By Steve Bechtel
It’s easy to climb a lot, listen to your old team coach, dream of being in the sport even more than you already are, and want to become a climbing coach yourself. Some of us are thrust into the job because the gym needed a coach. Some of us just wanted to be better. And some of us had such obvious success and dedication that other climbers noticed, and asked for help.
However we entered the calling, every single climbing coach owes it to the people they advise to continue to get better. There is no lack of media in climbing. We can get training information from videos, podcasts, articles, or by just following someone on social media. We can get a lot of surface-level, “do this workout” information, but when questions come up we’re stuck. “I don’t know how to advance 4x4s…I just do them until I’m pumped.”
We can also seek out education and certification from divergent sports. It’s not impossible to extrapolate running plans, weight training progressions, or the mental training for martial artists into climbing. Still, I can’t tell you how many times someone has come to me with their new certificate and asked, “now what?”
I look at education and information gathering on several levels. We can chat about something with other climbers or coaches, we can watch a video, we can listen to a lecture or a podcast interview, we can watch someone else in the gym, and more. The big keys are how useful/correct is this information, and how well am I understanding it? A podcast interview is almost always a surface-level discussion and should be a starting point for learning, not the end of your education on a subject. Likewise, a full semester on mammalian physiology might be too deep a dive for useful application in bouldering.
A big key for learning, and a reason I am a huge proponent for reading is that reading a book takes time. The time spent reading immerses your brain in the subject. You spend hours, days, or even weeks with that book on your mind, and it inspires and directs your thoughts during that whole time. In short, it allows us to learn more deeply.
In an attention-poor world, reading helps us to focus. What follows is a list of ten books I consider essential building blocks of a coaching education. Not all of them are “climbing” books…heck you’ve probably read those already. Instead, this list is intended to get your brain out of hang times and benchmarks, and instead get you thinking about helping people get better.
1. Science and Practice of Strength Training by Vladimir Zatsiorsky and William Kraemer
The first books we dive into on any subject are almost always the most profound. For me, this book didn’t come until long after college and I had already had those profound “a-ha” moments in a dozen other strength books. What happened when I read this one, though, was learn where the authors of most of the other books I’d read had found their information.
Indeed, if I had looked at the references in the books, I’d have seen Zatsiorsky’s name on page after page. If there is a true Mother Lode in the strength book realm, this is the one.
Science and Practice of Strength Training will help you understand the training effect and the need for recovery, basics of programming and cycling of workouts, muscle physiology, and the application of strength training to sport.
This book is currently in its third edition, and has been updated as science progresses. That being said, the principles have not changed. It’s worth ten times what you’ll pay for it.
2. The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday
Ryan Holiday is a prolific writer, and a lifelong student of the stoics. Although you have access to a lot of books and writing on the stoics and in particular Marcus Aurelius, the single book is the Holiday book I gift most of my athletes, go back to for inspiration, and find the most “true” to the coaching path.
“The impediment to action advances the action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”
This book helps you to understand that the hardest parts of your job are your job. That the things that feel like a grind are the ones that hone you. That ducking responsibility, avoiding the tough jobs on your to-do list, and procrastinating are leading you away from happiness.
The book is divided up into several lessons including Control Your Emotions, Think Differently, and The Art of Acquiescence. This is an easy book to read in short bursts, and is an excellent bedside selection.
3. Influence by Robert Cialdini
It might seem strange to have a book in this list that is supposed to be about business negotiation, but Influence is really about persuasion and creating understanding. I would not be lying if I told you I read fifty books on training and programming before I ever thought about communication and listening skills. The truth in coaching, however, is that unless you can show your athletes you care, can take in what they are saying, and help them understand your vision, it doesn’t matter how good your training plan is.
There are innumerable examples of youth athletes being more influenced by a sport coach than by any other adult in their lives outside the home. Part of it is the position of the coach, part of it is the heightened emotion of sport. Whatever the reason, it is essential that the coach take it seriously.
Cialdini dives deep into what drives us, how we make decisions, and how society can influence us to make very bad decisions while being absolutely sure we’re being logical.
You’ll find a common theme in this list: not a lot of books about climbing, and a ton of books about the way we move through the world. This book is useful for being a human, climbing coach or not.
4. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Another not-training book. Having read dozens of mindset and mental training books over the years, I always felt a bit underserved by them. Most, such as Jerry Moffatt’s Mastermind, are nothing more than a few simple concepts with [insert specific sport here] as an example, packed between personal stories of athletes. Not that these books aren’t entertaining, it’s just that they leave you feeling like you still don’t quite get it.
Fair warning: Thinking Fast and Slow is no light read. That being said, working through the book helps with some vital understanding when we start to sort out why the athletes we advise tend to do things we advise against.
Kahneman describes two systems of thinking: Fast / Intuitive Thinking and Slow / Deliberate Thinking. System 1 operates immediately, and is responsible for giving us instant reactions and judgments. It relies on heuristics and mental models, often leading to biases and errors in decision-making. This system can impact our judgments and choices without our conscious awareness.
System 2 involves conscious effort and rational processing. System two is responsible for logical reasoning, problem-solving, and complex decision-making. Unlike System 1, which acts on instinct, System 2 requires more mental effort and can be mentally taxing.
We explore cognitive biases, overconfidence, and loss aversion, and dive deep into concepts such as the Anchoring Effect, “relying too heavily on the first piece of information we receive when making judgments or estimates, even if that information is irrelevant or misleading.”
Skip the mental training for sports section in the bookstore when looking for tools to understand the mind. Like I said, it’s a big book, but one you’ll finish with a sense of understanding rather than confusion.
