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_827-7559...

Stats:

Tom Green:  ‘Plugging away and see where I get to’ – have you considered getting into writing self-help books?  😊

Looks like you are beginning to hit your targets with trail running, despite the bobsleigh track conditions last week.  A good deal less tricky this week I imagine.  They are fairly decent lengths of run and you had a mountain day out – a fairly spectacular one by the look of things!

Good effort of Aonach Beag.  A very long while since I dabbled with ice – so long that V was probably as far as grades went!  Regardless of conditions making it (possibly) technically easier, it looks an impressive first ice route of the season.  Clearly the dry tooling does help.

As with some of last week’s comments, it would be great to see your progress against STG with fingerboarding, though I appreciate it may be a secret for a reason!  Following our brief dialogue re max hangs / weighted pull ups, I did test out a bit of movement when doing max hangs – I certainly can’t complete a pull up, but I can shift upwards which surprised me with more than 25kg on.  I shall carry on with progressing the weighted to see if I can close the gap (for comparison, my max hangs are at total of 96.4kg, whereas weighted PU at 78.3kg).

SteveJC94:  Great – a relatively short bout of lurgy and good to see you back on it, if not at 100% yet. 

Interesting seeing your weighted pull up stats with + 23kg being pretty heavy.  I note that you are keeping the volume low (only three), so clearly an all out strength mission?  Good results on the board and boulders as well, with both showing a well-structured approach to getting the best out of the sessions.   Good also to see the core work mixed in with the sessions.

Friday’s session also interesting.  If I read it right, then the deadhangs were I minute on at those weights (?), so into density hangs territory?  Very impressive carrying any extra on this length of hang and interested to hear what you are targeting with this and where the protocol is derived?  Rock solid fingers is a likely outcome anyway!

Big cycling trips in the Spring?  Excellent!  I last used my bike to cycle along the reservoir to Ravenstones and that nearly killed me.

Randy:  Your repeater session s seem to be going well, despite your reported tiredness.  Good to see an improvised set up delivering almost identical results at the second hotel – impressive dedication to the cause!  Your weighted pull ups remain impressive with the weight and the set lengths.  I am slowly building these into my schedule and have included them for a few weeks now, so they are beginning to feel better – certainly make BW ones feel easier!

Interesting to see the cardio stuff in the mix this week – a real contrast with your usual mix of gym work and the run and hike both sound like an adventure.  At least they get you out and about in India.  I hope you didn’t suffer the consequences of street food!  By now, you should have a battle-hardened belly!

Ian Parnell:  Nice to see the recent addition to the STG – inspired no doubt by your recent play on the grit!  Hopefully that provided some grounding after what looked like a horrific experience with the horse. 

A pretty good week considering what you had to deal with.  It would be very easy to completely shut out everything else while handling such trauma.  You certainly had a couple of days where tiredness prevented much happening, but hopefully the rest will have been productive.  Good to see plenty of core work still going on and the bouldering both indoor and outdoor looks positive, despite having to ‘gee’ yourself up when at the wall.  ‘Felt a bit hopeless’ would be a suitable epithet for every one of my wall visits!

Pull up pyramids – you look like these are building up ok.  Mix it up with doubles (2,4,6,8 etc) to change the pattern and build up the total amount in fewer sets.  I quite like just doing the ups only (2,4,6,8,10 and repeat – each block of five sets is thirty by itself). 

Good to see that you had a productive discussion with Ally on max hangs protocols. 

Tyler:  Regarding ‘finger intensive work’ and elbows, I think that is fairly typical isn’t it?  Biscuit will be better placed to advise (in print!), but isn’t it the tendon / bone connection points that cause problems and that loading the fingers is stressing the sensitive areas?  Density hangs might be worth pursuing as a way of building resilience.  Note that freely given advice comes with no implied liability!  Anyway, rehab, rehab, rehab!

A good day out in the wintry hills that set up some new training targets!  I guess conditions might have made things a bit more arduous anyway, so your general fitness may not be as far off as you think.  Anyway, you said ‘urgent’ so I will look out for the next update containing loads of cardio alongside some dialling back of the board sessions.

SSB:  I’m possibly in a minority here, but assume BSMA stands for something?  A problem name I guess, but not one I know – this isn’t surprising given that my last bouldering was probably fifteen years back!  Regardless, I can understand that you’ve had a significant breakthrough in putting the last section together and making some decent links.  

Also noted a good winter day and hats off to Mrs Swede.  18km is a fairly long day when you are messing about in the snow!  Good training for you lumping ‘heavy looking stuff’ up at least two hills – more than makes up for the lack of fingerboarding this week.  The bouldering sessions seem pretty intense if you could feel the effect of Monday by the time you were back on it on Wednesday! 

Sorry to hear of the stressful day at work.  Hang onto the good days – there are usually plenty more of them in the mix.

Steve Claw:  A clear sense that you are going to have to take rehab somewhat more seriously.  Always tempting to invest the time in something a bit more entertaining, like adding to your new route tally, but getting on top of the injury is important in the medium term, especially if ‘top form’ is the plan by the time you go to Font.  It’s a while since I have been to the forest, but all those slopers and overhangs will make your elbows work pretty hard!  Interesting that vertical stuff doesn’t seem to be aggravating things much.

Density hangs weren’t completely neglected anyway and over the week you have put in a fair bit of exercise – three days on the crag is brilliant for January. 

Ross Barker: 

‘Whilst it does appear strong on paper, and I am feeling quite strong, I think it's not perhaps so significant given it's mostly moves I've already done before, on problems that suit me.’  … said every Moonboard downgrader ever!  😊 Anyway, you may be right, but it still looks like a good few successes for January and you are getting outside regularly!

Clearly putting some focused rehab into the A2 and seem to be managing a good balance if you can do the rehab and get through some good problems on the board as well.  Probably a lot in the loads being appropriate to stimulate repair, without actually causing any deterioration I suppose.  Injury or not, you are packing the problems in at the moment with three more outside trips and a session on the board.  Given that the first goal is ‘sort out the A2 injury’ the plan looks good for the next week.  Clearly it isn’t getting any worse.  Does it feel as if it is getting better?

In reply to Derek Furze:

part two

Alan:  Looks like a great response to the tips provided by others!  Off to the wall to put effort in on things that are outside the comfort zone and with the appropriate results!  Quite a bit of exercise generally across the week, with cycling, routes, bouldering and conditioning work all in the mix.  You’ve even put some time into the fingerboard by the look of it, though no detail on what you are targeting here (?) – I’d be interested in what sort of protocol you are following and what the targets are with this.

A strange season in the Alps by all accounts though more like normal snowfall now I think.  Certainly my brother has been digging the car out every day recently in order to get the hundred metres to the bit that gets ploughed.  Hope you get some progress with your ski tour aims as well as the Kaly targets.

