UKC

Placeholder for now, will get stats done tomorrow (vomiting child to deal with this eve). Anyone welcome to stat instead if they've time this eve but I can do tomorrow if not. 

Oh dear. Get well soon SSB jnr

Hope things improve soon SSB!

A bit of an up and down week this week

- having miniAJM stuck at home all week made for a challenging week. Despite that, I had quite a good training block Monday to Thursday

- Made some progress on scoping out a summer holiday plan, having come to the realisation that the interaction of school holidays and quieter work periods leaves me date windows quite restricted

- I made some progress on Bez yesterday, with the double heel clamp allowing me through the hand swap properly for the first time. If only I had brought the good shoes, perhaps I could have made more!

- However, it aggravated my middle finger marginally, and then something (not sure what) has exacerbated that badly today such that it is actually quite sore as I type

Monday - 5–3-5-3-5 aerocap on the board. 

Tuesday - assisted one arm shoulder engages, tuck planche attempts, weighted pull-ups 3x6 @bw+5kg, weighted chin-ups 3x5 @bw+5kg

Wednesday - 5-3-5-3-5 again

Thursday - more shoulder engages, tuck planche attempts, and some tuck front lever holds and pushups

Friday - summer holiday plotting and walking to and fro school with miniAJM 

Saturday - Portland with Mike and miniAJM. Got on a rope - nothing hard - and since conditions were better than forecast I also had a few goes on Stomping with Bez again. Stupidly, I didn’t think conditions would be that great and so I didn’t bring the nice new pair of shoes with their crisp edges that might make this a bit easier. Nevertheless, from pulling on in the middle I managed to get some weight onto the right foot and throw, but didn’t hit anything. And I made some new progress, in that I managed from the start to get my hands swapped on the hold on the arête and started to set up for the move out right, which is progress versus previous attempts where I never quite got the hand swap right. Double heel squeeze for the win!

Sunday - managed to make my middle finger pretty angry. Some stretching and planche leans. Watched The Wall whilst fretting about my finger.

In reply to:

Thanks SSB, hope the little one improves!

Goals:

- Maintain my physio rehab on finger/shoulder every week and aim to stay uninjured

- Subject to above, maintain a consistent pattern of 2 fingerboard sessions per week until at least the end of March (starting with 3/6/9 protocol but I plan to move to one arm max hangs at some point)

- Go climbing once a week, have fun, try hard and maintain movement skills

- 3 Font 7s in Font at Easter, assuming we go

- 2 Font 7Bs across the year

These goals feel fairly modest but let's see how it goes... I will plan to review them post Font.

M: rest

T: lunchtime - 3*30 second density hangs, 5 * 3/6/9 hangs with bodyweight+20kg (all on 23mm edge), shoulder/bicep rehab. In the evening I realised I hadn't been following my physio plan properly, doh! So a temporary goal fail there.

W: shoulder/bicep rehab doing the correct exercise.

T: rest (birthday)

F: lunchtime 3*30 second density hangs, 5 * 3/6/9 hangs with bodyweight+20kg (all on 23mm edge). Evening: shoulder/bicep rehab.

S: morning session at the Hangar combined with son No.1 going to rock club mini. Did a bunch of V5s and one V6. Shoulder/bicep rehab.

S: trip out to Secret Garden, which strangely I never visited before when living nearer. Good conditions and lovely weather - the best trip out I've had for ages. I did Beach Ball (f7A) (felt ok once I'd worked out the right time to switch my heelhook to a toe) then spent the rest of the session on Zaff's Problem (f7B). Managed to do all the moves but it took me a long time to get the sequence right at the crux, so I only had time for one proper go before I needed to head home. Had a good effort but fell bringing my weight out from under the roof on to the heel. Optimistic of doing it fairly quickly if I have an opportunity to go again soon in good conditions.

A good week, two climbing sessions and today was really good. I also discovered I can get to the Peak and back without charging our new car which was a bonus (I thought it might be a bit touch & go!) Injuries all ok, shoulder/arm feeling slightly tenderer than usual tonight but probably down to climbing three days on. I think I am due a rest week from finger training now too.

