UKC

UKC Fit Club is a substitute for the UKC training diary which was promised in 2006 and shamefully has yet to appear. I have linked a number of physical training articles here: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=274502 (this may be reproduced as an FAQ on the Articles page at some stage).

A new thread is posted each week on Sunday evening for anyone to jot down their previous week’s activity, noting goals, successes and failures and to swap ideas.

Anyone interested in starting is very welcome but 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 to help achieve your goals whatever the level of your chosen activity.

40 diary entries last week.

Many diarists were conspicious by their absence last week...

Repeat contributors last week:

IainRUK
skivingbluecat
PaulB
Andy Farnell
tobyfk
Serpico
Jenn
mbh
WEBBO
TimS
TRNovice
craigd
biscuit
andy reeve
tbertenshaw
Richard Hession
AJM
abarro81
trevf
SARS
Karl Woofinden
Goonie
richardkirby
mattyork2
Paul748
Derbyshire Ben
rginns
catt
Reese
stuckonarock
Jack Geldard
Mr Justice Cocklecarrot
Jake Shaw
MattG
Tony Fryer
necromancer85
Burnsie

2 New starters/returners

Steve Ramsden
Mark Westerman

20 Absentees last week:

Tyler
Wibble Wibble
CJD
davidwright
jfw
Duncan Disorderly
jon barton
fimm
iain roberto
Burns
the colonel
kipper (the original one)
Si d H
ebygomm
loulou
Mark Stevenson
seankenny
Tom Briggs
galpinos
mkean

In reply to Simon Lee: Me first, me first!!
Monday: Rest.
Tuesday (xmas day!!): 28 miles on bike.
Wednesday: Rest...
Thursday: 13 miles on bike, Awesome walls session.
Friday: 1.5 hrs bouldering and traversing at Awesome.
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 36 miles on bike. Some VERY big, steep hills...

Im now watching what i eat more closely and trying to eat less carbs. In doing so ive managed to be bothered to cook marinated chicken and vegetables and salad for my dinner. It was yummy. <licks lips>
Til next week...

In reply to Simon Lee:

M: 90 sit ups
T: Rest
W: 90 sit ups, 15 push ups
Th: 15 push ups
F: Climbing wall, overhanging power bouldering session
S: rest
S: rest

In reply to Simon Lee: Thanks for the links btw, Simon. Ill take a look at those later.
Just how long do you spend collating who's posted and who's not each week?!

In reply to Simon Lee:
M- bouldering and 65 move circuits at bristol wall
T- core
W-
T- core
F-
S- mileage elliminate bouldering at avon
S- sport up to 7a+ at wyndcliffe quarry, shit venue but mostly dry

Good amount of stretching and antagonists but still seem to be unable to shake slight elbow niggles.

Pre-easter hols: 3 more E6s onsight/flash, headpoint EOTA, WSS (DONE), 7C (DONE), learn to climb cracks (E5 on fingers, E3 on hands and arms)
LTGs (next summer): E7 onsight, F7c onsight, F8a+

In reply to Simon Lee:

Erm, you'll all be pleased to here this. I mainly ate cake and meat and did very little in the way of climbing. Might have done a 7a+ font at the works, and a few 6c/6c+ flashes. So not all doom and gloom.

Plans in the short term & this year;

Going to scotland on new years day, 2 days of winter, then i will be back to running 20+ mile every week and training on my board 4 nights a week. I need to get strong for the summer, i am going back to Mello to try a sport route i 'dicked' around on this summer, it goes at 8a, my mate reckons the crux is well within my range, so i'll have a bash and let you all know.

My other aspirations are, to get to the alps in the summer and do some of the 'classic' routes, onsight E3 on trad, do Rubicon at water-cum Jolly, be able to on-sight 7a sport routes.

And maybe a 5 minute mile, i don't want much do i.

In reply to skivingbluecat:

I print off the list from last week - tick off down the list then use cut and paste. Probably takes 25 minutes. I sometimes email reminders as well midweek if I have a chance which takes about the same length of time. That said, I had hoped that the proper UKC climbing diary would be up by now.

If anyone fancies taking over for a while, I would be very grateful.

In reply to Simon Lee:

STG: To be done by end of Jan RP fr6c inside.

