UKC

UKC FitClub Week 793

A new thread is posted each week on Sunday for anyone to jot down their previous week's activity. UKC fit club is a rich community with posters sharing their goals, noting successes and failures and offering support to those struggling to maintain motivation. Anyone interested in starting is very welcome to join, but to get the most of UKC fit club you should aim to post each week, every week, however little or much you have done. By making such a regular public record of your activities and by restating your goals every week this new habit will hopefully improve your training habits and drive you towards achieving your goals whatever the level of your chosen activity.

Link to last week’s thread:

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fitclub_week_792-74773...

Morning FitClubbers,

My last set of stats before handing over to Derek. We've lost a couple people, and gained a few more, but routinely get around 15 members which is great to see. There's been a variety of activity, including some amazing climbs and inspirational training numbers which have provided good motivation - they have for me anyway!

Derek: Solid week of 3x runs and a day’s climbing. Hope the Lakes trip went well and the weather was decent-ish.

SSB: Considering you don’t do much cycling I’d be reasonably chuffed with those stats. It’s amazing how much difference chasing someone makes!

Ross Barker: Sometimes the impromptu rest week is a springboard to more gains. Looks like it did you well with a few big ticks in North Wales.

SteveJC94: All fingers crossed for shoulder recovery! I’m hoping you’ll be posting this week from Stornoway…  

JayK: Welcome back JayK. I’d say it depends on your weekly routine and the intensity of your climbing training. You’ve got 3x Board Sessions and 1x Wall Session which is a lot of finger training as it is. If you’re enjoying the Board then I’d push yourself as far as possible on it. Once you plateau then mix it up with a Hangboard Protocol for a couple of months then get back on the Board. 

Steve Claw: TryHardClub sounds epic and great effort to TRS the GO Wall. How many rebelays did you need!?

AJM: Was going to say…TRX is better suited for Face Pulls but looks like you figured it out. Ready for a ZOM send go soon…

Tyler: I’ve just started to embrace the RedPoint mentality after constantly trying to onsight everything and then getting annoyed when I can’t. Will take your tips onboard. 3 good days climbing this week!

Tom Green: Good effort on The File. Never done it but heard it’s a bit of a sandbag, especially if you can’t jam. Great news with the Arc en Ciel tick!

Alan: Sounds like we had a similar weekend experience of realising sport climbing currency is actually quite important!

Ally: I’ve only just twigged what you meant by Axle Bar! Did you ever use the slip-on grips that make the bar thicker? Be interested to hear if there’s a difference between those and the real deal. Some more big numbers this week. Hope the virus clears up.

Randy: Good week getting back in to training. Fingers crossed you don’t pick anything else up India!

Sheep: Looks like you’re back to your usual consistency. 3x Runs, 3x Swims, 3x Course Dinner and a Free Bar. Happy days.

Planet Marshall: I’ve previously used the Petzl set-up on a single rope (edelrid Spoc and a Jug as a backup). Seems to work ok. I like the look of Steve’s TAZ Lov3 but they’re quite expensive and I don’t TRS enough to warrant the cost.

Biscuit: Ah bugger. Spain now Reiff. You’re turning in to a bit of a Climbing Jonah!

Have a good week FitClubbers!

Morning Liam.  Thanks again for a great run of stats. 

Very easy write up for me:

M-S: Nothing!  Virus raged.  I worked too much on Wednesday to meet a deadline and inevitably went backwards.  

Today I've managed to clean the garage gym/board and that's about it (cinema this afternoon so nothing planned either). 

Hoping to get out next week.  @Tyler fancy anything around Mayfair wall? I've a project I need to re-engage with...

So far i managed to stay healthy in India, although we ate some places where we needed to convince our driver twice to stop there . Fingers crossed that it stays that way through the next week.

