Thomas Cunningham's guest appearances

Thomas Cunningham

The TrainingBeta Podcast: A Climbing Training Podcast

Innovate Fort Worth

The Struggle Climbing Show

OwlTail

Back in April, I published an episode with Thomas Cunningham all about how he trains efficiently as a busy dad and ER physician to be able to send up to 5.14c projects in only 10-15 days outside climbing per year. You can listen to that episode in the link below: Listen to my first interview with Thomas   In that episode, we started talking about how he uses the Whoop (a wearable bio tracking device), continuous glucose meters, and some other biohacking type stuff, but the interview would’ve been reallllly long if we’d gone into all of it in details. So I asked him to come back for a second interview to talk about all of that. We’ll be doing another one soon on using bloodwork to optimize supplementation, etc. for climbing performance soon. So who is Thomas? Thomas is a 36-year-old emergency medicine physician and father of 3 children from Louisville, KY who’s been climbing for around 20 years. After talking to him for a while, I realized he is SUPER scientific about everything he does in climbing. This is no surprise because he’s quite an overachiever in his academic/professional life as well. He’s published a bunch of academic papers, he was chief resident at the University of Louisville Department of Emergency Medicine a while back, and WHILE he was doing that, he started a medical device company, Inscope Medical, and was VP of Innovations. He also completed an IronMan while he was an intern resident. Here is his CV if you’re interested. He’s an ambitious person, to say the least, and that means he has less time than some of us for climbing and training. Only getting outside climbing around 10-15 days per year, and focusing all of that time on very hard projects, he has learned that his training and all of his days outside have to be hyperfocused and specific. He also has to optimize his body for all the training he does and to be in peak performance mode when he’s trying to send. He’s used a continouse glucose meter (CGM) on himself in the past and he asked Sam Elias and Jonathan Horst to start wearing one in order to help them optimize their fueling for climbing. He came into this interview with data on both of them (and himself), including what they were eating before using the CGM, the changes they made to their diets after and while using it, and the effects it had on their climbing. The CGM basically takes a reading of your blood glucose every 5 minutes so you can see in real time how each food/meal affects you. We also talk a little more about the Whoop in this episode, which I’ve now gotten 6 of my friends and family using. It’s really interesting looking at the data each day about your sleep quality/quantity, how recovered you are, your HRV, and all kinds of stuff I’ve never paid attention to before. Thomas goes into how exactly he uses the whoop and how I’ve been using it myself. This episode was really fun for me because this stuff as a nutritionist is extremely interesting. I hope you love it too! Oh, and if you want to work with Thomas, you can do that by clicking on the link below: Work with Thomas on Your Own Biohacking

