Logical Progression: Using Nonlinear Periodization for Year-Round Climbing Performance Paperback – February 23, 2017

Well Researched. Simple. Easy to follow. Serious results.Especially in terms of flexibility training, skills work, and injury prevention through strength training, this book is miles ahead of everything else. Distills alot of the physiology research into practicable training plans, in a way that books like the Anderson Brothers' RCTM do not.If your focus is on actually climbing outside and practicing your art, rather than training on plastic for most of the year, the plans and information in this book are indispensable and can't be found elsewhere.

Overall: Awesome contribution to the climbing training literature.Bechtel outlines a "nonlinear" yearly training structure, arguing that the flexibility and more comprehensive nature of this structure allows one to improve more steadily and perform more often. In doing so, he's also written a nice book that touches more generally on training for climbing. He includes some specific exercises, many of which you probably haven't thought of, some pointers on how to perform with your new found strength, and some basic programming suggestions. The first chapter - Philosophy of Training - is worth reading by itself for its clarity and the amount of information Bechtel conveys in a relatively short span of writing. All told, I'd say that Chapters 1, 3, 4, and 6 are worth the price of the book by itself. Again, Bechtel's writing is direct, dense, and clear so as to pack a significant amount of wisdom in a relatively short span.Bechtel acknowledges that he is just one voice in a chorus of "how to" improve at climbing philosophies, and doesn't claim to be the final authority on any one aspect of training. Having accidentally using similar yet highly unsophisticated patterns in the past , I'm a believer that his nonlinear design is sound, and at least should be tried as a training structure for any advanced/semi-pro climber.That being said, buyers and readers should know the following. Bechtel, again, is not trying to write a comprehensive manual for climbing training, but rather is trying to write a long appendix to what we already know. He briefly and clearly expounds upon key facets of current research literature, physiology and sports science that everyone should be aware of if they are considering training at all. However, everything truly explored in the book is contextualized by the reader's own experience. If you aren't already fairly fluent with training methods, don't know a fair number of climbing training exercises, or if you don't have a grasp of your own limitations and patterns - the kind of grasp that takes 2-3 years to tune - you might not be able to use this book to its fullest potential. Training methods and exercises are included in the book, but the author includes the highlights, not the whole story (Even though the highlights are really really good and effective highlights!). The book is an outline, a very enlightening (and groundbreaking?) one, but it is still an outline that will be most useful to someone with a lot of prior experience. Furthermore, as Bechtel emphasizes again and again, significant climbing practice shouldn't be sacrificed for training, and the training methods outlined in chapter 4, particularly in the strength section which I personally thought was the most valuable section in the whole book, are very time consuming and intense. Again, the advanced climber has the most to gain here, with newer climbers being unlikely to gain anything from following these plans.Long story short, I love this book as an addition/update to my training methodology. But, 8 years ago it would have been a waste of time for me to adhere to these methods fully. My personal belief is that anyone not at the V7/8 or 12+/13- level should be spending 90% of their time climbing no matter what the training structure under discussion is, and I'm sticking to that claim when I say that Bechtel's methods are most appropriate for the climber that satisfies two of the following 3 criterion:a) Climbing at least V8 or 13a and is technically sound, able to analyze their own movement and develop their own beta etc.b) Has been climbing for a long time (3+ years) and has been plateaued for a season or two.c) Has trained in a semi-structured way in the past and has been able to do so without causing injury, excessive fatigue, or regression.Other pros: High quality paperback, relatively low price for the quality of material and information, many large color high quality photographs, and learning who Steve Bechtel is. You should check out his website - climbstrong.com - for more Bechtel humor and knowledge.

Steve Bechtel has long been a trusted voice for me in developing my own training programming. And judging by his many appearances on climbing training podcasts - many others trust him too! He is skilled, experienced, clear spoken, and a really cool guy. I met him once while swinging through Lander, WY, at his gym Elemental Fitness. He took half an hour out of his day to talk with me - some random guy - about climbing, training for climbing, and being a older guy training for climbing. Really cool hombre. I'd support him just because he's a cool climber person. But don't do that. Buy this book and support him because it's an excellent book about an alternative approach to the common linear periodization training programs. Nothing wrong with linear periodization but I have found that a non-linear approach is much more flexible and yields concurrent and consistent improvement across multiple sub-disciplines of climbing (ie. bouldering, trad climbing, sport climbing). A wonderful book for intermediate to advanced trainees who have been at it for some time.

Training sounds and feels overly complicated. Especially when I just want to climb more not take a whole cyclical period lifting weights. Steve breaks down a simple and easy to execute nonlinear training to improve your climbing... And you don't ever have to stop climbing 😆

Been using this plan for 7 months now and i really like it. it stands out among other plans ive tried because it allows for more outdoor climbing without breaking a rigid schedule. give it a try!

The price is a little high for the amount of book, and the pdf is available through training beta for about $20. I regret not saving the $10 and buying the PDF. That being said, the subject is good, and I look forward to trying this training method.

I've been climbing for 17 years now, and have read maybe 6 training books before this one....Bechtel seems to be making a great contribution to how the leaders in the training community think about training. Reading this after the Anderson brothers' book was especially interesting, as it really feels like an intervention on their periodization approach.That said, if you're just a climber like me, looking for easy-to-implement training schedules in your busy days, this isn't the book. There are no easy to read daily training curriculum charts for when you're in need of a reminder before you walk into the gym. Moreover, some key information is missing for the exercises. For example, in the section where he talks about hang boarding, he recommends ladders (3-6-9) and goes on to give a really vague explanation of what that actually involves, or what you'd need to do in order to warm up prior. It's like he wrote it in a hurry, leaving out key details. I had to pull up a Climbing Magazine article to fill in the gaps for that part... This happened a few other times in the book. It gives me the impression that this book was written in a hurry and not edited by someone with any empathy for us eager-to-train readers. Compared to the Anderson brothers' book, it feels like a rough draft of a better plan. But I'll still ultimately open the former to plan my short session at the gym.