The Testpiece Podcast

By TestpieceSports

The Testpiece Podcast episodes

October 28, 2024#122 Hamish McArthur — His Surprising Path To Olympic Success, The Right Kind of Motivation, BTS at Paris 2024, Advice To Young Hamish, and Handling Danger and Death
If you watched the Paris Olympics then you remember Hamish McArthur’s stand out performance to secure an incredible 5th place finish.

Hamish had already stood atop World Cup podiums and won Youth Worlds, but his Olympic showing was a clear level up.
In this episode Hamish shares what changed for him in the year leading up to the Olympics and how it ultimately led him to having one of the best competitions in his life.
Don’t miss this incredibly inspiring and thought provoking chat with the inimitable, Hamish McArthur!
SHOW NOTES:
Hamish’s Instagram
Life Is Limbo
Michael Gardner Arcteryx Post

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1 hr 46 min
October 21, 2024#121 Matt Fultz — BIG MOVES small crimps, Long Term Projecting, Video Analysis, Hardest Board Climbs, Throwing Away His Scale, and How He Coaches on OTG
You’ve heard of Matt Fultz, but you may not realize just how amazing Matt is. He’s climbed eight V16’s. 8. Eight!

By the way, two of them are rarely repeated and recognized as some of the hardest in the world (Hypnotized Minds and Big Z). He’s FA’d 7 climbs V15 and up, including 2 V15’s in one day!! We’re pretty sure that’s a world’s first, but who’s counting…
Matt has also been coaching for well over a decade and founded Off The Ground coaching (“OTG”), which is one of the most highly respected remote coaching services. Matt is just as passionate about being a coach as he is a climber.
In this episode Matt shares some of his tactics for climbing harder right NOW, how to manage long term projects, how he uses video analysis, what the hardest board climbs in the world are and much much more.

SHOW NOTES:
Matt Fultz Instagram
Off The Ground Coaching with Matt
Wheeler Brothers Testpiece Podcast

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1 hr 52 min
October 14, 2024#120 Alvaro Rangel — Coaching Team USA at the Olympics, Not Saying ‘Strong’, The Most Important Skill, Making Finals vs Semi’s, Case Studies, and The Future of Comp Climbing
Alvaro Rangel, Al, is back on the podcast after 2+ years! Al was one of the first guests and one of the best. The last podcast we did was incredible, but somehow Al managed to top it with today’s episode.
He is the founder and head coach of Team Class 5 in San Diego, CA. Al is also part of the Team USA coaching staff and supports the team at World Cups as well as at the recent Paris Olympics.
Al’s insight into what makes climbers the best in the world is rare. He shares his thoughts on what mastery in climbing looks like, the most important skill for a competitor to develop, and even his case studies on the top climbers in our sport.
SHOW NOTES:
Team Class 5
Al’s Instagram
Testpiece Podcast #7 with Al
The Art of Learning
Testpiece Podcast with Garrett Gregor
Mevo Camera

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2 hr 34 min
October 07, 2024#119 Melina Costanza — Elite Mental Training and Performance, Look Good Feel Good Play Good, Getting Hooked on The Outdoors, and The Nuances of Eating As a Top Athlete
Melina Costanza is an 8x US National Champion. Sometimes as a youth, sometimes as a collegiate, sometimes in Open, sometimes in bouldering, sometimes in lead, sometimes both. Yes, last year at Open Nationals (2023) she won both Bouldering and Lead. She is set to compete in the 2024 Open Nationals coming up in a week, so after you listen to this podcast make sure to mark your calendars for October 14th and 15th and cheer her on!
In this podcast, Melina shares her extremely deep dive into mental training and how she translates that to her incredible performances in competition. It is an absolute masterclass on this topic that cannot be missed.
She also talks about her views on indoor vs outdoor climbing and how that’s recently changed and why.
Finally, Melina covers a sensitive, but important, topic. Eating as an elite athlete. Melina struggled with an eating disorder at one point and suffered a serious injury as a result. She has returned to sport since then, and done so successfully (see above, Nationals 2023 double gold). Melina shares how to best frame eating when you are an athlete.
Because let’s face it, weight management will always be part of the equation in sports. But it needs to be done the right way. It is not a simple black and white topic, even though media often makes it out to be, which is a disservice to those trying to figure out their path forward. Melina is making a huge contribution to the community by sharing how she navigates the nuances so that she can perform at her best in a sustainable way.

SHOW NOTES:
Melina's Instagram
Melina’s Favorite Hype Song, Runnin
Melina’s Favorite Chill Songs, Taylor Swift
Day One Journaling App
Alex Johnson’s Testpiece Podcast Episode

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2 hr 24 min
September 30, 2024#118 Ward Byrum — Setting Climbs For Tens of Thousands of Climbers, What Makes A Climb Good, Indoor vs Outdoor Grades, and What A ‘Testpiece’ is at Movement Gyms
Ward Byrum is the Director of Routesetting for all Movement gyms in the East Region. Yes, that Movement. The biggest climbing gym chain in America and probably the world. That means that Ward and his team decide what the climbing will be like for thousands of climbers. Scratch that, ten’s of thousands of climbers. It might even be hundreds of thousands of climbers or even millions! But hey, who’s counting? The climbs his team puts up will likely be their first experience of climbing and quite possibly the only climbing they ever do.

Tune in and hear what the principles are behind one of the biggest route setting programs to ever have been created. And hear about it directly from Ward, who has been behind the scenes during the incredible evolution of indoor climbing and setting these past few decades.

