Scott Johnston is a world-class coach who specializes in mountain endurance sports. This episode is a masterclass in training principles and is packed full of nuggets for climbers, including boulderers. We talked about why it’s a mistake to mimic top athletes, tips for balancing climbing with other sports, capacity vs. utilization, why to back off after a personal best, developing layers of endurance, the flaw with HRV, how to test your recovery before training, how to fail successfully, the future of alpinism and mountain running, and much more!
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Show Notes:
thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/scott-johnston
Nuggets:
0:04:56 – Inventing telescopes, and refurbishing European sports cars
0:11:25 – Being a cross-country ski racer, climbing with Steve House, and getting into coaching
0:13:22 – Why Scott and Steve decided to write Training for the New Alpinism
0:15:30 – Partnering with Kilian Journett on a second book Training for the Uphill Athlete
0:19:00 – The mistake of trying to mimic people like Killian Journett or Adam Ondra
0:23:05 – Sound bites, the dumbing down of our attention spans, and applying traditional training methods to unconventional sports
0:25:09 – Who is the Uphill Athlete book for?
0:27:56 – Being a general outdoor athlete and a climber
0:28:54 – Patron question from Alex: Tips for training for bouldering and sport climbing during ski season and vice versa?
0:34:42 – Why more training isn’t always better
0:37:39 – Building capacity, and why you rarely perform well while you’re training
0:39:19 – Block periodization
0:42:09 – Monitoring your recovery, using a hangboard to check in, and the restorative effect of easy aerobic activity
0:46:59 – Capacity vs. utilization training
0:54:26 – Training vs. randomly exercising
0:57:16 – Fundamental qualities of sports, and building capacity in different qualities
1:03:32 – Putting money in the bank vs. spending it
1:07:18 – Why you should back off after you hit a PR in your training
1:12:24 – Deloads
1:16:40 – Non-linear periodization
1:18:54 – The aerobic system, and the vacuum cleaner analogy
1:25:54 – Developing layers of endurance
1:27:52 – How and why boulderers and sport climbers should train endurance
1:31:56 – More about the layers of endurance
1:38:25 – My upcoming Follow-Up with Steve Bechtel, why training needs to be more specific at higher levels, and how recovery makes you stronger
1:41:33 – How important is active recovery?
1:44:32 – The flaw with HRV for measuring recovery
1:50:20 – Tuning in to your body, and how to test your level of fatigue
1:53:34 – Using the Tindeq to test your finger strength before training (use code NUGGET for $10 off)
1:56:47 – Why monitoring your progress leads to mental toughness
2:03:19 – How to get the experience you need to climb technical mountains and alpine routes
2:06:25 – The Dreaded Water Carries, and improving muscular endurance
2:19:29 – How long and how often should our training blocks be?
2:22:20 – Losing two climbing partners on K2
2:27:33 – How to fail successfully
2:34:09 – Inventing challenges, and the essential parts of being human
2:38:02 – Scott’s current outdoor lifestyle, and trying to slow the decline as aging athletes
2:42:26 – Doing max strength to recover from hard endurance work
2:46:15 – A teaser for how to increase your weighted pull-ups
2:50:29 – Where to find Scott
2:52:33 – What excites Scott the most about the future of alpinism and mountain running
2:56:40 – Understanding training principles, and the key takeaway from this episode
EP 108: John Sherman — Hueco Tanks in the 80s, Highballing Before Crash Pads, and Adding Layers to the Bouldering Experience
EP 107: Tim Emmett — How to Climb Harder After 40, The Magic Formula for Climbing 9a, and Life Philosophies
Follow-Up: Tom Randall — How to Program Your Training Like a Pro (Teaser)
EP 106: Hans Florine — Speed Climbing on ‘The Nose’, Big Wall Tips, and the Evolution of Speed Climbing Competitions
EP 105: Brent Barghahn — How to Retire Before Age 30, Extreme Unicycling, and How to Free Climb Big Walls By Yourself
EP 104: Amity Warme — Crushing in Yosemite, Growing up in Gymnastics, and Eating More to Do More
Follow-Up: Tyler Nelson — How to Train Based on Your Finger Anatomy (Teaser)
EP 103: Mina Leslie-Wujastyk — Chasing Flow State, The Role of Cleverness in Climbing, and Becoming a Mom
EP 102: Matty Hong — The History of ‘Flex Luthor’, Climbing Waterfalls in Japan, and the Camera as a Gift
EP 101: Nina Caprez — Being a Swiss Machine, Leaning into Womanness, and a Beautiful Story of Failing on ‘The Nose’
Follow-Up: Steve Maisch — My Training Plan for Hueco Round 2 (Teaser)
EP 100: Ben Moon — How Ben Moon Uses the MoonBoard, and the Evolution of Sport Climbing
Follow-Up: Paige Claassen — Dreamcatching, and Learning to Celebrate (Teaser)
EP 99: Q&A 4 — Goals for 2022, Dating on the Road, and What I’ve Learned from Nearly 100 Episodes
Follow-Up: Tyson Schoene — Building Champions, and Keeping Things Simple (Teaser)
EP 98: Kyra Condie — The Olympic Experience, Training With a Fused Spine, and Thriving in Organized Chaos
EP 97: Austin Hoyt — Favorite Zones in the Northeast, Rediscovering Old Projects, and Being a GUNKaholic
EP 96: Joe Kinder — The Love of Projecting, Leaving a Legacy, and the Other Side of Cancellation
EP 95: Tyler Algeo — Starting a Climbing Gym in Africa, Climb Malawi, and Raising Black Sons as a White Dad
Follow-Up: Steve Bechtel — When to Stick With It, and Climbing His First 5.14 at Age 47 (Teaser)
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