UKC

A new thread is posted each week on Sunday for anyone to jot down their previous week's activity. UKC fitclub 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 

The following training article by Alex Barrows gives an excellent breakdown on training the four main "energy systems" specific to climbing: http://alexbarrowsclimbing.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/training-for-sport-climbi...

Last week’s thread can be found here: 

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/fit_club_week_598-692187

You can look back at your previous posts here (to some extent… it’s still a work in progress, this now goes back to FC500): http://ukc-fitclub-user-posts.s3-website.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/users.html

Posters:

AJM

Hms - grinding that traverse down!

Cyan - nice couple of ticks there. I feel your pain on the weight loss front - given the lack of training I’ve been doing it may be the only card I have left to play!

Si dH - enjoy Japan! 

biscuit - you going to try a harder Fiesta mock-up before you go?

mrchewy - you got any thoughts for those trips?

Tyler - what exams are they you’re doing?

AlanLittle - looks like the beer was the start of the road downhill to sniffles. How long until Kaly now?

Dandan82 - nice job on Athenian Tactics. Done so little on that wall, I need to remedy that really....

planetmarshall - nice job on Gogarth. I did that the same day as North West Passage probably the best part of a decade ago and can still remember it being an excellent day!

Ally Smith - nice job on the newbie! Despite not being a full pyramid it’s looking pretty solid to me....

Tom Green - back on the wagon! Benchmarking sessions are always a faffy pain aren’t they.

the sheep - how fast can you sensible build mileage for running stuff? You got enough time to get there from 13?

Alexm198 -thanks Alex. Looking at your goals, do you need the fingerboard (most of them are massive (or climbed with axes) rather than being finger strength focused?

Powderpuff - so, go on then? Finger good, or finger knackered?

Ardo - back to work is always a shock isn’t it!

Rebecca Ting - does that tick you off for E1-3 mileage then do you think, good couple of ticks in there...

Guy127917 - sounds like a cool trip, nice one on the new routes.

 

Fit Club 600 goals:

AJM - some DWS (Gates of Greyskull, Crazy Notion, Z-Cars, Crab Party, Freeborn Man, Window of Opportunity, Rainbow Bridge pt1), some E2/3 (2x E2), 10/13 weeks of consistent weekday training (failed by now)

Dandan82 - 6000s handstand (4930/6000), +60kg pull-up (tick!), 6 fr7 onsights in a day, 60s handstand (51)

Richard Popp - a new 7a

Ally Smith - 8b/+ x2 (1/2), 8a/+ x5 (3/5), 7b-c+ x10 (7/10)

Si dH - Ancap routine at recommended load (75-ish/80)

Planetmarshall - E2 onsight

Tom Green - 600m new route in Kyrgyzstan (Tick!!!)

Rebecca Ting - more DWS (splash splash sploshing away), Animal Mag (tick!), something in Cham (Petit Aig Verte and Cosmiques), solid base of E1-3, convincing handstand (tick)...

Tyler - 6 new routes (4/6),  6 new >E1 (0/6), 6 crags that you’ve not visited in the last decade (1/6)

biscuit - Trowbarrow traverse (tick!), black circuit, 11% body fat (11.3%), Fiesta-at-Kendal (tick)

 

In reply to AJM

 

Hey AJM,

I'm pleased to say that...........my finger is fine, thank god!

Upping the volume and intensity of climbing without intense pain has been no problem.

 

Monday: ran to the wall, then climbed 10 easy problems up to v3, experimented with easy crimping also. Ran back home.

Thursday: wall again, climbed 12 problems this time. Also did the following exercises.

20 push ups,3 sets.

10 leg raises, 3 sets

10 eccentric wrist curls , 3 sets

 

Sunday: more exercises

20 push ups,3 sets.

20 sit ups, 3 sets

10 eccentric wrist curls , 3 sets.

 

This week I also managed two 30 minute cold water treatments to aid finger recovery. 

Im pleased with my efforts this week

In reply to AJM:

Thanks Andy. No, not yet. Probs a couple weeks in Font during November, to see if I can tick off some of those slab projects and it'd be nice to not be injured like last year but otherwise, nothing has shouted out "come here".

