UKC

I'm away until late tonight, but will post up first thing Monday.  Hope all good with everybody.

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_805-751067

I'm signing off after my 13 week stint as I start working at both ends of the country next week.  I've really enjoyed doing this and will happily do similar again, but know that I will really struggle while working away.  I also recognise that I will struggle to train, so want to prioritise actually getting some of that back into my weekly schedule somehow.  I think Ross is planning to take over (?) for the next block - three months would take us through to the end of November though (of course) he can take on as long as he wants!

SSB:  A successful couple of sessions on the Cemetery parks boulders, with quite a difference between your appraisal of the problem on Monday and the successful trip six days later – impressive stuff.  The attic session introduced an element of comedy into proceedings, but sounds quite an effective mistake to make, though two days of arms not working is perhaps quite a price to pay!

I did Red Pencil Direct in 1982 with my one-year old son being babysat at the bottom while I ticked it off with my wife.  I seem to remember enjoying the day out.  It seems to be all the rage at the moment as one of my friends did it a couple of weeks ago. 

Still not got all my dates sorted for next week and unsure how the travelling will pan out at present, but will let you know if I do find that I have any options in September.

Ally:  You are introducing new toys at about the rate that I manage to get any sort of training done at the moment!  Anyway, I had no idea what an ‘Inch dumbell’ was, so enjoyed doing a bit of research – apparently, the original was 172 lbs or a bit over 78 kg and a lot of the challenge is in the thick grip?  He could apparently overhead the weight whereas a lot of his contemporaries couldn’t get the weight off the floor, so your first efforts put you up there with the strong men of 1910 or thereabouts!  As I was doing research, I also checked out the Saxon Bar thing – that was described as the favoured plaything of the Gods of the Grip Olympics!

Good stuff with the gorge link up – plenty of FC thinking that it will be 8b.

A lot of training in that week with loads of variety as well, which prompts me to think carefully about widening my options at home for my next block.

Tom Green:  Yes, I think the destination goals are a really good idea as it does make you go to different places and opens up a lot of options.  That said, a few places that I have visited that were new to me this year (not that I had a new destinations list), weren’t actually that good!  I’ve ticked Maeshafn, Ravenstones, Langcliffe Skyline and Sector X and Crowden Great this year, all on the ‘never been’ list, but I would only go back to Skyline and Ravenstones with anything in mind.

Work sounds pressing, but at least you are putting the sessions in.  A bit of dedicated time on the fingerboard will soon see your numbers going up quite quickly.  I’ve definitely been slacking because of work, but when I do get onto the board, I ‘m quite pleased with how it feels.  Mind you, have I mentioned how much weight I’ve lost 😉!  Good to get such a pleasant surprise on your local trip out.

Ross Barker:  Clearly finished with your very brief flirtation with ropes then?!  Anyway, it is also clear that it is the boulders that have your heart, so Good that you are getting the opportunities again.

Decent work on the Moonboard.  I’ve checked out the app and discovered that 6b+ is about as easy as it gets, so fairly tough work to do anything I reckon.  Once I have my Autumn work days nailed, I will be left with two possible climbing days each week and I hope to find the drive to get on the board in Stockport if the weather doesn’t coincide for me.  Anyway, a week where you have added a couple of goals to your list, so The Mentalist must have felt possible somehow.  Nice that the lead in to the move is steady, if somewhat painful.  I’ve walked past a couple of Churnet crags, but never climbed – access used to be difficult for some of them and the guides were rarely available.  Another place to add to the list!

Randy:  Your weighted pull ups are getting really solid and you must have a strong foundation for the path to one-armers!  Completing the heavier sets when you had already put 4x10 at +8kg behind you is excellent.  I was hoping to do a bit of research and map out my planned approach to chasing this slightly mad aim, but I have had a really messy week with work and travel.  That said, I did watch a youtube video on progressions, but need to watch it again to dial in the process.

Unhelpful having to get up in the middle of the night to meet with clients and (I’d assume) probably not that productive either.  I really notice the impact on my thinking when I’ve had a bad night in a hotel or whatever, so agree that it isn’t a good way to work.

