UKC

Placeholder for the day.  I'm on grandparent duties.  Hope to get it up tonight 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Ooh, sounds promising! 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Afternoon everyone. A decent week from me, dropped a lot of the rehab stuff in the second half but not too worried as progress is still good, and it would've been difficult to do it away from home.

Last Week:

M - Ice baths.

T - Weigh-in at 77.4kg. AM density hangs. 3x30s, picking up 20kg off the ground. Few sets of pushups while warming up and between sets.

W - Moonboard. Did a new one with a huge move, "Big Cloud". Ring finger felt ace most of the session. Tried a load of other hard moves and then flashed a couple good benchmarks, "B.O.B." and "Blackfish". Ice baths to finish.

T - Rest.

F - Rest.

S - Rest.

S - Quick (and cold!) flying visit to Smallfield. Scraped up Dancing Man (f7A+) with as little style as possible. Tried the LH variation but ran out of time. Gorgeous weather when in the sun though!

Next Week:

5 ice baths, 2 rehab hangboard sessions.

M - Rest.

T - Rigpa if I can get a spotter.

W - Rest.

T - Indoor session.

F - Rest.

S, S - Bouldering.

Goals:

Sort out the A2 injury.

Antagonists.

Rigpa.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Hi Ross I’m intrigued by your ice baths. Is it a recovery thing? Do you feel it works? Or is it a Vim Hoff style challenge in its own right?

In reply to Derek Furze:

Since January ended during the week, I'll throw in a quick Month In Review. Nearly a sharkathon (unintentional), with only four days in the month with no climbing or training activity of any kind.

Actual climbing days: five.  Four of them at two of the best sectors I've ever climbed at for my current level, Orama/Rocspot and Hideout. Excellent.

Climbing wall visits: nine. Five routes, four bouldering. Plus three separate fingerboard sessions.

Stretching & mobility: ten sessions. Good but could do better

General strength & conditioning (deadlifting, rings): three sessions

Bike: two days. Two more than usual for January - I am afraid of riding when the roads are icy

Skiing: one day. Not too promising for my ski tour STG; lack of snow, and climbing is a higher priority anyway

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Hah, these aren't full-body ice baths! That sounds like hell. These are just for the hands. 1m30 in, 1m30 out, repeat about 5 times or so. Originally I used to do 1m30 in hot water between the ice, but was chatting with biscuit and decided that probably isn't worth the effort.

The idea behind it is to encourage blood flow to the all the soft tissues in the hand and fingers that generally don't get much - this should help with recovery and rehab my improving left ring finger A2 pulley. I've done it before and anecdotally I'd say it works quite well.

In reply to Derek Furze:

A good week on the whole although shoulder at times nagging away. Managed to keep the shoulder, finger and big toe(!) niggles at bay enough to have two good wall and two outdoor sessions where I was properly trying hard. I think I’m going to lay off the pull ups for a while until my shoulder’s settled down.  Managed to achieve February short term goal of six grade 6 boulder probs (have done 10) and at least one 6B (have done 4) by the 4th of Feb, so need to have a new STG – so I’m going for 20 grade 6 probs and at least one 6B+ plus at least one day’s sports climbing.

Monday - am: warm up 5 x 10sec 20mm edge rehab hangs -30kg, 1.50 min rest

Pm: warm up (1,2,4 BW pullups).  3 sets of (Frenchie pull up [lock off full, 90, 120], 3 pullups +5kg, 3 lapis rollyball pullups, 10 hanging knee raises) warm down (4,2,1 BW pullups). Total 41 pullups

Tues - pm: run treadmill 6miles 55 mins in two halves (saying goodnight to my kids)

Wed - pm: ½ day off work. Damp, found dry rock at Bell Hagg. 4 probs including Punishment (f6A) and Punishment Sans Undercut (f6B) .

Then Depot wall 1hr 15mins. warm up 10 probs (white – black), Tried 8 reds topped 6. Tried 8 purples, reasonable progress on 4.

Core: 10 x Jackknifes, 10 x 2-point box (each side), 30sec side plank (each side), 10 x single leg bridge (alt sides) x 3 sets

Thurs - pm: Headtorch fell run 40mins 4 miles hard

Fri - pm: Awesome Walls. Warm up (traverse x 2, auto belay 4c, 5a, boulder V1 x 3, V2 x 3, V3 x 3), Kilter Board attempted 10 problems 6A-6A+, got up 4, reasonable on 3.

ARC: 10mins on auto belay, 10 mins off x 3.          

Sat - am: Stanage. productive couple of hours with 9 problems with five grade 6s and 3 6Bs The Hinge (f6B) Gripple Graunch (f6B) and My Crazy Head (f6B)

Sun – rest

In reply to Derek Furze:

At last!

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_828-7562...

The stats - apologies for lateness!

Randy:  Yes, I sometimes think you should emigrate to India as you spend a lot of time there!

Very impressed that you got straight back to the wall the day after you got back home.  Travelling can be exhausting and 26 hours of it is no joke at all.  Good to do something that isn’t work I guess and a fairly successful first session anyway.  Your BW pull-ups are consistently strong now with good long sets.

Saturday’s session looks good as well, although you report that you were not fully recovered.  The weighted pull ups are impressive – I haven’t done this consistently until this year, so only about five weeks of it now, but I still find them hard.  I am up to 13.5KG, but only in sets of four – I can’t imagine doing tens!

