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_674-7159...

Psyche video - suggestions for next week please?

AJM - Great to hear that things are going the right way.  Looks like a good week to me.

Powderpuff - Did you get 3 sessions?  I hope so!  Hope you're better now.

annak - Good to hear that the thumb is better.  Nice to get outside.

Sid dH - Ohhh garage wall to be.  Noice.  Hope this week went well.

Somerset swede basher - Psyche is super important, glad to hear you have a stash!  Raven Tor is awesome.  Lots of good stuff this week.

Steve Jones - Lots of good volume there.  Well done.  That's still a nice 5k time.

jakob - Good to hear the pysche is high.  Hope you get Ned's Problem soon.  Lots of good training this week, well done.

AlanLittle - That's a fairly valid excuse to have a easy week.  Skiiing sounded nice tho.  Hope you're on it this week?

ianstevens - Woo, you're early!  It's nice to have Font to look forward to.  Lots of good sessions.

ad111 - I hate that kind of ankle twist.  It's the worst.  Hope you're recovered soon.

Ally Smith - Zero gnarr points?  I'm disappointed!  Good week even with all the travelling and stuff.

the sheep - Glad to hear the recovery is going well.  This weather does suck the motivation out of you doesn't it?

Tom Green - Stirling Bomber is a nice tick.  Good job on getting another solid V in.  Definitely a good idea to have bailed.

biscuit - Hope you're feeling better and that the lurgy has gone?

Bones - 2 fingerboard sessions, well done!  Sounds like a good week all in.  Good running pace there as well.

mattrm - No climbing yeh muppet.  Disappointing dot com.  Ok, at least do a run next week?  Stop being so lazy and hopeless fatty!

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 7lbs (1lbs gain)

M - 3 mile walk

T - Rest

W - Rest

T - 3 mile walk

F - Rest

S - Rest

S - Push ups

Again a bit of an iffy week for various reasons.  On holiday for a bit of next week, so I hope to catch up on sleep, eat a bit better and get out for a run.  I'm going to try and improve the diet through March.  Then we'll see about outdoors in April.

YTD - 46%

Feb - 47%

Thanks Matt.  Yes, the plan is for a 45 degrees Woodie for me and a vert/off-vert wall for Sol to play on...i haven't made much progress yet though! 

First half of this week I was ill again. Second half of the week was better. 

M-W: ill/rest

T: Hangar after work. Did a couple of V5/6s and got close to another. 

F: rest

S: had planned a wall trip but ran out of time in between family stuff

S: Longish session at the Hangar this morning. Spent most of my time on long stuff in the cave getting myself powered out as much as possible. Only ticked a couple of things but it was good training. TRX to finish. Felt pretty wiped this afternoon!

Si

Cheers Matt. A tougher midweek this week with sickly children, but it improved into the weekend...

Monday - rest

Tuesday - felt ok in the morning but crashed out when I got home. 2 sets of pushups, nothing else

Wednesday - up in the night, then again at 4 and then at 6. Tired! Wrote an article about Avon adventures from last year for club journal.

Thursday - wide pull-ups, 5, 4 @89kg then ran out of time for set 3

Friday - oof. MicroAJM ill and up through the night. Poor sleep. Nothing

Saturday - better sleep. Wall. Ticked the third of the three original “moderately tricky” projects I had on the 30, via the proper beta, which I unlocked when I realised that an inside rather than outside edge shifted my hips enough to reach far enough to get my heel on at the start. Last session before reset so nice to get them done. Put a little bit of time into the next obvious contender but no dice, really big crank on a high heel and I just couldn’t hold the tension for the move once pulled up onto it. Had a lengthy break child minding, then re warmed up and had a very short go on the board, back on the old nemesis “test6c”. I had slightly less knackered and more aggressive shoes on but also unlocked some different beta and on my best go I pinged off moving to the penultimate hold. This is from the ground to through the crux, so very pleased (I also did through the crux to the top by pulling on after the second move). It seems to have made my finger a bit grumbly today, so I’m not sure whether I’ll be in a rush to go back and finish it off, but in some respects it doesn’t matter because it’s gone from impossible/improbable to definitely doable. However, I then discovered that the board has its own Instagram account (https://www.instagram.com/the_blue_board/) so the temptation to finish and video it is now obviously there.....The wall is being reset this week so I’ll have lots of new problems to crack on with next time as well.