 

Went to Pinnacle on Thu, took my girlfriend's 13yr old daughter - she enjoyed it. Bouldered for a while then let her have a couple of goes on a top rope.

I didn't do so much, got my butt kicked on the steep stuff with big holds and flashed the vertical crimpy stuff I tried, maybe 6A/B? Dunno, didn't look at the grades. It's nice now however, to be able to understand why I just can't do some stuff - it's far less frustrating and I tend not to waste time on futile endeavours.

Saturday I was gonna head to the Peak but the forecast looked iffy and I ended up fitting some insulation on the boat. Followed by too much drinking, turned 53 on Thursday... the hangover today was a bit grim at times.

 

My parents are visiting next weekend, so I'll try and get two sessions in during the week.

 

In reply to AJM:

Thanks AJM, yes indeed. This was a light week although got some good stuff done.

M - Rural walking but not as far as intended due to rain.
T - Rural walking, 6 miles.
W - Gilwern East. Few warm-ups then OS of a (super soft) 7b. Difficulties were very short lived and grade seems distinctly optimistic but hey, Rockfax says 7b in the guide so it must be true.
T - FB 10/3/5/4 x6 with +5kg. Rest then 7/3/6/1 x5, break then repeat. Sore skin.
F - UCR 14 routes in pairs. Included an attempt on a new '7a' which could only have been given that grade by someone who can flash crimpy 8a+. Stupid hard crux detracts utterly from rest of the route which is quite good. Came home feeling proper piddled off. 
S - day trip to visit parents. Light gardening.
S - Sea Mills bridge traverse - got it many thanks to D2, mat-dragger in chief. Now need to have a go in the other direction. Core session in afternoon.

In reply to AJM:

Cheers, 5 week’s to go so plenty of time to get the distance up. Just need to get my legs used to working for longer periods. I could probably do it now but the time would be rubbish. It would be good to come in under 2 hours. Anyway training went as follows;

Monday, 1k lunchtime swim and 8k evening run

Tuesday, 2k lunchtime swim

Wednesday, 1k lunchtime swim and 16k ride home

Thursday, 2k lunchtime swim, stretch class and 12k evening run

Friday, 7k run

Saturday, rest

Sunday, 16.4k run

 

 

In reply to AJM:

Amazon cloud stuff; I work in IT. I'd hoped I'd reached a point where I don't need to do these sort of things (my usual level of detail is drawing a box with an arrow pointing to a cloud which I would label 'Amazon cloud') but as my boss has done them all I can't really claim they're not for me!

This week I've got back into it a bit and established some training to do before I go to Siurana in November. As such I went to BUK Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday to do dead-hanging and FoC. I did attempt to boulder but found even easy problems too unnerving with my ankle. I also weighted myself and don't seem to have put any on, I can only assume I've lost muscle as I have definitely gained a belly!

Most of Sat and Sunday was taken up sanding a floor, I'd forgotten what an awful job this is, hopefully I'll complete next weekend.

 

Training aims for Siurana

Complete Beastmaker 1000 7a fingerboard routine (currently able to do half of it)

FoC - (4x minute on 1.5 minute off on small rungs) x 2 or 3, currently unable to do even one set of this even switching to medium rungs for reps three and four.

My 600 goals have obviously gone for a Burton but I have been attempting a side project of being able to sit on my heels, I was shocked but not surprised I was unable to do this at all.

In reply to AJM:

Hi FC. Thanks AJM -stats in early this week!

An ok week -missed a climbing session and short Z3 sesh, but it feels good to be back to a structured programme. Onwards and upwards!

Week 599:

M: Rest

T: Long day of work

W: Road Run. 10.3km Z1 at 5:20/km avg, flat.

T: Core and General Strength sessions

F: Shoulder Prehab

S: Core and General Strength (incomplete strength sesh due to running out of time)

S: Road and Trail Run. 14.4km Z1 at 5:45/km avg, 199m vert gain.

Week 600:

150 min Z1.

2 Core Sessions

2 General Strength Sessions

2 Climbing Sessions

STG/Q3:

New Route in Kyrgyzstan (/)

Establish new TFTNA cycle (/)

5 Antistyle Routes (1/5)

MTG/Q4:

Jaz (D8)

North Face Original Route (ED1)

LTG/Q1

The Ginat (ED1 5)

Scottish 7

Improve off piste-skiing (need to work out some specific goals!)

