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_672-7154...

Pysche video - youtube.com/watch?v=ihLMgvKjEl0&

AlanLittle - I'm sure the performance will improve, keep up the moonboarding.  Glad that the climbing plan went ok even with the skiing interfereing.  

AJM - I hear you.  Sounds like you got the other stuff sorted out, so that's good.

Si dH - Sounds like a good week.  How do you find bouldering with the kiddy?

Powerderpuff - Lots of nice v5s.  Sounds good there.

Somerset swede basher - Lots of nice problems on Saturday.  Sounds like some more rest might be in order.

Ally Smith - Teh grit session sounds cool.  Hope you got out on rock!

the sheep - Nice steady weeks are good.  Glad to hear the recovery is still going well.

Steve Jones - I'd imagine that t-shirt already exists.  Lots of nice bouldering there and that weekly run sounds ace.

ad111 - Lots of good sessions there.  I'm hopeless with finger boarding, so can't really help, sorry.

Tom Green - Hope you get Subculture done soon.  Lots of running too.  Well done!

annak - Glad you got all the training fitted in.  Lots of people out skiing at the moment.  Sounds cool.

biscuit - Crossfit is always a killer isn't it.  Another one for the skiing.

Bones - It's quite common for people to move just before or after babies it seems.  We did you'll be fine.  Sessions sound good.  Well done on the fingerboard sessions.

mattrm - Stop being such a wimp.  Get out for a run and go climbing yeh lazy bum.  Also stop eating all the pies dumbo.

Psyche video is one of Dave Mac's blogs that resonated a lot with me.  SSB -  I'll try and find that out of obsession video for next week.

In reply to mattrm:

Had a few (6) months off fitbit due to a combination of laziness and finger injuries.

STG: 7B Boulder

7b Onsight

70kg

LTG: 8a Sport climb

Stay injury free.

Sunday: Rest

Monday: Max hangs/ weighted pullups followed by indoor bouldering session. Manged a few V6's but felt fairly worked after training.

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Bowderstone - Sent Picnic Sarcastic (f7A+) hardest boulder to date, especially happy with how quickly this went down. Had a play on the sitter too which didnt feel a million miles away.

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Max Hangs/ Weighted pull ups and a quick session at trowbarrow, having a play on Ned's Problem (f7B). Felt hard. Need to come back fresher.

Saturday: Malham - Ticked Seventh Aardvark (7b) 1st redpoint and got back on Raindogs (8a) which felt surprisingly good considering i havent been on it since i injured my finger in November. 

Pretty happy with this weeks climbing and enjoying bouldering outside more and more which i feel is definately having a positive impact on my sport climbing.

Thanks matt. Yeah, I got a bunch of other stuff done, and having done a load of setup meant that this week was far better. Also started the week pretty well in terms of cleaning up my diet a bit, but let things go a bit towards the end, especially with visiting parents over the weekend.

Monday - wall. Did a bunch of mileage on the new set. Tried a few harder things, 3 things on the 30 that felt like they had potential that I didn’t get.

Tuesday - rest

Wednesday - couple of sets of feet up pushups and a few body weight wide grip pull-up sets before bed. Wide grip ones noticeably harder than a shoulder width grip so a thing to work on.

Thursday - weighted wide grip pull-ups: 4, 4, 3 @86kg; 3 sets of trx flies

Friday - rest

Saturday - fingerboard. A bit more progress on f2 hangs on the lattice edge. Up to 74kg. Also did a few m2. Something in here my wrist doesn’t like, I think m2 but need to figure this out.

Sunday - wall. Good session. Reasonable volume of new problems, ticked one I couldn’t do Monday and at least one good go where I should have done one of the others. The third harder one I’m still not making much progress on. Tried the woodie briefly at the end but too worked to make any impression.

I also put together a first stab at building my crack board on Saturday. It works as it is - I can use it to do a slightly narrow hand jam, get working on the thumb pump. However, it’s fair to say that it needs some work before its fully adjustable, the basic problem is that my terrible diy skills mean not all the long bolts are entirely straight so you can’t adjust the size very neatly. However, I know what I need to do to fix it, it won’t look super pretty but who cares. In theory once it’s done it should be able to adjust to fit widths from about 15mm (fingers) through to nearly 7 inches (some sort of hand:fist stack?) which will be good for working technique on the different widths....