MTG: Redpoint 7a and on-sight 6c on Easter bolt clipping trip to El Chorro.

LTG: Lead E3 6a

Not a good week. After last weeks timetabled rest week i was after a decent week with a couple of days off for Xmas.

Managed 1 fingerboard session and 1 core session before falling foul to the lurgy AGAIN ! Very, very annoying.

Am still coughing and spluttering tonight and i'm off in the van for 3 days in Scotland tomorrow. No training/climbing there either i'm with the family.

If i am well again on Thursday that will make nearly 3 weeks and i will not fit in my new salopettes i've just ordered with my Xmas money :0(

In reply to Simon Lee:

Do you think that by doing what you have done - which is brilliant by the way - you have somewhat taken away their incentive to produce the diary ?

Shall we launch a petition onto the editors or vote to have the right to strike ?

In reply to biscuit:
Since this started I've started using Outlook again for my training diary. It works very well, and I did try stopping posting on here, but then the threatening emails started...

In reply to Simon Lee:
hi there,
have just joined the site today and spent the day looking at all the great stuff on here.
your fit club sounds like a great idea.how would i go about getting started.

In reply to Simon Lee:

M - S: Rest, and Olympic standard pie eating.

In reply to greenanne:

You just have. Post what your aims are ( if you want ) and every Sun evening come on and say what you've been up to.

In reply to Serpico: then the threatening emails started...

I hear you have very strong fingers, it would be a real shame if anything nasty happened to them. Thank you for volunteering to start the next 5 weeks of Fit Club threads.

In reply to Simon Lee:

Keep up the good work.
Perhaps a bit of pressure on UKC for the training diary is needed ?

Anyway here we go ...


Goals (weather dependant)
Work on the indoor Goal (F7a Redpoint)
Redpoint D7 Drytool route I worked last autumn. 2 flippin moves, i dont know how you sporties can hack this working routes lark.
Get loads of tech 6 & 7 milage in and hopefully lead VII,7 buy the end of the winter now that i'm a full time winter climber.

M Nothing
T No exercise and ate far too much for christmas
W 7k Trail Run out of guilt.
T Bouldering Ratho
F Nothing
S Nothing
S Winter route

In reply to Burnsie: Goals: Austrian Oak , Rumble in Jungle and Hasse route in 2008 and sub 1.35 in Taunton Half Marathon in May and Abissi at Arco in June.

M.
T.
W. 30 mins on Green Traverse
T. Foundry - bouldering longish session
F. 6 mile run
S. Played with new Rock Rings. 8 mile run.
S. Rock Rings - 20 min session

In reply to Simon Lee:

STG: Maintain fitness and build up climbing strength. January 10 mile fell race.
MTG: Improve flexibility
(V!)LTG: Lead E1

M: Down to Cornwall for Christmas.1 hour easy run along the cliff tops.
T: Two big walks with the dogs but on the whole a very, very lazy day.
W: 6 mile steady fell run with the dog.
T: Nowt
F: Hideous, hideous hangover
S: 45 minute road run. Pull ups, sit ups and lots of stretches.
S: 6 mile steady fell run. Was busier than the sales up on White Rocks. Pull ups, sit ups and lots of stretches.

I’ve largely been following the mince pie/red wine/Cadbury’s celebrations diet for the past week, but supplies are now starting to run low.

Not had chance to climb at all but will sort that out over the next week, along with the reintroduction of nutrients to my diet.

In reply to stuckonarock: Celebrations are made by Mars. Know your chocolate, woman!

In reply to skivingbluecat:

Shame on me! I’ve obviously over-dosed and my sky-high blood sugar levels have triggered a state of delirium. Only really Snickers and Mars left now Will persevere though...

In reply to Simon Lee:

STG: Final training for Font in one week; get knee better.
LTG: Regularly lead E6 on all rock types; Urgent Action.

M: Core work.
T: Christmas crack and Christmas dinner
W: Hangboard session, noticable improvements.
T: Bench session, first ever. 3 sets of 5 at 50kg, 1 set of 3 at 60kg. Good fun.
F: Campussing. 147 on smallish rungs on RH but fumbled LH twice - why am I always doing this?! Only seems to happen campussing though so not manifesting as a real problem. Finished two sets 1-3-5-3-5- as these seem to be doing loads of good.
S: Core work.
S: Rest

Summary
Noticed I'm doing less sessions per week currently, putting this down to my knee as all this forced foot-off training is probably harder to recover from. Getting me stronger though! Couple of core sessions which is good for me.