AJM:   Now that your heel hook prowess has returned, you’ll have to work hard on the fingerboard to get beyond ‘remedial’ so that you can reawaken your more diligent tracking!

No problem with ‘terse and undescriptive entries’ from my perspective.  My comments were simply about you being able to track progress more precisely, which I find helps me maintain motivation.  You’ll have to rethink your immediate goals as they included ‘must try to get the hamstring sorted out’, which looks like it might be sorted now that you are heel hooking to your heart’s content…

8mm edges!  I used to do reasonably small edges years ago, but now the smallest are 15mm.  If I remember it becomes an exercise in pain tolerance!  Yes, Ally does have some remarkable skin conditioning regimes – I am more likely to reach for hand cream!  Anyway, these sort of dimensions are pretty tough so build up carefully.

Lots of pleasant stuff mixed in through the week and presumably aiming to keep up with Sharkathon.  Durdle Door in the winter sunshine sounds a delight.

Liam P:  Your hamstrings work is very consistent with something nearly every day, so the flexibility has got to develop in the end.  I think the returns from stretching are very positive and I notice them fairly quickly, though obviously pushing at the limits is going to take time.

Good to see the pulley being used and the one arm hangs percentages developing.  Particularly good to get out on Portland – not a bad return for January to work a 6b+ in freezing conditions.  Probably be a breeze when it is a bit warmer! 

Quite impressed with declaring next week’s goals so firmly.  I definitely have these, but I know work can get in the way, so I keep them to myself.  I did notice that you didn’t have any OAPU on this week (though the one arm hangs must help) so good to see it back on the menu.  In the spirit of declarations, having met this month’s key goal on max hangs and training percentages, conditioning and preparation is over and I will introduce some one arm work again twice a week for next month.

Ally:  It is great to see that on your ‘atrocious week’, you still sneaked in F3 crimp density hangs with 30kg!  I’m delighted to have got to 30 kg on F3 (30mm pockets) and you are gaily swinging around on smaller edges for ages!  Joking aside, it actually provides inspiration to see what can be achieved.

That aside, the week was clearly broken up with the work trip.  Good to see you got a board session in and that you’re an-cap cycle is feeling a bit more controlled.  All in all that session at the end of the week looked decent.

Hamburg – nice place for a work meeting!  Not sure if the Radisson is at the airport, but the city centre is really great and the docks area is spectacular.  The famous street is eye-opening as well!

Thanks for giving Ian the benefits of your expertise.  Pleased to say that your analysis was much the same as mine.  I think 20 seconds max hangs would be desperate and I would have to wind back the weight, which seems counter-intuitive on a strength protocol, but then climbing is a strange combination of strength and endurance demands.  Liked the sub-bodyweight repeaters idea for PE.

Inglesp:  Worth trying the Hooper’s beta - I was surprised how little time each cycle takes.  I find I can use it to warm up or as inserts into my rest cycles as it isn’t done with much load.  I haven’t used the third block of exercises as there are a couple of things on their that I already cover elsewhere, but I do block one and two twice amongst my other stuff.

Not going to plan is officially reported as a deload week and we always remember the importance of rest to allow the muscles to regenerate.  Some decent running, but it was a cold week generally.  Good to get out on the rock – I did see bpmclimb’s post for partners, but a bit far for me and Wyndcliff Quarry perhaps not a premium destination?

Working well at the wall and a good standard being achieved indoors.  Keep it going over the next month or six weeks and a great platform for outdoors.  7a is my best wall onsight (years and years ago of course), but I was climbing E4 reasonably regularly then, so you can rachet up your target list to include some extremes (such as those Steve recommended at Avon) I reckon.

The Sheep:  At this rate there will be some kind of competitive run on a weekly basis!  Incidentally, the Peak District Ultra is July 8th, which might coincide with your Castleton trip. 

A decent week of consolidating your platform as you suggest.  Getting up of 20k a week on various runs, which seems solid to me.  Also good to see three swims in the mix, so there is a fair bit of exercise through the week – only one rest day really though I guess stretch class might count (?).  Perhaps depends on how extreme it is!  If early April is your first target, then a good few weeks of building up available.

Biscuit:  Re the apartment – when I first had it we spent a lot of time there – every single holiday or half-term.  The kids loved it and it probably paid for itself in reduced holiday costs within five years or so!

Not really been the weather for much outdoor action I guess, but good to see you applying yourself so diligently to the walls.  Four sessions on a wall in one week – that would be a good year for me!  Good to see the mix of styles targeted to cover aero, bouldering and lead routes.

Interesting comment re structured work at the walls which had me reflecting somewhat.  I’ve tended to go and climb with mates at an onsight sort of grade, partly because that’s what my mates want to do.  It ends up being boring and ultimately tiring, but that’s about it!  It might make more sense for training to try to do a pyramid of grades, regardless of style.  At least then I would be able to put something productive on my spreadsheet!

In reply to Derek Furze:

A bit of a compromised week with work, but still got three reasonable sessions in and I have a week where I am home every night, so a good start to the next cycle is probable.

Mon  Six set of max hangs on F3 at 20.5, 22.8, 25, 27.2, 28.3 and 29.4kg.  * seconds only on the last set but almost!  40 pull ups in a pyramid set.  5 sets of 12 push ups.  Block one of Hoopers (shoulder rotation, shoulder tap planks, nordic hamstring curls and finger curls) x 3.  Five sets of stretches - mainly hips and hams.

Tues and Wed working away

Thurs Short of time so 4 sets of five weighted - started at 9kg then 3 sets of 10.1kg.  Block one and two of Hoopers x 2 each (two includes reverse curls, further shoulder rotation, weighted side planks and standing leg RDLs).  Missed out repeaters which tells a story!

Fri Six sets of max hangs F3 at 20.5, 22.8, 25, 27.2, 28.3 and 29.4kg.  Ten seconds throughout so new PB and 144% monthly target achieved.  50 pull ups in double pyramid to 10.  Six sets of 10 push ups.  Six sets of hip and ham stretches and block one of Hoopers.  Phone kept interrupting this session, but hit the targets so all good.

Probably going to change grip and start a new cycle as I have a decent week looking ahead.  Work every day, but should also get time.

In reply to Derek Furze:

The fingerboarding I'm doing at the moment is rather low emphasis and fairly low intensity, aimed at improving my strict half crimp form. I'm a natural open hander, which is probably advantageous from the point of view of not getting injured but less so when I need to really bear down on something small & sharp. When I last checked my real max during lockdown, I could hang about 125% to 130% on a BM1000 18mm "medium" edge in a chisel/four finger drag, but barely bodyweight in a strict half crimp. I'm reading Beastmaking, where Ned puts considerable emphasis on working one's weaknesses and specfically talks about natural open handers learning to crimp. And I got dramatically shut down on a crimpy 7a crux in Leonidio a couple of weeks ago, although that was at least partly also down to end-of-holiday skin (lack of!)