Another session Sunday – a very good week for volume and some good levels being achieved despite a lot of travel involved.  The weather has improved here, so signs of Spring on the way.  It all helps with the move from training to rock itself so I hope to get two trips out this week at last.

SSB:  I looked up your BSMA and the photos and videos make it look really hard - I guess it should be at those grades.  Good effort with the progression and consistent links and hope the hurt finger hasn’t prevented further progress and hopefully a send over this week.  Strange one for weather – forecast often looked dry, but the reality was often fairly wet.

I remember you telling me that the moves you did bouldering were lots harder than those on the routes you were working, so this has all got to be helpful for the Spring season.  That said, when you are so dialled into one particular problem (with very good reason) I’d assume the skills required end up being very specific to the bit of rock you are up against and BSMA appears to be quite an unusual problem (?).

Ian Parnell:  Good to see that the outside bouldering has drawn you in!  I used to do quite a bit, but somehow can’t get it together these days, despite knowing that it is a very helpful discipline to pursue and probably more fun that messing about on my home training plan!  I think that technique development is a key thing with it – I certainly remember being faced with cruxes and thinking that this would be trivial on a boulder.

If you have only really started this year, then your pull up numbers are already pretty good.  Are you doing them on a bar or the fingerboard?  Similarly with 16kg as a two rep max – that isn’t easy either.  Interesting to see how you jumped up to this over three sets.  From your testing you do seem to be seeing some fairly quick gains, though no results this week for fingers, which you reckon are a weaker area – that’s fine as rehab is critical!

Millers Tale start is indeed a decently finger test – lots of those routes have pretty crimpy holds as I remember!

Biscuit:  I could put more time into training if I wasn’t doing the stats, but I find doing them is interesting and it helps motivate me for training, so I am caught in a bit of a loop.  This is the first week where I have struggled, because work and my garden project got in the way a bit, so I didn’t put a few responses together each day as normal.

Cardio in the gym is very dull, but it does fill a purpose.  Other than that you are putting plenty of wall sessions together and seem to have a good structure going – six wall sessions over the week!  It must be age because I used to go to walls a lot over winter, but these days I avoid completely, so six sessions is incredible.  Given the results picked up over the week I’d agree that you are indeed ‘getting back into it’.  Weather looks dry for a couple of weeks so perhaps some chances to get outside for you?

Ross Barker:  Good that the A2 is improving despite some pretty intense bouldering every week.  I think this is very positive – that an injury can be managed with some intense activity, rather than just rested.  I can see that you are actively rehabbing with the ice baths and being careful about the sort of loads that you take on, but it is encouraging.

Car maintenance?  Did this involve the windscreen washers?

Lots of results on the Moonboard appearing each week as well.  Is this the trigger for the grumbly elbow or has something else prompted that?  As you remark, it does need work if you want to have a problem free trip to Font.

Alan:  An interesting mix of wall and gym work and good to see you hitting some of those recent short-term goals.  I note that you are sticking with the plan quite well, with hard bouldering as your key focus and a bit of leading at the limit stuff as well.  Great progress by the end of the week with your feeling strong session and a good success both redpointing and onsighting – excellent.

Thanks for elaborating on your fingerboarding regime and in particular the work on crimp capability and other perceived weaknesses.  Lazy pinkies!?  Oh no, another thing to fit into the plan.  To be honest, there remains a lot of varying advice around and grips get discussed endlessly (and often with considerable confusion), so it can be difficult to know exactly what to do.  I suppose I set out with a simple goal of wanting to make sure that basic finger strength would not (usually) let me down.  I also wanted to get back to something like my original ability to pull, which had fallen off with age and reduced activity.  Both these things are as strong as they have even been, so that’s the most easily controlled bits done!

SteveJC94:  Yes – max hangs on my three finger cycle topped out at 145%.  Now onto a different grip, so building up again.

A two-rep max of 150% on weighted pull ups seems a very long way off for me, but it isn’t an area I have trained much before, so the gains are coming along.  Anyway, you look like these are going well for you, though none reported this week. 

Some good stuff on the outdoor sessions, which obviously inspired you with the 7C recommendations post.  Great to see plenty of recommendations coming in and hope you have managed to get out to put some time into some of them.  You ended up with a fair list to go at IIRC!

Good to see the cycling training also moving along well.

In reply to Derek Furze:

and part two

Tom Green:  The car malfunction sounded an absolute pain!  Despite this calamity messing up the week, you managed to do pretty well anyway.  The run over Cnicht sounds fantastic, if somewhat arduous and the bouldering on Dartmoor a real treat.  I’ve only had a couple of short stopovers on Dartmoor across my climbing career, none involving bouldering, but it is often a fantastic setting.  My sister lives close by now, so I should put it on the agenda really.

Good tests on the benchmarks – getting there on both and the weighted pulls are heavy.  Good to do a multi-sesh day that included a run to keep the averages going.

Hope the car is fixed.  My last call out left me without a car for three weeks (parts) to add to the challenges of the lengthy roadside wait in rush hour Harlow…

The Sheep:  Agreed re stretching, though some of the classes can be brutal!  I do count my stretching as exercise, though rarely do it in isolation anyway.  I quite like it as warming up and active rest.  Definitely beginning to see the benefits in that I can do things that I could not do at the outset of the latest cycle.  ‘Untangle’ is a lovely way of describing it – I notice an immediate effect in that I can feel looser straight away.

