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_682-7181...

Psyche video - Any ideas?

AJM - Is the back better again?  Lots of good home sessions there.  I love the detail!

Si dH - Hope you've been making very good use of the wall?  Lots of great sessions this week.

AlanLittle - Yes, I definitely think diversifying activity is great.  Did you swing the kettlebells then?  Solid week tho.

Somerset swede basher - Great idea to fix the elbow.  The castle sounds cool.

Ally Smith - Glad you're feeling better.  As always lots of scary finger boarding and weight training.  Excellent numbers!

Tom Green - Is the lattice rail up?  Lots of good runs there as well as all the other stuff.  Greay work.

the sheep - Really good to hear that the op stuff is healing up nicely.  This enforced rest has it's uses.

Steve Jones - Being furloughed in the Lakes, poor you!  Sounds like a lovely week of running and walking.  Are the hills quiet?

Powderpuff - Yay!  Good job on the therabanding.  Hayfever meds can be horrible sometimes, easily possible to clobber energy levels.

jackob - Chin up old chap.  Those numbers look great, you'll be crushing it by the end of the lockdown.

mattrm - A *proper* run this week?  Also eat less food fatty.

Everyone is doing really well it seems.  Great job everyone.

Thanks matt. Back was better most of the week but flared up yesterday again.

Monday - nothing. We were both really tired, poor sleep, and miniAJM was being trying again. Finished the board game from Sunday: lost.

Tuesday - similar to Monday but with work thrown into the mix too. 

Wednesday - up early to go to the shops. Took the afternoon off to enjoy the sunshine and try to catch up on life. As per last week’s musings on upping volume I did front2 on the little bm2k pockets @75kg/90%/bw+1 (because I thought a round number would be nice), doing a few c8-10s hangs. Not sure I really hit the right spot with this as the longer length (certainly at 10s) seemed to make something a bit unhappy. One to experiment with. Maybe the sweet spot round that weight is more like 7-8s? I dropped the weight on the bicep curls back to 13kg and tried 3x10 each side (out of the cumulative 60, I missed 2). Also back2 assisted with foot in a resistance band. This last exercise definitely felt better this time.

Thursday - very busy day at work. My training works best if I can slot it into gaps between meetings and things like that, and then maybe do a few hours work at the weekend if I need to catch up; however with back to back meetings that wasn’t really possible. End result was nothing got done.

Friday - despite there being nominally more opportunity, with a better set of meetings, I still didn’t get anything done until right before bed when I tried another 3x10 bicep curls of which again I missed 2, in order to have done something.

Saturday - everybody quite tired. Back flared up again. More use of the electronic babysitter than we might usually want, but needs must. One of those days where once the children are in bed you slump shell-shocked into the sofa with a large gin and tonic! However, also did some training amidst the madness. Session of weighted pull-ups @85kg 5x5 with some stretching in between sets. Not tested my 1RM but if I can still do 3 at circa 95kg that maybe suggests a little over 100kg so maybe that’s ~80% intensity? Finished off with 7 @80kg.

Sunday - all round, a far better day. Got some work done, some cooking prep done, some training done, and everyone was in a far sunnier mood. 5x5 dips, these seemed easier with knuckles facing forward but unsure if it just meant I wasn’t going quite as far down (I.e. not sure whether a better muscle alignment or just a shorter range of motion). I had a go at the false grip hold on the rings which felt horrible and the transition (with feet on the floor) still pretty implausible - I’m not sure I’ll be doing muscle ups any time soon! 3x5 each side archer rows.

More days off than last week but today and yesterday’s training was quite good. Some bits of Wednesday were good, some more experimental.

The next two weeks at work will be pretty busy, so may be more about surviving than anything else. I’d like to at least keep doing something mind you, even if it’s just a quick stretch before bed and that sort of thing, and try to do a bit more at weekends.

