[shark]

Below are links to the UK climbing performance coaches I am aware of, books that I recommend and articles on the web I found. The articles are listed and grouped by the authors I recognised followed by a Lucky Dip section. It is an updated version of something I did on UKC a few years ago. 

Let me know and I can add any other links to other useful articles/material/sites/coaches and we can post it up as an article on the front page for future reference and keep it up to date by linking new articles and taking out deadlinks.

UK Climbing coaches:

John Kettle (Lakes) www.johnkettle.com
Simon Rawlinson and Paul Walters (South Wales) info@makethenextmove.co.uk Coaching site
Nik Jennings (Yorks/Lancs border I think) AKA nik at work UKB Profile nik_jennings@yahoo.co.uk Coaching site
Johnny Dawes dawesjohnny86@gmail.com
Mark McGowan (Scotland) markmcgowan01@gmail.com UKB profile Coaching site 
Dylan Fletcher (Sheffield) Dylanfletcher@gmail.com AKA Dylan UKB profile
Drew Haigh (North England) drew@chalk-bags.com AKA Drewski RootbitchUKB profile
Tom Randall (Sheffield)AKA Tommy UKB profile
Steve Golley (South England) info@climbingmasterclass.comAKa SteGUKB profile
Mark Reeves (N Wales) mark.reeves@mac.com
Robbie Phillips (Scotland) robz@robbiephillips.co.uk
Katherine Schirmacher (North England) katherine@lovetoclimb.co.uk
Steve McClure (North England) verticalglobe@hotmail.com
Ben Heason (North England) benheason@googlemail.com
Mark Pretty (North England) markzippypretty@hotmail.co.uk
Gareth Parry (North West) gazclimber@hotmail.com
Lucy Creamer (North England) lucy@lucycreamer.com
Neil Gresham (South England) info@climbingmasterclass.com
Tom Greenall (Sheffield) workforcepda@thearches.org.uk

Italian Climbing Coach !

Roberto Bagnoli (Firenze) info@climbingtraining.it AKA GuruUKB profile


Recommended Books:

(US) Performance Climbing – the book that got the ball rolling
(US) Self Coached Climber – the successor to Performance Rock Climbing   
(UK) 9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes –Macleod’s ball buster - gold dust. Idiots will complain about lack of editing and pretty pictures. Ignore them 
(Sp) Planificacion del Entrenamiento en Escalada Deportiva by David Macia – No official translation. Impressive but hard to use to construct a training programme

Presentations from BMC Coaching Symposium 2011

Competition Preparation by Ian Dunn
Periodisation by Tom Randall
Principles of Training by Dave Binney

Articles on the web:

John Kettle (Coach)
Movement Inprovement

Doug Hunter and Dan Hague (authors of Self Coached Climber) categorised blog site:
Physical training
Movement training
General
Competition

Arran Deakin (Scone maker)
Principles of traing
Strength and power
How we get stronger
Endurance Part1
Endurance Part2
[/quote]

Steve Bechtel (Coach)
Climb Strong

Pull-Ups Are A Waste of Time
Exercises
Strength Training for Rock Climbing, part one
Hangboard Training for Finger Strength - The Basics
3-Tier Plan
Less is More - One Reason Your Training Plan is Failing
Six Week Strength-Endurance Build

Adrian Berry (Coach)
Time to Train
5 things you can do at the climbing wall to improve your outdoor leading

Eva Lopez (Fingerboard designer and researcher)

Her blog on training
Series of fingerboard instructional videos
Her research paper (payment required): The effects of two maximum grip strength training methods using the same effort duration and different edge depth on grip endurance in elite climbers
Training Pinch Grip Strength for Climbing. Are dead hangs the right way to do it?
Series of articles on locking off:
Lock-off Strength Training (I). Does Static (lock-offs) Training have any Effect over Dynamic (pull-ups) Performance?
Lock-off training (II) Does our locking-off ability have any influence on our performance? Is it so important to train it?
Lock-off training (III) Do you really lock-off?
Lock-off Training in Sport Climbing (IV). A Review of several Methods and an Introduction to Explosive Lock-Offs

