UKC

Hang fire all!  I will get it out this evening.  Sorry if you are desperate to post this week's successes!

Too excited to hold off!

Managed a YYFY today to ring in week 800. Very pleased to put my on-off but long-standing linkup project at cave hole to bed, amidst an excellent weekend of dws.

Monday - rest, achey.

Tuesday - hot and sticky. Managed a short pickups session in the evening, fairly low weights comparatively (35kg with 3 fingers versus topping out at about 31kg with two, so about 75%?) but in the rubbish conditions it still felt like I was pulling hard so hopefully still worthwhile.

Wednesday - more hot and sticky. Forced myself to get even hotter and sweatier doing 10,10,9 chinups@bw+5.

Thursday - busy day of work and admin

Friday - work, then drove to Portland in the afternoon. Some of the best dws tide times of the year to look forwards to.

Saturday - Cave Hole for dws. Did some good mileage - usual pile of Fr6a-b sort of things to warm up, and managed to do Bare Reputation (E4 6b) first go as well - I’m trying to make this wired enough it can form part of my circuit to ensure I always get some hard moves in. I then decided to have another go at my on-off project from the last few years, and surprisingly got to the last hard move, which equals my prior best, despite not having really refreshed the exact sequence. After a bit of a break with miniAJM whilst everyone went to do Crab Party, I managed to squeeze in another go at Bare Rep with barely enough water left, and managed once again to stay dry. Good volume - decent 6s miles, a couple of trips across Bare Rep, and a good go on the project. Then trudged around a bit looking for seaweed-less places for miniAJM to have a paddle (fail), ice cream (success) and then a hot walk back to the campsite where I hid for the rest of the day in the growing realisation that I had acquired some sunburn across the backs of my calves, shoulders and upper back.

Sunday - my skin was pretty sore from the prickly velcro rock, my shoulders were pretty sore from the sunburn, but the water was high, so out we went again! A slower start, did a few easier things including the most excellent The Big Easy (E1 5c) and Ixtlan (E2 5b) combination and then Spittle 'n' Spume (E1 5c) in order to stand and stare hard at the rock on the crux of the project in the hope that a hard stare would make some more holds appear in embarrassment. Then chilled with miniAJM for a bit and decided to spend my last dose of skin on a decent go on the project. Got across the intro feeling fairly fresh, and then camped out for a while in the hands off rest at the end whilst other people went across the middle section the other way. Did the link section, downclimbed a few moves to get across to the big flattie, and launched across the crux. Perhaps my hard staring had worked, but I managed to get some purchase on a not really anything on the lip which allowed the long stretch of the foot to be more “across” than “across and down” and it hit the massive foot ledge at the far end! A few moves of sorting out and I was onto the 6a+ and soon at the top. It felt ok in the end, I guess they usually do, but it took me a lot of goes along the way, so I have guessed it’s 7b. The crux is the reverse of a 7a+, so realistically it’s either 7a+ or 7b. I did the 7a+ second go with a good beta stream, not that far off on my flash go, whilst the reverse has taken a lot longer to sort out a sequence despite having reasonable pre-knowledge of where the main hands and feet are. I’m told it’s been done before but I have put it in the logbooks with a name derivative on its constituent parts - A fish with a reputation (7b S0).

https://www.instagram.com/p/CgHkTTYDC6-/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

That’s class AJM. Nice one!

Thanks!

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/fit_club_week_799-749526

Fit Club Week 800!

Sorry to be slow this week - got loads on.  I see some people just couldn't wait, but I'm glad that it was eagerness taking over!

Stats:

SSB: Good advice about the bouldering!  I will probably start with some circuit type things to get moving before I entertain the idea of trying to progress on anything harder.  I guess doing plenty of English 6a and 6b would be a useful discipline.  I’ve got a whole new grading system or two to get used to as well!

A great Saturday morning trip soloing in Wales!  I’ll reflect your ‘take it steady’ comment back of course, but that must have been a very enjoyable morning enjoying movement in some stunning landscapes.  Some really solid bouldering in the mix this week in places I’ve never heard about – Lees Bottom and Windy Knoll Cave are both unfamiliar.  Are they local to Sheffield?   I’m assuming so as you visited in the working week.  Good to see a run completed as well.

JayK :  Thanks for the stretching video recommendations.  I will take a look when I get some time as that is the kind of thing I’d like to reintroduce.

That looks like a really good week – something most days with plenty of variety.  As you say, one thing missing was some actual climbing on rock!  Still three sessions on either the board or indoor bouldering is keeping the movement going as well as building strength.  Good to keep the antagonist work going alongside the core stuff as well.  I’d be interested in what the ‘shoulder exercises’ actually are as it is another thing I want to target a bit more precisely as I noticed it was one factor preventing me managing the moves on the 7bs that I played on recently.  If they are something I can do at home, then I will be scheduling in the Autumn.

One-arm max hangs looking strong, which for me feels like shoulders are important!

