The Scoop
In almost all ways this started many years ago. It started with friends sharing ideas, with coaching, with a love for climbing, improvement, and mastery. It started with something simple, with grabbing grips, and moved into something much more complicated, the pursuit of limits and goals. It started inside of dingy little gyms and eventually in the modern mega gyms many of us climb out of.
Many of you are looking to get better at something you love. This is for you. Others may just be curious, interested in learning to engage with climbing beyond the usual gym or crag session. This is for you too. What you’ll find is a great deal of new ways to think about your craft. Some things new, some things time-tested, some things you wont find elsewhere. A mess of hard won information for you to peruse. A roadmap of pitfalls and checkpoints for your climbing adventure, with the ultimate goal of being the most badass version of you that you can be.
The goal is simple: to share, to learn, and take creative control over your climbing. In this journey where we search for accomplishment, connection, and engagement, the goal is to climb by your own design.
The People
Sasha Schwartz
I created Climb by Design with the goal of sharing the lessons learned over my long climbing career within our community. I spent the last decade providing personalized climbing coaching for climbers of all abilities, from national level youth to passionate enthusiasts. This intimate knowledge of training, coaching, and route setting have helped me understand the nuances of movement and the individual needs that are central for improving in our sport.
I hold a Personal Trainer credential with the American Council on Exercise (ACE) and have spent the last decade working to develop effective and holistic training methods. A lot of these ideas you will find on this site, in one form or another. They have helped me and the people I’ve had the pleasure of working with take their climbing to new heights and I think they’ll do the same for you.