AJM:  A fantastic trip report – really quite inspiring stuff and at least you are managing to get on something most days despite the occasional overnight rain.  The sacrificial beta lamb concept is a useful trick when you haven’t the time for any protracted effort working things out.  A careful reading suggests that projects have been a little more difficult to identify, with some of the things you’ve picked being sacked off (with good reason it seems to me) once you had discovered particularly painful pockets, altered flakes or ankle-snapping ledges.  I get the impression you will have another week on things, so hope the weather holds up for you all and you manage a successful mix of climbing, foamy beer and ice cream.

I’ve not spent that much time in Germany, but liked it when I went over for my son’s weddinging 2012.  Reading your report, I get the impression that Frankenjura is fairly characterful, but needs a particular set of skills.

SteveJC94:  Welcome back and ditto – I also intend to get a fresh cycle underway, though am still challenged about how to fit it in with pounding out motorway miles…  At least you should be in a good place to reappraise targets and make plans after your three-week trip!  Having a busy work week and a wedding should give you some space to reflect, though I’m not sure of an appropriate plan if gritstone thuggery is your Autumnal goals.  Train slopers perhaps?  Personally, I have always found grit a bit less rewarding than most other rocks though a lot is simply over-familiarity, but I get occasional bursts of enthusiasm for getting back to some of the things that I left behind.  We’ll see – I may be forced to climb locally with so much travelling on the agenda coming up!

Tyler:  Yes, your neck of the woods does have some fast-drying spots that catch the available sunshine, so year-round ought to be feasible.

Not sure how to translate 12mm weaker, though I think I understand what you are getting at!  I used to do pull ups in tens on a painful, thin doorframe when I was in my thirties and I don’t know if I could do those now.  By way of encouragement, hangs always feel hard when you come back to them after a break, but isn’t this because of neural adaptation - it isn’t particularly strength that has gone, just lack of recent familiarity in the pathways?  Do more than a bit of cursory swinging about and it will come back quickly – in fact, I should set you this a my signing off homework!

I know you target harder redpointing as your preferred approach, but I am assuming you are ticking off some easier things along the way?  If so, there will be some successes in amongst your ‘new lows’ and ‘failed goes; presumably?  Anyway, the sport climbers I talk to all think in terms of steps forwards and learning, rather than fail, though I must admit it is a mindset I struggle with myself!

Liam P:  Way hay!  At least you are getting onto rock with some regularity now and I think a Guillemot Ledge trad route sounds like an excellent trade off!  As with Tyler above, I think you have identified one of the challenges with sport climbing – it does take a bit of time to work routes and possibly even to establish what the right level for working things actually is before you start.  This doesn’t fit easily with limited opportunities, so I usually find myself getting on something that I am likely to get up first time because I just want to do some climbing!  That said, I am getting better at going on the grade above.  You’ve also got the challenge of finding a network of belayers (again, a challenge for Tyler) – I have plenty of people to climb with, but not many of them are interesting in projecting anything.

I hope it goes down soon!

Steve Claw:  Yet another impressive collection of new things across several trips out, so a very positive return from the week.  There is certainly a lot of hard pulling in there and I suspect the micro crimps are probably nano crimps given the standards that you normally operate at!  A 7c slab sounds frustrating to me – technically challenging and on-off I expect.

I see that Minute Waltz hasn’t had much attention if the logbooks are anything to go by?  Perhaps this is true of much of Avon away from the classics as Just Searing Away also has relatively few ascents?  Not surprising that your fingers were shredded as overall, that is a pretty intense week.

Sheep:  Considering the ‘very busy’ that headlines your report, you have managed a very decent load of swimming and managed to bookend it with some running!  I wish my busy week’s showed anything like that return!  You clearly have good discipline to keep the swims going every day despite the pressure of work – good effort!

Alan:  Great to discover a rewarding zone 2 walk that sounds like it is on your doorstep.  I love it when a nice surprise turns up unexpectedly.

I know we are all supposed to get to the peak of each training cycle at the exact moment that we tie in beneath some perfect Kalymnos target, but I’m not sure it really works like that a lot of the time.  Book the trip and go there planning to get some mileage in - that’s probably what you need after a fairly long rehab.  My understanding of the place is that there are plenty of soft touches, so with some mileage in the tank something will present itself and away you go!

