The Power Company Climbing Podcast

BOARD MEETINGS | Surviving the Modern Mega Climbing Gym

Kris and Nate sit down to discuss some of the perks and pitfalls of climbing in today’s modern mega gyms, and give some tips on how to deal with them. They’ll talk about how to handle things when the new sets are crowded, the gym is overrun with team kids, the bouldering wall is full of “weird” comp style setting, and you’re afraid attempting a boulder’s top out might cost you an ankle.
 
The Power Company Podcast is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective.
You can help us keep episodes ad-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month!
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

BUILT OUTDOORS | Amy Skinner and Joan Chase of Wild Iris Mountain Sports

Today we're listening to the first episode of Built Outdoors, a new show Kris is hosting, with Amy Skinner and Joan Chase from the iconic gear shop, Wild Iris Mountain Sports. They talk history of the store and how it's inextricably linked to the rise of climbing in Lander, community, and business in a small mountain town. 
Check out Episode 2 of Built Outdoors with Jay Halford from Backcountry Cobblers on the Plug Tone Outdoors Channel.
 
The Power Company Podcast is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective.
You can help us keep episodes ad-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month!
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

Caitlin Holmes | Body Composition for Climbers

Certified Nutrition Specialist and co-host of The Average Climber Podcast, Caitlin Holmes, sits down with Kris to discuss body composition, which is often conflated with weight loss and can thus be a very polarizing topic.
 
Learn more about Caitlin and how you can work with her.
Follow Caitlin on Instagram.
 
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The Power Company Podcast is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective.
You can help us keep episodes ad-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month.
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

Steven Jeffery | Climbing in the Disinformation Age

Back in September, at the 8th annual Joe’s Valley Festival, Kris sat down to talk to local legend and longtime crusher Steven Jeffery, about how climbing has evolved since he first came onto the scene. They reflect on how today’s online resources like digital guidebooks and social media have impacted climbing.
 
Check out Steven's new guidebook on KAYA Pro!  Use code JV2WEEKS to get 2 weeks FREE!
Join the Joe's Valley Coalition!
Watch Reel Rock's United States of Joe's!
 
The Power Company Podcast is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective.
You can help us keep episodes ad-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month.
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

BOARD MEETINGS | Top 4 Ways to Transition to Outdoor Climbing with Taylor Fragomeni

Kris and fellow Power Company coach, Taylor Fragomeni, sit down and discuss how you can make the transition from indoor to outdoor climbing easier on yourself.
They’ll dive into the specifics with ways to:
warm up well outdoors, even when a crag’s “warmups” aren’t great.
prepare yourself for using “bad” feet outdoors.
practice pacing yourself appropriately for changing difficulty throughout routes outdoors.
making difficult clips outdoors.
 
Find Taylor at Tangent Climbing.
Follow Taylor on Instagram.
 
The Power Company Podcast is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective.
You can help us keep episodes ad-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month.
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

Roy Quanstrom | Translating Movement Through Shaping and Setting

In today’s episode, Kris sits down with shaper and setter Roy Quanstrom, of Tension Climbing. They talk about Roy’s newest holds from Trango, the Khans and the Fuegos, and the climbing experiences that inspired their design.
Check out the Khans and the Fuegos, from Trango Holds.
Find Roy at Tension Climbing.
Follow Roy on Instagram.
 
The Power Company Podcast is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective.
You can help us keep episodes ad-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month.
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

Eric Hörst | Growing Older, Stronger, Better

In today’s episode, Kris sits down to catch up with fellow climbing coach, Eric Hörst. They chat about how some big life shifts – Eric’s retirement, the success of his nutrition brand, PhysiVantage, and becoming an empty nester – have impacted his climbing and training.
 
Learn more with training resources from Eric.
Learn more about PhysiVantage Nutrition.
Follow Eric on Instagram.
 
The Power Company Podcast is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective.
You can help us keep episodes ad-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month.
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

BREAKING BETA | Can We Measure Energy System Contribution to Climbing?

In this episode, from our other podcast, Breaking Beta, Kris and Paul discuss a paper that investigates how different energy systems contribute to climbing performance:
Climbing-Specific Exercise Tests: Energy System Contributions and Relationships With Sport Performance
Authored by Marcin Maciejczyk, Michail Lubomirov Michailov, Magdalena Więcek, Jadwiga Szymura, Robert Rokowski, Zbigniew Szygula, and Ralph Beneke; published in Frontiers in Physiology in January, 2022.
They’ll explain the different energy systems and how they were measured in the study using three finger flexor muscle tests. They’ll consider how well these measurements can act as reliable performance indicators for climbing.
Special thanks to AJ Sobrilsky at Excel Physical Therapy in Bozeman and also the Climb Strong team for suggesting this paper!
New episodes of Breaking Beta drop on Wednesdays. Make sure you’re subscribed, leave us a review, and share!
And please, tell all of your friends who have their energy system training totally dialed in but say “Take!” as soon as they are getting pumped, that you have the perfect podcast for them.
Breaking Beta is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and Crux Conditioning, and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective. Find full episode transcripts, citations, and more at our website.
Season 2 of Breaking Beta is proudly supported by Gnarly Sports Nutrition. For a limited time, Breaking Beta listeners can take 15% off their purchase using the code BETA15 at checkout! Or simply click the link above to shop and have the discount automatically applied.
Follow Kris and Breaking Beta on Instagram 
Follow Paul and Crux Conditioning on Instagram
Our music is from legendary South Dakota band Rifflord.

TAPED TIPS | Difficulties Should Be Desirable

I’m actually not a big fan of the term “drills”, but I don’t have a better word for it. I don’t like it for several reasons:
One, because we aren’t “drilling” anything in. Despite the popular belief, that’s not actually how learning works. Performance, maybe, but not learning. And in my book, these “drills” are for learning. 
Two, there are just too many coaches who assume that harder equals better. They just keep stacking difficulties onto their drills as if those difficulties are all going to make you better at climbing. Now we see climbers bouncing one-legged on a Bosu Ball balanced on a slackline while blindfolded and miming rose moves because…
WHY? 
Yeah, I don’t know either. And today, we’re going to talk about why that might not be the best solution.
 
In our Coaching for Mastery course, we go DEEP into how coaches and climbers can create an effective practice. That’s literally what the entire course is about. The research, the theories, my experience, and how you can practically apply it.
 
The Power Company Podcast is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective.
You can help us keep episodes ad-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month.
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

BOARD MEETINGS | Top Ways Climbers Are Holding Themselves Back

In this episode, Kris and Nate are joined by coach Lauren Abernathy and nutritionist Caitlin Holmes of The Average Climber Podcast. The four discuss some of the biggest ways they see climbers getting in their own way.
They chat about the impact that shifting your perspective can have, how easy it can be to get caught up in comparing yourself to others, and why reading all the Mountain Project comments on that route you’re psyched to check out might not be the best idea.
Plus, they’ll answer a question that’s been plaguing climbers for ages: what’s the best brand of gummy bears?
 
Find Lauren online at Good Spray Climbing.
Find Caitlin online at Dirt Bag Nutrition.
 
The Power Company Podcast is brought to you by Power Company Climbing and is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective.
You can help us keep episodes ad-free by becoming a Patron for as little as $3 a month!
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.