BAFFLE DAYS - Australian Climbing

Cait Horan - Cancer, Adventure, Mentorship and North Americas top 50 climbs

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Tom O'Halloran and Amanda Watts) — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 02:53:29 +0000

Cait Horan has climbed just about everywhere! From Yosemite Valley, the Bugaboos, Red River Gorge, Joshua Tree, Bishop, Zion, the list goes on and on. Plus the list of places she has climbed in Australia is longer than the places she hasn't. The crazy thing is, she's done all this with a full time job and a brutal battle with cancer. Cait has been a major mentor for many climbers in the ACT community, coaching the Canberra Indoor Climbing team for many years in the early and mid 2000s as well as just being a positive roll model for everyone.

Her perspective is inspiring and left Amanda and myself with a lot to think about after we switched the mics off.

Follow Cait's adventures: Cait Horan

The Rapp Climbing Podcast

A story from the Australian Alpine winter, by a kid from the Tropics

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Tom O'Halloran and Amanda Watts) — Sun, 30 Nov 2025 05:38:00 +0000

If you'd like to learn the basics of mountaineering or climb some incredible peaks around the world, check out Climbing the Seven Summits https://climbingthesevensummits.com/select-expedition/

Wild Magazine https://wild.com.au/

@baffledays

Injuries and what trail running taught us about climbing and training

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Tom O'Halloran and Amanda Watts) — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 00:22:03 +0000

Amanda Watts and Tom O'Halloran are back. So what's been happening in the Baffle House.

The climbing froth has been going up and down. What has that looked like?

The injuries have been coming and going and coming again. How have we navigated that?

Trail running has been in and out the door a few times. There's a surprising amount of lessons we've drawn from running. How will it help our climbing?

Plus we've realised there hasn't been nearly enough adventures in our lives. We want some long days on bigger walls. We want to see new places and experience new things. We want a day, year and life we can look back on and think, 'that was pretty awesome.' We talk about all this and a bit more in this weeks episode.

Buster Martin - Action Directe, finger injury recovery, pocket training, coaching and more

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Buster Martin, Tom O'Halloran, Amanda Watts) — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 03:04:25 +0000

Buster has been climbing since childhood. He competed for his country as a junior competitor where he made European Championship finals, World Cup semi finals and numerous domestic comp victories. Buster's main focus now is rock climbing. He's the second brit to climb 9a+/36 with his ascent of First Ley in Margalef. Buster has also climbed countless routes in the 8c+-9a 34-35 range including the historic test pieces Hubble and Action Directe.

In this chat, we dig into Buster's preparation for Action Directe, the worlds first 9a/35. His pocket training, finger injury recovery and just a bit of froth about the route overall. We also talk about his coaching business, his approach to coaching and how it all works. When we spoke with Buster, he was preparing for a trip to Spain to try a crazy 9b/37 called First Round First Minute, put up by Chris Sharma in 2011.

Buster started Kaizen Climbing, his coaching business, to share his knowledge and psyche for training with as many people as he could. If you're interested in connecting with Kaizen, head to their website and give them a follow on instagram. There really is some awesome information in there.

Video of Buster on Action Directe

Video of Buster on Hubble

Buster's instagram

Baffle Days' favourite training books can be found here

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Krystal Wright - photography, creativity, finding inspiration and social media

podcast@baffledays.com.au (krystal wright, Amanda Watts, Tom O'Halloran) — Thu, 8 Dec 2022 20:41:45 +0000

Krystal's journey is an inspiring one. She knew what she wanted and went after it. Capturing moments in crazy locations of crazy people doing crazy things, all around the world. We covered some good ground in this conversation and I really appreciated Krystal's honesty to just dive in.

You can follow Krystal on instagram here

Krystal's website

Baffle Days books, coffee trays and other bits here

Steve Bechtel - new book, goals, embracing new ideas and endurance training

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Amanda Watts, Steve Bechtel, Tom O'Halloran) — Tue, 8 Nov 2022 19:08:28 +0000

Steve is the founder of Climb Strong. He’s a climber for more than 30 years, and established over 300 new routes across the globe, from big wall free climbs to 25-foot sport routes on his home crags near Lander, Wyoming. An exercise science graduate of the University of Wyoming, Steve has been studying and experimenting with climbing training methods since his teens. After spending a few years as a full-time climber, Steve opened Elemental Performance + Fitness in 2002. Elemental is a full-service gym in Lander, but was built around the training needs of high-level climbers.

We love Steve's ability to boil down the science to lay terms and give practical advice on how to apply it in life. To us, that’s the hallmark of a great coach.

Steve’s new book Mettle was the catalyst for this chat. The book digs into the philosophical side of climbing and those softer skills which are so easily forgotten or overshadowed by going hard on strength.

We dive into :

Our approach to goals and the journey to them

Openness to new ideas

The evolution of training protocols and the big mistake many people make in their endurance training

Also, no hangs. Are they legit. What are they even?

We have Steve’s new book in stock at baffledays.com.au (link in the show notes) along with a couple of Steve’s other awesome books. Unstoppable Force and Logical Progression 2. We also have copies of The Hard Truth by Kris Hampton aka Power Company Climbing and we also have Beastmaking – a fingers first approach to becoming a better climber. A book written by Mr Beastmaker himself, Ned Feehally one of the co founders of Beastmaker. It’s an absolute ripper.