Sunday - got the rings out and tried more rows. I seemed to get something pretty hard by doing feet elevated, pulling up and then pushing one arm off to the side in turn (pulling up with both arms but then trying to push out towards an archer position as here  youtube.com/watch?v=P48pbMvoDww&). Also tried some rows exactly as per the video but with feet on the floor, these too felt hard which indicated they must be an area of weakness but are difficult to do in the restricted space where the rings hang. Also 3x5 bicep curls with 13kg which is hard for my feeble biceps. And squeezed in two sets of pushups to finish the day off.....

Be nice to get some sunshine again soon! Currently, assuming same again this week coming unless the weekend shows dramatic improvements. Making progress - not very fast, but plodding away!

Cheers Matt, the usual thanks for stats. It's been half term for me this week so more active than usual as plenty of time. Shame the weather was pants but managed lots of training and a good chunk of CV exercise too.

Mon. Got down to cemetery park between showers and ticked Torque to me (f7B) and Parklife (section 2) (f7B). Both I've tried intermittently for several sessions amongst other things so pleased to get these. I unlocked Torque to me with a ridiculous sequence that involved both hands on sidepulls then as you barn door off do a high step and chuck in a knee bar to oppose the swing. Pull in quickly then in that moment before you fall outwards again take the knee out and power upward to another side pull facing the other way. Brilliant. No idea how the FA did it but I loved my sequence! Also really happy to figure out that last move to Parklife. Previously I'd been trying to do it as a massive crucifix but in the end I got both my feet all the way over first then pressed it out Quarryman style. Releasing the hands was great involving a really deep drop knee/Egyptian. All in all a great session on the concrete!

Tues. A bit tired but had booked in a wall session with a work colleague that I've not climbed with before so didn't want to be flakey. Climbed on the slab at AW Sheffield which was actually really good. I've not done a slab indoors for years. Found the 6cs tricky so toproped the 7b but did get up it first go. A 7a on the vert wall to finish. 

Wed. 15km run. Mini swede in the running buggy and small swede on his bike. Really nice to be out all together and the kids really enjoying it too. 

Thurs. Training session at home. Max hangs, weighted pull ups, bar core and press ups. Long drive south in the evening. 

Fri. 28km on the road bike.

Sat. Family day out to the zoo. 

Sun. 32km on the road bike in the morn. Long drive north in the afternoon and I've just done 12 sets of repeaters on the fingerboard to finish the week. Back to work tomorrow. 

Thanks Matt. Only one actual climbing session this week but that's more than the none I managed last week, and it was a good un so helpful for motivation.

STG: Moonboard benchmark (any)
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: Disaster-free Monday. Hurrah. Forty minutes mobility, stretching & foam rolling before bed.
T: Beastmaker max hangs
W: 
T: Wall, Boulderwelt. PE circuits. Two weeks of skiing, beastmaking & general miscellaneous stress don't seem to have done too much damage. Got on a steep, big holds & big moves 6c+ that was well outside my usual vertical tic-tac comfort zone, did it second go. Good.
F: 
S: Skiing with my 16yo son, who has 12 years ski experience versus my 12 days, and very much enjoyed being the senior member of the team. We went to Axams, which turned out to be an *interesting* beginner venue: the one and only "blue" piste started life as a women's olympic downhill run & must be a contender for steepest blue in Austria. But after a bit of warming up the reds in the rest of the resort turned out to be not noticeably harder, and generally very pleasant: wide, good snow, great scenery. Would definitely go again.
S: More of the same during the day. Max hangs at home afterwards.

Bored of all the rain now - this week doesn't look good either - feeling rock starved.

Will try and add some structure to my sessions this week. Definitely need some aero-power sessions before Spain in 4 weeks, but want to try and maintain my capacity sessions leading up to UK rock season (if it ever happens!?!)

Week 8

M – Unstructured bouldering. Working out some new problems for future training. Got a couple of good 12 move “linked boulders” and some more amenable board projects that should go in a session or two.

T – 37km lunchtime ride. Windy! Evening H-core and side plank session.