So I'm trying, as a lowish priority background activity, to improve my crimping a bit. Plus a bit of back two work, since I am impressionable and recently listened to podcasts with Dan Varian and Ned Feehally where "lazy pinkies" were mentioned. I'm using a "max" hang style protocol - single sets of 10 seconds with longish rests - but not trying to go anywhere near actual max. I guess these would be "density hangs" if I were doing more of them, which I might at some point but not before my spring trip.

In reply to Derek Furze:

No worry, i am basically half-local now . Also food selection plays a huge roles. In my opinion the risk for stomach problems is much lower if you stick to veg at the non 5-star locations

Recap last week:

Mon: Short static Fingerboard pulls recruitment session, consisting of warmup and two 10s pull at around 95% max effort level. In  the afternoon start of my fun 26h journey back home

Tues: Finished the travel and arrived home around lunch time. Quite a temperature shock coming from sunny 30 ° to 0° and snow.

Wed: Indoor Bouldering, Elements wall, some easy bouldering at the start and increased the difficulty gradually up to 6b+/6c. As expected needed some time to get my coordination back, but it already got a lot better during the session. Finished the session with bodyweight pullups 4x12 with 2-4 in rest

Thurs: Indoor Bouldering, Elements wall ; did many technical boulders in the 5c to 6b (most of them flash), one technical 6b+ boulder second go and one 6b+/6c power boulder second go; shortly tried a 6c boulder but could not get one move done; finished the session with some handstands; all in all already felt much better and that my technique was coming back

Fri: Rest

Sat: Indoor Bouldering, Elements wall: 1 technical 6b+/6c after a couple of tries, flashed a 6b+ power boulder and did a 6b+/6c slab boulder, tried a couple of more 6c boulders briefly but could not get them done; 10 min break; weighted pullups +16kg with 3 min rest: 10,10,8. Despite the rest day i did not felt fully recovered and lacked a little bit of power. Probably still struggeling a little bit the stress from the travel and jet-lag. At least i still could get some harder boulders done although i did not feel fresh.

Sun: Indoor Bouldering, Elements Wall. high volume, lower intensity session. Did around 50-60 boulders in about one hour way below my flash level (probably around 4b to 6a), down climbing most of the problems. Pump-Level between 3/10 and 6/10, feeling much fitter than yesterday. Finished the session with a couple of handstands and 30 pushups

Decent high volume week despite travel stress and jet-lag. I plan to keep the climbing volume up high next week before i travel to India again the week after that. At least weather is currently much nicer there and i hope that this will be the last travel before the easter, so that i can get myself into spring climbing shape afterwards.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek, BSMA is Back Street Mime Artist, a tough slopey rail at Burbage north.

Mon. BSMA session #7 got it in two over lapping sections today. Fell off the step over move from the start 3 times. Worked this section and have some better beta now. Best link 13moves from the start.

Tues. 5km run.

Wed. Rest.

Thurs. BSMA session #8. Through the step over every go this time. Best link from the start 17 moves, just 3 left to bolt on now. Worked the last 4 moves and found a better heel position, did 10 laps of the last 4 moves in a row. Unfortunately also hurt a finger, shit.

Fri. 45mins on the bike on the rollers, finger sore.

Sat. Light foundry lead session, about 10 routes 6b-6c, didn't pull too hard on anything. Good to get the blood moving through the finger without pulling on it too much.

Sun. 15km cycle with the kids, flat and steady.

Not sure about next week. Sore finger is feeling a lot better today. Maybe I'll strap it up and go for the send whichever evening looks coldest this week. It doesn't actually hurt when I pull on it, just feels sore afterwards.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks for your work on the stats Derek, those pullup doubles sound like a good idea.

Training wise a mixed week, had planned to do more, but running arrangements didn’t work out. Probably a good thing as this was a planned de-load week. Pleased with progress on my tests (see below), particularly flexibility, although it is ‘low hanging fruit’. However a bit shocked how much the pull up tests took out of me considering they were about 60 seconds of total effort. Now got a shoulder tweak to join the finger. I’ve bought Biscuits book to try and help sort me out! Enjoying the outside bouldering – something I’ve always avoided. I’m hoping alongside the physical gains of indoor training this will keep technique and footwork progressing as well.  

New testing

Weight: 85kg (previous 86kg)

Not testing fingers this time as rehabing them

Pull ups – Max 11 (previously 10), weighted pull ups, 2 rep max +16kg (previously +12.5kg)

Flexibility – hamstrings ‘touch toes’ – 8cm from floor (previously 12cm)

Calves – knee to wall, toes Left 19cm from wall, Right 12.5cm (long term scar tissue) (previously Left 18cm, right 12.5cm - was measuring wrongly previously, so adjusted).

Box split – 180cm 101 % of height (previously 160cm 89% of height)

STG: Boulder 6 x grade 6 problems by end Feb (3/6)

-

Mon – rest

Tues - pm: warm up, 10 sec 20mm rehab hangs -35kg x 4

30 mins Deep stretching, hamstrings and adductors

Wed - pm: Warm up. Weighted pull ups 2 rep test, BW, 5kg, 15kg, 16kg (new pb)

Warm up stretching, lower limbs flexibility tests (see above)

Max pull ups – 11 (new pb)

Thurs - pm: Depot short session: warm up 5x each (green, white, blues, blacks), attempt 3 reds felt flat and powered out (undoubtably from the previous days pull ups). So did 20 pinks in 30 mins, felt tired – reminded myself I was supposed to be having a de-load week and headed home early.

Fri - rest

Sat – am: Burbage in the sun. 8 problems including Tree Stump Traverse (f6A), Triangle Traverse (f6A+) and Tiny Roof (f6A+)                      

Sun - am: first light start hoping for Stanage, but damp so went to Rubicon. Traverses area wet and muddy but had some goes on A Miller's Tale Start (f6B) and A Bigger Prize (f6C+). Ones to come back to when my fingers better as they will be good progress markers on finger strength.

pm: 3 miles run, felt good so picked up speed in second half.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek. I can only imagine the amount of time you must put into the stats. Could that time be better used for training? Just saying……..

You can easily use the (free) CRIMPd app for session structure ideas. There are a lot of junk miles done at walls. This is totally fine if it’s a social meet up and ticking over session. But if you are wanting to improve just a little structure can change a session totally. It's not for everyone though as it can feel like you're taking the fun out of climbing.

A good first week back of structured training would be my summary. I feel like my nutrition is pretty consistent atm as well – apart from Saturday but we’ve all got to have a day off.