I’ve also been working on a little side project product which is now live on the store as well. Take a look and if you think it’s something which may be useful for you or someone you know. I think they’re pretty cool and an environmentally friendly alternative to the single use versions of what’s already out there. Grab one or a couple and let me know what you think. Could be an easy Christmas gift? Far out, we are already saying that word.

Registration is now open for the Performance Climb Coach course. Courses content will go live on 14th November and you’ll have access to all the courses until 14th May 2023. Seriously, it’s so worth it. Link in the description.

THE LINKS:

Check out Steve's new book and all the others we have. Plus the cool new product I made. https://www.baffledays.com.au/shop/

If you want to get in touch with Steve and the Climb Strong crew https://www.climbstrongcoach.com/

BAFFLEDAYS at checkout for 15% off at checkout https://awesomewoodys.com/

Maddy Cope - Freerider, training, headspace and menstruation

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 05:44:49 +0000

Maddy Cope has climbed Freerider 28/7c+ in Yosemite, La Scimma Nuda, (9 pitch) 29/8a in Switzerland and countless other hard multipitch/trad routes. She's also cranked out a couple 33/8c's, Mind Control and Bat Route, and smashed out 32/8b+ on gear! She's a true allrounder.

We talk about her process on Freerider and desire to keep seeking adventure and exploration. We also dig into headspace and finding mental cues to focus the mind while climbing.

Perhaps the best part of our conversation is when we dive deep into the menstrual cycle. Amanda puts her science hat on as well here (Masters Degree in Nutrition and Dietetics + accredited Sport Dietitian) and both Maddy and her talk us through it all. They talk about their own experiences as well as picking through the current research, discussing what it can tell us. They both have some awesome insights with how their cycle can effect their climbing, training and life and ways you can still get the most out of yourself. There's some total gold in there for everyone to take home. Fellas, if you're still reading at this point and haven't yet listened to the whole episode, please do. There's a lot to learn and every bit is great. Do your part to understand what half the population experiences for four decades of their life.

Links we mention in the show.

Female Climber Series part 1

Female Climber Series Part 2

Female Climber Series Part 3

An overview of the menstrual cycle

Contraception

Pregnancy and Postpartum

Tracking

Clue (good for diverse resources on the menstrual cycle, contraception and health

Follow Maddy Cope on Instagram

Get in touch with Lattice Training

See Amanda to help fuel your climbing life

Check out Baffle Days website and on instagram

Follow Amanda and Tom on instagram

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Ollie Torr - Lattice Training

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Tom O'Halloran and Amanda Watts) — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 18:45:37 +0000

Ollie Torr is one of the founders of Lattice Climbing, a Sheffield based training and research company. Perhaps best known for their research and accumulation of testing data to help predict performance. In doing so, they have helped answer the big question in climbing. How strong do I need to be?

In this episode however, we don't get buried in the weeds of numbers and energy systems, rather, we dig into the real-life side of climbing. We get into mental fatigue, the benefits of having a team around you, being kind to yourself, a little about testing and much much more.

It was a total pleasure to talk with Ollie and we can't wait to catch up again.

Lattice Training website

Lattice Training YouTube

Lattice Instagram

Ollie Torr instagram

Baffle Days

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Oceana MacKenzie - Olympic climber

Wed, 1 Dec 2021 19:00:00 +0000

In December 2020 Oceana qualified to represent Australia at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games. She did this proudly when climbing made its debut in Tokyo during August 2021.

Oceana is a Bouldering World Cup Finalist, won basically every domestic competition she's ever entered, plus on the real rock front, shes bouldered V11! Pretty impressive for someone who's just 19 years old!

In this episode we dig into the early years of Oceana's climbing life and her progression through the youth series. She talks about competition with other competitors (or lack there of), what it was like being in a World Cup final and the pressures and mindset while being there. We also talk about peanut butter, foot slips and her plans for 2022.

Follow Oceana on instagram @oceana_climbing

Baffle Days www.baffledays.com.au - @baffle_days - Baffle Days Youtube

Climbers' Olympics - Tom O'Halloran and Amanda Watts with John Sheridan

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Tom O'Halloran, Amanda Watts, John Sheridan) — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 01:37:33 +0000

It’s hard to know where to start in telling this story. It’s been a wild journey. After qualifying for the Olympics in December 2020, we thought things were going to get a bit simpler. We have a date when the Olympics are going to run and a training plan to execute, easy. The reality was a fair bit different. We naively underestimated the path to getting prepared for the biggest sporting event in the world. Perhaps we needed a bit of that to get us to the start line though.

We had big goals and put everything into making it happen. No stone was left unturned in getting Tom to Tokyo in the best shape possible. One of the biggest challenges was creating a training environment in Australia which had never existed. We were like the bow of a ship, breaking through the ice. This took a huge team effort to get Tom as prepared as we possibly could. We couldn’t be more grateful for the support.

Thank you to everyone that helped along this journey, you’re all incredible. Thank you to those who donated to the ASF fundraiser and sent messages of support. It was truly humbling to see how amazing and psyched you all are. Thank you to everyone at Sport Climbing Australia for all the hard work behind the scenes. Thank you to Tom’s sponsors for all their support. Thank you to the climbing gyms for giving me the space to train and prepare. Especially Villawood Climbing gym, Skywood Climbing and Nomad Bouldering. Thank you to Lee Cossey and the Move Clinic for the training plans which took Tom’s climbing to another level. Thank you to Amanda Watts and Thrive Sport Nutrition for keeping Tom fuelled and recovered for seven of the hardest months of training he had ever done. Thank you everyone for everything. This is a team sport!

