In this episode Coach Alex Stiger and I talk openly about what we learned in 2024 about ourselves and our climbing, for better or for worse. We each chose the 5 most poignant things we learned and discussed each in depth.

Alex’s List

1. She realized she’d been protecting herself from fear and discomfort for a long time – wants to break out of that
2. Managing stress load outside of climbing and how that affects her climbing
3. Neurodivergence in climbing: her new diagnosis
4. Learned how to find her own beta!
5. Learne about how to stay positive on above max level routes

My List

1. Don’t ignore my body! (I have an injury I could’ve dealt with a long time ago)
2. Finances and climbing: we embraced FIRE this year so that we can eventually climb more
3. I can project hard things without freaking out now because of the mindset work I’ve done
4. Age is not an excuse
5. Patriarchy in climbing: how it shows up and how I’ve approached dismantling it in my life

Some of the things we talk about in this episode have been very private to us until this very public conversation, so please give us grace as we explore new concepts and talk them out with each other as friends!

If you want to work on your fear, anxiety, and performance mindset with me one-on-one, I’m accepting 6 new clients to do 3 months of work (6 sessions) on all things climbing.

I’ve been climbing for 27 years, and I feel uniquely qualified to act as both your coach (asking you questions only you know the answers to) AND your mentor (giving you advice) in climbing.

I am a Certified Professional Coach and will hold a safe space for you to explore your thoughts and feelings about any topic you want to discuss. We will make goals for each session, and I’ll hold you accountable to carrying out the homework I give you during each session. I’m really looking forward to working with you!

In this episode I do a full mindset coaching session with Nathaniel Lamont, a Canadian climber whose performance is being affected by his fear of falling above his bolt while lead climbing. This is such a common issue among climbers, so if you or someone you know struggles with this, please listen to this one!

We go through the reasons he’s afraid, we acknowledge and validate those reasons, and I help him figure out ways he can feel more in control of the controllables (who his belayer is, what device they’re using, what climbs he chooses to get on, etc.).

Then we make a plan to work through some of his fear with strategic fall practice. He outlines what he thinks is realistic for him and I give him some clear guidelines for how to implement it in his sessions.

I really hope you enjoy this one – I loved doing this session with Nathaniel and really appreciated his willingness to be honest and vulnerable in front of thousands of people on the podcast.

If you’d like to watch this interview on video with no ads, no intro, and no outro, you can become a member on Patreon for $5/month to get that and other bonus content.

If you want to work on your fear with me one-on-one, I’m accepting 6 new clients to do 3 months of work (6 sessions) on all things climbing. But we’ll also branch out into other areas of your life you want to work on, including:

• Career satisfaction
• Relationship issues
• Body image
• Life design
• All things climbing

I’ve been climbing for 27 years, and I feel uniquely qualified to act as both your coach (asking you questions only you know the answers to) AND your mentor (giving you advice) in climbing. I am a Certified Professional Coach and will hold a safe space for you to explore your thoughts and feelings about any topic you want to discuss. We will make goals for each session, and I’ll hold you accountable to carrying out the homework I give you during each session. I’m really looking forward to working with you!

Francis Sanzaro is a 45-year-old climber out of Carbondale, Colorado who's been climbing for about 30 years. He got his PhD in the Philosophy of Religion and has been studying the practice of Zen for decades. In recent years, he started applying Zen more directly and intentionally to his climbing and found that his performance and his enjoyment of the sport increased dramatically, so he wrote a book about it: The Zen of Climbing. I HIGHLY recommend the book! 

I had him on the show to discuss the book and to have him tell us exactly what it means to apply Zen philosophy to your climbing. It's not complicated and you can start using these principles right away. What I took from the book is that I don't have to have as many emotions about climbing as I think I do. All I'm doing is trying my best to get to the top of a climb, and that's all it really needs to be. 

• What Zen is as it relates to climbing
• How to use Zen with performance anxiety
• How to practice Zen in everyday life
• Dealing with failure using Zen practices
• Dealing with FEAR using Zen
• Using Zen in his grief process after (and during) losing both of his parents recently

Coach Matt Pincus discusses some drills he uses with his clients and himself to train the different energy systems in climbing: power endurance, strength, and endurance. 

More Details:

• Overview of the energy systems
• Differences between practice sessions and performance sessions
• Sample sessions
  • Power endurance session
  • Endurance Session
  • Strength/Power Session
• When you'd want to train each of these energy systems
• How many sessions you'd want to do of each 
• When to do them in conjunction with each other

Ashley Hardy is a friend of mine who lives in Boulder and just climbed her first 5.13c, a stout climb called "Choose Life" in the Flatirons. The reason I asked her to be on the show is that I find her situation to be both relatable and inspirational. The relatable part is that she has a full-time job as a software engineer and that she climbs with her husband, and she really REALLY loves climbing. 