Si

In which I cross train my feet on two different types of uncomfortable and probably unhealthy footwear in a single weekend.

STG: DONE jwi's sport climbing fitness benchmarks, see below
MTG: 1H 2022: onsight 6c+
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M:    40 minutes stretching
T:    Wall, Boulderwelt. Circuits.
W:    45 minutes step-ups & jogging
T:    Wall, Boulderwelt. Finished off my current set of benchmarks, see below.
F:    
S:    Skiing, Fieberbrunn. Immaculate *real* snow on the pistes, and good visibility this week too. Difficult to see how Skiing Career 1.1, Day Two, could have been any better. Particularly given that, until my mate & I chatted on the phone yesterday evening, we were both feeling too lazy to bother going to bed & getting up early in order to head out today. Good thing we managed to talk each other into it. 
S:  Wall, Heaven's Gate. Bouldering at one of Munich's oldest climbing walls, recently reopened after a multi-year rebuild. I only used to go to the old place sporadically, but they always had good boulder setting. Let's see if they sill do.

STG: see where I stand on jwi's sport climbing fitness benchmarks (https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,31635.msg649667.html#msg6496...), scaled from 8a down to 7a by the simple expedient of subtracting one number grade across the board. Done: lactate theshold (poor), ancap (ok), anpow (ok), strength (marginal)

Hmm. Hard to tell without gettng on real boulders on real rock wth established grades, which weather doesn't really allow at the moment without driving to Ticino. Did two of Boulderwelt's current "6B/+" circuit in two goes each, but others I pulled on to just felt ridiculous.

So what do I conclude from ths? I still appear to have some residual anaerobic fitness from my autumn sport climbing trip, but my aerocap is woeful and my strength is barely up to the mark. Looks like time for a high-low strategy consisting mainly of lowish intensity mileage and bouldering, and stay off the plastic route/circuit projects for the time being.

STG for the coming week: the forecast for the Tyrol is basically snowing hard all week then sunny on Sunday. Moah skiing!

Oh dear! I hope things settle down for you.

I’ve been deliberating about the upcoming de-load week, but despite a couple of good nights sleep I feel very fatigued climbing wise. So de-load week it is.

This week was my first full week, where I got everything done I wanted to do. It’s been a good gradual build up, nutrition is feeling good, life stress seems to be reducing in my new job and i've got some exciting projects on the go in my climbing physio work. All good – I’ll enjoy it while it lasts…….

M – Short Jog in morning

5x5 of squats @ 80kgs and overhead press @12.5kgs. RPE 8/10

12 mins continuous climbing on 6a

T – 10 mins continuous climbing an 5+ and 6a+

W – Boulder at BUK – Flashed V6, got the orange crimpy steep thing on the comp wall I didn’t quite manage last week. Still a couple more on there I think I could get.

I lost track of time and had to rush to do circuits with no rest after bouldering: 1 on 2 off on the 7a circuit. Failed at the end of the 3rd lap.

5x5 bench press @ 50kgs  and bent over row @25kgs. RPE 6/10 – need to raise weight

T – Deadlifts. 5x5 @ 115kgs RPE 6/10 – need to raise weight

F – Kendal wall boulder league – first go. Quite tired so just did the easy ones – about 20 problems.

Autobelays – 1x12 min continuous up 6b+ down 4+, 1x15min up 6b down 5

Felt very fatigued – spot on aero cap.

S – 30 min run and coldest cold water swim yet.

S – Kendal wall routes. Deffo feeling tired, took ages to warm up. All long routes.

Featured slab top roping to warm up

6b, 6c+, 6c+, 7a+, 6b+

So de load week, then back to this level and then push on.

Getting quite psyched for trip to Spain in March.

Morning, sorry to hear about the little one, hopefully things improve soon!

A decent week from me to be fair. Seems like not much volume but as a very tired person this morning, it feels like enough! Bit miffed I wasn't able to get any big days out this weekend, but oh well!

This coming week I'll be deloading, I've got my booster tomorrow and I feel like I've been trying reasonably hard recently. It also lines up well of having a deload week at the start of each month, with the Font trip starting early March. Tactics!

