#101: EXPERT: Optimizing Training, Health, and Performance with Functional Medicine
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
Release Date: 07/09/2024
#119 - 5 Powerful Lessons from Emily Harrington's "Girl Climber" Movie
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
Learn five powerful lessons for achieving big, difficult goals that I took away from watching -- the new film that chronicles Emily Harrington’s incredible, multi-year journey to free-climb El Capitan’s Golden Gate route in under 24 hours. For me, this isn’t just a film about climbing—it’s about resilience, will power, and the triumph of human spirit, Furthermore, it serves as a bold reminder of what it takes to stay committed to a dream in the face of fear, doubt, setbacks, and even failure. As Emily’s journey shows, greatness isn’t built on talent alone. It comes from...
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#118 - Wes Schweitzer - Training to Boulder V10 (Pro Football Player Turned Climber!)
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
After nine years as an NFL offensive lineman for the Falcons, Commanders, and Jets, Wes Schweitzer has traded 330-pound trench battles for crimps, slopers, and steep boulders! In this inspiring conversation, Wes shares how climbing started as elbow rehab modality, turned into a passion, and even improved his football performance. We dive into the parallels between elite football and high-level climbing, his challenges with a variety of football-related injuries, and his bold goal: to become the heaviest climber ever to send V10. Along the way, Wes reflects on career highlights—Super Bowl...
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#117: Manage Fear Like A Pro - 18 Tips for Winning the Climbing Head Games!
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
Nothing is more elemental to climbing than fear. The fear of falling, getting hurt, failing, looking foolish, or simply facing the unknown can feel torturous—and even paralyzing. To climb efficiently and confidently—and to pursue your peak performance—you must learn to assess and manage fear effectively. In this 90-minute episode, Coach Hörst delivers a tour de force of 18 fear management techniques designed to help you unlock a new level of mental mastery. These practical strategies will empower you to perform at your best on boulders, at the crag, and in everyday life. (Because...
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#116: Climb Better TODAY! 15 In-Season Tips to Level Up Now!
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
Coach Hörst shares 15 game-changing tips to elevate your climbing this season. Performance gains aren’t made solely in the gym. As Coach Hörst explains, there’s a lot you can do in-season—technically, tactically, and nutritionally—to level up your outdoor climbing. Apply just a few of these strategies today, and you might send your project sooner than expected. Put most or all into practice over the coming weeks, and you could unlock a whole new level of performance this season! RUNDOWN 0:30 – Introduction: Why these 15 tips matter for your in-season performance. 2:20 – Tip #1:...
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#115: Training Strategy for the Next Grade -- A collab with Ryan Devlin of the Struggle Podcast
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
What does it take to break through to the next climbing grade? With each new milestone, the challenge grows harder—but potentially more rewarding. In this special collaboration with The Struggle Podcast, I coach Ryan Devlin as he works to push past his current limit of 5.13a and lay the foundation for his next breakthrough in sport climbing. No matter your level, the tips and strategies we share in this episode can help guide your own climbing progression. A key focus of our conversation is the concept of building a solid "grade pyramid"—a proven approach for long-term advancement. This...
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#114: Common Training Mistakes That May Be Limiting Your Climbing
Eric Hörst's Training For Climbing Podcast
The podcast is a classic Eric Hörst tour de force of climbing wisdom! No matter your ability level, training background, or goals, listening to this episode will challenge your current approach and inspire you to reinvent your training for better results. In this hour-long lecture, Coach Hörst breaks down 10 common training mistakes. Chances are, one, two, or maybe even several of these missteps will hit close to home. But don’t get discouraged—get psyched! Identifying these flaws empowers you to train smarter day in and day out, and to course-correct your long-term plan. That’s the...
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#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...
info_outlineMany 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
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