Biscuit:  Yes, Moonchild was always known as a real sandbag and was pretty dangerous to boot.  I don’t know what Ron was thinking that day.  A bit like grading Slender Loris HVS!

Planet Marshall has been exploring the trad on Black Wall recently.  I’ve had a look from the ground and they do look good, though I’ve not seen anyone on them.  I can’t think that there is much else beyond that wall and one or two obscure E6s added recently by Nick Dixon though.

Good work getting out so frequently though clearly feeling it after your recent stint – bound to happen with more sport in the mix as well.  I wanted to go to Yew Crags last time I was in the Lakes, but weather and other things got in the way.  Mark of Zorro looks good and the stuff on the other bit also worthwhile.  A good mountain day with the walk.

Hope Wales went well.

Tyler:  Not forgotten Tyler!  Great to see you back.

Great to see some yoga being done.  I did loads in the first lockdown and really found it helpful and enjoyable, but when work built back up I lost the habit.  At my age flexibility is worth working on as it won’t get any better by itself!

Quite a radical change of direction with the alpine training vs. short sport!  Getting a beating is always valuable, if a little frustrating and I suppose if you are ever going to waltz up them again, you have to start with some humblings!  A ‘short day’ with six tie ins looks pretty good – I agree about trying to get the quantity up as I am really noticing that I haven’t the same ability to keep going as last year.  The difference for me was that last year I spent April just trying to a lot of routes every time I was out – quite commonly 15 or 16 sport routes – and it seemed to give me a good platform.

Steve Claw:  Excellent advice Steve and simply put – thanks.  You’re right of course that it is worth thinking about each climbing session as (also) a training session, which means finding something to work hard at should always be part of the session.  I’ve had an interesting week reflecting this as my partner really struggled with a couple of strenuous sections on climbs that I led.  For him, it is clearly a significant limiting factor, so we talked about how he could make better use of the indoor walls that he enjoys.

Some impressive results again outdoors and good to see that it sparked comment from Ally (though also reminded him of a ground fall!).  Good session indoors as well demonstrating that your fitness stands up, which probably reflects your approach that we’ve been discussing.  My fitness / strength would probably decline through the season as it is so difficult to fit climbing and training in alongside work – the solution is obvious, but I’ll have to persuade my mates to play!

Ross Barker:  When I read your comments on the app I had a moment where I wondered who had inhabited my body!  That said, there is a Moonboard at my wall along with other training aids, so it would perhaps fire me up to go indoors over the winter.  Anything to make messing about indoors a bit more enjoyable works for me.  Your advice to ignore the comments (few of which are written by 64 year olds) is noted!  I shall be projecting the warm ups no doubt…

Those boulders in the Pass look pretty tough.  Can’t help with the beta I’m afraid, but if the crimp method is close then get working on those extra no-hang sessions!  I have to say I looked at the Cromlech boulders on Friday and felt quite a pull of attraction – nice place to enjoy some exercise really.

I like the bulletproof fingers target.  Have you got a measurable definition in mind or is this a broad life goals of yours?

Alan:  Hope you have recovered by now – at least from the covid-like illness anyway and have managed to attend the birthday bash without feeling like some social pariah for coughing in the corner!

I loved your summary notes on the last few weeks – I suppose we all get spells where things don’t pan out as we would like, but you do seem to have had a fairly rough run of things.  With me it is work over running into my days ‘off’ which messes things up, or the weather failing to coincide with the available time.  By now, I am hoping you can at least build your fitness on big hills while working on that shoulder injury.  It would be nice to think that you will be back to some rock before the season ends, even if only to get to Kaly with your son for some holiday rock.

Ally:  Some decent post-holiday numbers on the hangboard to lick off your week and then an impressive board session – the power involved in that type of number must be significant because those boards look offputtingly steep to me!  That said, I am persuaded that it is a great way to develop climbing specific strength and movement and plenty on here put it to good use.  I like Thursdays session and the description of ‘quick’ – there are a lot of problems in that routine (16 on the aero-power bit alone and that followed warm ups and the problems Ross had shared.

I’m assuming your set up is at home as you are on it so frequently?

Hope you’ve got back to the rock this week?

Tom Green:  Well Tom, I have to disagree – a TR cleaning session at Egerton is exciting!  I went there a couple of months ago and thought that all the place needs is some traffic – there are actually some decent routes.

Possibly the nervousness above bolts thing can be attributed to Penmaen Head as the spacing there is sometimes pretty traditional, particularly at the left-hand end!

Most week’s I look forward to seeing you tick off more of your goals, so unusual to see that not much happened for you this week.  Decent trail runs as ever though and the time on sport will have delivered something – it always does.

Nice idea breaking up the goals and aiming to deliver some specific things by end of September.  I keep looking at mine and worrying that the year will disappear into a blur of work if I’m not careful!

Sheep: Great to see that your efforts supporting the club helped in delivering the goal.