The only thing left to do now, is decide where to get the tattoo.

You can check out the story of the Olympic qualification here on Episode #24.

Check out our chat with Sherro in Episode #15. He is a power lifting coach and runs Burley Strength in Canberra.

YouTube:

www.baffledays.com.au

Dave Jones

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Tom O'Halloran, Dave Jones) — Sun, 6 Jun 2021 19:00:00 +0000

Dave Jones is one of the rare ones. Growing up in Victoria, he quickly ended up spending many of his early climbing years making his way out to Arapiles and The Grampians. It wasn’t long before Dave started finding his own lines to climb, searching out unclimbed features which caught his imagination. Some of his notable First Ascents include Punks Addiction 32/8b+, Somoza 32/8b+, Academia 31/8b, Feather Boa 28/7c+ and Shai-Hulud 25X/7bX just to name a few. Dave also spent some time in England, checking out the infamous Gritstone, which landed him in one of the best climbing films of all time, Hard Grit.

Dave is also and artist, creating mind bending sculptures. He says the inspiration he found in finding new, improbable lines to climb is similar to what inspires him with his art. He wants to create pieces he isn’t actually sure he can pull off. To have to really problem solve and work out how to make it all come together.

Dave is also part of the Gariwerd Wimmera Reconciliation Network, a group formed to help bridge a gap between Traditional Owners in the area and climbers. The group is doing a fantastic job in opening communication between the two parties and hopes to continue to learn and build understanding. https://gwrn.org.au

You can check out Dave's art via his website http://www.transience.com.au/wp/

As many of you may know, there is currently (June 2021) widespread climbing bans through the Gariwerd and Wimmera area. Please stay up to date with where you are and aren’t allowed to climb through this time. You can find out info at https://vicclimb.org.au as well as speaking with locals.

Check out more episodes, news and grab yourself some Baffle Days merch at www.baffledays.com.au

Setting the scene with Pat Banda and Dan Gordon

Mon, 26 Apr 2021 02:32:55 +0000

You walk into a climbing gym, look around at all the nice fiberglass shapes, the funky volumes and order yourself a coffee. A coupe hours later you walk out having had a blast of a time with your friends and a few layers of skin down. In a few days time you'll be back and do the same thing again. You are a climber and the sport has taken over your life, even if its just for a few hours each week. How good is it!

What really goes into making this sport and life so good though? Well a large part of it is the product of the setters and their creative flow. They dream, concoct and set the things that make you smile, drive you insane and keep you coming back.

In the Baffle Days studio today we have Pat Banda and Dan Gordon two head setters from the uber massive Urban Climb. Dan's official roll is actually 'Head of Climbing,' how cool is that! Anyway in this ep we dig into the ins and outs of the indoor scene. We talk setting, comps, creativity, holds and much much more. It's a super interesting insight to a world we really only see the top layer of.

www.baffledays.com.au

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Climber's Dirty Tricks? Yay or Nay

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Amanda Watts, Tom O'Halloran, Lee Cujes, Helen Day) — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 02:13:20 +0000

I'm almost certain many of you have done one or all of these things. A generation ago, employing some of these tactics may have resulted in being chased out of the crag. Perhaps there are still a few strong holds which keep the torch burning in a quest for pure ascents. The question is, do these tactics sit within the lines of fair play or have we pushed the boat out too far? Are those who shun these ideas just the beard stroking class of yesteryear, too lost in tearing people down to actually evolve with the times. Or is there legitimacy to their cries.

Helping the Baffle Days team to unpack our chosen ethical quagmires is Lee Cujes and Helen Day.

Check the Baffle Days website for training books from Climb Strong and Power company climbing, as well as Baffle apparel. https://www.baffledays.com.au/shop

Check out more Baffle Days episodes https://www.baffledays.com.au

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Tom O'Halloran Australian Olympian - Sport Climbing

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Tom O'Halloran and Amanda Watts) — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 23:42:53 +0000

On 19-20 December 2020 at Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym Villawood, the Oceania Climbing Championships were held, giving one last chance for a ticket to the Tokyo Olympic Games for one athlete per gender from the region. Tom O'Halloran qualified for the male category and talks to us about his journey.

Tom talks about his early climbing journey, (unknowingly) meeting Adam Ondra for the first time, competitions and transitioning from outdoor to indoor climbing. We also get into the decision making process to go for the Olympic spot, headspace in the lead up and during the competition. Tom went through a very dark mental headspace prior to the competition which nearly ended with him pulling out. We talk about what got him through it and how it turned around for competition day. Plus, what it will take for Australia to get onto the podium on the world stage.

Oceana MacKenzie qualified for Australia in the female category.

Tom is currently fundraising funds to help pay for the next 7 months. All donations are tax deductible https://asf.org.au/athletes/tom-ohalloran-tokyo-2021-olympics/

You can follow Tom's Olympic journey through Instagram @tom_ohalloran and YouTube.

Check out Baffle Days on instagram and a find more content on our website.

Music: Somerville and Wilson - Red Wasps

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4 reasons we didn't send

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 05:50:12 +0000

Each one of us tells a story of a time we stuffed up a send. Hopefully through talking about a few of these things, you'll learn from our mistakes and navigate your way around them. If you have experienced them before, feel comforted that you're not alone. It happens to us all.