Another decent week of runs with five or six of varying distance across the week.  Plenty of swimming in the mix as well, so your triathlon goals are shaping up well.  Distances are building up well over the month, so you must be fairly happy with the general progress over January?  As we tick around into February you must be thinking that some events are looming on the calendar?

Good to see the cycling bit as an afterthought – I was begging to wonder where this was on the schedule!

Inglesp:  Your approach to going up the grades is fine – in the end you have to do what works for you and there is a lot to be said from building confidence through a solid platform.  I suppose most of us will have had the exception that proves the rule experience of going on something with no hope of success only to find it a breeze!  Of course, the opposite also happens, but we quickly find excuses for that!

On Hooper’s, I have noticed that my shoulders take a bit of a hit.  I think it is the stretch band stuff and possibly the side planks, both of which provide a different type of strain than other exercises that I do.  It probably works to prevent injury, assuming you don’t get injured doing it!  In any case, I persist.

Good progress on the 4x4s which should be giving you a really good platform of stamina.  Your Sunday set is plenty of E1 or even E2 climbing in terms of technicality at least.  Good to see ‘deloading’ as part of a carefully considered programme.

Ally:  Good progress with the front lever at 20 secs on.  I messed around with this (having never ever tried) and was a bit surprised to be able to hold the position (ish) for a few seconds (while dressed to go out for the evening).  A successful enough attempt to make me think of putting it into the programme.  Maybe getting close is easy, but a pure position is really hard?

Some great work on the board across the week and a good Sunday effort at Parisella’s.  As I understand it, the thing you were on is a bolted (very) highball – the pictures make it look pretty high.  Can’t be far off if you’ve made it through to the last hold.

Planet Marshall:  Great to see your return, along with some immediate successes on the boulders!  A nice set of goals - some absolute classics including one of Pembroke’s best (and possibly hardest) E3s.

Clearly a fair bit of focused work going into the shoulder imbalance.  I’d assume pull ups are going to help, although I guess they could reinforce an imbalance to some extent.  What sort of weights are included in your ‘usual routine’ for weighted pull ups – it is something loads of us include, with a fair range of weights and set lengths so comparisons are interesting.  Good to see the mix with trail running distances impressive for January.

I keep putting Rasp on my list (never done it, basically because I wasn’t there the day all my mates went to Higgar).  It does look uphill though!

AJM:   Very positive news on the rehab and an optimistic sense about the season to come.

My reading of Biscuit on shoulders is that they are hard to diagnose specifically (?), but I did find the general guidance really helpful.  I think the plan sounds interesting – apply the rehab and see what it triggers!  It is a pretty complex joint and I am experiencing a niggle myself – doesn’t affect much, but I can feel it at times and I don’t want to worsen it as people can really struggle with shoulders.  Good thinking to take the rehab more seriously – it is easy to just work through things and live with the limits that comes with that, rather than doing the rehab work to get things to a better place.

Ikea on a Saturday?  Sounds like work, but not a workout.  Probably involved meatballs, so may even be a backward step.  Thank God you managed the stretching.  Loading Billy bookcases into a small hatchback can count towards the weekly total though…

Liam P:  The curse of the statter!  As soon as I compliment progress, you stop making any!  Still it sounds as if you have backed off a bit for a reason! 

Every week I read about your pulley and tell myself to go and install mine, but I file it away under ‘do later’.  It hasn’t happened yet, but I’d like to do some one-arm work this month, so I must try to get it installed this week.  Impressed with the attention to detail on the scales.

The bouldering pyramid sounds like a good plan and having a clear target is helpful.  Yes, the setting will make some difference, but you can only work with what is put before you.  Working anti-style is always of value really, so keep this going.  Odd that these days ‘anti-style’ for me would have once been my preference, so things do change.  I too, need to get back on some slabs and get my footwork improving again.  It also looks like you are fairly close already to where you want to be by Easter, as you have logged a V6 this week anyway.

SiDH:  Honorary mention for contributions to discussion of 7Cs across the Peak.

Tyler:  Sounds like your plan is coming together re ‘decisive action on the eating front’.  No doubt you have done some research before jumping in anyway, but the Freshwell low-carb app is pretty good and includes recipes and meal planners.  It comes from a GP practice in Essex where I have done a fair bit of work and I know they have had some nationally impressive results with weight loss and diabetes remission.  I’m doing zero cardio at the moment, but I would normally run at the end of my fasting period to ensure fat burning.

Good to see the wall visits on your schedule, though you don’t sound too inspired by the results.  Anyway, they serve a purpose in getting some movement going when in the depths of January.  Good effort trying for outside as well – it has been strange weather being largely dry on the forecasts a lot of the time, but with enough clag at times to dampen stuff.  The good days will come.

Steve Claw:  I guess you tell a familiar story with injury!  Very easy to get all enthusiastic and undo some of the good work done to rehab whatever happens to be going on.  It sounds like you were actually going quite well indoors as well, so easy to see how you got tempted onto something where the loads were going to be that bit more intense.  It is very hard to keep the level exactly where it is needed.

Good that you feel the right elbow is near normal again.  If one has got better, then the second one can be rehabbed effectively as well.  Just needs work on rehab in amongst your usual diet of new routes and cranking.  Keep working at it and normal service will be back before long.

