The Power Company Climbing Podcast Plug Tone Audio

Ben Mayforth is a decorated climber well known for dialing in his training regimen. He's a Paraclimbing World Cup multi-medalist. Since 2019, he hasn't missed a silver medal at the Paraclimbing World Championships. Ben has a reputation of being extremely disciplined, but he’s recently loosened some of his self-imposed rules, and we discuss the impacts from that “letting go” in this episode.
Every Body Climbs (EBC) is a collaborative podcast, presented across Plug Tone Audio platforms, bringing you interviews with para and adaptive climbers. These profiles can be heard on The Power Company Podcast and Sends and Suffers. Content about festivals, engagement projects and other modes of community building air on Sends and Suffers, while training and nutrition focused interviews can be heard on The Power Company Podcast. Host, Emily Chen-Newton is a freelance adaptive sports reporter working in both print and broadcast. Living with a chronic medical condition herself, her journalism centers athletes, not their disabilities. When she’s not reporting, she’s rock climbing with her husband and their two cats.
 
Follow Emily and EBC on:
Instagram
SoundCloud
Theme music sample attribution: Creeper_Ciller78
_________________________
🔍 EXPLORE FURTHER
You might enjoy these related articles, episodes, and other resources:
More episodes of Every Body Climbs
More episodes of Sends and Suffers
Maureen Beck | Adapting
Justin Salas | Nonsighting
REWIND | Craig DeMartino on Making Hard Decisions and Using Limitations
_________________________
🔌 SUPPORT + CONNECT
Help us keep the show sponsor-free when you join our Patreon Community for as little as $3.
Get two or more bonus episodes every month on Patreon, Spotify, or Apple.
Subscribe to THE CURRENT and get a monthly exploration of how we can all become better climbers.
Find Power Company on Instagram and YouTube.
Share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it.
_________________________
The Power Company Podcast is a proud founding member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective, a group of the best, most impactful podcasts in the outdoor industry.
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.
 

Today's episode comes from The Struggle Climbing Show and features our very own coach Nate Drolet in consultation with the show's host Ryan Devlin, who has been working hard towards a goal to climb 13a.  They'll talk movement analysis, technique improvement, and more.  This is the first of two episodes with Nate on the topic, so be sure to head over to The Struggle to hear the second part!
 
Check out more episodes of The Struggle Climbing Show.
Follow The Struggle Climbing Show on Instagram.
Get more content on The Struggle's Patreon.
_________________________
🔍 EXPLORE FURTHER
You might enjoy these related articles, episodes, and other resources:
Our Movement Practice Resource Page
Book a Remote Consultation with Nate
_________________________
🔌 SUPPORT + CONNECT
Help us keep the show sponsor-free when you join our Patreon Community for as little as $3.
Get two or more bonus episodes every month on Patreon, Spotify, or Apple.
Subscribe to THE CURRENT and get a monthly exploration of how we can all become better climbers.
Find Nate on Instagram and YouTube.
Find Power Company on Instagram and YouTube.
Share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it.
_________________________
The Power Company Podcast is a proud founding member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective, a group of the best, most impactful podcasts in the outdoor industry.
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

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 episode, 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 Learning Climbing

Rethinking Climbing Technique and Movement Skills

_________________________
🔌 SUPPORT + CONNECT
Help us keep the show sponsor-free when you join our Patreon Community for as little as $3.
Get two or more bonus episodes every month on Patreon, Spotify, or Apple.
Subscribe to THE CURRENT and get a monthly exploration of how we can all become better climbers.
Find Nate on Instagram and YouTube.
Find Power Company on Instagram and YouTube.
Share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it.
_________________________
The Power Company Podcast is a proud founding member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective, a group of the best, most impactful podcasts in the outdoor industry.
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

