UKC

Well, that's the end of summer then! How have people dealt with the monsoons this week? Training or sulking?!

Maybe it's a good time of year to take stock... For those who don't habitually restate goals, perhaps you could include some in this week's post.

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.

For those wanting to find out more about training for climbing a number of physical training articles are linked here: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=274502 

Last week’s thread can be found here: https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_653-710499

Posters: 

AJM: Having been personally scrutinising the whole of the UK's weather in the lead up to this weekend I'm assuming you didn't manage to get out this Fri/Sat?! If you did, then big respect -obviously a good nose for dry rock! Regarding the future training plan, it sounds like a good time to go the full Dave McLeod and start building a home Woodie!  

AlanLittle: Shaken off the lurgy? Sounds like a strong effort on the roof 7a. Did it go this week? It seems like great progress with your anti-style routes. What are the latest thoughts on those MTG/LTGs?

biscuit: Solid week, and glad to hear your partner's skull is still intact! Sounds like life is pretty hectic right now... A good time to be deploying that specific week plan. With three weeks until BOB are you concentrating on any specific areas? 

Somerset Swede Basher: BSMA doesn't stand a chance with you and Ally ganging up on it! You say you're not a route climber, but with two repeater sessions last week... ;-p

Tyler: So did you manage to get enough Frankenjura beta to make sense of the place?! Although I'm more interested in your journey to the dark side -embrace the TFTNA vibes! You should definitely get ticking through those grand courses... if you don't hurry up most of them will have fallen down, given their present condition!

Ally Smith: Taking a fall off your portable fingerboard is pretty extreme! Who says there's no objective danger in  training?! Glad you made it home eventually -having come back to this shite weather I bet you've mixed feelings about it though?!

SFrancis: Glad you're feeling more on form -must be satisfying after recent times. And a pretty strong return to form, too! A great day on Friday -nice one! I'm guessing you canned Pembroke. Did the rain give you time to mull over those STG/LTGs?

Paul16: Good varied week. It sounds like you've got a decent strategy in place to start upping the endurance and it seems to be delivering already. Hope you shook the virus off before it took too much of a hold?!

the sheep: Sounds like a great run on Saturday. Was the bike mending successful? -all fine-tuned for the next tri?!

Steve Jones: I'm thinking with this week's rain biking inside has been a bit more appealing?! If slopers and thug moves seem to have room for improvement then I think your current plan and goals will deal with that over time (once you bring in some specific finger strength work, etc). In the mean time, it may be worth making an effort to mix up the grip types you use -a bit less crimp and a bit more half-crimp or open hand. You could even try repeating problems that you've just done in your normal style, with different grip types. 

Ardo: Sounds like a great week. Where were your kingfishers? -not seen one for ages! Hows the van coming on?

Bones: The run-coaching sounds interesting? What were the techniques inefficiencies that were picked up on? I'm always wary of changing natural gait, from an injury point of view. Was that discussed at all?

Tom Green: More organised with the prehab now?!

Liamhutch89: 200kg deadlift? -BEAST! The finger strength work should also help with the slopers… what programme are you following for the max hangs?

guy127917: Satisfying when the training puts you in a position to 'off-the-couch' objectives! I guess that works well for more physical-less techy stuff, whereas the more techy stuff starts to see a bigger need for specific mileage. Have you got fixed on those three problems? One move per sesh requires more patience than I have for board problems -which is probably why I never improve!!

Niall_li: Glad you had a great time in Font. Sounds pretty productive... another autumn trip on the cards to finish of Egoiste?! Interesting observation about the static vs more momentum-based movement. How has that translated to this weeks training/climbing?

Powderpuff: Lock-offs are the worst! Some pull-ups/eccentrics/isometrics to be added to the other work-outs?

planetmarshall: Good effort on CME. Bodes well for Antalya! How have those endurance sessions gone this week? Mixing up the aerocap and pow?

mattrm: Glad the psyche is high. I reckon you probably had better weather in the lakes than I've just come back from this weekend! Hows the point counting been this week?

ianstevens: Welcome back! Exciting stuff with the lattice assessment! Have you got started on your plan now? What are your goals for this brave new world?!