 

In reply to AJM:

STG: Get back on my lovely new projects in the Frankenjura (and/or cross an old project or two off the growing list)
MTG (2018): Onsight 7a; redpoint 7b multiple times on routes that aren't pure boulder problems
LTG (2021): Redpoint 8a before I hit 60 

I didn't have you down as such a puritan Andy. I was definitely on the way down with the sniffles beforehand, but in denial about them because I didn't want to miss the party.

Six weeks to Kaly. Have decided to take your advice and basically just hammer the ancap/power endurance hard rather than doing another Hörst 4-3-2-1 cycle.

M: Max hangs
T: Rest
W: Wall, Thalkirchen. Taking it very easy: long day at work, still not fully recovered from last week's cold, saving myself for The Proj on Saturday. Some aerobic mileage up to 6b.
T: Rest
F: Rest. 40 minutes shoulder mobility, stretching, foam rolling.

S: Frankenjura, Kalmus. The Proj: Isengart. My second 7b in the bag. This is the one that I thought felt not too hard when I was bolt-to-bolting it a couple of weeks ago, but linking it turned to be an entirely different matter, and several highly experienced locals - including a guidebook author - have it as 7b in their 8a.nu logs, so who am I to argue? Felt almost jealous of my belayer though, onsighting a series of excellent looking 6b's and 6b+'s while I was grinding away at the same half dozen moves all day. Until I actually did the half dozen moves. 

S: Frankenjura, Diebesloch. A crag noted for 45 degree bucket hauling, which I thought might be ok after spending Saturday on a fingery project but no. Was completely wrecked and as weak as a kitten in the morning. Not entirely surprising. Managed to warm up enough in the afternoon to tick a very cool bouldery 6c on the not quite so brutally steep sector next door.

So, a question for the collected wisdom of Fit Club: is being completely crippled the day after a hard projecting day simply a fact of life that one has to accept, or is there a way to improve it by training?

In reply to AlanLittle:

No puritanical intent, I just tend to find a heavy night out often acts as an immunodepressent and creates a space for the bugs to rampage in!

Hard projecting - if I'm projecting on sport trips I tend to drop to 2on1off (usually on a more balanced trip i do 3). It's hard work and there's no way around it. Only suggestions would be to manage the first day tactically - in the sense of stopping early when you start to fade, unless there's a benefit to be gained from refining sequences whilst tired, rather than thrashing yourself and taking out the second day too, that sort of thing.

My week continued on the same theme as much of my summer - good outdoor perfrmance  tempered by a lack of dedication to training. I haven't slacked off supplementary training in the summer this much in years.

We t to the wall. 26 degrees. Some warmups, then max moves on lattice. 48. Less than the 53 I managed not nestling after Font. I'm hoping some combination of first session back and heat can be blamed. Then tried minute on minute off, but that degenerated slowly into 50s on 70 off, needed a 2 minute break in the middle, and so on. Not entirely surprising I guess, I was doing high 20s moves initially which is way more than my sustainable ancap level is likely to be. Sweaty and pumped. Tried hard. Then a few of the normal wall circuits, then ran out of energy and skin and went home.

Today I bailed on going to Avon, wasn't prepared to risk the long solo drive on a showery forecast. Managed to get to Winspit via some last minute rearrangement. Shame not to have been out on trad in some ways as I was quite psyched.

But after a few warmups I sent Lunacy Booth (7c) - tried an evening a few weeks back then today 1 bolt to bolt to put the clips in then second redpoint. Good route, cool big roof action. 7c in the guide, went fairly quick but my grade calibration is out of whack these days. Certainly not the 7c+ end, but I need to do some of the other stuff in that roof before I could calibrate. Whilst burly roof action is nothing like Smith it's nice to have another data point say I'm not in too bad shape.

Friends visiting this weekend so unlikely to get out. Have to try to do some training, like I always say I will!!!!

In reply to AlanLittle:

Maybe not something you can improve by training (training harder just means you would be projecting a harder route, right?!) but you can help yourself by encouraging good recovery after the first day.
My two top tips would be:
1. Don't skip on the post-climb stretching, especially on any areas that seem particularly worked. You might find you need an extra long warm up on day two to get those sore bits warmed up fully.

