UKC

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_fit_club_week_807-7515...

Sounds like you've all made the most of the last week of summer, be it cramming in the days out or tying off administrative loose-ends to get into a training routine. The recent change in weather is probably quite good from an ecological standpoint, though it still can frustrate when it gets in the way of outdoor climbing! Hope you've all managed to have some good sessions in as we make our way into autumn.

Derek Furze: Sounds like a good week climbing-wise, and you seem very content with how things are going. Hope the fingerboarding has gone well this week. Good OAP discussion with Randy, love to see it!

Tyler: One run is better than no run (and I'm saying that as someone who doesn't run at all!), did you get a chance to rethink about your goals and how they'd suit your knee and ankle issues? Glad DIY club is working and you're on the road to getting a board built!

SteveJC94: A few quality sessions plus general strength with the lifting, not too bad for a busy week. How'd you get on with ramping things up a little?

Liam P: Strong start to OAP club! I notice all your training was squeezed into the start of the week, is this just the way the schedule happened to fall due to other commitments, or do you prefer to have a restful second half of the week?

AlanLittle: Good biking volume! You reckon the weak circuit session might've been fatigue from biking and getting soaked en route? Big multipitch day sounded great!

Tom Green: Solid week! That Harmer's Arete does look very bold, good to get it squared away before the rain returned. Any luck finding dry bouldering this week?

AJM: Good shout on the rest week. Any plans for the Autumn, last DWS hits before the cold, getting on boulder projects in cooler conditions?

Ally Smith: Was a pleasure climbing with you again, was good to see you make some hard moves and links. I presume the weather and humidity might have thwarted any gorge trips this week?

Somerset swede basher: Nice biking, walking and climbing volume! A bit of sea grease can make even safe-ish boulders feel pretty harrowing, never mind a mega-exposed E3! Is your partner's project still dry or have the recent downpours written it off for a while?

Randy: Ah, consistency was definitely the word I was looking for rather than volume. Excellent gym sessions this week, fitness goals ticked and getting back on the big project! Hope the plan goes well, looking forward to your updates...

biscuit: Weather woes, third time lucky hopefully? Coudy looks like a lovely little crag, had no idea that sort of thing existed. Lancs Quarry psyche is in full swing, seems to be a lot going on there these days, reckon you'll return to lead the E3, or not particularly fussed?

Steve Claw: Nice work with SSB on the adventurous coastal stuff! New routing in the Mendips, a mix of gear and bolts - curious to hear why you've not decided to pick one and stick with it?

Thanks Ross.  Content is about right.  I have got better at accepting what would have been a frustrating lack of progress in the old days.  The fact is that work and weather mess things up, so just got to tie in and see what happens.  

Excited to have got back into training this week, with four sessions squeezed in somehow.  

M. 5x5 weighted pull up pyramid, though all pretty light as just starting these.  3 x 10 push ups.

T  5x6 pull ups regular.  I rep each side using a two finger dish for assistance.

W. 2x10 push ups at hotel.

F. Regular pull ups pyramid to six.  Weighted pull ups sets of five at 4.5, 5.6 (2 sets) and 7.9.

S tested 1RM in steps up to plus 16 kg (125%).  Fairly steady, though clearly need to get used to the different exercise.  

Quite happy with the week, though frustrated by lack of climbing.

In other news - just bought a bouldering mat as a statement of intent.  Quite likely to look to Cheshire sandstone as a go to venue.

All aboard the bouldering train! My Cheshire CV is a bit sparse unfortunately, only Bickerton and a little at Frodsham. I must get round to doing more soon...

Thanks! Certainly keen to get out above the sea again if possible, it’s not been a terribly high volume year for that so far (between various bouts of illness and having been away for a large part of the summer I’ve done very little indeed). Otherwise, I’d like to do a bit of trad and hopefully get on some sport projects. 

Bouldering….. I still need to rehab my leg, bouldering in general seems to exacerbate it more than routing, and my specific local boulder goals are very right leg dependent. So I’ve pretty much given up on getting much ticked this year and just hoping to lay the groundwork for getting a bit more done next year.

Back into a new school year and a hectic week at work. Usually I would think of October as my busy month but I think October will feel like blessed relief at this rate.