Hopefully do another wall trip next weekend. Other than that, try to clean the diet up and do some home training. That’s basically what my next few weeks will be I reckon....

Cheers Matt. Dave Mac is weird isn't he? I mean that as a compliment. He's as good as he is because he doesn't think or do things like we do.

This last week was all skiing. It was great. Some big days out. I'm basically trying to get as good as I can so we can go ski touring without me being at increased risk of dying. So I had some lessons, which was really worthwhile. On piste skiing is good, but doesn't really do it for me. I can do reds well enough now and can get down pisted blacks in one piece. Off piste is where it's at though. I've got better(ish) at moguls and icy/crusty stuff but proper powder still just baffles me. 

Got back yesterday after a 3.30am start so just recovering today. Been to look at a gym - shock horror! CrossFit is good but never feels quite as specific as I think I need to be to get more robust and stronger. If I was going 5 or 6 times a week, like most seem to, it'd make sense. But twice a week isn't really doing it. So it looks like i'm joining a gym.

I got on my scales again this morning and I've gone from 70.4kgs to 69.3kgs but up from 14.6% fat to 15.2% fat. The gym we're joining does a full body scan on joining, which could be amusing.

This weeks plan:

Track calories and protein each day

M - am - first visit to gym.

      pm - boulder strength session 

T - am -gym - sort a program out.

     pm - Boulder strength session

W - am - gym.

       pm - circuits or auto belay after coaching

T - am - gym?

F - Rest

S - Rest

S - Rest

Quite front loaded week and with lots of gym. Mainly because I can and also because it won't be proper workouts as i'll be figuring weights to use and equipment out.

STG - end of March 2020

Reduce body fat by 10% (13.5%)

Go to the gym at least twice a week every week - squats, deadlifts, bench press, shoulder work and core.

Have a go at the Kendal and Manc Depot WBL's. I think they're both in the 3rd round now and I've not entered this year due to my finger. It'll be a good benchmark of where I am up to and how the finger is under a bit of pressure. 

Sort out my hip problem - the gym will help this

Build a routine of stretching every day for upper body.

MTG - Up to 1st July when Chapel Head opens

Wishlist routes at Scout Scar

LTG - 

7c at Chapel Head - probs looking at Super Duper Dupont. Routes with a BIG crux at the end are my anti style so it can only be good for me.

September - trip to Arco

Xmas 2020 - 7b onsight and 7c in a day

Hi All. Thanks for statting as per usual, mattrm.

An pretty crappy week saved by a couple of nice runs. Some unexpected events conspired against the core + strength sesh and a dry tooling sesh.

Week 6:

M: Indoor bouldering -slightly unstructured and unmotivated. 

T: Prehab.

W: Rest

T: Hill Run. 12.7km, 834m vert, 8:35/km. Gorgeous run over Snowdon and Y Lliwedd, complete with sunshine and cloud inversions.

F: Rest.

S: Trail Run. 9.8km, 330m vert, 6:11/km, techy.

S: Prehab.  

Week 7 Plan:

250 min Z1 

6 Climbing Days

STG (End Feb 2020):

Scottish 7

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

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

This sounds wild! Great work. Post up a pick when it's finished... I'd love to nick some design beta (or is it patent pending?!)

Once it's a bit less of a mess I will do!

But conceptually, it's 2 plates of 18mm ply, 1mx1ft, with 6 bolts to hold them together and a variety of width spacers to fit between them (currently a few pieces of 5mm ply and 2 bits of 18mm-ish stripwood drilled, plus I've got another bit of stripwood left to go plus there's a lump of 2-inch-ish stuff in the shed I can drill, might need some more scrap to get to the full length of the bolts). 

I reckon I can hang it off a pullup bar or fingerboard either on its end (useful for fingers/etc where you probably need to have hands above each other) or from the long edge (where that's less necessary). Logistics tbc, but that's the idea...

Can't be far off given the epic last move drop on Armata Sikati (7b) last spring

Thanks Matt. Lurgy gone this week, huray! 

Mon. Went for my weekly fail on submergence. Every go feels like it's going to be the one but never quite happens. 

Tues. Rest. 