MIA: outdoors.nick; Rebecca Ting.

Not Friday, but Portland was fine on Saturday until the rain arrived about 4 - I’m assuming Swanage would have been similar and ever so slightly later. Some good sunshine in the morning.

i have been wondering about an actual (not foot on) campus board. However, my local wall seems to be doing some expansion at the minute (one of the reasons is that they only have medium size campus rungs, and whilst that’s good for the power/distance aspect I think small ones would be better for the contact strength) so I’ll wait and see what they’re building before doing too much.

So, Portland Saturday. Nice sunny start, if blowy, walked over to Road Rage (7b+), classic 7b+, sheltered from the wind and nicely in the sun. However on the walk over I spied someone abseiling down direct down the line, using the direct abseil approach rather than the walk in. It turned out to be no other than fellow fitclubber SFrancis, who identified me from nothing but my location as “AJM”. They were getting stuck straight into RR, so we warmed up on a nice 6a+ and then did a good 7a, No Turn Unstoned (7a), second go - in my case because the sequence was hard to see without some key holds chalked, and in hms’ because she was robbed of a solid cruisey flash by snapping a hold after all the difficulties. I had a very quick pull on the start of Illusions, and decided that it’s nails and I need to work out how to climb it better. Shoulders a bit sore by then so opted to skip a turn on Road Rage. Hms put in a solid effort, flashed it up to the crux, fell off, and then bolt to bolted to the top, but basically figuring the bulk of the crux moves out first go. “Just my kind of route” apparently, and it showed! Psyched for a go on this with better shoulders. With the idea of a wet boulder beach retreat preying on our minds slightly we retreated to Neddyfields where I did a 6b+ and 6b before the rain arrived. A good day stolen from the weather!

fingers crossed the weather improves. For the minute I’m just getting out where I can and trying to do pre-baby admin the rest of the time, not really focused on training stuff, I’ll swap that in if I can’t climb at all and when I wind the season up in a few weeks (assuming the weather allows any more, of course!) I’ll start looking ahead and doing some training...

i got some useful stuff from AJM (which I didn't thank him for on last week's thread so thanks AJM) and an offer to maybe meet up with Alan which would be great if it came to pass).

I probably overstated it saying grandes courses, I'm not sure if I've ever done a single one, what I should have said was some decent big-ish routes which, if I ever get fit and confident enough might include something properly big. Who knows, I've been talking that old shit for thirty years and I've never been less suited to it than I am now, but it's good to dream!

This week I've done nothing but add to my UNESCO world heritage site ticklist.

​

Thanks Tom, great stats as always. Unfortunately BSMA also doesnt stand a chance at being dry at the moment so no look at it this week! I do repeaters as I've never really known what else to do but with Wk2 of weighted hangs (which I'm loving by the way) I think that could all change! Decided I'm going to do a weighted hangs session once a week over the winter and see if this revolutionises my finger strength. Having not really done this before I'm hoping for massive gains! Added another 2kgs this week but building it up slowly as I've no history of weights or weighted hangs and I felt beasted after last week's. 

Mon. Rest

Tues. 12km run

Wed. New repeaters fingerboard session. Far more structured than usual. 3x 3sets of 6 hangs all on the 28mm edge. Didn't fail anywhere so going to up the reps to 7 next week. All bodyweight. 

Thurs. Rest. 

Fri. Tor session. Happy to find it dry. Did Shades of Grey (f7C) but from the higher start. Possibly still sneaks in at 7C, the sit is definately low 7C+. Nice to tick something at the Tor without a huge protracted seige!

Sat. Trip to Decathlon to buy weights. Lost mini swede in the shop for a while - minor panic - found him hiding in a tent giggling. Weighted hangs session 6 x 10sec hangs +25kg on the 28mm edge. Think I'm going to ask for a new fingerboard or one of the lattice training edges for Christmas. Could do with a smaller hold.

Sun. 5km run. Watched the monsoon with dismay. 

