Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast Eric J. Hörst

Many enthusiastic climbers work hard to level up their performance year over year, and
some of us invest great time, effort, and resources into pursuing our climbing goals.
One powerful tool for gaining a performance edge is the use of a functional medicine
approach to blood testing…which is the focus of this episode of the T4C podcast.
My expert guest joining us for this episode….is Thomas Cunningham, a Louisville
Kentucky-based doctor, who also happens to be a 5.14 climber! Dr. Cunningham is a board-certified physician, researcher, and functional medicine specialist who believes in combining evidence-based medicine, nutrition, and training to improve your health, wellness, and human performance.
The specific focus of this podcast is the use of regular blood testing, and how you can
potentially use blood test results to adjust your nutrition and training in ways that amplify
your efforts, accelerate recovery, boost performance, and enhance your overall health and
well-being.
RUNDOWN
00:15 – T4C podcast mission statement
00:45 – The things we do to level up our performance
1:10 – Intro of podcast topic: Blood testing to optimize health and performance
1:35 – Introducing our expert, Dr. Thomas Cunningham (Instagram: @thomascunninghammd.com)
2:30 – Use of blood test biomarkers
3:45 – Value for older athletes
4:10 – Podcast Sponsor: PhysiVantage Nutrition -- used by 2024 Olympians Natalia Grossman, Alex Megos, and Yannick Flohe'. Get your PhysiVantage at 15% off (code: PODCAST15) at PhysiVantage.com
5:00 – Interview with Dr. Thomas Cunningham
5:30 – What is functional medicine: “Medicine 3.0”
9:30 – Preventative health care through your primary physician – The "Big 4 Killers"
11:20 – Pursuit of “optimal” rather than “average”
14:00 - What testing is appropriate for 20-somethings vs. 50-somethings, etc.
16:40 – “Treat the patient, don’t treat the numbers!”
19:15 – Basic blood panels: Metabolic, Lipid, Complete blood count
22:25 – Self-order/self-pay bloodwork at Quest.com or UltaLabs.com
23:30 – More nuanced blood work to consider: Vitamin D, Hormone Panel, Thyroid Panel, HbA1c, ApoB
31:45 – Vitamin supplements to support Testosterone – vitamin D3, zinc, selenium, boron. (PhysiVantage Nutrition VITALIUM is a single-source supplement containing these micronutrients.)
35:00 – The role of genetics, stress, training, nutrition, and sleep.
37:10 – Considerations for vegan athletes. Supplements to consider: B-6, B-12, Iron, D3 + k2, iodine
40:00 – The journey toward optimization.
47:02 – Considerations for female athletes – abnormalities to watch for and treat.
49:50 – Thyroid function and blood panels
53:00 – Hormone changes in women
55:00 – A brief mention of peptides
57:00 – Get the low-hanging fruit…by getting your sleep and nutrition on point…and do some strength training every week.
1:01:00 – Final thoughts
Support the TFC podcast sponsor, PhysiVantage Nutrition. Get 15% off full-priced nutrition with checkout code: PODCAST15 (North America only). In Europe and elsewhere visit EPIC-TV Shop or BananaFingers.com to get your PhysiVantage!
Music by Misty Murphy
SAVE on  La Sportiva shoes here >>
Thank you! La Sportiva, Maxim Ropes, DMM Climbing, Friction Labs
Follow Eric on Twitter @Train4Climbing
Check out Eric’s YouTube channel.
Follow Eric on Facebook!
And on Instagram at: Training4Climbing
Copyright 2024 Eric Hörst | Horst Training, LLC.

To celebrate the 100th episode of the T4C podcast, I wanted to serve up a powerful, comprehensive, yet easily digestible and actionable list of things you can do today to break through a performance plateau...and begin a journey towards being the best climber you can be!
No matter your current experience or level of climbing, I guarantee that you will find this episode to be a tour de force of things you can do to accelerate your rate of improvement...and increase your confidence, joy, and experience while climbing. 