My “laying the groundwork for future glory” action for this week gone was to order the materials for a small campus board. It’ll be where my current foc board is, and have space for rungs 1-6. It’ll be very bunched starting from matched on 1, so some of it may involve starting on say 3 or starting on 1-3 and working from there. I have gone to and fro on this idea a bit over the last few weeks - I previously wrote it off when I realised it couldn’t be large enough for 1-4-7 (my logic being that on occasion at my very best I can do 1-4-6 on medium rungs so it wouldn’t be future proof otherwise) but I then had a change of heart and realised that the campus board that exists will always trump the one that doesn’t and that getting to 1-4-6 consistently on small rungs and being able to use the extra small rungs I’ve also bought is likely to more than occupy the lockdown time in itself. I’m also aware that I may be building more toys rather than training, but there we go!

youtube.com/watch?v=S6floyyDP-w&

psyche vid suggestion - worlds best climber narrating his thought process on an onsight of a historic classic...

I just re-watched that today. Marvelous isn’t it?

Consistent 1-4-6 on small edges would be pretty good I reckon. Wouldn't worry too much about 1-4-7, I was never anywhere close even at my strongest.

Re: training around meeting...is it implausible to have your meeting near your training equipment and turn the video off so you can do some training while listening? Obviously it won't be very structured but might help you feel better if nothing else. I've been doing a few press-ups and star jumps while on the phone/Skype...

Ill have to see how bunched it is to hang 1, I might be doing it as two separate moves (start matched on 3 and do 3-6, then swap down to 1-4 and try to pull through), but pulling through in isolation on little edges would be a result in itself!

I’ve done that with meetings where I need to just “be there” rather than ones where I’m more core and my input is required more (where I think it would be too distracting); sadly a lot of next week is the latter!

Thanks Matt. Yes, lots of use - I'm really pleased how it has turned out and feel very lucky to have a really good space to have put it at home. I've also found I've been able to combine some climbing with childminding as Sol likes playing in the gravel by the garage with all his toys, so that's a bonus for now.

M: first board session in the afternoon. This was mainly just working things out and playing on different moves. I was pleased to find I've set a reasonable warmup on jugs that climbs quite well, probably 6b+ or something.

T: rest I think.

W: board session first thing. Really good session. I worked out another couple of good problems, this time not on the jugs. I recorded them in my 'book' at 6c and 6c+ but who knows.

T: evening board session. Felt tired after work, possibly not rested enough and had no 'snap.' Cut it fairly short as I couldn't repeat the problems I had put up on Wednesday and was worried about getting injured.

F: I did a TRX session after work, reverse flies and IYWs. 

S: morning session. I was worried about not getting enough rest but actually felt good once warm. Did 4 or 5 sets of bodyweight repeaters on the lattice edge, then had a session on the board. Repeated my problems from Wednesday and then played around trying to set something involving wide moves on pinches or slopers, but didn't manage to move between the harder-to-hold positions.

S: I put a few more footholds on this afternoon. Previously just had 15 wooden domes (almost impossible to use when I'm not holding a jug) and 15 wooden domes with flat tops, in rows of 5. I was finding I needed to do a lot of high steps between the flat topped ones so have added a few mediocre screw-on resin holds at the level of the domes. Still need some tension but are a lot better than the domes. Doing another board session this evening.  

I'm expecting some more holds to arrive soon which will be good as I find I'm having to use the same holds a lot in certain parts of the board. The main challenge is going to be being sensible and not getting injured.

Si

is this real grading or board grading?

my experience with board grading generally is that anything on jugs can’t be graded more than about 6A in order to set the “correct” tone for what follows...

Si's board (TM) grading?

I hesitate to claim it's real grading as it's probably all over the shop (I've already decided the 6c+ is a sandbag as I've only managed to repeat the start twice), but that's the intent. I think silly sandbag grading on easier board problems is silly, especially since I'm the only one climbing on it!

