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_671-7151...

Pysche video - vimeo.com/187316913

Somerset swede basher - Some good f7A's there.  Well done.

AJM - Ohhh DIY club.  Even better the wall sounds amazing.

ad111 - Well done on the pullup strength increase and the campus increase.

Si dH - Family walks are the best.  You're still in your 30s, don't worry about it.

AlanLittle - Can you tick the STG now?  Or is there more skiiing to go?  Good sessions.  Always nice to try a new wall.

mattrm - Over the illness yet?

Steve Jones - Seems everyone is ill at the moment.

Ally Smith - Sounds like a lovely holiday.  Impressive amount of skiiing there.

the sheep - I'm still impressed.  Glad to hear he's ok.  Sounds like a good week.

annak - Always worth getting time outdoors.

Tom Green - It's ok Tom, I forgive you.  Well done on trying the M10.  The bouldering session sounds nice as well

Bones - Yay!  A great start on the road to stronger fingers!  House hunting as well?  All go with you.

Rebecca - That's not that bad.  Don't worry.  On it this week tho?

ianstevens - Fair enough.  Make sure you schedule in some rest then!  Otherwise a good wodge of sessions.

STG: Learn to ski. Still two weekends to graduation.
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

Reini Scherer "maximal" training phase Week One.

M: 
T: Moonboard. Jeez. A couple of years ago on the 2016 setup there were problems I could actually do. Is the vile new setup really so much harder, or am I just getting steadily weaker? I suspect the latter.
W: 
T: Moonboard. The ego beatings will continue until performance improves.
F: Bought skis. Cheapies, presumably the ski equivalent of Tarantulaces or similar. I have no illusions about reaching a level where I'm limited by my equipment as a skier for the foreseeable future. Or basically ever.
S: Glorious spring weather for most of the day, contrary to forecast. Had the forecast been correct I would have tried to rustle up a partner or gone bouldering. Instead did some desultory semi-motivated autobelay laps at Weyarn.
S: Wall, Freimann. Now raining correctly as per forecast so more motivated than yesterday, but still equally feeble. I feel as if the fitness gains from all the base mileage in December are gone, but I'm sure they're not really. Dips in form happen. I did at least actually fall a few times  off the 7a I was trying, so that's a major step towards addressing the actual main problem.

REFLECTIONS ON REINI SCHERER "BUILD UP PHASE" TRAINING

What I was supposed to do: five weeks. Five sessions aerobic base, five power endurance, five limit bouldering.

What I actually did: go skiing. Although I wasn't actually as far off target on climbing sessions as I felt: three sessions aerobic base, actually six sessions power endurance (all but one felt utterly crap though), three bouldering plus three fingerboard.

I am not *too* worried by the feeling of power endurance fail: over the autumn & early winter I built a solid base of strength work (albeit too much fingerboarding / not enough bouldering) and aerobic capacity mileage, and I still have three months before Kaly to get my power and power endurance sharpened up.

Also: Reini himself became an extreme skier when he retired from hard sport climbing, he will understand.
 

Thanks Matt!

In terms of actual training, I had a total #fitclubfail this week. Work was manic, but also the bit I'd skinned on my finger was right on a joint so took ages to heal. And basically I couldn't be arsed with core or flexibility. 

Should have done something this weekend once it finally healed, but I got sidetracked yesterday and then today I didn't want to as am going to the wall tomorrow.

I did achieve some other things though. Not a #lifefail as well!

- results delivered at work. Pressure hopefully eases a bit

- finished the climbing wall. MiniAJM has tried it a bit and seems to like it although quite short bursts of enthusiasm each time. At some point I might concoct a few more holds for it from some scrap wood.

- have realised there's enough wood left and have concocted plans for a "mini crack machine" i.e. an adjustable width deadhanging slot (1mx1ft, given the size of ply left) that I can hang off a bar etc to work on the thumb pump and get more comfy on odd jam sizes.

- good admin weekend, some food cooked for next week and things tidied and all that boring functional stuff that had been slipping a bit. Set up for a better week this coming one than the last few!

- made some fruity chilli sauce today which has turned out well

Half day tomorrow so planning a trip to the wall; ditto parents here this weekend so hopefully then too perhaps. Plus should get back on the bandwagon with home training...

Thanks Matt. 

M: rest

T: Hangar after work. I got stuck at work later than planned and ended up rushing due to fixed home time. Didn't warm up properly, didn't get up anything, didn't rest enough, got frustrated.

W: rest

T: Hangar after work. Managed to do a V6 I had failed on on Tuesday which had good moves. Did another V5/6 that was a bit soft. Other than that I felt weak.