Therefore, a more accurate title of this podcast might be..."The 10 secrets to accelerating improvement and climbing your very best!"
I've got a lot of territory to cover in the next hour, so let's get started!
Support the TFC podcast sponsor, PhysiVantage Nutrition. Get 15% off full-priced nutrition with checkout code: PODCAST15 (North America only). In Europe and elsewhere visit EPIC-TV Shop or BananaFingers.com to get your PhysiVantage!
Music by Misty Murphy
SAVE on  La Sportiva shoes here >>
Thank you! La Sportiva, Maxim Ropes, DMM Climbing, Friction Labs
Follow Eric on Twitter @Train4Climbing
Check out Eric’s YouTube channel.
Follow Eric on Facebook!
And on Instagram at: Training4Climbing
Copyright 2024 Eric Hörst | Horst Training, LLC.

When it comes to climbing, no single piece of gear is more influential on your performance than your shoes. Getting the right shoe fit and feel for a given boulder or route is critical to climbing your best!
However, there are dozens of climbing shoes on the market with widely varying designs, looks, and prices. What's the right shoe(s) for your gym training and outdoor rock climbing? What features should you look for? How tight should you fit your shoes?
Our shoe expert, Michael Genauer from La Sportiva NA, will answer these questions and many more in this episode. Listen and learn how to make your climbing shoes perform better for you!
Reminder: T4C episode #97 provided a look into the science of chalk and optimal chalk use. Combined with today's podcast #99, these two episodes provide a comprehensive look into the quality of your four points of contact with the rock. If you want to climb better, then you must strive to optimize your purchase with each contact point.
RUNDOWN
00:20 - Introduction
1:30 - Building on podcast #97, my interview with Kevin Brown about the science of chalk and optimal chalk use.
2:00 - Now we look at the feet! How shoe design, fit, comfort, and price affect footwork and climbing performance.
4:00 - Podcast sponsor PhysiVantage Nutrition. Save 15% off full-priced nutrition with checkout code PODCAST15. 
7:00 - Overview of shoe design, parts, and craftsmanship.
10:00 - Heel structure and performance.
16:10 - Downpointing and asymmetric shoes for high-performance sport climbing and bouldering. Details on the La Sportiva "PD #".
18:45 - Entry-level shoes versus high-performance fit.
20:50 - Why outdoor climbers likely need 2 or more different pairs of shoes....for optimal performance on different rock types and climbing styles.
22:00 - Lace-up shoes versus slip-on shoes.
27:15 - Lined versus unlined?
29:10 - How much should you "size down" your climbing shoes (compared to your approach shoe size)?
32:05 - Shoe fit for kid crushers! Tips to optimize performance and reduce risk of toe/foot injury.
33:20 - Shoe rubber, stickiness, and temperature effect on optimal rubber performance.
38:50 - Proper care tips for maintaining your shoe's performance and extending the life of the shoe...so hopefully you can get a couple of resoles out of each pair of new shoes.
40:20 - When to resole your shoes?
46:10 - Does the country a shoe is manufactured in tell us anything about the quality and performance of a shoe?
52:00 - Closing thoughts, and discussion about La Sportiva's new retail shoe in Boulder, CO.
Support the TFC podcast sponsor, PhysiVantage Nutrition. Get 15% off full-priced nutrition with checkout code: PODCAST15 (North America only). In Europe and elsewhere visit EPIC-TV Shop or BananaFingers.com to get your PhysiVantage!
Music by Misty Murphy
SAVE on  La Sportiva shoes here >>
Thank you! La Sportiva, Maxim Ropes, DMM Climbing, Friction Labs
Follow Eric on Twitter @Train4Climbing
Check out Eric’s YouTube channel.
Follow Eric on Facebook!
And on Instagram at: Training4Climbing
Copyright 2024 Eric Hörst | Horst Training, LLC.

