UKC

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.

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...

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 weeks post - https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_669-7145...

Pysche video - https://www.youtube.com/wasdfatch?v=4nOrJT6evd8

Somerset swede basher - Weds defintely looks like fun.  Hope that submergence has gone now?

Si dH - Lots of good sessions there.

ad111 - Nice week all in.  Decent sessions.

AJM - Lots of good sessions there.  Happy Birthday!  That's definitely good maintenance there.  Thanks for the video suggestions.

mattrm - Now you're over the lurgy, less slacking you lazy sod!

AlanLittle - Glad to see you're enjoying the skiing.  Sounds lovely.

the sheep - YOU WIN FITCLUB THIS YEAR!!!!  Seriously amazing stuff.  As per annak, holy shit, well done on helping out, knowing what to do and keeping the young lad alive.

biscuit - Still great that you got down the wall 3 times.  So just keep up a couple of quality sessions and re-establish the diet and sleep.

ianstevens - Looks like a good start, hope this week went well.  No harm with the odd rest week, just don't have too many.

annak - Excellent to hear there's no breaks.  Looks like a good week, I'm sure it'll all come back soon enough.

Paul16 - Ouch.  Nice to see you're ok.  I took a ground fall and bruised my heel years ago.  Take it slowly, they take ages to heal.  Get some rest in.

Bones - Bath is a lovely place.  Lots of good sessions there.  I suspect that managing the energy levels will definitely be a thing over the next few months.  Listen to yourself and take care.  I hope to see a fingerboard session next week!

Steve Jones - Always good to make some nice progress isn't it.  Over the man-flu fully now I hope?  Doing exercise when ill always ends up like that.  Achey and horrible.  Don't let it get you down.

Powderpuff - v5s with the kids in tow?  I'm impressed.  Still three good sessions, so all good there.  Hopefully you got on the bike?

Early nomination for the psyche video - caff and Ryan on divided years. How have I not seen this before? How good does that climbing look?

vimeo.com/187316913

Other good videos on that channel including a few more good ones of Fairhead. For those who haven't been, a must visit...

Thanks for the stats Matt, decided to have a week off trying submergence. Could do with trying some easier stuff to remind myself I do top out occasionally! 

Mon and Tues. Rest. 

Wed. Some mining conditions at burbage (very condensed) so ended just doing a few leg raises and pull ups on the end of a juggy prow. 11km run later on.

Thurs. Rest. 

Fri. Did Remergence Lip Traverse (f7A+) have had a quick look in the past but went very quickly today in good conditions.

Sat. Rest. 

Sun. Managed about 45mins on the cemetery park boulder before the rain hit. Did Scouse's Prow (f7A+) and The obvious dyno (f7A+) followed by a set of max hangs at home. Hoping to get out for a circa 8km run after the kids go to bed later. 

Thanks matt.

This week has been some training interspersed with some diy. However, unlike some diy which just serves to distract from climbing, this one is in a good cause - trying to put up a little wall for miniAJM to do some climbing on. So that’s occupied part of the week. I’ve skinned my finger a bit and the lifting of sheets of ply (and maybe the diamond pushups) has made my wrist a bit sore so may take a few days off (or do some stretching/core?) early this week to let everything settle.

Monday - rest

Tuesday - 3x10 rows and 3 sets of random diamond pushups in the morning. In the evening, fingerboard, lattice front 2 at bw-2 (73.5 pulled, vs 72.5 last time, although the reduction in counterweight due to lighter body weight also removes frictional assistance) for 5s and bodyweight (75.5) for 3s

Wednesday - manic work. Nothing

Thursday - manic work. Nothing.

Friday - more random diamond pushups. More manic work

Saturday - 5, 4, 3 pull-ups at 90kg. Progress here. Cutting and starting to fit bits of ply.

Sunday - fitted t nuts to one of the panels, hopefully the other one we can sort out later to leave a fairly simple assembly job for tomorrow.

Might try and go to the wall this coming weekend, but otherwise another largely home based week awaits.....

Cheers Matt,

M: Max hangs, max pulls & stretching

T: Projecting & core

W: Rest

T: Strength intervals + 1/2 repeater session

F: Rest

S: Max hangs, max pulls, core & stretching

S: Rest

Good week: gone up 1kg pullup strength, found a new painful core workout and tested whether my pullups have made me able to campus - managed 1,3,5,7 after pullups so all is going well.

