World Class Finger Strength: Interview with Allison Vest

Today we have another returning guest having previously chatted on the show, with her partner in crime Kyra Condie. Who is both accomplished in indoor competitions as well as in outdoor climbing, having climbed up to V14! Please welcome back to the show .... Allison Vest! Allison first came to the attention of us at Lattice through a piece of data funnily enough. Quite some time ago, Tom Randall was compiling a list of the greatest finger strength levels ever measured in female athletes and Allison was right at the top. Naturally, he wanted to dig into the information a bit further as the numbers were pretty outrageous! Over the last few years, Allison has risen to the position of one of the most accomplished outdoor boulderers in the world having climbed up to V14, which is also on top of a track record of multiple competition podiums for indoor competition climbing. On top of this, she’s someone who has a prolific social media presence, seamlessly connecting between content that’s both light-hearted and serious, but always with such an accessible style. We wanted to get her back on the podcast to talk about all things performance, training and bouldering focused. Tune in to hear all about: Her transition from coached to self-coached climbing How she manages training vs performing Her thoughts on resting How she trains on a fingerboard What her ‘personal bests’ or scores on a fingerboard are Testing with Camp4 Human Performance Working ‘strengths’ vs working ‘weaknesses’ in climbing Her personal warning signs for when to not strength train How to access the ‘top end’ in bouldering How she deals with the ‘a Muerte’ attitude towards training and performance The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project. The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.