2. Eat well, keep snacking while climbing on day 1 and have a big carby meal in the evening, good protein rich breakfast on day 2 and keep snacking. 

In reply to AlanLittle:

Nice work Alan 

In reply to AJM:

Cheers Andy - given the weather, this weekend's lurgy, and lack of daylight for post-work climbing, I doubt i'll add anything to the pyramid this week. Like you, i've also caught lurgy after a boozy evening in London

8b/+ x2 (1/2), 8a/+ x5 (3/5), 7b-c+ x10 (7/10)

Week 36

M – Fairly epic day at work; managed to squeeze in a couple of BFR fingerboard sessions at 23kg as rehab for bruised ring finger.

T – 1-arm max-hangs. 4x 8s on lattice edge 13kg assist (11.5kg assist with R when rolled inwards). 4x 10s on campus rung -5kg assist (3.5kg assist with R rolled inwards). Bit too pooped to do the 2-arm RA grip. Prioritise them next time. 3x 95kg DL triples x6 – bang tidy. Then rings, I’s, mild T’s/reverse T’s and rows. 15x 7/3/1 with 7sets of 12x offset Y’s in between.

W – Rest. Ate and drank too much in London village. Thankfully only minor DOMS despite the heavy session on Tuesday.

T – Rubbish nights sleep and a hint of lurgy. Nowt.

F – Full-on shitty lurgy – terrible nights sleep swallowing snot every few minutes. Nowt. 

S – Nowt – Gentle day editing video/blogging/blowing nose  vimeo.com/288868956

S – Nowt – DIY club – starting to feel less deathly

In reply to AJM:

STG - 14st

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

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

Weight - 14st 4lbs (2lbs gain)

M - T - Rest

W - 15 Routes at the Rec

T - S - Rest

Feeling a bit better this week.  Energy has definitely come back a bit.  Going to be up in Scarborough for a fortnight.  Hoping to get some running done.  Maybe even a bit of bouldering, got the North York Moors bouldering guide.  Really nice guide, lovely photos.  We might be moving house soon, so that's taking up a lot of time and energy. 

In reply to hms:

Classic hms passive-agressive :-D

"attempt on a new '7a' which could only have been given that grade by someone who can flash crimpy 8a+. Stupid hard crux detracts utterly from rest of the route which is quite good. Came home feeling proper piddled off. "

I guess the same person will provide a throwaway remark that it's "low in the grade" if the grade is queried?

In reply to AJM:

Cheers Andy, really enjoyed the route in the end, a bit techy for my liking but then that's Portland for you, and to be honest it's good for me to work on, you can never have too much technique practice!

This week was a rest week before Kaly (I fly tomorrow) so lower volume but still a bit of trying hard going on. 
I've had a couple of last minute minor injury issues, firstly one of my knuckles is randomly sore after climbing Saturday. Something similar happened a week before Margalef last time and it healed up quickly so i'm not too concerned but i've no idea how it happened.
The second was just me being cautious, but since doing all these handstands, I sometimes get a brief headache when I roll out, probably due to my terrible, thumpy rollout technique. Well on Friday I laid some slabs and got the same headache in the same spot when doing anything that involved an impact, so hammering down slabs, stamping ground down, stuff like that. Not wanting to risk my head exploding this near to a holiday, i've stopped the handstands for the time being and I also cancelled a handstand workshop I was going to attend on Sunday, just in case.
I don't know what the exact issue is, but it's not surfaced in the last two days of no handstands, i'll resume after the holiday and go see a doctor if it returns.
It's a shame because I was very close to my 6000 second target!

M: Core.

T: Indoor boulder; 30 moves, 28, 26... 12 rest the same as climb time. 2 sets.
I also did a cheeky max moves on the Lattice, got 103 which is about 10% down on my best, but i'm confident that my power endurance is higher than ever so a trade off is entirely expected. Whether this specific balance of fitness is what I need for Kaly remains to be seen!
 

W/T: Nowt

F: DIY Club, slab laying, headaches ensue.

S: Indoor routes; 4 on 4 off at 7a/+ felt good. Also had a go at my project route, hit another significant high point, 5 moves further than before, it seems that my assumption about good power endurance must be true...

