Natalia Grossman is one of the top female competitors of all time. She has won an astounding 11 World Cups and 4 World Cup seasons in a row! She also competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics for Team USA. Even though Natalia won the WC season in 2024, it was a tough year for her. She suffered a serious injury during the semi finals in the first World Cup competition of the year. Somehow she pushed through it to win the competition, but afterwards it was clear that the injury was a major one. The wors...
Nov 25, 2024•2 hr 37 min•Ep. 126
This is a follow-up episode to the last Melina Costanza podcast, #119 . That episode was one of the fan favorites, josh favorites, and even favorites of other professional climbers. Go listen to that one first, because it was amazing and will set the stage for this follow-up episode. It’s only been a month since Melina last came on, but in that month she won US Nationals, both in Lead and Bouldering, and did so for the second year in a row. Yes, in 2023 she won Lead and Bouldering and in 2024 sh...
Nov 18, 2024•2 hr 13 min•Ep. 125
This episode is brought to you by Mad Rock ! Mad Rock is run by REAL climbers, and that’s why they supported Ross Fulkerson and Testpiece to go on an awesome trip to Mallorca where they recorded this podcast. Ross is back on the pod after a multi year hiatus. Ross was actually the very first guest back on episode #3 and #4! Since then Ross has won tons of comps, competed in tons of world cups, climbed hard boulders, hard sport, even hard trad! In the last few months Ross has been on tear doing a...
Nov 11, 2024•2 hr 59 min•Ep. 124
Adam Shahar is the name that keeps coming up when I ask who is an up and coming star. At 18 he had a breakout year where he won bouldering nationals, climbed V15 in a few sessions while he was on the road doing WC’s, and then became IFSC’s Athlete of the Week when he narrowly missed finals with a 7th place finish at the Prague WC. He also had perhaps the most incredible board climbing session of all time where he did 5 V13’s on the Tension TB2, flashing 1 of them and doing 2 of them second try… ...
Nov 04, 2024•2 hr 55 min•Ep. 123
If you watched the Paris Olympics then you remember Hamish McArthur’s stand out performance to secure an incredible 5th place finish. Hamish had already stood atop World Cup podiums and won Youth Worlds, but his Olympic showing was a clear level up. In this episode Hamish shares what changed for him in the year leading up to the Olympics and how it ultimately led him to having one of the best competitions in his life. Don’t miss this incredibly inspiring and thought provoking chat with the inimi...
Oct 28, 2024•2 hr 45 min•Ep. 122
You’ve heard of Matt Fultz , but you may not realize just how amazing Matt is. He’s climbed eight V16’s. 8. Eight! By the way, two of them are rarely repeated and recognized as some of the hardest in the world (Hypnotized Minds and Big Z). He’s FA’d 7 climbs V15 and up, including 2 V15’s in one day!! We’re pretty sure that’s a world’s first, but who’s counting… Matt has also been coaching for well over a decade and founded Off The Ground coaching (“OTG”), which is one of the most highly respecte...
Oct 21, 2024•2 hr 51 min•Ep. 121
Alvaro Rangel , Al, is back on the podcast after 2+ years! Al was one of the first guests and one of the best. The last podcast we did was incredible, but somehow Al managed to top it with today’s episode. He is the founder and head coach of Team Class 5 in San Diego, CA. Al is also part of the Team USA coaching staff and supports the team at World Cups as well as at the recent Paris Olympics. Al’s insight into what makes climbers the best in the world is rare. He shares his thoughts on what mas...
Oct 14, 2024•3 hr 33 min•Ep. 120
Melina Costanza is an 8x US National Champion. Sometimes as a youth, sometimes as a collegiate, sometimes in Open, sometimes in bouldering, sometimes in lead, sometimes both. Yes, last year at Open Nationals (2023) she won both Bouldering and Lead. She is set to compete in the 2024 Open Nationals coming up in a week, so after you listen to this podcast make sure to mark your calendars for October 14th and 15th and cheer her on! In this podcast, Melina shares her extremely deep dive into mental t...
Oct 07, 2024•2 hr 24 min•Ep. 119
Ward Byrum is the Director of Routesetting for all Movement gyms in the East Region. Yes, that Movement. The biggest climbing gym chain in America and probably the world. That means that Ward and his team decide what the climbing will be like for thousands of climbers. Scratch that, ten’s of thousands of climbers. It might even be hundreds of thousands of climbers or even millions! But hey, who’s counting? The climbs his team puts up will likely be their first experience of climbing and quite po...
Sep 30, 2024•2 hr 20 min•Ep. 118
Tom Randall is an iconic climber and founder. You might know him as one of the Wide Boyz , as one of the founders of Lattice Training , as a high level coach, or for his 5.14 Trad FA’s or even his FA of the worlds hardest crack boulder, aptly named “The Kraken” [V13]. Ya, Tom’s done it all, and has helped the best in the world do it even better. In this chat, Tom gives a masterclass on what actually gets climbers better. He also shares how to best use data from metrics, how the testing for metri...