Recap last week

Mon: Rest

Tues: Fingerboard Repeaters: 20mm Edge, 4x 6x7,3 at 90 % bodyweight; 

Wed: Rest

Thurs: Fingerboard Repeaters: 20mm Edge,6x 6x7,3 at 95% bodyweight; 4x8 Pullups (bodyweight)

Fri: Rest

Sat: Bouldering Sessions at a local gym. After the experience on my last trip i wen't to the gym at 6:30 am in the morning. It was still hot, but bearable. The gym basically consisted of a spray wall and defined a couple of fingery problems on the steeper part of the wall. Sent 5-6 problems in 6b to 6c range and finished the session with 4x10 pullups. Fun fact: I asked the staff member if they had any predefined problems. He said no, but he would be happy to define some on the fly for me, almost live you have your personal route setter .  

Sun: L-Sit 15s and 5s; handstand against the wall, lunges, 30 pushups and 30s V-Sit Ups. The funny thing was that my legs were very sore from the bouldering session, but shoulders were doing fine. Probably caused by jumping done a lot which i am not used to anymore. Handstand went suprisingly well, after almost 2 months break. Was able to hold it a couple of times for 5-7 s with good form, although i needed the wall to get into position.

All in all, another decent week despite travel stress. I hope i can continue that during the next 4 days, and get in an outdoor session on the weekend when i am back in germany.

More leg injury frustration. The knee on my injured side has been grumbling since I started walking again. Finally had an MRI which showed a patellar cartilage tear. No idea if this was due to the fall or because of the change in biomechanics. Frustrating but it explains a lot so happy for a diagnosis. Got a Cortisone injection booked in a few week and planning to treat it conservatively.

Tue

• Weighted Pull-ups 3x 5/6/8 @ 24kg/12.5kg/2kg

Wed

• Pinch Block 5x 7s LH(17kg)RH(18.5kg)
• 450m Swim

Sun

• Max Hang 20mm4FD 5x 7s (22.5kg)
• 10mm Finger Pull-ups 3x 2

Thanks Liam, my puny boulderers legs have just about recovered now.

Mon. Rest.

Tues. Blackwell Dale. Spent the whole session on Paint it Black. I had the briefest of looks at this a few years back but couldn't do the first move. All moves done today and linked in 3 sections. One really close burn at the end.

Wed. 11km run, first half up, second half down!

Thurs. Rest.

Fri. Quickly ticked Paint it Black (f7C). Very pleased with this. The 7Cs are falling with much more regularity than they used to, maybe I've got better? Had a look at the 7C low start to Red or Dead. It only adds 2 moves to the 7A+ I've already done but I couldnt do either of them so don't think that's a goer. Ego swiftly brought back down to earth! Failed to land the first move on Free Range Abattoir 7A+ so I'll try the left heel method next time. Managed a tick of Spock (f7A) to finish off which was actually really good.

Sat. Hilly walk out from Hathersage with the kids.

Sun. Long drive south this morning and heading out for a family walk this afternoon.

Hopefully tomorrows slightly dodgy forecast will turn out to be dry! 

Thanks Liam.  I will pick up from next Sunday and do June, July and August before handing the baton on.  I hope my very much less expert perspective can still keep things ticking over!

Lakes was a mixed bag.  It rained every day until lunchtime, so restricted things in terms of crag choice.  Luckily, when I lived in the Lakes, I didn't bother with Shepherds, so it left me some fast-drying options.  On Monday, I went straight onto E1s, including a quite challenging Aaros (E1 5b), which woke me up a bit.  Next day I was meant to climb with a mate from Lancaster, but the weather stopped that, so I tagged along with Chris and Robin as photographer.  Damp conditions were not particularly productive, made worse by Robin slipping off a start and pulling his shoulder!  This  left me with no partner for the week  Good old UKC to the rescue and I lined up someone for Wed pm and Thursday pm.Adam (VS 5a) andEve (VS 4c) made a decent afternoon - hadn't done Adam which was brilliant.  Thursday didRomantically challenged (E1 5b), Failed Romantic (E1 5b), Direct Route (VS 4b) and Gazebo (HVS 5a), so that felt quite good.  A bit of crag that I'd never looked at before.

Managed push ups and stretching during the rainy mornings.