Small Step:  Once again welcome to the band!  I think there are plenty of people who lurk and get good value from the posts for all sorts of reasons. 

Good to see some early targets as it does help to have some measurable things to work on (for me at least).  I quite like working in four week cycles as it is long enough to get progress with a particular exercise (stretching, fingerboard, weights or whatever) without getting too familiar.  Changing something across the plan every four weeks keeps things reasonably fresh, though I am limited a bit by what I can set up at home.

An entertaining couple of weeks on your first report with the unusual entries around snowshoe trips – certainly not something that makes a regular appearance, but which sounds pretty tough one way or another.  The wall visits are more familiar territory, though the grading system is not – no matter, as you clearly felt that you got progression across the two visits, which is what we are aiming to deliver.  Plenty of stretching in the mix and some hangboard work making an appearance in week one at least.  It will be interesting to see how it all develops as you have clearly set some quite challenging broader aims with the new regime.

No worries about a long post – got to start somewhere!

In reply to Derek Furze:

let me know if I've forgotten anyone as I wasn't able to apply my usual rigour to the process this week!

In reply to Derek Furze:

S'up clubbers! Thanks, as always, for the stats Derek.

Week 5:

Hit all planned sessions -possibly the first time ever!

M: Prehab.  

T: Bouldering at Kay Nest. Nice circuit at a fab new (to me) crag. Ten problems up to 6A. 

W: Trail run. 11.4km, 340m vert, 6:39/km.

T: Fingerboard, strength.

F: Trail run. 12.8km, 484m vert, 6:28/km.

S: Fingerboard, strength.

S: Trail run got derailed by choosing a route past some mates out bouldering... 5km, 180m vert, 5:44/km. And a bonus boulder -a handful of attempts on Black Wall Traverse (f6B+) felt easy on the first go then got progressively worse with each attempt!

Week 6:

M: Climbing.

T: Run.

W: Core, prehab.

T: Fingerboard, strength.

F: Rest.

S: Climbing.

S: Climbing.

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 Derek Furze:

Thanks also to those who kept out little community going while I was absent!

A fairly quiet week from me as a planned deload while changing grips, which coincided with a bit of a shoulder niggle...

Sun - worked on garden project so absolutely knackered.  Roused myself enough in the evening to get three sets of weighted pull ups done (sets of five at 9, 10.1 and 11.2 kg) - felt hard!  Also did three sets of stretches.

Mon - moved to a four finger slots at about 20mm.  Started with 9. 11.3, 13.6, 16, 17.1 and 18.2kg.  Mixed this in with 2, 4, 6, 8. 10, 10 and 10 pull ups to give 50.  Block one and two of Hooper's x 3 each

Tues - Stretching only.  Shoulder a bit niggly.

Wed - rest

Thurs - 30 BW in a pyramid for warm ups.  4 sets of three weighted at 9, 10.1, 11.2, 12.3kg.  3 sets of Hooper's block one.  Five sets of stretching.

Fri - work and a long day

Sat - Sun Grandparenting and garden project.  Shifted a lot of soil.  Got muddy.  Answered over a thousand questions about various creatures that can be found in the garden.  Might have done a session in the evening, but Julia's friends landed so joined in.  Knackered.  Off to the crag today and probably Wednesday so very excited.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Impressively thorough as ever Derek. This week I learned that one of my short term goals is unrealistic in the short term. And learning things about where one realistically stands is progress, so that's good.

STG: Winter 23 - do an actual off piste ski tour -> LTG, see below
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. In view of current training priorities I skipped my regular Tuesday DAV group routes evening at Thalkirchen in favour of an extra bouldering session at Element. Weak session though - still stiff & clunky from the weekend. Cut it short, skipped deadlifting & rings, and decided to postpone Thursday's session to Friday since I'm not climbing this coming weekend.

W:    Light fingerboarding (see last week's comments) & half an hour stretching

T:    Half an hour general strength & conditioning: 3x3x75 deadlifts + rings; half an hour stretching 

F:   Wall, Element bouldering. Went in the afternoon & caught up on work in the evening: should do this more often. Remarakble how much more time efficient the session is when you don't have to queue for everything.

S: Ski tour hut weekend with my DAV group. Skinned up to the hut in the morning, avalanche search theory & practice session in the afternoon. So far so good.

S: Ski tour hut weekend. Skinned up to a nearby peak in the morning: my first time ascending a deep snow slope on skis, as opposed to a piste or a forest track. Some more avalanche theory on the way up, and practiced kick turns even though we weren't at an angle where they were really necessary, and I was getting those ok. Still so far so good.

My first attempt to ski down a powder slope was however a fiasco; didn't manage to link two turns together, fell over and struggled to get up so many times that in the end I gave up, took my skis off and waded down the last couple of hundred metres. This wasn't just a case of "what did you expect on your first time trying a new activity?". I expected it to be hard. This was "so far out of my depth I couldn't even see the beach any more". Really felt I shouldn't have been there and am a long way off actually being ready to try something like it again. Back to the piste for me, for this winter at least.
 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek.  I tweaked my finger at the cave; I thought nothing of it at the time, as it was so cold, but over the week it's been grumbling while training.  Nothing too bad, but it limiting top end efforts (> board 7B) when the hold size gets small.

