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_685-7189...

Psyche video - youtube.com/watch?v=I0ldj5VXBgE& - PE with Freida, just cause it's cute!

AJM - That's a lovely looking board there.  Great progress.  Hopefully it'll make the next few weeks of indoors training nicer.

Si dH - I suspect we're getting to that point in life where warm ups are really important.  Three sessions is ace in my book.  Hope the shoulder is still ok.

AlanLittle - Brad drill bits should be fine for 10mm holes, I'm sure you'll easily be able to get hold of good quality FAMAG bits which will be fine for that sort of thing.  If this was actually DIY club, I'd be better at statting!  How's the finger this week?  Lots of good sessions there, well done.

Cyan - Great job!  Are you joining the home board craze?

Somerset swede basher - That max hang sounds impressive.  Nice sessions there and some quality cardio.

Ally Smith - I hope you've got t-nuts now?  Lots of great sessions.  It's all scarily impressive.  Good job!

the sheep - I hear ya, while it's lovely having the kids at home, it's also hard for everyone.  Sounds like a lovely run.  2 minutes on the plank is nice.

Tom Green - I've just googled Z1, so I know what that means now!  Any ply yet?

Powderpuff - I guess you could try and do some stats for stuff you can see what's getting better?  Good sessions tho, keep up the therabanding!

Bones - Can't really help with the pregnancy stuff, my wife took it all nice and easy.  The only thing I will say is that parenting is exhausting, so make sure you get lots of sleep now.  I was a dead keen skateboarder when I was a kid, I still have a board, super fun, it just destroys your body.  Great volume of sessions and excellent variety of sessions.

mattrm - Try for two run this week ok you fat slob.

And that's it for this week.

Only kidding, the latecomers are welcome as well ;P

Rebecca Ting - Good job on the runs.  Hope you're back on the board now?  Worth setting some targets for the fingerboarding/bar/rings?

Steve Jones - lots of lovely running there.  Well jelly as usual.  Any thoughts on doing some of the classic rounds?  Bike to somewhere, do a big horseshoe, come back?  Or is that frowned upon locally?

I was idly wondering if anyone would be interested in a group challenge to keep motivation going?  Planks?  Pull-ups? push ups etc?  I know some of you are great at setting targets, but some don't do it so much and I thought a group challenge might be an idea?

Sorry the stats are a bit random and heavy on poor DIY advice.  Hope everyone is well this week.

Cheers Matt, stats are always gratefully received and appreciated. Hope everyone is well and coping as best they can. 

Thanks Matt! Great effort putting the thread together again.

As planned I took a rest for most of this week to make sure I didn't push my shoulder or finger too hard and to just generally recover after 3 weeks of using the board a lot.

M-T: rest

F: short board session in the morning, felt strong. Another short board session in the afternoon, felt less strong but still had an ok session. Set myself a new project. The split session was necessary so I could do family activities in the middle of the day but I probably wouldn't repeat the experiment again unless necessary, I think one longer session would be better.

S: rest. Bought an angle grinder so I can make my own holds. Made three so far, it's surprisingly easy to make usable, comfy holds from offcuts of 2*4 if you don't mind them looking a bit naff.

S: this morning I went for a run, about a mile to the beach, 0.5 mile up it, then back the same way. It's the first time I've run more than a few 100 metres in at least 5 years. Was quite pleased how I felt, I think it took about 35 minutes. This evening I'm doing another board session. Feeling good so far, no finger or shoulder niggles.

Happy with the week.

I see Boris is letting us out by the way. I'll be scouring my book of grimy lancs quarries for inspiration. Alcohol based liquid chalk is on order...

Si

Thanks Matt!

Monday - busy still at work. No time.

Tuesday - did a couple of sets of press ups and played around with reverse hyperextensions in the evening

Wednesday - decided to try out the new campus board. Having stood on the ground fondling the holds whilst not warmed up I was a little nervous! They felt rather slopey and slick. However having got chalk on my hands and having warmed up properly things became a bit more reasonable. I can deadhang the extra small rungs (15mm) offset (ie one hand on 3.5 and one on 4.5) but holding any swing on them is going to be a bit ridiculous so for the minute I’ll focus just on the small (20mm) ones. Starting from rung 3 is definitely most comfortable, it’s the last of the more incut and more worn in Crusher rungs that used to be my foot on campus rungs so definitely a (strictly relative) oasis of jugginess! 1 and 2 are as expected a bit bunched - doable for particular progressions and I think starting offset (I.e. start on 1-3 or 2-3 so as to have a slightly less bunched position) will be fine but more suited to foot on campus action perhaps. Bit hard on the skin mind you.