Last Week:

M - Gym. Intended on a reasonably low volume session. 5 or 6 weeks away from the gym has shown that I've lost what little fitness I had. 10-move problems were powering me out by the end! Got roped into trying 1RM weighted pull-ups, eventually worked up to BW+51.25kg, which is about 167% BW, ~128kg total. Certainly stronger than the +37.5kg I managed in late 2019, pre-rona (though I was about 6-7kg lighter then). Might not be fresh for Wednesday!

T - Rest.

W - Rigpa (V9). Felt surprisingly good towards the end of the warm up, which gave me confidence. The LH crimp then started feeling smaller and smaller, and I started to feel weirdly fatigued. Just "one of those" sessions I think, possibly exacerbated by going hard on the pulls on Monday. The approach is twice as long now though which is annoying.

T - Rest.

F - Rest. Tidied shed, scheming about building a training area...

S - Lots of steep walking.

S - Quick Nessy hit with mates. Got stuck into Cholesterol Traverse (f7A). While I didn't finish it, I got all the moves done and it's given me some more confidence about my decreasingly-dodgy finger, and should be good for trying hard when tired towards the end. Also very safe, only need one small pad to hike up the hill.

Next Week:

M - Rest. Booster in afternoon.

T - Rest.

W - Low volume something, subject to booster reaction.

T - Rest.

F - Rest.

S, S - Get outside!

Goals:

Rehab finger tweak (pretty much done now).

Get better at trying hard when pumped or gassed.

A Mon With A Spade.

Rigpa.

Brass Monkeys.

Good luck with nursing duties!  Hope you manage to keep your plans going.

I am now into travelling with work all week, but hoping I can get some running done and possibly get to a wall if there is anything near my hotels.  Last week was very disrupted.

Managed three 5km runs and a session of intervals across the week.  Also had a short wall session leading long routes on Friday.  Two sessions of max hangs at plus 18.1kg; 60 push ups in 12’s and fifty pull ups in a pyramid to seven.  Not enough, but ticking over while flat out with work.

weight down to 70kg (3/4)!

I would not deduct too much from this "test". First of all, based on my experience the boulderwelt grades are not really reliable and vary a lot from problem to problem. E.g. in the past i had sessions where i've been shut down by one 6b+ (and not a technical one, rather a power problem) and could easily do 4x4 on another 6b+. And also the style is usually quite different compared to outdoor climbing. Hence, i don't think there is that much information to gain from this. Some standard test like 20mm max strength, max pulling strenght imo would be more useful.

Personally, i would start with breaking down your goals for spring a little bit further and don't just decide based on your assessment of your performance in different energy level. You mentioned that you want to onsight 6c+. The next question for me would be what kind of 6c+? If you have trip planned to kalymnos e.g., and want to onsight some long pumpy routes, i would get in as much mileage as possible. But if you want to onsight 6c+ in the frankenjura i would not bother with aerobic capacity at all and just focus on maximum strength/power (Prio 1) and power endurance (Prio 2).

The next thing i would do is based on the answers to these question really periodize the training. E.g. in case you come to the conclusion that you are lacking aerobic capacity and maximum strength (maybe because you have long endurance routes in mind, but with a distinct boulder crux), i would divide my training into phases and either focus on aerobic capacity or on maximum strength. If you try to do both, you would probably end up with suboptimal results on both. E.g. looking at your last weeks, it is really hard to me to tell where you want to improve in the moment. On the first glance it looks like you are trying to tackle mutliple things simultaneously, which is probably not the best way to really improve.

How's mini-Swede? Our Squiggle is luriged again and we've just got home from another PCR test...

Week 4

M – Rest/stretch

T – Talk of negative temperatures and air-frost in the peak put me off grit, so it was back to the cave for a lantern session. Normal warm-ups; felt pretty good. Then furtled with “The Last Stand” 8A/+ for 45min. I had some pretty good goes, certainly far improved on any of my previous (abortive) attempts at it. I moved on to Rockatrocity, which remained dismayingly difficult despite some concerted front-3 training over the winter. The final 20min was spent on trying a crucial sequence on a long-term project. I had found this very hard before (7B+), but with a couple of tiny beta tweaks, suddenly unlocked this and did it twice in a row (7A+ now?)