A week taken up by more important things obviously!  The walk, talk, eat, drink and swim combo at Rutland Water sounds decent though – my kind of training (well, except the swimming bit!).  Hope your daughter’s recovery goes well and you can get back to something like your usual routines.

SteveJC94:  Strange how quiet Gogarth can be these days.  I can remember when you used to have to get up at dawn to get on Dream of White Horses.  It is a brilliant route though, so glad you enjoyed yourselves.

As ever, you have done well to keep your woody sessions going and the ten problems session on Tuesday looks good to me.  Some useful cycling completed over the week – the distances being achieved always look mad to me, but I hardly ever get on a bike and never aim to go further than the pub along the canal…  not sure where I am going wrong?

Hodge Close seems to be popular for DWS now, though not sure which routes are covered by this method.  I saw a few threads on this so I guess it will be mega busy.  I also hear that it has become a bit of a wild camping / party spot these days?  Perhaps that is part of the attraction…

Randy:  Plenty of handstanding (is that a word?) this week in preparation for your goal setting attempt, but a load of good gym work again.  Impressive considering the heat that you have to work with – obviously a bit cooler than Europe at the moment, but still quite hot 😉

Four sets of ten pull ups with two minute rests is good and completed twice before the standard setting 4x12 at the end of the week.  A PB so well done!  Some decent performances on the gym bouldering as well, so you should have some decent form when you get back to Germany.

I like the thoughtful review section – absolutely the way forwards and a helpful aid to continuous learning.  Hope you get outdoors and on to a 7a.

AJM:  Sounds like a really trying week with children poorly and some tough work sessions in London.  I think any day where you have to go to London for work is a write off.  I’m booked in to work with practices just north of London in September so I am psyching myself up already!  Good to see that you got home and did some pull ups!

Lovely report on the family antics at Lulworth, which I think is a sort of elaborate excuse for ‘went to Lulworth.  Didn’t get on anything’ type of post.  Anyway, I know the beach / cove pretty well, so appreciate that it is a lovely spot regardless of whether you managed Mark of the Beast or whatever!  Scores highly on the life goals that you have set yourself anyway!!

Ger_the_Gog:  Good that taking it easy on the walks makes sense.  I followed this advice by walking up to the Cromlech slowly this week.  I normally take a spare t-shirt to change into when I arrive at the crag, but I got there without breaking sweat and with completely unruffled breathing.  A useful experiment! 

Good to see that you are looking at the data – definitely the way forwards as what feels ‘okay’ is usually a bit into zone three and therefore not terribly productive.  Good work keeping the weights going as well as it will certainly help with overall fitness as well as restore some strength and confidence.

Don’t know if you have discovered any bouldering yet to play on?  I don’t know North Wales at all in terms of bouldering, but it looks like there should be loads!

Not sure I saw anything from Planet Marshall or Liam P this week?  I think Liam has got plenty of work pressures on and is focused on world leading pull strength, while Planet Marshall may well still be doing laps on Wee Doris…  hope to see you both back soon!

Excellent!  No wonder you couldn't wait!

From here, certainly - it's not quite 2 hours station to station and then there's the walk to the station at one end and the Waterloo and city line at the other.

At least usually the meetings are scheduled to allow for the journey, but this time not - which from my spot on the 5am train I didn't wholly approve of!

Hah, busted! Saw straight through it

AJM has set one hell of a standard with his DWS routes!

My modest achievements were a trip up to Cloggy on Thursday (one of my must climb here again crags).  It was really cold, but we had to go because we had decided to walk up the old man's way (aka the train) so had forked out £25 a few days earlier.  Managed Llithrig despite incredible cold - basically could hardly feel the rock at all, which made the whole thing feel desperate.  Brilliant though and all helps with familiarisation.  Then went Curving Crack as my partner was goosed.  Also brilliant, though in a type 2 sort of way.  Failed on the third pitch in 1974, so good to put a return match to bed.  Amazing 3d climbing and a lot of fun.

Friday went on the Cromlech, exactly 46 years since my previous visits.  Started with Cemetery Gates (E1 5b) which was really nice, then did Ivy Sepulchre (E1 5b), which I really liked as well.  I had hoped my mate would lead this, but he was too tired, so I got the main pitch on this as well.  Quite strenuous.  Mate too knackered to carry on, so back home for party night!  All good.

Thanks for a very thorough summary this week Derek. 

Haha, it's all about settling in and finding your rhythm. Once you push past the first 10k, the rest is a piece of cake. Unless of course you've got a headwind to finish...

I first discovered it there in summer 2018 during the last major heatwave we had. The wild camping and littering has taken the shine away a bit, but it's still fantastic. I've done very little there really, but Kyber Crystal (6b+) and Rebel Alliance (7b) are both fantastic, with the splashdown from the latter being just as fun! 