As an aside the 45-50 degree board at the Unit had the very easiest problems all graded at 6b+ as a baseline when it was first installed, which I think was very sensible. 6a climbers can't climb a 45 degree wall with small feet even if they have jug handles.

Hi All -hope you are all well! Thanks for the quality stats as per usual Matt.

Week 16:

Finally got the Lattice Rail up -a DIY triumph!

M: Rest. Attempted a core sesh but aborted as felt weirdly weak, to the point where I was worried I might hurt myself if I persevered. Pretty odd, but maybe just a bit of fatigue from last week?

T: Core. Good sesh -a relief after yesterday!

W: Pull-ups: BW, 5x5, on the minute. Crimpd Max Hangs: BW (felt surprisingly good given that I've not hung an edge for 6+ months). TRX: Crimpd Compression and Tension.

T: Road Run: Z1.

F: Elbow Prehab.

S: Pull-ups, Max Hangs, TRX. All as on Weds.

S: Road Run: Z1. Deadlifts: 68kg, 4x4. Core.

Week 17:

Start building home board. Bodge some sort of rack so I can do heavy squats.

2 Z1 sessions

2 Core sessions

2 General strength sessions

2 Prehab sessions

STG (End May):

Max Hangs 75kg total

Weighted Pull-Ups 85kg total 3RM 

Squat 70kg 3RM

Deadlift 85kg 3RM

3 sets of core circuit.

MTG/LTG:

All hinge on how long restrictions last...

Hi Matt, sorry for the AWOL and thanks for keeping the stats going! Obviously things blurring into each other a bit and busy with work. Have gone from zero to 50 pull ups and 15miles + a week, so I guess that's something. Hope you're enjoying the running?

Last three weeks fairly similar and we are getting into a rhythm of:

Some level of yoga everyday, even if just 10 minutes of internet. 

1 x core, 1 x fingerboard, 1 x bar and rings. Need to work up the fingerboard. 

3-4 x runs (usually about 15 miles, but 19 miles this week d/t Bank Holiday) 

Ankle is cranky since I turned it a bit on some uneven sheep ground a couple of weeks ago. Thought it was fixed and then it has been troubling me for the last week running so my downhill went from zooming away from Ben a few weeks ago to limp shuffling and holding him up in the last week so having to run flatter footed to make sure it doesn't hurt. RICEing etc and its okay on the flat. Need to make sure I don't get dependent on Vitamin I. Some tightness in calves which I'm working with rolling and massage etc. Yoga is working well as working range of movement and stretching. Left elbow noticed the recommencing of pull-ups but is over it now. 

Sleep was good (probably taking up running helped) for first couple of weeks but now back to early wake-ups. Diet okay - elevenses an established part of day structure now but I definitely eat more biscuits at work than at home and am doing more exercise. The cut price Easter eggs in a petrol station on the grandma run last week was a blip. 

STG:

100k in first month AG (Anno Garmini) - so need another 6.26m by end of this Wednesday. Yes the switching between miles and km is annoying, but still trying to train the Garmin.

Sort out home board. Currently lots of wood in the kitchen and holds, screws and T nuts in the porch. Our 13mm auger bit has now arrived so time to get out the power tools. 

Work out how to fix the ankle. 

Hey Matt,

I missed last week's post, think I felt a bit guilty for taking so long to get something going again and possibly needed a bit of a breather. I finally got into it by the end of the week!

I've just checked my running app and somehow I went for three short runs last week without even knowing it!

I've started doing some strength exercises with resistance bands and that is going well. Definitely working my muscles just in different ways to the max strength stuff I am used to. I've done a very childlike sketch/list of some of the exercises I am doing and put them on insta: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_MeMi_jmgK/

Also, started finger curls as an alternative to fingerboarding. I couldn't find a hold to hang weight from without paying a lot of money so I think I'll stick to this for now and keep looking into other options. I've seen some of you guys have made your own ones so maybe I'll see if I can find some wood in the flat and drill a hole in it.

