EP 191: Jesse Firestone Returns — Finding Silver Linings, How to Move Like Adam Ondra, and Key Benefits of Visualization

Jesse Firestone is back on the podcast! We talked about his injury this spring and finding silver linings, why he focused more on weight training than climbing this summer, shifting his priorities to spending more time on projects, biggest lessons from the past three years of coaching, Adam Ondra’s hip flexibility, how to become more flexible through climbing, why visualization is an excellent use of your time, and much more!

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Show Notes:

thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/jesse-firestone-returns

Nuggets:

0:00:00 – Intro/Ads

0:05:53 – Jesse’s Winter and Spring season, his wrist injury, and his trip to Fontainebleau

0:11:53 – Losing muscle, falling into our own pitfalls, and a sales pitch for having a coach

0:15:45 – Stoic philosophy, finding the silver lining, and why Jesse climbed a lot less than usual over the summer

0:18:49 – Being stubborn about rock climbing, and plans to balance that with more weight lifting

0:20:32 – Why Jesse is moving toward less volume and more projecting

0:25:31 – Work capacity

0:29:48 – My summer trip, and what I would do the same vs differently to prepare next time

0:34:22 – Chasing the highs, and the reset of a bad injury

0:37:29 – Being content with not sending my project in Rocklands, and Jesse and I talk about struggling to find inspiration there

0:43:53 – What I’ve realized about active rest days in Rocklands

0:47:57 – Why Jesse didn’t set any goals on paper in 2023

0:49:57 – Thai

0:51:25 – How Jesse’s coaching business has evolved, and how he uses Instagram

0:56:03 – “A good coach knows when to be a window and when to be a mirror.”

0:56:33 – Lessons from Jesse’s first few years of coaching

1:05:23 – How coaching has led him to being a more compassionate person

1:08:43 – Summary of coaching lessons

1:09:33 – Intent vs. content of training

1:12:55 – Adam Ondra’s hip flexibility, writing a book, and how to improve flexibility through climbing

1:22:10 – Having a positive attitude about your flexibility

1:29:55 – 3 benefits of visualization for climbers

1:39:53 – The nuts and bolts of visualization

1:46:47 – Jesse puts his coach hat on and encourages me to climb faster

1:51:47 – Visualization for onsighting, and Adam Ondra’s onsight of Just Do It

1:54:20 – Wrap up