Sadly I didn't make it to Hodge Close this week. After turning my ankle on Friday, I though big splasdowns would be best avoided

Last week:

M/T - Rest

T - 5 limit problems on the woody (7A; 7A; 7A+; 7A+; 7B)

W - Rest

T - 5 limit problems on the woody (7A; 7A+; 7A+; 7B; 7B+), though annoyingly tweaked my ankle dropping off a problem at the end of the session - no major damage thankfully

F/S - Resting the ankle 

S - 40k on the bike in the early hours to beat the heat

Plan for next week:

M/T/W - Rest and avoiding the heat!

T - Limit woody problems

F - Rest

S/S - last weekend before a 3 week trip to Aus so most of the time will be spent packing, though might try to sneak in a quick session

Looks like you had a great day out on The Cromlech last week! 

Thanks Derek, yeah Wales was awesome. Lees Bottom is great, super steep roof which I always find it hard to warm up on. It's not in a guidebook but plenty of info available on the Internet. It's just off the A6 between Buxton and Bakewell. I checked out Windy knoll a few years ago as I literally drive past the parking on the way home from work but there was a scary band of choss that's now fallen down making it safe(er). The climbing has everything (knee bars, heel toes, spins, foot jams, drop downs and big lay one on moves!) it's so much fun there. Just near mam tor.

Mon. Windy knoll. Did Knoll Edmonds (f7A+) and worked out the moves on a 7a+ but ran out of time to finish it off.

Tues. Rest.

Wed. Attic aerocap. 10mins on 5 mins off x3. 7km run.

Thurs. Rest.

Fri. Cornice. Redpointed Blurred Lines (7c) which took me 3 tie ins after a change of foot sequence at the second crux. Had one tie in on an 8b (it was nice and quiet so I didn't feel too self conscious). Pleased to do all the moves bolt to bolt apart from the very last bit where my tall partners beta didn't work. I've heard there is a short person sequence there too so might take another look.

Sat. 28km ride, 400m ascent. 

Sun. Watched to try some max hangs to see if going climbing all summer instead of fingerboarding had made me weaker. My winter PB was 6 10sec hangs at +28kg. I managed 6 9sec hangs at +30kg this eve so not quite a PB as I couldn't quite get to 10sec but maybe on a day that's not as hot as the sun I might fair better.  I was basically sliding off in the sweat! Pleased with this and its given me confidence that the finger strength hasn't disappeared. 

Good stuff SSB.  Clearly messing about on 7c at the Cornice keeps up your finger strength then!

Thank you Derek.

Its been another hot week here in the South as I'm sure it has been for everyone, so a bit less done, but still 2 good pulling hard sessions.

M - Back to reacquaint myself with the Wild West project, but by the time I arrived it was in the sun, so just went over the moves and pulled hard.  Also cleaned and TR and bolted a line on another crag at about 7b.

Tues - Sat - Nothing, had mega forearm DOMS.

Sun - Despite the heat, I feel I needed to give a little something to FC800, so got up early and headed to Avon for 8.30am. Dropped a rope in on Crown of Thorns (E7 6c). It didn't start out well and I could not get the hard rockover on slopey holds.  Moved over to I'm 55 (E6 6c) that I tried the week before, but still no progress.  Conditions were not good, despite the shade and only being 23 deg, each touch of the rock was humid and chalk dissolving instantly.

Nearly ready to give up, I though of FC800 and went back at Crown of Thorns.  With a bit of work I managed to start to unlock the beta and make progress, with the key slopey hold requiring a precise grip location to get any purchase.  I knew it was possible, but with temperatures rising and the sun about to hit the face, I only had time for one more attempt.

So with "tops off for power" I gave it a last effort:

Start, tension, reach for small crimp - High foot on ledge and palm down, reach for beasty side pull - Stand and swing left for flat hold - Back foot on small crimp and extend high to precisely catch slopey hold - foot on tiny hold and move left hand to rough layaway with thumb pinch - Left foot super high to flat hold - Rock up and reach to tiny crimp - Go from Slopey to poor crimp, then bump again to good hold - A few more moves and it was done!

Home by 10am, fingers shredded again.

Just stunning!  Nice one Steve!

Great description of Crown of Thorns; it took me right back to my own skin shredding sessions on Avon technicalities.  I think I discovered the power of your hooking on CoT - did you?

Cheers Derek. A double dose of boring training for me after a manic fortnight of working & baby wrangling. Maybe get a trip out this weekend? Or at least to the wall…hopefully…

Wed

Pull Strength

• Weighted Pull-ups 5/6/8 @ 29kg/18kg/7kg

Thu

Fingers

• Max Hang 20mm4FD 5x 7s (24.5kg)

Sun

• A rarity for me…antagonists! 150 push-ups over several sets.

Mon

Stamina

• Hangboard Moving Hangs! Feels like we’re back in lockdown but it’s the only way I can train stamina and baby wrangle at the same time. 5x 5mins

Pull Strength

• Weighted Pull-ups 5/6/8 @ 30kg/19kg/8kg

Fri

Fingers

• Max Hang 20mm4FD 5x 7s (25kg)

Sat

• 150 push-ups over several sets

Have a good week!