M – A planned very early gym visit didn’t happen.

Lancaster Wall – 30 deg board session – strength intervals up to 6C – felt OK.

Did some easy deadlifting and press and row supersets after to make up for missing the gym.

T – Social climb at Rockover Bolton. Up to V5/6

W – Boulder UK – Broken halves – First session back so did the 7a+ circuit. Completed all 3 blocks. Need to up this next time. Weighted split squats after.

T – Boulder UK – 10 on 10 off x 2

Half an hour cardio at the gym. How do people do this? It was horrifically boring. But I am not getting much/any cardio in at present and I feel the need to do something. I'm not keen enough to run in the dark/rain so it looks like this'll be it for now.

F – Kendal wall – unstructured routes up to 7b. I found a foothold (the route is purple/green swirls set on the same line as a purple route, next to a line that has a green route on it) that made the crux much easier. Great route though. Probably one of the best I’ve ever done indoors. The setting at Kendal/Lancaster/Preston is really good.

S – Rest – family event with second helpings of everything and more cheese than I could possibly eat in one sitting, but I gave it a really good go……

S – Depot Manchester. Did some blues, blacks, pinks, reds and flashed a couple of purples, worked a couple and fell off a few more. I’ve not been since COVID.  It was so busy and every hold was caked in chalk. The training area looked amazing and the routing roof was good fun. I thought the setting in the lower grades wasn’t as good as it used to be. But the reds and above were good. But just too busy for me really.

The plan is to continue with 4 training sessions during the week, 1 rest day and 1 x boulder and 1 x route based, unstructured, sessions a week. I feel like I’m getting back into it.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Good evening all, hope all is well. Nice to have some surprisingly dry weather

Yeah, I think it's improving quite nicely. Not quite 100% but happy with how it's been in the 7 or 8 weeks since the injury. This week in particular I could have been a bit more "on it" with rehab, but I've not been worsening it.

Slacked off on a few ice baths and all hangboarding, plus a bit too high volume on the board, but I think I got through alright. Need to do better in that regard next week. Good outdoor session though!

Last Week:

M - Weigh-in at 78.4kg.

T - Moonboard. Quite high volume, did a couple of new 6C-7A benchmarks, all pretty friendly on the left hand. Got a bit carried away creating new problems when a mate turned up, so need more discipline in that regard, but I think I just about got away with it.

W - Rest.

T - Ice baths.

F - Moonboard. High volume again but less so than Tuesday. Just a couple of new ones, "I'm Serious, I'm Sorry" and "Twin Size Mattress". I think I'm pushing the left hand the right amount, but still need to remain careful and deliberate. Ice baths in evening.

S - DIY car maintenance. Left elbow a bit grumbly. Need to start actually taking care of this sort of thing, especially with Font looming soon.

S - GOP Cave bouldering. First visit, cool little cave, will definitely come back again. Warmed up, then got up E Honda (V8) in reasonably good time. Surprised myself with a flash of Blokesmoker (V7), though a bit of length certainly helps to use a distant foothold. Gave Smoke a Bloke (V8+) a few goes but felt a little beyond me. One to return for! Finger felt fine all day despite a couple of quite small holds, and the elbow felt fine as well.

Next Week:

5 Ice baths, 2 rehab hangboard sessions.

M - Rest.

T - Rest.

W - Indoor session.

T - Rest.

F - Rest.

S, S - Bouldering.

Goals:

Sort out the A2 injury.

Antagonists.

Rigpa.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

That looks hard!  Hope you get it soon!

In reply to Derek Furze:

STG: Winter 23 - do an actual off piste ski tour.
STG: Kalymnos training: every lead session at the wall, get on something outside my onsight comfort zone and either get up it or fall off it. Current score: 4/4 sessions
MTG: April Kalymnos trip with my son: tick at least two things from my wishlist
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 823

M: 
T:    Wall, Thalkirchen. My run of post-trip weak and unmotivated wall lead sessions continues unbroken, but I keep telling myself the aim isn't to be strong now, it's to be strong in April. And at the end of the session I did at least finally manage to work myself up to the "get on something harder & fall off it" STG

W:    Took advantage of my monthly pass to do my conditioning & stretching in Element's training area instead of at home. 30 minutes strength & conditioning: rings + 5x3x70 deadlifts; 45 minutes stretching & mobility
T:    30 minutes stretching & mobility (at home)
F:    Wall, Element bouldering. Already seeing some decent progress on "projects" from the last couple of weeks
S: Skiing, Seefeld. At least one on-piste warmup session before I kick off this season's attempts at touring & venturing off piste. Good snow but poor visibility, but I managed to get over 4000 metres of vert in before burning quads stopped play
S: Wall, Freimann with my son. Considerable turnaround from Tuesday: this was my first routes session at the wall this year where I've felt decently strong. Redpointed my 7a project and onsighted a couple of 6b+'s.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek. Great work on the max hangs! You must be creeping towards 150% of bodyweight at this point? 

My pulling strength was identified as a weakness by Lattice so they've given me a lots of high effort low volum pull-up work with the aim of achieving a 2RM of 150% of bodyweight (+32kg). 

No quite, though that's probably how I've worded it! The weighted hangs are simple 7s hangs on the fingerboard, though I tend to include some 30-60 second density hangs at bodyweight as part of my warm-up. The minute-on refers to climbing time on the circuit board to target power endurance. Interestingly, Lattice believe my finger strength is very good and equates to font 7C and 7c+ sport (both of which are harder than I've climbed before) so I've had very little hangboarding included in my plan. 

Believe me, sometimes the shortest rides are the worst as you can never get into a rhythm! I'm off to Belgium for 4 days at the end of March to watch the Tour of Flanders so I'm hoping to sample a few of the classic rides out there, but the cobbled climbs out there are pretty punishing! 

All in all, a very good week for me and it's the first time I've felt I could try hard since tweaking my shoulder in mid-December.

Monday

10 problems on the board (6B; 6B+; 6B+; 6C; 6C+; 7A; 7A+; 7A+; 7B; 7B).

Compression work on the TRX rings.

Wednesday

1 minute on, 1 minute hanging on a jug on the 6c circuit board.

Thursday

30k zone 2 ride on Zwift.

Saturday

Back outdoors at last! Took a punt on Raven Tor but found almost everything wet. Manged to flash Boot Boys Start (f6C) and tick off Weedkiller Traverse (f7A+) before heading to the plantation where I was happy to get Zippy's Traverse (f7B) on the fifth attempt. Started working Danny's Problem (f7C) and managed to make some good progress, but the second move still feels desperate. 

Sunday

40k zone 2 ride on Zwift with threshold efforts on the short climbs.