Plan
Maybe one final hard session then ease a bit prior to Font.

In reply to Simon Lee:
M:
T:
W:Ilkley pm: deadhangs
T:
F:Routes, Leeds Wall. pm: deadhangs
S:
S: Burbage Nth. pm: deadhangs, finger curls.
First routes in 2 months at Leeds; V. pumped.

In reply to Simon Lee:
Goals:

1) Bouldering: some 7b+ and 7c problems - plenty in mind on Yorkshire and Peak Grit.
*2) Perform unassisted 1 arm pull up on 20mm edge.
3) Bench Press: 8reps of bodyweight + 20% (ie. 84kgs) , 1 rep max of bodyweight + 50% (ie. 105kgs).

M: -
T: eating
W: Bouldering at Almscliff. Felt okish but lacking in power and got tired/powered out pretty quickly. Press-ups 3 x 40
T: Ached a lot from yesterday
F: 45 min run + press-ups 3 x 40. light experimental session on newly errected 20mm finger edge.
S: -
S: Peak visit, found a couple of bits of dry rock before the team sacked it to go inside.

All in all a pretty poor week! No bench as the friend who's garage it's in is on holiday so made a (feeble) effort to compensate with a few press-ups. Inevitably gained a vast calorific surfeit this week with daily feasting/drinking. General health ain't been that great either - having just got back from thailand the cold climate has hit me hard! Anyway, off antibiotics now and feeling ok so enough of the excuses. On the positive side, I did put up a new training device which gave rise to a new goal - number 2).

In reply to Simon Lee:

ok,my first post,although just reading through everyone elses has already brought me out in a sweat.
my imediate aim is to be able to start climbing at the local indoor wall.in order to do this i need to work on my fitness,strength and confidence.also need to learn climbing abbriviations as i havn't got a clue what most people are talking about on here.
i think thats enough for one week.

In reply to Simon Lee:

It was Christmas, I did nothing, I feel like a fat muncher, bring on new year's resolution numbers 1-5

In reply to Simon Lee:

A good week with low mileage but some more good progress.

M - Th: Much needed rest
Fri: Wall session. Onsighted a bunch of stuff up to and including 11b, big progress from last month.
Sun: Sport climbing outside. Another beautiful day. Onsighted up to and including 10c. Almost onsighted an 11b/c-ish route. Just one move failed.

Goals... not sure yet. The 12b I tried a couple of weeks back is becoming more doable now as a project I think, but I'm getting a buzz out of moving up my onsight grade once again. TBD.

Skiing from Tues-Fri this week so unlikely to get time for training.

In reply to Simon Lee:

Goals: Again, way too long to repeat, see http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=257930&v=1#3800530

Ill and Xmas a deadly combination on the training front. I just hope that I am more well at the start of 2008 than at the end of 2007!

M - Cook
T - Cook / Ill
W - Ill
Th - Ill
F - Ill
Sa - Ill

<anyone sense a pattern forming here?>

Su - Ill

Oh well at least there is next week *sneeze*

In reply to greenanne:
.also need to learn climbing abbriviations as i havn't got a clue what most people are talking about on here.

This glossary of terms will help:
http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=33

In reply to Simon Lee:

Apologies for plagarising TRNovice's diary entry...

STG - Hang small edges on the Moon board. Fr7b at the wall.
MTG (to Easter) - Font 7b/+ (Deliverance hopefully) by end of grit season. E1.
M-LTG (to end 2008) Fr 7b/+, E2

M - Shopping. Getting ill.
T - ill.
W - ill.
T - ill.
F - ill.
S - ill.
S - Castle. Managed a couple hours bouldering but felt pretty fooked.

Yuck, definitely something nasty going about but it's at least given the fingers a rest.

Less than normal due to Kids, xmas, friends comming over etc.