Graded list counter: 3 fr7s, 17 fr6s, 9 fr4/5s

Monday - life happened

Tuesday - 3 sets pull-ups @bw+10 - 8,7,7. 

Wednesday - poor sleep, whacked by the evening

Thursday - foot elevated pushups 15,13,13. 

Friday - rest

Saturday - Battleship with Si. A bit autumnal - grey, blowy, slightly damp feeling in places. Sun finally broke through late afternoon. I had been hoping to get on Zinc again. I had one trip up it, but the flints were a bit slippy and some of the breaks a bit greasy. I figured out a few bits and bobs and reminded myself of the moves but it wasn’t conditions for redpoint goes, or at least not until pretty late afternoon when the sun came out, which I assume might have dried things off a bit. Si had a similar experience on Racing Line. Anyway, in the end mostly we did some miles on easier things, including a few more ticks from the graded list for me. The final haul was 6b onsight, 6b+ onsight, 6b+ repeat, 6c onsight, 6c+ flash and a trip up a 7b+. Skin shot by the end!

Sunday - pottering day. Walk in the park including some sets of dips 10,10,9,6. Then some weighted chin-ups @bw+10 3x8

Cheers Ross. Life with work/baby is a bit of a train smash at the minute so it’s whenever I can get it in! I do like to front-load the week though as it allows wiggle room for the inevitable busy days.

Yeah I surprised myself with the ‘Free Hand on Shoulder’ pull-up. To the untrained eye it probably looks like a OAPU but it’s amazing how much weight it takes off. Next progression is ‘Free Hand squeezing ribs’ but I’m a way off yet. Enjoying the fact everyone in OAPU Club has different protocols as I’m a sucker for a bit of competition!

Anyway, rest week this week as booked a last minute trip to Font! Arrived today and (fingers-crossed) the weather isn’t looking too bad. It’s my first time here, and brought the (non-climbing) Mrs & Nipper, so plan is to hammer the wine & pastries - with a bit of bouldering - rather than bore them with a siege. That being said, I have spent a LOT of time scoping bleau.info videos…

Thanks Ross, school started back this week so it's been a pretty stressful week but I'm sort of on top of things again now. Peak lime usually stays dry until the first big rains after the trees have dropped their leaves (I'm like a native American tracker when it comes to finding dry rock!).

Mon. 5km run. 

Tues. Max hangs (+28kgs), pull ups, press ups.

Wed. 11km run 

Thurs. Warmed up for a fingerboard session but was nackered from work so I decided a missed session was better than a finger injury.

Fri. Rest 

Sat. Squeezed in a short sport climbing session, two working goes and a failed redpoint on a 7c. Disappointed not to get it in a session but didn't have time for another go as had to take mini swede to a birthday party in the afternoon.

Sun. 31km on the road bike. 500+m ascent.

The back wall traverse at Hobson Moor might make a good training venue with your new pad if you can time driving through Glossop to miss the traffic. Plenty to go at down the road at New Mills too.

I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching this week but my feet deteriorated daily rendering any plan redundant as soon as I came up with it. I stupidly thought that because my Achilles stopped hurting when I ran it might be the right thing to do (I did a couple of short runs on the treadmill this week) but it’s just got more painful at other times and the soles of my feet have become unbearable to walk on. I only ran because my elbow was too sore to climb on so now I’m not sure what’s left!  Reckon I’ll stop all activity for a couple of weeks and just get on with the board build in the hope my elbow clears up by the time it’s ready. 
Aim for this week is to see a physio and begin the process of getting a consultant about my other foot issues. 

Thanks Ross 

To me its all climbing, and each style gives different things. Where there is gear, I think climbing should always be trad, I love the how creative it feels and how real it is. However, sport climbing (and top roping) allows me to reach a higher level, pulling harder and enjoying movements that I would find it hard to do traditionally.

Unfortunately, another busy week working away, so nothing to report until this weekend  as I am on Lundy.

M-F nothing.

Sat  - Lundy arrival day. Did Bleed for Speed (E2 5c), cool line in a serious situation. Had to jug up the ab line whilst belaying to avoid getting wet. Very adventurous.