In this episode, Coach Hörst shares his recent unique training day in the Front Range of Colorado. Eric will contrast the remarkable late-afternoon workout of one of the world's top boulderers, Drew Ruana, with his own route-climbing workout a few hours earlier. 
You will learn the fundamental differences between training for bouldering and route climbing, particularly concerning the energy systems that power climbing movements. Eric with detail his climbing-specific aerobic system route training session at the G1 gym.
Eric will then describe Drew's unique limit boulder training methodology that's elevated him to being one of the very best boulderers on the planet. Learn how Drew puts his home woodie to work for maximum gains!
Whether your climbing focus is boulders or routes, this pithy reductionist analysis of training for climbing will engage and enlighten passionate climbers of all ability levels.
*** Support the TFC podcast sponsor, PhysiVantage Nutrition. Get 15% off full-priced nutrition with checkout code: PODCAST15 (North America only). ***
In Europe and elsewhere visit EPIC-TV Shop or BananaFingers.com to get your PhysiVantage!
Music by Misty Murphy
SAVE on  La Sportiva shoes here >>
Thank you! La Sportiva, Maxim Ropes, DMM Climbing, Friction Labs
Follow Eric on Twitter @Train4Climbing
Check out Eric’s YouTube channel.
Follow Eric on Facebook!
And on Instagram at: Training4Climbing
Copyright 2024 Eric Hörst | Horst Training, LLC.

The quality of your contact with the rock is paramount when it comes to climbing performance. Strong muscles, on-point technique, and a confident mindset won’t get you up a climb if you can’t hang onto the holds!
Many things affect the quality of your grip and the perceived “stickiness” of the holds – to begin with, there’s the texture of the rock and the degree of incut (or slope) to the hold. Weather conditions, such as temperature, humidity, and wind play a big role in how the rock feels and your skin performs. Body position, center of gravity location, and your finger force vector are huge factors in determining how holds feel and will work for a given move. Last but not least, there’s your skin quality and the structure of your fingertips. Pulpy (fleshy) tips can deform around tiny rock rugosities to give a better grip on tiny holds and, similarly, skin that’s got adequate moisture and elasticity will stick to holds better than thick, dry, callused skin which yields a glassy and slippery grip.
It's the latter topic of skin quality and specifically chalk-use to optimize grip that we’ll explore today. To help shed some light on this topic, I've got Kevin Brown, co-founder and CEO of Friction Labs chalk, to download on us some of the science of chalk and skin performance.
So lean in and chalk up for this grip-enhancing episode of the T4C podcast!
RUNDOWN
0:15 - Intro to skin performance and grip--what things affect the quality of your grip?
3:00 - Overview of chalk and the role of "dryness".
6:00 - The effect of humidity, personal skin quality, and chalk use as it relates to skin wear and climbing performance.
8:35 - Use of Collagen powder supplements to improve skin elasticity, strength, and recovery of damaged skin. 
9:20 - Importance of making quality efforts on skin-hard boulders and routes--save skin by making just a few quality attempts over many quick, low-quality attempts.
10:00 - Are all chalks basically the same? Kevin reveals the vast differences in chalk formulations!
14:00 - What's the optimal amount of chalk to have on your fingers?
16:30 - How chalk products on the market vary. Are added drying agents helpful?
19:30 - Common contaminants in chalk...and how they adversely affect grip.
21:10 - The genesis of Friction Labs...and new product development.
22:00 - The utility of liquid chalks--who will benefit from it and how to use it for optimal skin performance while climbing.
24:00 - Difference uses of alcohol-containing chalk versus alcohol-free liquid chalk.
25:00 - Is "drier always better"? What are the pros and cons of various drying agents such as Dry Hands, Carpe, AntiHydral, etc.
28:00 - The importance of developing a personalized skin-care routine... Tips on washing chalk off skin after climbing...and moisturizing skin.
31:00 - How to dry out your chalk...if it gets wet from rain...or deep water soloing.
