Our Top Ten Podcast Episodes of 2019
We turned 4 years old as the calender moved into 2020, which makes us practically ancient in the podcasting world. New shows come and go quickly around here, and I’m extremely proud that we’ve just grown and improved over the time we’ve been around.
We made some changes this year - namely bringing a new blog writer, Lauren Abernathy, who does a fantastic job of parsing out the important parts of podcast episodes and discussing how they relate to her training and climbing. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but when I saw her writing, I knew she’d be far better at it than I am.
Another big happening this year is that we hit ONE MILLION downloads, which doesn’t even really make sense to me (insert mindblown emoji). That’s A LOT of my voice that you all have listened to. Maybe too much. You may need to seek professional help.
In all seriousness, thanks again to all of you for listening and continuing to spread the word. And thanks to everyone who has sat down with me for a conversation - it’s those in person, in depth conversations that drive me to continue doing this thing.
If you aren’t a subscriber already, GO DO IT NOW! We’re available on every major podcast app, and your pocket super computer will make sure you don’t miss any episodes so that you’ll be among the first to get them as soon as I hit the upload button.
And if your friends aren’t subscribers, grab their pocket super computer and do it for them. They’ll thank you.
Several of these episodes were released in October and November, which means they had very little time to make it onto this list - but they’re here. That means you all spread the word even more as the year came to a close. Honestly, they were also FIRE episodes, but you keep telling people about them, so THANK YOU.
Here are the top ten episodes of 2019, based on number of downloads. Some of my favorites didn’t make the list, but many of them did. How about yours?
Photo by Stefano Ghisolfi
While emceeing Rocktoberfest in Red River Gorge, I had the chance to introduce Ken and Alex and their film Rotpunkt. I was blown away by the level of connection shown in the film, and really wanted to talk to Ken about what it was like to watch the process Alex goes through - and what he had learned from it.
After a few minutes of digging in, we were joined by Alex, and so I changed the course of the conversation to looking at how a friendship is developed - and tested - when documenting a project like this. Alex wants to be the best climber in the world. Is he too hard on himself? In this episode, we get to hear both perspectives - from Alex himself as well as from Ken, whose job it was to watch it all unfold and tell the story that emerged - a job he did quite well.
Easily one of my favorites episodes this year, and if you haven’t yet seen the amazing film, it’s free on Youtube HERE.
Brian Antheunisse, despite a successful youth comp career, is a name you may not have heard unless you pay close attention. He’s an undercover crusher from the ranks of many Texas crushers.
I sat down with Brian to discuss his on and off 9 year epic battle with the Fred Nicole testpiece Esperanze (V14), including a very surprising last minute beta revelation.
Finding a nemesis in V14 is really not much different than finding one in your first V4. The same lessons, the same frustrations, and maybe, just maybe, the same elation.
Photo by Chris Bailey Speed
LEGEND. Growing up a Red River Climber, the name Bill Ramsey held weight. Being a 40+ year old climber trying to get stronger and better, the name Bill Ramsey holds weight.
In this episode I sit down in a sketchy Las Vegas hotel room to chat with Bill, who had recently sent Jumbo Pumping Hate, a famous Clark Mountain 14a at 59 years old and a few days before hip surgery. We discuss his philosophies on training, the infamous Pain Box theory, and how he approaches the big projects he continues to crush regularly.
Definitely one of my favorite conversations of the year.
Nate and I sat down outside Starcraft, the Power Company Spaceship while in Hueco Tanks to answer a few listener questions about Roadtripping. We’ve both spent a considerable amount of time on the road - Nate full time for several years, and I’ve made the switch from Weekend Warrior to Road Warrior over the last few years, sending my first V11 on this roadtrip.
Between the two of us, we know a few things about performing well while on the road - and we’re still learning.
If you’ve spent time on a Moonboard, you’ve surely heard of Ravioli Biceps. He’s the KING of the Moonboard - the only person on earth to have completed all of the benchmarks of the 2016 set. Not an easy feat, when you consider that there are testpieces on there from the likes of Daniel Woods and Alex Megos - not to mention the legendary Ben Moon.
Because of the support this podcast gets, I was able to fly to Las Vegas, session on the Moonboard with the legend himself, and sit down to discuss where the Moonboard obsession came from and how it’s altered his identity as a climber.
Even if you aren’t a Moonboard fanatic, you should listen to this one.
We’ve talked with Dr. Vagy on several occasions, and a previous epsiode has a spot on our Top 10 All Time list - but this episode has caught on in a big way. In the few weeks before this post, this episode had rocketed up the charts - displacing Jared’s previous Top 10 episode!
Here we sit down at the CWA Summit to discuss Jared’s take on some of the myths and hot topics in the training world - things not everyone will agree with.
If there’s one thing I know for sure about training for climbing, it’s that nearly everything works some of the time. Vague enough? I guess you’ll just have to listen to learn more.
The recent shift toward science in climbing has people all riled up. Sometimes for good reason, sometimes not so much.
Dr. Nelson and I sit down at The Donut Distillery in Nashville, TN on our way to teach at the Performance Climbing Coach Seminar to discuss some of the current research, how to decide what you should and shouldn’t pay attention to, and to try and give some context to his constant stream of Instagram information. We get heavily into tendon research and it’s implications for climbers in both the rehab setting and more performance focused applications.
This episode, for the few weeks leading to this post, has been in a back and forth battle for #10 on our all time list. I expect by the end of 2020, it will have cemented it’s position on the list - unless it gets knocked off by more coming from Tyler in 2020!
This is Paul’s first appearance on our Top Ten list, but I’m sure it won’t be his last. Besides being a Power Company coach (and my wife’s favorite coach), Paul is also owner of Crux Conditioning, Chattanooga’s premier spot for training for climbing.
When it comes to strength training for climbers, Paul is my first stop. I honestly don’t believe there’s another person more knowledgeable and in the trenches than him.
While it’s become fairly widely accepted that climbers should engage in some sort of strength training, we’ve got some reasons that you may not have considered. In this episode we sit down in the Red River Gorge in Starcraft, the Power Company Spaceship, during a ridiculously wet season, to discuss the top 5 of our many reasons.
This episode sparked some controversy because of one of the reasons we believe the pros are better than you. We still think it. In fact, we know it.
It’s not just because they’re stronger. Obviously they are, but there are reasons. Lots of reasons. These are just the top 5, and some of them you’ll be able to pull into your practice as well.
I’m very stoked that so many Board Meetings made the list this year. We’ve long heard that the Board Meetings are a fan favorite, and it’s starting to show up in the numbers as well. Nate and I work hard to put forward good information, and we have a list of approximately 7842 potential topics, so expect many more Board Meetings in 2020!
A juggernaut from the start, this episode quickly rose to #1 on our ALL TIME LIST! It’s now over 2,000 downloads in the lead, and for good reason. Eva doesn’t do many audio interviews, and was nervous that her English wouldn’t be good enough, but she absolutely crushed it.
We sat down at Esther Smith’s house in Salt Lake and discussed Eva’s research, how it’s been misinterpreted, and what she’s learned from it all. As one of the early researches on the important subject of finger strength, Eva has a unique view that is surprisingly common sense.
And of course, we tell you what the BEST hangboard protocol actually is!