M. Lunch with friends
T. Hours of opening pressies. got really pumped
W. rest
Th. Works for 3 hours. going okay
F. Clearing space for 7 friends who were coming to stay
S. Party all day with mates not seen for years.
S. Hung over but went for 8k run with my mate from Singapore who is training for a marathon. Not good at running in the morning but felt great afterwards. Afternoon session at the Works

In reply to Simon Lee:

Goals were rumble in the jungle and 1-4-7 on smallish rungs on campus board at castle.

Mon: Cycled to work and back (24 miles) did some bench pressing for a change, bit of a shock how much strength you lose. Still managed a few reps out of 100kg which isn't the end of the world given that I haven't done it in about ten years. Total waste of time for climbing though so no more of this nonsense. Doing weights and inevitably getting fat will not help me climb harder!

Tues: Ate a lot of mince pies and cheese

Wed: Ate a lot more mince pies, less cheese though

Thurs: Bouldering and campussing - Good session (did 1-4-7 four times on medium rungs)

Friday: Dips and shoulder weights (managed 40, 35 and then 31 dips with 4 mins rest)

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Bouldering and Campussing (good session touched rung on 1-4-7 attempt on small rungs). Got very, very drunk indeed.

Now have sore elbows and a shocking hangover.

Goals for next week are lose some weight and get outdoors and actually climb something

In reply to Simon Lee:

With a really nasty cold over Christmas it was a week of two halves.

S - Ill
M -
T -
W -
T - Run - Felt good to get out
F - 40 minute run in the morning - Black Circuit at The Works in the afternoon - Did 25 problems
S - Bouldering at Awesome in Stockport

Feeling better now the cold is clearing.

In reply to Simon Lee:

MTG: Font 7b
STG: Regain strength after lay-off

M - 2 hours bouldering at the Castle up to UK 6a, bouldered three days in a row
T - Nothing
W - Shoulder exercises (Internal / External Rotations, Rows and Scaptions with medium resistance band) and stretching.
Th - Ill
F - Ill
Sa - Ill
Su - Ill

Ugh - ill again!!! Do I have no immune system anymore? Still feel horrible, so probably won't manage much this week either.

In reply to Jenn:

Oops I guess I did 2 hours at The Castle on Monday as well - seems a while ago :-o

In reply to Simon Lee:

Goals - unsure. Deliberating. The ones I set a while ago might be changing, I'm feeling the love of trad a bit more again so might have less time to devote to the sport goals.

Anyway:

M: Went for a walk with the dog for an hour or so. Did some offset pullups off the stairs.
T: Went for a run for a couple of miles
W-F: Nothing bar a very little bit of core training
S: Calshot. Didn't get much done, a few routes and almost every move onsight of a 50-move circuit on their bouldering wall (held hold 49, but could never make hold 50. Not sure of the grade, but a nice challenge)
S: Wintours Leap. Cold, but followed my girlfriend up Zelda and led Butterfly. Nice to be tradding again. In the company of TobyA and Mike Kann.

AJM

In reply to Simon Lee: The virus is finally shifting from the system and I'm getting some sort of form back.

Thurs - bouldering at Awesome Liverpool. Felt weak, didn't do anything harder than V6/fnt7a but lots of mileage.

Sun - good 1.5 hrs bouldering at Warrington upto V6/7. Felt a bit stronger but the fingers aren't back up to full strength, I've still got at least another 40% to go to get to full strength. Did 5 routes after bouldering and was pleased with the stamina levels.

Andy F

In reply to Simon Lee:

After spending most last night awake with stomach pains after eating so much rich food and drinking too much beer, it is time for me to join the Fit Club. I’ve gradually become less active and out of shape and need a way of focussing as I get back on track. This fit club thread looks just the ticket. Thanks to those who started it and look after it!

STG (3m): Gain some decent level of fitness and build up climbing strength.
MTG (6m): reduce size of beer belly and man-breasts (slim to 12.5st from 14st), run 3miles in 21mins
LTG: (6m+): get back to leading at least VS on every type of rock and every type of climb

Here is the first week’s regime:-

M: Run 15mins + bouldering.
T: Run 15mins + bouldering.
W: Cycle 30mins + swim 1500m
T: Cycle 30mins + bouldering
F: rest
S: easy winter routes
S: easy winter routes

In reply to Anonymous:

Oh now I have seen the light, I should stop training, get some ronhills, some cake, a flask and a kagool and 'go out on the fells' and do some rambling...

bloody chockstone...get a grip you c**t

In reply to Anonymous:
Out of interest, how hard do you climb?
If you're out on the fells cranking out the E7 onsights with no training then nice work, 'nuff respect', 'waddage' etc..
If you're out on the fells ramblimg and can't climb for shit then maybe you should think of posting and learning to climb!