Thanks for the continued cheerleading Derek, it's appreciated!

I've got to be honest it's starting to get boring now! I agree that volume is key for me as I'm not a systematic trainer but we've been through the diary and virtually every weekend between now and the end of Sept is taken up with non-climbing events!

M: 20 min yoga

T: Quick trip to the Moelwyns after work to solo Slick (VD) and Slack (S 4a). I was quite apprehensive about these as I realise that, given the partner situation, I need to do more soloing and was worried that of I bottled it it would ruin my summer! Anyway it all passed by no bother so should tick off a few more easy classics 

W: Pen Trwyn, what was supposed to be a quick tick was now stretching out to the third session! Worse still I'd only managed the entire sequence between the 3rd ad 4th bolts once! Finally sent Harry the Clamp (7a+) on the third try of the evening.

T: Nothing

F: 20 min yoga

S: Went to investigate Wavelength boulders. I've barely full crimped anything for about 15 years but it seems Welsh bouldering is all about boning down hard on three finger crimps, I did sort of do all the moves on Utopia Traverse so might stick with that but really there were more lows than highs - need a spotter!

S: Ruined my feet looking for boulders in my flip flops, swam in the Padarn and ate too much at Pete's eats.

Also did 20 mins yoga and started elbow rehab on Sunday 

Good morning all, top work on the project AJM and good stats as always Derek.

No definition, it'll be an ongoing thing, the successfulness is measured by how injurious they feel, and of course if they actually stave off injury. About two weeks ago they were feeling great, at the moment not too bad but getting the odd bit of soreness after hard cranking.

At a weird point in my climbing as I seem to get into around this time of year - all my bouldering partners have become sport climbers! Hard to keep motivated so I'm not going to force myself to do things if I'm not up to it, except the fingerboarding as it doesn't consume much time and getting strong fingers is all about consistency.

A naff week from me, I'm not handling the current heat too well, so I'm not looking forward to today and tomorrow!

Last Week:

M - Rest.

T - Rest.

W - Weigh in at 77.9kg. AM No hangs, 30kg, 6x10s per side, 4 min rest, pinky crimped. Felt hard at the start but bizarrely got easier towards the end. Perhaps not fully warmed up at the start?

T - Moonboard. Sweaty! Repeated a few 6C/+ things but certainly not operating at my max.

F - Rest.

S - Rest.

S - Rest.

Next Week:

Hard to plan day by day this week so I'll just say:

- 1-2 Max hangs

- 1 Moonboard (happy to drop this if it's too hot)

- 1 Day outside

Goals:

Bulletproof fingers.

Thanks for the kind words and for another excellent weekly write-up. Very glad to see some good Week 800 achievements all round.  

My achievement was finding the self discipline to do absolutely no strenuous physical activity all week, and instead allow myself time to to properly recover from the mystery illness this time. Which seems to have worked.

Enjoyed my mate's birthday bash at the weekend at a little local outdoor music festival. The last time I recall being at a festival was Glastonbury in '86, with a legendary headline performance by The Cure at midnight in a thunderstorm. Nothing quite as spectacular as that this time but a couple of rather good bands - one of which, Gilla Band from Dublin, I would definitely go out of my way to see again.

Plan for the coming week: ease back into physical activity with some bike rides and shoulder-friendly no hangs. Keep up the daily rotator cuff exercises.

Cheers Derek, been a much busier week with access to the pool available again.

Monday, 0.5km swim to ease back into it and 5k run in the evening 

Tuesday, 1.5km swim, felt good 👍🏻

Wednesday 1.5km swim 

Thursday, 1.5km swim and stretch class followed by 6km evening run

Friday, 1.5 km swim

Saturday, packing for holiday and ferrying kids around

Sunday, drive up to the Peak District to set up camp in Castleton. Lovely walk in the afternoon, up Lose Hill, along the skyline to Back Tor and down again 

Thanks Derek!

M - AM 15 min stretch, PM 60 min board session, 2 sets of shoulder exercises and push-ups.

T - AM 15 min stretch, PM 10k run.

W - AM 15 min stretch, PM BBC circuit bouldering and then ended up on the board for about 30 mins. Good session.

T - AM 15 min stretch, PM BBC board climbing 60 mins. Then 2 sets of core + shoulders when I got home.

F - AM rest, PM - football. Left ankle has been flaring up, and it did again today. Not enough to cause major issues with climbing, but pain in the a**e to get my left boot on. Swelling is going down slowly. Few days off running required.

S - Cricket (t20 finals day) all day. Managed to get away with not drinking very much. Also ran to and from the stadium for some unexpected exercise!

S - AM 1 arm max hangs (as per lattice app). Full set on 7.5kg. No failures. 5kg next time! PM short 40 minute board session... couldn't resist despite the heat. 30min stretch.

Shoulders are just flies and front raises - lighter weights but lots of reps.

Definitely getting out climbing this week -weather permitting! 

