is joined on the sofa by Sam Webster, a Pilates teacher that specialises in pregnancy and post-natal pilates. They discuss the foundations of Pilates and how it can be used to reconnect to breathing and the core after having a baby.

Sam talks about the different elements of the core that contribute to movement and how important it is to get the whole core working together in the process of returning to climbing. She gives some simple exercises that can be incorporated from early on, that can often be overlooked when we are wanting to get back to our main passion.

Having recently had her first child, she gives some insight into her personal journey and how she has managed time, expectations, and reconnecting with her body.

0:00 - Intro
0:41 - The core concepts in Pilates and how these relate to postpartum
3:26 - The core and good function
4:53 - Breath and it's importance to recovery
9:10 - Timeline for Pilates Postpartum
12:30 - Small movements vs large movements
13:40 - Are there any "don'ts"?
17:29 - Goals and expectations

In this latest episode of 'Ask Lattice' Ollie Torr is joined by Jon Procter, one of our newer members of the coaching team at Lattice.

Jon has almost an entirely different lifestyle to Ollie, in that he balances family life, a second job, early morning training and twice daily training. In this episode, they dive deeper into Jon's daily schedule and how he manages to balance it all, whilst staying psyched for outdoor climbing.

Slow climbers, dodgy beta, extending quick draws, rope dabbing... are you safe from this weeks controversial topics? In this latest Ask Lattice video and podcast Tom Randall and Ollie Torr sat down on the Ask Lattice sofa and had another rant, this week covering more topical "issues" from modern day sport and route climbing.

Tune in for some more triggering content in part 2 of their sport rant!

1:36 - Speed of climbing
7:33 - Big grades for bad beta
10:11 - Is there a 'best' way to train endurance?
16:56 - Extending quick draws
20:22 - Sieging routes
23:51 - Rope dabbing

E-bikes, leaf blowers, portable fans, tall climbers - no-one is safe! In this latest Ask Lattice podcast Tom Randall and Ollie Torr sat down on the Ask Lattice sofa and had a bit of a rant, covering many topical "issues" from modern day bouldering.

Tune in for some triggering content in part 1 of their bouldlering rant!

1:44 - Advanced technology at the crag (fans, ladders, e-bikes etc)
10:31 - Knee bars, heel hooks and niche techniques
18:03 - Climbing shoes
21:57 - Tall vs Short
27:15 - Outro

This one is a bit of a special one-off! Tom Randall sits down with the founder of the Nugget Climbing Podcast, Steven to discuss all things Lattice, training and performance. There's so many things that get discussed in this one, so we've put the highlight below with timestamps. We've also put all the links to Steven's podcast at the bottom as well.

11:25 – Meeting Ollie Torr and testing his finger strength

14:15 – How Tom helped Ollie improve his endurance and efficiency, and a message about patience

18:19 – What Tom did to get strong

23:14 – Key TRX and rings exercises for the shoulders

37:59 – Finger training methodology, and off-season vs in-season training

45:50 – Is increasing training capacity (work capacity) a good goal?

49:20 – Hangboard protocol principles

1:06:35 – Balancing fun and hard work

1:14:42 – The Lattice YouTube channel

henuggetclimbing.com (My podcast website)

thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/tom-randall (Our episode show notes)

thenuggetclimbing.com/top-lists (Top Episodes page for new listeners)

instagram.com/thenuggetclimbing (The Nugget on Instagram)

Hi, it's Maddy from Lattice here.... I've uploaded an audio copy of a recent interview I did with UMI health - apologies in advance for the slightly rough sound quality, everyone was struggling with various mic qualities in all parts of the country!

At Lattice we are passionate about furthering our knowledge when it comes to postpartum return to climbing (if you haven't already check out our postpartum survey which we've featured on our social media!).