Week 5

M – COMPEX on core

T – Warm-up 5x6 BW+7kg pull-ups.

Linked boulders an-cap. Up a 7A/+ down a 6B+/C on the board. Increased each set to 16-7 moves. A bit more pumpy than powered out. Perhaps need to tweak the circuits/combos I’m using?

Push/Press.

W – Warm-up 5x6 BW+7kg pull-ups.

Crimpd “Drop intervals” aero-cap on 2x 6Cs 3x6B+ and 1x woods. Fairer intensity than previously and a good sweaty high energy session.

T – 36hrs in London. So, nowt...

F – ...and nowt.

S – Picked up new car and ordered bed for moving Squigg out of the nursery.

S – Warm-ups including a bunch of Ross' recent problems, then something approximating “Board 10” but had to avoid LH crimps. 5x20s hold/40s rest assisted front levers (-6.25kg, hard!). 3x10 bench press @55kg (fairly steady).  “Inch” lifts up to 82kg R, 78kg L.

In reply to AlanLittle:

My first experiences of deep powder skiing were very similar. 

Renting some decent fat skis was a revelation to finding "zee reboun" as the UCPA instructor put it. 

I would definitely recommend trying out something similar on off-piste-ish/between the pistes in resort to learn some powder technique. 

In reply to Ally Smith:

That's pretty much the plan. Heading to Stubai with a friend this weekend - that has some nice low angle between-the-pistes sections that are where I learned to handle powder on a snowboard. Time to start doing the same on skis before I venture into proper backcountry again.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Excellent stats Derek, thorough as ever!

It is indeed, thanks. It's at a point now where intensity is generally not too much of an issue, but volume of intensity is what I need to be mindful of - though that should probably be also true in an uninjured state! I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing as it's doing really well at the moment.

Hah, yes. Removal of wheel arch linings and bumper to get to the pump, then a proper yank to get the pump out, and then placing a 2.5L bucket beneath the 5L reservoir to stop it making a mess on my driveway. You can guess from the maths how that went!

Yeah, I think it has been the main cause. As I've been conscious of intense loading on the finger, I suppose to keep climbing hard I've had to pick problems that have good holds for the LH, which results in deeper lockoffs or quicker lunges, placing the intensity elsewhere in the chain. My plan with it is to just do more pushups to be honest, as the grumble is very irregular and weak, and as the finger gets stronger the elbow shouldn't have to compensate so much.

In reply to Derek Furze:

I’d have thought you’d know me better than that by now! Zero research but I figure anything that forces me to stop eating cake and chocolate would be good. The mid week weigh ins seem to indicate an immediate benefit but this morning’s weigh in is very disappointing and over the week I’m not down at all. So I’ll take a looks at the Freshwell low-carb app.

Difficult for me to do cardio with other injuries, would a short slow jog have any effect (beyond the negligible calories burnt), if so how often?

Thur: Date night with Fi so we went to the Beacon! No noticeable progress but got the required exercise and felt I had a bit more snap than before

Sat: Llanddulas, out of the sun but also out of the wind so temps really good for Feb. Warm ups are spicy and glad to have the clips in. Got Searching (7a) sent ok after numerous failed attempts last year. Again, not indicative of improvement, the beta I discovered while I was stripping it last time worked. As if to renforce that fact I got totally shut down by El Tigre when I had a play on that. Two dogged laps of Pearl from a Shell ensured I went home worked.

Elbow suffered a bit as a result but am now pretty convinced it’s not golfers as whatever ‘it’ is seems to be migrating to a different part of my arm each session!

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek, and good work with the stats again. You are right about the weather, not as dry as forecast though Sunday was amazing. I walked through the plantation with the kids and it was rammed with people out enjoying the cold and sun. The finger doesn't seem to be the disaster I first thought it might be so...

Mon. Rest 

Tues. Session #9 Back Street Mime Artist (f8A) TICK! Very pleased with this, nice to tick a big number but also a really cool problem.

Wed. 25km on the bike, 9km run.

Thurs. Rest.

Fri. Roche abbey session. Did Hard Drive (f7A+) with was really good fun. Got Tripitaka Extension 7B+ in two sections but couldn't quite work out the feet on the link move. One to come back to.

Sat. 16km spin with the kids. Lost the over enthusiastic 6yr old for 7kms while I had to ride at the pace of the 4yr old, parenting lessons learnt, always designate a 'stop and wait' point!

Sun. Sunny kids walk, redmire, stanage pole, plantation etc.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

You seem to be scraping by!
BSMA does look an ace problem, Inertia Reel traverse next?

In reply to Derek Furze:

Great statting once again Derek. Last week for me summarises what's great about Fit Club - a group of motivated people inspiring each other to push their limits! 

Monday

Varied grips hangs 8/10 RPE. 3 x half crimp (20mm) @ BW+20kg. 3 x 3 finger drag (20mm) @ BW+16kg. 3 x half crimp (10mm) @ BW+6kg. 

Board projects - working 3 hard problems. 7A+; 7B; 7B. 

Tuesday

30minutes zone 4 threshold development on Zwift.

Wednesday

1 minute on 1 minute off on the spray wall (done off feel, around 7a).

4 x 3 weighted pull ups @ BW+28kg. Prone t, prone y and low row on the TRX

Thursday

Linked boulders power endurance session. 3 sets of 4 x 12 move problems with 2 minutes between reps, 5 minutes between sets.