In reply to SteveJC94:

With an ascent of Weedkiller Traverse you've just climbed 7c+ IMHO. (It's living end for the fat fingered like myself)

And if you can do 7C then 8a+ should be doable too.

In reply to Somerset swede basher: just realised which problem BSMA is! I think it’s in one of the wedge videos with Jim Pope? Looks incredible. One of those bits of climbing that for mortals like me looks like it’s defying physics - palming on seemly vertical rock. Hope the finger lets you get it done

In reply to Derek Furze:

Hi All! Thanks for statting, Derek. Dome great discussion points...

With my running goal, it has just occurred to me that I can't possibly hit the average I set for myself, as I've a couple of weeks coming up where I will (hopefully!) be doing too much winter climbing to fit in any runs. Not sure what to do about the numbers -maybe just look at the weeks that are running weeks? 

In terms of the disparity between max hang weight and pull-up weight -I'm doing the pull-ups on a bar, not the same edge as the max hangs! I'm sure that's what you meant, but I thought I'd clarify! There is no secretiveness about me not normally stating progress on these exercises -it's just I plug away at the 85-90% exercises, so don't actually know how far that's taken my max weight until I do a benchmarking test sesh. However, this week I did...

Week 4:

Was always going to be a challenging week to get planned sessions done with a lot of work and driving, but then was further sabotaged by a car malfunction and associated awful service by the RAC.

M: Prehab.  

T: Fingerboarding. Strength.

W: Hill run. 12.7km, 655m vert, 9:26/km. Amazing sunset run over Cnicht, with a somewhat epic feel due to avoiding the path in favour of scrambling on the way up, some big patches of (fortunately soft) snow, the excitement of unexpectedly dropping in to thigh deep bogs that are totally invisible by headtorch (entertaining whiplash effect when moving at speed!) and (literally!) bumping in to a flock of sheep when my headtorch battery had given out on the last mile or two -at least it was a soft landing! Fantastic run!

T: Bouldering at Down Tor. I'd forgotten how awesome Dartmor granite is. Highlight was the gorgeous No match for climb id:250817.

F: Break calliper got stuck on the drive home. RAC fobbed me off until 2am until finally admitting they weren't going to rescue me and shoving me in a hotel.

S: Prehab. Was too knackered and fed up to force myself to do anything else when I finally got home.

S: Had the rage from Fri/Sat being written off, so went big with a multi-sesh day...

Fingerboarding (Benchmark: 87.1kg) Strength sesh (Pull-up benchmark 89.6kg). Bouldering at Captain Cooks -highlight being The Other Way (none 4c) -poor name for nice problem. Trail run 23.1km, 630m vert, 6:47/km.

Week 5:

Need to stop deprioritising prehab and conditioning -especially prehab, as it is so quick and easy -there's no excuse not to do it! (I seem to have written this sentence before, a few dozen times!)

M: Core, prehab.

T: Climbing.

W: Run.

T: Fingerboard, strength.

F: Run.

S: Fingerboard, strength.

S: Run.

STG (end Feb):

10 winter routes (1/10)

Average 27.5km running per week (22km. Or 29 if only counting running weeks!)

Max hangs: 92kg (Currently 87kg)

Pull-ups: 97kg (Currently 89.6kg)

Weatherproof and rebuild home board.

MTG (end Apr):

The Jim Grin (7a)

4 of my big UK mountain day list.

Average 37.5km running per week.

Average 2 board circuit sessions per week.

Max hangs 96kg

Pull-ups: 102kg

LTG (End July):

Sula (E2 5b)

Classic Envers rock route.

One of my Grande Course wish list.

In reply to Tom Green:

Averaging the running weeks only makes complete sense.  The 'off' weeks usually include big mountain days anyway.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Cheers Derek, the ultra is a little earlier in the month than we are coming up. I wouldn't say the stretch class is an exercise, I use it more to untangle myself. I do find i am less injury prone when i do it on a regular basis. Really happy with my running baseline now, i usually find that when i can happily knock out a 5k whenever i fancy then im in a good place to build. Another good week gone by that went as follows:

Monday, 5k run in the evening whilst daughters were at swim training

Tuesday, same as the day before

Wednesday, silly busy day, managed to squeeze in a 3k scamper with the wife between getting home from work and heading out with the youngest to her run club

Thursday, got back in the pool, 2km swim before stretch class and a 3.5 k evening run just to keep the lags moving

Friday, 1k swim at lunchtime and a nice 8k run in the evening with the wife

Saturday, rest day that happily coincided with my birthday. 49! not long to go until the big one    Spent the morning ferrying kids to various sporting events but managed to chill in the afternoon and watch the Leicester Tigers game, shame they lost...

Sunday, back on it building the distance with a 10k run with the wife in the morning. Longest run of the year so far and also took me to over 100km for the month so all in all a good starting point to work from. Took the youngest to the pool in the afternoon so she could do a set and knocked out a bonus 1k swim too

In reply to Tom Green:

Absolutely criminal, isn't it? With a different provider, but had a similar experience last year. They were even later than the late time they said they'd be the next morning! At least it didn't happen during the colder snap earlier last week, I suppose...

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks as always for detailed responses and encouragement!

That's very diplomatic.  It does catch the sun nicely though!

You might be right, but I've previously made the mistake of assuming that because I was climbing well indoors that I'd be able to up my trad grade, and found myself lacking the base of experience to do so confidently.  So I hope a programme of HVSs for the first half of the year should set me up to push on a bit as the year progresses.

My week

Mon - The 4x4s that I'd not been able to do on Saturday.  (6b, 6a, 6a+, 5c.)

Tue - "Deloading"

Wed - Hooper's Beta don't-get-injured routine.  You're right, it didn't take very long.  My core stability's pretty rubbish, and the shoulders could feel it the next day.  Have made space in my work calendar to do this a couple of times a week.

Thu - 13km run, mostly zone 2.  Plan to do more of these to build base fitness for a couple of races later this year.

Fri - Redpoint attempt on my 7a project.  Probably didn't warm up enough, and didn't climb as smoothly as I'd hoped, so peeled off about 2/3s of the way up.

Sat - Long day out in London with family.

Sun - Tired, but social pressure of Fit Club (thanks!) made me leave the house in the morning to fit in my weekend session of 4x4s.  (6a+, 6a+, 6b, 6b, so beginning to feel some real gains here.)

In reply to Derek Furze:

Chapeau! Always great to get a PB in a very measurable metric.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks again for the detailed stats.

Week 4

M – can’t remember

T – Warm-up 5x6 BW+5kg pull-ups. Then gradually increasing intensity FB. 6x10s Mimic holds with BW+8kg. “Board 10” 5x 7A+’s (all with 2x 0.5kg ankle weights) and 5x attempts at >7B+’s. Flashed one of those, but it was more like 7A. 

