So, you want to "climb every mountain... ford every ice field"? You could simply strap on your crampons and head for the hills. But you're nuts if you do without first getting ready. If innovation is 99% perspiration, successful climbing is at least 99% preparation. As Soles says, "There is a world of difference between training harder and training smarter."

Whether you're a weekend warrior or a seasoned iceman, this book is a virtual bible packed with useful information to help get you to the top of just about anything. Food facts. Mental training. Conditioning. Dealing with altitude. Strength. Exercises to improve flexibility/balance. And ways to simply "put everything together."

Soles debunks myths about aging. Takes a whack at vegans. Then takes off on organic foods. Who knew that "psyching-up" enables you to achieve 8% more peak force? How do different genders deal with fear? Soles dissects each major form of aerobic activity - laying out the pros and cons of each. Complex medical and nutritional insights are served up to readers in very digestible bites. If you're not sure what gear and techniques to use when training, a good half of the book is devoted to exercises and everything you should consider when building up strength - maintaining, stretching, rehabilitating, and cross training. If you thought you needed a personal trainer, this book quite possibly will be the best one you could employ.

About the only thing the author avoids dealing with is the advisability of sex before and after climbing. But I suspect any reader religiously adopting a sampling of Soles' exercise routines will probably make them pretty good in the sack. Seriously, if you want to prepare yourself to hit the Himalayas or that pesky crag out back, before you hit the wall, bring this book along with you.

Robert F. Wells, Expedition News

Let me start off by saying unequivocally that Climbing: Training for Peak Perfomance is the best book I've seen in regards to fitness for climbers. The book covers everything you could ever want to know about training for climbing, including diet, aerobic workout, resistance training, flexibility and so much more, and the chapters are filled with so much good information, that you'll constantly be finding new things to add to your preparation for the mountains.

The book begins with a great introduction on the fundamentals of exercise in the general sense, and it's application to climbing specifically. It also touches on a number of other topics, such as how important conditioning can be to the aging climber and the importance of getting everything to work together for you for higher performance on the mountain. The intro sets up a number of themes that run throughout the book, not the least of which is to always have fun in both your training and your climbing. Something we probably all agree with.

The chapters on the workout routines are comprehensive, to say the least, and geared toward climbers of all styles and skill levels. Whether you're a weekend warrior or heading to the Himalaya, you'll find some things in this book that will be of help. Clyde does an excellent job of breaking down the things that work and don't work, and streamlining it for the rest of us. For instance, in the chapter on aerobic exercise, he looks at all the options available to us, including trail running, road running, cycling, and so on, and quickly and easily lays out the pros and cons of each of them. It's a great reference even if you're a non-climber.

While the exercise focused chapters are excellent, there were two others that really caught my attention. The second chapter of the book is focused on nutrition and it's importance to your over all conditioning, and it has some incredibly helpful information on planning for your dietary needs. Many climbers don't make a plan when it comes to their diet, as conventional wisdom has always said that it's important to have plenty of calories, but Clyde notes that it's not just how much you eat, but what you eat as well, and paying attention to those needs can improve performance in a lot of ways. This is a chapter that I highly recommend for anyone who is already a climber, but is looking for ways to improve endurance and performance. Of particular interest would be the section on "fueling the climb".

The other chapter that I found particularly interesting was the third, which focuses on the mental aspects of preparing for a climb. By focusing on mental conditioning, you see the holistic approach that the author is a proponent of, bringing all aspects of body and mind together to make us better prepared for all of our athletic endeavors. Clyde mentions that some of these mental conditioning techniques come from martial arts and yoga, and perhaps that's why I related so well to this chapter. My years of martial arts training made it easy for me to understand what he was trying to achieve. It's another chapter that will likely have something to offer even those that are already in terrific shape.

Other valuable information in the book include the chapter on climbing at altitude, which offers some great advice on helping to improve the acclimatization process, and the chapter on rest and recovery is excellent as well, reminding us why we need to take some time off on occasion as well. The final chapter brings everything together, building synergy on everything we've learned in the previous chapters.