W – Decided pocket strength needs to be a focus for Costa Blanca/Forada trip so returned to repeater session I did before visiting Margalef. Double sets of 7/3/6/3 on varied BM2K grips at BW+7.5 to 12.5kg, apart from F3SC (-10kg) and pinch widget (12.5kg lift).

Later, 3 rounds of squat, OHP, reverse flys, flys, archer press-ups & 10kg assist shoulder shrugs. Shoulders totally wobbly by the end; needed a quick sugar hit to motivate me for the 12x 7/3/6/1 min on/min off aero-cap hangs @BW-22.5kg (some grip variation; F4, F4open, F3SC, B3)

T – Nowt: Knackered from Wed training and sore back overnight.

F – Another unstructured boulder. Got up a pair of "7A" problems https://www.instagram.com/p/B83FuNpjVF4/ and managed the crux move on a bugbear “7B”. Compex ab & groin.

S – Kitchen cleaning, shopping and cinema trip (1917 is highly recommended)

S – BFR fingerboard. BFR (140 mmHg only for reps) Portable hangboard @30kg lifts 6x7s hangs in F3SC per arm after 30 concentric reps. So pumped! 3x11 bicep curls at 29kg. Afternoon, 15km slow bike ride with my wife who’s still recovering from a virus. Got cold and needed reviving with hot chocolate and parkin! Lots of TV stretching in the evening.

Cheers Matt. Another good week building on my progress. Again pushing distance as pace is as yet not an option. Whilst the wet seems to diminish (completely remove) the desire to go out on the bike, going for a trail run and getting completely filthy seems like great fun. Incorporating hand paddles into the swim training is proving interesting and in the long run should improve power and efficiency 

Monday, 1km lunchtime swim and 8km run in the evening.

Tuesday, 2km swim. 1km at pace then paddle drill for a km

Wednesday, 5km gentle run with the wife and youngest daughter

Thursday, 2km swim followed by stretch class

Friday, 1km swim

Saturday, very hilly 5km trail run

Sunday, Set out to push the distance and get over 10km which has been one of my recovery goals. Did just over 11km of very very muddy trail running. Even fell into a stream at one point as it was so flooded i couldn't see where the bridge was and stepped off the edge. Proper type 2 fun 

Thanks - hopefully I can  keep up the volume and get one hard session in as well. Need to do more strength/core stuff, but I guess best thing atm is to improve the diet/cut out beer! That should help the running too.

M - am - flat 5k, 24 mins. pm 70mins bouldering including Moonboard.

T - Nowt

W - 2hrs mainly easy/social routes, made a bit of progress on the 7a slab project.

T - 8km 47mins chatty round town jog

F - 2hrs mainly easy/social routes

S&S - nowt - brother was up so drank a lot and weather was to poor to run.

STG - mates big birthday session on Tuesday - after that the reduction in drinking will start!

MTG - try and get more cardio done to get weight and 5k time down. Brush-up/learn my trad skills.

LTG - get competitive running and push my grades (trad/sport/bouldering) this summer/autumn

Cheers Matt,

My ankle is improving quickly and in the happy condition of looking really bad but feeling pretty good! I am about to start my last training week of this cycle so I feel like revisiting the New Years goals:

Goals (to be achieved by April):

+47.5kg on lattice edge (increase of 5kg) I've bumped my standard sets up by 1kg so I doub I'll manage the goal but at least there is some progress.

+35kg 2 rep pullups (increase 5kg) I'm definitely going to hit this target as last session I managed 6 sets, 3 reps at 30kg.

Be able to lockoff for 15 seconds on both arms After a quick test after max pulls yesterday I'd say I'm on track with about 8 secs on right arm and 4 on left arm.

Train core minimum twice a week. I've managed between 2 or 3 core sessions a week and am feeling all the benefits I could hope for.

Takeaways - All my pullup training is paying off quickly (as I should expect as I've never trained it before) and finger strength is very slow (also as expected).

M: Rest

T: Max pulls, Max hangs, rings, core, stretch

W: Rest

T: Attempted moonboard session (came down if there was any chance of falling), core

F: Rest

S: Competition - only did the routes I wouldn't fall on and then hit the roof for some no danger bouldering.

S: Rest

Overall a light week, but not bad considering I was pretty angry at having buggered my ankle

Great job on fitclub stats Matt, thank you for your hard work. Did you get a run in?