Yep target problems are:

Invisible polar bear, have technically done all the moves but it has a really hard cross through I can only do if really fresh, will take a will to send I think

Seraphic Squid, a pretty hard side pull sequence

Uncomplaining shrew, the first route i set on the board, just a hard finish move to go,

Personable Fling, done all the moves, need to string them together

Mile End V4, (given 7A+... you do the math) - havent tried yet but looks fun.

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Really good board session with impromptu partner

Wednesday: Football

Thursday: 45 mins run, shorter board session, didnt feel 100%- not sure if from previous session or cardio. IT band/lower back definitely quite tight.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 1:40 slow run, felt really good

Sunday: 45 mins faster run, felt great.

This week will be 3 runs, 3 climbing sessions including 1 integrated strength session experiment, football, and hopefully some routes on sunday!

STG - 14st

MTG - Goblin Girl (6b) 6c at Navigation, then WFD

LTG - Definitely bouldering, bearing in mind Trad will be hard for the next few years...

Weight - 14st 5lbs (4lbs loss)

M - 3 miles walk

T - 6 miles walk

W - 3 miles walk

T - Rest

F - Indoor routes

S - Rest

S - Firewood chopping

Quite a nice weight loss along with some actual climbing.  I largely managed to keep the DQS scores fairly high this week.  Mostly above 10 apart form the first day which was a 0.  I do have them written down, just not to hand.  Obviously decent DQS scores, does mean that you loose a lot of crap food bloat.  Hence the inital dump.  Also being fairly fat means that (least I find this) you can drop quite a bit of weight fairly easily.  But it's a lovely mental boost to have dumped off so much weight in just one week.  Makes keeping going so much easier.  I really hope this means that I'll be at the STG soon. 

Averages are also really nice.  I'm not sure if it's actually possible to hit 50% at this point, but I'm happy with this month either way.  Especially as August was awful.  I'm hoping to keep rolling through October and I might even manage a 60% month, which would be great.  Also I'm posting on a Sunday, which is pretty shocking as well.

Sept - 58%

YTD - 41%

Cheers for stat'ing Tom. Bit of a fail this week - virus laid me low all week so very little happened. On the plus side the virus seems to have gone now so back to normal this week. Managed one antag and recovery session on Monday, rest of the week literally did nothing except work and sleep. Feeling a bit frustrated but got to accept that's life and crack on anyway.

So, this week the plan is:

M - AW Stockport on the auto-belays doing endurance
T - Bike to work
W - Antagonistic, core and recovery work
T - AW Stockport or Rockover on power endurance
F - Bike to work
Weekend - Depends on the weather (should fit some MTB in and either a crag trip or an indoor session)

STG: Adopt a training regime and stick to it
MTG (March 2020): Redpoint Rubicon 7a at WCJ & Kiss Me Hardy 7a+ at Chee Dale Upper, head point San Melas E3 5c at Roaches
LTG (Sept 2020): Redpoint Brachiation Dance or Garderobe at WCJ both 7b+

Morning Team!

Not a lot to report this week - first few days were still in Greece and first time o rock in 2 weeks was a shock to the system. Feeling fat and weak. Maybe time for a training boot-camp...

Week 39

M – Jolly up Mt Ainos; 1650m, but mostly driving apart from last 100m height gain.

T – Attempted travel home from Greece. Spent whole day at airport. Felt slightly grotty.

W – Finally got home at lunchtime despite initially being bumped off Ryanair replacement flight (190 seats on a B737-800 vs 220 on a Thomas Cook A321)

T – Nowt – catching up with work

F – Also nowt

S – Tor. Dogged then RP’d Indecent Exposure (7c) from the floor. Quick play on Mecca – concluded my groin didn’t like it and that I might never climb this route, because:

- wrist position on crux to horn causes pain within 3 goes

- I'm so bloody bunched on the first move I can't get my weight over my foot

- My front 3 open-crimp strength is woefully short of what's required

- I can only train the last one of those...