Also in the plan for the coming week: since the first covid lockdown I have spent a grand total of three days in the office. I shall probably be at least doubling that score this week - we have working air conditioning there!

Embrace the dark side young padawan !

Thank you for the impressively detailed stats again Derek :-D 

"Power" is something that I have always lacked, and having the board in the garage at home has helped a little, but i'm still shockingly weak on a campus board (like 1-3-5 on the big rungs weak)

Less than an hour for that session, including the patio approach march and post climb brew - a real benefit of a home board.

Sadly, nothing exceptional this week apart from getting down to business and working aero-power in time for some Autumn ticking...

Week 28

M – Short 1-arm deadhang session. Crimpd timings; warmed up then -15, -10, and -5kg x6 hangs on BM2K central slot.  Felt full-on in the heat and a few 8 or 9s hangs with the right arm (left arm aced the lot though).

T – Aero-power 4x4s. Similar collection of 7A/+’s and similar outcome to last week.

“Pool Party 1966” 7A+ (Nice and soft)

The End Approaches, 7A+ (bit too stern and swapped for Fingers Crossed, benchmark, but soft 7A+)

First Time is the Best, 7A+ (another softie)

Some Never Get the Change, 7A (fairly steady at 7A)

Couple of sets of lower weights to warm up, then 5x5 105kg axle DL.

W – Rest. Pleasantly surprised by lack of butt/hamstring DOMS from the deadlifts.

T – Gorge. Hung a few holds on the classic bouldering area, but it was warm and smeggy.  Bouldered in the gorge mouth instead to warm-up. Flashed a series of 6C to 7A+ problems, and everything felt soft AF. Re-climbed Echoes (7a+) and set up a self TR to explore RH dyno exit.  It’s a massive move to a not very good hold, but might just be possible? Maybe worth a bolt installation sometime in the future? Stripped it and had an OS go at the filthy Comfortably Numb (7a+).  Did pretty well, but missed a dirt caked hold out right and said take (lame). Cleaned it up and quick RP. Made it a notch harder by starting up Spearfish (f7A) (Moonboard 6C?!?) Good session, the gorge continues to deliver.

F – Warm-up, then 5x5 110kg axle DL and 5x5 55kg bench-press. Last DL session felt fairly easy so decided to up the intensity by adding 5kg. The other option was to increase TUT by adding reps/sets. @Biscuit, what’s the excepted wisdom for getting stronger, rather than bigger muscles?

S – 21miles of biking jolly along Monsal trail with The Squigg in a trailer. She seemed to enjoy it, but we’re reticent about buying one given the aggressiveness of local drivers and lack of traffic free routes.

S – Early board session; a dozen 6B+ to 7A flashes to warm up, then 30min of trying hard on 7C+ or harder. Might have found an “8A+” that’s viable? Then 20x 6C+ benchmarks on-the-minute aero-power session. Left wrist feeling a bit cranky - probably the increase in volume this week, plus unergonomic rental bike yesterday.

Hi all. Top write-up as usual Derek -thanks.

Poor week for me -a warning that the next few weeks are going to require a lot of effort and discipline to keep any level of training going. Must try harder.

Week 28:

M: Alpine start/finish for work.

T: Quick lunch-break session between jobs: Soloed Flying Buttress (VD) on the Cromlech (a somewhat low-key way of getting another goal crag visited!) then had a few quick burns on Pump Traverse (f6B+) on my way past -very close, but no cigar. 

W: Alpine start/finish for work

T: Weighted walk (9km with 15kg) and a little swim in the sea.

F: Trail run. 7.1km, 260m vert, 6:27/km. Vomit-inducing temperature and humidity.

S: Nowt -unless you count bad dancing as some sort of cardio.

S: Nowt.

Week 29:

Prehab every day -no excuse not to fit this in.

Aim to get two runs, two fingerboard sessions and one bouldering session in.

STG -end Sept:

Climb at four of my 'climb here more' crags (1/4).

Climb six of my local to-do list.

Allakazam.

Ultra distance run. 

Three of my big mountain day list.

Keep injury free (elbows, hips and knees). 

(Have pushed my alps trip back, so this remains an MTG.)

MTG -end Dec:

Two big alpine routes.

Weighted Pull-up: 100kg.

Max Hangs: 95kg.

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

2022 Climbing goals:

7a (Possibly one of: Arc en Ciel, The Jim Grin, Rock & Roll, Clink) -TICK!

ALL of my local must-do list: 4/15

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

Get at least one session at each of my 'I should climb more at this crag' list: 1/8

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

(For lists see FitClub 772)

At least two big, classic alpine goals.

Well, if we can include dancing then I've got to add two big sessions - live music on Friday night and a DJ set of thumping house on Saturday night!  

Flying Buttress getting a bit of a Fit Club hammering lately...

I’d love to know how many kcals I burn through on the average session  partying… I reckon it would be way more than all my months runs out together!

Yep… flying buttress is the route to be on! Fit club doing its bit to maintain that dazzling polish!