Another two fingerboards session last week. Planned in 3 for this week. Slightly slower run pace this week, not really sure why but felt fine. Had a couple of bad headaches to contend with which took me out of play for two days.

Week 700 goal: 50 fingerboard sessions - 7/50 completed

Mon: rest

Tues: Short run, 30:59 min, 4.42km, (7:01min/km) and fingerboard session. Felt super, super hard to hold on to the 20mm today!

Weds: Hackney Wick boulder session. Good session today. Had many tries on a crimpy comp problem from last week; still couldn't quite yet the first move down, probably V3/4.

Thurs: rest

Fri: Short run, 35:08 min, 4.95km, (7:06min/km)

Sat: rest

Sun: Fingerboard and bouldering at Hackney Wick, finally got the crimpy problem from last week and weds. Fingerboarding felt good again today, easy. Should probably do another max weight test in the next couple of weeks.

Weekly goals:

1. fingerboarding: 2 x week - 2 completed

2. running: 3 x week - 2 this week, still need to work on getting at least 3 in.

3. 2 climbing sessions: 2 x week - 2 completed

STG: get fit for Red Rocks at the start of April

M: 45min run

T: Indoor lead power endurance, up to 6c

W: Sore throat, rest

Th: Chest infection, took the day off

F: Another day under the duvet

Sa: Feeling much better, indoor bouldering up to 6B+, strength

Su: Outdoor bouldering, managed a 6A but a lot of things were just a bit too wet where it mattered. Still nice to be out in the sunshine

The week ahead: move into the full on power/power endurance phase, ie try hard and expect to fail.

Also I am attempting to revise my eating habits/attitude and actually eat enough to fuel my efforts and get stronger. Work in progress, will report back.

Hi folks. Thanks Matt for the continued stats.

A pretty crap week. Partly due to long work days and life commitments and partly due to having a bit of a bad back.

Week 8:

M: Rest. 

T: Rest.

W: Road run. 5.5km, flat, 5:07/km. Pretty mediocre!

T: Rest.

F: Prehab. Elbows and shoulders.

S: Rest.

S: Rest.

Week 9 Plan:

120 min Z1 

1 Climbing sesh

1 Core and Strength

STG (End Feb 2020):

Scottish 7 (Tick)

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

Weighted pull-ups >+15kg 3RM 

MTG (End April 2020):

Two big alpine routes off my hit list

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

Plan Summer goals...

LTG (End 2020):

Run 25km vert. 

Run 600km (revised from 1000km -just not realistic unless I prioritise distance over vert gain, which would be less applicable to other goals)

50+ days climbing outside (may be too unambitious?! ...currently on 14)

Hi Matt

Massive props for doing fit club AGAIN!...you're a legend!

Yes managed the 3 sessions

Wed: climbed two v4's and v5's at the wall. Theraband for shoulders 

Fri: steady session at the wall climbing up to v4. Theraband again

Sat:3 sets of 20 press ups and sit ups. 3 sets of 10 eccentric wrist curls and leg raises.

Sunday: 7 max hangs on beastmaker at home.2 sets of 20 press ups and sit ups. 2 sets of 10 eccentric wrist curls and leg raises.

Thanks for doing stats Matt. In a bid not to just lurk, here's a quick summary:

Some skiing/ski-touring - didn't manage to get over 4000m but good mileage.

3 x yoga

Couple of indoor bouldering sessions up to V5 - I guess I take V5 indoors at 2000+m altitude.

House clearing (no DIY points sadly)

Had to get in there sometime! Back to the usual last minute dash... Still 100% on the lattice plan, 4 weeks in.

Again, yoga every day. 

Monday

Rest

Tuesday

Valley unstructured session, <6C.

Bike 9.6km

Wednesday

Stabiliser conditioning, tension, static holds

Bike 9km

Thursday

Valley: WU inc. easy hangs, 4 min blocks on 3 problems (6C x 2; 6C+, sent all), Pyramid 6B+ - 7A+ (didn't send top two, 7A and 7+)

Bike 8km

Friday

Rest

Saturday

Stabiliser conditioning 

Max hangs - 5 @ 90.2kg, 1 @ 90.7kg (only 8 secs)

Valley: linked boulders 6B+; one min on one min off on 7a circuit 

Sunday

Stretching