Quick refresh on short Chimes – might get back on the 8b link Unfinished Sympathy (8b)

S – Granpa in-law 90th b’day. Hearty roast dinner and much tea & cake. Felt a bit grotty in the evening but doesn’t seem to have come to anything this morning.

Cheers Tom, bike is running sweetly again. Had bit of a poor week, hernia pressure starting to increase so held back a bit. However doesn't  seem to be getting any worse now so may well head out running again.

Week went as follows;

Monday, 1km swim

Tuesday, rest

Wednesday, 1km swim and 21km ride home

Thursday, 2km swim bringing up the year goal of 200km. Now to see how far i can push the total

Friday, 1km swim

Weekend, county cross country and swim galas for the kids

Not translated thus far would be the answer! Didn't really incorporate any new drills in to work on it and this weeks training was a bit patchy, I'm chalking it down to having had life sorting to do after holidays! Although pretty happy with my strength level, particularly after just climbing and no training for 2 weeks

STG (end of year) - Carbide 7A @ Fairhead (If weather plays ball hopefully get on it this weekend)

MTG (1 year) - 7B

LTG  (5 year) - 8A by 40

M - Climbfit - good session, campussing was feeling surprisingly easy. new pb on the weighted pull ups of +40KG finally got to 50% of bodyweight! Weighted dips were a no go due to a touch of font elbow

T - Rest

W - Went to a gig + beers

T - Rest

F - pyramid of weighted pull-ups up to +40KG, +20KG on my 1/2 crimp deadhangs, +7.5KG on my 2 finger pockets (front 2) and -7.5kg on my 10mm edges (really want to work on getting the 10mm to bodyweight). Followed by a session seeing where i'm at on my board, old projects are feeling not too bad now, so spent some time coming up with and working on some new problems

S - Rest

Su - Boulderworld session of general climbing. Was feeling pretty good, black problem went down 2nd go. All the footholds felt huge post Font

The main bit of advice was to try to lift my knees higher and to use my arms more - I lose a lot of energy into the ground rather than using it to be 'springy'.

Arms: I only move my arms minimally in front of me and towards each other. She told me that when I swing my arms I should exaggerate the movement by bringing my elbows back behind me and then forward further keeping my arms parallel and my forearms at right angles with my upper arms - using them to propel me forward. 

Legs: I am losing too much energy through my feet when I get tired and I could be springier (easier said than done!) She said to bring my knees up further making more effort to use the front of my foot and not my heel. I'm not aware that I use my heel much when I am running but working on these things definitely gets me going faster although it currently feels quite tiring as it's not that natural yet.

We didn't actually talk about injuries but I will ask when I next see her. I had calf pain the day after training but no pain/niggles since. I'm not that prone to running injuries and having a neutral gait which probably helps - I think it should be fine as long as I ease into the technique. I have been trying to run like this the past week - but being forgetful and dropping the technique quite regularly has meant I have taken it quite easy!

I think I have probably been indoors too much this year as I hadn't really taken much notice of the change in weather!

OK, restating goals is probably a very good idea. They might vary a bit after this week but I have jotted some down for now.

666 goal: front lever - in progress

STG:
- Warmup on the training wall at Mile End. The climb is called 'Warmup' so not great for my ego.
- purple route in monkey house (F6b?)
- Raw Deal woody problem at Barber's Gym (6a+)
- Great South Run, 10 miles, 20 October
- attempt a V6-8 route per session at Mile End or similar at other walls
- 10 muscle-ups using the purple and red bands
- regular 5 days of front lever work per week
- 4 x 20kg pull-ups

MTG:
- muscle up
- front lever
- one rep 32kg weighted pull-up. I haven't measured my max 1 rep in a while but last week I did 2 x 20kg pull-ups and am fine doing 5 x 12.5kg so imagine I can go heavier.
- being able to climb a Mile End V6-8 problem after a few sessions

LTG: 
- muscle up and front lever might be better off in here but I am being hopeful
- 20 pull-ups
- flash 5 V6-8 routes at Mile End

Mon: rest

Tues: morning gym, clean and press, floor press etc. Bouldering at Mile End.