In case you couldn't tell, I was very impressed with this book. Exercise manuals don't tend to be highly interesting to me, but this one is so much more than that. I really enjoyed the whole approach to preparing for climbing, and found valuable information on nearly every page. If you're a climber, and haven't read this book, then I suggest you order it. NOW!

Kraig Becker, The Adventure Blog

In the case of Clyde Soles' revised Climbing: Training for Peak Performance, that assumption could not be further from the truth.

Climbing: Training for Peak Performance is both serious and comprehensive, rivaling the depth of information in my massive medical reference, Athletic Training and Sports Medicine while simultaneously managing to be quite a bit more current.

But Soles, former senior editor at Rock & Ice magazine, is not interested merely in deluging the reader with information that will never be put to use.

Climbing focuses not only on improving the bodies of hard-charging, fast-recovering young athletes, but of athletes of all ages and at all points in their careers. Soles directs considerable attention toward addressing the needs of alpinists and climbers who do not enjoy the benefits of a professional training staff and unlimited training hours—that is to say, you and me.

The author also emphasizes the critical point that your training regimen should prevent injury, rather than lead to it. In this regard, Soles critiques several of the currently-in-vogue gyms or fitness programs that employ what might be called an extreme boot-camp approach to fitness: take a large sample of hyper-motivated 19-year-old athletes, ruthlessly overtrain them, and then claim success when one or two of them survives and temporarily achieves elite performance.

The vast majority of athletes subject to such 'programs' break down, of course, leaving them worse then when they started.

That is not to suggest that Climbing offers an easy path to fitness. Rather, Soles' approach might be said to be based on informed pragmatism. Does it require hard work and discipline? Absolutely—but only in so far as it can be integrated into our already too-busy schedules, be it strength training, cardio work, or a nutrition strategy. And only if it is supported by evidence.

New information is constantly emerging from research laboratories. Soles help us navigate this often confusing barrage of information.

I especially like the effort Soles has put into making his information current. The revised second edition (2008) often surprises with the freshness of its data, such as the latest on the COX-2 inhibitor drugs (ie, Vioxx, Celebrex), which were recently thought to be ideal replacements for NSAID's like ibuprofen.

Also noteworthy is the book's section on injury rehabilitation. which proves remarkably comprehensive. The sad fact is that many of us will suffer injury either at the hands of our sport or elsewhere in life. Climbing includes current information and strategies for dealing with everything from minor aches and pains to major injury.

While the information in Climbing is directly applicable for a wide range of sports, it is tailored for the needs of the alpinist, featuring sport-specific sections on training for rock climbing and high altitude endeavors.

If you are seeking a text that will gently encourage you to persist in halfhearted or half-baked training methods, this is not it. However, if you want a comprehensive, serious, and practical guide to nutrition and fitness from a climber's point of view, Climbing: Training for Peak Performance will not disappoint.

A review of Climbing: Training for Peak Performance by Clyde Soles ISBN-13: 978-1594850981. 2nd edition, published October 2008 by Mountaineers Books

It is the same every year. Despite cycling to work, an occasional run and hill walking every ski season starts with those agonizing first few trips in which I’m left in the tracks of younger and fitter ski buddies. “Getting the rough off” is what we used to call it when I cycle raced. The only problem, every year there seems to be more rough to get off.

Being unfit when ski touring is unpleasant and can be downright dangerous if you push things too far. To descend you need to have some spare capacity. A tired skier is more likely to suffer injuries and fatigue can be a contributory factor to accidents such as falls and avalanches.

There must be a better way to start the season and Climbing: Training for Peak Performance a recently published 300 page book by Clyde Soles, seems to offer a solution. Although aimed at climbers the information is largely applicable to ski touring with its strenuous ascents and scrambles as well as other endurance sports.

The book is amazingly detailed and comprehensive. There is extensive information and research on nutrition covering a range of dietary styles. The section on mental focus could be useful to ski mountaineering competitors or skiers making steep or technical descents, or just people who are psyched out by their ski partners. Clyde then gets into the nitty-gritty of getting fit explaining the pros and cons of different branches of cross training (we have to do something in the autumn). He even covers Nordic walking, something that I’m seeing a lot more of in Europe.