Mon: short run, 22:56 min, 3.04km/1.88 miles, (7:33min/km)

Tues: rest

Weds: rest

Thurs: rest

Fri: short run, 32:55 min, 4.32km/2.68 miles, (7:37min/km)

Sat: rest

Sun: Did a band workout, fingercurls with just the bar (2kg) to see how I got on. Very easy with no weight. Then a short run, 32:00 min, 4.36km/2.71 miles, (7:20min/km) and a yoga session to stretch out.

Obviously, I now need to make this all more consistent.

I have slightly adapted my week 700 goal to 50 finger strength sessions rather than just fingerboard.

Week 700 goal: 50 finger strength sessions - 17/50 completed.

Cheers Matt, hope everyone is doing ok

Another steady week, going for a gentle run most days. Had the week booked off as annual leave so had a pretty chilled time enjoying the sunshine, doing jobs in the garden, walking the dog with the kids and cooking. Wife working from home and very busy so good to be able to take the weight off her shoulders for a while. 

Eldest is missing her swimming so set up a simulator in the garden with a bench, bosu ball and resistance bands. She can now at least keep working on technique and use the muscle groups in a similar manner to in the water. As a family we have also started the 5 minute plank challenge. Could be interesting!

On the downside my mums partner was diagnosed with prostate cancer on Sunday after be admitted to hospital. As they are 150 mile away and my mum is an at risk person due to chemo and only having half a lung on one side so its all a  bit worrying and there is sod all we can do.

Thanks again for the sterling efforts on the stats: My personal diary has lots of additional detail, numbers and personal rumination. Not sure any of you want to read minute detail of sets and reps structure!? So I've done a harsher edit this week...

Week 16

M – Vale Royal ride.

1-arm shrugs then sloper & wide-grip pull-up variations.

T – Right posterior deltoid sore. 

Rest(ish): Built my own Pinch Block from a Lattice rung second and tested max pinch @ 18kg L / 19kg R for 7s lift.

Bench press: Volume.

W – Right posterior deltoid still sore. 

BFR fingerboard; focusing on F3SC. Burst a blood vessel in R middle finger and caused some bruising. 

40 min evening yoga.

T – Right posterior deltoid still sore from Monday! Skipped finger training because of bruise/burst blood vessel (would have been tendon density/aero-cap split session). Big session of resistance training instead.

Bench press: Medium reps.

DL: Volume.

Bicep curls. 

Bunch of rings x3; could go really nice and deep on these – shoulders starting to feel strong - guess they’re finally responding to continued bench-press efforts

F – Feeling busted from weights session. Gentle ride.

Crimpd small edges. No progress. 

Sloper: Crimpd "Max hang" / “Dead-pinch”: Crimpd “Max”. Both steady. 

S – Struck hard with (lock)down lassitude: Not helped by grey weather. Finally got around to measuring up and ordering timber for garage board.

S – Longer but still gentle ride, then 1-arm max-hangs maintaining strict half crimp. Felt good. 

Sloper & F3SC: Crimpd "Max hang" / “Dead-pinch”: Crimpd “Max”. Small progress on all.

That sounds rough. My last near & dear elderly relative passed away in a care home in January, and frankly in hindsight it's a huge relief that he did.

Well done for keeping the psyche going Matt. 

A Hundred Years of Solitude, Week Five.

STG: Survive the pandemic; still be on speaking terms with my family at the end of it. Vary my quarantine training to include more general strength & mobility.
MTG: Re-plan Kalymnos trip to the Autumn - but of what year? Do a beginner ski tour in spring 2021
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber by 2021, assuming I get to go climbing at some point in 2020. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M: Kettlebell swings, TGUS & shoulder press, wrist extensors, core.

T: Beastmaker. Four weeks since my last benchmark; time to see if I've achieved anything. Just about: four weeks ago I couldn't quite hold +24kgs for the specified 7 seconds; now I can. Just barely. Plus a kilo or so's worth of panic-bought calories. So ... progress over four weeks, yes but marginal. But on a longer perspective: 10 kgs improvement in total weight hung since August. Not bad; should come in handy if I ever get to go climbing again on a regular basis.