Bit sick of being inside training all the time, but it'll probably be a few more months until the weather lets me out. Hopefully improvements will keep coming and i can maintain psyche.

Thanks Matt! 

Mon: still recovering from lurgy

Tue: Fingerboard ancap session (the crimpd app workout at 70% of Max hang weight on a lattice edge, but with the weight reduced to 65% of Max to make it more achievable.) I failed on the last rep in the last two sets so happy this is a reasonable intensity to stick to for a few weeks. 

Wed: rest. 

Thu: Hanger boulder session after work. Didn't feel that strong but tried hard and eventually managed to tick a couple of new whites (v6?)

Fri: rest

Sat: family walk around the great orme,  really nice day

Sun: day out bouldering with a group from the Climbing Hangar. We went to the Churnet valley and found a few dry bits although even the most reliable crags were in poor condition. It was mostly about meeting new people and most were beginners so I didn't do anything hard,  but pulled hard on a few crimps. 

Not a bad week.  Tomorrow I am undisputedly entering the second half of my 30s...not sure how I feel about that! 

Edited to remove annoying tablet auto-corrects

Good effort. I expect to see him running up the kids circuit problems in September!

Fingers crossed!

There's probably enough spare to build a crack trainer too (2 plates of ply with adjustable spacers, for dead hanging etc)

Reini Scherer "build up" training phase Week Five.

STG: Learn to ski.
MTG: Be fit for Kalymnos in May; ideally get a couple of decent things done at home beforehand.
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber by 2021, starting with getting up something big, steep & classic on Kalymnos in the spring. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M: 
T: Wall, Neuperlach. Phase One of the Thalkirchen Overcrowding Boycott. The Neuperlach wall is a bit of an odd anachronism: a climbing wall in a general purpose sports hall, like they all used to be, but built only a couple of years ago. Have been curious to try it out for a while.
    And ... that was a shock. It was indeed nice & quiet, but felt two grades harder than the other walls I go to. Some of that is undoubtedly just new wall, unfamiliar setting style. Plus I was still tired from skiing at the weekend and hadn’t slept enough. But even so: I don’t generally expect to encounter single moves I can’t do on 6b’s. Eek. The occasional ego-beating is good for the soul.
W: 
T: Lurgy (possibly partly explaining Tuesday's dismal performance)
F: ditto
S: Moonboard. Continuing to focus on the reds, since the weakness I'm working is big dynamic moves & not finger strength. Slowly progressing.
    Half hour shoulders, core, wrist extensors
S: Wall, Freimann. Trying fewer, harder routes as per Plan. As Annak said last week, I feel like lots of aerobic onsight mileage has cost me the ability to step up a gear, although in my case it feels like what's missing is more the willingness to do more complex & precarious moves on lead, rather than actual power. It will come back with a few more sessions and a bit more falling off.
 

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 6lbs (STS)

M - 2.5 miles running
 
T - 4 mile walk

W - Rest

T - Rest

F - 4 mile walk

S - Rest
 
S - Rest

The lurgy is still fairly strong.  So it's been a pretty poor week still.  The family is largely recovering.  Managed a run which is good I guess.

Aaand I stuffed up the last week link.  Whoops.

Cheers Matt. Was still suffering earlier in the week but pretty much over it now I hope!

M - Crimpd 'Press Up & Shoulder Press' & 'Static Holds' - the hollow body hold was impossible, especially trying to do it with good form. 

T - Off work sick - did nowt

W - 2.5hrs at the wall. Climbing felt surprisingly good considering how bad I felt

T/F/S - Nowt

S - run over Latrigg - 40 mins, 7k, 300m - calf not as sore as last week

Thanks Matt - 2 week update from me. Fresh home from Les Trois Vallee where we just about averaged to descend an "Everest" per day skiing. Back on the rock this week. Might head out to the peak this evening if the weather holds?

Week 4

M – Skiing day #2. Meribel: 45km & 9075m descent.