Sep 23, 2024•2 hr 16 min•Ep. 117
David Fitzgerald is back after an absolutely incredible season. Dave was previously on for Testpiece Episode #55 , a total fan favorite. Last season Dave had a list of climbs in different styles to tackle. Tierrany, a V14 endurance bloc in Yosemite. Equanimity, a V15 ultra tech testpiece in Tahoe. Lucid Dreaming, the V15+ straight forward power problem in Bishop. And Big Z, a V16 power endurance mega-testpiece that has thwarted many of the best climbers in the world. Did we mention he did this a...
Sep 16, 2024•2 hr•Ep. 116
Garrett Gregor was the head routesetter for the Paris Olympics boulders! That’s all you need to know. Just stop reading this description and start listening now. Garrett is also an accomplished competitor, placing as high as 4th at Nationals, an experienced coach at the legendary Team ABC, and did we mention he’s an elite routesetter?! IFSC Level 5, etc, etc etc…. Didn’t you already see that he was the head routesetter for the Paris Olympic boulders?! In this banger episode Garrett shares all of...
Sep 09, 2024•2 hr 27 min•Ep. 115
Dr. Tyler Nelson is the founder of Camp 4 Human Performance , a company focused on bringing the principles of sport science to climbing. Tyler is focused on being a cutting edge resource for training and rehabilitation of climbers. This means he is always knee deep in research papers from all sorts of sports and asking how we might apply those lessons to climbing. Then he explores these potential findings through testing, ultrasound, and training with some of the best athletes in climbing. Some ...
Sep 02, 2024•2 hr 13 min•Ep. 114
This is the episode to learn everything about one of, if not the, most important parts of our climbing kit — chalk! The real topic here is how to maximize friction between your hands and the holds, which is crucial for sending your hardest. Kevin Brown joins the pod and goes deep on the science of how to get the best friction on holds. He talks about the chemical make up of the best chalk, what it has, what it doesn’t have, the pH of chalk and why that matters. He also shares the history of chal...
Aug 26, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 113
Professional climber, coach, routesetter, and frequent Testpiece podcast guest, Tim Kang , is on the pod this week to share his thoughts about the Paris 2024 Olympics. Tim may be best known for his highball ascents that culminated in the film Focus , but Tim is also a seasoned competition climber with multiple World Cups under his belt. Tim loves competition climbing and studies in deeply. Hear his thoughts on the most important climbing competition ever. In this episode, Tim and Josh dive into ...
Aug 19, 2024•2 hr 6 min•Ep. 112
Tom O’Halloran is arguably the best climber in Australia. He’s an Olympian, he’s climbed 15a and v14, and done FA’s nearly up to those grades as well. But the reason we wanted to have him on the podcast is because of the amazing YouTube content he puts out. He dives into the nuances of hard climbing in a way that actually helps people climb hard. Tom shares his knowledge in an open and honest way that doesn’t sugar coat the process or make it seem simple or “black and white”. In this podcast Tom...
Aug 12, 2024•2 hr 24 min•Ep. 111
Ethan Salvo is back on the podcast! Ethan's first episode (linked here) was a fan favorite so when Josh visited Squamish for a few days they met up do an impromptu live/in-person recording. Since the last recording, Ethan has climbed arguably the hardest climb in Squamish, The Singularity . The experience he had on it was fascinating and made him question everything he knew about hard climbing and grades. This has changed Ethan's approach to climbing and helped him find more joy and le...
Aug 05, 2024•2 hr 48 min•Ep. 110
Noah Wheeler and Benn Wheeler represent the next generation of climbers. At 21 and 19, they are some of the strongest board climbers in the world and their styles reflect that. They also are bring a unique point of view to the world of climbing content with their YouTube channel, Wheel Rock . These brothers have climbed up to V16 outdoors, FA’d up V14 (in the first 3 months of climbing outdoors!), and FA’d or climbed the hardest board climbs the world has ever known. In their short time in the c...
Jul 29, 2024•2 hr 12 min•Ep. 109
AJ has been competing at the highest level for decades. She has won multiple Bouldering World Cups and she climbs just as hard outdoors with her iconic send of The Swarm (v13/14) in Bishop which was recently featured in Reel Rock . AJ also coaches some of the top up and coming Youth Athletes (one of her athletes recently won Nationals), through her business Delphi Climbing . In this podcast AJ gives tons of tips on how to perform your best and the drills she runs her athletes through. She also s...
Jul 22, 2024•2 hr 59 min•Ep. 108
Drew Ruana is one of the strongest boulders in the world. Period. He over a hundred V14+ sends, and lots of then are V16. While some other climbers may have that amount of blocs under their belt, no one has accumulated this many in such a short time. Drew goes into his infamous “Send Colorado” journey, which is his goal to send all V14 and up boulders in CO (nearly 200!). He shares some of the ones that are left giving him trouble (e.g. Megatron, V17). And he goes into some finer points of gradi...
