BONUS: Alex Bridgewater — Getting Strong, Speed Walking, and Self-Belief

Alex Bridgewater is a high-level rock climber who moved to Lander, WY in 2016, to train at Elemental as part of the Climb Strong Program. Alex now works for Climb Strong as a coach. We talked about his transition into coaching, managing a chronic back injury, favorite barbell and bodyweight exercises, speed walking, and the importance of self-belief.  Support on Patreon:patreon.com/thenuggetclimbing  Show Notes:  http://thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/alex-bridgewater  Nuggets:  1:26 – Skating, early climbing, competing, and mentors  5:46 – Climbing in college and meeting Charlie’s brother Mike  7:27 – Alex’s first time swinging a kettlebell  8:26 – Plans for the ‘PreMuir’, and starting to train with Charlie  11:49 – Coming to Lander and learning about strength training  13:41 – Learning on the fly on the side of El Cap  16:21 – Getting sold on training, moving to Lander, and getting started with Climb Strong  22:15 – Discipline, second-tier routes, and volume days  25:04 – Kettlebell swings, and Alex’s back injury  28:53 – Setting the goal of being injury-free for a year  29:32 – The exercises that made the biggest difference for Alex’s own climbing  32:41 – Unilateral vs. bilateral exercises, Zercher squats, and goblet squats   39:02 – Kettlebells for climbers with limited overhead mobility, and bodyweight strength training  40:45 – Example bodyweight exercises, and handstand pushup progressions  43:02 – Alex’s experience at the Strong First bodyweight certification, and benefits of bodyweight strength training  45:43 – One arm one leg pushups, and body awareness and control  47:48 – Reading Stuart McGill and fixing his back with core exercises and speed walking  50:57 – The McGill Big Three  51:43 – More speed walking  53:40 – Alex’s current training, barbell overhead press, and deadlifting from blocks  57:12 – Alex’s most recent hangboard cycle (Ladder program with two grips)  1:00:16 – Current climbing projects, and the history behind ‘Fibinachi Shimmer’  1:02:26 – Alex’s takeaways from the training camp  1:08:53 – The one piece of advice Alex took away from Jonathan’s presentation  1:11:55 – Alex’s future with Climb Strong, and Climb Strong as a collective  1:14:08 – One thing that holds us back, the importance of taking the steps, and pushing ourselves  1:16:43 – Social media, “can’t”, and confidence  1:17:43 – Carlo Traversi’s insight  1:18:42 – Positivity  1:20:10 – “Just go up there and try”, a becoming a better person  1:21:54 – “To the death.”  1:23:14 – Showing emotion, “Leave it up there”, and try hard