In reply to AJM/All:
OK so I think I'm going to re-join Fit Club! Looking back I last posted in week 344 I think (late October '13) so it's been a while. This post is very long as I've started it with a self-indulgent precis of what I've been doing the last 2 years, what I've learnt from it and why I'm re-joining. Obviously ignore if you've no interest
In 2013 I was really psyched for trad onsighting and although I got a good number of E2 & E3s done in comparison to previous years, I struggled for partners and conditions in the second half of the year (everyone wanted to climb sport, boulder or headpoint) so I got a bit demotivated. This was why I initially stopped posting here.
Despite the above I gradually got more psyched for Sport again and put together a periodised training plan for 2014 with the aim of getting on the road to F8a and peaking in September/October. This was based on the Alex Barrows - esque training theory with a bit of adaptation for (a) timings of my trips and (b) an injury I picked up in December 2013 that took a few months to fully heal. Also worth noting that a new wall opened in Derby in spring '14 called the Climbing Unit - a huge improvement for indoor bouldering over Alter Rock - this made indoor bouldering training after work much better.
At the start of 2014, instead of coming back to Fit Club, I decided to do something a bit different and keep a training diary instead on a calendar on my kitchen wall, so that it was more constantly visible and in-my-face. I record on this any activity I do on a given day (coded as HANG, BLOCi, BLOCo, SPRTi, SPRTo or TRAD - you can work it out) and my weight every Sunday evening immediately before going to bed. This has worked well, I've kept it up for 2 years so now have a decent amount of 'data' (see more below) and am going to keep doing it in parallel with posting here.
The basic summary of 2014 is that I got better and had some good successes [eg Cry of Despair (F7c) in 2 very short sessions, and Bistec de Biceps (F7b+) in a morning on a trip to see Andy in Siurana] but didn't actually tick F7c+, never mind F8a. I spent a long time failing on a couple of F7cs that should have gone quickly, and had a couple of sessions on Arch Enemies (F7c+) in late summer, but it felt depressingly far-off. After this point my motivation for Sport dropped a bit and hence it's fair to say that I gave up on the periodised plan to a large extent.
Over late autumn/winter 2014/15 the bouldering conditions were really good and that (probably combined with the better wall training facilities) meant I got a lot of good bouldering ticks including my first 5 or so Ft7Bs between November and February. This got me psyched to carry on bouldering so I decided to just stick with it for as long as I was enjoying it and getting better. Over the course of this year I've got quite a lot stronger, ticked about another ten Ft7Bs and approx 50 new Font 7s in total (mostly on peak limestone, with some grit at the beginning and end, and a few elsewhere like the Churnet). I had one day doing trad in May but haven't clipped a bolt all year (although I have done quite a few boulder traverses, so power endurance is pretty ok). In October/November after a successful Font trip, I spent 8 sessions on Moffatrocity (Ft7B+) at Crag X and got ridiculously close, falling off on my best go while trying to match the finishing holds. At one time this was given F7C, so I see it as a really positive marker of progress. Overall 2015 has been my best year's climbing for a long time - definitely the biggest break-through since I first started seriously Sport climbing in 2010. I'm keen to keep this up and keep enjoying the bouldering (especially peak lime) but also get back on some routes (sport for now, not trad.)
Looking back over the last two years (with some use of the data I've picked up from my calendar-based training records) I've learnt a few lessons about what works, at least for me:
- There is a strong correlation between my body weight (which for reference over that period has varied between 11st9lbs and 10st13lbs when measured on a Sunday night - I have 5ft11) and how well I perform.
- I can lose/maintain weight simultaneously with training and performing well, as long as I time things right. Basically this means running a calorie deficit with loads of fruit & veg and zero unhealthy stuff Monday-Thursday (except when trying a problem outside on one of those evenings) then eating more calorie dense stuff Friday/Saturday so that I fill up with less veg inside me, so I'm lighter for climbing Saturday/Sunday. I then eat a lot post-climbing.
- The best way for me to get stronger is to go bouldering, outside, a lot. I think this is because for me I was much more motivated and pushing myself far harder when bouldering outside (without realising this at the time) than inside or on a fingerboard. On the problems I was trying outside all summer/autumn, I found all the individual moves really hard, and linking them took a lot of effort - some of the problems took me 5-6 sessions to link. Indoors, I rarely used to actually spend time on something this close to my limit because there were always good problems just next-door (often given the same grade!) that I could do quickly or be more sure of eventually succeeding on. Another interesting note, that I actually improved more at one-arm lock-off strength on the beastmaker medium crimps by bouldering a lot this year, than I did by training on the beastmaker a lot last year. And obviously a I got better at bouldering in other ways too.
- Obvious conclusion from the above is that to get stronger quicker, I've really got to pull as hard as possible. This means only doing things I find really hard, and which are fairly steep. Ergo I now think doing bouldering circuits at the wall is sub-optimal, as long as I am still enjoying the harder problems and hence staying motivated.
- I think I am going to improve more in the long run by focusing only on improving my strength and power, than I am by doing a varied periodised plan with a particular goal in mind late in the year (which is what I did in 2014.) Therefore although my goals for this year include routes, I'm not going to do any endurance training, other than by trying hard boulder traverses (and definitely nothing like Aerocap.) I'll just be bouldering a lot. In a podcast that Ben Moon did with Trainingbeta last year, he said that in the 80s/90s he just used to get strong by bouldering a lot (outdoors, and indoors on the board), and then build up his stamina on the route itself that he was trying, over the course of a number of sessions. This chimed with me a lot and is the approach I'll be taking. (Admittedly it probably works better for Peak lime than for Euro-stamina-fests - but I'm not currently very interested in those.)
I'm basically keen to do Fit Club again because if I'm going to achieve my goals this year, I need to see further constant improvement from now, not just from the spring when I can get outside in the week again (and hence do more bouldering outside). I think a more structured plan is probably needed for the next 3 months if I'm going to achieve that, and this might help me keep to it. Secondly I actually quite enjoy writing about what I've done and Fit Club is a more interesting record than just my list of acronyms on the calendar
Second post coming with goals and this last week...