In reply to Anonymous:

Nowhere near as sad as your response.


cheers, that's pretty much the idea....

In reply to Simon Lee:
M:Still coldy: Leeds wall, about 1.5 hrs bouldering.
T: Xmas, full of cold, v short cliff sesh, felt terrible
W: Almscliff: felt coldy and lethargic until I started climbing. Got on Stu's roof after warming up, managed it second go after I got through the start moves, so that was one of my long term goals, 7C+ and a long term project realised at an unexpected time!
T:Leeds Wal, about 1.5 hrs bouldering, did salmon I couldn't do before.
F: Rest
S: The School, about 2.5 hour sesh. Did Basic Jez and Kinaethetics which i couldn't do last time I went, also did one armer with 10kg assistance on each arm, so something to start from when I finally get round to getting a pulley..
S: The glorious cliff did Stu's roof LH which I had tried quite a bit before but kind of given up on, thought it was worth a try after doing the harder version. Very good climbing. Started working next problem on DWR.

In reply to Simon Lee:

thankyou for that,it's very helpful.

In reply to Simon Lee:

Mon - a walk to see seals http://www.flickr.com/photos/ebygomm/2132988939/
Tue - 7 mile bike ride
Wed - rest
Thu - 8 mile commute
Fri - 8 mile commute
Sat - rest
Sun - 2 hour bike ride, off road single track stuff

Really need to do something other than biking

In reply to Simon Lee:


Short term goal (month): Font 7C and some power endurance

Long term (1 year): Some more F7C's and a 7C+

Mon: Golf
Tues: Christmas day, drunk and ate a lot
Weds: Golf, watched Liverpool match
Thurs: 3 x 1.5 hour sessions throughout the day on hard crimpy indoor stuff
Fri: Rest
Sat: Golf
Sun: Almscliff, Did a few problems of 7a+/b and fell off last move on keel, so close D:

Was a relaxed week and after the excesses of Christmas day, I had to have an intensive session on Thursday to get my body back in the groove. I also took up Golf again as a relaxing pass time for rest days!

In reply to Simon Lee:
Mon - secret beer
Tues - xmas
weds - nowt
Thurs - sisters bash
Fri - climbing
Sat - nowt
Sun - nowt

It's xmas and i put on 1/2 stone, dohhhhhhhhh. Out on the bike today

In reply to Simon Lee:
mon.sneaked out from work 2 hour session rockcity,going quite well for my 3rd day on.
tue.swiss ball,weights,1 hour turbo bike.eating
wed.2hrs 15 mins bike
thu.bouldering rockcity,weights
fri.2hrs 20mins bike same ride as wed,but blowing a gale hence slower
sat bouldering leeds wall
sun bouldering rockcity
good weeks training.first time i've climbed 3 days in a row[sat/sun last week]still appear to have got fat as shit though.
webbo

In reply to Simon Lee:
Oh, I wont be able to post next time as I'm going to font for 10 days on thurs, this coming week will be
mon-wed: rest
thurs-sun: boulding in font depending on weather

In reply to Simon Lee:

MTG: complete F7c'ish project bolted during the summer
LTG: F8a or 5.13 redpoint

M. <hotel with family>football and swimming with son
T. <hotel with family>football and swimming with son
W. <hotel with family>football with son; multiple ascents of nice F6b DWS - a new route
T. various excellent bouldering plus routes to F6b+
F. stretching
S. stretching; good session on home wall working project-specific moves and deadhangs, some weighted
S.

In reply to Simon Lee: It's about time I started something like this. Simon, thanks very much for the nudge in the right direction you have provided.

I started a new career as an Approved Driving Instructor in July, and as such have been working virtually 7 days a week since. I haven't climbed for 6 months, and have done little in the way of exercise. I have *tried* eating well (more fruit 'n veg etc) but it slides quickly, and I'm just not happy with myself and the way I'm going.