We have seen an increasing number of questions in our community group about pregnancy and return to climbing postpartum. Whilst looking into this area we came across UMI-Health, who are working hard to break down barriers when it comes to pelvic floor health, as well as provide accessible learning resources on the topic. After working my way through their resources I decided I would love to sit down and chat to them in detail about pelvic floor health as it relates to returning to exercise postpartum. Some of the main points we discuss...

The pelvic floor. What is it and why is it so important?

Pregnancy. Why the pelvic floor is effected, how we can strengthen it, whether or not this impacts postpartum recovery.
Postpartum. How different deliveries might effect initial postpartum recovery, when to start pelvic floor exercises, diastasis recti and some checkboxes to know whether you are on the right track or need to seek professional help.
Getting back to exercise. Breastfeeding and training, monitoring progress and some extra cues to look out for during postpartum return to exercise, body image and returning to impact (think jumping down off a bouldering wall!)

In our latest episode of 'Ask Lattice,' we are joined by physiotherapist James Walker from the 'Sheffield Climbing Clinic'. In this podcast, James and Tom tackle some of the more unusual injuries that aren't quite as common, but as experts, we've seen them in our climbers quite a lot over the years.

Topics covered include collateral injuries, tenosynovitis, flexor tendon strains and lumbrical strains.

ALSO - don't forget that if you want to get access to Physio advice for the lowest possible cost, 52 weeks a year, we have Tim Pigott inside of the Lattice 365 group - he's also accompanied by our nutritionist and premium coaches, every single week of the year to offer you support!

https://latticetraining.com/lattice-365/

Ever wondered how Megos and Ondra train to get to the next level of performance? Back in 2019, Tom Randall and Ollie Torr sat and discussed the top 5 training habits of pro climbers. They consisted of:

Habit 1. Consistency in training and performance
Habit 2. Accessing that final 1% of effort that others don't
Habit 3. Having a pure desire to learn and adapt
Habit 4. One word... Commitment
Habit 5. Dealing with setbacks

We hope you enjoyed this podcast. If you want any help with your climbing habits, head over to https://latticetraining.com/plans and you can sign up for our World-class training plans!

Looking for daily support? We offer a 'Cancel Anytime' rolling monthly membership, "Lattice 365", where you get DAILY access to the Lattice coaching team, nutritionists and even our physios, via our exclusive members-only Facebook Group, plus weekly live webinars (plus our entire Premium video library worth ££'s), and access to exclusive discounts and early bird offers on new products releases.

More info here: https://latticetraining.com/lattice-365/

PRO ALPINIST, PRO CLIMBER??

For many, it sounds like an impossible task to be at the elite end of both alpinism and sport climbing at the same time. If there’s one man who’s up for the task though, that’s the one and only Matt Helliker!

Having lived his life at the crags, in the hills and on the mountains, he’s made his career pursuing some of the toughest alpine routes in the world both locally and in the Himalayan greater ranges. To mix things up (ever the guy for a tough challenge!) he started working with Lattice last year, with Tom Randall as his coach and trying to achieve his goal of 9a sport.

As a public speaker and also someone who’s great at explaining and articulating his passion, we thought it would be valuable to all of you, to sit the coach and athlete together on the Lattice sofa and let them chat for an hour!

Grab a brew and settle in to learn about what it’s like working with a personal coach, how we deal with set backs and what training can be done when you’re juggling a lot of sporting interests! Please note that the audio on this recording was below our normal standard as Tom had just had his laptop run over by a car a few hours before. Whoops!

When Lattice Premium Coach Maddy Cope met up with Molly Thompson-Smith!

In this week's podcast, we were lucky enough to sit down with GB Climber Molly Thompson-Smith and get to discuss all things training and how Molly has had to adapt her competition mindset to transition to outdoor climbing.

Lattice Coach Maddy and GB Comp climber Molly discuss a wide variety of topics including fear of moving onto rock (as an indoor climber), approach to training (more is less and listening to your body), climbing mindset, competition vs outdoor climbing, weight lifting for climbing (why Molly has found it useful in relation to climbing, body Image and nutrition), relationships in climbing, the menstrual cycle and training.