Weds: gym with band-assisted muscle-ups, dragon flags etc. and then in the afternoon a 1 hr 13min nasal breathing only run

Thurs: Evening boulder at Mile End - flashed a very easy route on the training board called 'Beginner' or 'Noob' or 'Weakling' something like that...

Fri: gym - 3 sets of 5 weighted pull-ups (120, 12.5, 12.5kg) and 5 dips (5kg) and 16 min interval run

Sat: 1hr 40 slow run

Sun: rest

So yeah the plan is to carry on with a mixture of AeroCap and AeroPow workouts between now and Nov, with the odd strength session for maintenance purposes.

Wed  - AeroCap. 2 sets of 7 on the 6b (Red) circuits at Sheffield Depot. 1 minute on, 1 minute off. 10mins between sets.

Thu - Strength Triad at Substation Macclesfield. Pinks and Reds

Fri - Some routes at MCC - just a social session.

Sat - AeroPow. 'Broken Quaters' on the 6c (Blue) circuits at Sheffield Depot. 4 sets, each circuit broken into 4 sections with 15s rest. Beer.

Sun - Hungover.

STG

Endurance work again. Try and get at least one roped session in and don't skip the beginning of the week.

MTG

Antalya beginning November - Still forming a ticklist (Thanks FC for suggestions)

Freedom is a Battle (Short) (7a)

Cheers Tom. Yes life is busy atm and only going to get more so. But the plan is working so far. Fingers crossed.

Another steady week, which is what I need atm.

I’m going to add some actual structure to my climbing sessions now, just at a low level and see how manageable that is.

Last week

Mon – climb before coaching good session. Tried a few V6’s. New set every Monday. I start at 6 so get to play on them for a couple of hours. If I do that it’ll mean I’m always on a new wall/angle each week and will force me to have a go at the ones I’d normally avoid

Tue – Quick session after work? it was a quick session. Didn’t warm up enough and had shoulder problems when I got to V5. Lesson learned. Bailed

Wed – join in with benchmark testing (max hangs and lactate curve) Demoralising! Lack of mid-range fitness was not a surprise but I had to take 12kg off bodyweight to hang the mid bottom BM2000 rung on my right. Left was even worse, due to my shoulder I think. Previously (albeit a long time ago) I was 6kg off. Gains to be made.

Thur – Leg/shoulder rehab climbed instead. Got my first BUK V6 in a long time. And it was a vertical one. I feel like I’m getting back on track. Made progress on a couple of others

Fri – Leg and shoulder done

Sat – Climb after work? v busy at the wall and was tired so skipped it

Sun –  Leg and shoulder Not done. Went climbing and did a round of a Summer Boulder League at Kendal wall

Diet - over 25 DQS and 100g protein. managed 4/7 days. Protein was the let down again this week. I’ve now got some protein powder to solve this

Plan for this week:

Doing this to then compare what I manage and don’t manage.

 Mon – climb on the new the comp problems from the weekend before work.

Tue – Legs/shoulder

Wed – Routes after coaching

Thur – indoor/outdoors. Not decided yet.

Fri – Busy weekend so probably just legs/shoulder work

Sat –

Sun -

Long term goals

7c in 2020 – route to be decided. Would make sense to look at Chapel Head/Hollywood bowl

Medium Goals 2-6 mths (Nov to April)

Costa Blanca trip after Xmas. 9 days of climbing potentially.

Onsight 7a x 4

RP 7b in a day

After trip change back to strength training until end of Feb.

7B (outdoors) in Winter 2019/2020 – Ned’s Problem and Discohesion sit. One steep and one vert.  

666 fit club goals

6 x V6 vert – 4 done

6 x V6 off vert – 3 done

6 x V6 steep – 4 done

To be done at BUK for ‘proper’ grades

Short term goals 1-2 mths (to mid Nov)

Battle of Britain 19th October

Rehab left shoulder in time for BOB going well atm

Rehab niggly elbows in time for BOB not got any worse despite lots of volume

Leg strengthening. Pistol squats bi laterally by BOB (can do one (ish) on my right leg only atm)

After BOB change to fitness for Spanish trip

Do some fitness even after a bouldering session

Diet– DQS 25+ per day. 100g+ protein.