Wed. Headed down to the cemetery park boulder. The eliminate style of climbing on what is essentially a lump of concrete isn't everyone's cup of tea but I love it! It's also very close to nursery and 3mins drive and 5 seconds walk in from my house so my preferred option to going indoors if its dry! Today's grade haul makes it look like I tore the place down but parklife and concrete king are only 2 holds different on section 1 and although it's everything I'm best at (small positive edges, lots of feet options, power endurance rather than actually really hard) I think it was all probably quite soft. Managed: Parklife (section 1 - there and back again) (f7B+), The Concrete King (section 1) (f7C) and The Concrete King (section 1 - there and back again) (f7C+) 11km run after.

Thurs. And Fri. Rest. 

Sat. Had planned to go to Cratcliffe but overslept and missed the window of opportunity so had an hr back at cemetery park. Got stuck into the 'killer finish' of PL and TCK section 2. Sort of got a sequence together but needs refining. 19km mtb ride along the monsal with the kids after. V impressed with small swede, he's only 3 and a half and only had the bike since Xmas!

Sun. Leg raises and TRX work in the attic. 

Thanks Matt. I've only ever taken him out as a toddler a couple of times. This last weekend was a bit of a cheat as my wife turned up too by the time the rock dried,  so I had 45 minutes or so on my own. On the previous occasion when it was just me and the little man (last October), he had fun playing on the mat and trying to steal chalk off me,  the challenge was getting him off the mats. I managed to get him off the mat long enough to do a 7A that time by throwing my coat for him to run after a few times... Hoping to do more of this once the weather warms up for spring. He's happy to sit quietly with a tablet sometimes now too so I could take that as a backup option. I think basically it can work as long as you treat it as a fun day out with any good climbing being a bonus,  rather than having a project you are dead set on doing. 

This week I did almost nothing as I've been trying to kick this bug. I'm still not 100% as we've all been sleeping really badly the last few nights but much better than early in the week. 

M-W: nothing 

T: fingerboard in the evening. Trying to do a lattice edge repeaters session backfired,  I immediately felt the pulley in my left ring finger again that had stopped me last Sunday. Did a few 2 finger pocket hangs and some TRX work instead. 

F: rest

S: went to Earl for the morning. Mostly to try Desert Island Arete (Bloc) (f7A+), which just has one move I can't do. After trying it on three occasions I'm going to give it up for now as it has got frustrating. It feels like one that I need to be overly strong for because I can't twist my body in to the best position,  but I'm not currently over-strong enough. Afterwards I had a few goes on The Flakes (f7B), which seems a cool problem and I got fairly close to latching the crimp out left (I think this is probably the crux.)  It would be good to come back to this with a spotter as it feels very committing with a hillside down to the left. 

S: nothing. 

Hopefully feel better enough to get back to the wall again this Tuesday and Thursday. 

Si

Sorry ian, didn't see that post before I posted the main post.

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 - Rest
 
T - 3 mile walk

W - 3 mile walk

T - 4 mile walk

F - Rest

S - 3 mile walk
 
S - Rest

Might as well start with averages again.  Not as bad as I feel they ought to be.  Lets aim for 50% this month and work from there.  Diet is still poor and I still haven't quite shaken the tail end of this cold.  Which is a bit annoying.

Jan - 45%
Feb - 44%
YTD - 45%

STG: Learn to ski. Done, I guess, for some (basic) value of "able 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: Car trouble, ate a MacDonalds while waiting for breakdown service. It was vile. 
T: Hmm. Yesterday's bad burger coincided - coincidentally? - with the start of a stomach bug. 
W: More stomach bug. Useful head start on my (hitherto unannounced) Lose Three Kilos For Kaly campaign
T: Moonboard. In previous moonboard cycles I've made at least some progress. Not this time round. Depressing.
F: 
S: Ski School Day Seven, St Johann
S: Ski School Day Eight, St Johann. I opted not to take part in the token graduation black run, which to my experienced snowboarder's eye looked viciously icy; felt vindicated by the fact the 90% of those who did try it crashed & slid (and I definitely hadn't been in the top 10% of the class up to that point). All in all though a thoroughly successful course: am tootling down reds all day slowly & carefully but well in control. Quite content with that as a first month result.
    And still came home with enough energy & motivation for a small max hangs session on the beastmaker
 

Haha, dont remind me of that!!!