Dan Varian (Beastie boy #1) aka Carlisle Slapper
[http://www.beastmaker.co.uk/pages/training]General fingerboard advice[/url]

Ned Feehally (Beastie boy #2)
Video:Fingerboard Training – Beginner
Fingerboard Training – Advanced
Stretching
Fingerboard training plans

Crusher Holds / Paul Robins

A comprehensive guide to fingerboard traing

Heather Clark
Weight Management for Climbers
Nutrition for bouldering

Steve Bechtel / Climb Strong

Off-Season Build 1 (4 weeks)
Six Week Strength-Endurance Build
Strength Training for Rock Climbing, part one
Exercises
Forearm Hypertrophy Training
Strength Training for Rock Climbing, part two
About
Hangboard Training for Finger Strength - The Basics
Leg Strength as a Limiting Factor, Revisited
Call It What You Want, Periodized Training Works.
The Simplest Climbing Training Plan
Pull-Ups Are A Waste of Time

Neil Gresham
5 Things you can do to improve your bouldering

Neil Greshams Planetfear articles

Self-coaching
Learning From Other Sports
Mid season training
Building a home board
Foot off boards
Warming Up
Training Juniors 1
Training Juniors 2
Working Weaknesses
Arm Movements
Isolation Training
Weight Training
System Training
Bouldering for Strength
Advanced Bouldering Exercises
Campus Boarding
Finger Boarding
Finger Strength Training
SACC Training
Interval Training
Endurance Training
Competition Training
Mid-Season Top-Up

Articles by Eric Horst (Author of Training for Climbing )
Training in Accordance to the "SAID" Principle
Three Cornerstone Principles of Effective Training
An Overview of Power & Strength Training
How To Increase "Pull Strength" by 20 Percent!
Is Climbing the Best Training for Climbing
High-Value Training: Working the Antagonists
Bouldering as Training for Climbing
Hypergravity Isolation Training for Max Grip Strength
HIT Workout Details for Maximum Grip Strength
Sport-Specific Training with Pump Rocks - Part 1
Sport-Specific Training with Pump Rocks - Part 2
Effective Fingerboard Training - Part 1
Training the Core Muscles
Eastern Bloc Training: Heavy Finger Rolls
Training at the Crags
Effective Pull-up Training
Developing "Limit" Strength
Low-Risk Campus Training for Power & Grip Strength - Part 1
Campus Training for Strength & Power - Part 2
Best of "Pump Rock" Training
Training Muscular Endurance - Part 1
Training Muscular Endurance - Part 2
Complex Training
The Benefits of Pilates for Climbers
Physioball Exercises for Your Core
Research: The Physiology of Difficult Rock Climbing
Pilates Training for Climbers

Prof Juan Martín Miranda (Marvin)
Training: Boulder or routes?
Core Training
Campus board training
The training load in sport climbing
Strength training for climbing: The system training method
Contact strength Part 1 and 2
Programming and organisation of training
How much last a boulder session?
Maximum climbing performance. A matter of head
Interbloque: special boulder training
Creatine supplementation
Restoring the work capacity after a climbing session
Strength training methods for elite climbers
How to accelerate recovery?
Stiffened forearms in climbing
From athletics methodology to climbing. Fartlek method.
Training for climbing competitions
Speed Climbing Traing Part 1,2 and 3
Training for climbing. Is really necessary?
Nutritional aspects to optimize climbing training and performance
A wrong way of life
Adding extra weight to your climbing training session
Bad luck for campus