But I can ladder 3-4-5-6 and I can do 3-5-6 (1-3-4 in normal money). 3-4-6 (1-2-4) felt harder - on one side I did it a couple of times and on the other I did it once but amidst other failures - I actually overshot and hit the top of the board (which is c4cm above the top of the rung) instead twice and held it but failed to match once! Solidifying on that doesn’t feel undoable in the short term. 

Thursday - off work in the morning. 3 sets of dips on the rings, and more assisted one arm work. I played around with scapular engagement with 5kg on a rope thrown over the bar as counterweight, which feels useful in terms of allowing slightly longer periods of tensing the shoulder. Also tried assisted one arm pull ups, which with the same counterweight I can do from relaxed to about 90 degrees - it’s therefore working the lower end of extension so maybe one to plug away at for a bit even whilst it obviously isn’t working the full movement (I think I need to get to maybe 10kg counterweight to get the whole way). Then an afternoon at work. After work I managed to fit in 3x5 archer rows on each side. A decent day.

Friday - nice sunny bank holiday having not done them for a few weeks I thought I’d try some weighted pull-ups again. Tried to push it out to 5x5 @90kg (bw+15) which is 3kg up from what I had tried previously. Felt pretty hard, but 5,5,5,4.5, 4.5. Pretty solid effort. I reckon maybe doing 5x5 @90kg on a wide grip, which is a bit harder, might be achievable over the next few weeks?

Saturday - in the morning, some stretching. In the afternoon, the campus board. How much volume should a pure campus board session involve, excluding warmup? Because I’ve only ever had access at walls before I’ve never done just a pure campus session before really. Need to check this. The fact it’s all so fingery suggests “not that much”! Anyway, after a decent warmup I did 1-2-4 and 1-3-4 each side twice. I then tried the pull-through of 1-3-5 twice each side (I.e. start on 2 and 4 offset and just try to pull through to 6) - I was touching the rung but need a couple of inches more distance to get from there to having my fingers over the top able to grip. My intent had been to put an intermediate edge at rung 2.5 which I think could be quite useful as a progression tool, since it will allow me to effectively do 1.5-3-5/1.5-2-5/1.5-4-5 as intermediate steps to the full 1-3-5/1-2-5/1-4-5.

Sunday - after a solid block on, feeling tired and achey. Rested.

STG: 

- solidify 1-3-4 and 1-2-4 on the campus board, work the (1,3)-5 pull.

- 5x5@90kg wide grip pull-ups 

- probably pause most fingerboarding whilst campusing since I think doing both would risk overload. I reckon 2 more weeks maybe of campus focus, it’s supposed to be fairly short blocks isn’t it...

- start using the crack trainer again to work on skills

- continue archer rows and antagonist/stretching

- do some of the online wall classes

MTG:

- 70kg one arm assist on the 20mm edge

- 5x5 @95kg

- solidify 1-3-5, 1-2-5, 1-4-5 campus

Curious to see how the new guidance from BoJo plays out over the coming weeks. Until nurseries go back or grandparents are allowed to visit it would be pretty antisocial to do much climbing on my own and quite faffy to cart the entire family, so I doubt it makes that much difference right now, but combined with the point about infant schools being maybe start of June it gives me a modicum of hope for my month of shared parental leave in June. Wait and see!

Cheers Matt, I was pleased with it too. 

Mon and Tues. Rest, just played with the kids and went for some short slow walks. 

Wed. Attic session, up problems, felt good. Typewriter pull ups. 

Thurs. 56km Road bike, 900m ascent. 

Fri. Max hangs, weighted pull ups, press ups. 

Sat. 5km run. 

Sun. Body weight repeaters. Halved the number of sets but used smaller holds, felt OK actually, could probably have done more but played it safe. On the min pull ups. Press ups.

Boris' talk was interesting earlier, will also be interesting to see how ukc and the bmc respond. Keen to head outside and can think of plenty of low risk, local spots that will almost certainly be empty. I will however, wait and see what the bmc say before I make a decision. 

You're doing a great job keeping any kind of stats momentum & psyche up in these difficult times Matt. Tahnks & well done. My incipient finger tweak didn't amount to anything, fortunately.

STG old: Survive the pandemic. Job Done! The first round of lockdown at any rate.

Solo outdoor sport without domestic travel restrictions is ON again in Bavaria from Monday! And, due to only partly rescheduled Kalymnos holiday, I have the week off. Weather looks more promising for hillwalking than bouldering, but whatever: hillwalking or bouldering, here I come!