W –  Rest/stretch. I can get deeper into the splits now.

T – Pull-ups 5x5 “on-the-minute” BW+8kg – lattice edge (finger warm-up too). Lattice block lifts. 5x6 47kg L 48.5kg R. 4x12 40kg bench press. Crimpd bar core “A”.

F – Dang, pec DOMS. Aero-cap day. 10x 1on-1off wood circuits. 30min rest. 10x 7/3/6/1 @BW-18kg (~40%).

S – Rest/stretches.

S – Gentle 13km bike ride with my wife. The first time she’s been out on the bike for 4mths due to near constant Squiggle induced lurginess. Later, splits stretches.

No problem, i hope your child gets well soon

Recap of last week

Mon: Rest

Tues: Fingerboard repeater session, 6 sets of 6x7s,3s with ~ 3:30 min rest between sets: 

• 20mm egde:  62,1 % of BW average with right hand, 55,9% of BW with left hand
• Pinch Block with 11kg
• Assisted one-arm-lockoff, 82% of BW, 4 sets of 20-25s at different angles (170° -45°)

Wed: L-Sit (floor) 2x15-20s, Handstands against the wall, 2x 10-12 pike push-Ups  2x10-12 fingertips push ups, 15 Lunges, 2-3 pistol squats on each side, 30 normal pushups, 45s V-Sit-Ups

Thurs: Fingerboard repeater session, 6 sets of 6x7s,3s with ~ 3:30 min rest between sets: 

• 20mm egde:  62,9 % of BW average with right hand, 57,5% of BW with left hand
• Pinch Block with 11,5kg
• Assisted one-arm-lockoff, 82% of BW, 4 sets of 20-25s at different angles (170° -45°)

Fri: L-Sit (floor) 2x15-20s, Handstands against the wall, 2x10-12 pike push-ups,  2x12 fingertips push ups, 15 Lunges, 2-3 pistol squats on each side, 30 normal pushups, 45s V-Sit-Ups

Sat: Fingerboard repeater session, 6 sets of 6x7s,3s with ~ 3:30 min rest between sets: 

• 20mm egde:  63,6 % of BW average with right hand, 57,5% of BW with left hand
• Pinch Block with 11,5kg
• Assisted one-arm-lockoff, 82% of BW, 4 sets of 15-25s at different angles (170° -45°)

Sun: L-Sit (floor) 2x15-20s, Handstands against the wall, 2x12 pike push-ups,  2x10-12 fingertips push ups, 15 Lunges, 2-3 pistol squats on each side, 30 normal pushups, 45s V-Sit-Ups

Felt much better after the deload week. Pinch strength and shoulder strength in general (lockoff as well as push exercises) has improved significantly. Only with crimp strength i feel like i have hit a plateau, especially with my left hand, where my performance is even decreasing a little bit. I need to see how this develops during the next weeks, and maybe need to change strategy a little bit.

The original test was for "always climbing grade X in a few goes across a wide range of styles". So to some extent as long as the problems are fairly graded, they're fair game, since a prerequisite for climbing really bouldery 7as in a few goes is being able to do V4s in a few goes, since that's how hard the crux can be.

I think there's merit in doing both the more climbing based and more single factor (eg 20mm edge strength) tests. A climbing based test is probably more applicable to a climbing based goal but since a climbing based test is itself multifactorial you may then need to switch to simpler tests to understand why - e.g. fingerboard aerobic testing to determine whether you look poor aerobically due to a lack of fitness or due to poor pacing, or whether you lack the bouldering ability due to a lack of finger strength or due to poor technique, lack of arm/shoulder strength, lack of tension in the core chain, or whatever.

Oh no, hope little SSB is feeling better.

Not the greatest week of training here. Managed a couple of swims but that's all. Still its a new week so back at it in earnest!

I've not read anyone's posts for this week yet so consider this yesterday's belated stats.

