EP 170: Karly Rager & Casey Elliott — What the Data Says About Weight, Height, and Ape Index, and Which Metrics Matter for Climbing Performance

Karly Rager is back on the podcast and is joined by Casey Elliott to talk about the factors that affect climbing performance. We’ve got three engineers in one podcast, and we geek out on the data! Do things like weight, height, and ape index affect how hard you can climb? Is max finger strength more important than days spent climbing outside? Listen to find out!

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Show Notes:

thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/karly-and-casey

Nuggets:

0:06:18 – Karly’s time in El Salto, Mexico

0:09:39 – Casey joins us from a legit recording studio, his engineering studies, and coaching vs. engineering

0:16:06 – An update from Karly on Project Direct, and how she got connected to Casey

0:19:19 – Decision fatigue, and wearing lots of hats

0:20:42 – Casey’s climbing and coaching background

0:25:51 – Mikey Schaefer calls out Casey, and the connection between dating and projecting routes

0:30:03 – What was the goal of this multi-variate statistical analysis?

0:32:59 – What is a multivariate statistical analysis, and how does it work?

0:40:09 – The 600 people whose data was used in this analysis, and getting away from statements like “I have 5.13 finger strength”

0:49:12 – What % of climbers have climbed 5.13?

0:50:56 – List of the variables used in this analysis

0:53:45 – Casey’s simple model using three variables

0:55:15 – How important is climbing outside vs. max finger strength?

0:56:35 – Why climbing outside ended up being the most heavily weighted variable in the multivariate model

0:59:10 – Higher-end statistics require interpretation

1:00:47 – Check out their blog post and the climbing calculator!

1:02:08 – Do height, weight, wing span, or BMI affect how hard you can climb?

1:07:57 – Thoughts on how age affects how hard you can climb, and playing to your strengths as a short climber

1:09:37 – What the data doesn’t tell us

1:11:06 – The range of climbing abilities in the 600 participants

1:12:36 – How the coefficient for max hangs turned out to be negative, and what that likely means

1:18:08 – What should people spend their time on to get better at climbing?

1:20:59 – How training can lead to expectations, and getting good before you get strong

1:24:38 – Getting creative with skill drills

1:25:34 – Watching climbing videos, and filming your Kilter Board sessions

1:27:49 – Diving deeper into what you should do to climb harder boulders and sport routes

1:32:06 – Looking for low-hanging fruit

1:35:03 – How Karly used the online calculator before her trip to El Salto

1:36:08 – How to use the online climbing calculator, and how to take the assessment

1:39:34 – How many outdoor days does it take to be a master?

1:42:35 – Injury prevention isn’t captured in the model

1:43:41 – What variables would Karly and Casey like to see in their dream multi-variate statistical analysis?

1:46:39 – What is Mikey Schafer up to?

1:48:16 – Skiing this winter, and finishing his masters

1:48:52 – The momentum that comes with doing hard things, and looking at high performers

1:51:56 – Final thoughts and wrap up