Aiming at E3 by Midsummers Day.  Just need a few decent days on trad and it will come.  I'd like it to be one I haven't done, but any will do!

Free bar was definitely a very pleasant surprise. Previous member of my team gave me the invite as he is doing well in the company that organised it. Glad I gave him a really good reference 😊

Steady week again, building slowly as I have a tendency to do too much too soon thinking I am still young and invisible. Sadly cracking on to nearly 50 I am not!

Monday, 1km swim

Tuesday 1km swim

Wednesday1km swim and 8k trail run in the evening 

Thursday, busy morning so only time for a 0.5km swim before stretch class 15k ride home after work 

Friday, 1km swim 

Saturday 8k trail run. An absolute belter of a run. Felt good, lots of wildlife including a pair of buzzards circling low over me. Could have gone for longer but trying to be sensible 

Sunday, madness of packing and getting ready to go away for half term, leaving eldest daughter at home and she is having mates over to stay for a “revision session” during the week as they are doing A levels. Hope the house will still be standing when we get back!

Thanks for the detailed round up Liam. Likewise, hopefully a quick and speedy recovery is on the cards. 

Had a great first day in Lewis to kick off the trip. A bit drizzly and very windy but we managed to find some dry rock at The Folded Wall. The shoulder didn't seem to hold me back too much as we managed to tick off Weeping Heart (VS 4c), Le Slot (E1 5b), Octopod (HS 4b), The Scoop (E1 5b) and Snake Dyke (E2 5c). 

Weather looks pretty naff for tomorrow so a bike ride is on the cards, hopefully followed by some more three star routes for the rest of the week.  

Thanks Liam.

I have come up with a circuit (around 14 hand moves) on my board which is hopefully going to allow me to work on my power endurance? We will see. I've come down with a stinking cold yesterday though. Pushed a little hard at work last week so will need to take it easy over the next couple of days.

M - Board session (1 hr 30)

T - Run (10k)

W - Board session - couldn't go to the wall as I'd left my boots at home. (60 mins)

T - Run (7k)

F - Easy circuit at the wall followed by 30mins stretching.

S - Two Tier. Started feeling rough but got on Aberration anyway. Really enjoyed the route, but fell off the crux on two RP's before admitting defeat. Fully swallowed up by cold evening and overnight. 

S - Feeling miserable all morning, so went for some food at a food festival. About 2 miles of walking and mowing the lawn was the only exercise I allowed myself today.

Evening guys, looks like people have been able to get out a bit which is good to hear.

Yeah, nothing wrong with a bit of rest here and there, in hindsight. Got a bit more psyche this week, also revived a bit of keen-ness on a few local bits I'd forgotten about and need to finish off. Had an a bit of an epic start to Saturday, but managed to turn it into a decent day out in the end.

Last Week:

M - Rest.

T - 75.9kg weigh-in. Depot Birmingham session. Tried a few hard things, was good fun.

W - Rest.

T - Bit of no-hanging. I normally hang my hangboard off a ladder but it's currently lent out, so I had to improvise with of my free weights (a whopping 14kg). 4x45s on each hand.

F - Rest.

S - Nightmare morning. It all started when I forgot my guidebook at home! Intended on Bus Stop (f7B+), but couldn't find any parking. Went to Ogwen for Harvey Oswald (ss) (V8+) as a backup, but no parking there either. Tried Rhiw Goch Boulders but it was baking in the sun and rampant with ticks. Tried the pass again, still nowt. Ended up at Plas y Brenin Boulder and ended up having a good session with a pair of blokes from Bangor. Neat little area.

S - Rest.

Next Week:

M - No-hang thing. Might try and score some cheap weights on the FB marketplace beforehand!

T - Rest.

W - Evening sesh on Bus Stop. Shouldn't have any parking issues hopefully!

T - Cwm Glas Bach, maybe Llanymynech on the way home?

F - Rest.

S - Rest.

S - Bouldering, undecided on location but likely backwater.

Goals:

Bulletproof fingers.

Bus Stop.

Thanks Liam, and great going with the stats the last few months.