F: rest

S: family stuff in town

S: was planning a wall trip but the overnight forecast had improved when I got up, so decided to try for a couple of hours of dry rock at Newstones between rain bands. I took the boy with me which was a good job as when we arrived it was in the clag and everything was soaked. We went for bog march to Baldstones and had a picnic in the mud. He got his wellies stuck several times and loved it. 2 hours later it had dried up a bit and S&M (7A+ that I've tried before) was in good condition. I spent about 45 minutes trying it but couldn't get enough weight on to the right hand pinch. This evening I was going to do a crimpd ancap session but my left ring finger is feeling tweaky so I've just done some TRX.

Pretty poor week climbing-wise. We've all had a bug the last couple of weeks and I think I tweaked something not warming up or resting properly on Tuesday. So hopefully things will pick up again next week!

Si

Balls! I thought I'd posted last week obviously not, well anyway here's last weeks "ghost" post...

Hi mattrm,

Great job again sir.

Yes I was pleased with 3 good sessions and climbing v5 with the kids in tow was a surprise to me too

Still no bike though as I need to pump up the tyres....Tuesday is bike day no excuses.

Monday:
Went to a different wall for variety and climbed four of the v3-5 circuit which all felt around v5. Did theraband rountine for shoulders and then went back home, 3 sets of 20 press ups and sit ups. 3 sets of 10 eccentric wrist curls and leg raises.

Friday: local wall....warmed up and climbed v5 and then had 4 goes on a v6. Mad at myself as I could of been more energised and had more attempts which may have made the difference.

Sunday: five max hangs on the beastmaker.
3 sets of 20 sit ups

...and this week.

Monday: biked to the wall , hurrahh! Climbed v4 , v5 and then the first v6 of the year chuffed with that! Did theraband rountine for shoulders and 3 sets of 20 press ups and sit ups. 3 sets of 10 eccentric wrist curls and leg raises

Friday:didnt feel up to a hard session so I took it easy, still managed a v4 and new v5.

Sunday: woke up with a cold took kids to the wall in the afternoon and went up a measly one easy problem.

I hope everyone has a good week

Cheers Matt. Been a pretty stressful week at work which I suspect is partly to blame for my present lurgy. Been well enough to go to work but felt pretty bleugh all week particularly Fri. 

Mon. Rest. 

Tues. Poor session at burbage, I felt really weak and then it rained so didn't get much done and no ticks. 

Wed. A very lethargic 11km run. 

Thurs. Warmed up to finger board but only did a few sets of repeaters as felt bleugh. Leg raises.

Fri. Rest and a very early night.

Sat. Decided to go for a play at the cemetery park boulder. I figured it's so close if I sacked it off it wouldn't matter but I think resting more between problems worked really well for me and I ended up ticking 4 problems I'd tried before and not been able to do. The Infinite (from standing) (f7A)Hard Sidepull Problem (f7A+)Hard Sidepull Problem Eliminate (f7B) and Parklife (section 1) (f7B).

Sun. Rest. 

Thanks for stats Matt - Back to the grind last week, and need a bit of a crash diet to prep for this weekend as i'm a free agent and hope to get out on some on rock

Week 5

M – Grit lantern session. Struggled to locate Remergence buttress in the fog! 6B-C warm-ups, then got stuck into Submergence (f7C). The lurch into the slot feels hideous and only tickled it a couple of times, even in isolation. Apparently, there is a way to put R heel on and rollover to RH sidepull? Did the classic Blind Date Start (f7B+) after a few goes (watching a video pointed out the higher LH edge instead of a the lip sloper and it felt okay). Then had 20min of rushed goes on Blind Ali (f7B+). Should go next time, then link-up options 😊

T – 7x10 on-the-minute pull-ups; noticeably harder than pre-ski. Tendon density hangs 3x40s @70% (BW+15kg).

W – Bouldering up to 7B+ but fell on my arse and bruised it, with lower back tightening up. Cut session short. 

T – AERO-CAP DAY! 10x 1on/1off FoC with +5kg vest (hard, but doable). 5x12 OHP@20kg. 15x 7/3/6/1@40% and varied grips. 2x10 bicep curls (30kg), DL & squats. Attempted 6x20s bat hangs/40s rest. Much failure – was only managing 10s by the end.

F – Rest.

S – Cave. Feeling distinctly corpulent (>78kg) after a week of intense cheese eating (AKA catered chalet ski trip). Feet skating about and lacking some core strength. Tried Broken Heart - Upper Cut (f7C+) a few times. Managed to get to the lip but not around it on best go. Overall a reasonable session as I managed to repeat Upper Cut, Trigger Cut, Left Wall, Clever Cleaver and a few other 7’s but didn’t have enough oompf for the harder objectives.

