I’ve recently finished reading the latest book from Steve Bechtel, Mettle: Lessons from the Gym and Crag in the Pursuit of Better Climbing. Drawing on over 20 years of blog and newsletter content from specific training protocols to invaluable life lessons, Bechtel’s latest book is an introspective examination of key foundational principles to athletic and personal improvement. Mettle walks a fine line between memoir and training guide, providing actionable content while reminding the reader why this action is essential for our physical and emotional longevity as athletes and humans.
In the interest of full disclosure, Steve kindly offered me a copy of Mettle. The choice to write this review is my own, with no affiliation for doing so.
This book, to Steve’s own admission, is largely drawn from 20 years of previously published articles and newsletters on the Climb Strong website. But so too are some of my favorite books. Sure, someone can go and find this material online for free, cobbling together these lessons through hours of squinty blue light downtime, but will they? Probably not.
Mettle: Good Things Happen with Discomfort
Bechtel ends Mettle with a simple, yet profound quote from our mutual friend, Mark Anderson.
You have to always be climbing on things you might not be able to do. If it’s easy for your mind, nothing happens. If it’s easy for your body, nothing happens.”
Mark Anderson
Take out the word “climbing,” and this advice applies to damn near any pursuit in life.
Attacking our Weaknesses: The Battle Against Ourselves
As with many classic climbing books, most notably Dave MacLeod’s 9 out of 10 Climbers Make the Same Mistakes, a focus on our weaknesses is the fundamental underpinning to our training and continued growth. This is true as climbers, but also as human beings.
Flipping inside the front cover, Mettle begins with the following quote from American philosopher and author Sam Harris:
“On one level, wisdom is nothing more than the ability to take your own advice. It’s actually very easy to give people good advice. It’s very hard to follow the advice that you know is good…If someone came to me with my list of problems, I would be able to sort that person out very easily.”
Sam Harris
Man, ain’t that the truth? Aren’t we so quick to find flaws in others but often fail to see our own shortcomings? If asked to describe my blind spots, I would, by definition, not have a clue. Another’s blind spots, viewed through my own lens, might shine like the finish on a 56’ Chevy Bel Air. Without living an examined life, ideally enhanced by the constructive feedback of our peers, we fall short of our potential.
Weaknesses are Rooted in Our Psychology
The description on the Climb Strong website suggests that Mettle covers the primary themes of planning and execution of physical training plans. The reader, however, should expect a far deeper examination of our own psychology.
Ample free information exists for us all to be crushing at our maximum potential, yet virtually no one does. And while at face value our shortcomings might be tangentially related to common fallback excuses—weather, our height, or the fact that we naturally carry too much weight in our legs—Bechtel encourages us to examine the systems we use to overcome our natural tendencies toward inertia. All too often, the root of our shortcomings lies twisted in the hard earth that is our limiting beliefs.
How do we best identify and address our weaknesses? It begins with the belief that we can change. And for more details, there’s a book on that.
…In lieu of today’s interventions, we rely on tomorrow’s random serendipity.
Mettle: Aging and the Impermanence of Today
Steve Bechtel, at 52, is likely beyond the midpoint of life. He is clearly aware of the passing years and the impermanence of today. In fact, we spoke a lot about this subject on his Clipping Chains podcast interview, titled Steve Bechtel: The Glass is Already Broken.
Mettle begins with a series of autobiographical accounts of Bechtel’s earliest days as a climber. From the nascent period of stumbling dangerously through the sport with high school buddies, to meeting his lifelong mentor Steve Petro and getting shellacked on the cracks of Fremont Canyon, Bechtel often reflects on the fleeting youthful days before the abrupt arrival at childhood’s end.
Some of these concepts can be condensed into several short statements found in the “I Believe” section at the close of Mettle:
Bechtel believes:
That a “counting down” mindset is essential when looking at your lifetime.
That this (whatever it is) isn’t going to last, so stand it if it’s bad, and love it if it’s good.
That most of us sacrifice the gift that is today.
That someday never comes.
That if we truly want to do something, the time to do it is now.
Just like with the money we don’t save for our future self; we often imagine a future day when we will achieve our goals. Tomorrow, next week, or next year things will be better. If so, what systems are we putting in place today to ensure that tomorrow is better than today?
Bechtel has learned that in lieu of today’s interventions, we rely on tomorrow’s random serendipity.
Delayed Gratification
A natural extension of the impermanence of today is the concept of delayed gratification. Delayed gratification, the ability to postpone today’s smaller reward (i.e., a piece of cake) for an even greater future payout (being lean and healthy), is a key foundational pillar to Bechtel’s worldview. These essays underscore a key lesson: today’s efforts are not meant to benefit us in the short-term. Today’s efforts are the small and seemingly trivial inputs that will compound into greater future rewards. Perhaps these rewards won’t be reaped for years. But as Sinatra would say, “that’s life.”
And boy oh boy, don’t we agree on this one! One of the primary parallels between climbing and personal finance, as Bechtel often notes in these essays, is that showing up little by little is the equivalent of investing a dollar a day. On any given day the contribution feels negligible. Add up those days over the course of a year or many years, and the change is astounding and potentially life altering.
Strength
No Steve Bechtel publication is complete without an emphasis on full-body strength, and Mettle is no exception. No bones are made about the fact that a focus on strength, above all other energy systems, is likely to pay the most dividends over our climbing careers. In fact, as we age, Bechtel argues that a minimum effective dose of strength training can significantly buffer the aging process. Those embracing strength are far more capable of high volumes and loads of physical activity, well beyond our youthful prime.
And when it comes to strength, what is the guidance on how hard and how often? As Bechtel says, “consistency beats intensity.”
Most importantly, the reader will come away with a notion that systems, not goals, and principles, not exercises, are the key to continued growth.
Mettle in Summary
Mettle will make you want to train. There might be an urge to go to sleep and rise earlier, lift heavier and longer, and go climbing more often. You may find yourself walking a little faster, or skipping a second beer, or even saving a dollar today. You may even want to phone an old friend.
Bechtel is at his best when hammering home the fundamentals of training and personal growth. That said, the reader won’t be left wondering about exercise specifics, either.
The specific training advice provided in Mettle, however, is at times conflicting. For instance, a prescription of high volumes of outdoor climbing (i.e. 15+ pitches per week) might feel at odds with a dedicated program of indoor practice and strength training. That said, varying and conflicting guidance is understandable for a coach trying to prescribe good advice for a heterogeneous public. What we need most is on us to figure out. Or perhaps it might be time to consider a Climb Strong coach.
Due to the chronologic organization, Mettle jumps around in subject material and notably lacks an index. As such, those who are eager to build a training plan may be discouraged. Also notable is the repetition of certain concepts or even entire passages, again a relic of the chronological nature of blog posts and newsletter content.
An examination of the key principles of athletic development, including a long-range outlook, will empower the reader to sift more confidently through the barrage of training advice already out there for free. With the clarity of consistency over intensity, maybe the debate between hang duration is largely irrelevant if we never hangboard. And if fear runs the show, no amount of hangboarding will achieve our goals anyway.
Most importantly, the reader will come away with a notion that systems, not goals, and principles, not exercises, are the key to continued growth.
As with most anything else, we know that “education always wins.”
Mettle and Other Steve Bechtel Links
Steve Bechtel’s podcast interview on Clipping Chains (January 2022): Steve Bechtel: The Glass is Already Broken
Steve Bechtel’s written interview on Clipping Chains (November 2019): Steve Bechtel: The Importance of Time
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