As you would expect there is discussion of resistance training in the gym that will interest serious competitors aiming for a Pierra Menta/Patrouille des Glaciers or if you have some particular weaknesses in muscle groups. I also learned what some of the weird gym equipment actually does. The information on altitude is useful for expedition climbers as well as anyone heading to the Alps or Pyrenees where some tours take you to a lung busting 2500+ meters. Flexibility and balance are two crucial areas for ski touring, as is recovery, especially for skiers attempting multi-day tours and these are well treated.

Climbing: Training for Peak Performance is well researched and easy to read. It is a good all-round training manual which assembles a lot of information into a not too long tome. You could develop a specific exercise regime or tune your existing programme. Given that it is aimed at climbers, so some information will be irrelevant for ski touring, it is definitely a book to get if you want to do some of the big day or multi-day tours.

The edge—that element of doing something few others dare to try—was lost. And, to add to the anguish, true mountaineers had to venture farther and farther from home to find solace in the rocks and snow.

Like it or not, high-altitude mountaineering has become big business. The fact is, however, that pushing one's way to the roof of the world is still no easy task. Clear evidence of that came last month when "Today" show correspondent Ann Curry was forced to abort an attempt at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, all because some of her team members came down with altitude sickness.

Enter the second edition of Climbing: Training for Peak Performance, a new release from The Mountaineers Books. Written by Colorado-based climber and writer Clyde Soles, a veteran of Himalayan high peaks, the book is part of The Mountaineers' "Outdoor Expert Series."

For anyone aspiring to climb high mountains, Training for Peak Performance could provide the added edge that gets you safely to the summit. Packed into its 272 pages are details on exercises to improve performance, nutrition and supplements, injury prevention and training programs suited for various climbers' goals.

Want to find out about whether the latest health craze is based on fact or myth? Wondering what food is the best body fuel to stock at high camp? Looking for ways to fit a training regimen into your busy work schedule? It's all here.

In the new second edition, Soles incorporates many of the findings of the latest research on everything from carbohydrates and fat to working out in ways that will keep you in the mountains and out of the doctor's office.

Though the amount of information in the book might seem daunting to some, it is written in a clear, simple style that allows quick, easy absorption. Mountaineer Jon Krakauer, author of best-sellers "Into Thin Air" and "Into the Wild," praised the book as a valuable training tool for climbers of all levels. Indeed, it is.

Training for Peak Performance won't go to the gym for you, and it won't make the air in the high Rockies or the Himalayas any thicker. But for those who don't mind sweating a little and minding their diet, it might just make those last steps to the top less arduous.

Any serious mountaineer will appreciate this updated Bible of climbing-specific training

Last month, the 2nd Edition of Climbing: Training for Peak Performance (The Mountaineers Books) by Boulder, Colorado resident, climber, photographer, writer, and all-around good guy, Clyde Soles, went on sale. A copy arrived on my desk, and I decided to see what, exactly, warranted an update from Soles’ first edition which came out, geez, a little over five years ago. I mean, it’s climbing--whether it’s up rock or an ice field, the sport’s physiological requirements haven’t changed much in decades, right?

One quick glance through its pages though, and I realized I was wrong. Among the more intriguing additions to this update is a thorough chapter on “Improving Altitude Performance.” In it Soles goes into detail about what happens to the body at higher altitudes (starting at 8,000 to 10,000 feet) and doles out some interesting recommendations:

Stay hydrated as “severe dehydration can shut down your summit bid faster than any snowstorm.”

Stick to a high carb diet since “one study has shown that a diet of more than 70 percent carbohydrates decreased altitude mountain sickness by 30 percent after a fast ascent to 14,000 feet.”

And my favorite: “Young, healthy men are most likely to experience difficulties at altitude due to testosterone-induced stupidity; because they are very fit and think they’re invincible, they push too hard too fast. Best advice: start slow and taper.”

At the end of the chapter Soles delves into the efficacy of various supplements and drugs such as acetazolamide (Diamox) for altitude induced sickness and even modafinil (Provigil) a new, supposedly safe alternative to amphetamines for 20-hour summit pushes.