Here's the video Tom references for his big dummy spit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H3OkmWqNCY

Baffle Days https://www.baffledays.com.au

Follow the gang on Instagram

Leah Dempsey - @leahmdempsey

Matt Norgrove - @mnorgrove

Amanda Watts - @a.mandawatts

Tom O'Halloran - @tom_ohalloran

Baffle Days - @baffledays

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Duncan Brown - Athlete and Adventure by Choice

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Tom O'Halloran, Amanda Watts, Duncan Brown) — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 22:25:22 +0000

Duncan Brown has been a climber for decades now. He has travelled all over the world in this time, including a stint in China as part of the big wave of development 10 years ago. He was apart of the team being flown across the country being paid to bolt the countless limestone caves, granite faces and sandstone walls. What a dream!

Duncan is also the man behind Athlete by Choice, his climbing and mountain sport coaching business based out of Canberra. He's coached everyone from weekend warriors, psyched week night gym climbers to the Australian Sport Climbing team. He'll be the climbing coach of the Australian Olympic team when that happens in 2021. Just recently he's acquired his own gym space in Canberra to set up a dedicated facility to really help develop his clients. Be on the look out for Mountain Strong in Canberra in early 2021!

Athlete by Choice:

Athlete by Choice website

Athlete by Choice facebook

Athlete by Choice instgram

Mountain Strong:

Mountain Strong website

Mountain Strong facebook

Mountain Strong instagram

As always you can check out Baffle Days for more podcasts, articles and news.

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The future of Australian climbing

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Lee Cossey, Jake Bresnehan, Tom O'Halloran) — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 19:00:02 +0000

It’s easy to believe the popular overseas destinations are the bee’s knees. They’re in the movies, on the posters and clogging up your instagram feed. But what about back home, in the land girt by sea? Turns out it’s pretty darn good!

We talk the progression of our sport in the last decade and predictions of things to come. A few years ago we’d have never thought that 33 was going to be a trade route for the masses, now it is. So what’s going to be the 34 trade route?

Bolting projects and climbing hard first ascents is also on the agenda. What are we looking for and where are the next hard ones hiding? New crag discoveries or fresh eyes on old cliffs.

The lads also get into the indoor scene and how the new school bouldering gyms have changed the direction of climbing. Are we going to see Australians consistently on the World Cup podiums? What’s it going to take to get us there and what can we learn from those who came before us?

It’s all this and more. We love Australia!

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From climber to climbing mum

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Carlie LeBreton, Amanda Watts, Helen Day, Andrea Hah) — Sun, 19 Jul 2020 04:39:20 +0000

Mum climbing life with Amanda Watts, Andrea Hah, Helen Day and Carlie LeBreton. This group of crusher climbing mums have over 80 years of combined climbing experience, bouldering, sport and trad climbing and competing at the highest levels. For each of them, finding a balance between climbing and mum life was important for their mental health and quality of life. Climbing is what makes life feel normal.

They talk about everything from climbing pregnant, to travelling and climbing with kids. Their pre pregnancy expectations, compared with the reality of mum climbing life. Injuries and barriers to climbing and training, their motivations and drive and balancing climbing dreams and goals as a parent.

There are some tips and hints to successfully getting to the crag, through a training session and 24 hours of flying with a baby. They hope that sharing their stories and experiences will help climbing parents find it a little less daunting to get back to the cliff with their little monkeys.

Follow:

Amanda on Instagram: @a.mandawatts

Helen on Instagram: @helendayknight

Andrea on Instagram: @andreahah

Carlie on Instagram: @carlieclimbs

Links

Thrive Nutrition & Dietetics - https://nutritioncollective.com.au/thrive/

Baffle Days - https://www.baffledays.com.au

For 15% off Awesome Woodys goodies

Use discount code BAFFLEDAYS at checkout

Madeleine Crane - Climbing Psychology

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Amanda Watts, Madeleine crane, Tom O'Halloran) — Thu, 28 May 2020 21:34:34 +0000

Madeleine Crane started Climbing Psychology out of a passion. She is a professional psychologist, specialised in sport psychology and has experienced the pinnacle of competition climbing, having competed for Austria at World Cups. She wants to help you find the tools to give yourself every opportunity to express yourself fully on the wall.

In our chat we get into the dynamics of men and women in the climbing scene and why it can be hard for some people to step up and climb to their full potential. We discuss positive and negative self-talk and how we can reframe when things don’t go to plan. We also jump into visualisation, the positive outcomes of a bit of friendly competition and dealing with dips in motivation.

If you don’t already, give Madeleine a follow on instagram @climbingpsychology. She has some really good discussions there, digging into some topics we don’t often see raised. You can also head to her website www.climbingpsychology.comto read her articles and book an appointment.

www.baffledays.com.au

Setting a Woody with Yossi

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Tom O'Halloran, Yossi Sundakov-Krumins) — Sat, 9 May 2020 01:54:45 +0000

We speak to Yossi Sundakov-Krumins, owner and manager of Skywood Climbing. Yossi is the master mind and creator of one of the best woody’s I’ve ever seen so he’s the perfect person to give you a few tips and ideas to make the most out of your setup. https://www.skywoodclimbing.com/home-2

Steve Bechtel

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Steve Bechtel, Amanda Watts, Tom O'Halloran) — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 02:37:54 +0000

If you don’t know who Steve Bechtel is already, he’s one of the big names in global climbing training. He studied Exercise Science at University and in 2002 opened Elemental Performance and Fitness in Lander, Wyoming. We love Steve’s no nonsense approach to climbing training. He looks from above with an insightful eye and makes the complicated, simple. Sitting down and chatting with him is always a real treat and today was no different. We covered a lot of ground and came out with some really fantastic information.