I have also left Facebook and come back to UKC.

As an experiment I will be using the Government guidelines as a loose basis for my new fitness plan.

*** Short term goals / weekly goals: ***

1. 5-a-day fruit/veg on at least 5 days of the week
2. Takeaway on one day only
3. Alcohol on one day only
4. 30 mins of exercise (minimum) on at least 5 days of the week

Of these, I would be currently:

1. Failing miserably
2. Takeaways 2 or 3 nights a week
3. Alcohol on 3 or 4 days a week (way too much white wine)
4. A bike ride maybe once a fortnight, and no consistancy

*** Long term goals: ***

1. Feel happier, stronger and more capable
2. Be able to do 10 chin-ups and 10 push-ups
3. Work less so I can climb more

Currently:

1. Feel a bit low and a bit lumpy round mid-section
2. Can do 4 chin-ups and 2 press-ups
3. No climbing for f*cking ages

Here's the science bit!

I have a heart condition (Ventricular Tachycardia) and have an Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillator to counteract this. I am on medication to slow down the body's natural "Fight or Flight" reflex, which makes running upstairs difficult and sprinting for more than 100 yards impossible. My heart is at an almost constant 60bpm precisely, controlled by the Pacemaker and medication, whether I like it or not. If I really push myself I can get my heart to override the pacemaker and do 80-100 bpm, but nothing more. So if my goals look a little wussy then this is why!

Currently 12 stone 4, 6'0", BMI 22.8, 28 years of age. The stats look alright, only because I have a relatively fast metabolism.

I will be reporting on

(a) if I have acheived my 4 STG and
(b) what exercise I have done

Cheers everyone

just wanna climb

In reply to Simon Lee: Spent the week over Xmas feeling a bit ill, but got it together to head to Scotland inbetween Xmas and New Year. Spent a couple of days hillwalking in the mist and clag then sprained an ankle - nice work!

Back to the training regime next week!

In reply to Simon Lee:

M: 5 mile run
T: 10000 calories
W: 10 mile run on't fells
T: Leeds Wall - routes
F: Nowt
S: Walked the dog
S: Bouldering Stanage - two new v4's

In reply to Simon Lee:

hello

Wibble Wibble's gone to Kenya to be eaten by lions/massacred by indignant locals. He'll be back at the end of the month or thereabouts.

last week (the one before this)

er...

2 x gym session

this week just gone:

Saturday: gym
Sunday: a brief trudge uphill and the recurrence of a hip bursitis problem from a couple of years ago.

this week's plan involves lots more exercise and first bits of climbing for about a month (dicky shoulders, see)

new goals will be posted next week.

In reply to Simon Lee:
Again a week of almost nothing. Went for a couple of walks in North Wales, failed to climb anything due to most of the routes looking like waterfalls.

In reply to Simon Lee:

erm..... absolutely nothing since last entry what with Broughton being shut until today and Christmas/New year etc...

I shall start afresh next weeks entry!!

In reply to Simon Lee:

Week 40
M rest
T 6 miles inc 8x400m hills, climbing mile end
W cold
T cold
F climbing @castle (with cold)
S cold
S cold

week 41

M rest/cold
T Xmass
W 4 miles fast 24:49 still not over cold and cough
T-Sun cold

Hopefull now over cold and back into routine so may get more done.

In reply to Simon Lee:
Should have registered my intended absence last week - sorry sir)

2008 and time to again reasses my goals:

STG: F7b+ (managed to fail to do this in the last days of 2007 so had to settle for another 7b - Arse!)
MTG: F7c and Font 7b
VLTG: F8a

Week 40:
M: Nowt
T: Routes @ the Edge - Felt rough climbed ok ish but was beginging to come down with the lurgy
W: Dreaded gastric lurgy - A world of vomit!
T: More of the same
F: More of the same
S: Drive to Devon with lurgy
S: ill in Devon

Week 41:
M: Christmas eve tings
T: Christmas tings and drive to London
W: Boxing day tings
T: Drive to Sheffield
F: Fly to Spain early - Chill in Sun
S: Fall off nails 7b+ repeatedly
S: Fall off same nails 7b+ and equally nails 7c repeatedly, onsight 6c+ (salvaged an otherwise demoralising weekend as it was a nice route).... Give up on 7b+ project as I could only do the crux one go in 10! Arse!!