Nice! Great work!

That Glasto 86 set sounds incredible!

What exercises are you doing for the rotator cuffs? 

Haha, if you can’t beat them… get your harness on!

The heat is actually not that bad as it may look on the first glance. Apart from the one climbing gym session per week all my training is done in a air conditioned hotel gym, and apart from the weekends you spent 99% of your time in air conditioned rooms. So i rather need to get used to the heat when traveling back to europe

Recap last week:

Mon: Fingerboard repeaters at a 20mm edge, 6x 6x7,3 at 104 % bodyweight, weighted pullups +8,5kg with 3 min rest: 10,10,8; decided to switch to weighted pullups to give a new stimulus and work more on strength. 

Tues: L-Sit 2x20s; handstand against the wall, 2x10 pike pushups,15 lunges, 3 pistol squat with left and right, 30 pushups and 30s V-Sit Up; was very solid with the handstand was i used the wall the get in to the position and easily hold it for more than 10s. Tried it without a wall start but just could not get into a stabil position

Wed: Fingerboard repeaters at a 20mm edge, 6x 6x7,3 at 105 % bodyweight, weighted pullups +8,5kg with 3 min rest: 10,10,8; felt pretty tired at the end of the session but managed to push through

Thurs: L-Sit 2x15s; handstand against the wall, 2x10 pike pushups,15 lunges, 3 pistol squat with left and right, 30 pushups and 30s V-Sit Up; not much progress on the handstand, 3-4s with somewhat solid form was the best that i could manage

Fri: Rest and fly back to Munich

Sat:  Back to Frankenjura: Started at Castellwand. Felt already tired and weak on the short uphill approach. Did two 6a+ for warmup, both failing at the onsight which slightly annoyed. Afterwards we switched to another crag, as almost every decent line was already full. Did another 6a+ for warmup, this time succeeding in the onsight. After that i got talked into trying a 7b+, after my mate described the crux as not that hard. Turned out that the route consisted of 6a climbing to a very good rest, followed by a vicious 5 moves boulder problem and some more 6a climbing to the top. Worked on the boulder for quite a bit, but just lacked the power today to even do all the moves individually. I've decided to call it a day afterwards and felt already a little bit sick. That got worse on the drive back and when i arrived at home i could barely walk up the stairs. Crashed on my bed and felt so sick that i even had trouble to drink water.

Sun: Stayed in bed the whole day, feeling too sick to even think about eating.

Review last weeks goals:

• Onsight 7a - fail, did not even try it 
• Hold a handstand with good form for 10s - fail, i think need to spent more time trying to get into a stable position without the wall

Was probably a question of time before i got some kind of stomach flu in India. At least it hit me after the travel back, otherwise it would have a quite unpleasant flight. 

Goal for next week: Take it easy and get healthy

Thanks Tom!

youtube.com/watch?v=kEn2VFo2bTo& 

Audio-only, sadly. I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. I watched laser beams glitter in the rain over the Pyramid Stage

The classics: outward rotations with elbow at the side, I-Y-T's. Actually mostly I-Y's, T's still hurt. And a pec minor stretch a physio showed my the last time I had an impingement flare-up. Haven't managed to figure out anywhere I can rig something up for face pulls.

Great work Andy. Looks mega!

Thanks Derek.

A poor week but one that has led to a realisation so hopefully it'll be back on track soon.

M - Shoulder and knee rehab

T - Kendal wall board session. Nothing harder than 6B+. Did a couple of up down ups on auto belays (6c ups).

W - Stretched

T - Stretched

Two rest days to make sure I was ready for performance

F - Totally failed to perform at Sticky Mix wall. I have done the 7a and 7b there before (7b second go) and my plan for the day was to do both. The warm up climbs were fine (3 or 4 6b/6+'s) then the 7a was a car crash. Nothing in the tank. I ended up snoozing in the sun watching for seals and thankfully someone else got the draws back for me.....

S - Tryfan North face and Bristly ridge - knees felt good 

S - Rest and thinking

I've spotted that my trad is going well (I need to step it up now and feel ready to do so) but my sport has tanked. This is likely due to me doing no sport specific training for the last few months. My diet was good, sleep was good, energy levels were good. Why am I finding sport so hard? I am unfit for sport.

This is not a huge issue as I am wanting to get stuck into some E3's now not 7b's. But keeping a decent level (7a onsight) will not do me any harm.

So i'll gradually bring this in over the next couple of weeks.

Hoping for Gouther crag on Friday and Bloodhound and/or One Step Beyond.

Thanks! I'm sure the less charitable would say "of niche local interest" rather than "mega" but it gave me some good amusement!

 Made it a notch harder by starting up Spearfish (f7A) (Moonboard 6C?!?) Good session, the gorge continues to deliver.

Beta please! I had a look at this a month or two back but a hold had obviously broken in the middle (sidepull undercut above the little roof that people use in older videos) and I couldn't work out any way of doing the crux that felt like 7A, but I'm not very good at the moment. 

