Coach Reviews: Neil Gresham Trains Intermediate Climbers—and He’s Dang Good at It

In February 2022, I took a nasty tumble down a backcountry couloir in the Canadian Rockies. I received two things from that experience: a sick view of the North Face of Mount Temple from the chopper, and an osteochondral lesion, which takes a minimum of two years to heal. I’ve climbed plenty since that accident, but it has always been in pain, and I’ve struggled to climb with any consistency to actually make strength gains. So when the opportunity arose to be coached by Neil Gresham, I eagerly volunteered. I’ve had a hard time finding inspiration of what exercises I could do to remain active since my ski accident, and I had little interest in becoming a meat-head weightlifter. But Neil assured me he could help me out.

Although Neil is an elite rock and ice climber, he specializes in training climbers in the V2-V6 range. Neil agreed to develop a plan for me that catered to my very specific needs: no weight bearing exercises on my feet and no climbing (I couldn’t risk a small bouldering fall and have to restart my recovery). Even the physio-approved cardio exercises I could do were limited. Nevertheless, he developed a plan for me to strengthen every able-bodied muscle and tendon I had, with an emphasis on fingers and core. Neil’s plan was delivered to me in a 25-page PDF, which I opted to print out, and was divided into three-week blocks: base conditioning (to ensure I was fit enough to endure the inbound program), strength (low repetitions, high weight to failure), and endurance (lots of reps, minimal weight). Throughout the 12-week program, Neil sprinkled in cardio exercises (if you can do them, at least), intense abdominal circuits, and antagonist workouts.

The entry-level program that I chose (at an affordable $115 USD) doesn’t include much testing, and you don’t get to chat with Neil on a day-to-day or weekly basis about how the workouts are feeling, or if they can be adjusted. Neil tests three things before developing a personalized plan: how many pull-ups and toes-to-bar you can do until failure, and how long you can do a half-crimp deadhang on a 20mm edge. This tier of coaching doesn’t include climbing-movement reviews, or any other interaction after the initial assessment period. That said, Neil does offer an increased level of support. Go check out his website for all of the different tiers offered.

There are obvious drawbacks to an asynchronous plan and a limited assessment period; I found myself regularly updating the rep counts and adding weight. For example, despite the fact that I began the program hanging from a 20mm edge for 10 seconds with an additional 120 pounds, the program indicated that I should remove some weight while max-hanging for strength. However, Neil does include plenty of tips and instructions for how to adapt your plan to make it easier or harder—so just pay attention to what feels tweaky or way too easy (for the goal of the exercise) and adjust as necessary. The plan will give any V2-6 climber the inspiration, structure, and confidence needed to be active seven days a week and hangboard 3-4 times a week (provided you’re not supplementing that with actual climbing).

Going into this program, because I wasn’t sure if my foot would allow me to climb by its end, my goal was to generally improve my upper body fitness, namely my lack of pulling power. After 12 weeks, I increased the repetitions of body weight pull ups by 66% (from three to five reps), my toes-to-bar by 33% (from six to eight reps), and my half-crimp deadhang by 105% (from 12 seconds to 24.7 seconds). I can’t tell you whether I sent my project, because I’m still not out of the woods, but you get the idea—if I could climb, I’d be sending.

Overall, I was impressed by Neil’s ability to craft a plan that was adapted to my very specific restrictions, and one which still felt targeted to my goal of ultimately climbing harder outdoors. As someone who maxes out at 5.12 and WI 5, I had no shortage of imposter syndrome when hobbling into the gym last November for a “performance climbing plan.” His plan proved that, despite my injury—and my lack of a training history—I still belonged there.

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