W: 75 minutes step-ups whilst watching Steve House on the telly soloing K7
T: Rest
F: Seven hours of back-to-back work calls, after which was tired so more "rest". Did my first (of hopefully not *too* many) full-on quarantine netflix binge. 

S: Beastmaker. Backing off from the max hangs for a while, intending to work on some weaknesses instead. Mainly trying to learn to half crimp, plus some (fashionable!) back three. As a natural open-hander who has never crimped much, I tend to drop into a drag/chisel when I add weight. So I've moved to strict form half crimps - but am not really sure if there's any significant difference between my half and full crimp positions: if my index finger DIP and PIP are horizontal, then my middle and ring PIP are definitely higher. But I watched Shauna's warm-up video where she says that's ok.

S: The Day The Lockdown Ends, as per original Bavarian state of emergency declaration. Ha ha. No.
    An hour on the bike; half an hour shoulders, wrist extensors, squats

Thanks Matt. Much the same as last week for me. Still lots of elbow fixing exercises going on. Might have overdone the core work on Saturday. Still sore today and it woke me up in the night sat night but hoping it's just fatigue rather than injury. It has been a busy 2 weeks but glad to have done lots in my 'holiday'. Back to work now and although I don't need to do a day in school this week I've still got lots to get on with at home.

Mon. Static core, rings stuff, press ups. 

Tues. Attic session and slow 10km kiddy bike ride. 

Wed. 56km 1100m ascent on the road ride. 

Thurs. 10 sets of repeaters, 5x5 on the min BW pull ups, press ups. 

Fri. Rest

Sat. Max hangs (+28kg), weighted pull ups 5x5 (+8.5kg) floor core (went at it too hard), press ups.

Sun. Argh, still destroyed from twisting crunches, 8km run to loosen up (a bit).

New holds for the attic arrived this week. Kids loving the jugs. Built them a swing too. Mrs Swede had the predicted number of sessions up there! The 'deep crimps' I bought described as 'perfect for seriously steep ground' are smaller than I expected so am going to need to get stronger. Psyched to get back up there once I can move my core again. Probably Wednesday. 

The swimming technique simulator sounds like a stroke of genius!

Sounds like a scary time for you, wishing you all well. I hope your mum and her partner are doing ok.

Hey Matt,

Absolutely no hayfever medicine this week!

Monday: joe wicks for 30 mins...yes really.

Tuesday: 3 sets of 20 press ups and sit ups. 3 sets of 10 leg raises. 2 max hangs on slopers. 6 max hangs on half crimps 20mm edge. Good form pull ups 20 something reps????

Sunday: 6 maxs hangs on beastmaker slopers. 3 sets of 20 press ups and sit ups. 3 sets of 10 leg raises and eccentric wrist curls. Lots of pull ups. Theraband exercises for shoulders.

Still waiting for plywood for the wall.

Posting in the hope that one day there will be structure again...!

A couple of 5Kish runs, a couple of yoga sessions, some walking. Work is still a bit overwhelming and I am cutting myself some slack but aware I need to keep some activity going. 

Thank you 

They are fine at the moment, he is 80 so not unexpected for a man of his age. They are both as fit as possible and still working by virtue of being hill farmers on the edge of the N Yorks moors. Fortunately in this regard they are well isolated at the moment and have good friends who bring them food etc. My mum has also discovered a local firm that will deliver boxes of wine so she is happy 

What a life! Still hill farming at 80 is incredible, they must be super fit.

Is anyone else using pinch blocks atm? If so, are you finding them fairly consistent?

Did a short session at lunchtime and found it a bit frustrating -  not sure if, between a parallel sided block (i.e. not incut) and smooth material, that means it's just one of those things that varies around a bit from session to session - interested in others' experiences...