S: DIY club, finished the doors on my workshop, only took me 18 months...

FC600:
6000 seconds of handstanding - 5432/6000 seconds, so close but no more until after the holiday!
 Stretch goal - 60 second hold! - 51/60
+60kg pull up - +60kg!
6 onsights 7a or higher in a day (in Kaly) - Picked Secret Garden as a potential venue...

STG: (last week)
* 1 min hamstring stretch every day - 4/7 better than usual
* Every session on plan - 4/5 but carrying the last one over to today
* 1 handstand push up remaining balanced for 2s after -  Never even tried

STG: (this week)
Enjoy my holiday!

MTG: (up to Kaly in September)
* Onsight 7c in Kaly, suggestions welcome
* 7c in a day on Portland
* 3 good ring muscle ups in a row
* Squat and Deadlift 100kg - Sq-80kg DL-100kg

LTG: (This Year)
* 150 ticks in logbook - 104/150
* tick 3 x 8a - 0/3 * tick 10 x 7c/7c+ - 4/10
* Squat and deadlift 2x bodyweight
* Go to Kilnsey - August with Ally?
* Get to December without any new injuries
* reasonably static muscle up
* Enter BLCC and don't come dead last

BHAG:
* Onsight 8a+/Redpoint 8b+ in a day by March 2022 (40th Birthday)

In reply to Ally Smith:

and would then add that I must be rubbish at crimps, too. But I know it isn't undergraded - I watched a strong lad come to grief on this, then immediately float up the 7b on the same wall.

In reply to Ally Smith:

What's an RA grip?

What are mild Ts? I presune reverse Ts are like chest expander excercise?

Is this dead hanging, what does the 1 signify?

In reply to Tyler:

"Rock Atrocity" i.e. Front-3 crimps in tight pockets

Mild T = T on my knees, body horizontal when finishing, but less leverage

15x 7/3/6/1 = 7s on / 3s off / x6 repeater / 1min rest between sets (x15 sets = 29min total at 1on/1off = a good workout!)

 

In reply to Ally Smith:

This was going to be my next question to the panel (as I've started using the TRX this week), is there any material different CE between doing stuff on knees and going lower or on toes with the rings higher assuming similar levels of effort?

That's nearly ten times the hanging time of a beastmaker app session in 3/4 of the time! That's very impressive, I feel suitably chastened!

In reply to Tyler:

You could get similar load on your shoulders, but there should be a lower load on your core if you do it on your knees - do what you feel works your weaknesses best.

For me, going nearly horizontal in an "I" is devastating for my core in 8-10reps, so i don't feel the need to load my core again in the T position.

Yes, but obviously to fit in all that volume it's at a much lower load; 7/3/6/1 is something i do on the bigger BM2K slots - not the smaller holds, which would be too intense and not the aero-cap workout i'm aiming for. This aero-cap workout is a slow burner pump, not powering out.

If i up the intensity i need more rest, so if i'm using the lattice edge or BM2K pockets, then it'd be something like 7/3/6/3 (i.e. 3min rest)

p.s. your foot-on campus routine sounds whack. If you can't complete the regime, or even come close then you've cocked up the intensity. 4min on 90s off is very much aero-power, but you're getting bugger all volume 'cos you pump out. Try starting with 2on/2off and getting to 6 sets minimum. Once you can do this, try increasing intensity by one of the following;

increasing number of sets

increasing the "on" to 2min 30s

decreasing the "off" to 90s

Just don't do all of them at once or you'll be back where you are now and failing left, right and centre...

 

In reply to Ally Smith:

That's should say (1 min on, 1.5 min off) x4 so I'm doing even less volume than you think! I will never manage 4 min on and I don't think I've ever managed 2 minutes on either so ''starting off" with that is a bit fanciful! At the moment I'm just trying to do *something* although FoC is the worst for trashing skin.

In reply to AJM:

Cheers Andy. Top work as ever.

It's looking like I might find it tricky to get another visit to Kendal wall in, but yes that'd be the plan. The grades I did were actually a bit more than Fiesta but it was 200m and Fiesta is 250m+. I'd like to do 300m in a session doubling up on some 6b+/c territory. We'll see. I've gone round and round and side to side a lot but not much actual routing.