5x 20s on / 40s off assisted front-lever (8kg kettlebell). Easier than last time; maybe reduce the assistance?

W – Crimpd Static core.

T – Warm-up 5x6 BW+7kg pull-ups. An-cap triples; 7A+/60s/7A+/60s/7A+/180s repeat x6.  

Crimpd bar core, superset with press/push.

Aero-cap: 7/3/6/1 x10 @40%. BW-20kg. Pumpier than I remembered.

F – Nowt.

S – Nada.

S – Burnt brownie points and had an afternoon at the cave. Bon con with wind blowing across the cave mouth.  Warmed up on well travelled 6C-“7C”, then got a rope on Upper Cut. Worked it with the knee-meister’s beta.  30min later had a RP effort and came up short on the reach to the 2nd shot-hole.  Quickly re-worked using a different undercut to increase compression and allow me to pull body further left into the dropknee.  With light fading, 10min later had another RP and got through to the final hold, but dodgy match as had arm wrapped around the rope!

In reply to the sheep:

Forgot to add in a 20km cycle to work on Tuesday 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Still setting that high bar for the stats I see, Derek! First post for a while but getting back into the swing of things so hopefully will be posting a bit more regularly.

Brief summary since the new year

Main goal has been working on a significant shoulder imbalance that has plagued me for years. Have been doing unilateral dumbbell based exercises to try and even things out, am pleased with progress so far.

Unilateral dumbbell shoulder press

• December - max out at 15kg on left shoulder. Fail at 17.5
• January - 5 reps each side at 17.5kg. Fail at 20

Some good recent bouldering results:

• A couple of completed easy-ish problems on the Substation board. Not spending much time there these days as have gone off the setting a bit. Prefer Blochaus but it's a bit more of a pain to get to.
• Banana Finger (f6A) Have been working on this for years then I just turned up one day, and it went first go. The traverse rather than the move up is the crux for me.
• The Hinge (f6B) Flash, which is a PB for me.
• Quick Wall (f6A+) Another flash, though maybe a bit generously graded.

A return to regular trail running, have done about 75km since the new year.

Trying some harder roped climbs in the gym. Got on a 7a+ on the tall wall at AW Stockport and surprised to find I could do all the moves, albeit in a fairly broken fashion.

STG

• At least 2 gym (weights) sessions, unilateral exercises. My usual routine is:
  • 6 minute core warmup
  • Superset of weighted pullups and unilateral shoulder press
  • Superset of unilateral benchpress and either deadlift or front squat
  • Rotator cuff exercises
• 27km trail running
• 2 bouldering sessions focusing on strength (so usually project bouldering). At least one session outside.
• 1 roped session. Either double laps or redpoint something hard (maybe the 7a+ I tried last week).

MTG

Continue unilateral exercises until end of the month, then reevaluate. Would like to return to more regular weight training, ie the large compound exercises.

Continue focusing on bouldering strength, throw in the odd roped session to maintain the endurance.

LTG

Look at getting those classic E2s that have been on my list for a long time:

• Regent Street (E2 5c)
• The Rasp (E2 5b)
• Fern Hill (E2 5c)
• Left Wall (E2 5c)

If things go well, an E3 at Pembroke

• Pleasure Dome (E3 5c)

In reply to planetmarshall:

I flashed Banana Finger some time back in the 80s/90s when I was young & fit, and was utterly shocked when I tried it again a couple of years ago at how polished it is now - couldn't bring myself to trust the footholds at all. It was summer, which doubtless didn't help.

In reply to planetmarshall:

I hope to see you posting regularly as well, then I can look forward to your trip reports.  A great set of LTGs there, though for different reasons, each of them has devotees who would argue for top of the grade!

Anyway, a properly considered response at the end of the week!

In reply to Derek Furze:

It’s very good for my psyche. I had a few boulder projects on Portland that all seemed to be right heel/toe dependent so the injury effectively kept me off bouldering outdoors all of last year. And the same is true of several things I really fancied on Dartmoor. I don’t think I’m quite done yet, but it feels like I’m moving out of the main rehab phase to a point where I can think about it more as strengthening/stretching to improve rather than to recover function.

Yes, I think it becomes “rehabilitate shoulder”! I can climb well on the right boulders where I can avoid moves at the limit of reach or particularly wide moves but it’s clearly not fixed. I went through some of biscuits book last night but I’m not sure I feel like it falls that well into any of the three categories. So my plan for the week is:

1. go through a load of the rehab exercises across all the variants of shoulder injury and see if one of them replicates the acute symptoms. If I do, take at as diagnosis and crack on.

2. If I can’t replicate it, try to book a physio appointment to get an expert opinion.

It helps that I know what I did, which wasn’t the case with the hamstring - I hit a campus move not very well but held it regardless, meaning that I held it but without the shoulder very well engaged. And that broadly translates across into the acute symptoms, which is that the shoulder hurts doing wide moves, wide gastons, or other moves at the limit of my reach. As soon as I move back into mid range I can climb fairly comfortably, although I seem to get a sore shoulder after exercise which feels a bit more like muscle soreness on a number of muscles around the shoulder area and makes me wonder if there’s some overcompensating going on to deliver that. But I can’t have another year of half function like I did by ignoring the hamstring and hoping it would go away.

Yeah, I think the 10mm or 15mm edges are probably better all purpose training edges at my level of weakness. 

Yup, nearly there although Saturday was a bit questionable. Durdle door was a delight. I love crisp winter days like that.

Monday - miniAJM turned 6. Time flies! Leg rehab session. Everything feeling much better now. Need to try the more climbing specific exercise and maybe look for some more specifically strength focused stuff. And perhaps start actually trying the odd heel out on rock.

Tuesday - stretching

Wednesday - 3.5 miles round trip to work

Thursday - 4 mile round trip to work and nursery

Friday - climbing wall. Got sucked into some projects. Managed a heel hook with no issues! So exciting.

Saturday - does taking the 2 kids by myself to ikea on a Saturday in the middle of the day count as a workout? It certainly felt like one! I otherwise got distracted and didn’t really do anything else apart from about ten minutes of stretching right before bed.

Sunday - another strong wall session. Some projects ticked, some others progressed.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Thanks Ally, that's encouraging to know! Having mostly focused on trad and barely sport climbed over the past couple of years I've no idea what my level I'm currently at so I'll be interested to get on a rope in the spring. 

I'm planning to start a Lattice sport plan when my current bouldering plan ends in Feb so fingers crossed I can build up the power endurance and get sending in the spring! 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Greetings Fitness Clubbers.

To start off, I’d just like to say how incredible all this effort is, so too how you all deal with the ups and downs and keep your motivation up and enthusiasm going. Some of the numbers are astonishing and scarcely conceivable for me, a very modest sport climber – respect! Also, to the statters – great commitment with the thoughtful input. And sympathy for Derek - another voice here for you!