Thankfully it got better this week, I'm a bit gutted as I really thought I'd do this route after an afternoon in October on it. Thinking about it in hindsight I probably should have worked a bit more on power as the crux is somewhere in the V6 region (general concensus it seems) and I've been neglecting the bouldering recently in favour of fitness - Either that or chosen a different route!

Oh well you live and learn...

In reply to Simon Lee:

M swim 1600m, run 4.1m hilly @9:00
T run 4.76m flat @8:09
W run 3m hilly @7:55
Th nothing
Fr run 7.6m hilly @9:14
Sa nothing
Su run 7.6m hilly @ 8:50

So that's 27m of running and 1m of swimming. Legs feeling good, no injuries.

Now I want to keep up 20-25 miles a week for a couple of months, with a couple of swims thrown in too. I'll try to do one fast (ie sub 7:50, to start with, 3m, two long hilly runs, aiming for 8:30 pace and one approx 8:00 4-5 miler.

With swimming, I'll do one 1600m and one 8x200m intervals.

And I ought to stretch regularly too.

LTG is to be fit and mobile into old age,
MTG is Bob Graham round in the summer.

In reply to Serpico:

Apologies for asking in a public forum but i thought your answer might be helpful for others.

What has prompted your change to training 2ce a day ?

I am often puzzled as to why elite ( you climb 8a so you are in my opinion ) climbers do not follow the same training patterns as other disciplines.

Runners of all types will train 2ce a day at the highest levels as do body builders, field athletes, some footballers and rugby players etc etc. I have a small background in performance coaching/sports science and it intrigues me why climbers don't.

I have been toying with the idea myself. At the moment it makes more sense for me to set a day aside for 'training' with a break in between to get jobs done and kids sorted and a day completely free. Hard day of training but a day of quality rest follows it.

Having said all that many top athletes will do this 6 days a week working alternate body parts or goals each day.

Rather than the traditional str/pow phase followed by pow end surely you can effectively train all aspects at once ? Not just maintain some and train one. The volume needed for pow end gains at the top end may be tricky though but i'm not speaking from personal experience.

Gains would not be as quick in each area but i tend to lose gains quickly. I think this could be good for me and would stop any one specific becoming more dominant.

Varied training as well.

Thoughts anyone ?

In reply to Duncan Disorderly:

All right geez, happy new year and all that...bad luck on that 7b+. Still it isn't going anywhere

Looks like another protracted seige at the cornice for me this year so you should come along and get on Brachiation Dance if you haven't got your route ticked by then.

Getting out on the grit much? Might be about this weekend if the weather's not too shite

In reply to biscuit:
>
I've trained twice a day for the past few years, but only at certain times of the year. I'm freelance and at this time of year, and during July and August I have little or no work so training twice a day is possible. I normally only do a second training session during the summer months when I'm focussed on routes, the 2nd session is a strength session. This is the first winter that I've started doing an evening strength session after bouldering during the day. Previously I've not felt I've had the capacity to do the volume of strength work that I have now.
I find that doing a training session after the crag takes the pressure off training at the crag. At the crag I can concentrate on movement and simply climbing. During the summer I can focus on redpoints (which might involve a lot of resting and little climbing) without having to worry that I might be losing strength.

I think the difference is cultural: all the above are events that typically last no more than an hour or two at the most, where as climbing is something that you do all day. Climbers don't have the same concept of adaptation to volume and overall conditioning that other athletes have, instead they seem to be simply focussed on fingers, and there's only so much work they can handle.

>
Part of the problem with climbing training is that it all goes through the fingers, which limits to a degree how much and what type of work can be done.

I think you're right. You can work all the elements at once, and that's what most people would be better off doing unless they can devote a serious amount of time to a proper periodised plan. For me strength and power is my focus until Feb'. I reckon I'm only ever 8wks away from fitness, but strength is something that I have to dedicate a few months (years probably) to, to gain even a slight increase.