A busy week work wise but I got some bits in. Did some circuits at The Depot. 5 x 6c with untimed but minimal rest. Just recovered enough to feel like i'd have an 80% chance of success. 

Repeaters - 7 sets. Was going to add weight/do more but I was a bit meh after painting ceilings. 

Went for a run - Blencathra this time. Felt better with less tiredness the day after. 

BUK - finally started to make progress on the black. I can now go from 6 moves in to the end, when fresh. I just need to start adding moves in at the front end now. I doubt it'll be this week, but you never know.

Diet still going OK but I fell of the waggon on Sat night with chips and curry and Sunday with cake. 

I went to Total Ninja yesterday so that must count for something too.

This week - try and get back to BUK and/or Kendal. Do some repeaters at the weekend. 

In reply to AJM:

Cheers Andy!

In a holding pattern this week- I'm off to the alps next Wednesday for a week of fun multi-pitch climbs. I'm planning on running daily this week to get back into it and getting a couple of indoor routes or bouldering sessions in. I started the day after I got back from Kyrgz (Thursday) and going well so far. 

I'm starting to think about looking for work- how that goes/ends will determine what my goals etc are for the next season. I'm likely to go back to 5 day a week grind, so I might focus either on one big alpine trip and/or more of sport/indoor stuff and running.

 

In reply to AJM:

Cheers, both excellent routes helping me to feel a bit more solid at the grade.

Last week's goals - 

* 5 hours Z1
* 2 AeroPow sessions
* 2 Strength and Conditioning Sessions
* Some bouldering
* E1 Mileage

Only really succeeded on the S&C and the bouldering goals. I miss too much time in the early part of the week (Also was in London at the weekend with family stuff so didn't have much time).

Mon - Strength & Conditioning. Core, Weighted Wide Pullups, Bench Press, Box step up and Deadlift.

Wed - Bouldering at Stanage Plantation. Still hard.

Fri - Strength and Conditioning. Core, Weighted Wide Pullups, Bench Press, Box step up and Deadlift. Max Hangs on the Beastmaker.

STG

* Fitclub 600 goal : The Rasp (E2 5b). Pencilled this in for Thu eve if I can find a willing belayer. Might warm up (!) on The File (VS 4c) which will tick one of my route goals.
* 5 hours Z1. Get out to Wales or the Lakes for at least one long mountain session.
* Keep up the Strength and Conditioning sessions. These are going pretty well.
* Resume yoga. Have been letting this slide a bit.

MTG
- Ama Dablam Nov 2018 - now booked

 - Routes : 

The File (VS 4c)
Suicide Wall (HVS 5b)
The Hen Cloud HVSs

The Right Unconquerable (HVS 5a)
The Left Unconquerable (E1 5b)
Flying Buttress Direct (E1 5b)
Brown's Eliminate (E2 5b)
The Rasp (E2 5b)
Regent Street (E2 5c)

- Problems

Crescent Arête (f5+)
Banana Finger (f6A)

LTG

- US/Canada trip in Winter 2018

BHAG

London Wall (E5 6a)
The 1938 Route (ED2)
American Direct (ED1 6c+)

In reply to planetmarshall:

Well jealous that you’ve got Ama Dablam booked in. Is your plan to do the SW ridge? 

Are you planning on tweaking your training to make it more specific for AD over the next couple of months or will you try and keep up a more ‘all-rounder’ approach?

In reply to guy127917:

Noooooooo! Don’t do it!!

In reply to Tom Green:

Yeah that's the plan. To be honest I'm a bit more jealous of your new routing, it's certainly much more 'alpine' than what I'll be doing - fixed ropes and all that - but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless. If I get a taste for it I'd like to do something a bit more adventurous next time ( got to get my money's worth out of the Phantom 6000s after all ).

Yeah, I'll definitely be favouring the aerobic and leg-based muscular endurance work. I'll try and maintain the more climbing-specific based strength so that at least when I come back I won't be starting from scratch going into Scottish Winter.