C’mon Biscuit – I’m dying to hear about successes on the E3s!  😉

Ger, Planet and Jay off doing important things.

I did manage two training sessions this week, though both were fitted in amongst work, rather than clear time to focus on training.  That said, pull ups felt strong on both occasions and max hangs, though hard after a break, did feel basically solid.

Went out to Yorkshire on my one day free.  An extended attempt to find Sector X at Langcliffe (fail) and ended up back at Skyline, which didn't suit my mate...  Switched to Giggleswick to get something from the day and managed to onsight 7a At 70 (6c) without much fuss in amongst a bunch of other stuff.  Quite pleased as I felt that I could have onsighted a grade harder.

With regards to the Moonboard app. 

It's only the original 2016 set up that starts at 6B+. The two newer set ups which include other holds (red resin blobs for 2017 and woods for 2019) start at a more amenable 6A+. 

Watch out for the sandbags and habitual down grading.  The easiest way to find consistent grades and quality is to select and grade and then sort by "most repeats" (this method seems to confirm that everyone loves a soft touch! )

Ha! I find the 6A+'s on the later sets generally harder than most 2016 6B+'s.

I don't entirely rule out being older & weaker as an explanation for this though.

Thanks for a top MC'ing stint Derek. Another week where life took priority over training for me.

STG: Book Kalymnos trip with my son for early October
MTG: Winter 22/23 - do an actual off piste ski tour
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M-F: nada again
S: bike one hour
S: Boulderwelt, circuits: the emergency Kaly training campaign begins. Felt like I was moving ok, but was quickly outa gas - and skin. No surprises there.
 

Thanks Ally.  I appreciate the tips.  So if I add all the hold sets into the app then easier options will appear?  Then I just have to find out if the board at Stockport includes the newer hold sets...

I believe that the Stockport board is the 2017 set up, but I'm not 100%

Cheers Derek and thanks for a solid stint of statting! Token fingerboard session this week but reached my 133%BW goal.

Wed

Fingers

• Max Hang 20mm4FD 5x 7s (25.5kg) Feeling good so had a go…
• Tested 133%BW 1x 7s (28kg)

Seen steady linear progress with fingers and pull-ups over the last 16 weeks. 20mm Max Hangs gone from 20kg (124%) to 28kg (133%). Weighted pull-ups have gone from 5RM@20kg (124%) to 32kg (138%) and 1RM@41.25kg (149%) to 47kg (156%).

I tried a couple sets this week and was loads weaker so definitely reached the end of this run. Will take a rest week then switch to a phase of repeaters.

Think I’ll join the UKC One-Armer Club. I’ve never trained one before due to transferability to climbing. However, I’m not getting much done anyway so now’s as good a time as any! Seen a few protocols online - free hand grabbing wrist, elbow, then shoulder seems like a good one.

Yeah, it was a pretty productive week. With Helen’s departure our logistics became a bit more challenging but we still got some decent stuff done - see below. The projecting one is interesting, in that I’m still not sure whether it was a pipe dream or not anyway in terms of family logistics. I feel like it might have worked had I found the right thing but I’m not certain.

In terms of the physical requirements, I’m not sure it’s necessarily that different to peak lime sport or something for the most part, save perhaps for more complex holds making onsighting hard (having said that, its obviously harder than orange rock plastered in chalky jugs in Spain, but is it actually harder than some U.K. venues, perhaps not?) and obviously the greater lean towards a more open hand or pocket grip versus the peak lime ratty crimp! 

Second week in FJ. Started well but a few disrupted nights and some inopportunely timed wet weather highlighted the fragility of the setup with just the four of us. It doesn’t take much broken sleep or other upsets to throw things off, especially given that when it’s just the four of us I’m largely responsible for generating all the psyche - MrsAJM is very supportive and likes doing a bit of climbing but is also as happy to be doing something else if it’s a bit marginal (be that weather, sleep, psyche levels etc). Still got a couple of days in and I was pleased with Tuesday in particular. 

All in all a good trip. Frankenjura onsighting is hard but with a few things onsighted or flashed in the 6c+/7a range that doesn’t feel like too bad a haul, and whilst I tried a few things out for size as potential projects I didn’t quite manage to get anything to click, but that’s no big deal. 