3 x 10 hanging leg raises. 3 x 10 jack knives. 3 x 10 v-ups. 

Saturday

End of Lattice plan testing. Significant gains in 2RM pull-ups (now at 155% BW) and flexibility and a minor increase in power endurance. Finger strength has remained identical as a percentage of bodyweight so my aim in the next few weeks will be to target this as a priority. I've summarised the findings in the photo below for those that are interested. 

Sunday

A great day out on the grit. Flashed Fallen Slab Lip (f7A) and had a first session on Submergence (f7C). Managed to get all the moves bar one (the really hard one!) dialled and will be hoping to get back in a couple of weeks to work out the crux and hopefully link it all. 

No climbing planned for the next week as I'm off skiing but I'll be trying to keep working on flexibility and core while I'm away. 

In reply to Ross Barker: thanks Ross. I might give them a try. Glad to hear they’re not full body….🥴

In reply to Derek Furze:

Hi Derek,
thanks once again for your input and invaluable comments and suggestions. You do an incredible job. I hope you have good conditions for your cragging this week. Grandparenting in the garden also sounds good, if exhausting…all the possible questions in the world…
Cycles is an interesting one for me – perhaps it is an approach that would allow me to pursue ‘measurables’ and ease my way out of the ‘just-keep-turning-up’ modus. A bit of structure and variation. Definitely something I’ll take on board and mull over…what I sense from my first weeks jotting down activities was that I could increase the intensity a touch, i.e. shorten the at times meandering pauses between sets – I’m feeling fit, healthy and quite stable again after a difficult phase through Dec / Jan, and dare I say it:  a world of difference to what’s been going on over the last few years.
The snowshoe tours are strenuous and an absolute delight – Dolomites this coming weekend.
Already I can sense the subjective ‘immeasurable’ benefits of joining in here – it feels as if it is having a grounding effect, so I’m already grateful for this thread, besides the climbing and training stuff…
The week was an anomaly because both my climbing partners have viruses, so bouldering. Once I settled in amidst the 'young crowd', I enjoyed it.

Mo. Stretching and hang board session – latter felt good, the former always a relief after sitting…
Tue. Flexibility exercises, some with barbells (Lattice), and hang board session – understandably a touch fatigued at the end
Wed. Boulder session, Boulderwelt: no set plan, just climbing movement, did a couple of 6A/+s quite quickly, which was surprising & pleasing; then spent quite a bit of time at the traverses; thoroughly knackered after the session, so all things good
Thur. Strangely spritely, the upper body routine with light weights felt so good I did it twice
Fri. Core routine x 2, leg exercises (Lattice) x 1; evening Qigong
Sat. Tired – long stretching session
Sun. Boulder session, TK: went well once I got used to the crowded space and mayhem of kids running around and unaware newbies standing like sentinels (who has liability if an accident occurred? If, e.g. I, 70 kg, fell on a kid – or anyone for that matter), 7 x 6A/+s…the boulder surprise continued…but then unfortunately, a young woman did fall and obviously landed awkwardly; can still hear her agony…the boulder area was then closed to give the emergency services the access they needed…hope she recovers and doesn’t lose her motivation for climbing. I went to the training room and did quite a bit on the 15° spray wall.

This week: just one boulder session planned; on Thursday off to the Dolomites (Fanes) for snowshoe tours, looking forward to it, albeit a dampener in tow – a woman was killed in an avalanche on Saturday at a spot we’ll probably be hiking past. Her touring partner survived…

Stay safe & healthy, and a good week to all.

In reply to Tyler:

Cheers.  Inertial Reel looks very cool but suffers from being more than 10mins from my house!  Projecting really hard stuff is stressful, there are quite a few things I'd like to go and try that will hopefully go down in a session or two.  Still haven't managed the elusive '7C in a session' yet either.

In reply to AlanLittle: Alan I’m crap at skiing off piste, in fact your experience painfully brought back memories of almost every time I used skis in the mountains. I would echo Ally? Take the opportunity when on the pistes to get off for brief forays into the powder. Breaking skill acquisition into small chunks is key. If you need encouragement my partner in the mountains at the time Kenton Cool was almost as bad as me / constantly falling over and within a few years he made a ski descent of an 8000er!!

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Have you ever done the Cuillin traverse in winter?  Wondered if you had any tips?  I'm think forward to half term at the end of the month (I know conditions are unlikely but its good to be prepared and ready just in case). 

I've done lots of soloing in winter up to grade III, have climbed up to V 6 roped, am reasonably fit and done several months worth of alpine routes in the past so probably justified in thinking of it as a target but I don't have any prior knowledge of the ridge having never been to Skye.  I've done things like the AE in Glen Coe and Tower ridge in winter, both comfortably in a morning finding them very steady.

In reply to Somerset swede basher: I’ve not although it’s quite high on the tick list. It looks to me that there are several spots where getting the route finding right seems crucial. There are some resources to get the beta right. Are you doing it with a partner if so they are probably the most important make or break in terms of their experience and fitness. In a day or two or three? Sorry I can’t be more helpful. Sounds like you have the right levels but it will be equivalent to about 4 tower ridges with harder cruxes. If in doubt start heel hooking 😀

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thank you Derek,

Unfortunately a nil return from me this week as working away and just didn't get the chance to do anything.