In reply to AJM:

•Mo: press up/sit up/plank x 5/20sec x 3. 6.4m General walking
•Tu: pu/su/pl x 5/20 x 3. 7.7m Commuting walk. 12 problems, (v3)
•We: pu/su/pl x 5/20 x 3. 7.1m General walking
•Th: pu/su/pl x 5/20 x 3. 5.3m General walking. 30 problems, (5*6, v2)
•Fr: pu/su/pl x 5/20 x 3. 8.6m General walking
•Sa: 8.2m General walking
•Su: pu/su/pl x 5/20 x 3. 8.9m General walking
• weight    10st, 11/16.8%
Back to training, which went ok. 2nd session was meant to be ARC, but forgot my comfy shoes, so improvised on the boulder wall. Weather and partners absence meant nothing outdoor, so need to rectify that this week.

Anybody have any hypertrophy training sessions/plans/tips? Variety being spice of life and all that.

In reply to AJM:

Mon: Wall. Crap session, super tired but wanting to climb.

Tues: Wall. Ditto.

Wedns: Rest.

Thurs: Rest (jumped out of a plane; amazing and weirdly unscary).

Fri: Wall. Up to V5.

Sat: Wall. Short session, new problems up to V5.

Sun: Saddlehead. Blue Sky, Sea Mist and Pink 'Un. Excellent day. Lots of gear faff. Feeling a little less anxious about Lundy in 2 weeks. 

In reply to AJM:

Yeah, fair point. A lot (all?) of my goals are ice/mixed and alpine, but I'd still like to have some rock strength, partly for ticking trad routes in the UK and partly for long alpine rock lines. To be honest, the best thing for me to do for rock strength would be to actually go cragging more but being stuck in London makes that tricky. To be honest it's probably the time of year when I need to start forgetting about finger strength and hang off tools some more. 

My week started off well but then I was struck down with the lurgy which didn't help my alpine plans. Luckily have rearranged, so the next three weekends are all in the alps. I'll be impressed with myself if one of those doesn't just become a trip to sit in the valley, eat patisserie and drink coffee, especially with the rate at which the Chamonix uplift is being destroyed... 

Last Week:

M: 60min Z1 stairmaster.

T: General strength w/core routine warmup. This felt really good. Subject to feeling better this week, I think I will start to add another lap through the core routine to warm up and move onto some bigger weights on the general strength routine.

W: 10min Z1 warmup on the treadmill and then 30min Z2.

T: General strength w/core routine warmup. In retrospect this might've been a mistake as I wasn't feeling well but decided to go for it anyway. Lesson learnt.

F: Ill

S: Ill

S: Ill

This Week: (repeat due to illness)

• 100min Z1
• 30min Z2
• 2 general strength sessions w/core routine warmup
• 1 alpine route
• Prioritise sleep, avoid alcohol, don't get ill from weekend alps exhaustion.

Goals: (will add more/refine as they become clearer)

STG (end of October)

• 2x long alpine routes, TD or above, 800m+
• 3x E2 O/S

MTG (~end of January, maybe a little later)

• 2x Scottish VII O/S
• 3x WI6 O/S
• 1x M8 O/S

LTG (~end of 2019)

• New route in the Cordillera Blanca
• Bugaboos trip
• Caucasus trip

In reply to alexm198:

I'm interested in the logistics of weeks. End trips to the Alps. It's not something I'll ever do but I'm still at the point where I can pretend I might!

In reply to Tyler:

It is, perhaps, the one climbing benefit of living in London. It goes like this:

1. Mad run from office at about 4pm to Oxford Circus, jump on Victoria line and get Gatwick Express to LGW. Make sure you've left a fresh set of clothes at work for Monday.
2. Ideally you'll have checked in online so already have boarding pass on phone. Drop checked bags if necessary, clear security. Arse around in the departures area and buy overpriced dinner. 
3. Assuming no delays, arrive GVA around 10pm. Get a mate to collect you (the good option) or pay Easybus to take you to Chamonix (the shit option). Get to bed around midnight.
4. Go climbing.
5. Transfer to airport disgustingly early on Monday (for 7am flight from GVA). 
6. Arrive LGW at 7:30am, get off plane and f*cking sprint past everyone you possibly can to ensure you don't get held up at passport control (this is good beta, but you will get weird looks). My PB is plane to train in 9 mins. 
7. Gatwick Express back to central London, shower and change, feet under desk by 8:30.