All the best climbers fall off the last move of Armata Sikati (7b)

Thanks again for the stats Matt. No grit this week, but broadened my rock types with outdoor climbing on limestone and conglomerate choss...

Week 6

M – Lantern bouldering session. Swing of Fire (V8) after a few goes. That’s the whole of Breck Road ticked Moved down to the hill to the cave and started working on a surprisingly dry Halfway House (V11). Bit of beta revelation; dropped RF off after putting LF on and the undercut move to the starting slot on TC is way higher percentage :-D Also get heel as high as possible; you can even wriggle it higher with L toe-hook in place and before bring toe under for kneebar. Best go; fell going to final pocket on TC – a high point by 4 moves. Whoop whoop!

T – Lots of groin & lower core pain overnight. Did’t know if it was DOMS or tendonitis again? Tendon density hangs 3x35s @~75% (BW+20kg) - these are working well and fingers feel pretty resilient at the moment.

W – Lunchtime bike ride, 80min, 35km. Low end aero-cap 7/3/12/1 x10 with grippers. 40s on/20s off x6 plank. Groin/core getting better quickly, so obviously just some weird deep DOMS from controlling the big cut loose swings on Monday night.

T – AERO-POWER DAY! 90s on/30s off FoC x8. Was able to just about pace myself through all reps, but the last 2 were pretty skin of the teeth affairs! Followed by 4x 7/3/12/4@~50% (-10kg).

F – Rest.

S – South Devon chossaneering, AKA conglomerate sport climbing at The Nudey Cliff. 3x 7a+ OS or flash. Long routes and hard to read rock meant they felt much harder than the advertised grades.

S – Storm Ciara forced us inside to Redpoint Bristol. 11 routes; 6x 7a-b OS/flash and one 7b+ RP. Good day of volume. Seemed to recover some indoor mojo but not quite there yet and noted I was taking many clips too low.

Thanks Matt, pushed a bit harder this week and learne a few things. Mauinly im fine to push my running distance. Pushing the pace is still bit of a no go at the moment. Weeek went as follows;

Monday, rest day after a busy weekend

Tuesday, 1km swim at lunchtime. 5km run in the evening, tried upping the pace. Ouch, not quite ready for that yet

Wednesday, gentle 1km swim

Thursday, 500m sprint in the pool, ran 3km in the evening helping out with the run groups juniors

Friday, 1.5km lunchtime swim and 5k run in the evening (easy pace     )

Saturday, spent the day pottering round the garden and taking stuff to the tip. Felt almost spring like.

Sunday, 8.5km trail run in the storm. Really exhilarating! 

Thanks Matt,

M- Last day of rest

T- Max hangs & pulls, core, rings, negatives, stetch

W- Campus & 6 sets six routes 1 per min.

T- Rest

F- Strength intervals on moonboard (exhausting)

S- Rest

S- Hungover

Good week, pity about missing sunday due to hangover. Amazing how moonboard never fails to kill me.

Hi matt,

Yes v5 is certainly my base level.

Last month was about mileage and volume, I'm all about recruitment this month

Tuesday:
Cold still milling around but I felt I could still climb. Went to the wall and re climbed two v4, two v5 and one v6 problem, then made good progress on a steep v7 I had tried last week Theraband routine for shoulders.

Friday:warmed up and felt my shoulder try and come out of position! Bit scary! Then re climbed a v5, v6 and worked a new v7 on the slab. Theraband for shoulders too.

Sunday: woke up and did 3 sets of 20 press ups and theraband to guard against my shoulder going again. Took kids to the wall in the afternoon and managed to repeat a v4 and v5.

This week I need to keep up the theraband and antagonist work to guard against shoulder injuries. Would also be good to get on the bike too. Having said all that Im currently slumped on the sofa feeling rechid....so perhaps I should be just aiming for good health this week!

Shall we start looking at a Spring Sat/Sun to re-start your outdoor campaign? Drop us a line - Navigation/Ogmore/other SW Wales all good - any discipline

Quick drive-by from me... work, lurgy, work, lurgy, quick trip to traverse Haresfield and a few hours at Burbage North where I have decided I need two snap mats for Small is Beautiful (f7A) and a bit more skin and a bit less lurgy for Fallen Slab Lip (f7A). Have the latter in two overlapping halves which is pretty pleasing as the start seems to fox a lot of people. Also did that 6A slab with the edgy pebble finally - the secret was to wear old shoes. Unit on Sunday with some interesting new yellows - hope we get back there before they change as a couple feel close.