Steve begins philosophically by exploring why it is we climb and how that has set us up to deal with the current COVID situation. As climbers we push our comfort zones regularly and make ourselves, to steal Steve’s phrase, ‘anti-fragile.’ We are ready to adapt and keep on truckin’. Making the most out of the current situation we find ourselves in around the world is what will get us through this time; it’s not a wrecking ball, it’s an opportunity.

We don’t dive too deep into the current events around the world, rather help provide food for thought as to what you may do. Developing a Plan A and Plan B is one of Steve’s tips. What’s the plan if we continue like this for several months and what will you do if we are back to the new normal in just a couple of months? Programming yourself something sustainable and simple will be the keys here and Steve explains the intensity progression you could try.

Overtraining is a definite tight rope many people like to walk. Perhaps one that will see even more traffic now everyone is fingerboard 12 times a week. Steve lays out a super simple way to check if you’re over training and we have a link below to his recovery checklist. Stick to this and you may just stay injury free and come out stronger for the future.

Amanda and Steve also touch on the importance of a long-term view to your health and training, which has probably never been more apparent then now. The benefits of a carrot this morning will not be obvious this afternoon, nor will the strength session. But do each consistently for a long time and the outcome will be life changing. Our health and fitness are centre stage for many right now, so what better time to make a positive change for the future you.

There’s plenty more we get into like developing work capacity, working weaknesses, habits and self-assessment of your training program.

Follow:

Steve on Instagram: @stevebechtel

Climb Strong on Instagram: @climb.strong

Links

Steve’s recovery checklist - https://www.climbstrong.com/education-center/recovery-points-challenging-youth-athletes-to-recover-well/

Climb Strong free training plans - https://www.climbstrong.com/training-plans/

The Talent Code - http://danielcoyle.com/the-talent-code/

Baffle Days - https://www.baffledays.com.au

Minimal equipment training. COVID-19

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Tom O'Halloran, Lee Cossey, Amanda Watts) — Mon, 6 Apr 2020 22:40:00 +0000

In this episode Amanda Watts and Tom O’Halloran sit down with Lee Cossey, one of the best climbers Australia has ever seen and one of the best coaching minds in the business. We talk about how you can get the most out of your training while climbing gyms are shut and our access to the outdoors is limited. Finger boarding, strength, mindset and technique improvement are all covered here, with practical tips on what you can do from home.

Lee Cossey is a physiotherapist and runs, along with his wife Andrea Hah, Move Clinic, a Physio and Exercise Physiology practice in Katoomba, Blue Mountains. His clinical study as a physio teamed with elite level climbing gives him a unique understanding of how to get the most out of every climber. If you want to get in contact with Lee or any of the other climbing physios at Move Clinic, you can reach out via their website here. https://moveclinic.com.au

Amanda Watts has been an elite level Australian climber for the past two decades. She is also a sport dietitian and has worked with recreational to elite athletes all over the world. Having lived this life, she knows how to implement important and lasting changes for your health and performance. If you want to get your nutrition and health in tiptop shape, contact Amanda here. https://nutritioncollective.com.au/thrive/

Fingerboard

Four finger grip on an edge

Three finger grip on an edge or pocket

A heavy hang (can be one arm on jug or big edge if you can)

Protocols Lee recommends:

If you’re new to finger boarding, even as an experienced climber, Lee suggests starting on a simple repeater workout. This usually looks like 7 seconds hanging, 3 seconds resting, repeated 6 times. This will last 1 minute. You can repeat this two or three times for each grip, keeping in mind your conditioning to this type of exercise. Rest for 2-3 minutes between sets. One set on each grip may be all your body needs to make gains. Take it slow. Training is a months and years progression, not days and weeks.

You can also try 3 reps of 10 second hangs, separated by 1 minute between reps. Three hangs is one set, take 2-3 minutes between sets and grips.

If you are new to this type of training, take a bigger edge than you think, even a pull up bar or jug is great to begin with. Get used to hanging and going through the process of the exercise. If you have trouble completing a set of hangs, either use a bigger hold or take a small amount of weight off by putting your feet on the ground.

TRX/Floor exercises

TRX row - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT7FwxpYSZs

TRX or floor push ups - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlUqeytSoxE

TRX IYTs – The video shows this exercise being done in a prone position (facing down) this is an advanced variation. Begin by facing the anchor point as you would in the row exercise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzrurtNn9FQ

Pull up bars

Anything here is going to be good. Lee’s recommendation is progress up to doing 10 chin-ups. Once you can do this add 5% body weight to a harness or backpack.

General overall rules

Don’t do the same session more than twice per week.
Don’t work max strength in the same body part more than twice in a week.
Be aware of what you are conditioned to. Reflect on what you have done in the last month or so. Think of the number of moves you did in that time. It may look something like two trips to the bouldering gym where you did 50 warm up moves, 50 warm down moves and 100 hard moves as the main set. Giving you 200 hard moves, 200 easy moves in the week. Plus you went to the cliff twice a week and climbed 10 easy pitches of 50 moves each. That's another 1000 easy moves. Don’t suddenly start finger boarding heavy 4 days week to try and replicate this. You’ll end up injured!