Sun - Went and did Destiny (E2 5c) which is a superb route, hard going jamming crack, felt very E3. Then did 3 new routes VS, HVS and E2

Don't know if it is a factor, but using a handsaw is one of the things that triggers my elbows...

I usually turn to swimming when my elbows and knees rule out the usual fun stuff. It's not very exciting in the pool but once I was confident enough to take it outdoors I enjoyed it more.

Thanks Ross. I don't think biking volume is affecting the other things I'm doing (except perhaps via tight hip flexors & quads) - I do pretty much all of it at a very sedate "top of Zone 1" sort of pace, apart from one short but steepish hill I have to get up on the way back from town.

STG: Book Kalymnos trip with my son for early October
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:    
T:    
W:    Wall, Boulderwelt. Circuits. Skin is proving just as much of a limitation as forearm endurance on the steep juggy circuits that I'm focusing on for Kaly training, but still an ok session, better than last week. And I stayed dry on the bike there & back, yay.
T:    Bike one hour
F:    Bike one hour. Misjudged the weather, went out without a jacket and got another thorough soaking
S:    Hillwalking, Herzogstand. This is my standard short benchmark route, and I wanted to see if the last few weeks of Zone 1/2 on the hills have made a big difference. Nope: was within a minute or so (rounding error!) of my pb, but no radical breakthrough. Yet!
S:    Wall, Weyarn autobelay endurance session

Hi Fit Club. Thanks for the write up Ross. Yep, HA is one of the slightly neckier aretes at Harmers... I'd arrogantly thought I'd probably flash it, but I needed to go up and down a few times just to get my head in the zone for the last high, hard move!

Week 36:

An alright week... got all planned sessions done apart from climbing (the problem with local rock being softish sandstone is it's hard to grab days between rain as the rock needs to properly dry).

M: Elbow and shoulder prehab.

T: Fingerboard, strength, prehab.

W: Trail Run. 16.3km, 554m vert, 6:47/km. 

T: Nowt.

F: Fingerboard, strength, prehab.

S: Trail Run. 5.6km, 155m vert, 6:02/km. Kind of junk miles, but I only had a tiny window to train... figured it was better than nothing and would keep knees, hips etc stimulated even if it was no good for fitness.

S: Nowt.

Week 37:

M: Fingerboard & Strength

T: Run and Prehab

W: Fingerboard & Strength

T: Prehab

F: Climbing

S: Run

S: Climbing

STG -end Sept:

Climb at four of my 'climb here more' crags (Ticked! 5/4).

Climb six of my local to-do list.

Allakazam.

Ultra distance run. 

Three of my big mountain day list.

Keep injury free (elbows, hips and knees). 

MTG -end Dec:

Two big alpine routes.

Weighted Pull-up: 90kg. (dropped the weight given that I've done no consistent training over summer!)

Max Hangs: 85kg. (as above!)

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: 4/15

Visit at least five of my 'why haven't I climbed here' list: 3/5

Get at least one session at each of my 'I should climb more at this crag' list: 5/8

Start properly getting to know: Brimham 2/3, Almscliff 2/3, Caley 0/3, Slipstones 2/3.

(For lists see FitClub 772)

At least two big, classic alpine goals

Bit of a deload week. Coincided with the poorer weather so no bad thing.

Week 36

M – 5x5 3” Saxon bar DL @66kg. 5x 4reps bench press @65kg. Axle DL 3x 11reps @89kg. Nice little blood pumper after work.

T – 30km ride / 63min.

W – Rest.

T – PE session. Two good burns to failure on a hard 3 problem link-up; perfect surrogate for outdoor project.  Should have done some core but ran out of time. Pancake stretches with 10kg kettlebell later in front of TV.

F – Nada

S – 4km Squiggle walk around Alderley Edge.

S – Witnessed the proclamation of the King in Chester and ate a very hearty lunch with wine. Much later, 45min board session. Managed a 7A benchmark in a dozen goes (it’s not 7a!)

Fell a bit ill mid-week but still salvaged some good intensity and volume out of it.

Opted to remove The Mentalist (f7C) from my goals list - while I still want to do it, I'm clearly not fussed about doing it soon or at any particular timescale! There are many problems like this, currently I'm quite keen to get on Silence of the rams (f7B) at some point, preferably with a bit of TR practice unless I can coax a lot of people into hiking pads up with me!