So sit back and enjoy Maddy and Molly get stuck in 💪

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

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CLIMBING 9b+ AND MORE...

Seeing as Will Bosi just had the run of form of his life, we thought it would be good to sit him down with his coach Tom Randall to have a bit of a chat about what those last couple of months looked like!

Not only did Will become one of the very few climbers in the world to redpoint 9b+ (and the first Brit to do so), but he also climbed multiple 9a to 9b's, including first ascents and then ALSO got multiple 8B-8C boulders, also including some FA projects! Phew... kinda tired just thinking about that many

In this short interview, Tom and Will talk about the projects he got done, how he managed climbing vs resting, whether redpoint tactics are key and what his training vs unstructured climbing balance has looked like, considering his trip was a training trip in preparation for international comp lead season this year.

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Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

Left thumbnail image credit: Band of Birds

Interview with Scottish Climber Robbie Phillips | Origin Story, Climbing Training & Mental Games

In this podcast we sit down (virtually) with Scottish born climber Robbie Phillips, discussing a range of topics covering; where it began, climbing training, projects, psychology and even discusses a lesser talked about grip position, dubbed by Robbie the "quarter crimp".

Robbie's CV stretches across multiple disciplines. He's been performing at a really high sport level - redpointed up to 8c+, climbed multiple hard/ scary trad routes up to E9, bouldered up to V12, bigwall adventures all around the world, represented his country in sport climbing, and all-round rock climber and a now he's even a professional YouTuber.

We hope you enjoy it! Also, whilst you're here reading this, we'd LOVE it if you could take 2 minutes to leave us a quick review of the channel. It helps us massively and we'd really appreciate it!

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

Climbing Power Partnerships!

Tom sat down with Team USA Olympian Kyra Condie and Team Canada 3x national champion Allison Vest recently to talk about their power partnership.💥

If you’re on Instagram or TikTok then it’s 99% likely you’ll have them on your social media feed with their amazing coordination sequences of a gymnastic, dynamic style in their bouldering and training videos. 💪🙌

They demonstrate week in, week out, displays of strength, power and coordination all whilst being super accessible to us fans! And yes, before ask, we are most definitely fans 😁😁

They've also had a big impact in changing the stereotype around female climbers and athletes in this sport. Very cool...

Tom refers to Kyra and Allison as a "Partnership of Power" and gets stuck into finding out more about these two ladies and what they get from being a climbing duo. The topics cover early careers, training philosophy and work ethic, competitiveness, climbing disciplines, etc.

It's a great listen/watch, so sit back, relax and enjoy this fantastic interview 👀

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

A LEGEND OF BRITISH CLIMBING

In today's YouTube and podcast episode we have none other than Steve Mcclure who is one of the all-time greats of British climbing. We don't say this lightly either, because it takes a lot to cross the borders and generations of time.

Steve has been operating right at the cutting edge for 25 years or so - this means there's a LOT of experience AND knowledge on what works when it comes to process and performance! He's redpointed up to 9b (Rainman), multiple 9a repeats and FAs, many of the hardest trad routes in the UK up to E10/11, bigwall adventures, international competition performances... it's a lot!

Tom sits down with Steve in this episode to take on a broad range of topics around his career in climbing - all the way from mindset, to finger strength, to training during lockdown, to methods for "the older climber" to differences between inside and outside climbing. Fascinating stuff! Grab yourself a cup of tea (Yorkshire hopefully) and get ready for some amazing insights into three decades of climbing at the limit.

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

In this episode we've got a very special guest on the sofa - Mr Pete Whittaker! Perhaps the only time, we'll have both of the Wideboyz on the Lattice sofa at the same time... so obviously the "Ask Lattice" session got straight onto the topic of crack climbing and the training that can be done for it. What have Tom and Pete learnt in over 10 years of specialising in routes, trad climbing and of course the dreaded crack discipline?