Minimal equipment tips

Drink bottles filled with water are great weights for the fingerboard
Fill your backpack with the bottles and you have a weight vest. Kids or partners also make good weight vests ;).
The underside of a table can supplement as a chin up bar for your inverted rows

Video psyche

Mellow climbing – the new school strong folk have made a youtube channel of some of the hardest boulders in the world https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5jRwTUqG15l-BcqQHbVFtA

Reel Rock – Classic climbing movies and clips from the last 20 years https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMuDqExNJkCJpOHsX4VKY9g

56 Degrees Underground – perhaps one of the best looking small boards in the world made by Ned Feehally, one of the creators of Beastmaker. Spoiler, the dude is a BEAST! https://vimeo.com/249756464

The Island – All time adventures with some of the best climbers in the world through Europe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZA8y05ewSA

Alex Megos – One of the strongest climbers in the world climbing hard and falling off a lot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbWvFjUIt5k&t=2s

Adam Ondra climbing the hardest route in the world - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRTNHDd0gL8

IFSC competition back catalogue - https://www.youtube.com/user/ifscchannel

Check out Red Bull TV as well. They have a stack of really good climbing clips in their library.

Training Books

Climb Strong, Steve Bechtel is an American climbing coach and has written a bunch of fantastic books on strength, finger boarding, creating programs and top tips. https://www.climbstrong.com/shop/

Power Company Climbing aka Kris Hampton has written a book about the intangibles in climbing and what we can do to do better. https://www.powercompanyclimbing.com/the-hard-truth

Eric Horst’s Training for Climbing. Eric has written some really great training books over the years. If you like getting sciencey, these are your books - https://trainingforclimbing.com/buy-books/

John Sheridan - More than strength

podcast@baffledays.com.au (John Sheridan, Tom O'Halloran, Amanda Watts) — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 20:08:52 +0000

John Sheridan has been lifting weights for more than half his life. He’s a proper strong guy. He’s competed in National powerlifting tournaments, played high level Rugby and is now smitten on climbing.

Amanda and Tom talk with John about the importance of strength training outside of the performance realm. The stronger you are, the harder you are to kill! We also get into the importance of finding new challenges which make you feel like a beginner. The growth that happens here is so beneficial.

John runs and is coach at Burley Strength in Canberra. If your a local looking to find a fantastic community of people to train with or your just passing through, look him up and drop in. You won’t regret it. It's only a few minutes from Bloc Haus Canberra.

Burley Strength - http://burleystrength.com

Sherro's podcast - Peak Speak https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/peak-speak-a-powerlifting-podcast/id1413600765

Stuart Wyithe - The Professor of Punks

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Stuart Wyithe, Amanda Watts, Tom O'Halloran) — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 08:19:43 +0000

Stuart Wyithe was the first Australian to climb the iconic Punks in the Gym, 32/8b+ at Mt Arapiles. It was the hardest route in the world when Wolfgang Gullich climbed it in 1985 and in 1993 was still in the very top of the difficulty pyramid.

Stuart got a whole lot of hard climbing done in his time. He also climbed the first ascent of Pretty in Punk, 32 which is another hard line crossing the same wall as Punks.

His pursuits in the outdoors are now all about ultra endurance running races. He's been all over the world running 100+km events in totally wild terrain. He does still find time to climb a few times a week at the gym and can still crank out 28's.

Professionally he is now the Head of Physics at Melbourne University studying Astrophysics and exploring the early origins of the Universe.

Vince Day - Redpoint reflections

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Vince Day, Tom O'Halloran) — Thu, 19 Dec 2019 22:46:08 +0000

You’d be hard pressed to find a rock magazine from 2000-2010 that didn’t have a photo or mention Vince Day. He's even on the cover of the 2010 Blue Mountains guidebook. The guy was very much in the middle of the scene for that time. He repeated some of Australia’s hardest routes and boulders, as well as putting up a few of his own. His name was synonymous with hard moves and if he couldn't pull the move on a board maybe the move wasn’t possible.

One of the amazing and inspiring things with Vince is that he wears his heart on his sleeve. You know exactly where he’s at. He admits this was sometimes not so good, but I see on the other hand that it’s a properly inspiring way to live. Being true.

In this chat, Vince is very open. He talks about the intense headspaces he found himself in while redpointing at his limit and how damaging some of these were. But also the resilience and strength he found at how capable he was to keep getting back up and trying again. Lessons he’s now taken into business and personal life. I feel like there’s a lot we can relate to in Vince’s insights here. He’s a very introspective guy who has done some deep self-discovery.

He also talks about friendly competition fuelling progress. For him, this was a huge driver for progress in his climbing and I think what drove the very steep progress in hard route development in the early to mid 2000’s in Australia. However there’s a fine line that needs to be walked here and a foot over the wrong side could be the end of friendships.

Vince is also super passionate about the environment we climb in and is pretty in awe of what it gives us. The humblings it will hand out, the space it will hold for you when you need it and he offers a little challenge for us on how we can help protect it.

He’s an absolutely ace guy and Australian climbing is richer for having him here.

We start our chat with a dive into headspace.

