EP 246: Fundamentals — How to Break a Plateau

The Nugget Climbing Podcast

Fundamentals Season 2 (Part 6 of 6) — If you climb long enough, you’ll inevitably hit a plateau. In part 6, Jesse and I share our top tips and pitfalls for how to break through plateaus and continue progressing in your climbing. We cover the importance of focusing on skills rather than grades, doubling down on the basics, how to continually progress as a climber, and much more.

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Show Notes:

thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/fundamentals-s2-part-6

Nuggets:

(00:00:00) – Intro

(00:01:21) – Our longest plateaus

(00:03:50) – Jesse’s Tip #1: Think long-term

(00:08:10) – Steven’s Tip #1: Get focused and make sure everything you are doing has a reason behind it

(00:10:51) – Jesse’s Tip #2: Focus on objectives instead of grades

(00:14:17) – Steven’s Tip #2: Consider rebuilding from the ground up

(00:17:29) – Jesse’s Tip #3: Focus on your climbing skills and not the grades

(00:28:34) – Steven’s Tip #3: Do more of what you haven’t been doing

(00:33:24) – Jesse’s Tip #4: Double down on the basics (sleep, nutrition, stress, etc.)

(00:37:19) – Long rests & rewarming up

(00:38:12) – Steven’s Tip #4: Consider changing your circumstances

(00:42:40) – Pressure testing your assumptions

(00:44:12) – Creative home walls

(00:45:06) – Steven’s Pitfall #1: Doing more of what you’ve been doing

(00:45:49) – Jesse’s Pitfall #1: Overtraining

(00:50:32) – Steven’s Pitfall #2: Getting captured by other people’s agendas

(01:00:46) – Jesse’s Pitfall #2: Too much limit checking

(01:04:27) – What to do when you run out of routes or boulders to progress through

(01:09:21) – Steven’s Pitfall #3: Switching styles too often

(01:12:43) – Jesse’s Pitfall #3: You’re not actually plateaued, you’ve just built a tower

(01:15:01) – Area-specific pyramids

(01:19:48) – That’s a wrap on season 2!