Liam P – at least you dodged a long drive for poor weather/conditions.

AJM – hope the plague has subsided!

Steve Claw – hope your back is behaving again.  Maybe hit the aerocap work to keep things ticking over while it heals.

SidH – Good sessions at the start of the week.  I find kids often prefer weasling or scrambling rather than roped climbing anyway, everyone gets to keep moving and stay warm.

Ross Barker – my beta for Doug is on a previous fitclub post if you need suggestions to refine it further.  Brass monkeys sounds like its coming.

Derek Furze – is your work away near any fun stuff or will it need to be pull ups in the park and floor core in the travel lodge!?

Alan Little – Sunday sounds fun, is there any option for skiing into something to climb there?  Ski mountaineering always gives a full value day.

Tom Green – great work staying psyched.  How’s moving in the boot going this week?  Love you savage slit write up.  The other one I fancied was the Hoarmaster.

Ally Smith – good work on heckling Ross, the youth of today always need schooling, even if they are really strong!  You’re having a good training winter, you must be keen for spring limestone.

SteveJC94 – What are you most psyched for at the mo, cycling or climbing?  Looks like a good week either way.

Randy – four solid sessions there, well done.

The Sheep – very consistent, I’ve got happy memories of the stable pit too.  A Leicestershire staple.

Biscuit – another busy week, well done, you must be due a big tick soon, training looks to be going well.

There are - a couple of things on the south side of the Wetterstein spring to mind - the Siemens/Wolf (IV) gets done regularly in winter, and I'm sure there are others. But (a) the rock pretty much has to be south facing, which obviously isn't great from the point of view of snow cover. I doubt if much would be viable as yet this winter, although we're due a big dump or two this week that might change that. And (b) I have to become a competent skier first. Working on it.

Glad you enjoyed secret garden.  I thought the hardest problem on the main section of crag was Beach Bum, the 7A on the left, I found it harder than the 7A+s and 7B.

It sounds like you've got your beta sorted for zaffs but if it helps i came to the lip with my left then crossed under it with my right to set up for the next move.

I suspect we might have had different sequences. I found it quite core intensive matching the lip (heel toe in the back), but once there (left hand on the best pinch where I had first reached to, right hand on the other punchy hold 6 inches to the right) it was a natural position from which to make the move to the sloper/dimple on the face with my right hand. From there I got my left heel up - the crux was doing that (flexibility needed!) and getting it fully weighted with my weight around the roof. After that the last couple of moves to match the sloper and reach up again to the better sloper/dimple over the bulge are a bit easier.

I did see a guy use an alternative sequence where he got his left heel up with his hands still matched on the lip - I tried that for a while before working out the alternative, but it was desperate.

Hi FitClub. Thanks SSB for the stats... hope that means the vomming has resolved?!

I've weaned myself off the boot for the most part now. I'm still taking it fairly steady, but was finding the boot more uncomfortable and less helpful as time passed.

Week 4:

M: Cycle (turbo) -50 mins low intensity. Leg rehab. Prehab -shoulders and elbows.

T: Core session -felt hard! Leg rehab. Prehab -shoulders and elbows.

W: Max Hangs. Pull-ups. Canned TRX as core felt shot from yesterday.

T: Cycle -HIIT style session (1min hard:2 mins easy x 10). Leg rehab.

F: Core. Leg rehab. Prehab -elbows and shoulders.

S: Max Hangs. Leg rehab. Prehab -shoulders.

S: Dry-tooling! First two-legged climbing! Warmed up by TRing Apocalypse Now (D5+) then bolt-to-bolted Jaz (D8) to the 2nd to last bolt. It felt pretty hard (as usual) -partly because I have lost a lot of endurance, but partly because I was a bit freaked out at being on the lead (even though you never go more than a foot or two past the bolts!) and really struggled to commit to the moves. Obviously not a surprise to be feeling wimpy and, to be honest, I didn't care as I was just delighted to be out on the tools!

Week 5:

5 x Prehab -including new leg rehab plan from Process Physiotherapy.