S – Rest/gardening/admin (all my sticky biners are now nicely oiled and a load of excess gear is up for sale)

Cheers Matt,

Had another steady week, managing to build slowly without aggravating the surgery site 

Monday,  400m sprint swim to see how far off last years PB i am. 12 seconds away with a time of 6.24 so happy with progress there.

Tuesday, headed off early from work to go watch youngest daughter in a concert so classing it as a rest day.

Wednesday, 1.5km swim and 16km ride home. Cycling still bloody hard work!

Thursday, 1km swim followed by stretch class 

Friday, 1km swim

Saturday, 5k run popping my Parkrun cherry.

Sunday, 7km trail run with wife and youngest daughter. Lots of jumping in puddles and general muddy fun 

Where can I get an 'I survived the corona virus' t-shirt...

M - Flat 5k (25mins) calf sore but getting better

T - 1 hr bouldering

W - 1hr bouldering, including being shown, and having my ass whooped by, the Moon Board (2017 comp version (?), 40*). Could hardly do a move, but it was kinda fun all the same. Finished with 30 mins or so on the autobelays

T - rest

F - 2 hours social bouldering and routes

S - rest

S - My usual run over latrigg - ~7k w/300m vert in 40odd mins. Again calf feeling better, but it was hard after 2 late/heavy nights!

Overall, calf is on the mend - got myself a new pair of road shoes this morn. Was good to have a hard session on the wednesday even if I couldn't do much at all! Hopefully it'll pay off anyway.

Thanks Matt,

This is the end of the Xmas & January training block and I am having 4 days (hopefully enough) rest before jumping back into a just under 4 week block before a (non-climbing) holiday. I'm planning on avoiding any testing and just jumping straight back in to training and have planned a full on few weeks as this will be such a short block of training.

M: Max pulls, rings, stretching

T: 6 in 6 from lattice

W: Rest

T: Max pulls, max hangs, projecting

F: Rest

S: Rest

S: Rest

EDIT:

Advice please:

My plan is to start doing a beastmaker session once a week. I have been sticking to doing only max hangs (lattice style) for a while and I feel the gains are slow and my pocket strength is dropping. The plan is to use bodyweight only and repeater style 7:3 on front 2, middle 2, back 2 & slopers. In my head this isn't the most efficient way of increasing max but should be helpful for base strength on awful pockets.

Do people think this is worthwhile or should I just stick to max hangs?

Personally I pretty much only do max hangs for strength on the fignerboard these days. I accept that Tom R & Co know more than me and that it's physiologically possible to train endurance too, but I'm glad I have plenty of opportunities to get to climbing walls and have never had to resort to it.

But pockets. Yes. Before I started climbing in the Frankenjura I thought it would be useful to get used to using two fingers at a time - there's both a confidence aspect to it and technique - you have to be very careful about line of pull or you can easily twist the ligaments in your PIP joints. What I mostly did was two finger pocket ladders on a system board, but I guess two finger hangs on a fingerboard would be better than nothing.

Hi All. Thanks mattrm for the stattrm.

An ok week. Not enough Z1, but I started the week feeling knackered, so it felt sensible to give myself a slightly easier ride.

Week 5:

M: Rest

T: Rest

W: Road Run. 11.6km, flat, 5:07/km. Running on the flat feels so easy compared to hills!

T: Dry Tooling at White Goods. Really good sesh on Subculture -worked out weakling beta to turn the lip of the roof. Feel like this should go now, so need to just relax and enjoy the moves at the next visit.

F: Recovery Run and General Strength sesh. Pull-up pyramids and abbreviated conditioning routine.

S: Trail Run. 7.4km, 315m vert, 6:21/km, techy.

S: Dry Tooling at Mannod. What a place! Productive sesh getting to grips with both the mental and physical of Hidden Dragon (D7) -still feels a long way off, but was good to start working out the moves and get relaxed taking a few falls.  

Week 6 Plan:

150 min Z1

1 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

Last week was a bit crammed, I slightly overcommitted to fun stuff but managed to get most of the training in:

M: 45min run

Tu: pre-work bouldering, ancap/strength/repeaters 1.5h

W: rest

Th: indoor lead climbing, aerocap, 3h, 8 routes between 6a and 6b+

F: pre-work bouldering, ancap/strength/repeaters 1.5h. Clubbing in the evening, got to bed 3am

Sa: up 7am to go downhill skiing

Su: skiing all day. Icy and fast -> I spent all day gripping my poles like my life depended on it, and came away with a very sore thumb. Sigh.