Back in April, I published an episode with Thomas Cunningham all about how he trains efficiently as a busy dad and ER physician to be able to send up to 5.14c projects in only 10-15 days outside climbing per year. You can listen to that episode in the link below: <a href="https://www.trainingbeta.com/media/thomas-cunningham" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Listen to my first interview with Thomas  </a> In that episode, we started talking about how he uses the Whoop (a wearable bio tracking device), continuous glucose meters, and some other biohacking type stuff, but the interview would’ve been reallllly long if we’d gone into all of it in details. So I asked him to come back for a second interview to talk about all of that. We’ll be doing another one soon on using bloodwork to optimize supplementation, etc. for climbing performance soon. So who is Thomas? Thomas is a 36-year-old emergency medicine physician and father of 3 children from Louisville, KY who’s been climbing for around 20 years. After talking to him for a while, I realized he is SUPER scientific about everything he does in climbing. This is no surprise because he’s quite an overachiever in his academic/professional life as well. He’s published a bunch of academic papers, he was chief resident at the University of Louisville Department of Emergency Medicine a while back, and WHILE he was doing that, he started a medical device company, Inscope Medical, and was VP of Innovations. He also completed an IronMan while he was an intern resident. <a href="https://www.trainingbeta.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Thomas-Cuningham-athlete-CV-2023.pdf" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Here is his CV</a> if you’re interested. He’s an ambitious person, to say the least, and that means he has less time than some of us for climbing and training. Only getting outside climbing around 10-15 days per year, and focusing all of that time on very hard projects, he has learned that his training and all of his days outside have to be hyperfocused and specific. He also has to optimize his body for all the training he does and to be in peak performance mode when he’s trying to send. He’s used a continouse glucose meter (CGM) on himself in the past and he asked Sam Elias and Jonathan Horst to start wearing one in order to help them optimize their fueling for climbing. He came into this interview with data on both of them (and himself), including what they were eating before using the CGM, the changes they made to their diets after and while using it, and the effects it had on their climbing. The CGM basically takes a reading of your blood glucose every 5 minutes so you can see in real time how each food/meal affects you. We also talk a little more about the Whoop in this episode, which I’ve now gotten 6 of my friends and family using. It’s really interesting looking at the data each day about your sleep quality/quantity, how recovered you are, your HRV, and all kinds of stuff I’ve never paid attention to before. Thomas goes into how exactly he uses the whoop and how I’ve been using it myself. This episode was really fun for me because this stuff as a nutritionist is extremely interesting. I hope you love it too! Oh, and if you want to work with Thomas, you can do that by clicking on the link below: <a href="https://www.thomascunninghammd.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Work with Thomas on Your Own Biohacking</a>

TBP 234: Thomas Cunningham on Biohacking for Climbing Performance

Elite climber Dr. Thomas Cunningham shares his struggles and breakthroughs in Training, Nutrition, Tactics, and Mental Game. -Dr Thomas Cunningham is a weekend warrior… who climbs at an elite level. He’s a board certified emergency medicine physician who has published several papers, holds multiple patents, and is currently working as Research Faculty at the University of Louisville. He’s also a husband and father of three littles. The guy is as busy as can be, but can he climb? Yeah. He just sent the super classic Red River Gorge test piece, Southern Smoke, which is pretty much the pumpiest 14c sport route you can imagine, and he’s working on the 9a direct start for that. He has also bouldered 8a, trad climbed 8a, and put up FAs up to 8a… and he probably puts in less time than you at the gym or the crag. Today he shares his scientific method as it comes to training and nutrition, and what he feels all of us – from beginners to pros – can do to optimize our time and level up in whatever our climbing goals are. -CHAPTERS:Struggle: 0:06:58Training: 0:08:57Nutrition: 0:32:34Tactics: 0:45:49Mental Game: 1:00:20Purpose: 1:11:12Takeaways: 1:26:54-Follow along on Instagram @thomascunninghammd and @thestruggleclimbingshow.  Gain (zero cost!) access to Dr. Cunningham's newsletter, blog, and research papers... or book a consult to really take things up a level: www.thomascunninghammd.com Interested in Thomas's fitness tracker of choice? Get a free WHOOP 4.0 and one month free by CLICKING HERE.  - The Struggle is on YouTube, y'all! I'm so psyched. Watch the best moments of my interviews with the sport's best climbers come to life with amazing footage and actionable takeaways that'll help you to level up your Training, Nutrition, Tactics, and Mental Game. Check it all out at YouTube.com/@thestruggleclimbingshow. -PhysiVantage is the official climbing-nutrition sponsor of The Struggle. Visit www.physivantage.com/discount/STRUGGLE15 to receive 15% off your full priced nutrition order. Crimpd is the official fitness app sponsor of The Struggle. Visit Crimpd.com to download the app for FREE and take your training to the next level. -The Struggle is carbon-neutral in partnership with The Honnold Foundation, whose mission is to promote solar energy for a more equitable world.-Want to be a podcast hero and score yourself some rad limited edition swag? Support the show and the climbers who make it by becoming a Patron at www.patreon.com/thestruggleclimbingshow-Still reading? You deserve a free sticker: Please rate and review the show -- it really helps us to reach a wider audience! Snap a pic of your review, post to IG, and tag @thestruggleclimbingshow so that we can find you, and we'll send you a sticker just because you're rad.-This show is produced and hosted by Ryan Devlin. The Struggle is a proud member of the Plug Tone Audio Collective, a diverse group of the best, most impactful podcasts in the outdoor industry.-The struggle makes us stronger. Let's climb hard and do good things in the world!