In case anyone else fancies it, here is how I do it. I only have an 80m static, but also have a 20m I use for rigging.  At Wintours, I use the 20m to get from the top to the upper terrace, where I re-belayed off a tree, then the 80m from there.  Then as the top to the terrace is a friendly angle on the rope,  I went down to an appropriate spot 20m or so down the main cliff and did a "tension belay" off an in-situ thread.  That was all, bit bouncy at the bottom, but worked well.  "Tension belay" is my own word for when I put a Prussik knot on the rope, and clip it into the quickdraw, then remove some weight from the rope and pull the prussik down, so that once weighted, it shares the load.

Done well with Try Hard club this week, but pulled hard 2 days in a row, and had forearm DOMS the last 3 days as a result.

M - Rest

T - Nice day doing easy trad with a friend.

W - Saw conditions were right and an opportunity to go at Defining Limits (E6 6c), which I got past the main crux first time, just a tricky move at the top to a good hold in the break, made the move ok, got the good hold......... and I'm in the air!  Finish hold had snapped and I took a fairly long ride, removing a load of rubber from my best shoes in the process as I slid down.  Was gutted, however, after a short rest did it all again and made it!  So essentially sent it twice.

T - Back on the Wild West Project (as I'm going to call it) after the first session last week.  Good progress, and I can make the half height break ok.  However, I had a couple of good holds snap and half in size on the upper section, so spent my time trying to find the most efficient beta for the top, which I can just about do, but it's all max effort and unlikely to be possible after doing the bottom half.

Spent the evening doing mid level trad at Fairy Caves. Not been on the slabs for a while and it takes a minute to relax, let your feet bend, and get use to just walking up them.  All good fun.

Fri - Sun - Mega DOMS, particularly in my left forearm.

Cheers Liam. Short one from me as away.

Had one evening out this week, back on Zinc Oxide Mountain (7b+). 3 trips up it, made some big beta refinements on the crux and elsewhere, and on my best go I managed to link from the ground, through the technical crux to the move that's probably the transition from technical to redpoint crux (i.e. it's easier but still keeps on going). Then pulled on from the bolt below and went to the top, so overlapping halves. Need to extend the clip above more and there's probably a bit of beta refinement left but probably on redpoint soon.

Rest of the weekend was taken up by holiday prep. We got here yesterday, and have done some easier bouldering at  Froggatt Edge and  Stanage Plantation yesterday and today. It's colder than I had hoped, and also midgier on the campsite too, and it looks a bit showery in the coming days. But we're having fun regardless!

Excellent statting spell Liam!

STG: Regain sport climbing head fitness; tick something - anything! - from the open projects list
MTG: 2022 climbing?
MTG: Winter 22/23 - do an actual off piste ski tour
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M:    1½ hours bike in the woods. Today's top discovery was a long stretch of thickly pine rooted track around the *outside* of the wildlife reserve fence, so both an excellent technical riding challenge and safe from protective mothers.
T:    Beastmaking - no time to go to the wall, lots to get done before the long weekend. (Including not injuring myself on the beastmaker!)
W:    1½ hours bike in the woods. Proper muddybiking today: I have invested in a (low pressure, bearing-safe) pressure washer that has greatly reduced my reluctance to take the bike out on wet days and get it splattered.

T:    As is often the way, the forecast of beau temps in the Alps turned out not so beau after all (and huts in the Dolomites not open for the summer yet) so we ended up driving to Arco. There are worse places to end up.
F:    Arco, Finale Ampola. Hmm. This sector was only published in the latest guidebook, and is a clear sign that even in Arco the locals are getting desperate for halfway decent rock to bolt. Distressingly reminisecent of a seond tier crag in the Peak - the sort of place where on some routes the belayer would be well advised not to stand directly uinder the climber. Got some decent mileage in though, which is the main thing.
S:    Arco, Regina del Lago, I've been to this sector before so already knew it has much better rock quality than yesterday. Got four routes done before the thunderstorm rolled in. Later found a spectacularly good, and cheap, village restaurant in Pieve di Ledro, so all's well that ends well.
S:    Still raining in Arco. Drank coffee & hung out in gear shops. Optimistically stopped off at Juval on the way home - the sport crag directly below Mr Messner's castle. Not actually raining there but still soaking wet. 

