EP 284: Four PTs — The Case for Taking a Break, Heel Hooking Injuries, & Off-the-Wall Strength Training

Dr. Jared Vagy returns to the podcast and is joined by three physical therapy students and graduates, Sarah Kremer , Dawson Freeze , and Michael Larson . We talked about three recent articles covering the benefits of seasonality for maximizing climbing performance, rehabbing and preventing common knee injuries while heel hooking, and off-the-wall strength training for climbers. See the show notes for the full articles here . The Nugget Training App training.thenuggetclimbing.com Get a FREE Finger Strength Testing Session and Customized Report The GRINDS Program thenuggetclimbing.com/grinds FREE Finger Training PDF Rúngne (Chalk & Apparel) rungne.info/nugget Use code “NUGGET” for 10% off storewide, and use code “SHIPPINGNUGGETS” for free shipping. Mad Rock (Shoes & Crash Pads) madrock.com Use code “NUGGET10” at checkout for 10% off your next order. Become a Patron: patreon.com/thenuggetclimbing Show Notes: thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/four-pts Nuggets: (00:00:00) – Intro (00:04:16) – Overview (00:07:52) – Sarah’s topic (the case for taking a break) (00:10:24) – What Sarah’s research process looked like (00:11:22) – Surprises in Sarah’s research process (00:12:35) – Recommendations on when to take time off (00:15:48) – How to sustain stoke (00:18:04) – How climbing ability solidifies over time (00:20:56) – If Sarah did a follow-up study (00:28:38) – Dawson’s topic (heel hooking and knee injuries) (00:33:22) – Common heel hook injuries (00:35:20) – Go to hip mobility exercises (00:39:00) – Heel hooking warm-ups (00:41:01) – Surprises in Dawson's research (00:43:27) – If Dawson did a follow-up study (00:49:28) – Michael's topic (off the wall strength training) (00:52:10) – How often should climbers weight train (00:55:34) – At what point are you strong enough (01:02:59) – Comparing athletes (01:09:47) – Stability-focused exercises (01:19:18) – Value in taking time off (01:21:19) – Jared's final thoughts

You can listen to EP 284: Four PTs — The Case for Taking a Break, Heel Hooking Injuries, & Off-the-Wall Strength Training online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

EP 284: Four PTs — The Case for Taking a Break, Heel Hooking Injuries, & Off-the-Wall Strength Training is an episode from The Nugget Climbing Podcast by Steven Dimmitt.

This episode is 01:24:39 long.

This episode was published on Oct 6, 2025.

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