2019 Australian Open Nationals wrap up

Fri, 22 Nov 2019 05:37:11 +0000

The 2019 Australian open climbing Nationals have come and gone. This year's were different to previous ones, not only the format of all three disciplines being run over 4 consecutive days, but also because of the Olympics. This is the beginning of the Olympic dream for all of our athletes. Those competing in all three disciplines were vying for a top 8 finish which would give them a place in the Australian team for the Oceania Championships being held on 28-9 March 2020.

Amanda, Tom, Rob and Carlie go through the results, have a chat about what it takes to put an event like this on and what the future holds.

https://sportclimbingaustralia.org.au

You can follow Rob @thegoldenpitch and Carlie @carlieclimbs on Instagram

They also run Sydney indoor climbing gym Villawood @sicgvillawood http://www.indoorclimbing.com.au/villawood/

Duncan Brown - Inside Sport Climbing Australia

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Tom O'Halloran, Amanda Watts, Duncan Brown) — Tue, 29 Oct 2019 18:55:44 +0000

Duncan Brown is has been running his own coaching business, Athlete by Choice for several years. In the last few years he has moved into also being the coaching director for Sport Climbing Australia, the governing body for competition climbing in Australia.

In this chat we get into the inner workings of the competition side of SCA as well as the Olympics and what it means for our sport. Also, we talk through the struggles of running the governing body of our sport as an entirely volunteer organisation.

Duncan runs online and in person coaching from https://www.athletebychoice.com

He is sponsored by The North Face, Scarpa and Climbing Anchors.

Follow Duncan on instagram @atheltebychoice

Power Company Climbing - Big Picture Training

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Tom O'Halloran) — Sun, 13 Oct 2019 19:00:06 +0000

We don’t get into finger boarding protocol breakdowns, or energy system nuances. That stuff is far too confusing and gets in the way of actually showing up to the gym and trying hard. I’ve listened to a million hours of nuanced nonsense that’s hard to then apply into a training plan. Let alone a normal life of work, family and all the other things outside of climbing that make our lives feel full.

In this hour, Kris and Tom talk about having a bigger view to your training, the benefits of recording your training, when you need to switch up protocols or stimulus and the importance of taking a proper critical eye to why you might be falling off your projects.

Kris mentions the podcast he did with Eva Lopez about finger boarding in this episode. I would highly recommend listening to this if you want to dive deep into some science. It’s a very worthwhile one.

There’s a stack of other really great informative episodes in Kris’ back catalogue, so go take a listen. Trust me, they’re worth it. Check the link here http://www.powercompanyclimbing.com/podcast

Stay around to the end of this, after I bid you farewell there’s a great little anecdote waiting for your ears.

Follow Kris on instagram @powercompanyclimbing

Emma Horan - Warrior Princess

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Tom O'Halloran, Emma Horan, Amanda Watts) — Sun, 29 Sep 2019 20:23:19 +0000

Emma Horan talks to Amanda and Tom about her own climbing, managing a new climbing gym in the middle of Sydney and her experience of being a female in the climbing scene. We also talk about nutrition and body image in our chat and I was truly grateful to Em for her openness on this subject.

Follow Emma on instagram @emmawarriorprincess

Rob LeBreton - Forever strong

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Baffle Days) — Mon, 1 Jul 2019 22:46:57 +0000

Rob LeBreton is an Australian climbing legend. Starting climbing in the early 1980’s Rob took to the cliffs with an open mind and buckets of psych. His first climbing experiences were in Glenbrook Gorge at the base of the Blue Mountains. He and a friend tied a rope around their waist and armed with a fistful of rudimentary gear they climbed a stack of routes that he now looks back on as some of the sketchiest climbing of his life.

His progression in climbing was steady and unstoppable. He fell in with some great climbers of the older generation and absorbed everything. Then took this knowledge and his psych to the cliffs of Australia and the world. In 1992 he became the first Australian to do the first ascent of a 31 by climbing Sexy is the Word at Nowra. One year later he one-upped himself by becoming the first Australian to first ascent a 32 with his ascent of Attack Mode. A route that still has a big aura around it as one of the hardest routes at Nowra and still a prized tick.

He also spent time as the president of Sport Climbing Australia and was instrumental in Australia’s side of climbing making it into the Olympics for Tokyo 2020. And he tells us what he thinks Australia needs to become competitive on the world stage.

Rob and his wife Carlie now spend there time with four year old son Remy at Nowra, looking to clean up the remaining routes. I reckon his best could still be to come and I’m psyched to see someone who I looked up to as a kid, still crushing and frothing on climbing.

Follow Rob on instagram @thegoldenpitch

Lee Cujes - Endless Psych

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Baffle Days, Tom O'Halloran, Lee Cujes) — Wed, 8 May 2019 01:53:31 +0000

Lee Cujes has been prolific in the scene for his entire climbing life, starting in Townsville in 1994. He then moved to Brisbane and became one of the biggest route developers in South East Queensland for the next 20 years. Chances are if you've climbed a good route in Queensland, Lee’s hand was probably involved with its development. He was also responsible for pushing the level in QLD sport climbing doing hard first ascents of 31’s and 32’s (8b/8b+).

Lee has now moved to the Blue Mountains, settled in nicely and is ticking his way through the classics, as well as adding a few of his own.

We talk about how he and his wife Sam got their work life sorted to make the move down from Brissy. His endless psyche for bolting, climbing, training and tinkering and coming to the realisation that burning the candle at both ends may not actually be the best. Lee also talks redpointing hard and at 41 believing the best is still to come, which I 100% believe.