Firstly, both Pete and Tom are extremely experienced in their replica training - see also some of our other videos on this subject - so they jump straight into this topic and share their experiences. They also tackle cross-training and how it can be incorporated into performance preparation and what kind of ordering or balance should be on crack vs face. If that's not enough for you, they get into the discussion of "what size matters" when it comes to training and why some sizes are better than others...

Intro: (0:00)
Replica training: (2:00)
What size of crack to train?: (8:48)
Is cross-training useful for crack climbing?: (13:44)
Should you prioritise crack or face climbing?: (19:21)
Outro: (21:25)

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

Find out more about Wideboyz here! https://wideboyz.com

In climbing, training and coaching, there are many pitfalls - although, possibly this isn't a big surprise considering that our sport is fairly complex! In this video, we had Ella and Ollie sit down and get into some of those subjects that many of us as coaches have worked with over the years and also some that are REALLY relevant given the current climate!

What is the most disruptive habit to training, that most climbers have?
How do I choose a goal with an unknown future of travel?
How do we, as coaches, keep notes on training?
How should you deal with Lockdown weight gain?

We hope that some of these will help you through the weeks and months ahead this year, and others are just plain, good subjects to be discussed any time of the year :-)

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

Many of you are just starting to take your first tentative (or is that psyched?!) steps back into the real world of outdoor climbing in many parts of the world. As we're in a highly unusual situation of having had almost an entire year of pretty disrupted climbing, we thought it would be good to sit down and discuss some of the "hot topics" that many of your have been asking us to address on this.

Key topics looked at are:

Is it "ok" to feel rubbish/move poorly when you go back to normal climbing?
How do you get back that connection between your lower body and upper body?
How do you transfer some of that static strength (e.g. on a fingerboard) to a more dynamic application of that strength (e.g. upwards movement on rock)
How do you manage your outdoor climbing alongside indoors training? Should we shift the balance and loading?

If you enjoyed "part 1" of our projecting discussion, you're in for a treat. This one is more focused on short redpointing strategies that you'd use on short climbing trips or for quick local hits that don't take months to get done. If you haven't spotted the previous episode tackling long term projects though, make sure you check it out!

Short term projects are relevant to most of us who either like trying things in local areas that are going to take just a few sessions or for anyone who's planning a 1-2 week trip to an area where they want maximum chance of success in quite a short period. Basically the pressure is on! Tom and Ella share their own experiences, how they help their own clients and also some of the psychology around goals and projecting.

Key topics covered are:

Short-term Red-pointing: (1:23)
Approaching short-term red-points: (6:44)
Quick fire questions: (18:19)
Outro: (19:55)

Thumbnail photos from local beast Stu Littlefair

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans and how we can help you achieve your projects and goals go here! https://latticetraining.com/plans/

In this episode Tom Randall is joined on the sofa by premium plan coach Ella Russell. They are discussing two hugely important topics we face in climbing; Red-pointing and Projecting! They go through their own experiences with this, sharing their top tips, as well as pointers on how they have helped Lattice clients and athletes in this area.

This episode is part 1 of 2 about projecting, so once you've finished on this one, check out our episode on short-term projecting and the differences in approach.

Intro: (0:00)
Experience with projecting/red-pointing: (1:00)
Short vs Long Term Projects: (6:54)
Long Term Projects: (10:46)
Choosing a project: (11:00)
Having short sessions: (17:17)
When to try long term projects: (19:23)

This one is for all you route climbers who are doing your base endurance training - or perhaps desperately trying to top it up as quickly and effectively as possible! There's 3 key areas that Tom goes through in this short podcast - all of them are areas that we see at Lattice as being very common issues that climbers frequently neglect to address.

Don't train at just one intensity and/or volume! Look at your level 1 (continuity), level 3 (threshold) and level 4 (high intensity) interval work. They're ALL important!! Work out your balance and do NOT expect just one type to "solve" all your endurance issues.
Don't train or climb at just one angle or surface type. Look at the degree of specificity and transfer that this has to your trip or projects outside. So commonly overlooked, this one!
Management of de-load or rest weeks. Don't (typically) strip out all volume AND all intensity! Most climbers will want to drop the volume element but keep very similar on the intensity element of their training. In some ways, deload weeks run similar to taper periods...

