The TrainingBeta Podcast: A Climbing Training Podcast

In this episode, Coach Alex Stiger gives some sage advice to beginner climbers about how to get off to a great start in your climbing journey. Alex is a climbing coach to all levels of climbers all over the world, but she was also the program director and head coach at a climbing gym for years. She knows a LOT about the proper ways to spend your time, invest in resources, and self-reflect in order to become the best climber you can be in the shortest amount of time. 

Interview Details

Classes and instruction you should get

6 Biggest mistakes to avoid (shoes, poor movement habits, etc.)

8 Technique and skill tips that will make a huge difference

How to avoid injury

Cultivating good climbing relationships

I think that even if you’ve been climbing for a couple of years, this episode could have a lot of great information for you, or if you hang out with beginner climbers, this episode will give you a lot of knowledge to share with them!

Join Alex's wait list to work with her as your coach at trainingbeta.com/waitlist.

In this episode I do a full mindset coaching session with Maren Krammer, a 33-yr-old climber who struggles to feel like she is a part of the community when she’s surrounded by stronger climbers than herself. She feels shy, stifled, and unwilling to try hard for fear of judgment and rejection from others. It affects her self-esteem and hinders her climbing progression, and she wanted to work through it.

We do a full 60-minute mindset coaching session where we break down her thoughts, emotions, limiting beliefs, and gremlin talk (the voice that says “you’re not good enough”). By the end, Maren has a clearer understanding of why she feels so intimidated around stronger climbers and tools to help her be confident in herself and feel more a part of the community.

Work with Me on Your Mindset in Climbing
If you want to work with me one-on-one, I’m accepting new mindset coaching clients. We can work on your fears in climbing, performance anxiety, and anything that is holding you back from enjoying climbing. Go totrainingbeta.com/mindset for more info.

Natalia Grossman is a 24-year-old American professional climber who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. She broke onto the World Cup scene in 2021 when she became the overall Bouldering World Cup champion and finished in second place in the overall Lead World Cup. That same year, she won World Championships in Moscow in Bouldering and placed 2nd in Lead.

She proceeded to win the overall Bouldering World Cup in 2022, 2023, and 2024, making her the most successful American World Cup climber in history. In 2022 she came in 3rd place for the overall Lead World Cup season. In 2023 she also won the Pan Am Games in Santiago in both Bouldering and Lead. She qualified for the Olympics in 2024 and finished in 11th place.

In February of this year (2025), she unfortunately tore her ACL and meniscus, and sprained her MCL during a training session and had to have surgery. She is now about 9 months out from surgery and has won both competitions she entered: the Lead North American Cup in Salt Lake in August and the Bouldering Pan American Cup in Colombia in November.

Besides competition climbing, she has sent up to V14 and 5.14c outside, but has focused most of her time and training on World Cup comps. Natalia graduated from University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in psychology and is considering getting her master’s in mental health counseling.

In this interview, we talk about her comeback from her surgery, her mindset for competition climbing, and her training, among many other things:

More Details:

How she injured herself

Her injury rehab and how it’s changed her as a climber

How she got so good at climbing

What impact her coaches have had on her

What sets her apart from other climbers

What it’s like competing with your best friends

How the pressures to be light have affected her

What she eats

What she sacrifices to be a champion

How she trains

It was an honor to interview someone I have watched compete for years (I love watching World Cups!), and I appreciated Natalia giving us her time and being so vulnerable in sharing about her life.

In this episode, Coach Alex Stiger and I reflect on the important lessons and mindset shifts we've gained after NOT sending projects. Whether it's a renewed motivation to train and grow as a climber or the realization that we just don't want to try that hard anyore, we go through the gammut of what we have experienced as a result of not sending. Alex asked her clients about their own learnings from not sending and shares them in this episode.

Some Things We Talked About

What deconstructing that attachment to sending can do for our climbing and life

Tools that have helped Alex and her clients start approaching possible failure with curiosity, confidence, and even some joy vs avoidance, anxiety, and dread

Fact vs. fiction about what the experience of sending/not sending actually does to us

Coach Matt Pincus and I sat down and talked through 3 habits that we have formed over months or years that have led us to become better climbers. 

Matt’s 3 Habits

Doing his finger training as part of his warmup for indoor sessions

Having a clear plan/objective for every day out

Questioning why he falls off by asking, “Why?” three to five times

Neely's 3 Habits 

 My "Three Questions" that keep me in a positive headspace

Continual fall practice

Nudging myself to get on things that intimidate me 

Link to Matt's 6-Month Coaching Package - www.trainingbeta.com/matt