I did a full session of 6x 10 second "max-hangs" using my Lettuce Pinch-Block on Sunday. 

I found that there was some variability from go-to-go due to exact finger positioning, the amount of chalk on fingers and critically brushing.

I've been finding the same with my sloper "max-hangs" too, and just need to be disciplined to make sure I brush before every go and don't use too much/too little chalk.

Oh, and thoroughly wash your hands before starting the session - greasy digits were also making things harder than necessary!

I have found in the past that my pinch strength seems particularly susceptible to variation caused by warning up well or badly too. My normal warmup isn't enough if I want to pinch hard, I have to do a few specific pinch hangs at lower intensity. 

I know. I miss racing (a bit) and climbing, obvioulsy, but am really rather enjoying the lockdown and wouldn't mind if it lasts! The hill's are certainly a lot quieter than they would be. You see the occasional runner or walker.

M - AM - Bench press 5x5@53.5kg, pull ups 5x6, core stuff. PM - Walk to High Rigg (13km, 450m, 3hrs).

T - Braithwaite loop run 8km, 40min

W - AM - Bench 5x5@55k - 1st 3 sets were ok but failed on rep 5 of 4th set, so dropped weight to 51kg and did 5 reps. On 5th set failed after 3 @55kg so did 3 more at 51kg. Pull ups 5x7. Plus usual core stuff. PM - walk to Raven Crag and back via stone circle - 20k, 600m, 4 hrs.

T - Walk Bleaberry to Ambroth fell 26k, 1000m, 6 hrs

F - Walk to Dodd, 16km, 555m, 3 hrs

S - Testing my dad mtn bike - 15km, 200m, 50mins

S - Bench press 5x5@55kg - new pb. Pull ups 6x5. Plus core stuff. PM, Walk to Mungrisdale Common 20km, 800m, 4 hrs.

I've suspeneded a Moon fingerboard from my squat rack thingy, so can hang off that now. It's not great (it's litterally hanging, so you swing a little) but hopefully it'll do the job, if I can find a good protocol to follow.

If the fingerboard is on a backing board, you might be able to stabilise it if you can get some horizontal pieces behind it that are wide enough to sit against the uprights on the squat rack?

STG - 14st / 30 minute 5k

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

LTG - ???

Weight - 14st 8lbs

M - Rest
T - Rest
W - Sprints and pushups
T - Rest
F - Rest
S - Push ups
S - Rest

Getting outside is harder than it seems, but as I'm probably being a bit strict if we go out for a family stroll, I then don't go out.  Hence it mostly being indoors stuff this week.  The pull up bar has been a bit of a bust, it doesn't fit most of our doors.  I've been looking for kettleballs, but no luck.  Hope to get a proper run in next week.  Then I guess I'll tackle getting the fingerboard up indoors somewhere.

April - 25%
YTD - 37%

Thanks Matt. What are you calling a proper run? You can definitely do it!

Good call on adding the wobble board. I'll dig it out.

This week: Yoga of some level every day, 4 x run (total 19 miles), 1 x core, 1 x fingerboard, 1 x bar and rings. 

STG

• Made the 100k AG goal by Wednesday and already at 100k for April. TICK
• Wood has been cut and just waiting for a drill guide thing (technical term) to drill for the t nuts. Then need to clear spare room (gear storage room). The magic of going from a 3-bed house to a 1 bed, 1 office, 1 wall house...
• Ankle was fine on the longer runs (that only means 5miles, don't get excited!) this week as long as I go every other day. Back-to-back days not so good eg. "had to" do a short one on Wednesday to meet the 100k AG goal, so that was okay but noticeably there/slightly swollen. Taking a small (200) Ibuprofen before run to make sure it doesn't swell so fast. Without swell (which can be from anything including heat, humidity, life) can keep a flowing stable run and it's fine after. With ankle support it supports but swells. With swell it just gets exponentially worse during the run.