5. Getting Things Done by David Allen
One of the main places I see coaches get hung up is in organizing their time. There is stuff coming at us all the time—articles to read, programs to write, people to catch up with, and a thousand emails to write. What ends up happening is a huge mess of things to-do, and tis creates a stressful workday every single day.
David Allen is a workflow specialist. He helps you through all of your “stuff,” and teaches a great simple process for dealing with every item that comes in your inbox. How do you remember to do all the things that occur to you? He has a method for that. Process all of those emails? He has a method. Deal with simple yet menial tasks? Method.
If you’re never feeling overwhelmed or behind schedule, skip this one. But if you feel like you could do better in getting to a comfortable stopping place each day, pick up Getting Things Done.
6. Easy Strength by Dan John and Pavel Tastsouline
“For a given sport, one must find the optimal compromise of strength, endurance, and other qualities. (Note that I wrote compromise, not balance.)”
This is a wonderful look at what strength training is, and gives excellent insights into practical and applicable programs for athletes from all walks of life. Written in a sort of conversational style, the authors cover a lot of ground and there are a ton of “ah-ha” moments each time I pick this one up.
There are great quips such as, “The body has only so much adaptive capacity. Why tap it with exercises that do not bring you closer to your goal?” Which helps a coach better articulate what the athlete needs to hear.
What’s more, they discuss the idea of “quadrants,” which reminds us that no two athletes have the same history, nor desired destination…and should be trained that way. If this were a “two books” list instead of ten, this one would be on it.
7. Supertraining by Mel Siff
OK, this might be a bit of a sandbag, but if ever there was an encyclopedic look at all things training, this is it. Here’s a good test: if you read the whole thing, you’re pretty serious about training knowledge. This is an incredible resource, and a great look into the history of eastern training methods, and how coaches and scientists have been applying these methods in sport.
I found this book, not only informative, but inspirational. One of the things that I kept coming back to was that I didn’t just highlight things to learn them, I ended up making tons of notes in the margins as thoughts came on how we might look at applying different methods and tactics to climbing.
One of the hardest things about simply following the research is that the research is extraordinarily conservative in its approach… If you’re trying to prove something, you don’t deviate too far from the excepted best practices in sport. What I love about super training is that he takes a deep dive into all kinds of crazy methods and ideas and helps break down how they may or may not help an athlete.
This is a gigantic book and tough to read in one push. I prefer to read a chapter at a time, maybe one time a month. Like I said, this is an encyclopedia, and when you’re done with it, you may feel like you know less than you started knowing. That’s a good thing.
8. How Bad Do You Want It? by Matt Fitzgerald
Let’s start by saying that I think a person should read every book by Matt Fitzgerald. He has written broadly about sport and nutrition, and his books Racing Weight, The Comeback Quotient, and Diet Cults, are particularly easy to read and insightful. I really think that How Bad Do You Want It? is a good look at the mental side of high stress / high performance sport that we don’t see in most texts on mental performance.
Fitzgerald underscores the concept of a “psychobiological model,” which highlights the interplay between the brain, body, and mind during sport activities. He illustrates how mental strength can significantly impact an athlete’s ability to endure pain, maintain focus, and sustain effort even when faced with challenges and setbacks. Although it is endurance-oriented in most of the examples, the lessons ring true to climbers.
The book is loaded with anecdotes and real-life examples, showcasing the resilience and determination of athletes who refuse to give up when faced with adversity. Fitzgerald also explores the importance of goal-setting, visualization, and self-belief as tools to enhance performance and achieve success.
In addition to the athlete-focused content, “How Bad Do You Want It” also delves into the significance of storytelling in sports, showing how athletes draw strength from narratives about their struggles and triumphs.
9. The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition by Precision Nutrition
This is a textbook and a big one at that. Weighing in at more than 600 pages, it can be a bit overwhelming at first. This is the certification guide for precision nutrition, level one coaching certification. Although the book can be hard to access without signing up for the certification, I feel like it is worth your effort to try and track it down. That being said, I feel like the precision nutrition certification is probably the best personal coaching certification available out there for any kind of performance coach.
Why?
Because the certification is not about macronutrients or calorie counting, but rather about making changes and creating awareness around our habits. If you’re looking for a good framework from which to communicate and understand your athlete, this is excellent.
But back to the book… This book is divided into two distinct and very useful sections, nutritional science and nutritional practice. It’s a framework that most of us ignore, sticking to the science, and not really worrying about putting it into a real world situation. I found the habit change and coaching strategies to be more useful than the science, if only because no one really helped me see that side of things.
I came away from this book with dozens of pages of notes and have gone back to reread the text three times since my original certification.
10. Back Mechanic by Stuart McGill
Why in the world would a climbing coach need a step by step book on reducing back pain? Other than the fact that an occasional athlete may need such a treatment, the only reason is to open your mind to the possibility that you can help change the way athletes operate their body.
McGill’s method are conservative, sound, and hopeful. For anyone that’s ever had a serious back issue, but you’ll understand that it can be limiting in every area of your life. We see athletes with injuries throughout the body come in to coaching all the time.
The essential lesson here is that we can help these athletes move through their injuries and pain, and still feel like they are progressing toward performance in their sport.
The recommendation for this book has nothing to do with helping people fix back pain, it’s more a testament to the fact that you can help them at all.
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The bottom line is this: If you are not spending at least an hour a day learning and perfecting your craft, no matter the craft, you’re falling behind. Podcasts can be informative and inspirational, but they are far from the top of the educational pyramid. Instead of trying to learn broadly, pick up a book. Learning deeply is the only way to learn these days.
Performance Climbing Coach 