He has been climbing for over twenty years, is a three-time British bouldering champion, has competed in world cup finals, and has been at the heart of pushing climbing standards in the UK over the last ten years. What are the most effective fingerboard routines guaranteed to skyrocket your strength and endurance? The nice thing about it though, is that it makes you wonder if there is any point to hardcore training manuals for your 'average' experienced climber: Ned's approach is really not very scientific, and he is a beast - so his (arguably more basic) approach must work!

How to take care of skin splits, what superglue is good for, and why you shouldn't leave your house without hand warmers on a cold day?As an intermediate/advanced rock climber, I believe that everybody can get something out of this book. From the foreward, Feehally admits that he will leave the citations out of this book and recommends your following up with additional reading if interested.

It mostly focusses on training more at the power end of the spectrum, though does contain a section on endurance training. Instead, he recognized that many climbers will want to turn to the chapter that best relates to their training query and then move on to the training itself. Between both his 1000 and 2000 models, Feehally has co-produced the most popular brand of wooden fingerboards in the world. Indeed there still is for many people and clearly, Ned Feehally has realised this issue by writing his new book Beastmaking: a fingers-first approach to becoming a better climber.It's a combination of the most efficient training methods out there, synthesized into specific training plans for your personal goal! If I could add anything, it would be helpful to briefly discuss selecting the proper loads for fingerboard training and how that affects the training adaptations. It's kind of based in the idea that one should train smarter instead of harder and that what works for person A doesn't necessarily apply to person B. There are insights from some of the other world's top climbers, including Alex Honnold, Shauna Coxsey, Adam Ondra, Alex Puccio and Tomoa Narasaki. I’ve spent lots of time with Ned Feehally over the years and I’ve always admired his dedicated approach to training.

The chapter also contains a bit on climbing history, which I particularly enjoyed, and it ends with a handy glossary of climbing terms. This book does not provide details on the nitty gritty science underpinning the methods, mental aspects of training, or climbing technique. Thankfully, Ned has you covered - at least with a few basic drills to help you avoid injury and make the most out of your climbing.

Beastmaking is written by Ned Feehally one of the world’s top climbers and a co-founder of the Beastmaker fingerboard. These are perfect for warming up, chucking huge moves or (if you're that way inclined) full on endurance training. These are the sorts of contextual details that lend strength to his book and describe the direction he hoped to head with it. At the end of the book, there are interviews with Alex Puccio, Adam Ondra, Jerry Moffat, Melissa Le Nevé, Tomoa Narasaki, Alex Megos, Alex Honnold, and Coxsey.

The book is let down by a very quick coverage of endurance training - understandable since the author is primarily a boulderer - hence only 4 stars. Beastmaking by Ned Feehally is designed to provide normal people – like you and me – with the tools we need to get the most out of our climbing.Some of my other favorite chapters include details on how to structure your session on a board and how to train endurance on a board.