Frankenjura is a great destination and works well with kids and seems pretty versatile in terms of crag options for conditions (excluding hot and sticky I guess, but rain, dry heat, sun etc). Nice countryside, good other activities around climbing, excellent beer and cakes. Reminiscent of a roped version of Fontainebleau

Monday - dropped Helen back at the airport. Rest.

Tuesday - Kalte Wand. Couple of nice warmups and then a 6c and 6c+ onsight. Had a go at another 6c+, stupid foot slip after the hard move and I was off. There’s a hands off rest ledge about 2/3rds up (the hard part is near the top) so I pulled back on and linked it from there for an old school yo-yo sort of tick.

Wednesday - microAJM was up in the night, which left everyone feeling a bit tired and frazzled. Downgraded ambitions to Stadelhofener Wand where I did a decent selection of good routes to about 6b (tricky at that mind you) and fell off a 6c having picked the wrong selection of pockets.

Thursday - another poor nights sleep, with microAJM seeming a bit out of sorts. Tried an even lower ambition day at Marienthaler Wand, but gave up after a route - we were both tired, the children were fractious - sometimes it just doesn’t work out. 

Friday - after a bit more poor sleep it seemed sensible to take a rest day. Went touristing round Bamberg.

Saturday - started off dry but the heavens opened just after we finished breakfast. After a certain amount of faffing about we went to do our beer shopping to take home and then, with the rain having  temporarily ceased, drifted to Weissenstein on the grounds that it’s literally a stones throw from the road so zero commitment. I soloed an easy route (III, so a vdiff or something?) on the left hand side which after several goes working up to it (via a bit of getting scared, a bit of messing about to build confidence, and some incremental extensions of his comfort zone higher up) miniAJM managed to toprope. He was really happy with it so that was a great result. Given its extraordinarily dense bolting MrsAJM then decided it was time for her first lead in many years to retrieve the screw gate from the top. After that, the heavens opened again! Once that stopped I got to the point of racking up for another route before they opened again. Probabky if it had just been the two of us we could have stuck it out and got some stuff done but with the kids in tow we decided the faff factor was just getting too high, so we sacked it and made a head start on some packing.

Sunday - with psyche high in the family for more leading and easy routes we packed out of the place we were staying and headed back to Weissenstein. Did a few decent low 6 things, ran support crew for topropes and lead attempts, and at the end of the day had a very rushed dog and then very British redpoint attempt on Entsafter, which I had fallen off repeatedly back in 2014. Still feels hard. Grabbed a hold all wrong above the last draw and couldn’t recover the situation. Should probably have rubbered up my knee for it to milk the rest better. And probably tried it earlier in the day to reduce the rushing!

An acquaintance of mine decided to follow a Frankenjura training programme that consisted of ticking the Weissenstein from left to right. Last I heard she had got as far as Enstsafter, but it goes rather sharply uphill from there with Krampfhammer (7c) coming up soon.

Excellent!  That's AJM sorted for next Summer then!

Thanks for your effort during the last week. It was always one of my highlights on Sunday (or Monday ) to read your stats and you have provided some valuable feedback that helped me a lot.

Yeah, it is looking good at the moment, though we need to see how much of that transfers to one-armers. My plan is to keep working on my base for the next weeks, and then do some more specific one-armer training starting end of october. Quite excited to see what will be possible then.

Recap last week:

Mon: Gym bouldering session. Flashed 3 technical 6b/6b+ boulders. Then went back to a boulder that i tried last session (i will call this the purple project for the future). Did the first powerfull move that gave me problems the last session easily first try. Then got stuck at the top part which was not an issue last session but which i just could not even repeat in isolation this session. Ended the climbing session after that one and finished the session with weigthed pullups: +10kg, 3 min P 3x10; felt harder than last session and i stopped it after 3 sets as the last one was absolutely at my limit

Tues: Rest

Wed: L-Sit 27s; handstand against the wall, 2x12 pike pushups,15 lunges, 3 pistol squats with each leg, 30 pushups and 45s V-Sit Up; tried to get one of my yearly goals of reaching 30s for L-Sit. Got really close but stopped at 27s as i noticed that my form started breaking. Still quite happy with that one, should be a matter of time before i hit that milestone.