Dave MacLeod
Dave regularly posts on his training blog

He has sub-divided the blogs into the following searchable categories including: Planning your training (27) Physical Training (25) Perspective (21) Practical (20) Injuries (19) Tactics (16) Web Resources (15) Inspiration (13) Pro-tips (12) Reviews (12) Technique Drills (11) Coaching (10) Young climbers (7) Beginners (5) Interviews (5) New research (5) overtraining (5) Body composition (4) basic technique (4) mental training (4) rock shoes (4) strength (4) periodisation (3) endurance training (2) fingerboarding (2) rest (2) Female climbers (1) Rock 'til you drop (1) finger pullies (1) nutrition (1) weight (1)

He has also written six ‘coachwise’ articles here
Introduction to the CoachWise Articles
How to get the best from these coaching articles
Part 1: Don't Stray Off-Route
The 'Big Three Factors' of movement, finger strength and body mass.
Part 2: The Work is the Easy Part...
Preventing everyday life sapping your motivation to train whether your'e starting from scratch or have reached a plateau.
Part 3: Creatures of Habit
Ingrained habits that are holding you back
 Part 4: Fail well, climb it next time
The fear of failure and turning failure to your advantage
Part 5: Choose Your Heroes and your Coaches Carefully
Dave's advice on who to look to for the best advice - great coaches or great climbers?
Part 6: Count Your Battle Scars
Climbing walls have been a godsend for modern training, but you have to go back to climbing outdoors to become 'Battle Hardened' 

His undergraduate paper is
here (Physiological determinants of climbing-specific finger endurance and sport rock climbing performance) 

Ben Moon’s site
10 Ways to revamp your climbing
Principles of planning your climbing year
The 3 training phases for climbing
Using a training diary
Endurance Training
Core body – the missing link
Introduction to Training
Training Questionnaire
Training and Goal Setting
Power Training
Training Plan
Warming Up
Warming Down
Flexibility and Stretching Intro
Stretches Lower Body
Stretches Upper Body
Campus Boarding
Fingerboard
Fingerboard Training Plan
Bouldering Training
Systems Training
Systems Training Plan

Audry Morrison (Scientist)
Review of the physiological responses to rock climbing in young climbers – abstract of paper

Marius Morstad OTE articles
Training Endurance
Training Strength

Lucky Dip

http://www.8a.nu/site2/  Click>articles Click>training:
Steve McClure Training – engrams
Training 40+
Five common gripping positions
Technical Endurance advice
Hangboarding
Training and performance in Slovenia
Stativ vs Dynamic technique
Pump and how to avoid it
DYNOING - A ballastic science: Fly, baby fly?
Lactic Acid and Pumped Forearms
Power Endurance - McClure
Specific finger position training
Recruitment finger training
Static/Dynamic - Muscle/Hold focus
Lactid Acid
Shortcuts to 8a

rockclimbing.com
The making of a Rock Prodigy (Classic !)
Finger & Back/Arm Strength]Finger, Back and Arm Strength
Evaluating and choosing training activities by Doug Hunter co-author of the Self Coached Climber

http://www.climbandmore.com/climbing,0,4,0,training.html
Theraband - Training the Opposing Muscles
Josune Bereziartu on Training
John Gill on Training
Listen to the Master series: Ben Moon/Lynn Hill/Francois Legrand/Josune Bereziartu/Jerry Moffat/Malcolm Smith

http://www.mikedoyle.ca/climbing/coachingdoc.pdf
pdf download: Training Manual for Competition Climbing

http://www.bodyresults.com/S1Climb.asp
Program Development
Unilateral and Bilateral Climbing Exercises
Stretching, Injury Prevention and Rehab
Climbing Drills
Outdoor Sports Conditioning
General Strength Training Guidelines
Increase Your Pullups

www.abc-of-rockclimbing.com/training/
Strength
Burst or Explosive Power
Endurance
Strength and Endurance
Aerobic Capacity
Counting Food Carbohydrates
Hand exercises and grip strength training

http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/how-to-guides.html
Training Guide
10 Minute Training Sequence
Training with Simulator
Training with Pure Force
Training with Rock Rings