STG new: Vary my POST-quarantine training to include more general strength & mobility. Get my weight back down to pre-lockdown level
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: Fingerboard. Feeling in need of a bit of a deload week; trying out higher volume/lower intensity or a session or two.
    75 minutes step-ups
    
T: Rest day. Evening spent alternating between DIY Club and reading the local news about lockdown easing with an ever-widening grin.
    Didn't occur to me until quite late on in the DIY that there's little point in being the proud owner of a brand new reusable FFP2 mask if I don't *wear* it when I'm cutting & drilling hardwood laminate. 

W: Another lighter fingerboard session. Gotta be careful now, since this turns out to be a tapering week before Bouldering Season kicks off on Monday (weather permitting)
    
T: 90 minutes step-ups - up an actual mountain! Celebrated Easing Day by going for an evening hike up the nearest little alpine foothill. It was delightful.

F: Presented at a "virtual" conference today. Stressful and exhausting experience - I'm fine presenting to, and interacting with, a room full of strangers. And I'm fine (by now) in video meetings with people I know. But just talking into a microphone with no interaction or feedback - scary. New respect for radio presenters.
    Physically a rest day.
    
S: End of lockdown fingerboard benchmark: what did 24 sessions over eight weeks do for me? Quite a bit as it turns out. For the past four weeks I've worked weaknesses (crimp, back 3) and done almost no max hangs, with the result that my max hangs increased by three kilos, making five in total since the start of lockdown. Previous max felt easy & I just kept going. Bloody amazing. 
    Now we get to see how that translates into getting out again on actual boulders in the coming week. If the thunderstorms stop.

S: Hillwalking Club, Ammergauer Alps. Small alpine foothill range that I've driven past many times en route to the (still forbidden) Austrian alps. Seems like I'm not the only person that normally drives past them; few people about, paths not heavily eroded, generally v. pleasant.
 

Hi All. Thanks for the stats Matt -doing a cracking job of keeping us all going whilst training has been a bit directionless.

Enjoy the fact that you've managed to ignore all of the Z1 waffle of the last few years until now! It's pretty much how I am with all of the minutiae of repeaters or campusing!

This week saw (pun-intended) the arrival of the ply! This meant that it was a terrible week for training as Weds-Sun was taken up by half days of work and half days of building my board. Decided to use this as a deload week (and actually felt quite knackered from mauling timber and ply around!)

Week 19: 

M: Max Hangs

T: Don't know what happened... think the day got away from me.

W: Lots of mauling around timber and ply. And sawing, lots of sawing (all with a hand saw).

T: Max Hangs. And more throwing 2x4 and 2x6 around to make the frame of the board.

F: Practiced my big-walling skills setting up a haul system to hoist the frame up. Built finger, hand and fist cracks in to the supporting legs.

S: Dead-lifting sheets of ply up ladders. Those 8x4s weigh a flipping tonne.

S: The tedium of drilling holes in Jenga bricks was balanced out by the smugness of having 50 footholds for next to no money. Holds on to the board (mostly huge jugs set for long circuit sessions). Went to do a celebratory 10-min on, 10-min off x3... this rapidly turned in to 5-on, 3-off... it's depressing how much forearm fitness I've lost after a winter of climbing with tools and then a month or so of lock down! I guess that's what I built the board for though... just need to avoid golfers elbow.

Week 20:

Bodge some sort of rack so I can do heavy squats.

2 Z1 sessions

2 Core sessions

2 General strength sessions

3 Climbing sessions

2 Prehab sessions

STG (End May):

Max Hangs 75kg total (ALMOST! -currently 74.5)

Weighted Pull-Ups 90kg total 3RM (Ticked original goal of 85kg total)

Squat 70kg 3RM (waiting on Rack -going to be built on to frame of home board)

Deadlift 85kg 3RM (currently 78kg)

3 sets of core circuit. (currently 2).

10-on, 10-off x3 on circuit board.

MTG/LTG:

Still not daring to dream!

Jenga bricks don't sound like jugs to me!

Haha! Limited them to the bottom of the board for circuit footholds. I’ve got some wooden half spheres for a second set of shittier footholds but not put them on yet... not in any rush as they’re fiddly to drill and I’m not fit enough to need the circuits to be harder!!

Here’s a quick pic to show off my handiwork... it’s a bit rough and ready but I’m not a natural DIYer so I’m quite proud of it!

Looks good! Can you adjust the angle? Looks like you have a chain or something. 