Thur: Gym bouldering session. Felt a little bit tired during the warmup. Tried the purple project; felt better at the top but still could not due the move and lacked the power for the first move. Tried two other 6c+ where i got completely shut down. Then i tried a 16 moves endurance boulder (the yellow project) that shut me down a month ago. Got all the moves, did some good link-ups and then managed to get from the ground to move 13. Positively surprised about some unexpected progress and i think this boulder could go next session. Then flashed a bunch of easier problems in the 6b range. Finished the session with weigthed pullups + 10 kg, 3 min P: 3x10, 9 Felt better than last session and got close on the 10th rep of the last set

Fri: Rest

Sat:  L-Sit 27s; handstand against the wall, 2x12 pike pushups,15 lunges, 3 pistol squats with each leg, 30 pushups and 45s V-Sit Up;  Getting closer on the 30s L-Sit milestone. Handstand is a little bit weird at the moment; feeling really solid when i use the wall to get into a stable positions and could hold it multiple times up to 20s. But still not progress without the wall as assistance. Maybe i just need to accept that i lack coordination for a kick-up handstand and start working directly on the press-up

Sun: First outdoor session since over a month. Got back to the 7b+ from last session (Lutscher (IX-)). Manage to do all the moves and could do some good link-ups. At the end i just did not have enough in the tank for a real redpoint attempt, as it took me quite some time and skin to find the right solution, but very pleased with the progress nevertheless. The route also feels quite savage for the grade, and while it is 7b+ in the local guide book it is 7c on 8a.nu, so it is definately hard for the grade.

Review last weeks goals: 

• Get at least 7 hours sleep on every night - Check Reduced hours and especially starting time at work significantly, which helped a lot not only for training but also my general wellbeing
• Keep the bouldering sessions around 7-8/10 effort level, so that i always leave something in the tank - Check
• 4x10 weigthed pullups + 10kg with 3 min Rest - Close, but you can not expect some big progress every week

Goals next week: 

• Get at least 7 hours sleep on every night 
• 4x10 weigthed pullups + 10kg with 3 min Rest - Close, but you can not expect some big progress every week
• Send the yellow project from the last gym session

Some good progress this week, though i did send anything hard; neither in the gym nor outdoors. Finally, got my sleep schedule back in order. No i just need to ensure that it stays that way.

I booked a week long frankenjura trip for the 1st week of october, so i need to think about how i want to schedule my training for that. Probably should focus a little bit more on volume and getting some power endurance, but i think i am on a good way for that. I also thought about some goals for the trip:

• Onsight at least one 7a
• Send at least one 7b or harder

I feel like progressive overload might be best served by skipping a few things and picking up again at Dampfhammer!

We met a bunch of Brits there who said it would make the best dws crag out there if there was some decent depth underneath it. Hard to disagree. That right hand sector is a superb piece of rock.

In one session or over multiple ones???

Happy bank holiday Monday to you all great stint on the stats Derek, hopefully my stint isn't too lackluster compared to yours!

Very brief, no strings attached. Well, except the string that stops you decking

Get on it! Once you've had a few sessions acquainting with the style you might find it to be quite addictive!

Yeah it seems possible, safe enough to try solo, can work most moves from the ground, and it's only about 1h30 away. The rock in Churnet is a bit soft in most bits but it's certainly a nice place to visit. A couple access issues about still, particularly at Wright's Rock.

A good week from me, quality climbing and felt pretty strong. Picked up a very slight niggle on my left ring finger on Tuesday, so going to hold off the Moonboard for a week or two until it clears up.

Last Week:

M - Rest.

T - Moonboard. Good session. Managed a couple hardish things I'd tried in the past: "Selenium" and "Some Never Get The Change".

W - Rest.

T - Weigh in at 77.6kg. 7A (f7A). Spotted a new sequence using a really high heel, was just enough to make it work, though it's still very stiff for 7A! Tried the undercutty 6C just right and found a way to lank past it, but ran out of time. Also very hard. Don't think I'll be rushing back!

F - Rest.

S - Rest.

S - Lakeside Boulders (ogwen). Mostly a couple of fun minor problems. Wanted to get on Hipoposaurus (f7A+) but it's actually pretty spicy, wanted an extra couple pads. The midge descended so we bailed to the Cromlech to finish ourselves off on Bus Stop RH (V9). The jam beta feels slightly better than before but it's still far too painful to send.