http://www.jollypower.com/jollyhomeI.htm (Italian site)
Power
Strength
Endurance
Technique and flow
Intensity
Recovery
Dynos
Plyometric training

http://www.climbingwalls.net/training.html
Power & Power Endurance, Strength Training and Endurance Training

http://www.climbing.com.au/science_climbing.htm
Collection of science articles
http://www.indoorclimbing.com/training.html
Chin Ups
Climbing Exercises
Climbing Games
Climbing Technique
Forearm Exercise
How Muscles Work
Mental Control
Muscle Stretching
Overtraining
Route Setting
Training Plans
Training Principles
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrate Loading
Daily Protein Requirement
Food Fats
Protein Foods

Huw George (Who he?) on core stability (Planetfear)

[Muenchener]

More stuff for the cunning linguists:

Recommended Books:

(De) Lizenz zum Klettern by Udo Neumann – effectively the third edition of Performance Rock Climbing
(De) Lizenz zum Bouldern by Udo Neumann - haven't read it yet.

Articles on the web:

Udo Neumann's website: piles of worthwhile training articles in German, some interesting videos where one doesn't necessarily have to understand what's being said, e.g. this one.

And a few colonial coaching blogs I've looked at lately (where foreign language skills aren't quite so critical)

Australian coach and kneepad merchant Lee Cujes has a blog and some other articles.
Power Company Climbing
Climb Strong

[Muenchener]

Mark MacGowan has a training blog and a coaching blog

[SpanishJuan]

A mathematical theory of climbing
I liked  the opening of the abstract "Is it possible to develop a theory of climbing? The answer is no." Piero Villaggio

[Serpico]

Some strength and conditioning links:
http://www.exrx.net/
http://www.brianmac.co.uk/
http://www.pponline.co.uk/
http://www.nsca-lift.org/webnews/archnews.asp
http://www.athletikspesifik.com/
http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/
http://gubernatrix.co.uk/
http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Exercises/Exercises.htm
http://www.higher-faster-sports.com/articles.html
http://www.staleytraining.com/
http://www.verkhoshansky.com/Home/tabid/83/Default.aspx
http://www.coachesinfo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=68&Itemid=140

[erm, sam]

Good idea!

The 2nd of the rockclimbing.com links doesn't appear to work though..

[Wipey Why]

http://www.nicros.com/training.cfm

Lots of training goodness here

[shark]

http://www.nicros.com/training.cfm
Lots of training goodness here

 

This is Horst's commercial site. I think the links I have made above to his less commercial site more than fairly represents his output. If you aren't aware Horst has attracted a lot of criticism for proposing many things as fact that dont stand up to serious scrutiny. He is a good salesman but the jury is out on much of his SCIENCE.   

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Keep them coming.

[Falling Down]

Some pieces from the public Gym Jones website that are appropriate.  Yes, Gym Jones is a commercial venture and focused on strength and conditioning as opposed to climbing/sport specific training but there is a lot of very good material available.

Some things worth pondering when it comes to training.

1   The mind is primary
2   Outcome-based training (train for an objective)
3      Functional training (high degree of transferability)
4      Movements not muscles (transferable training does not isolate muscles)
5      Power-to-weight ratio (you must carry the engine)
6      Train all energy systems (emphasize the important but not at the expense of others)
7      Training is preparation for the real thing (train FOR something)
8      The mind is primary II (confidence, chemicals, carriage)
9      Nutrition is the foundation (eat for an objective)
10    Recovery is more than 50% of the proces

Some articles worth chewing over....