2 x Core 

3 x Max Hangs & Pull-ups

2 x Conditioning

2 x longer walks and maybe a climbing sesh.

STG -end Jan:

Max Hangs: 75kg total (TICK -misjudged this, actually up to 86kg already).

Pull-ups: 77kg total (TICK -misjudged this, actually up to 90kg already)

Average 2 core sessions per week (TICK)

Walk my usual running loop (14km, 450m vert) with a climbing weight rucksack (FAIL -was just too naively optimistic about how quickly I would improve after the cast came off. Hopefully should be up to this in a couple of weeks though).

MTG -end March:

Run my usual running loop.

Max Hangs: 90kg total.

Pull-ups: 95kg total.

Some Scottish winter routes -no longer fussy what... just anything white on tools!

2022 Arbitrary training goals:

Roll over of last year's running targets: 35km vert and 1000km.

Weighted Pull-up: 100kg.

Max Hangs: 95kg.

Weighted hill climb: 2 laps of RT in 30 mins with 15kg.

2022 Climbing goals:

7a (Possibly one of: Arc en Ciel (7a) The Jim Grin (7a))

ALL of my local must-do list: 0/15

Visit at least five of my 'why haven't I climbed here' list: 0/5

Get at least one session at each of my 'I should climb more at this crag' list: 0/8

Start properly getting to know: Brimham, Almscliff, Caley, Slipstones (Going to solidify this to 3+ days at each -a bit more measurable!)

At least two days from big mountain list: 0/2.

Late summer/autumn alpine trip.

Cheers SSB. Hope the youngen is feeling better. Pretty dull week for me but managed to keep the wheels turning (just). Still resting my hand as I’m travelling to Rjukan this Sunday so want it to be as rested as possible.

M

• Heel rehab
• Core circuit
• Weighted Pull-ups (+12kg) 3x 6
• Parallette Handstand Push-ups 3x 4 (half reps)

T

• Heel rehab
• Core Circuit

W

• Heel rehab
• Core Circuit
• Weighted Pull-ups (+12kg) 3x 8
• Parallette Handstand Push-ups 3x 4 (half reps)

T

• Physio session. Baselined my one-legged lifts which weren’t too bad after such a long layoff.

F

• LEGDOMS

S&S

• First bout of the Nursery-borne Lurgy. Don’t think it will be the last!

More of the same this week I think. I have my first rehab session on Tuesday so should get a leg-programme to finally get me back running.

Have a good week.

Thanks SSB.  Hope the family are feeling better.

The back is almost better now, just being really careful as I don't want to upset it.

I do appear to have worked out why I have been struggling with the Max hangs.  Seems I have been warming up to hard.  Did a much more gentle warm up this week and then gently started the hangs, took a slightly longer rest between them if needed.  Felt so much easier to do.

Mon - Training - Circuits of 3 rounds of: 5* I's, Y's (front and back), 10 Press up, 10 Scalp pull up +10kg. Then play on the woody

Tues - Indoor Ropes - Just an easy social session as trained yesterday

W- Rest

T - Training - Max Hangs 6*10s +15kg had a light warm up and the hangs felt much easier.  Short boulder then Auto Belay endurance 1 x 20min (up 7a, down 5) 

F - Rest

S - Training - Max Hangs 6*10s +17.5kg! (Most to 8-10s) -  Circuits of 3 lots of: 5* I's, Y's (front and back) 10 Press up, 10 leg raise, 10 Scalp pull up +17.5kg.  Then Auto Belay endurance 1 x 20min (up 7a, down 5)

S - Rest

It won't. Welcome to awareness all those childhood diseases you had managed to forget about for a couple of decades.

Damn, hardcore!

I'm only doing the shoulder part, not the full pull-up as don't want to upset the elbows.

Mon. 3 x 10 shrugs, 6x Max hangs (+25kgs), 6 sets of repeaters (+4kgs), 5x5 pull ups, 3x 10 press ups.  I think this is the first time I've managed to complete all the repeaters when doing them directly after max hangs.

Tues. 40mins on the bike rollers, nominały 20km.

