UKC

As discussed on https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_678-7169...

All are welcome to contribute. The idea was to get some suggestions floating round about home training, different things to try, that sort of thing, to make sure that if people are stuck doing a lot more home training than they might like that there's at least some ideas for variety.

As ever, if you're making big changes to what you're doing then just take it steady, jumping straight to 5 stamina sessions a week from nothing is going to risk overuse injury and things like that.

My biggest annoyance is that I'm not going to be able to do my normal volume of walking easily.  I don't have a fingerboard setup, but I guess I could sort one out.  But I've barely been climbing much recently, so they're going to be puppy weak anyway.  I guess once I'm over this cold, then I'll start a sensible load of stretching and other home exercise.

A few thoughts from me. I know some people will just try to swap inside for outside and hit the crags, but my focus here is on moving to doing more stuff at home - let's try not to turn this into a rant about why we should/shouldn't go outside instead?

- I'm terrible at snacking at work. I also have a rampant caffeine addiction. For me, being at home removes some of the temptations and maybe gives me an opportunity to clean up my diet and trim the coffee a bit?

- are there any new techniques you could learn that it's otherwise hard to prioritise? Personally I build a little crack deadhang bar recently which I need to finish off and start using to practice some of the crack widths I'm less good at. More widely, if you want to big wall at some point is it worth a bit of time practicing the technique for hauling or something if you can sensible rig things up? Something like that?

- in terms of most common training tools, I assume they're a fingerboard and a pullup bar. You can obviously do a fair amount of antagonist and core training on the floor, and if you've got weights the scope widens. But some other things you could widen the scope with:

--- could you make a "pick up" edge to help train small holds you can't use on a fingerboard? E.g. a mono pocket or 2-finger pocket you can hang some weights or a rucksack of water off to use grips you can't use on a fingerboard

--- a TRX is easy to make from offcut rope and there's loads you can do with that if you can't get a commercial clone or a pair of rings

--- if you've got some offcut wood, then drilling a hole in the end and hanging some cord from it gives you the possibility of working on pinch strength

- exercises you might not otherwise do: I've found knee to bar (arms straight, rotate back to be parallel to the floor, knees bent, basically pulling into a tuck front lever) to be quite good for the back without aggravating the elbows, if that's a concern. Rows rather than pull-ups again hits a different set of muscles but is still relevant and with loads of progressions. If you put a chair behind a fingerboard then you can do aerobic training on it, although it is boring. If there's space on your fingerboard mount why not add a few extra holds if you think you might have to do this? 

If they're any use to you I can post you some rock rings that you can either fix to a mount or hang from an attachment point. I don't really currently use them so if they'd help with the fingerboard idea then just about.

Download crimpd app.

Loads of stuff to do on there with no equipment e.g. floor core, minimal equipment e.g. bar core, trx, pull ups, fingerboarding etc.

I suspect some people will come out of self isolation stronger than before (or injured...be careful!) 

I experimented with single finger lifts just using single pad with a sling. (Nylon, better friction than dyneema!) My individual fingers added up conveniently came to almost exactly my two handed max hang number.

It might be difficult to get hold of being very much a "non-essential" item, but when I was training for Ama Dablam I got hold of a portable luggage-scale from Amazon. I found it pretty useful for reliably weighting a rucksack with water etc.

And when all this is over, you'll find it useful for making sure you're within Easyjet (or whatever carrier survives all of this) hold luggage restrictions.

I got one for a tenner from amazon. Useful for many things, including weighing luggage.

Good idea. It reminds me that Dandan recommended mono sling leans at one point - basically chuck a sling over the bar, 1 finger in it, lean backwards - which is maybe a less measurable way of getting to the same point. I found it did help with getting my fingers recruited for pocket hangs...

I did these for a while and didn't really see any benefit,  but it probably wasn't for long enough. 

Home exercises I've found good in the past have been :

TRX (I have generally done rows,  reverse flies and IYWs but would appreciate others' suggestions if anyone has something to recommend.) 

Max hangs (relatively low contact time so even with a warm-up it's easy to fit a session into 45-60 minutes.) 

Foot on 'campusing' on a fingerboard (I used a bm2000). This (done in my cellar!) was easily the best stamina (aeropow being specific) training I have ever done. It got me up my two hardest routes without a doubt.  And each session only took 30 minutes. 

I used to do a lot of pressups, leg raises and planks but often lack sufficient motivation now. Planks are really boring! I'm going to try to do a more intense version of them.

This recent training beta podcast had some good info on core exercises for doing at home with no equipment. There is also an even more recent one about TRX training that I haven't listened to yet. 

https://www.trainingbeta.com/media/zahan-core/

Si

Yoga. Fingerboard max stength sessions. Fingerboard Ancap sessions. Some basic strength exercises including antagonists. And starting the mountain bike season.

Yoga reminds me that  this along maybe vaguely similar lines this could be that time when I actually do something about my flexibility...

I see lattice are trying to steal my thunder!

youtube.com/watch?v=FEq_QANqEmI&

Some further ideas on the other channel 

https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php?topic=30531.msg601483;topicseen#ne...

Fit Club #679 spoiler alert.

I did my first hour of TFNA Zone 2 box step-ups yesterday. I have quite a high boredom threshold for that sort of thing, and with my youtube queue carefully prepared in advance it was surprisingly tolerable.

Ask me again if I still think that in June though!

I can't run these days due to an arthritic knee. Could still go out in the woods on the mountain bike I suppose, touching nothing but the inside of my own gloves - but there are a couple of towns in Bavaria already in full lockdown and the state government is talking about extending it.

Yes! Another one joins the cult!!

No plans for monocrampon Supercouloir ascents as yet

Thanks for the offer.  Honestly I don't know how I'd attach them to the wall.  I'm rather worried about where cables and pipes are in this house after I accidentally hit an old (and I had thought shutoff) gas pipe buried in (of all places) a skirting board!

If you have or can get a doorframe pull-up bar that would probably be easiest, hang them off that....

A couple of people have already mentioned yoga, but as a means to an end.  For the next couple of months I'm making yoga an end in itself, working on some of the poses I find challenging (as well as keeping up an all-round practice). 

Climbing tends to lead to tight shoulders, hamstrings and hip flexors, so some poses may start to get easier anyway after a couple of weeks lay-off from the crags and walls.  

My starting targets are wheel, crow and headstand.  

Ok, a door frame bar has been panic bought.  Lets see if it arrives!

I'll sort myself out for rungs and trxey stuff.

You mentioned TRX? Rig the grips about foot, maybe bit less above the ground, and then stick your feet in them and hold the plank. Make it really fun by either bringing your knees to chest or tapping each hand to opposite shoulder for a while.

Thanks, that's very close to what I have tried this week since writing that post - saws and mountain climbers as discussed on a recent trainingbeta podcast 

Don’t make any big changes and go hard too soon? Oops... today I have done skipping, circuits, gripmaster (after work) and yoga (before)... 

Today I'm going to make a Bachar ladder, install it on our sturdy little oak tree, and start using it (carefully - I know they come with a health warning). 

It just occurred to me that I have plenty of spare bits of wood I could screw onto the uprights of my free standing beastmaker rig to make a crack to hang from.

Actually hanging from it might be a longer term project though - the uprights are 70mm / blue cam / really nasty off-hands size for me.