I’ve been close to joining in here on a couple of occasions, only to pull back. So now the small step over my qualms. My starting situation is perhaps a bit different and that’s why I’m not sure if I’ll be going beyond the bounds of this thread and putting too much personal stuff into it. To cut to the quick: ca. 5 years ago childhood traumata caught up with me and after a year of trying to deal with flashbacks & nightmares on my own, it proved necessary to seek help, and so I started psychotherapy. Now just turned 60, it is certain that there will be no ‘after’ / ‘post’ therapy for me, but that working through and integrating this stuff is a lifelong process. I’ve kept climbing though, albeit almost exclusively on plastic, with only 14 days on rock in the last 4 years (most of them picnic days with the missus).

So why join the fitness club – or better: test the waters given my starting point –and what do I hope to get out of it? Aim number 1 would be to learn to appreciate what I do, that I keep turning up at the wall or do some training; a second aim would be to tip the scales, that some time down the line, the trauma-related repercussions will gradually shift from being determining & hindering factors and recede into the background.  A genuine small step on the way to somewhere…for example learning to actually set and pursue (achievable) goals. Pursuing these aims will be - so the hope at least - beneficial and enormously helpful to me personally, prior to any training and climbing goals.

It's occurred to me of course that maybe others here – or lurking – are dealing with similar stuff...

As for climbing and training, I’d prefer to go lightly at first and state intentions: winter training – 2 wall sessions a week (could be difficult given partner availability & work), at least 1 hang board session, balanced mix of the various routines (upper & lower body, core / body tension, flexibility); spring – get out on rock and see how it goes, like starting again; early summer – appraisal…autumn: maybe one of the cancelled trips over the past few years could get revisited...

The week before last, week 827 went as follows:

Mon: hang board session, good; Tues: osteopathy (centring, left upper arm), light stretching; Wed: psychotherapy (good exchange), light stretching; Thurs: TK wall (6 7- 7 8- 8- 8 8/8- 6+), given the two previous days it was no surprise that the handbrake was on, so no ticks on the 8s, but I moved quite well. Sense of mild frustration though. Finished with random moves on the 15° spray wall, ca. 30 min; Fri, light upper body recovery & stretching, brief play on pull up pyramids; Sat, snowshoe tour Chiemgau, wonderful in the fresh snow, but a hard grind, the first out, we had to set the tracks through ca. 30 cm of snow, turned back as visibility was deteriorating; Sun, no second wall session this week, but a good second hang boarding session. With a bit of detachment: quite a decent week.

Week 828

Mon: upper body routine, rounded off with core; Tues: lower body & stretching; Wed: wall TK – partner delayed so started with light bouldering, then: 6 7 (had to hang – couldn’t whip up the commitment for the one difficult passage) 8+ (top rope to check moves) 7+/8- 8+/9- (top rope, felt harder than previous go early Dec) 7- (glided up after all the strenuous stuff!), brief play on 15° spray wall; Thurs: upper body and general stretching (yoga); Fri: wall TK, 6, 6+, 7, 7+, 7+, 7 (the hang route from Tues, went relatively easily this time, obviously feeling a bit more together and determined!) 8+ (top rope from Tue – also massive improvement, still one passage to unlock), 8 (surprise here – intended to do a 7 as last route but was intrigued by the first move of the 8 in the same line, just tried it out spontaneously and kept going – did well on it, great route), 15° spray wall, 3 x 3 self-defined ‘boulders’, 5-6 moves; Sat: snowshoe Kaiser, again new snow, long tour, great and strenuous day out; Sun – mulling over and writing this post, stretching, mainly legs; pull up pyramids

Excuse the long first post. Goes with the territory I suppose…seems that just reporting the week’s activities shifts the focus somewhat away from the ‘psycho-stuff’. Quite relieving! If not revealing…

Wishing everyone a good week, Paul.

In reply to Small Step:

A quick welcome before I head off to work.  

I think that people include what they want to include really.  Clearly the focus of the stats, targets and weekly dialogue is broadly around fitness, but (as you note) there may be varying motivations underlying this for each of us.  To reflect at a slight tangent, I'd say that building strength, fitness, resilience and motivation is indeed 'a lifelong process' that we are all pursuing in some shape or other.

Welcome again.

In reply to SteveJC94:

Thought I'd reply to your other thread here instead.  I think we are within half an inch and 2kg off being exactly the same height and weight so I'm assuming the same body shape too.  Maybe my list of 7Cs I think are desperate and 7Cs I think are ok might be more use than lanky Rob!

The low hanging fruit:

Paint it Black (f7C) This is not reachy at all, suits strong fingers and you don't need to be flexible.  It was my fastest 7C, nearly in a session.  Don't be put off if you can't do the first move, its the hardest bit (try guppying the 2nd hold slightly).

Zaff Skoczylas (f7C) Brilliant problem and even if you struggle with the start (matched in the big pocket for the full 7C tick) starting from as high as you can reach is great at 7B+. If you can't do the start move try taking the pocket as a double undercut and use a kneepad.  I've got really skinny fingers and could get 3(!) stacked in the mono (index and ring next to each other and middle on top. Its these skinny fingers that make weedkiller feel piss.

Famous Grouse Sit-start (f7C) using the high left heel isn't as ridiculous as it first feels, don't dismiss this method too soon, you've just got to find the right mody position.  Try and angle you body facing left so its easier to swing your heel up.

Cave Problem sit start (f7C) OK so this is hard at 7C but the stand is soft at 7B+ so it lulls you in.  Would suit your strong fingers.  Start is often wet so have a back up plan.  Take plenty of pads.

If you are willing to go a little further afield then Fine Beta (f7C) and Bullet (f7C) are both good fun.

The nemesis problems of doom:

Submergence (f7C) all those 'its 7B+' people can do one.  You probably aren't tall enough for the lank method and you need to be some soft of wizard to make that heel work.  If you do I'd love some ultra specific micro beta please!

The Terrace (f7C) two very low percentage moves for me, maybe your compression skills are better than mine but I think this is desperate.

Mossatrocity (f7C) the stand start is brilliant (I need to go back and finish this off) but I think it would be desperate to link from the bottom unless you've got a huge ape index.

Undercuts to Sloper Problem (f7C) I can latch the sloper but I'm at full stretch so can't generate any upwards motion off it.  If you are amazing at campussing you'd probably be fine.

Unknown quantities

I saw someone recommend Brad's Wall (f7C) I've not tried this yet but I think its known as only soft for the tall.  I'm going to give it a go at some point though so let me know how you get on if you get there first.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree on some of those recommendations.

The Terrace (f7C) - Did it quick when I was weak trad slab climber with tenacity. 