(Still lurking a bit!)

Sadly, it is easier to count how many calories I consume partying!  That said, we both remain slim with pretty low body fat percentage, so we think that the non- stop dancing offsets the alcohol to a large extent.

Looking ahead, I am taking on a chunk of work from the first week in September.  It is based in Hertfordshire so I will be on the road a lot.  It means I will be looking to stay with the plan and handover the baton after the last Sunday in August so hope someone fancies a three-month stint.  Happy to stay on the rota though and take another turn next year.

If I remember correctly I think I said I was happy to do a stint myself if nobody else is rushing to take over, so that still offer still stands!

Not sure about the stronger rather than bigger muscles - probably a contradiction in terms.  That said, my understanding is that stronger needs maximum effort and low reps (e.g. 3).  I suppose this is obvious!

Thanks Ross - an excellent, simple handover then.  There may be other interest as I feel that it would be good to line up more than one three-month stint at a time.  Of course, several on here mat have done long stints in the past.  My reflection is that three months is long enough to be committed without it becoming a drag.  I would happily go again after I finish with all the long-distance working.

Indeed. I did a year, but seven months of that was lockdown with nothing better to do  

Will do another stint at some point but not for a while.

Forgot to say, good effort on your new traverse

Thanks!

I could do the over-winter stint after that one (Dec to Feb or something, right), if noone else wants to.

I have done several years worth already in a variety of long and short stints though, so I am certainly happy to step back if other people are interested in the opportunity.

Ruminating on this, I wonder what FC900 and FC1k will bring? The roughly 2 year and 4 year horizon might be a good way for me at least to think about longer term goals than I usually do. I haven't had a BHAG written down for a while!

My first reaction was 'brilliant idea!'.  The I had a slightly sobering realisation that I would be setting targets for the age of 66 and 68!  Still, got to be an entertaining exercise!

63 and 65 for me. 

But something I've bene thinking about recently: one of my DAV buddys is moving to northern Norway. Giving him a year or two to settle in then a visit to do Vestpillaren Direct (n6) seems like an obvious plan. And to do that I'd need to be in practice, so something like a Summer of Granite would seem to be called for, with some things from the "I always fancied that one day" list such as: 

• Steeple (E2 5c)
• Salbit South Ridge
• Motorhead (6a+)

An absolutely brilliant plan!  That's the sort of thinking AJM was looking for - a kind of lifetime goal in some respects.

Mine could be simple.  Go and visit brother.  Get on something classic above Chamonix.  I will have a think.

Coincidentally I’ve been looking at those two this morning as I’ve just taken delivery of Plasir selection, still on my list too

I’ve been doing the thinking for the last thirty years! Now is the time for me to get out and start carping them diems, just need to stop working! 

Salbit South Ridge is great, but you can't help looking across at the West ridge the whole time you're on the route, thinking it looks even better!

I'd forgotten about Motorhead -that was always on my to do list, along with Septumania.

FC900 and FC1k are far enough away that I can kid myself I may actually achieve something with my life between now and then!

FC900 - Peuterey Integrale, following which I will give up alpine climbing forever and become a full time boulderer.

FC1k - Le Coeur at L'Elephant.

Thanks again for another fantastic fitclub thread, Derek. I'm glad you had a good trip and managed to finally tick those routes. It must have felt great.

It was a mixed week for me. I didn't get out as much as I'd have liked to - the heat towards the end of the week meant I had to keep a close eye on things at home but I'm pleased with what I got in before then. Still no bouldering - the closest nursery spot to me (RAC) is a good half-hour drive away so isn't the most convenient. I'll fit an afternoon in soon though.

Mon: A sweltering stroll on the Watkin Path, Snowdon with a friend. Unfortunately it was a late mid-afternoon start so I didn't have time reach the summit but it was a nice couple of hours out. I walked on the way up and trotted back down, stopping to take photos on the way. About 8km/5 miles all told.

Tues: 13kg dumb bells: 3x10 shoulder press. 3x10 arm curls. 21kg dumb bells: 3x10 bent over rows.

Weds: 3 hour non-stop endurance walk, 15lb pack. Another bright & hot day. Covered just over 16km/10 miles, 650m ascent (although I repeated the same route this week and the watch indicated only 550m ascent). Unfortunately I didn't manage to pace myself so my HR spent too long above Zone 2, I just can't help myself. So, to force myself to take things steadier, I going to fit a 5 hour walk in when I can. I certain I won't be able to maintain Zone 3+ effort for that long.

Summary data: https://i.postimg.cc/dtYJNk3h/Screenshot-20220723-102149.png

HR zone data: https://i.postimg.cc/QCqwyMY7/Screenshot-20220723-102216.png

Thurs: Rest 

Fri: 13kg dumb bells: 3x10 shoulder press. 3x10 arm curls. 21kg dumb bells: 3x10 bent over rows.

Sat: Nowt

Sun: Nowt