Shook off the lurgy, yes, but doing so involved not going to the wall during the week.

STG (Tuesday): Plastic roof 7a proj.

MTG (Sunday): Frankenjura long weekend with decent weather forecast coming up. Get up *something* decent, and hopefully have a beer with Tyler

LTG: Rethink in progress

M: Beastmaker: crimpd max hangs. Completed the full routine at correct weight & timings for the first time: result!
T: 
W: Beastmaker: crimpd re-benchmark after eight max hangs sessions in four weeks. And blow me they worked! Built up to a seven second max of +20kgs, four kilos improvement on last time - way more than I expected, would have been pleased with two. Doubtless some element of noob gainz / learning the test protocol, not all actual genuinely getting stronger, but some of it must be.
T:
F: 
S: South Tyrol sport climbing, Latsch. Went for the long drive south because everywhere north of the Alps was forecast for rain, and got back on a "project" I last had a go on three or four years ago. Was hoping I might be stronger now, but as it turned out my best attempt was a one-hang two moves lower than my previous high point. Fantastic route though - gently overhanging wall on crimps, to a bulge at ten metres on bigger holds, then a stroll to the chains on huge jugs. Technical crux at the start, redpoint crux at the bulge. Definitely want to get back on this - but with a spell of power endurance training first.
S: Latsch. No chance whatsoever of any decent goes on The Proj today - hot, skin shot. Some desultory mileage on easier routes before the big drive home.

The problem I have at the moment is that I'm making progress in two of the three disciplines - plastic & wood - but it isn't carrying over to performance where it actually counts, on rock. On the one hand: this happens, and it might be just a sign that I need to change things up a bit. Haven't bouldered enough for ages now & was in any case planning to do one more beastmaker cycle, then follow up with a few weeks moonboarding. 

But - and this is a big but - at my age (58) there's always the lurking dread that a performance dip might be not just a dip but the beginning of the permanent end of athletic performance aspirations. Which is inevitable long term, but I have no short term plans to take it lying down. Rage against  dying of light etc.
 

Yea, I go a couple of turbo session in.

Hadn't thought about trying to climb routes in a different way. There's just the way I know i can do them and I stick to that, but it's a good idea given that the routes don't change that regularly so I do repeat them quite a lot!

My 'big' news (which was from today so technically should be in next weeks report) is that I had my first trad fall

M - 45 mins easy ride (indoors), 40 mins weights 

T - Rest

W - 2 hrs doing routes at the wall

T - am: 40 mins weights; pm 45 min turbo intervals

F - Rest (hungover)

S - 45 mins weights

S - 45 mins weights

With the weights I'm basically doing 5x5 squats (75kg) or bench press (48.5kg) then in the recovery between set (5 mins) filling that with pull-ups (5 or 6) and/or other ancillary exercises (4 or 5 exercises in each 'rest').

Summary for this month:

Number of climbs = 14
Number of exercise sessions = 29
Number of days with exercise = 23 (76%)

Thanks for the stats as always.

Is both an option?

Yes, I always use this time of year to set goals so thanks for the reminder that it needs doing! 

STG: Establish good routines (new (academic) year, new me), evidenced by completing (or at least trying to complete) all planned sessions. Keep on the fit club posts(!).

MTG: Get up a 7A+ by the end of January

LTG: 7B boulder AND 8a route by 8th October 2020 (specificity may align with a milestone birthday...)

I'm a bit sceptical as to how realistic the LTG is - but prepared to take stock at the end of the 12 week lattice block and see where I'm at.

Haven't got started on the plan yet as I haven't received it; hoping to get in by the start of next week so that I can get cracking. Part of moving across the country now means I have access to better facilities and less travel time to get to actual decent quality rock, so I'm quite excited to seize the opportunity. Downside is that I don't have (m)any climbing partners here yet, but I'm sure that can change. I expect it to reveal I'm a bit weak in the shoulders, especially in terms of pulling power, but this is purely based on an anecdotal comparison of results with friends. Shall update you in due course naturally!