Elite climber Dr. Thomas Cunningham shares his struggles and breakthroughs in Training, Nutrition, Tactics, and Mental Game.  - Dr Thomas Cunningham is a weekend warrior… who climbs at an elite level. He’s a board certified emergency medicine physician who has published several papers, holds multiple patents, and is currently working as Research Faculty at the University of Louisville. He’s also a husband and father of three littles. The guy is as busy as can be, but can he climb? Yeah. He just sent the super classic Red River Gorge test piece, Southern Smoke, which is pretty much the pumpiest 14c sport route you can imagine, and he’s working on the 9a direct start for that. He has also bouldered 8a, trad climbed 8a, and put up FAs up to 8a… and he probably puts in less time than you at the gym or the crag. Today he shares his scientific method as it comes to training and nutrition, and what he feels all of us – from beginners to pros – can do to optimize our time and level up in whatever our climbing goals are. - CHAPTERS: Struggle: 0:06:58 Training: 0:08:57 Nutrition: 0:32:34 Tactics: 0:45:49 Mental Game: 1:00:20 Purpose: 1:11:12 Takeaways: 1:26:54 - Follow along on Instagram <a href="http://www.instagram.com/thomascunninghammd" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@thomascunninghammd</a> and <a href="http://www.instagram.com/thestruggleclimbingshow" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@thestruggleclimbingshow</a>.    Gain (zero cost!) access to Dr. Cunningham's newsletter, blog, and research papers... or book a consult to really take things up a level: <a href="http://www.thomascunninghammd.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.thomascunninghammd.com</a>   Interested in Thomas's fitness tracker of choice? Get a free WHOOP 4.0 and one month free by <a href="http://www.join.whoop.com/4D9BB0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CLICKING HERE</a>.    -   The Struggle is on YouTube, y'all! I'm so psyched. Watch the best moments of my interviews with the sport's best climbers come to life with amazing footage and actionable takeaways that'll help you to level up your Training, Nutrition, Tactics, and Mental Game. Check it all out at <a href="http://www.YouTube.com/@thestruggleclimbingshow" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">YouTube.com/@thestruggleclimbingshow</a>.  - PhysiVantage is the official climbing-nutrition sponsor of The Struggle. Visit <a href="http://www.physivantage.com/discount/STRUGGLE15" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.physivantage.com/discount/STRUGGLE15</a> to receive 15% off your full priced nutrition order.   Crimpd is the official fitness app sponsor of The Struggle. Visit <a href="https://l.linklyhq.com/l/1klvL" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Crimpd.com</a> to download the app for FREE and take your training to the next level.  - The Struggle is carbon-neutral in partnership with <a href="http://www.honnoldfoundation.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Honnold Foundation</a>, whose mission is to promote solar energy for a more equitable world. - Want to be a podcast hero and score yourself some rad limited edition swag? Support the show and the climbers who make it by becoming a Patron at <a href="http://www.patreon.com/thestruggleclimbingshow" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.patreon.com/thestruggleclimbingshow</a> - Still reading? You deserve a free sticker: Please rate and review the show -- it really helps us to reach a wider audience! Snap a pic of your review, post to IG, and tag @thestruggleclimbingshow so that we can find you, and we'll send you a sticker just because you're rad. - This show is produced and hosted by Ryan Devlin. The Struggle is a proud member of the <a href="https://www.plugtoneaudio.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Plug Tone Audio Collective,</a> a diverse group of the best, most impactful podcasts in the outdoor industry. - The struggle makes us stronger. Let's climb hard and do good things in the world!