If you enjoyed this one, there's also another great episode we did on common mistakes in power endurance training on both our podcast and YouTube channel.

https://youtu.be/iGp2nZHd2DY

Lor Sabourin is a climber well know to us at Lattice - they've climbed multiple 5.13s in the US, including a number of bold and scary ones. On top of that, Lor has also recently made a repeat of East Coast Fist Bump becoming the first non-binary climber to send 5.14. We've also had the pleasure of working with Lor with their own training in the past. All in all, this is one very awesome human!

Aside from hard, gnarly routes Lor is a highly experienced mental coach and works for one of the most respected organisations in the industry - The Warrior's Way. This interview with Tom Randall gives us all an insight into the strategies that Lor (and Tom to some extent) has used over the years in work
with their own fears and psychological boundaries.

Lor talks in depth about their fear of falling - which many climbers will relate to - and also about the concepts of self-compassion, ACT and how your identity can be become a big part of how you climb and treat your own journey of progression.

In addition, Tom and Lor talk about the changes in the climbing culture surrounding gender-identity - where it's come from and how it may change in the future.

If you'd like to find out more about Lor, then follow them on @lor_sabourin on Instagram or get in touch via The Warrior's Way.

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

Download the Crimpd App:
App store - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/crimpd/id1252333138
Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.crimpd.ui

We were lucky enough last week to grab the climbing star and YouTube phenomenon of Magnus Midtbø for a moment out of his hectic schedule to sit down and run a Q&A session for Lattice with Tom Randall.

In the fun and informal interview, we've got Tom and Magnus tackling all sorts of questions related to both running a big YouTube channel and also his own personal climbing and training. What many people don't appreciate, is that Magnus effectively runs a full time job (or more!) whilst also being a high level climber, so his story is a lot more relevant to the rest of us than we often realise!

Let us know if you enjoyed this shorter style fun chat or whether you'd like more hardcore training content! Your wish is generally our command!

If you'd like to learn more about Magnus' own merchandise you can visit @ and of course you'll also find him all over YouTube and Instagram!

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

Download the Crimpd App:
App store - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/crimpd/id1252333138
Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.crimpd.ui

Performance profiling - the science behind the social media!

Everybody must have seen it by now, the 9c Climbing test - first seen on Magnus Midtbø's YouTube channel, now with almost 1 million views, invented by climbers Stian Christopherson (@stianchristophersen) and Martin Mobråten (@martinmobraten). Likewise, over 2 million people have watched the testing we completed with Magnus Midtbø on his channel...

As climbing tests (performance profiling) have now featured on many key YouTube channels, including the likes of Emil Abrahamsson, Anna Davey, Eric Karlsson Bouldering, and Bouldering Bobat, we thought it was about time we sat down 2 of the people who've spent a LOT of time working in this area. Both Stian and Tom have done their fair share of popularising climbing testing, but underneath it all, there's a wealth of experience that they have to share when it comes to how they've worked with national teams and individuals over the years, not to mention the experimentation they've had to do.

Tom and Stian dive into the following topics in-depth:

The origins of the 9c test. Why did it go onto Magnus's channel?
Why do we test?
What makes a good test/profiling kit and what do we need to watch out for?
Physical testing vs technique vs psychology
Does testing tell us if we're a "good" or a "bad" climber?
What's the future of performance profiling, coaching and training in general?

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

Download the Crimpd App:
App Store - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/crimp...
Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...

Louis Parkinson (or Captain Cutloose to some!) is a force of nature... there is absolutely no denying that, whether you've seen one of his competition performances, a strength party trick in his Insta or a clip of him training at home, he's got some serious positive energy! This is one of the primary reasons why we wanted to sit down to Louis and talk to him about his approach to climbing - ranging from training to challenges, to coaching, to his thoughts on diversity.