In reply to AlanLittle:

On my first ski trip I got to be able to get all the way down reds (even at the end of the day) without falling over, down blacks in one piece and did some off piste and touring. There was a powder dump towards the end. Feeling I had got this skiing thing sorted I had a go. I also gave up and left everyone else to it after one go. Totally impossible and fighting through loose snow to regain your feet was so tiring I felt like I'd wrestled a bear and lost.

In reply to Tyler:

I'm afraid I know you better than you think!  I always enjoy the comedy in your reports and my comment about research should have been surrounded by raised eyebrow emojis (if such a thing exists).  I thought the 'no doubt' preface was a clear signal.  God,  it's a tough crowd in tonight 🤣🤣

More seriously, it is fairly easy to strip weight quickly with strict low carb - less than 50g a day and some advocate 20g.  I've never measured.  The trick is to ensure that ketosis starts, at which point your body used stored fat as fuel.

On the running point, a gentle jog is fine.  If you are in ketosis then it accelerates fat burning as you will have no carbs accessible to fuel muscles.

It can take a bit to switch to fat-adapted ketosis though it is a natural state.  The thinking is that we are used to a high carb diet and the body gets used to easily accessible fuel arriving at regular intervals.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Yeah, there was a definite sense of turning a corner, even if I’m not out onto an open straight yet!

With the post-wall aches continuing for longer than expected and with the fear of my botched rehab condemning me to another year on only half cylinders, I’ve booked into see biscuit this week, get an expert involved!

High on external stresses, low on relevant training I reckon. I can confess that there were meatballs.

Monday - stretching

Tuesday - abject fail on the last day of Sharkathon. I didn’t finish working until just before 10pm and I just couldn’t be arsed.

Wednesday - walk to work, about 3.5 mile round trip

Thursday - ditto

Friday - work party (late Christmas thing, delayed until after new year “by popular request” apparently). Got home slightly before 0130

Saturday - after a solid 5 hours of sleep, I was woken up and mid morning we went to party #2 - a very excited 6 year olds birthday party! Had to have a nap mid afternoon to catch up.

Sunday - in-laws here, the day drifted by with random family stuff and bits of admin.

A quiet week in terms of relevant training, but hoping to do better this week including starting to get on top of the shoulder.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Yeah, this is the regular jokes around my german and indian colleagues

Well, to a certain degree traveling is like training. You can tolerate a higher load if you start to get used to it and i am the point where i can sleep relatively even in eco. Apart from that it helps if you get lounge access everywhere for free because have flew too many miles

I also have the feeling that it is easier to recover from the travel if i do something. I just need to remind myself to take it easy on these days.

Recap last week:

Mon: Rest

Tues: Indoor Bouldering, Elements wall, Kilterboard @ 40°, flashed a 6b and 6b+, then did a 6c after a couple of tries, projected a 6c+, could do all the moves but was not able to link it, 6b+,6b,6a+ flash

Wed: Indoor Bouldering, Elements wall, tried a 6c boulder, could do it in two parts but did not had the power after yesterday's session to link, 5 min break; weighted Pullups + 16kg with 3 min rest: 10,10,9; 5 min rest, power endurance session at the kilterboard, 30°, tried to do as many 6a in 25 minutes as possible, got around 10-12 problems, flashed about 7-8, got 3-4 after a couple of tries and tried another couple of problems, but could not send them in 5 tries and moved on, pumped out of mind afterwards and completely destroyed

Thurs: Rest

Fri: Rest after still feeling sore from Wednesday's session. 

Sat: Indoor Bouldering, Elements wall, still not feeling 100% recovered but it got better with every boulder after a slow warmup, did the 6c boulder from Wednesday's session first try, the flashed a tricky 6b+/6c, especially proud of that one as i did not saw anybody else get even close on this boulder; powerfull 6c+ on pinches in a steep overhang after projecting it for quite some time, technical 6c crimpy problem on the second try, though i had already tried that a week earlier, 10 min rest, weighted Pullups + 16kg with 3 min rest; 3x10 with the last rep being at my absolute limit

Sun: Indoor Bouldering, Elements wall, Kilterboard @40°, did the 6c+ from last Kilterboard session after a couple of tries, projected a 7a that i could do starting one move in but could not do the powerful first move, projected another 7a that i could do in two parts but was too tired to link it; 6c after a couple of goes, 2 x 6b+, 2 x 6b and 2x 6a+ all flash, 5 min rest, weighted Pullups + 32kg: 5,5,4,4 (last rep absolute limit); by far my best Kilterboard session ever so something that i am doing in my training seems to be working  

Very happy with this week and actually suprised about my progress, especially on the Kilterboard. Not only has my power increased significantly but i can also tolerate a high volume and even do 6c after over 90 minutes of very hard bouldering on the board, so i think the high volume weeks start to pay off. Progress with the weighted pullups is also very consistent and i think i am on a good way to hit 180% BW pullup during this year.

Next two weeks i will be in India again. Probably will take it easy the first 2-3 days and then i hope that i will be able to do some quality fingerboarding and continue my weighted pullup progression.

In reply to AlanLittle:

I would not get too discouraged too fast. Off-piste skying  takes some time to get used and with a little bit more time in a less stressfull environment you could improve really quickly. Biggest learning for me when skiing off-piste was try to go fast, which is a little bit counterintuitive when you are scared and out of your comfort. But the faster the go, the easier the turns get and then it just clicked for me.