No, it’s fixed at 20 degrees for the wall and 40 degrees for the cracks (which makes the finger crack bloody hard!)

I wanted it primarily for ARCing and aero cap style circuits so didn’t want it to be too steep. Although 20 degrees felt pumpy enough after a winter on the tools then a couple of months of lock down! Should feel easier soon though... first target is to be able to do ten minute circuits. 

Cheers again 

Been a steady week, ran every day bar Sunday which was a rest day after a long run.

Highlights of the week were a brick session on Wednesday. 20km ride on the bike straight into a 6.5km run. Transition on the lawn so in and out in a flash. Run felt really good after the initial jelly legs wore off.

Saturday the wife and I went out for a lovely 17.5km run. Saw a red kite and so many buzzards as to be unbelievable. At one point we had easily double figures flying around. Next weekend the goal is half marathon distance.

Plank now at 3 and a half minutes

Edit: also passed the 500km mark for running this year.Well on the way to the 1000km year goal!

A 40 degree finger crack is just "bloody hard"?!?!

<Bows down respectfully>

Thanks Matt - as ever, you're doing a great job of pulling weekly stats together - Core climbing https://coreclimbing.co.uk/buy-fixings/ came up trumps with the t-nut supply after the Amazon reseller fell through.  I'm now probably 2 evenings short of having the board ready for either painting or going straight to hold application. The scariest part is still to come though: Cutting the roof joists and letting my reinforcements take the strain. A friendly engineer has told me off the record that what i've done is overkill, but it still feels a bit nerve-racking!

I've got some ideas for local anti-social bouldering for Wednesday onward; if that is what we'll be allowed to do? I wonder if I'll remember how to move on rock? My stamina is going to be atrocious...

Week 19: 

M – Forearms sore from yesterday. Gentle 19km ride with the good lady.

T – Strength session:

Crimpd 1-arm max-hangs @ BW-14kg F4SHC on Lattice edge.

Crimpd 1-arm max-hangs @ BW-5kg max-effort grip on BM2K central slot

“Dead-pinch”: Crimpd “Max” @18kg.

Bench press: Triples @ 69kg 5 sets.

2x10 leg raises & Compex core/groin physio: Strength 3 session @ ~30.

W – 38km ride around and up Alderley Edge. Had a nose through the woods looking for post-lockdown boulder options in a quiet setting, but everything I found was choss of the highest order! Legs were strong and absolutely nailed a 10km TT home at steady 200 Watts / 36 kph :-o

T – Tendon Density session:

Fingers: 3x30s@24kg F4SHC (quite hard) then 3x30s F3SHC -13kg (quite steady)

2x10 external rotations with 7kg.

F – Mixed pull-up and crimp session. Can hang the 6mm consistently now, so took the plunge and ordered some 4mm crimps...

Then gardening and socially distanced street BBQ for VE Day.

S – Local walk. 8.5 miles. Flat.

S – Strength session:

Crimpd 1-arm max-hangs @ BW-3kg on BM2K central slot - HARD! Both elbows feeling a bit worked, but I suspect most of that is down to the recent gardening and board build. 

Crimpd 2-arm max-hangs @ BW+26kg on 35 degree slopers.

“Dead-pinch”: Crimpd “Max” @18.5 kg.

Bit of core: 200 crunchies, 100 bridge reps.

Haha! To clarify... I can hold myself on it with finger and toe jams, but to move up it I’m currently resorting to heel hooking with one foot when I take one finger lock off. First goal is to be able to have my feet in toe jams whilst I move my hands up. Baby steps!!

They use Jenga bricks for holds at the local wall, I quite like them personally.  Utterly nails if you're on anything steep obviously, but fun on vertical walls.

I've got a tentative agreement to build a 'temporary' wall with my lovely wife. 

Thanks again for keeping this going Matt! Sorry for being late! 

This week I did:

• Did 4 runs totalling 25miles with total of about 1250m height gain and generally feeling okay. Was a bit low on power towards the end of the week as I gave blood mid-week on top of having had a couple of bad nights' sleep. Should have known this was a bad plan but apart from powering out (okay and nearly hyperventilating once) on the hills I'm tired but okay. 
• Yoga every day for 10-120 minutes including a crazy intense zoom workshop on inversion backbends with shoulder mobility and hollow lower back shapes... learnt some physiology and actually managed to get my arms over my head by protracting shoulders more. Have always been able to do elbow headstand from kick-up but this week taught myself core up from wide leg forward fold and am working on stabilising tripod headstand.
• 1 core, 1 fingerboard, 1 bar and rings (this is the lattice session which is 3 sets x low rows, Ts, Is and pull-ups (8 narrow 5 wide) - realistically it takes me most of the week to do the pull-ups without screwing my elbow). Need to research and implement new fingerboard session and up the core session maybe as it's too easy, though to be fair with all the yoga my core is beasted each week. 