Last Week:

M - Rest.

T - Weigh-in at 77.6kg. Moonboard in the evening. Finger tweak is settling down nicely.

W to F - Seem to have caught some sort of lurgy, sneezy and a slight sore throat. Negative Covid test.

S - Exploratory bouldering around Blaenau with TT for the upcoming Mid Wales guide. Half a dozen or so problems, two of which were quite hard, around 7A.

S - Rest.

Next Week:

M - Rest.

T - Moonboard.

W - Rest.

T - No-hangs.

F - Rest.

S, S - Bouldering.

Goals:

Bulletproof fingers.

Cheers Ross, happy to actually submit a post this week, minimal as it is  Thankfully back/hip/knee recovery going well.

Managed to get in the pool on Tuesday to test things out. Was able to swim 500m without too much discomfort. Repeated again on Wednesday. Thursday felt better so pushed it out to 1km.

Friday was a horrific day at work so nothing to report.

Saturday was time to try going out for a run. It was tough to start, pain radiating from hip to knee so a run walk for the first km. After that it eased off a bit so was able to complete a 6k trail run.

Sunday was another run, a nice gentle 4k with the wife and kids at a nice steady pace. 

All in all good to be back out. Just need to build from here.

Thanks for the stats Ross. Had as planned more of an easy week with reduced climbing volume but also took the opportunity for some pullups testing:

Recap last week

Mon: Rest

Tues: L-Sit 2x20s; Handstand training 2x10 pike pushups,15 lunges, 3 pistol squats with each leg, 30 pushups and 45s V-Sit Up; managed to get a couple of times a 5-7s handstand without any wall support

Wed: Gym bouldering session, flashed about 10 6a-6b boulders and did a technical 6b+ in a couple of tries (pretty sure i broke the intended beta on that one by using power . Then flashed 4 boulders in the 6b to 6c range and did a 6c+ boulder in a couple of tries. After 10 minutes break a weighted Pullups testing session:

• 6 reps + 20 kg 
• 3 reps+ 32 kg
• 2 reps + 44 kg
• 1 rep + 49 kg
• 1 rep 53 kg ; absolute limit, chin barely above the bar

Following this i tested my maximum for reps with bodyweight pullups and got the 21. Pretty stoked with this session. Flashed almost everything that i tried in the gym although some boulders were kind of tricky and also flashed two boulders with a double dyno as a start. Pullup testing session was a very positive surprise. Maybe could have even gotten a 2-3 kg more if i did the test at the beginning of the session.

Thur: L-Sit 2x20s; Handstand training 2x10 pike pushups,15 lunges, 3 pistol squats with each leg, 30 pushups and 45s V-Sit Up; pretty tired from the pullup test yesterday. Testing 1 RM is kind of funny. It is not that hard when you do it, but once i got back home i was completely knackered and even too tired to think

Fri: Rest

Sat:  Despite very bad weatherforecast with a lot of rain we went outside and found a dry place at the  Illafels. Got back on my project from my last trip to this crag Lutscher (IX-). All in all did 4 tries. Got very close on two of them, falling on the second to last move to thank god jug. In the other two tries i fell on the bottom crux after not placing my heel correctly Slightly disappointed about the missed send. I think the route was possible today but i did some tiny mistakes which costs me the few % of energy that were missing on the last hard move. Nevertheless, definately a good training.

Sun: L-Sit 2x20s; Handstand training 2x12 pike pushups,15 lunges, 3 pistol squats with each leg, 30 pushups and 45s V-Sit Up; Felt suprisingly good despite yesterday's intense outdoor session. Handstand was quite consistent  again with a couple of holds for 5s-7s.

Review last weeks goals: 

• Take a deload week, reduce volume and only do 2 climbing sessions to give my body a rest - Check, intensity could have been a little bit lower and maybe i should have skipped one of the core/antagonist session. Nevertheless, all in all i think i've recovered a bit
• Focus on good technique when doing easy problems in the gym - Check, really focused on technique on the flash tries with some good results

Goals next week: 

• Do at least one endurance focused climbing session and increase climbing volume while reducing intensity a little bit
• Increase weight for the Pullups to 20 kg, but don't max out on reps and always try to have one left in reserve

Nice work!

