Melina Costanza

Elite climber Melina Costanza shares her struggles and breakthroughs in Training, Nutrition, Tactics, and Mental Game. 

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Melina has been a household name in the youth competition circuit for over a decade. She’s a two-time Youth National Champion and three-time Collegiate National Champion, and has consistently been a member of the US Team every year since 2010. After some time away from climbing to earn her physics degree at UPenn, it was no surprise when she showed up again as an undeniably dominant force on the Open circuit. Winning every North America Cup she entered in both the Lead and Bouldering disciplines, she rounded out the year as the 2021 US Bouldering National Champion. At the 2022 US National Team Trials, Melina took gold in Lead, and secured her spots on the Lead National Team, Bouldering National Team, and Boulder & Lead Combined National Team. In summary, she’s wicked good. And as insightful as this chat is with regard to training and performance… the reason it’s one of my favorite interviews ever is how real and raw and challenging and beautiful this conversation is as Melina opens up for the first time on her struggles with disordered eating and its insidious nature on so many in the comp world. This conversation is layered with insight, humor, struggle, emotion, beta, and and stoke. 

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Petzl is the official gear sponsor of The Struggle. Check out their amazing products, including their Djinn quickdraws, at your local gear shop and learn more at petzl.com.

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. 

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The Struggle is carbon-neutral in partnership with The Honnold Foundation, whose mission is to promote solar energy for a more equitable world. 

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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

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CHAPTERS:

Struggle: 0:06:04

Training: 0:11:53

Nutrition: 0:27:26

Tactics: 0:46:47

Mental Game: 0:55:40

Purpose: 1:02:36

Takeaways: 1:08:22

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Follow along on Instagram @thestruggleclimbingshow, and @melinacostanza

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This episode was 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. 

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The struggle makes you stronger. Let's climb hard and do good things in the world!