This episode is available exclusively to our Patrons and Apple+ Subscribers! To listen: Become a Patron! Become an Apple+ Subscriber! Kris has been exploring climbing movement through a thematic lens for a few years, and has finally settled on what he considers the Atomic Elements of Climbing Movement. In this subscribers-only Board Meeting, he presents the idea to Nate and asks for help interrogating his current thoughts. EXPLORE FURTHER You might enjoy these related articles, episodes, and other resources: Our Movement Practice Resource Page Board Meetings | The Art of Learnin ..read more

    Udo Neumann is a climber, performance coach, and motor-learning explorer. He’s the author of several books, including the cult classic Performance Rock Climbing.  He was the German National Team coach from 2009 to 2017, working with several European and World Champion athletes during that time, including Jan Hojer and Jule Wurm. Today he advises federations and works with athletes and coaches all over the world. In this episode, we discuss his ideas around motor learning and coaching movement, whether a coach needs to be as good as the athlete, how he assesses climbers, wh ..read more

    Where is the first place your mind goes when you don’t stick a move? If you’re like most climbers, it’s probably your finger strength, or tension, or even your effort, and you’re already considering what hangboard protocol to use or some front lever workout… but it’s possible you’re looking in the wrong direction entirely.  That’s because one of the most common places things start to fall apart is at the very beginning of the move, the part we do over and over. And, if we’re not sticking the move, the part we never know for sure that we’re doing the best way. And I’m not ta ..read more

    If we want to assess our climbing movement skills over time, are the standardized boards the best option? We're conflicted… Kris and Nate discuss the pros and cons of using boards when trying to assess our movement skills as climbers. This episode is available exclusively to our Patrons and Apple+ Subscribers! To listen: Become a Patron! Become an Apple+ Subscriber! EXPLORE FURTHER You might enjoy these related articles, episodes, and other resources: Our Movement Practice Resource Page Steve Maisch on Assessments Board Meetings | The Art of Learning Climbing Expert | Will Angl ..read more

    Will Anglin is one of the founders of Tension Climbing, a company that not only makes training tools, but also is committed to innovation in a way that leads climbers toward mastery over success. In this episode we discuss movement skills, some ways climbers are going wrong in their pursuit and how they can continue improving, and the tools that might get them there. Check out Tension Climbing and use code STONE at checkout for 10% off of select training tools! EXPLORE FURTHER You might enjoy these related articles, episodes, and other resources: If you’re a coach or a climber ..read more

    Lauren Abernathy works hard to be a better climber. In fact, it’s part of her job as owner of Good Spray Climbing to help other people become better climbers, and she walks the walk. For several years she’s worked with our coach Blake Cash, and has recently been supplementing that training with private movement sessions with Nate Drolet.  In this episode, we discuss why she chose to also do in-person sessions alongside her remote coaching with Blake, what’s going well, how she fits the training and sessions into her busy life, and how the movement skills are showing up in h ..read more

    For most of us, climbing looks like this: Pull on, try the move, fall off. Stare at your hands and try to understand why you fell.  Pull on, try the move, fall off. Stare at your hands and come up with a new reason why you fell. Pull on again, try the move again, fall off.  Again. You get it. You’ve been there. There’s a better way. There’s an obvious thing that most climbers are missing when it comes to difficult moves, and several strategies that can help you do those harder moves, harder boulders, and harder routes faster. Most climbers initially learn to see a cli ..read more

    This episode is available exclusively to our Patrons and Apple+ Subscribers! To listen: Become a Patron! Become an Apple+ Subscriber! It’s the million dollar question: How do we decide where to focus our efforts when it comes to becoming a BETTER climber – rather than just a stronger one? In this subscribers-only Board Meeting, Kris puts Nate in the hot seat and asks all about his process for movement assessments. They then try to translate what Nate does to help inform how you might better learn to assess your own movement skills. SCHEDULE A REMOTE CONSULTATION WITH NATE EXPLOR ..read more

    Taylor Reed is a climber and coach who has worked with high-level athletes – both competitive and outdoor climbers – for many years. He’s the vice president of the International Rock Climbing Research Association and also runs The Beta Angel Project, which takes climbing-specific research and synthesizes it with ideas and experience in order to find evidence-informed methods that can help us all become better coaches and climbers. In this episode, we discuss how Taylor assesses movement, how he teaches it, and what role research plays in his overall coaching. The Beta Angel Pro ..read more

    A common refrain in climbing is that the more you climb, the better you get. But all of us know some old crusty who has been climbing for 45 years and is stuck at mid 5.10. And they have all of the excuses as to why. But they’re wrong. In this episode, Kris and Nate explore why we believe we’ll just get better if we keep at it, as well as offer strategies to continue improving no matter how long (or short) you’ve been at it. EXPLORE FURTHER You might enjoy these related articles, episodes, and other resources: Our Movement Practice Resource Page Board Meetings | The Art of Lear ..read more