When it came to the exercises I also noticed a big change. There were noticeably more core and functional strength exercises and fewer classic weight-training ones. He’s now included kettlebells, resistance tubing, even gymnastics rings into the mix. But Soles’ fundamental message has remained unchanged: you can’t become a stronger climber by simply climbing. You have to push your body in the gym beyond its ability to handle your bodyweight, and even the weight of your body plus a heavy pack. It's a fundamental approach that every athlete takes to train for their sport, and Soles does a smart job showing us that climbers and mountaineers should consider themselves true athletes, not just recreational enthusiasts.

Whether you’ve got Rainier or Whitney on your life list, or a thru-hike planned for next spring, you’d do well to check out Soles’ book and take a crack at his program.

Nowadays so much of our knowledge comes from the "interwebs" and if you are interested in training and physical fitness there is a lot of information out there – diet, routines, motivational videos. However, the world of the internet is a varied and inconsistent domain. Some information is good, some great and some very poor indeed. Additionally, on a website there is rarely the scope to enter into detail and provide the sort of context and background that is necessary if you are to build up deep knowledge. Blogs are fine for soundbites or discussion, but not for real eduction. There is still a role for books. They can develop arguments, explain complex concepts…..and you can read them in the bath! Books are good and this is a good book.

Clyde Soles has put together a detailed manual that states its aim clearly in the introduction: Training should be Fun! And the preface explains the motivation of the book:

Most climbing training books and articles focus on young advanced sport climbers with indestructible bodies and a lot of free time. That information is often ill-suited to middle-aged climbers with limited time, pre-existing injuries and other interests. This book is intended primarily for this latter group. Other outdoor recreationalists who play in the mountains, be they hikers, skiers, or cyclists, will also find the instructional material here useful because their sports share much in common with climbing.

Speaking as a middle-aged (is 40 middle-aged?) outdoor recreationalist (check out my other blogs for some of my hill activities and training) with some old injuries, this appeals to me!

There is a lot to this book and the material is presented rationally and in an accessible style. It is not dumbed down but written for intelligent adults. That is refreshing when many books are either polished by journalists with no feel for the subject or occasionally scientific tomes with little application for everyday life.

Soles looks at nutrition, mental issues, aerobic conditioning, coping with altitude, resistance training, joint mobility/flexibility/balance, recovery/rehab and program design.

The sections that I found particularly impressive (often revealing Soles’ knowledge of very recent research) included:

Nutrition – especially the section warning of dubious supplements which have little value. Soles also mentions the viability of intermittent fasting ( this blog has pointed to lots of research on this subject) and seems in favour of an Eat Stop Eat style fast – i.e., going without food for 16-24 hours once or twice a week for weight loss.

Aerobic Conditioning - the discussion of intervals is useful and while recognising their role Soles also notes that there are benefits to longer endurance training, as I've noticed Rob Shaul say.

Body Tuning – the treatment of joint mobility, stretching and balance work is really thorough and up to date taking account of recent research – e.g. stretching before exercise is discouraged. This blog has previously discussed the utility of balance training and there are some good ideas for improving balance in the book.

Recovery: Rest and Rehab – has some great ideas for treating and rehabilitating injuries.

There is a lot in this book and it will repay careful and repeated study. Additionally it is a bargain! Compared to some of the electronic books available out there which contain a fraction of the information in this volume, Climbing: Training for Peak Performance is superb value for money.

Should I buy this?

Yes. If you are a climber, hiker, hill walker, skier, mountain biker or anyone that enjoys activity in the outdoors there will be something in this book that you will benefit from. Even if you are simply interested in general fitness there is much here that will help you improve your performance.

This is a very good book!

Solid research and an easy read. Clyde's recipe for climbing fitness is a refreshing combination of movement, streangth training, psychological capacity, and appropriate nutrition. But there are no instant miracles; none of his words will mean anything if you won't do the work. Do you have the will?

I've been poring over your book... reminded each time how much work you put into it and how little most readers will appreciate the effort. Just know that I do.

Chapter 1 — Performance Fundamentals