Last week:

M: Wall (Aber) - warm up, 3 x 7A/+ for 20 mins each. 1 top.

T: Moving furniture (definitely felt like training - 2 flights of stairs!)

W: 1) Yoga; 2) Bike commute + errands 12.2km, 79m (yes, I'm one of those now); 3) Carrying furniture again (but upstairs and with a lift)

T: 1) Yoga; 2) Wall (Valley) - easy warm up (<6A), 5x5on/off BM2k hangs, entire red circuit (24 problems, 5c-6c, flashed all bar 2), 4 x 1-2-3-4 and 4 x 1-3-4 on the campus board. 3) Bike commute 10km, 94m

F: 1) Yoga; 2) BC 8.3km, 59m

S: Sitting on trains followed by excessive drinking as I wished Wales goodbye

S: More moving (again, felt like training whilst crimping hard on the feet of a fridge freezer!). Late train home.

I'm not following any particular protocol but generally doing 3 x max (after progressive warm up) for 10s as many times a week as I can which is usually anywhere between twice and every day. I don't find them too taxing on the body recovery wise so every day is fine so far when I can fit it in. I also see good results from adding in lots of forearm hypertrophy work. 

This week is mostly a write off for training as I'm on a family holiday in Croatia. I did manage to find some DWS and climbed the hardest route there at 7a before jellyfish swarms ended the session. Back on it next week 

Hi all! Hope it's OK that I join in. I'm mega motivated right now so this seems like a great outlet, for feedback and ideas and also not to bore my poor friends to death.

Last week looked like :

M - rest

T - work trip to London, so I scheduled a 2h climbing assessment / coaching session to have someone point out what I'm doing wrong. Incredibly helpful, he spotted immediately that I am using all my energy in my fingers/arms to keep from hanging on my shoulders (old injury) and likely the root cause of my finger and elbow injuries.

Came away with heaps of tips about technique, training, and advice to aim for 7b+ in the next 12 months, and 7c in the next 2 years. Given that I only climbed my first 7a a couple of weeks ago this is kind of ambitious! But why not shoot for the moon

W - rest

Th - indoor bouldering

F, Sa, Su - visited relatives, felt a bit under the weather

STG (between now and Xmas): Tick Vesleofen 7a, Brun Skjorte 7a, try Prosessen 7a+. Get some bouldering in when the route season ends mid October. Sport climbing trip in December, try to tick some 7as and maybe a 7a+. 

MTG (2020): 7b+ I suppose, which sounds ridiculous to me right now. Spring trip to Scottish islands (tbd), autumn trip to Taghia. 

LTG: TBD! 7c?

PS what is the 666 thing?

Absolutely no training, but not a sulk either. Saw the weather forecast and took the week as van/DIY/rest, so nothing to report.

On the Calder, in what turns out to be the wildlife centre of England, around Dewsbury.

Van progressing nicely. Could have made more progress, but that would be less climbing, so swings and roundabouts. Enough done to be heading off an a road trip starting on Font. Smiley face emoji.

Another OKish week. Mixed success cramming in the intended sessions, but some good days...

Week 39:

2/3 hours Z1. 1/2 Climbing Sessions. 1/2 Core and Strength Sessions. 2/3 Prehab Sessions.

M: Rest

T: Hill Run. Fab blast up the Watkin Path and down S Ridge of Snowdon. 126min Z1. 16km at 7:55/km. 1037m vert gain (Braap, Braap!) Steep and techy.

W: Indoor Climbing. Max hangs and ARC sesh. 

T: Shoulder Prehab.

F: Core and Max Strength.

S: Shoulder Prehab.

S: Canadian Canoeing around Windermere. (Trial sesh to see whether open boats would be more fun the sea kayaks for the Caledonian Canal next Spring... spoiler -they won't!)

Week 40 Plan:

3 hours Z1. 30 min Z3. 