SHOW NOTES:
Ward’s Instagram
Movement Gyms
ReTex Holds

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2 hr 21 min
September 23, 2024#117 Tom Randall — How Fit Climbers Get Strong and Strong Climbers Get Fit, Founding Lattice Training and How It’s Evolved, Why Recovery On Route Is So Important, and What Separates the Good from the Great
Tom Randall is an iconic climber and founder. You might know him as one of the Wide Boyz, as one of the founders of Lattice Training, as a high level coach, or for his 5.14 Trad FA’s or even his FA of the worlds hardest crack boulder, aptly named “The Kraken” [V13]. Ya, Tom’s done it all, and has helped the best in the world do it even better.
In this chat, Tom gives a masterclass on what actually gets climbers better. He also shares how to best use data from metrics, how the testing for metrics have evolved, and why Lattice started capturing these metrics in the first place!
SHOW NOTES:
Lattice Training
Quantifying Technique Video by Lattice
Aidan and Bosi on Burden Of Dreams Replica
Tom’s Instagram
Wide Boyz YouTube
Magnus Midtbo Testing with Lattice

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2 hr 16 min
September 16, 2024 #116 David Fitzgerald — A Big Zeason [V16], Lucid Dreaming [V15+], His Breakthrough On How To Approach Hard Projects, Creating Hits with Highpoint Productions, and Editing 101
David Fitzgerald is back after an absolutely incredible season. Dave was previously on for Testpiece Episode #55, a total fan favorite.
Last season Dave had a list of climbs in different styles to tackle. Tierrany, a V14 endurance bloc in Yosemite. Equanimity, a V15 ultra tech testpiece in Tahoe. Lucid Dreaming, the V15+ straight forward power problem in Bishop. And Big Z, a V16 power endurance mega-testpiece that has thwarted many of the best climbers in the world.
Did we mention he did this all after sustaining his worst finger injury ever?
Oh wait, did we also mention that during this he formed Highpoint Productions and released the block buster hits “The Gold Standard” and “In Sequence”?
Dave is one of a kind and about as under the radar as it gets. Tune in to hear from one of the best on what it takes to do hard blocs and what it takes to edit at a similarly high level!

SHOW NOTES:
Highpoint Productions
The Gold Standard
In Sequence

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2 hr 1 min
September 09, 2024 #115 Garrett Gregor — Olympic Head Routesetter, BTS of Elite Competitive Setting, Grades of the Olympic Climbs, and Do Setters Control the Outcome?
Garrett Gregor was the head routesetter for the Paris Olympics boulders! That’s all you need to know. Just stop reading this description and start listening now.
Garrett is also an accomplished competitor, placing as high as 4th at Nationals, an experienced coach at the legendary Team ABC, and did we mention he’s an elite routesetter?! IFSC Level 5, etc, etc etc…. Didn’t you already see that he was the head routesetter for the Paris Olympic boulders?!
In this banger episode Garrett shares all of the nuts and bolts of what it’s like behind the scenes of high level competition setting. He shares the grades of the boulders and routes at the Paris Olympics, and he tackles the classic question “Do Setters Control the Outcome of Competitions?”.
Don’t miss this one!!

SHOW NOTES:
IFSC Guidelines
Jiro Dreams of Sushi

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2 hr 27 min
September 02, 2024#114 Tyler Nelson — How Personal Morphology Affects Climbing Performance, Specificity, Unlevel Edges, Talon Grip, and Tim Gabbett’s Paradox
Dr. Tyler Nelson is the founder of Camp 4 Human Performance, a company focused on bringing the principles of sport science to climbing.
Tyler is focused on being a cutting edge resource for training and rehabilitation of climbers. This means he is always knee deep in research papers from all sorts of sports and asking how we might apply those lessons to climbing. Then he explores these potential findings through testing, ultrasound, and training with some of the best athletes in climbing. Some of his questions and hypotheses have ruffled feathers, but that is exactly what makes Tyler interesting and a valuable asset to our community.
In this episode Tyler goes deep on finger morphology, the frame work for how climbers should understand strength training, why training on an unlevel edge could be useful, what a talon grip is, and a paradox we all run into when starting to strength train.

SHOW NOTES:
Camp 4 Human Performance Instagram
Camp 4 Human Performance YouTube
Camp 4 Human Performance Website
Unlevel Edges by Zach at Specialized Masochism
Allison Vest podcast
Ultrasound post by Tyler
The Wrist Wrench

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2 hr 14 min
August 26, 2024#113 Kevin Brown — Literally Everything Your Ever Wanted To Know About Chalk, Founding Friction Labs, Skin Farming, and How To Make Sure You Are Getting The Best Friction On Holds
This is the episode to learn everything about one of, if not the, most important parts of our climbing kit — chalk! The real topic here is how to maximize friction between your hands and the holds, which is crucial for sending your hardest.
Kevin Brown joins the pod and goes deep on the science of how to get the best friction on holds. He talks about the chemical make up of the best chalk, what it has, what it doesn’t have, the pH of chalk and why that matters. He also shares the history of chalk (and pof!), some of the potential future advancements in chalk, and how to prepare best prepare your skin and holds for each attempt.
Kevin knows this area so well because he’s the founder of Friction Labs. Kevin is also a lifelong climber who climbs into the V double digits and has contributed to the climbing community in a bunch of ways. Not only is he the founder of Friction Labs, he also helped found the Denver Bouldering Club which was one of the first real gyms in that area.

SHOW NOTES:
Friction Labs Website
Friction Labs Instagram
Carlo’s Dark Side Episode
Athletic Hands
Liquid Chalk

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1 hr 26 min