31:35 - Responsible use of chalk, tick marks, brushing practices, etc.
35:50 - Closing comments and coupon codes
*** Friction Labs special offer for T4C podcast listeners -- Save 15% at FrictionLabs.com with checkout code: T4C15 ***
Support the TFC podcast sponsor, PhysiVantage Nutrition. Get 15% off full-priced nutrition with checkout code: PODCAST15 (North America only). In Europe and elsewhere visit EPIC-TV Shop or BananaFingers.com to get your PhysiVantage!
Music by Misty Murphy
SAVE on  La Sportiva shoes here >>
Thank you! La Sportiva, Maxim Ropes, DMM Climbing, Friction Labs
Follow Eric on Twitter @Train4Climbing
Check out Eric’s YouTube channel.
Follow Eric on Facebook!
And on Instagram at: Training4Climbing
Copyright 2024 Eric Hörst | Horst Training, LLC.

Lean in dear listener...and enjoy the most transparent Training For Climbing podcast ever!
In this engaging episode, Coach Eric Hörst shares an in-depth analysis of his climbing weaknesses...and he reveals the specifics of his program to train for gains in 2024. Eric presents 4 primary action items of his winter training program, and he provides an assessment of his progress as of the end of January.
One of Eric's primary off-season training interventions is twice weekly Kilter Boarding. Eric details exactly how he uses this incredible training tool. He also outlines the importance of consistent aerobic energy system training, especially for route climbers, and he provides details on important changes he's made to both his daily diet and sleep habits.
RUNDOWN
0:15 - Intro to the most transparent TFC podcast ever!
3:10 - The need to perform an end-of-season "gap analysis". What needs to be done to reach big goals in 2024?
7:37 - The importance of willpower! And one of my favorite quotes: "The will to prepare for success is more important than the will of success."
10:18 - Eric details his personal gap analysis -- a very transparent examination of the things he feels are holding him back. 
15:42 - Breakdown of the 4 Action Items in Eric's winter training program.
21:20 - Intro to Eric's winter training plan
22:17 - Action Item #1: Train to become a stronger, more powerful climber on bouldery sequences. Eric provides rich detail on how he's employed twice weekly Kilter Board training to achieve this goal. 
29:20 - Eric takes you through his typical Kilter Board workout....from warm up to cool down.
40:00 - Eric shares some of his Kilterboard videos on Instagram: @Kilter_ehorst -- Follow Eric's FA boulders on the Kilter Board app via his username: ehorst 
40:45 - Action Item #2: Maintain climbing-specific and generalized aerobic fitness through the winter training season. Lots of important details here for route climbers.
46:05 - Pro climber Amity Warme's incredible 2023 climbing season, finger injury, and rehab protocol and comeback story. Read a full article with details here >>
Read the latest research summaries of daily collagen use >>
51:30 - Action Item #3: Drop a few pounds of body fat...and get back to my "fighting weight" of previous years. Listen to Eric's major dietary changes.
1:08:35 - Action Item #4: Improve my sleep habits...to optimize recovery, health, and wellness. Learn about Eric's interventions and data gathering in this important area.
1:16:06 - Closing comments: Learn one of the key traits of top pro climbers that Eric works with or knows.
1:18:00 - Dear listener, PLEASE write a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and SHARE this podcast with a friend!
Support the TFC podcast sponsor, PhysiVantage Nutrition. Get 15% off full-priced nutrition with checkout code: PODCAST15 (North America only). In Europe and elsewhere visit EPIC-TV Shop or BananaFingers.com to get your PhysiVantage!
Music by Misty Murphy
SAVE on  La Sportiva shoes here >>
Thank you! La Sportiva, Maxim Ropes, DMM Climbing, Friction Labs
Follow Eric on Twitter @Train4Climbing
Check out Eric’s YouTube channel.
Follow Eric on Facebook!
And on Instagram at: Training4Climbing
Copyright 2024 Eric Hörst | Horst Training, LLC.