Dr. Thomas Cunningham, MD

Thomas Cunningham Climbs

A couple weeks ago, Sam Elias texted me and said, "Hey. This ER doctor here in Louisville just sent his first 14c... He's SUPER intelligent and really researched about training, nutrition, and personal optimization. I think y'all should have him on the podcast. He has a lot to offer." Turns out this was his second--not first--14c, which I found out in my interview with him, but everything else Sam said about Thomas was spot on, and I was psyched to reach out to him for an interview. Thomas is a 36-year-old emergency medicine physician and father of 3 children from Louisville, KY who's been climbing for around 20 years. After talking to him for a while, I realized he is SUPER scientific about everything he does in climbing. This is no surprise because he's quite an overachiever in his academic/professional life as well.  He's published a bunch of academic papers, he was chief resident at the University of Louisville Department of Emergency Medicine a while back, and WHILE he was doing that, he started a medical device company, Inscope Medical, and was VP of Innovations. He also completed an IronMan while he was an intern resident. So he's an ambitious person, to say the least, and that means he has less time than some of us for climbing and training.  Only getting outside climbing around 10-15 days per year, and focusing all of that time on very hard projects, he has learned that his training and all of his days outside have to be hyperfocused and specific. He takes us through his training program, including how he trains aerobic capacity, power, power endurance, and strength. He also talks about his research (he's also a researcher!) on the use of a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to figure out what food fuels him best, and at what times of day. He's currently doing some experimentation with Sam Elias with a CGM, and Thomas and I talked about having a part 2 to this discussion to go more in-depth about that and how he uses other monitors like the Whoop in his every day life and training. More to come on that, though. This interview and our talk afterward actually inspired me to get a Whoop myself (no affiliation, but check it out if you're interested in biodata). Oh, and we also talked about how he rehabbed not one but two pulley ruptures and came back stronger afterward. I loved this talk - it was super inspirational on all levels - and I hope we hear a LOT more from Thomas in the coming years. He will be an asset to the climbing community to take us to the next level in training scientifically, like so many other mainstream sports have already done.

A couple weeks ago, Sam Elias texted me and said, "Hey. This ER doctor here in Louisville just sent his first 14c... He's SUPER intelligent and really researched about training, nutrition, and personal optimization. I think y'all should have him on the podcast. He has a lot to offer." Turns out this was his second--not first--14c, which I found out in my interview with him, but everything else Sam said about Thomas was spot on, and I was psyched to reach out to him for an interview. Thomas is a 36-year-old emergency medicine physician and father of 3 children from Louisville, KY who's been climbing for around 20 years. After talking to him for a while, I realized he is SUPER scientific about everything he does in climbing. This is no surprise because he's quite an overachiever in his academic/professional life as well.  He's published a bunch of academic papers, he was chief resident at the University of Louisville Department of Emergency Medicine a while back, and WHILE he was doing that, he started a medical device company, Inscope Medical, and was VP of Innovations. He also completed an IronMan while he was an intern resident. So he's an ambitious person, to say the least, and that means he has less time than some of us for climbing and training.  Only getting outside climbing around 10-15 days per year, and focusing all of that time on very hard projects, he has learned that his training and all of his days outside have to be hyperfocused and specific. He takes us through his training program, including how he trains aerobic capacity, power, power endurance, and strength. He also talks about his research (he's also a researcher!) on the use of a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to figure out what food fuels him best, and at what times of day. He's currently doing some experimentation with Sam Elias with a CGM, and Thomas and I talked about having a part 2 to this discussion to go more in-depth about that and how he uses other monitors like the Whoop in his every day life and training. More to come on that, though. This interview and our talk afterward actually inspired me to get a Whoop myself (no affiliation, but check it out if you're interested in biodata). Oh, and we also talked about how he rehabbed not one but two pulley ruptures and came back stronger afterward. I loved this talk - it was super inspirational on all levels - and I hope we hear a LOT more from Thomas in the coming years. He will be an asset to the climbing community to take us to the next level in training scientifically, like so many other mainstream sports have already done.