Hard Work http://www.gymjones.com/knowledge.php?id=37

Why fitness is important http://www.gymjones.com/knowledge.php?id=5


Remake Remodel http://www.gymjones.com/knowledge.php?id=40 note: this is not about training oneself into injury territory

Quality (or doing shit properly) http://www.gymjones.com/knowledge.php?id=20

There's more at http://www.gymjones.com/

Enjoy

[curly ben]

does anyone have the OTE/climb ? Steve Mcclure training articles/series from a few years back. Remember a good one on 'recruitment'/warm up.... also would be interested in the power endurance article if anyone has it.
Thanks

[curly ben]

...and does anyone have anything on 'tabathatas' remember reading something on it with regards to campussing/fingerboarding by Mark Pretty/Gresham in climb a while back thought it sounded pretty interesting

[slackline]

This information sounds/reads like a prime candidate for UKB Wiki material.  I started a template ages ago (see Training : The Science, but since I do very little structured training had very little to include at the time.

Most of this would likely fit under "Links" section, but where a break-down of each site has been given it might be appropriate to have the summary included.  Either way its there for people to use.

(I'm afraid I'm too busy to spend time re-formatting and wiki-fying other peoples efforts)

[account_inactive]

...and does anyone have anything on 'tabathatas' remember reading something on it with regards to campussing/fingerboarding by Mark Pretty/Gresham in climb a while back thought it sounded pretty interesting

FYI

The Tabata Protocol--named after Izumi Tabata, Ph.D., a former researcher at Japan's National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya--is an interval routine developed by the head coach of the Japanese speed-skating team. (It's called a protocol because Tabata and his team took the speed-skating coach's workout and studied it to quantify just how effective it really was.) The workout consists of six to seven 20-second full-speed sprints interspersed with rest periods of 10 seconds.

In Tabata's study, the researchers found that guys who used the routine five days a week for six weeks improved their maximum aerobic capacity (a measure of your body's ability to consume oxygen--the more oxygen you can take in, the longer and harder you'll be able to run) by 14%. What's more, it also improved anaerobic capacity (which measures your speed endurance, or the duration you're able to sprint at full effort) by 28%. So the Tabata Protocol is the rare workout that benefits both endurance athletes and sprinters--hard to accomplish. Consider: A study of traditional aerobic training--running at 70% of aerobic capacity for 60 minutes--for the same number of weeks showed an improvement in aerobic capacity of 9.5% and no effect on anaerobic capacity.

The key to the Tabata Protocol's effectiveness appears to be the short rest intervals between sprints. Conventional interval-training guidelines suggest keeping a 1:3 work-rest ratio. That is, your rest periods should last three times as long as the duration of your sprints. But the Tabata Protocol's work-rest ratio is 2:1, which means your rest periods are only half as long as the time you're working. And according to another Tabata study, that formula isn't just more effective than traditional aerobic training, it's also more effective than typical interval training. In that other study, Tabata and his colleagues compared their original protocol to a second configuration of intervals that consisted of 30-second sprints interspersed with two-minute rest periods. Despite the fact that this required subjects to sprint for more time at a higher intensity, the original Tabata Protocol still proved more effective at boosting both aerobic and anaerobic capacity.

[rich d]

With a 2:1 rest period would this correlate to something like repeaters with 7 seconds on 3 seconds off.or is the rest after each set that'd be more relevant? So you'd say that six lots of 7 on 3 off, would be a minute - then you'd have a 30 second rest before starting off again?

[Falling Down]

Also good to mix the fingerboard with a weight/lift movement as one of the exercises.  Some good suggestions from Dan John here: http://danjohn.net/2009/11/tabata-exercises/

[jwi]

More stuff for the cunning linguists:

Recommended Books:

(De) Lizenz zum Klettern by Udo Neumann – effectively the third edition of Performance Rock Climbing
(De) Lizenz zum Bouldern by Udo Neumann - haven't read it yet.

Articles on the web:

Udo Neumann's website: piles of worthwhile training articles in German, some interesting videos where one doesn't necessarily have to understand what's being said, e.g. this one.

I have skimmed through Lizenz zum Klettern (and unfortunately my german is not that hot) but there seems to be little new since 'Performance Rock Climbing'.  I think that for us that understand english better than german, PRC suffices.