Nomination for next weeks psyche video: Out of Obsession currently on ukc. 

I really like the monks life bit in particular. I like the way he felt like it could go at any moment after a couple of sessions and it still took him another 8 to nail it. Something I can relate to. And 18 session s to do voyager sit. Great dedication. 

I never posted last week. I got busy sorting work before I went on holiday.

Last week was going really well but then I got the lurgy just in time for holidays.

I had a boulder session at Kendal - I got stuck on the greens that I used to be able to flash. Oh dear! A good try hard session though.

Aero work after coaching with 10 mins on easy ground

Boulder at BUK - trying hard on the comp wall. Surprised myself with one but failed on a couple of others around the V6/7 mark. Good try hard session again.

Did one crossfit session with lots of deadlifting that left me with DOMS.

I then got the lurgy, travelled to Tignes and had Sunday skiing in the rain. 

I did get round to sorting my scales and weighing myself. Last July I was 68.5kg and 13.7%. I am now 70.4kg and 14.6%. So heavier and fatter. 

Just skiing this week and then back to focus on the climbing goals.

Thanks Matt I hope you are feeling better.

I'm already feeling stronger in the fingers, partially down to getting used to hanging again. Trying hard to keep hanging on half crimp as ordered by the lattice lads. Two sessions completed last week. Will up the number of sessions soon but same again for this week.

Yup, possibly moving house. Why just have a baby? Why not change every aspect of our lives whilst we're at it?! Apart from climbing of course.

Week 700 goal: 50 fingerboard sessions - 3/50 completed

Mon: Cheeky lunchtime climbing session at Hackney Wick. Was pretty happy with the problems I tried. Not so keen on falling from the top still, I imagine this will only get worse but happy to work harder bits lower down. Did a few 45 degree routes and attempted to campus one of the easier ones ;p

Tues: evening gym session and fingerboard. Fingerboarding with just bodyweight at the moment as the lattice instructions tell me I should remove 2.5kg but I am too lazy.

Weds: rest

Thurs: run 40:31 mins, 5.85km (6:56min/km)

Fri: run 49:02 mins, 7.07km (6:56min/km) and in the evening the last boulder and fingerboard session at Barber's for a while. Felt stronger on the woody that I have on previous sessions.

Sat: more house hunting, I think we are done on this for the next few weeks but exhausted after walking around for hours

Sun: rest

Weekly goals:

1. fingerboarding 2 x week - 2 completed

2. running 3 x week - 2

3. keep working at the gym with the things that feel good - 1 session and I have now quit

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 - tracking running and fingerboarding

5. continue bouldering/top-roping where possible - would like to boulder more. At least two sessions per week but no longer a member at a gym so need to do something about this asap!

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 - 3 mile walk
 
T - 3 mile walk

W - 3 mile walk

T - Rest

F - 3 mile walk

S - Rest
 
S - Rest

Pretty much a replay of last week.  Still got the last of this cold.  Just about managing to get out and walk to and from work.  Otherwise, feeling grotty and miserable.

Cheers for the stats again Matt. Another late-in the week post from me, will try to post on this weeks fit club this evening!

Yeah, I think a light week every 3 months is probably a good think to make sure I adhere to going forward. I've got a couple of work trips coming up in April/May so will just aim to coincide with one of those. On the other hand, last week was a good one in terms of volume with the direction of a training plan again.

2019.5

Monday:

1) Yoga

2) 90% hangs, 10 secs, lattice edge. 5 @ 87.3kg, 1 @ 88.3kg. 

3) Stabiliser conditioning, Scapular conditioning, H Core

4) Bike: 8.4km

Tuesday:

​​​​​​​1) Yoga

2) Valley. Warm up including hangs (25mm edge, 20mm, 35deg, rando pinches); 6 x project boulders, 4 min working blocks (no tops but progress made)

3) Power pulls

4) B: 12.3km

Wednesday:

​​​​​​​1) Yoga

2) Bike 9.3km

Thursday:

​​​​​​​Yoga

Friday:

1) Yoga

2) Valley. warm up inc. hangs (25mm, 20mm, 35deg, bottom row BM2k, 8mm (full crimp 5 secs)). Boulder triples at 6B+/C, on 6 problems already dialled. 17/18 tops. 

3) Bike 4km

Saturday:​​​​​​​

Rest (van DIY club)

Sunday:

​​​​​​​1) Yoga

2) Hip + leg flex, stabiliser conditioning

3) Valley. Warm up (no hangs); linked boulder on 12 move sections of 7b circuit; 1 on 1 off on 6c circuit

4) Bike 7.9km