#85: Will Running Help Your Climbing?
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
Release Date: 03/06/2023
#113: A Powerful (and Overlooked) Route Climbing Strategy for Leveling Up!
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
In this episode, I reveal a powerful — and often overlooked — strategy for developing the mental, technical, and tactical skills needed to level up your climbing. If you're an intermediate climber passionate about improving — or an advanced climber who's hit a plateau — then this is a must-listen episode. Even veteran climbers and professionals can use this strategy to refine their skills and “sharpen the saw” each season. America’s top sport climber, Jonathan Siegrist, has shared with me that he enjoys and benefits from this approach to route climbing. So, what is this...
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#112: EXPERT: Tips for Optimizing Climbing Training with Dr. Thomas Cunningham
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
Welcome to the first episode in a special series of performance-focused conversations with my friend, Dr. Thomas Cunningham. In this fast-paced discussion, we dive into a wide range of topics, including tips for optimizing climbing training, injury prevention, key dietary interventions, performance hacks, and the role of self-discipline and sacrifice. We also explore best practices tailored for hard-training climbers over 35. No matter your age, this episode is packed with actionable insights you can start applying today! RUNDOWN 0:15 - Coach Eric Hörst's welcome statement. 0:30 -...
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#111: Training & Life Upgrades to Send 2025!
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
Dear Listener, How about -- together -- we all try to SEND 2025? In other words, let's try to upgrade our thoughts and actions in all we do to make 2025 our best year yet! Towards this end, in this episode I will serve up tips for improving your training, elevating your climbing, and advancing in other important life areas! RUNDOWN 0:15 - Eric's greetings... 0:45 - Introductory comments on striving to live your dream life...in climbing and beyond. 3:38 - Upgrade #1: Improve your time management to maximize time spent engaged in important activities. 10:33 - Upgrade #2: Level-up your...
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#110: Join My "SEND 2025" Challenge! (deadline to join January 3, 2025)
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
In this brief episode, I invite you to join my "Send 2025" New Year's Challenge! I designed this free 6-week challenge to help motivate and inspire a fresh, focused, and optimistic start to the new year...and hopefully help you set off on your best year ever! The challenge is action-oriented -- so we'll ask you to set some achievable short-term goals to reach for during the 6-weeks of the challenge. These action items can relate to your training and nutrition goals for the new year, but also target bad habits you’d like to change…or other behaviors that are holding you back from reaching...
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#109: Alex Megos Interviews Eric Hörst (What?!)
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
The title of this podcast may have you thinking "WTF?" Well, this is a special episode of the T4C podcast...and I think you're going to really enjoy it! THE Alex Megos has recently launched his own podcast, and during his recent visit to the States he asked me to sit down for a conversation about the history of training, personalized program design, nutrition and recovery, and much much more. Of course, I was excited for this unique opportunity...and we had a very lively hour and ten minute conversation that I think every stoked climber will enjoy! There's lots of talk of training and...
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#108: BEST OF: 13 Send Tips That Can Make All The Difference In The World!
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
In this episode, coach Hörst shares 13 little things that can make a BIG difference when it comes to sending your near limit—or, perhaps, beyond limit!—project boulder or route. Quite often it's the tiniest of things that can make or break your ascent. Eric covers a lot of territories including the power of proper breathing, the best time of the day to send, the effects of food and drink on energy and focus, how to get the perfect warm-up, how long to rest between attempts, how to win the skin game, the importance of the shoes you wear, how your thinking can make or break a send go, and...
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#107: Last-Minute Secrets to Climbing Your Best (and Preventing the Punt!)
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
One of the ironies of climbing performance outcomes is that as hard as you've physically trained in preparation, the outcome often hinges on the quality of your mental game. The power point, here, is that when it comes down to the final days and hours leading up to an important climb, the keys to performing your best are largely mental! While many athletes "shoot themselves in the foot” in any number of ways in the days or hours leading up to competition — or even during the sports event itself! — a well-coached and mentally apt and experienced individual will act in deliberate ways to...