As many of you will know, Louis is a V13 boulder, head coach at Catalyst in London and a highly decorated competition climber. In this interview, we see Tom primarily delve into the mindset behind climbing that we know is yet another extremely important part of the puzzle.

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

Download the Crimpd App:
App Store - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/crimpd/id1252333138
Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.crimpd.ui

Another round of questions and discussion!

In this episode we go through some of the most popular topics surrounding route climbing performance and some of the preparation and training that you do for it. It's really quite a broad topic, so please do let us know if there are additional things you'd like more info on!

Resting - what do we do? How do we do it and what are the things that make a difference?
What is the best method for power endurance training? Are there any secret methods?
How to improve your onsight climbing? What makes people good at it?!
What can we do to improve our mental game for onsight climbing?

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

Ok, some interesting topics this time! We have Tom and Ollie on the sofa again, doing more of a deep dive on some of the most complex training questions that you've been asking us. Whilst it's always very hard to come up with blanket answers, there are some good general rules of thumb you can stick to and also we try and keep the science as practical as possible - we love being geeky about it, but it MUST be useful and practical!

A little summary of what this week's Ask Lattice covers:

Q1: How do you know you're working at the right intensity for anaerobic capacity and aerobic capacity training?

Q2: What are the differences between block and concurrent periodisation? Why would you choose between each method?

Q3: Can you train for trad, bouldering & sport all at once?

Q4: How do you peak for a trip?

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

Download the Crimpd App:
App store - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/crimp...
Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...

In this interview, Tom Randall meets with Anoushé Husain to chat about her life; including her professional career, competing as a paraclimber, as well as the many adversities that Anoushé has had to face.

Anoushé Husain is a paraclimber who we've been planning to interview for sometime now, but as will become apparent when you listen to this podcast, we kept getting put back by setbacks! 2020 was an extremely tough year for most of the world and even more so for Anoushé. As well as getting through the pandemic and surviving the difficulties of living on her own without care support, she has faced some huge setbacks in her health again this year.

Born missing her right arm below the elbow, Anoushé has survived cancer, learnt to live (and climb well) with EDS all whilst being an incredible advocate for paraclimbers, diversity and equality. Not only is she a huge force for good, she has some amazing insights and experiences to share with others in how she deals with setbacks, her attitude around resilience and what it means to keep pushing on, no matter what.

Not only is Anoushé someone who's prepared to challenge and push their beliefs, she is also someone who's engaged with changing the beliefs and attitudes of our others around us. There is so much to be gleaned from this interview.... get involved!

This is the start of a new format of live video interviews and podcasts here at Lattice Training. Look out for the next in the series, as we will be regularly featuring climbers, coaches and generally the world's most interesting and passionate climbers in our community.

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

Hey Lattice Podcasters!

In the climbing world, we don't often get to watch pro athletes transition from pre-children to post-children with such a willingness to share with honesty and candour. Caro Ciavaldini is a North Face Pro Athlete who's operated at the cutting edge of sport, trad and competition climbing for a large part of her life. From competition success (twice 3rd in Lead World Cup) to trad climbing (multiple E9s) at the cutting edge, her journey has also crossed some major life boundaries AKA becoming a mother!

In this rarely addressed topic, coach Mina talks to Caro about her experiences with pregnancy, post-partum training, climbing with young children and how she feels about risk. If you're someone who's interested in this topic or perhaps working through your own experiences with parenthood, you're going to enjoy this one!

Make sure you also go and follow Caro's social channel over at "OnceUponAClimb" as she and her husband James continually document their experiences in such a cool and open way. We're big fans over at Lattice!