Wed. rest

Thurs. Back to Zaffs right hand.  Got to my previous high point but didn't have the beans for the last hard move.  Worked out some better beta for both the bottom and the top and I reckon its a goer next time now.  We'll see!

Fri. hilly 8km run

Sat. rest  -walk up Win Hill with the kids and my parents.  Turned back within 20m of the summit as I couldn't hang on to a 3yr old and a 75yr old in 50mph winds!

Sun. walk along Stanage with mini swede and parents.  3x 10 shrugs, 6 sets of BW repeaters, 3x10 press ups, crimpd static core (id forgotten how hard dish ticks are!)

Very little sleep sat and sun night with small swede being ill - I'm tired!

Thanks SSB. Mostly psyched for climbing at the moment but cycling is a good backup while I'm rehabbing injuries. 

Spent most of last week isolating to make sure I tested negative before flying out to Morzine. Thankfully I did and had a great few days so far. 20cm of fresh powder last night and more forecast for tomorrow so powder runs through the trees will be on the cards for the next couple of days. Amazed at how well my ACL's held up so far, doesn;t seem to have affected my skiing ability at all! 

Brought my portable fingerboard with me so trying to keep on top of finger strength training in a limited capacity

Thanks for the thoughtful feedback - exactly the sort of thing I value FitClub for.

I'm well aware of the randomness of indoor boulder grades, but at the same time, all the places I might easily go for reliably graded boulder benchmarks - Allgäu, Franken, Sudelfeld (ugh!) - are soaking wet at the moment. And I find Boulderwelt grades are more all over the place than systematically soft. 

In general I manage to boulder "6B" wherever I go - indoors, grit, Zillertal, Franken - which probably says a lot more about my expectations of what I think I "should" be able to do than with the boulders having anything like similar difficulty I've had phases were I've been bouldering more where that's gone up to 6C - and a single 7A! - but then only when the style suits me. Vertical crimping, basically.

Right now my priority is bouldering, because I think strength is probably my major limiter in terms of longer term progress, and getting harder all the time to build & improve at my age. But I was also shocked to find that the lactate threshold benchmark that I thought was going to be a walk in the park was actually desperate, so that's also going to need to be looked at before I (probably, no firm plans yet) do a Mediterranean sport trip in the Autumn

I thought the same, great post from Randy.  I've never periodised my training but probably should do if I want to make larger gains.  The problem is I'm always afraid of not really making much gains and losing the things I'm good at by neglecting those areas.

I would not worry too much about that, because usually you get that back very quickly. E.g. a couple of years ago i got very sick and needed to take a complete break from climbing and any other sport for more than 6 weeks. Sure in my first sessions afterwards i felt like crap, but i got back to my previous endurance level in about 3-4 weeks and even maximum strength/power got back to normal in less than 8 weeks.

And this was a case of completely stopping with any activity, where you loose much more compared too how much endurance you loose when you focus on maximum strength for a 1-2 months (and vice versa). So my advice would be to experiment a little bit with periodisation and see what happens. E.g. i have made the experience that i can get back to a decent level of endurance in 2-3 weeks (enough for 20m long outdoor routes which a couple of decent rest). Hence, i can plan training accordingly and endurance only in the last weeks before i want to be in route climbing shape. On the other side i know that for strength improvements i need to target that at least twice a week. So doing only one maximum strength session in a week does not make sense for unless i just want to maintane my current length of strength.

periodisation is a term that gets thrown around a lot. Done properly it is very effective. But it is very hard to do properly. Not so much in the planning but in the execution. It requires a very disciplined approach. 

Also most of us really don’t need to. This is not saying prioritisation isn’t needed. This is actually what most of us do.
 

True periodisation requires macro and micro planning over months and years to plan. Prioritisation is much easier to manage on a day to day basis and is way more effective than trying to follow a periodised plan that doesn’t get done. 

I’d suggest you buy Logical Progression (Alan) for a very bare bones, do the basics well, approach to prioritisation. 

It keeps it simple, much less stressy and encourages consistency and balance with structure. 
 

It also offers a few options on how to go about this from a work everything all the time approach to prioritising.