The volume of pullups looks quite high for me, though. Maybe you should take it a little bit easy next week, to give your body some time for recovery and adjusting to the new exercises. 

I’m well armed with all manner of power tools these days so I should be alright. DIY jobs take about the same time as they used to but nw most of the time is taken up with trying to remember where I left things and getting up and down from kneeling positions. 

I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this but I’m coming to the conclusion it’s the only thing I can do, there is a pool nearby so is a possibility.

Good advice again!  I should get some rest with my working pattern anyway as I can't really train while away - other than push ups and stretching - so it will give me a few days off and probably means I will only do two or three sessions through the week.  I just read another OAPU progression that was recommending 50 regular three times a week as the core foundation, so there is a lot of differing advice out there!

You've had another strong week!

It is possible that with your catalogue of aches and injuries, you might not be climbing at the moment.  However, I could do something Friday if you want to get out.  My journey back Thursday is 170 miles, so I will probably be knackered, but somewhere A55 might suit.  Don't worry if not, I do have other options

Yeah, if there is one thing that is for sure in training, is that there is not one correct way to do things. Instead there are multiple options and you need to find out what works for you.

Lately i've been thinking a lot about what is the correct intensity at which we should train. In the last years i used to do more an all out approach. Ending the session when i was completely wasted and with pullups doing many sets to failure.

In the last 3 months i've changed my pullups routine, just taking the last set to failure while the first two are usually rather easy. In case i hit failure or a close to failure on the 3rd set already, i will stop there. With the weighted pullups i've always increased weight the next session when i was able to complete 4 sets of 10 Pullups and i've seen better gains than with my all out method in the past.

Nevertheless, i am thinking if leaving a little bit more in the tank is not better and also not always doing the last set to failure. Here is an interesting video a powerlifter/bodybuilder who discusses this question that i've found quite interesting:  youtube.com/watch?v=deDlhPmT2SY&

You, too!

Interesting points and the video was useful as well.

I have generally avoided training things like max hangs to failure as it becomes easy to damage tendons, but I think shifting weights is different.  Given that the studies seem to show that maximum possible effort isn't associated with better gains and leads to longer recovery, I think I will build up carefully.  I definitely don't want an injury.

Good session today on regular pull ups, some weights, push ups and some assisted one- armers.

I've now spotted your previous post about knackered elbows and 'not climbing'!  Sorry if I scratched a sore!  Another time 👍

Cheers Ross. Feeling stronger by the day as my fingers slowly start getting used to pulling hard again. I managed to squeeze in 3 quick sessions last week and was fairly pleased by the results.

M - HB Max (20mm edge, 10s hang, half crimp, 90% of max). 6 hangs @ BW +11kg. Followed by 5 problems on the woody (6C; 6C; 6C+; 7A; 7A)

T/W/T/F - snowed under with home renovations

S - HB Max (20mm edge, 10s hang, half crimp, 90% of max). 6 hangs @ BW +12kg. Followed by problems on the long roof at Depot (7a & 7b onsight; 7c on the fourth attempt)

S - A chilled boulder session doing the V5-7 circuit at Depot.

Plan for the next few weeks is to continue with more conditioning to get back in shape before starting a new cycle in October. 

I’m not so injured that I wouldn’t be able to belay you and at some point I’m going to have to test out my elbow! As it is I’m at work on Friday so at a bit of a loose end at the weekend if you want to get out then

I've got family visiting at the weekend so can't climb then anyway. No worries - a bit more elbow recovery for you then.  Are you doing rehab for it?

When I went to Lundy, we also did some 'new' routes near Dark Power, including a couple where we swam across to access them.  Excitedly reported this to Simon (Cardy) only to find that these were all awaiting publication in the next edition of the guide.  That said, I absolutely loved the place, which surprised me as I wasn't expecting to enjoy it that much.  Still got plenty to do.

I've checked family plans and can get out Saturday if that works?  If so, I'm happy on trad or sport, but I've a Saturday evening commitment so need to get back by 6.30 or so.  Probably means easy access options A55 or Llangollen