STG (this week):

• 108 sun salutations session (apparently this is the optimum number in yoga)
• hit 100k mark 
• clear spare room and get wall up

MTG (May):

• Pincha mayurasana (forearm stand)
• 125km in May (upped from 100k)

ps. a bit slow and missed Ally's t nut crisis but I have about 80 spare (the screw in ones not the hammer in ones) if anyone needs some as I did some bad maths a few weeks ago if that helps anyone!

I like the goals, very nice.  Never heard that 108 was some kind of optimum. 

I think it's more related to how many times Vishnu has breathed the syllable Om since the creation of the universe - or similar - than any kind of physiological training-related optimum.

I'm sure I can get a Lattice programme to justify 108... in the meantime the challenge is to work out how to count them without getting lost...

Thanks for the stats again.

No running at all this week, just more walking - but my legs are constantly tired so hopefully it's building a good endurance base if nothing else. I think doing the horseshoes or classic race route would be allowed, but we (with a non-running friend, hence the slow pace) are trying to tick off all Wainwright's without the use of a car/bus etc.

Think that's a good idea but for the fact I'm rubbish at all three!

M - Weights: Bench press 5x8 @47.5kg. Pull up 5x5 plus shoulder stability stuff. PM bike to Newlands (4k, 15 mins), walk Catbells to High Spy (11.5k, 825m, 2hrs 45), bike home.

T - Bike to Peter House Farm (11.5k, 200m, 45mins) Walk the fells round back o' Skiddaw (17km, 1700m, 5.5hrs), bike home

W - Rest

T - Bike to Mungrisdale (14k, 260m, 1hr) - walk the fells behind Blencathra (27.5km, 1700m, 7hr), bike home

F - Bike to Langstrath (14km, 112m, 40 mins). Walk Ullscarf (8km, 900m, 3hrs), bike home

S - Walk Skiddaw and Little man (15.5km, 1170m, 4hr)

S -Rest

For the week that 80k 6295m of walking.

I did try anothe rweights session (5x5@56kg, but failed so early I didn't even record it. Also have done some shoulder strength/stability stuff as it was feeling sore. Need to get a coupl of decent weights sessions done this week, and maybe some speedwork to go along with all the walking. On the plus side the long walks are keeping me away from the fridge so my weight is coming down.

Gosh, I almost forgot to post this week.

Thanks Matt, I'm sleeping quite a lot at the moment and am a pro napper so I'm hoping that comes in handy! I haven't done any 'moving' skateboarding since I fell off as I figured now isn't the time to get back into that! I'm sure Guy would appreciate any tips you have from your previous boarding days though.

I aimed to run 10 miles this week (total of all runs) and just about managed it but have started getting some pain in my calves, mainly my right one on the inside of my leg. Not sure what it is but it's getting a bit worse and is quite painful.

Mon: rest

Tues: Catalyst climbing leg session

Weds: finger curls with 12kg dumbbell

run, 32:18 min, 2.52km/ miles, (7:58min/km)

Thurs: Catalyst climbing full-body session: this was 8 versions of push-ups which was pretty hard even from knees and not even propper knees. More just on all fours, pretending to do push-ups. 

run, 24:09 min, 3.39km/ 2.11miles, (7:08min/km)

Fri: rest

Sat: run, 47:32 min, 6.37km/ 3.96miles, (7:28min/km)

Sun: run, 21:23 min, 2.89km/ 1.79miles, (7:24min/km)

Week 700 goal: 50 finger strength sessions - 20/50 completed.

STG - 14st / 30 minute 5k

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

LTG - ???

Weight - 15st

M - F -Rest
S - Heavy garden work, three trees down
S - 2km run

Struggling to remember what happened really.  I think the main thing was that I was working on the carrot planter, which is flipping massive and rather heavy.  So I moved a half built planter down to the garden to finish off the rest of the build on the patio.  It's about 1.2m long and 70cms wide roughly.  So I stood in the middle of it to carry it and while walking to the garden with it, it wobbled a bit and my tricep in my left arm went ping.  It was really, really painful.  I pushed on and got the planter into the garden.  Then stopped and worried a bit it was that bad of a sharp pain.  So I rather wimped out on doing much the rest of the week.  Felt better towards the end of the week, so ended up spending an evening destroying some conifers in the garden.