One book in german that I really rate is the short training manual from Gudio Köstermeyer, Peak Perfomance.  I think it is amusing that most books about training for climbing contains a short introduction to elementary sports physiology (and often more about the physiology of running ...), but this book---by one of the few authors in the field truly qualified to write about sport physiology---contains no such chapter.

Köstermeyer also have a webpage that is seldom updated http://klettertraining.de/

[Turboman]

Found in a book shop in Chamonix.

http://www.ed-amphora.fr/fr/products/detail/id/2371.html

Seems like it was written with input from Liv Sansoz, Alexandre Chabot, Pierre Bollinger and Jérôme Meyer.  Unfortunately it was a bit beyond my GCSE French.   Looked to have some interesting stuff in it though.

[Muenchener]

I have skimmed through Lizenz zum Klettern (and unfortunately my german is not that hot) but there seems to be little new since 'Performance Rock Climbing'.

I'm inclined to agree, from my vague recollection of having read PRC a long time ago. I don't have my copy of PRC any more though (having not climbed for most of the intervening years) so reading most of it again - with some updates - can't do any harm. I'll check out Köstermeyer though.

Another one I've been enjoying is this thread on ARC training on rockclimbing.com from a few years ago. It even features Serpico:

endurance is seen by most climbers as being solely a physiological attribute. Whereas IMO it's as much a skill as anything else eg: learning what pace to climb at on different terrain, how to tolerate lactic acid, how to use the minimum force to hold on, and how and when to try to recover on marginal rests.

[mrjonathanr]

Seems like it was written with input from Liv Sansoz, Alexandre Chabot, Pierre Bollinger and Jérôme Meyer.

The resume says it includes concrete accounts from those climbers about the effectiveness of particular techniques in the book. So I guess that means they're saying 'this works, I did X and Y resulted..'

[Rabies]

Seems like it was written with input from Liv Sansoz, Alexandre Chabot, Pierre Bollinger and Jérôme Meyer.

The resume says it includes concrete accounts from those climbers about the effectiveness of particular techniques in the book. So I guess that means they're saying 'this works, I did X and Y resulted..'

Excellent case study in this book written by Alex Chabot entitled "How cake affected my performance in Fontainebleau".  Discusses the problems of consuming too much cake whilst at Fontainebleau and what you can do to overcome this problem.  Includes some great examples of how cake can be used to improve your performance such as placing pastries on top outs and in pockets.

[Muenchener]

Did anything ever happen about putting all this stuff on the wiki?

Anyway, found these a couple of weeks ago: in German, from the website of the Tivoli wall in Innsbruck, suggested training programmes for beginners, serious amateurs and Austrian team members by Austrian team coach Reini Scherer.

Turns out I am just about approaching "Beginner" level according to Reini. My consistent onsight/second go level is about 6a+, so he says I should be working projects at 6c. I've been on a couple of 6b+'s: basically I don't redpoint, with very few exceptions I only go on things I think I have a realistic chance of onsighting. Must try harder.

[cjsheps]

Simon Rawlinson and Paul Walters (South Wales coaches): www.makethenextmove.co.uk

[highrepute]

Found these 4 articles by Robbie that I thought were very good:
Part 1 Climbing to Get Better: What is Training?
Part 2 Training for Endurance
Part 3 Strength and Power
Part 4 That's Pure Mental Man!

on this website www.mcofs.org.uk

[Muenchener]

Improvements, as we all know, sometimes determine success in climbing.

Thank you google translate.

Eva López has what looks like it would be a detailed and well researched article on fingerboarding for somebody who could read Spanish.

[jwi]

Improvements, as we all know, sometimes determine success in climbing.

Thank you google translate.

Eva López has what looks like it would be a detailed and well researched article on fingerboarding for somebody who could read Spanish.

The instructions for the fingerboard she's selling (a bunch of different with edges) has been translated to german and english (I think).  López has done a study on different programs for increasing fingerstrength. I think the study can be found in her thesis.