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, what makes Janja Garnbret and Tomoa Narasaki special, and what makes the Japanese team so good.
Find Udo online at udini.com and on YouTube.
_________________________
🔍 EXPLORE FURTHER
You might enjoy these related articles, episodes, and other resources:
Performance Rock Climbing by Udo Neumann and Dale Goddard
Episode 482: The Coaching Eye - How Reliably Can Expert Coaches Observe Movement? | The Perception & Action Podcast
Cognitive Bias Codex Infographic from Visual Capitalist
Coaching for Mastery Course
_________________________
🔌 SUPPORT + CONNECT
Help us keep the show sponsor-free when you join our Patreon Community for as little as $3.
Get two or more bonus episodes every month on Patreon, Spotify, or Apple.
Subscribe to THE CURRENT and get a monthly exploration of how we can all become better climbers.
Find Power Company on Instagram and YouTube.
Share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it.
_________________________
The Power Company Podcast is a proud founding member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective, a group of the best, most impactful podcasts in the outdoor industry.
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.
_________________________
📚 CHAPTERS
(0:00) Intro and Guest Introduction
(3:09) Have We Overemphasized the Physical?
(7:26) Udo’s Transition to the Ecological Approach to Coaching
(8:42) ANNOTATION: Bernstein, Degrees of Freedom, Repetition Without Repetition
(14:54) Deliberate Play
(29:32) The Athlete Doesn’t Need All of the Information
(32:33) Does a Coach Need to Be Better Than the Climber?
(34:57) Technique vs. Skill
(40:02) Open and Closed Skills
(40:52) ANNOTATION: Open and Closed Skill Continuums
(45:51) Adaptability and Biases in Climbing
(51:07) ANNOTATION: Marshmallow Test and Delayed Gratification
(56:40) What Makes Janja Garnbret So Good?
(59:20) Rhythm and Patience
(1:02:01) How Does Udo Assess Movement Skills?
(1:09:09) How Often Should We Give Explicit Instruction?
(1:16:29) Using Video in Coaching
(1:28:34) Are Comp Boulders Useful for Outdoor Climbers?
(1:32:40) What’s the Secret of the Japanese Team and Tomoa Narasaki?
(1:42:07) Wrap Up

Where's 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...
 
Read the rest on the blog!
Watch the video on YouTube!
_________________________
🔍 EXPLORE FURTHER
You might enjoy these related articles, episodes, and other resources:
Taped Tips | The Secret to Hard Moves that Most Climbers Are Missing
Our Movement Practice Resource Page
Coaching for Mastery Course
_________________________
🔌 SUPPORT + CONNECT
Help us keep the show sponsor-free when you join our Patreon Community for as little as $3.
Get two or more bonus episodes every month on Patreon, Spotify, or Apple.
Subscribe to THE CURRENT and get a monthly exploration of how we can all become better climbers.
Find Power Company on Instagram and YouTube.
Share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it.
_________________________
The Power Company Podcast is a proud founding member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective, a group of the best, most impactful podcasts in the outdoor industry.
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.

If we want to assess our climbing movement skills over time, are the standardized boards the best option?
We're conflicted...
_________________________
🔍 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 Anglin on Climbing All The Things, the Intersection of Strength and Movement, and the Ultimate Tool
_________________________
🔌 SUPPORT + CONNECT
Help us keep the show sponsor-free when you join our Patreon Community for as little as $3.
Get two or more bonus episodes every month on Patreon, Spotify, or Apple.
Subscribe to THE CURRENT and get a monthly exploration of how we can all become better climbers.
Find Nate on Instagram and YouTube.
Find Power Company on Instagram and YouTube.
Share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it.
_________________________
The Power Company Podcast is a proud founding member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective, a group of the best, most impactful podcasts in the outdoor industry.
Find full episode transcripts and more at our website.
_________________________
📚 CHAPTERS
(0:00) Theme, Intro, and Topic Description
(3:38) Kris and Nate’s Stances
(5:41) Pro: Often Less Populated
(8:34) Pro: Boards Are Standardized
(10:46) Why Climbing Is the Best Assessment for Climbing
(14:09) Signal vs. Noise
(17:46) Pro: Boards Keep Improving
(20:38) Pro: Angle Change Can Help You See Where Things Fall Apart
(24:52) Pro: If It’s What You’ve Got, It’s a Good Tool
(26:57) Pro: Ability To Create Coaching Playlists
(27:44) Con: No Need for Adaptability
(30:05) Con: Limited and Rewards a Specific Strength or Style
(35:01) Board Climbing Is Wine, Outdoor Climbing Is Coffee
(38:49) Con: Self-Assessment Introduces More Bias
(39:46) Con: Single Snapshots Not As Useful for Assessing
(42:03) Wrap Up
(43:53) Credits and Outro