Next Week:

M - Rest.

T - Rest.

W - Hangboard, maybe local outdoors if the weather is good.

T - Rest.

F - Rest.

S, S - Bouldering.

Goals:

Bulletproof fingers.

Ippikins 7A. Tick!

The Mentalist.

The Mentalist has been on my "should investigate" list for a while.  Drop me a line next time you're heading that way?

Over multiple years afaik

Don't forget to take some fingertape

I firmly believed Kurt Albert soloed the first ascent of Dampfhammer, but now quickly googling it I'm failing to find any confirmation of that. Güllich definitely soloed it. Just without the water.

Hi All. Thanks for the stats, Derek, both this week and the last few months. Stirling work and some really useful insights and motivation.

Week 34:

A week dogged by feeling rough. Got food poisoning on Tues eve and felt ropey on and off all week.

M: Shoulder prehab but ran out of time before doing the much-needed elbow prehab.

T: Fingerboarding then bouldering. A first for me... never done the 'pre-climbing hangs' thing before, but was looking out of the window at the sunshine whilst doing my max hangs and decided that I couldn't really face doing a strength sesh when I could be playing out! My ill-discipline was rewarded with a really productive session on one of my local bouldering projects -a new high point and optimistic this should go soon.

W: Food poisoning. Felt absolutely terrible all day. 

T: Trad at Malham. A triumph of psych over physical condition! Still felt a bit rough but managed to have a great time with SSB on Carnage (E2 5b) -brilliant route.

F: Trail run. 5.5km, 155m vert, 6:09/km. Felt awful, but good to get a brief bit of fresh air.

S: Nowt. (or maybe I could claim a bit of mild core work-out, as I tried water-skiing for the first time!).

S: Nowt.

Week 35:

M: Nowt

T: Prehab

W: Fingerboard & Strength

T: Run & Prehab

F: Bouldering

S: Run & Prehab

S: Fingerboard & Strength

STG -end Sept:

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

Climb six of my local to-do list.

Allakazam.

Ultra distance run. 

Three of my big mountain day list.

Keep injury free (elbows, hips and knees). 

MTG -end Dec:

Two big alpine routes.

Weighted Pull-up: 100kg. (need to recalibrate this... unrealistic given how I've dropped off the training wagon over summer)

Max Hangs: 95kg. (as above!)

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

2022 Climbing goals:

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

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

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

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

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

(For lists see FitClub 772)

At least two big, classic alpine goals

Avon is a place where 95% of the climbers stick to a handful of trade routes and never venture into anything else, which is a shame as there a treasure trove of areas and routes once you get stuck in. I love exploring a new bit hidden away, thats not had a visit for 10 years.

Its also the case with the likes of The Minute Waltz (E6 6c) that they are unprotected solo's, that are rare to have anyone both good and crazy enough to do them. However, with a little work/understanding, access can be got from above and they make great play things with a top rope.

I'm sorry to say I have northing to report this week, as been away on holiday.  The hole in my index finger is still not completely heeled anyway.

Week 34

M – Nowt.

T – Board warm-up, then 1-arm dead-hangs.  Crimpd timings; -14kg and -10kg as warm-up, then -4kg x6 hangs on BM2K central slot.  Not quite as good as last week; coupe of 9s hangs with RH.

“20 in 20” aero-power (actually 25 in 25): All 6C+’s; 11 problems for variety. Dropped 3 reps in total.

5x5 bench press @60kg. (Even did 6 reps on final set 😊)

W – Another fat nowt.

T – Slightly higher volume board session than normal.  6x 7A+ flashes.  Ticked a soft 7C I’d tried last week, and lots of working goes on another 7C and 3 different 8As.

Axle DL. 5x5 ~115kg.

Lift n’ OHP “Inch Dumbell” with ~27kg. (Managed OHP with ~33kg on R)

F – 23.4km flat n’ fast ride (48min).

S – Lots of walking around Rhos & Colwyn Bay.

S – Morning board session.  Kept it short – tried hard but just missed out on a 7C project from Thursday.  33kg rows and successful 80kg “Inch Dumbell” lifts with both hands.  Lots more walking around a country house. 