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#106: Biohacks and Blood Work to Support Climbing Performance
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
This 20-minute flash episode will delve briefly into two topics: 1. Popular training biohacks, including sauna use, cold plunge, and intermittent fasting. 2. The value of getting an occasional blood work-up to monitor how your health and performance-related biometrics change as a result of diet, training, and aging. This episode features an interview I did earlier this year with Kush Khandelwal of . T4C Podcast sponsor ==> Visit the leader in climbing-specific performance nutrition. Get 15% off full-priced items with checkout code: (North America only). Europe and...
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#105: Stretching Strategies and Injury Trends
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
This 15-minute flash episode will delve briefly into two topics: 1, Stretching for climbers -- learn what to do and when. 2. Recent injury trends...and the number #1 thing you can do to lower your injury risk. This episode features an interview I did earlier this year with Kush Khandelwal of . T4C Podcast sponsor ==> Visit the leader in climbing-specific performance nutrition. Get 15% off full-priced items with checkout code: (North America only). Europe and elsewhere visit or to get your PhysiVantage! SAVE on Thank...
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#104: Tips for Raising Happy, Healthy Climbing Kids
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
In this Flash episode, I'm going to talk briefly about raising happy, healthy kids with a passion for climbing! There's no "right" way to raise kid climbers...but I'm going to share the approach that my wife and I used to develop well-rounded kids who, today as young adults (ages 22 and 24), love climbing more than ever! This episode features an interview I did earlier this year with Kush Khandelwal of . T4C Podcast sponsor ==> Visit the leader in climbing-specific performance nutrition. Get 15% off full-priced items with checkout code: (North America only). Europe and...
info_outlineIt's a question I get asked all the time: "Will doing some running (or other cardio) help my climbing performance?" Giving a proper answer demands some nuance based on the individual's phenotype as well as their current level of climbing experience and fitness, and time available for training. (But in many cases, the answer is "yes".) This fast-paced episode gives a scientific basis for helping you determine if doing some running could enhance your climbing performance.
RUNDOWN
0:14 - Welcome
1:00 - Introduction to "running for climbing".
2:20 - The problem with training sound bites and memes...
4:32 - 4 ways that running (or other generalized cardiovascular conditioning, such as swimming, rowing, biking, etc.) can support a higher level of climbing performance
5:08 - #1. Research has shown that more cardiovascular fit climbers recover faster. This means greater recovery on marginal mid-route rests and faster recovery between boulders, routes, and exercises.
8:02- How your resting heart rate can be used as a measure of your cardiovascular fitness.
9:42 - #2. Greater generalized aerobic conditioning will improve stamina for long days of bouldering, climbing, training, and performing at elevation.
11:10 - #3. Regular generalized conditioning can help improve your body composition and increase your strength-to-weight ratio.
13:02 - #4: Running or other cardio has been shown to improve mental state, mood, and energy.
14:24 - Recap: 8 take-home points about running (and other cardio exercises) for climbing.
- Running will not improve your climbing technique/skill.
- Running will accelerate your recovery at mid-climb rests and between exercises and climbs.
- Running will increase stamina for long days of bouldering, training, and climbing.
- Running can help optimize your body composition, thus increasing your strength-to-weight ratio.
- Running can improve mood and energy.
- Running (or other cardio exercises) must be done at moderate intensity and duration. 2 to 4 days per week for 20 to 40 minutes each.
- Run on rest days from climbing, or as part of a 2-a-day workout schedule.
- Do NOT let your running (or other cardio) escalate to excessive amounts that create excessive fatigue or take away from climbing time.
20:20 - Episode Sponsor: PhysiVantage Nutrition -- Get 15% off full-priced climbing nutrition with checkout code: PODCAST15 (North America only). Europe and elsewhere visit EPIC-TV Shop or BananaFingers.com to get your PhysiVantage!
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21:00 - Closing comments -- Horst Out!
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Music by Misty Murphy
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Copyright 2023 Eric Hörst | Horst Training, LLC.