A somewhat frustrating long weekend with poor weather and traffic on the Brenner Pass, but still a pleasant time hanging out in a nice place with a friend - and I did manage to get enough routes in to start to feel mny lead head coming together again.
 

Hi all. Thanks for a great stint on the stats, Liam. Great work keeping us all in order!

My week was derailed a bit by various life things, but some good sessions.

Week 21:

M: Fingerboard. Strength and Core. Prehab.

T: Trail run. 17.3km, 585m vert, 6:51/km.

W: Elbow and shoulder prehab.

T: Trail run. 6km, 228m vert, 6:26/km.

F: Nothing -unplanned rest day as felt a bit knackered.

S: Bouldering at Pex Hill. It is 11 years since I last climbed at Pex and it took a while to get back in to the style! Delighted to fill in some annoying gaps in my Pex CV... the highlight being Tequila Sunrise (f6A+) -especially pleasing as it was in full sun, so initially didn't think I stood a chance!

S: Nothing.

Week 22:

M: Climbing.

T: Climbing.

W: Run.

T: Rest.

F: Climbing.

S: Core. Prehab.

S: Fingerboard, Strength.

STG -end June:

Arc en ciel -TICK!

Ultra distance hill run. 

Eight of my big mountain day list (at least two on consecutive days). (1/8)

Keep injury free (elbows, hips and knees).

MTG -end Sept:

Two big alpine routes.

2022 Arbitrary training goals:

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, The Jim Grin, Rock & Roll, Clink) -TICK!

ALL of my local must-do list: 1/15

Visit at least five of my 'why haven't I climbed here' list: 1/5

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 2/3, Almscliff 2/3, Caley 0/3, Slipstones 2/3.

(For lists see FitClub 772)

Late summer/autumn alpine trip

Cheers Liam.

So Reiff was rainy. We got there and it was lovely. Next day set off mid morning to give the sea cliff grease time to go. Did Sip From the Wine of Youth Again (HVS 5a) which was a cracking route. Not HVS i don’t think but as soon as you step off you’re over the sea, tide was in, big green waves crashing everywhere. This is what we came for. A really fun route too. 

Whilst looking at the guide book to decide the next route the rain started and lasted for 3 days.

We went for a run, did a big walk, with full rucksacks, heading to the north point to see some good looking routes, that were soaking, drank wine and gin. 

We got one more afternoon of climbing in at Roinn a’ Mhill. Seconded a VS, led a very fun HVS, I failed to commit to the top moves of an E1 (it was greasy and I since realised I was wrong handed), seconded a VS and top roped a damp E3.

We bailed the next day as the forecast was staying wet.

Friday -  Llanymynech Quarry what a cracking place. After wasting a couple of hours on Gary Gibson starred routes of choss we went to the (very hot) main wall. It was too hot really but it was so nice to be in the sun we didn’t care. 

Can’t remember route names but we did a couple of 6b + and I think a 6c. Then got Juggler the Smuggler (7a) ( I think it was that one anyway). I came off at the dyno on the onsight go. I should have gone again with my left but pulled through on the crimps and ended up in no man’s land. Really fun route. Hard start, hard crux and a hard finish. Quite hard!

Deffo going back to llanymynech. 

I’ve been paying some attention to my niggles this last week or so.

Left TFCC has flared up again

Left rotator cuff/long head bicep pain which is getting worse

Sore knees when walking.

There’s no “can’t” in sport climbing, you’re always just working the route! In all seriousness you just need to commit fully to the process and not expect to do all the moves straight away or be ok with the clips or runouts in your first session. 
Last week was pretty dismal from a motivation point of view but I got to Rhiw Goch, Cromlech and Parisellas after work so not all bad and I was pleased to get Gap of Rohan (f6C) done quickly (thankfully before the midges descended). New pad desperately required as my Cromlech session left me pretty  bruised and grazed!