Leah Dempsey - Her own path

Mon, 22 Apr 2019 02:18:02 +0000

Leah Dempsey moved from Brisbane to the Blue Mountains in 2014 and has been crushing routes and boulders since. Her story is one of finding her own path through the established climbing scene of the Blue Mountains.

She has climbed grade 32 and bouldered V12. Her ability to back herself to get on the routes and boulders she chooses and to execute them with a stubbornness and determination that allows her to get them done, is inspiring. She continues to push herself to be the best climber she can be on her own terms.

We talk about her journey through climbing so far, strategies she uses to get the most out of herself physically and mentally and touch on what it’s like to be a girl crusher at the cliff.

Follow Leah Dempsey on Instagram @leahmdempsey

Leah is sponsored by Madrock, Cousin Tresec, BJR climbing Equipment

Anna Davey - Leveling up

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Baffle Days) — Sat, 13 Apr 2019 22:06:28 +0000

Anna is a WA climber who’s been on the up and up for the last few years. In this time she’s been focused on making the Australian team and based on her results from last year’s nationals, she’s made it. At the end of April she’s off to China to start her Bouldering World Cup season.

The last few years have been hard for Anna battling both life and climbing hurdles but she is on the charge now and super psyched to give it her all.

We chat about the process of becoming a better climber, dealing with pressure and balancing work in law while chasing a dream. We also get into her prolific presence on social media and the fun approach she likes to take with it.

Ep 4 - Becoming a better climber with Jake Bresnehan

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Baffle Days) — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 04:21:00 +0000

In this episode we get into the juicy bits of training, how he went from sport climbing 31/8b, to being a climber capable of climbing The Wheel of life. A climb that is considered to be somewhere around 35 or 36 which is 9a 9a+ in Frenchy speak. This is a huge and somewhat audacious jump but one that he committed fully to and pulled off in style. It has inspired me more than I can articulate with my clunky words.

Climbing The Wheel was a big mental and physical shift for him so we get into the details of those changes. How he turned himself into the best climbing version of himself, and rose to a level he had not really ever dreamed he could.

Jake also reveals the absolute number 1 thing that improved his climbing and guess what, you can implement it into your own training today!

If you haven’t already, I’d highly recommend going over to RUMBLR on Youtube and checking out the video they made of Jake climbing The Wheel, it’s a properly good story and if I’m honest, it made me a little teary.

Follow Jake on Instagram @jake_bresnehan

Music: Somerville and Wilson - Red Wasps

Episode 3 - Lee Cossey - Light Walling

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Baffle Days) — Mon, 4 Feb 2019 10:52:00 +0000

Lee Cossey is a proper legend of the Australian climbing scene. He has climbed and first ascented some of the hardest routes in the country for the past two decades as well as bouldered hard double digits and done some bloody good ascents on the big walls in Australia, Yosemite and Patagonia.

Lee and I talk about his time big walling, which in contrast to the time he has spent sport climbing and bouldering is almost nothing. But in no time he has compiled a world class list of ascents, including an ascent of Riders on the Storm, in Patagonia, Argentina, a 1200m 36 pitch 27 A2. Which he did with Jake Bresnehan in 2009.

We chat about the begin of his wall climbing life and the progression he has had as a climber and person in this time. He tells stories of his trips including a moment which he had never experienced before or since. He also gives some advice to those that are psyched to get into the wall climbing, but it probably translates pretty well to any type of progression in climbing.

In other episodes I will sit down and talk with Lee the sport climber, bolter, training fanatic and physio but for now, its Lee the big waller who prefers to take the light, fast and no fuss approach.

You can follow Lee on instagram @leecossey

Lee is sponsored by Black Diamond, La Sportiva, The North Face

Music credit - Somerville and Wilson, Red Wasps

Keep updated on everything that’s happening with Baffle Days on Instagram - @baffledays

Ep 2 Luke Hansen - New experiences

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Baffle Days) — Wed, 16 Jan 2019 02:15:00 +0000

Luke Hansen is a Blue Mountains local crusher. In 2017 he finished his psychology degree at University and decided to do the dream euro climbing trip. He booked a plane ticket, bought a van and started the 6 month tour of the A list Euro crags.

We talk about him realising on the trip that he wanted to make climbing a bigger part of his life. He has now made the move to the epicentre of climbing in Australia, Blackheath in the Blue Mountains. We also delve into a bit of psychology within our own climbing, trying to find the grrr and relaxation while on red point.

Ep 1 Jake Bresnehan and The Wheel of Life

podcast@baffledays.com.au (Baffle Days) — Sat, 22 Dec 2018 22:25:00 +0000

Tom chats with Jake about his ascent of The Wheel of Life this year. We talk about his journey to get to climbing his big dream. A bit about his training, his injury struggles and the approach he took to make it happen.

We also talk about his motivation in the early years, going to Europe to live in Innsbruck, Austria to learn from the best climbers at the time. As well as the adventures he had in Yosemite and Patagonia.

Jake is an awesome dude who has transformed his climbing in an incredible way. Since recording this episode he ticked off a few more classic hard routes including Keep on Truckin, 33/8c, First Ascent of Blood Clot, 32/8b+, Bandula, 32/8b+, Sitting Bull 32/8b+ and is coming close to a few other hard nuggets.

You can follow Jake on instagram @jake_bresnehan

Jake is sponsored by La Sportiva and Edelrid