The inspirational part is that despite working full-time, she manages to climb outside 3-4 days per week for a lot of the year. And she doesn't train in any conventional ways (hangboarding, strength training, board climbing, etc). She just goes outside and climbs on routes that challenge her and has steadily worked up to 5.13c doing it.

I really liked this conversation and I think Ashley has a lot to teach us about how to pursue your passions and goals despite limited time and energy. 

• Why she loves climbing so much and whether she ever gets burnt out
• How she fits outdoor climbing in with her work schedule
• Why she feels she needs more rest than other people and how much that is
• How she overcame the fear caused by a dangerous fall on her 5.13c
• How she works on her fear on a regular basis
• How she's gotten so strong mostly climbing outside
• How she and her husband keep their climbing relationship healthy
• Advice for people trying to break into the 5.13 grade

Coach Matt Pincus discusses the fundamentals of using weight lifting as a training strategy for climbing. He prescribes weight training to almost all of the athletes he coaches, and he wanted to make it more approachable and understandable to our audience.

More Details:

• Why Strength Train?
• Why consistency is more important than improving your numbers
• How (and why) to make it supplemental to your climbing and not the main focus
• Tips for getting started
  • Movement patterns to focus on
  • Using progressions and regressions to fit your level
  • Learning to calibrate your sessions to your body’s current state
• Sample Strength Training Sessions

Find the sample strength training session at www.trainingbeta.com/media/matt-strength

Stacy Sims, MSC, PHD, is a well-known exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist who has done groundbreaking research and education for women in athletics. Dr. Sims has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and several books and is a regularly featured speaker at professional and academic conferences, including those by USOC and USA Cycling.

Stacy currently holds a Senior Research Associate position with SPRINZ- AUT University, supervises PhD students, writes academic papers, and is on the advisory board of some cutting-edge companies, including Tonal Strength Institute, WILD.AI, and EXOS. She also has her own business (www.drstacysims.com), creating and delivering online learning material focused on women training with their physiology across the lifespan.

I highly recommend her book Roar, which first introduced me to the differences in women's vs men's needs in sports performance. It was mind-blowing, honestly, and so validating to learn that a lot of what we've been taught about exercise science doesn't really apply to women. After all, the research was mostly done on men, and that is what Dr. Sims is trying to change. 

I was honored to sit down with Stacy to talk about some really important topics for perimenopausal and menopausal women, and all females in general. She really knows her stuff and speaks quite scientifically, so I asked her a lot of clarifying questions so we can all make use of the information she provided. I hope you enjoy this one! 

• The real journey she had with menopause herself
• Why running stopped working for her body and what she did instead
• An optimal training schedule for peri- or menopausal females
• Cortisol differences as we age and what it does to our bodies
• How estrogen plays into aging and athleticism
• Which exercises are best for energy levels and body composition for menopause
• The all importance of sleep for aging women
• Carbs and menopause
• Caffeine for menopause
• Intermittent fasting?
• Which supplements are worth it

Coach Matt Pincus discusses some very detailed rock climbing projecting tactics to make your process more efficient. He goes over why you'd use a top-down vs ground-up approach, why you might want to use both of them, and when each is appropriate. This is for you if you want to hear from a 5.14/V12 climber about how he gets projects done and how he advises his clients to get theirs done. You can sign up to work with Matt as your coach at www.trainingbeta.com/matt.  

Charlie Schreiber is a climbing coach at ParadigmClimbing.com who was recently on the show. After that episode was done recording, we decided we should do a coaching session with him as my coach! 

So we recorded it right then and there, which was a couple months ago. In the session, he asked me a lot of clarifying questions to figure out how to create a training program for me, which he did the day after this conversation (links below to see that program).  

• My goals with climbing
• My experience with training - what has worked and not worked
• My weaknesses and strengths
• What I WANT to be climbing
• How to get me to 5.13c again
• What holds me back in my climbing
• How my age (46) plays into my goals
• How my height has informed my climbing

Charlie created a detailed training program for me with some educational content included in it. He sent them in google docs that are freely available:

• Neely Quinn's Spring/Summer Training Program #1
• Neely Quinn's Supplemental Training Program #1

Coach Alex Stiger describes a 3-month slump she was in, how she methodically got out of that slump, and how she coaches her clients to get re-motivated when they've lost their psych for climbing. 

Zoe Sayetta is a youth and adult climbing coach in New York and she has her masters in sport psychology. She loves working with youth, especially on their mindset, and she has a private practice as a sport psychology coach for youth and adults. I asked her to be on the show so we could talk about the most common things she sees in her team and her clients and how she helps them all have a healthier, more productive mindset in climbing.

Here’s what we talked about:

• How to foster growth mindset vs fixed mindset
• How to deal with emotional regulation in teens
• How to teach kids (or anyone) to try hard
• Productive vs unhealthy self-talk
• How to coach someone to want success but not identify with it
• Social comparison
• Imposter syndrome
• Using visualization for physical and emotional practice
• Lots more