Timestamps:
Intro: (0:00)
Climbing Background: (0:55)
Experience with being pregnant: (1:43)
Postpartum: (15:50)
RED-S: (20:56)
Postpartum: (22:06)
Physical Recovery: (24:00)
Balancing being a parent and a climber: (31:07)
Traveling with a child: (37:44)
Taking risks: (42:50)
Physical recovery: (46:44)
Top tips: (49:43)
Outro: (53:41)

If you'd like to learn more about our training, then you can find everything you need here!

James Pearson almost needs no introduction. He is one of the foremost trad climbing experts in the world, with a tick list that is both broad and intense. He has established and repeated many of the world's hardest trad climbing - including The Tribe, which right now may be the hardest trad route in the world.

Growing up in the Derbyshire countryside, James didn't get off to a super early climbing start, but once he did get going he started making a quick impact on the scene. He made a very early repeat of one of gritstone's only E10s (Equilibrium) at Burbage, he then (amongst others) went on to establish the FA of The Groove at Cratcliffe and the stunning Walk of Life on the Devon seacliffs.

Since then, he has travelled the world climbing many hard (and dangerous) routes and has a unique insight into what it takes to do this consistently and progressively. Even now as a father, husband and professional career athlete, he continues to push the boundaries on both the risk and difficulty element. A truly rare blend.

This interview with Tom Randall and James Pearson delves into what his experiences have been, how he's taken his own journey and what has made the key differences in performance for him.

Cover photo credit: Raph Foureau

We've got Tom and Ollie on the Ask Lattice sofa again answering some of the biggest questions around how to structure climbing training - this deals with 3 main topics that should be of key interest to boulderers, sport climbers and trad climbers alike... ignore these rules and suggestions at your peril!

01:45 Question 1: Which is better,multiple shortsessions, or one long one?
10:15 Question 2: What's the best way to manage workload throughout the week?
14:40 Question 3: What's the best order to perform your sessions in?

Fear in climbing isn't just about falling.... it can actually be much broader and diverse in its effect when you really think about it. Sure, we commonly see the "fear of falling" as being one that's popular and often asked about, but just as relevant to that, is how we deal with heights and exposure. This is especially for sport and trad climbers, not to mention big wall hopefuls! If you then think a little more abstractly, you should definitely consider how you deal with the fear of failing as well. It's important not to ignore this one as all of you will have to deal with failure at some point, no matter how successful you are!

All of these areas are discussed by Maddy and Tom in today's Ask Lattice session with relevant experience from their own performance journeys and also what they see in other climbers. If you're interested in hearing more from Maddy and Tom, they ran an entire webinar (also a cool slide show with it about stories from climbing) on this subject which you can find in our web shop - search Lattice Mind Games if you're on google!

Also don't forget that both of them are active within our Lattice 365 membership group (you can ask them pretty much anything within reason!) and with sign up you also get the entire Lattice webinar library included for free.

Topics covered are:

Fear of falling: (2:14)
Fear of heights: (12:50)
Fear of failure: (22:57)

Another round of questions and discussion!

In this video we go through some of the most popular topics surrounding route climbing performance and some of the preparation and training that you do for it. It's really quite a broad topic, so please do let us know if there are additional things you'd like more info on!

Resting - what do we do? How do we do it and what are the things that make a difference?
What is the best method for power endurance training? Are there any secret methods?
How to improve your onsight climbing? What makes people good at it?!
What can we do to improve our mental game for onsight climbing?

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

Ok, let's just say the most important thing first here - supplementation in climbing (or any other sport, or perhaps we can just say life in general!) should become something to really dive into WHEN you have other key areas of your health and nutrition taken care of. If you're not fuelling correctly, in general, don't expect a supplement to solve that. If you're trying to operate on 5hrs of sleep a night, don't expect supplements to solve that. If you're hoping to train 7 days a week, never rest and not be sensible, then don't expect supplements to solve that!

Right, now that we've got the essentials discussed, let's get into the detail! Another fascinating bit of discussion with our nutritionist Mina and Premium Coach, Maddy who specialise in work in these areas with their clients (nutrition, hormone cycles, efficacy etc). They tackle one of the big topics right at the start, which we often get questions about - Creatine! Is it useful, could it be relevant to climbers training and performing? They also tackle some other great subjects around food cravings, hormone cycles and maximising gains with minimal time (yup, that last one's a tough one!).