Of course, then you have to endure a day of work. That's probably the crux.

In reply to alexm198 and Tyler:

The same logistical approach can be applied to a sport climbing weekend in Catalunya.

For me, living in Manchester, the crux is booking meetings in our London offices on both the Friday and Monday.

Surviving Monday is all down to the judicious application of caffeine and having a northbound train booked for 5pm so you don't get suckered into staying in the office later than necessary.

In reply to AJM:

Recently decided I should get my arse into gear and start doing some training, this seems an ideal place to put progress! I started climbing pretty much bang on 2 years ago and have been following the mantra of just climb more but now I am at a point where a bit of structure is probably needed! I am primarily a sport climber so all my plans and goals will be based around that.

STG: Send 7a+ "project" I spent a couple of sessions on (weather permitting)

MTG: Create and get into a structured routine of training for the winter 

LTG: See how far into the 8s I can get

 

Posting a bit late in the week for last week but..

M: Rest

T: Went to newly opened local boulder gym, no real structure just went round and had a go on lots of things. Climbed hard, ached next day.

W: Rest

T: Got rained off so went to a new gym, got humbled having to take a rest on route at my onsight grade that was particularly overhanging. Did a fair amount of routes then had a couple of shots at a vertical crimpy 7a+, crux move got me first time, fatigue second time.

F: Rest

S: Rest

S: Went to local gym, new routes yet to be graded up, bit off more than I could chew guessing badly at the grades of new route on warm up having to take a couple of rests on third back to back warm up route. Tried a couple of the other harder looking new routes, seemed thrown off my game a bit by the disruption to the warm up routine.

 

Overview: New gym was nice, its very conveniently located so looks like a good base camp for MTG of a winter training routine. Need to do some more overhanging routes as that recently seems to have slipped to being a weakness. For future reference when new routes are up, warm up on routes I know then try the new stuff!

In reply to alexm198:

I was right, I'll never do that, I like my 8 hours too much but thanks for writing it up. I guess it's not much different to driving to Scotland for the weekend from London except the stress of having to catch flights, transfers etc (plus altitude) would add to the exhaustion.

That said, the best days are those when you feel you are snatching routes when, by rights, you shouldn't be, e.g. visits to crags when on work trips away or grabbing routes when everyone else assumes they won't be in condition or taking a gamble on a shite forecast that pays off....maybe I should do more with my weekends!

In reply to Tyler:

Totally. I bagged my first 7b last year by driving out of Munich in the rain to a crag where my project was pretty much the only dry route. Win!

In reply to AJM: I have been absent for a few weeks. Had a dreadful day climbing a few weeks ago-just overly tired following my dad's death. On top of the shock was the extra work, the lost annual leave and trying to catch up for lost time at work. 

Not sure whether I am going to keep up with Fitclub, was going to sack it off  but just gave myself some space. Probably wont aim to get off next half term, just another pressure, my new 7a goal feels unlikely in the extreme.

I have been getting a bit done and have swapped to doing circuits rather than vaguely strength based stuff. Best achievement was a very highball V3, beta made all the difference.

Anyway I am out of Saturday, see how I feel after that, might just pootle (will anyone notice the difference!) till November/December and then pick up some focus or...start now.

 

In reply to AJM:

Hi Andy,

Hope you recovered quickly after your illness. I missed last weeks fitclub as I hadn't done very much but I have been for a few short runs and finally got back bouldering on Sunday. I bouldered for 4 hours and found it felt pretty good after many weeks off. I did notice there was a definite loss of core strength when I tried to get on the overhanging cave and couldn't complete a route. However, this has given me fuel to work on over the next few months.

This week I am going to get a few runs in and a couple of climbs before three weeks in Australia with one of my absolute favourite of persons, doing some climbing and hiking. My priority recently has been saving money and work so climbing has taken a bit of a back seat. Once I am back I am going to re-sign up to a climbing wall and get there many times per week.

In reply to Solsbury:

I'm so sorry to hear about your dad and all you are going through at the moment. I hope you can get a bit of climbing in just to relax and take your mind off things. If full-on fitclub is a bit much at the moment maybe just come and say hi once a week, keep things ticking over until you are ready for your comeback