T – Skiing day #3. Val Thorens – big day out: 56km & 9707m descent with some cheekily fast skiing https://www.instagram.com/p/B7vxOukDAHq/

W – Tired - shorter day and longer lucnh-break. Day #4. Meribel and sunny Les Menuires & St Martin: 39km & 7409m descent.

T – Skiing day #5. Another big VT day: 56km & 9609m descent.

F – Last day skiing. Meribel & Courcheval again – found the last of the good snow. 50km & 9559m descent.

S – Nothing: Lazy (slightly hungover) morning, then late transfers home.

S – Nothing: Life admin etc. Feeling knackered from >35hr skiing in a week.

Week 3

M – Aborted cave lantern mission in the face hideous traffic. Unstructured boulder at The Chapel whilst breaking in new Unparallel boots https://www.instagram.com/p/B7JQtUTjUG3/ Took 7 goes to complete a sandbag Ian Vickers vert slimper (sloper/crimper) with the ridiculous nominal grade of “6c+”. Nailed the remaining undone move on DKV2 (7B) with some toe-scum cunning, but failed on the full link. Worked out a nice 7A+ on the barrel and did all bar 1 move on a 7B+ which might make a good future project. However, this tweaked my thoracic muscles and sacked it off after doing some laps on the other Vickers circuit (derisorily graded “6b”). 

T – Gym cardio bunny: 600 kcal split between X-trainer/rowing/bike. 10x7 pull ups “on-the-minute” (considerably harder then 10x6) Bench: 20x20kg; 10x40kg; 3x 8x50kg (pretty hard). 

W – An-cap repeaters: 6x 7/3/6/3@70%. 10x 1on/1off FoC (harder than the previous week – doing after repeaters has a knock-on effect). Hanging core.

T – Bouldering at Stronghold after a last-minute request from work to be in London on Friday. Got suckered into trying lots of white/blacks (V5-V8+) and a couple of 6c-7a circuits to finish off. Skin trashed

F – Nothing. Long day in the office/travel home/packing/admin.

S – Also nothing. Short turn-around and more travel.

S – Skiing day #1. 42km & 8074m descent.

Cheers Matt, Im just fortunate that I get first aid training with my job. Im sure others would have done the same, the lifeguards all have first aid training too so hopefully help would have arrived swiftly had I not been there. Anyway good news is he has made a good recovery and was back at the gym having a gentle swim the other day 

Also tuns out he is in the second year of his medical degree so if he qualifies he can go on to help a lot more people too.

Had a week of 2 halves. Monday got in the usual 1km swim at lunchtime.

Tues and Wed, off work as my little girl was poorly

Thursday, good day. Cycled 17km to work, 1km swim at lunchtime followed by a stretch class.

Friday, 1km swim.

Saturday, 5k very hilly run

Sunday, gentle 30 minute ride out on the bike to stretch the legs

Thanks, things are still a bit sore but getting on with what I can. Last week was a bit all over the place due to work travels, but it's astonishingly warm and dry for January in Oslo so I managed to get some proper bouldering in at the weekend (against the training plan but seemed worth it).

M: run 45 min

Tu: away

W: away

Th: too tired, took a rest day

F: indoor bouldering, blue circuit

Sa: outdoor bouldering in the woods

Su: outdoor bouldering followed by indoor AnCap bouldering session

Hi Fit Club. Thanks as usual for the stats Matt.

Missed posting last week... sorry, I've let Matt down, let Fit Club down and worst of all let myself down!

Week 3:

M: Recovery run -short, sweet and probably of no real training benefit!

T: Prehab -shoulders and elbows

W: Indoor climbing -unstructured social bouldering and then laps on the crack volumes.

T: Rest

F: Prehab -shoulders and elbows

S: Bouldering at Robin Hood's stride. Fab session, I'd forgotten how nice the stride is. Highlights included Boss Hog (f5) and a solo of Crack and Furrow (S 4b) by the brilliant steep crack start.

S: Prehab -shoulders and elbows.

Week 4:

M: Roaches. Solo sesh of the starred severes on upper tier.

T: Rest

W: Dry tooling at White Goods. Got back on Subculture (D6+) for the first time since the rockfall and surprised myself by quickly working out the moves through the roof -maybe not too far off this.

T: Hill walking. 

F: Rest/travel to Scotland.