Apart from the other good recommendation that have already been given in this thread, i would advice to seek out bad snow condition on the piste. E.g. hit a south facing pistes on a warm day in the afternoon. Ski routes are also great for training, so seek out areas that have them (e.g. Achensee Christlum  comes to my mind, which also has some decent but not too hard black pistes).

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek, defiantly happy with the steady build through January. I am often guilty of rushing into training, pushing too hard too soon and getting injured. Currently building well for the first half Marathon at the beginning of April. Should be a nice flat one as its along the coastal path of the river Crouch estuary. Swimming dropped off last week but another good week of running.

Monday, annual leave so a day spent working on the house and in the garden. 10k run in the evening

Tuesday, technically a rest day however spent it in the garden. Like yourself it was more akin to landscaping than gardening. Felt like a full body workout, was knackered by the end of the day! 

Wednesday, again another hectic Wednesday, managed to get a quick 3k scamper in with the wife and eldest daughter in between getting home from work and taking youngest daughter to run club

Thursday, youngest off school poorly so i stayed home so no swim or stretch. Did manage a 5k run in the evening whilst eldest was at swim training

Friday, good full day. 17.5k cycle into work, 1km swim at lunchtime and knocked off work with enough time to get a 6.5k trail run in as the last of the light dwindled

Saturday, rest day. Morning spent on taxi duty for kids. Afternoon/evening belonged to the 6 nations and cooking dinner

Sunday, 10.5 k run with the wife. Longest run of the year so far, again a nice slow build on the distance 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thank goodness, I’d hate anyone to take everything I say seriously  

I can’t see how I could get down to those levels for any length of time. There has probably been the odd day but just half a dozen fish fingers puts you above that, as does a handful of grapes or a couple of pork pies. Even things you can eat might put you above, e.g. 300gms of broccoli contains nearly 20g of carb. If it’s an all or nothing I’m wasting my time but I hoped it was more linear than that and you started to burn fat before you went into full ketosis.

What do you mean a natural state? Surely if it was natural it’d be easier to achieve than a by doing a relentlessly extreme diet?

BTW - are you about to be appear on Mike Raine’s podcast?

In reply to Derek Furze:

Cheers Derek. Quick and boring (more than usual!) this week.

Mon

• Hamstrings

Tue

• Hamstrings
• OA Hangs 6x 10s 40mm @83%BW
• 5x 5s Planche Leans (33” Hand to Foot)

Wed

Wall

• Limit Bouldering up to V6. Found a good V7 project which I managed in two halves but the middle section is a high rock-over off two micro crimps. I’m at the point where I can’t even comprehend making a move like that but I suppose that’s how they all start!

Sun

Wall

• Volume Bouldering up to V5.

Goal for this week is: stretching every day, 2x wall sessions, dropping to 1x OA Hang Session as I keep missing the 2nd, 1” further on my planche lean, and a OAPU Club after missing this week!

In reply to Tyler:

No, nothing to do with Mike Raine's podcast.  Isn't that all about Snowdonia Flora and Fauna?

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks as ever Derek. You're setting new standards in detailed responses.

I had a crash last week. I'm still not sure why. I was doing quite a bit, but that was part of the plan and it was no more than I've done before.  All I can think about is that the Depot session on Sunday was longer and had more volume in it than normal. I then followed this up with a hard, volume, session on Monday after binning my planned short, sharp, board session as I ended up climbing with someone.

M - LancasterWall - Mints and Blacks. I don't think I completed a single problem

T - Rest 

W - BoulderUK - Bouldered up to V4. Tried broken halves, bailed. Tried easy circuits, bailed.

T - 3x 10 min on/off. Didn't go to the gym as planned.

F - Lancaster Wall - Kilter board session - up to V6. Not too bad actually

S - Kendal wall - routes - Nothing very hard. Did 1 x 7a and failed on another that I've done before.

S- 20km and 1300m ascent walk in the Lakes - nice rest day!

I have been feeling much better this week and things are going to plan(ish) so far.

3 weeks to go until Leonidio.

In reply to biscuit:

Sometimes that's just the way it goes.  You'll be fine on warm, Greek limestone!

In reply to Derek Furze:

Not that warm at the moment apparently. I saw on facebook that my top tip, Hideout, is unreachable without snow chains. 

In reply to AlanLittle:

Yes I’m on the Leonidio climbers Facebook group and there’s snow everywhere.

There’s time for it to go though so I’m sure it’ll be fine 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Argh, nearly missed my report this week.

Last week (w/c 30 Jan)

Mon - Projecting session on techy blue 7a at the Warehouse.  Dropped the top move a couple of times.

Tue - Hooper's Beta routine x2 during lunchbreak.  Feeling good to get into a routine with this.

Wed - More projecting, more dropping of top move.  Am determined to get this route done, but given that I can't really manage more than a couple of redpoint attempts per session, I'm going to have to have a think about whether repeatedly trying something that's at my limit is really the best use of time at the wall.

Thu - Hooper's Beta routine x2 during lunchbreak

Fri -

Sat - Nothingburger indoor session. Had planned some 4x4s but wall was too busy.  (This happens quite often on Saturday mornings, but that's usually the only time I can fit in a weekend session around family commitments.)

Sun - 18km early morning run along canal to blow the cobwebs away.