Ok, that sounds a little bit more reasonable . Doing it in one session would be a hell of a challenge...

Thanks for the stats Derek and great effort at Gigglewick! I can't say I've ever climbed there but I've heard good things from others. Perhaps I'll have to pay it a visit in the spring. 

Training plenty of slopers is a good shout, particularly as the Depot has a great sloper spray wall to train on. Aside from that I'm planning to do plenty of grit bouldering at the start of the season to try and train power and strength in an outdoor setting that should translate well to harder trad projects. 

No climbing for me last week as work and the wedding was so hectic. Annoyingly I've picked up a rotten cold on the flight home but still hoping to get some bouldering and strength testing done towards the end of the week, though I'm hoping to complete on a house purchase on Friday so could be in for another hectic week! 

Thank you for all the effort you've put into your stats Derek, clearly a huge effort and appreciated by all.

Mon. Spent 12 hrs carrying heavy things and building decking. Going to file this one under strength and conditioning!

Tues. 8km hill walk with the kids 

Wed. Rest 

Thurs. Yorkshire with Tom. Carnage (E2 5b) at Malham was great and managed to onsight Last Dog (7b) round at Gordale. Onsight attempt at Cave Route Right Hand ended at the little roof just below the hands off rest (beta anyone? Tyler?) but keen to go back to look at the higher section and hopefully for a redpoint.

Fri. Rest.

Sat. Indoor session at the works. Long drive south.

Sun. 8km hill walk with the kids. 

Me neither, it was really just a joke on the way we have metrics for everything and my lack of understanding of most of them.

Nope it’s pretty much unrelenting failure, as you point out I’m ok with that having spent a long time projecting routes but it’s the direction of travel that’s bothering me. I seem to be getting worse and more injured. I have a meeting with my surgeon tomorrow about the results of my various scans an x-rays (knees and hips only, still not got in contact with someone about my feet and ankles). 

M: Probably nothing

T: Went to scope the descent to the Diamond but only got as far as the traverse before turning around as I was going to cause congestion with everyone coming the opposite direction. 

W: Nowt

T: Social bouldering in the Pass, still shit on Cross Fader. Midges stopped play so did a 10 min Crimpd repeater session. Pretty pleased with how I did on this but made elbow sore so not sure I’ll do that again.
 
F: 6.5km trail run, 10.5km/h

S: DIY, got through a slew of jobs some of which were mildly physical but of more relevance is they paved the way for building a wall in the annex. 

S: Ally set me up on a blind date with his best man, we went to Castell y Gwynt. I had 4 TRs on Cruella, a really good climb and even though I was nowhere near having a RP attempt it was so good to be doing a route with lots of medium, burly moves so I was able to get a proper workout like I’ve not had in a year at least. Good day, good company, would meet again!

They are both ludicrously sandbaggy in different ways. The 6A+a involve violent leaps between jugs which leave you feeling like you’ll dislocate your shoulders. 

I can give you chapter and verse, I spent long enough on it! Send me a WhatsApp if you have any questions but it’s as good and as hard above the niche as below, which surprised me!

Giggleswick is convenient and there is quite a lot of it, rather than 'great'.  Good grade range (4 - 8b).  You don't need to wait until Spring as it is a really good winter venue.  Faces due south and gets almost no drainage.  Had good days there climbing between snow showers.

Thanks Derek.

Tales of E3 will have to wait I’m afraid. It’s been a period of recovering after covid. It was short lived but hit me hard and left me quite tired. 
 

ive not been keeping a diary so can’t quite remember what I did. I do remember my first climbing day back was at Witch’s quarry where I fell off Waxen Doll (E3 6a) more than once. Hard to read, blind holds and very sequency. Great route though. I was too tired to get back on and do it properly. 
 

I’ve done some walking, a jog and went for a very easy gym session as I build back up. I feel ok when I’m doing stuff but then afterwards I feel wiped out. 

This last week has been better though. We’re off to Lundy next Friday so fingers crossed we don’t get a third trip rained off this year……

A very short report, sadly I have put my back out, nothing major just an inevitable occurrence from previous surgery 

On the mend and know what to do to get myself active again 😂