Jul 15, 2024•2 hr 11 min•Ep. 107
Felipe Camargo is one of the top climbers in our sport with sends up to 9b and V15. That’s impressive… But what’s more impressive is that he began climbing Brazil where there was no professional climbers, no routes past 8b+, and no modern training facilities. Felipe managed to send the iconic 50m 9a+ Papichulo by mainly training on a 3x3m spray wall at 85+ degrees! And even more incredible, is that he didn’t have other climbers of his caliber there to push him. He was the trail blazer. His story...
Jul 08, 2024•2 hr 37 min•Ep. 106
Tim Kang is a frequent guest on the podcast, but now you get to hear him do a more typical interview. Tim is a professional climber and coach that has competed at the World Cup level, won a Psicobloc competition, climbed v14 and 5.14d, but he is best known for his daring sends of the wildest highballs in Bishop which culminated in the popular film Focus . Tune in to hear Tim’s arc as a climber, from his early days when he struggled to keep up with everyone else, to his success in high pressure c...
Jul 01, 2024•2 hr 8 min•Ep. 105
Greg Loh was one of the strongest boulders in the world during the mid 90’s and early 00’s. He traveled all over the world putting up FA’s of V13+ and climbing with the best. He competed in WC’s, the X-Games, and even won Nationals twice for speed climbing. He is known for being one of the first people who truly embraced bouldering as a discipline in itself. This is back when bouldering was extra dangerous due to the lack of pads and Greg has 9 broken ankles to prove it! This also lead him to be...
Jun 24, 2024•2 hr 21 min•Ep. 104
Entitlement is the opposite of flow and perhaps the most damaging frame to have over the long term in your climbing. This can come from training, previous sends, or comp placement. Hear stories about Daniel Woods and other pro-climbers who have avoided this frame. And hear from Tim Kang and Josh Horsley about how they coach others and themselves to guard against it. SHOW NOTES: NEW!! Testpiece Pocket T-Shirt SUAV Shoes Rhino Skin Solutions Support the show Support us on Patreon: HERE Visit our p...
Jun 17, 2024•2 hr 58 min•Ep. 103
We love board climbing. And if you do too, or even if you are just board curious, this episode it for you. The history of boards, board training, board ethics, board best practices, the future of boards. BOARDS!! This was a special in person recording in Colorado with part of the Tension Climbing crew ( Will Anglin , Michael Rosato , and Quinn Spadafora ). This episode was recorded the day after Josh and Tim did a YouTube video with Tension, “Comparing the Boards: Testpiece Comes to Tension” . Y...
Jun 10, 2024•2 hr 26 min•Ep. 102
Dave Burleson is one of the top agents for professional climbers. He's part of Reppa Athlete Managment that represents athletes like Sean Bailey, Nathaniel Coleman, Nina Williams, Jesse Grupper… the list goes on, but all of them have been on the podcast so we put them here first! Before being an agent, Dave worked at the iconic brands Petzl and The North Face as an athlete coordinator / manager. So that means Dave has been on both sides of the table, representing brands who sponsor athletes...
Jun 03, 2024•3 hr 31 min•Ep. 101
Episode #100!!!! Thank you all for the support. What a journey it’s been. This episode was an absolute banger that encapsulates a lot of the Testpiece message. Tim and Josh break down the ‘Simple’ path that the best climbers follow to being great. And then they detail the appropriate role that strength plays in this path. They also go over the latest news and cover the amazing media that has been dropping as well as a quick review of the Moonboard 2024 set by Tim. SHOW NOTES: Janja on Bügeleisen...
May 27, 2024•2 hr 4 min•Ep. 100
Nina Williams pushes the limits in every discipline of climbing there is… comps, bouldering, highball bouldering, big wall, sport climbing, and even free soloing. In this episode she takes us through a harrowing experience she had while free soloing the Casual Route of the Diamond, a multi pitch 5.10. Nina ended up off route during the climb and thus onsight free soloing, 800 feet off the deck. Nina also shares what has propelled her to explore and master the different disciplines in climbing an...
May 20, 2024•2 hr 50 min•Ep. 99
Tim Kang was just in SLC for the World Cup and NACS. He got to watch and session with some of the best climbers in the world. Hear from Tim what his major takeaways were that can help you too. SHOW NOTES: Honnold’s Comments About Competitions and $ Petzl Roc Trip James-Caro Wedding Present Support the show Support us on Patreon: HERE Visit our podcast page: HERE Sign-up with one of our coaches: HERE Follow us on Instagram: HERE...
May 13, 2024•2 hr 56 min•Ep. 98
Davin Bagdonas has developed 1000’s of climbs all over the world. Elite climbers, fellow adventurers, and previous podcast guests, like Jimmy Webb, Jamie Emerson, Roman Yalowitz, Eric Jerome call up Davin when they want to go on a wild adventure to try to find the best boulders in the world. Davin takes us on a trip around the world to places fraught with danger, and explains this up and comping lens on climbing termed “Alpine Fusion”. This is where you go deep into the backcountry to search and...
May 06, 2024•2 hr 13 min•Ep. 97