If you'd like to see more on these and get involved with feedback and discussion have a look at Lattice 365 and also our webinar series that you can find on the website. Both of them are jam-packed with incredible amounts of knowledge, expertise and decades of coaching experience.

Is creatine useful for climbers?: (0:36)
Are there any changes in nutritional needs in the high hormone phase?: (6:10)
Which supplements are useful for climbers?: (9:42)
How to deal with cravings: (14:38)
How to maximise gains with limited time: (18:46)

If you'd like to work with the Lattice nutritional team (assessments or plans) then find out more here: https://latticetraining.com/nutrition/

Following up from Maddy and Tom's "Mind Games" webinar, we've got them both sitting down on the Lattice Sofa discussing more of their experiences and advice on how to improve your head game in climbing. We thought we'd kick things off with a short story from each of them about when they'd got most scared - yup, they're definitely not immune to it!

From there, they both delve into some of their tips to improve as a trad climber, what things you can put into place to help your onsighting and what they do and recommend for staying calm under pressure. Last one - and it's one that comes up frequently - is how you deal with the dreaded resting ledge. Can you leave, should you leave, when to leave?!

What’s the most scared you’ve ever been while climbing?
Top tips for beginner trad climbers
Tips for dealing with the pressure of on-sighting
Staying calm under pressure
How to prepare to leave a rest on a route

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

Training climbers in their 50s, 60s and 70s is something that we've done for many years at Lattice. Lots of climbers in this bracket are concerned that "the rules" don't apply to them, that seem to work for younger climbers and also that gains in strength and fitness are not possible. What we've seen, is that it is just a few simple changes in training habit that can make massive differences in training adaptation and whilst they might not always be the easiest or most appealing to do, they do deliver results.

In this video from the archives (yes we, know.... we'll get that Part 2 for "Home Lock Down" out soon) we have Ollie and Tom answering a few of the most popular and pressing concerns facing older climbers. We've also been asked a number of times "does this not apply to me as I'm 48" - the answer is, that everything sits on a sliding scale... be sensible and do look at some of the options discussed. They may well make a big difference if you can sort them out!

Q1: Can you still improve in your 60s and 70s? This also applies to the 50s obviously!

Q2: What issues and injuries do you see most often with older climbers?

Q3: Quantity vs quality

Q4: Can you fingerboard more than once a week if you're over 50?

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

We've got another female athlete-specific "ask Lattice" video for you! This time, we've got Maddy Cope and Tom Randall sat in the hot seat answering questions that were posed in our female Facebook group and via DMs. There were absolutely tonnes of questions in the end and it was pretty hard to choose which ones to address!

Both Maddy and Tom took on a broad range on topics and they're also active within the FB group on a weekly basis. If you're looking for guaranteed answers to any questions like this, have a look at our new Lattice 365 service - you'll get access to climbing coaches, a nutritionist AND physio! All for less 33p a day.

Main subjects covered below!

Comparing yourself to others
Dealing with coming back to climbing after time off
Are bouldering and fingerboarding the only ways of gaining finger strength?
Balancing training and climbing outside
Managing training around perimenopause and menopause

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/

Ok kicking off with a hot topic in this video - staying lighting vs getting strong? It's an age old discussion topic amongst climbers in almost all disciplines and one that needs thought and transparency of discussion. We've worked with almost every body type you can possibly imagine and also with most strategies of body composition control.... we've seen it all and we know what works in there long term and the direction that most climbers should be headed in.

Q1: How do you balance muscle mass and climbing performance?
Q2: How can you help your climbing partner and what can you learn from them?
Q3: What is your favourite crag drink?
Q4: How do you manage your food whilst climbing?

Find out more about our Lattice Training Plans here: https://latticetraining.com/plans/