S: Walked in to a black Ben -took the opportunity to potter around, recceing areas that I've not climbed and nipping up No 4 Gully, before heading to the climbing wall -leads up to 6c.

S: Walked in to a predictably out of condition Sneachda (consolation Z1!) before heading south for a dry tooling session at Newtyle -good fun getting shut down at the third clip on Fast and Furious (M10) and a hilarious headtorch attempt of Fly You Fools! (M6) 

Week 5 Plan:

210min Z1

2 Core + Strength 

2 Climbing

STG (End Feb 2020):

Scottish 7

Run the Cheshire Gritstone Trail https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/pdf/ranger-service/countryside-sites/cec_gr... 5 2 2

Weighted pull-ups >+15kg 3RM

MTG (End April 2020):

Two big alpine routes off my hit list

Ski tour Drumochter munros

Jaz &/or Hidden Dragon

LTG (End 2020):

Run 25km vert. 

Run 1000km

50+ days climbing

You shall see one fingerboard session!! I did the lattice board two-arm finger strength testing session to see where I am. The test is to hang on the 20mm edge for 7 seconds then rest for two minutes for 8 sets and add/remove weight to see the max weight is. I did bodyweight plus 5kg. I have put on around 6kg since becoming pregnant so that makes the total weight roughly 75kg.

Week 700 goal: 50 fingerboard sessions - 1/50 completed

Mon: gym session - back squat, bench press, deadlift, bench pull, clean and press - was good doing quite a slow session

Tues: rest - headaches

Weds: rest- headaches

Thurs: gym, boulder and fingerboard session

Fri: rest

Sat: House hunting, lots of walking! Great boulder session at Harrowall. It's amazing, sooooo big and no queues for problems!

Sun: rest

Weekly goals:

1. fingerboarding 2 x week - 1 completed

2. running 3 x week - 0

3. keep working at the gym with the things that feel good - 2 sessions

4. track my workouts so I have stats to back-up how I am doing rather than my own deluded ideas of what is happening - been awful at doing this

5. continue bouldering/top-roping where possible - still happily bouldering away but progressively getting worse!

I have had times where I struggled with headaches as well as feeling tired after workouts but seems to have improved. On the whole, I have felt pretty good. When we move I will need to leave the gym but will continue fingerboarding and running, with some extra weight work at the climbing gym.

#FitClubFail last week. Did a core session and went to ISPO. 

Thanks for stats again Matt - late reporting from me this week!

I tend to be guilty of going the other way, and not resting enough. My running background (which is when I first really started training rather than just going out and having fun) was all long stuff so time on feet was a big thing. I've kept that mindset, so have a tendency to put in bit hours even when quality is dropping. Last week was much better, the rest helped for sure. This is exemplified best by my "progression" on the max hangs. Used my lattice assessment but the hangs felt easy so added the weight on. Clearly I haven't progressed by c. 3kg in a week, so this backs up my suspicions that I under-assessed due to long term fatigue.

Monday:

1) Yoga

2) Max Hangs (lattice edge, 10 secs) 5 @ 84kg, 1 @ 85kg*

3)Bike commute: 11.2km

Tuesday:

1) Yoga

2) Scapular conditioning', 5x5 pull ups @ BW

3) Max hangs (as above) 4 @ 85.3kg, 1 @ 86.3kg, 1 @ 87.3kg

Wednesday:

1) Yoga

2) Down in Sheffield so a Works session. Got up my first ever (I think) murple (6C+/7A), and pretty fast to (was having 3-4 goes and moving problems).

Thursday:

1) Yoga

2) Valley: Usual warm up including hangs and campus board drills. Then some campus board work: 123, 135 and 144 bump to 5. 2 reps of each per side. Tried some problems, and sent < 6C+.

3) BC: 11.4km

Friday:

1) Yoga

2) BC: 9.2km

Saturday:

​​​​​​​1) Yoga

2)  Shaftoe Crags. Got up nothing, tried a few 7s.

Sunday:

​​​​​​​1)Yoga

* I use total weight on the hang board as it provides more useful long-term trends; i.e. can measure absolute finger strength regardless of bodyweight. 

': I use a lot of the crimpd sessions, so that's what these refer to.

Back on the actual training plan train next week, as my next Lattice block starts up.