Paint it Black (f7C) - Disgusting IMHO, which is saying something, as I normally love the lime

Tetris (f7C) - Brilliant. Do the extended finish leftwards for a much harder tick, but still apparently 7C.

Brass Monkeys (f7C) - Compression strength handy. (For me) the heel didn't go where it most obviously does...

Sole Power (f7C) - Great if you've got a pad team together

In reply to Derek Furze:

Cheers Derek.

Spoke too soon Derek as I haven’t done any this week! Was doing a 90/90 Hip Stretch and heard a satisfying crack in the internally rotated leg. I thought it was my SI Joint but it was in fact my hip which reminded me I can’t internally rotate it that far due to impingement issues. Was fine by Sunday but a good reminder to back off and play with what I’ve got!

Yeah having a great time with the pulley. I’m planning on getting stricter with my %s as I just go off my last known weight which, to make myself feel happy, is always taken first thing in the morning/when I’m feeling thin. Will jump on the scales just prior to the hangs to get the correct pulley weight.

Yeah a new one for me too. Although keeping better records shows I’m slowly morphing in to a complete indoor boulderer! I’ve started a V4 to V7 pyramid to try and get a V7 by Easter. All a bit arbitrary as it depends on the setting but it gives me a target. Also forces me to try anti-style stuff as I’ve logged the low-hanging fruit and am left projecting horrible slabs until the next reset.

Running Totals for this month were…

Indoor Sessions (7): 16x V4, 4x V5, 1x V6

I’m having a rethink on how I’m going to tackle this as the ‘free arm pulling on the other arm’ technique has stalled. My high point was a ‘arm on shoulder’ pullup but that was off the back of lots of weighted pull-ups. Thinking about using assistance bands to track it better than counting finger widths down my bicep.

Stats for this week.

Tue

• OA Hangs 6x 10s 40mm @82%BW
• 10x 5s Planche Leans (34” Hand to Foot)
• OAPU 3x 1 Hand on mid Bicep

Wed

Wall

• OA Scap Pulls 3x 12, PPPU 3x 5
• Volume Bouldering up to V5

Sun

Wall

• Limit Bouldering. Happy to get a V6 after only a short amount of work as it means I’m back to my pre-Christmas level.

Goals for this week are: stretching every day, 2x wall sessions, 2x OA Hang Sessions, OAPU Club and 1” further on my planche lean.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Did you find a clever method on the terrace? or just the usual way executed better than me!

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Gareth (who you might know?) provided move by move beta with heels - I assume that's the accepted method.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Weak me managed Paint it Black and Tetris, so they must be ok admittedly in about 10 sessions each.

Apart from what has been said, PiB benefits from thumb strength higher up. Lots of the crimps have pinches available. The moves stepping through after the start are a bit bunched, I've seen someone tall and strong find it hard.

Tetris requires a bit of flexibility but not much and is amazing. Both are suitable for solo sessions if you have 3-4 pads.

I've never tried Terrace but had a couple of mates who always used to claim it was 7B+ tops. They were both grit specialists who were good with their heels...

A grade down but Moffatrocity is one of my favourite boulders in the Peak. The traverse is like grit slopers made of limestone. Lovely location too. Obviously not a king line

In reply to Si dH:

Good to see that you still lurk Si!  Might yet tempt you back!

In reply to Derek Furze:

Haha thanks Derek, training is a distant idea at the moment but I have started feeling a bit more psyched recently, I've used my board a bit for the first time in months! Just booked a trip to Font with some mates at the end of Feb and have a trip to Spain with AJM and co in April.

P.s. not on ukc as often as I used to be but still check in here every so often to see how people are getting on!

In reply to AJM:

Have a google for lying internal and external rotation testing. Test those out. 2 sets of 10-15 reps. Compare affected side to the other. From your method of injury I’d be more suspicious of internal rotation. But it’s not always that simple of course.

Feel free to book in if you need - mates rates. Though I fully understand if you prefer a local face to face. 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Now you've made me not want to post! Needless to say no no cardio so far but I've stepped up the rehab. I've also decided take some decisive action on the eating front. I'm going to reduce my carb intake, I impulse purchased an air fryer which I think might help but obviously will power is the required ingredient.

M: Beacon routes - a new low, didn't manage a 6c on any angle.

W: Shortish session in the Annex

S: Made a valiant attempt at climbing put doors but thwarted by seepage and weather. Ended up overdressed at the Beacon. Slightly better than Monday but mainly due to familiarity and longer rests. Still no 6c. This was when I decided to lose some weight (rather than just talk about it, hopefully)

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thank you Derek,

I slightly late post from me, as working away.

Last week was unfortunately one of those typical ones where I pulled a bit harder as the elbows seemed a bit better, only to find I've over done it.

Tues - Short indoor session mid 6s, all ok on routes that were not too steep.

Thurs - Indoor autobelay session as it was a fresh set, was all going well and sent all the 6s with ease, so pushed it a bit more and flashed the 7b.  Tried a few boulders in the V4-5 range, but all the pulling felt too much.

Fri-Sun - Light/moderate pain in the elbows

Some good news from it all, is that the right is much better than the left (glass half full) and I think the right will be close to normal soon.  Unfortunately the left is going to take a bit longer.

In reply to biscuit:

Thanks biscuit! I had it planned for last night but I was only winding up work at 10pm so it's been shunted to today's agenda...

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks for the welcome, Derek, and the tangent reflection. Indeed, training and fostering strength, fitness, resilience and motivation is lifelong, and they are qualities much needed across the board in life. They can stand us in good stead when the going gets tough elsewhere, in other contexts and relationships - creating synergies. I'd like to add another aspect that occured to me upon reading your reply, one that I admit to occasionally 'forgetting' or am not quite capable of tapping into at times - it's also about play, climbing / training as (serious) play, and this may help one to have a lighter handle on difficult stuff. Play - and humour...
Paul

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Thanks for the recommendations SSB and Ally. 

SSB, interesting to note that we're so similar anatomically, definitely menas there's no excuse for me to start sending hard! Interesting to hear your thoughts on Submergence. Quite a few people have recommended this one to me so they may well be heel hooking wads. 

Ally, I've heard The Terrace can be a bit of a sandbag so you must be a bit of a wizard on aretes! 

I'm tempted to go out both days this weekend and have a play on half a dozen of the suggestions and see which one seems to suit me best. 

In reply to SteveJC94:

My wife is away at the weekend and it's just me and the kids so climbing won't be on the agenda unfortunately. 

In reply to SteveJC94:

I might just be some sort of submergence loser with terrible heels! Might explain why I can't do the terrace either!

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

I'll pretend that you're there in spirit cheerleading me on! 

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

You seem to be doing ok on BSMA (get me!), which looks hard and utilises heels!