With your background I'm sure you're familiar with the time course of adaptations/de-training, that's the guide I use for my very rough periodisation: A minimum of 12wks is necessary for any serious strength gains, and those gains can be maintained for 6wks or more provided strength is trained at least once every 10-14 days. Endurance needs around 8wks before it starts to plateau, and you start to lose it after about 2wks.
So I don't worry about letting endurance slip during the winter (although I should be doing some ARCing, which I'm not), but I never go more than a wk without doing a strength session, and never more than 8wks between strength phases.

In reply to biscuit:

I expect Spanish sport climbers will do a lot more volume as they are training for + climbing sustained steep endurance routes. This is a positive circle ie the more volume you do the more you can cope with/train/recover from. No point doing this if your project is a 12m route on the catwalk.

The same will aslo apply to strength work, to a lesser extent as it generally takes longer to recover and the gains are harder won but better retained. Personally I think increasing the number of short bouldering sessions (whilst nominally keeping an eye on the kids!) I do in a week has been key to a half grade improvement on shorter sport routes.

Of course it's christmas snd new year so I'm allowed to be slack!

So here goes-

Sun: Winspit. two 6a and a 6a+. climbed with ease.

Although it has been a lazy week the rest appears to have paid off.

Short term goal (6a+) has been met. Time to step it up a notch.

New stg: Lead 6b

In reply to Jake Shaw:

Yes mate, and to you too.

Yea was a bit of a shame, made up for it with a 7b 1st redpoint tho... Reckon it's just about finding the right one to tick the +. Should do Braciation Dance really, it's really 7b tho innit?

Thinking about seiging a few things at the tor for the summer - Sardine, Indecent Exposure and Body Machine spring to mind, keen for owt tho.....

Kinda trashed me fingers in Spain so might have a lay off this weekend but down in the smoke next to see Justin's little un, might even make it down the Castle for an hour or two if I get desperate Drop me a text if you're about.

In reply to Duncan Disorderly: Indecent is very soft 7b+ IMHO. 7b to the break and steady away after that.

Andy F

In reply to Serpico:

very familiar i'm afraid, especially personally. I turn to flab in about 14 - 21 days :0)

Some very interesting points.

Cheers.

In reply to Simon Lee:

Please, sir, I did do something last week, I just didn't post it...

Short term goals:
Loose some weight, regain lost hill-fitness

Longer term goals:
Onsight a 6a at Alien Rock, complete a triathlon, 50 - 55 minute 10km.

Week 40

M: climbing Alien Rock. Did more hard stuff which was good.
Tu: Swimming. (Also played 5-a-side football at lunchtime but I suspect that is more an activity likely to get me injured than training!!)
W: nothing
Th: nothing (had more physio on shoulder)
F: nothing
Sa: nothing
Su: ran 5.1km in 49 minutes (seems a bit slow, even for me)

Week 41

M: nothing
Tu: nothing.
W: ran 5.4km in 47 minutes (not much better)
Th: swimming. Nice long session
F: swimming again, this time with my bloke.
Sa: ran 13km in 1h 20 minutes with the bloke. Nearly killed me...
Su: bloke ran 18km in 1h 42 minutes while I tootled along on his mountain bike. Doesn't really count as training, I didn't put enough effort in!

In reply to Simon Lee:

Christmas was spent being ill and then just got back from skiing, so not really much climbing to report...

In reply to Simon Lee:

A bit late but hey I was on holiday

STG (end Jan 08):
1. Climb F7b
2. Hang smallest edge on Moon fingerboard
3. Get on 45-degree board (get 3 problems I am working on)

MTG (June 08)
1. Back working on F7c (2 routes by end of summer)
2. Do finger board session + 10kg
3. 6c boulder problems (2 slab, 2 steep (45 degree, 2 other)

LTG (2 years+)
1. F8a
2. West side story @ burbage or font 7c
3. Front lever
4. Hang three finger open 1 armed from medium edge
5. Campus 1-5-9

Last week:

Do Nothing

M: Nothing

T: Nothing

W: Nothing

Th: Nothing

F: Leave for Austria for ski trip

Sa: Arrive Austria

Su: Go skiing

Next week: Skiing

In reply to Goonie:

Hi Goonie,

Wrong thread we are on week 42 now: repost it here http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=278950