3 Climbing Sessions.

2 Core and Strength Sessions.

3 Prehab sessions of TheraBand exercises (12 reps; 3 sets) (elbow exercises to be added the following week).

STG (End Oct):

Front Squat 3RM: 55kg (Currently 45kg #gainz)

Deadlift 3RM: 65kg (Currently 50kg #alsogainz)

Ice tool One-arm Hangs: +5kg BOTH arms (somehow jumped up to +6kg TICK!)

Minimum 500m running vert gain per week (Ongoing Avg 759m)

Redpoint Subculture (M6+) and Don't Tumble (M6+)

Tick off 666 goal routes.

MTG (End Dec):

666 Goals

Redpoint Jaz

Two big alpine routes from my little black book!

Welsh 3000s in a day.

LTG (End March 2020):

Scottish VII

Two winter alpine routes from my little black book!

SkiMo summit (TBC).

666 Goals:

6 Crack routes of each size (Fingers 2/6; Hands 4/6; Fists 0/6; Offwidth 1/6)

6 Roof routes (1/6)

6 E-points in a day

Thanks for doing the doing the stats as always.

No Pembroke as expected, but did manage to sneak out for a sport trip on the Saturday, and great minds and all those cliches, met AJM and Helen (HMS?), at the crag with same plans. 

Week 23rd -  29th

M: Max hangs 5 x 95kg 1/2 crimp, 4 x 3 finger OH 90kg, linked boulders, TRX - core

T: Treated to endoscopy, one of the most unpleasant procedures I have endured recently, 25 min gentle jog afterward to try and recover.

W: Warm up, woody session - cutting loose practice, TRX - IYT. Watched a lecture given by the AAC on "unclimbed peaks in Krgyistan". Inspiring stuff, I have only really heard of the Ak Su Valley, and had Perestroika crack on a LTG.

T: Woody session, 5 on 3 off.

F:  Pull ups (~94 kg 4 x 3 reps), Core workout.

S: Headed to Portland, to try Road Rage (7b+), a great route, a bit of skin eating top crux. Met AJM and HMS. Worked the moves, but ran out of skin for the top bit before I was really happy with my beta, bottom section was reasonable. Strong onsight attempt by Helen good to watch. I have to admit the top part was a bit harder than I was expecting off of very sharp holds given the UKC comments of "no hard moves...". I will definitely be having two rest days and ensuring my skin is in great condition before I try again, but i think fresh it would be a good proposition.

S: 8km z2 jog.

Next weeks goals:

Last week before a two week trip to Greece, one week to hopefully finish paragliding qual, and second week in Kalymnos. No real goals for the trip, although I should at least try Priapos, and there's a couple of routes in the Sikati 7a-7b that i would like to do but its a short trip, and it would be nice to get my GF up a few things.

MTG/ LTG

Have a work trip middle of November which lends itself to a couple of days in Verdon, so have recruited a partner to do "la Demande".

Have booked a 3 week trip to Geyikbeyiri over Christmas / new year, and this will now be my main focus of training.

UK sport routes will depend on the weather but my preference is to concentrate on portland wishlist: Road rage, ZoM, HoM

At least bouldering day/weekend to tick a font 7, aim for a 7B.

Hi Tom, 

Ill look into lock offs ....good point.

Monday: felt tired after a Saturday night of curry and beer! Reclimbed two v4 and one v5 problem, then worked on a v6 and a v7 I've tired previously. 2 sets of 20 press up and sit ups, 2 sets of 10 leg raises and eccentric wrist curls.

Thursday: still tired....found it hard to get going, still cimbed the two v4 and one v5 problem I've climbed alot over the last month of wall sessions. Tried the two v6 and one v7 problems I've been working on over the last month, this was probably the last chance to climb them before a reset, nevermind!

Sun: felt tired but after a warm up felt better and managed 6 max hangs on the beastmaker , 3 sets of 20 push ups and sit ups, 3 sets of 10 leg raises and eccentric wrist curls.

Weight 11st 6

Need to do theraband next week as this got neglected this week....and get back on the bike which I havnt done all week! Naughty naughty