Steve’s Blog
Million Dollar Arms and a Five Cent Head
Tags: Motivation, peak, Planning, plateau, Steve Bechtel, Steve's Blog
By Steve Bechtel In every sport, it seems like there is a metric that ties in with great performance, and that athletes tend to fixate on. In endurance sports, it’s the VO2 Max, in golf it might be your drive. In climbing, it’s starting to be our straight-arm finger strength tested on a…
Better Than Last Year
Tags: Motivation, peak, Planning, plateau, Steve Bechtel, Steve's Blog
By Steve Bechtel Dan John once quipped, “The goal of aging should be to make the same mistakes over and over again less often.” Although we are in the throes of redpoint season across much of North America and Europe, many of us are already assessing what we’re going to do to get…
BLOG: Why is Improving So Hard
Tags: Motivation, peak, Planning, plateau, Steve Bechtel, Steve's Blog
By Steve Bechtel Most of us either over-think our preparation for the sport or we don’t think about it enough. Far too often, we end up in the mindset of accepting limits, and decide that this must be our level. Why? Because we have plucked what seems like all the lowest-hanging fruit. Let…
BLOG: The First Step Off A Peak Is Down
Tags: Motivation, peak, Planning, plateau, Steve Bechtel, Steve's Blog
By Steve Bechtel I have a stack of notecards in the pack I carry to work every day. On them, I have written some ideas about training for climbing that I think are essential and largely ignored by climbers. I’ve made my career by talking to advanced climbers about advanced concepts, and I…
Here is What We Do
Tags: Injury Prevention, Planning, Steve Bechtel, Steve's Blog
By Steve Bechtel It might seem funny, but my mom doesn’t really know what I do for a living. She knows we have a gym, and she knows I have written some books (she has them all, unopened), and she knows I travel around and “teach climbing.” I’m pretty sure she sees…
BLOG: Where Training Begins
Tags: begin, Motivation, Planning, plateau, Steve Bechtel, Steve's Blog
By Steve Bechtel This is how it goes: You go to the gym with friends and you do some easy climbs and it’s fun. Then you try a harder one or two, and maybe almost do them. Your hands are sore that night and as you fall asleep you’re thinking of how you nearly…
BLOG: Why Are We Training?
Tags: Injury Prevention, Planning, Steve Bechtel, Steve's Blog
By Steve Bechtel If you drill down with anyone in the gym, the goal of their training session might very well be “to get tired and sore.” Their objective, of course, is greater sport performance or a change in the way their body looks and functions. But in training for a sport, and using…
BLOG: Pacing
Tags: pacing, speed training, Steve Bechtel, Steve's Blog, tempo
By Steve Bechtel Last month, I had the pleasure of going to a big bouldering competition with no agenda except to watch my daughter climb, and then stay around for the open finals. It was a great event, and instead of focusing on the whole of the competition in the finals (who was topping,…
BLOG: Ask More Questions
Tags: Planning, Program choices, Steve Bechtel, Steve's Blog
By Steve Bechtel One of the hallmarks of a developing sport like rock climbing is the quest to optimize training for the sport. We look at how we fail to execute the tasks of the sport and then try to reduce the occurrence of those failures. We start with the simplest level of thinking…
BLOG: Five Lessons From Sergio Consuegra
Tags: Planning, Steve Bechtel, Steve's Blog
By Steve Bechtel One of the hardest parts about sorting out training for climbing is getting out of the rut of your own thinking. All too often, we think that what we learned from our mentor or youth coach or high school climbing buddy was the be all, end all of training advice. I…
BLOG: Start Again, Start Better
Tags: Planning, Steve Bechtel, Steve's Blog
By Steve Bechtel The birds they sang at the break of day; Start again I heard them say. Leonard Cohen Last year did not go as planned. This year can be better… if you let it. My friend Neil Anderson, one of those great strength coaches you’ve never heard of, says that more…
BLOG: Now Is No Time For Resetting or Resting
Tags: Planning, Steve Bechtel, Steve's Blog
By Steve Bechtel Ahh, the holidays. Snacks in the break room, cookies on the table, and a little bit of extra cheer at the end of the day. Work schedules are off, kids are home from school, and there are all kinds of other special things going on this month. No wonder we don’t…