DIY club - sanded, oiled and sealanted Matlock kitchen worktop.

Cheers, the skiing was fun but I really hurt my thumb on the Sunday, probably from overgripping my pole when tense on the icy bits. Got slowly better over the week but was still worried enough to see the physio about it in Friday, he said just pain no damage, so clear to get on with training. 

Apart from thumb woes, this week I start to switch in some power and power endurance work. I get to try hard! Yay

M: rest

Tu: indoor bouldering but thumb really too sore to do much interesting. Vaguely ancap work on the spray wall.

W: rest

Th: indoor lead, struggled with big/pushing moves due to thumb but got a decent aerocap session in, 8 routes 6a to 6b+.

F: rest

Sa: indoor bouldering, power. Thumb pretty much fine. First time this year really trying hard, got up 2 yellows, blues feeling really straightforward. 

Su: indoor lead, power endurance. Trying hard and falling off on the steepest 6cs. Great fun . 

You're the best!  I'll drop you a line. 

Yea, it's a good la'al run - nee dto do it more, but the weather of late...

M - 1hr 15 at the wall - 45 mins bouldering then 30 on routes

T - treated myself t osome new road shoes (New Balance 1080's) so had a slow run round town - 7.8km 43 mins (and 125m of up)

W - 1 hr 30 getting absolutley trashed on the MoonBoard

T - Club social run - 12.5k, 372m, 1hr 30 - nice slow chatty run over Walla Crag and down to Ashness. No calf issues!

F- 2 hrs of mainly easy routes with some bouldering thrown in at the end.

S - Nowt

S - 1 hr 90, mostly bouldering - managed an overhaging v3 that defeated me previously - and made progress on a couple of MoonBoard problems.

All in all a good weeks climbing. Heading in the right direction.

Cheers Matt, last week was a very easy one to write-up because it was very inactive but I have left it late to write up for the exact same reason.

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

Mon: rest

Tues: Short run, 29:40 min, 4.36km, (6:48min/km)

Weds: bouldering - finding it harder to climb things I would normally try but still quite happy on easier things.

Thurs: run 34:20 min, 5.03km, (6:49min/km)

Fri: rest

Sat: Went out to shoot some hoops

Sun: Spent the day painting the flat

Weekly goals:

1. fingerboarding: 2 x week - 0 completed

2. running: 3 x week - 2 this week, I actually thought I had only done one so pleased to find two logged!

3. 2 climbing sessions:2 x week - did 1

Don't worry, it's my own fault for posting on Sunday morning! (He says again posting on Sunday morning... next week!)

Goals

Been bad at this - got a Font trip in April and want to get 5+ 7A and up; I can probably do this by going and winning some old battles. Then an 8a (route, to be clear!) by the autumn.

Last Week

Yoga every day - can't be arsed to type it 7 times.

Monday:

1) Max Hangs (10 sec, lattice edge, half crimp) - 5 @ 88.5kg, 1 @ 89.5kg

2) Stabiliser + scapular conditioning; H core

Tuesday

1) Valley. Warm up including some easy hangs. Comp boulder session (6 problems, 4 mins each) @ 6C+/7A - topped 1/6. 

2) Bike 10.8km

Wednesday

​​​​​​​1) Valley. Warm up with hangs. Boulder triples @ 6B+, topped 18/18. 

2) Bike 10.8km

Thursday

​​​​​​​Rest

Friday

1) Max hangs (protocol as above): 5 @ 89.6kg, 1 @ 90.1kg (9 sec only).  Small edge max duration (BW, full crimp): 10mm edge for 10 secs, 8mm edge for 4 sec.

2) Stabiliser + scapular conditioning, tension (TRX stuff)

3) Bike 9.3km

Saturday

​​​​​​​1) Valley. Did a fun "sloper masterclass" session, problems <6C+. Linked boulders on sections of the 7c+ circuit, 1 min on 1 min off x 10 on the 7a. 

2) Power pulls

3) Bike: 8.8km

Sunday

1) Static core

2) H+L flex

Bit of a big one - 17 hours(!)