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_686-7192...

Psyche video -  youtube.com/watch?v=WqdN4BeyATs& - because I defy anyone not to feel inspired by climbing in that sort of scenery!

I hope everyone has had a good week and that if they’ve taken advantage of extra (English) freedoms in the second half of the week they’ve done so sensibly, considerately and safely - but have also had a great time of course. Let us know about it. I feel like it’s arrived just as a coterie of home boards near completion - will they now sit idle?

Posters:

AJM - all about the campus: get strong or get injured

Si dH - how much inspiration is there in grotty Lancashire quarries then? Glad the board is going well. I was supposed to be making more holds today, mainly for M’s wall, but I haven’t managed to get round to it as yet! Are you using the angle grinder mainly to do the cutting or the smoothing or both?

Somerset Swede Basher - looks like a good week - did you get outside after the bmc guidance came out?

AlanLittle - so, go on, how was the return to rock? I can imagine the unpleasantness of virtual presentation - for a few years (after I did them) our professional exams involved doing a presentation to camera which was then sent off to be marked. It sounded horrific and was widely hated.....

Tom Green - another board complete! Very jealous, and the Jenga bricks are a great idea.

The sheep - seeing all the wildlife sounds very cool - amazing how quickly things seem to have taken advantage of the temporary peace and quiet as all the humans stayed away.....

Ally Smith - I see you were out this week - but the most important question is surely whether you finished the board and whether your roof is still intact......? 4mm crimps sounds insane.

mattrm - a temporary wall sounds like a good start, just got to then be able to creatively delay taking it down again until it has squatters rights

Rebecca Ting - you got the wall up? How did you get on against your two other stgs for the week.

Steve Jones - love the self powered wainwright’s idea!

Bones - I’d take the naps when you can! I can’t imagine wanting to still go running at this stage. I think MrsAJM was quite glad ours were both due in the colder months as it meant less time being big and hot. Great effort staying so active!

Hi AJM,

Not much to report this week. Nipped out to Smallfield earlier in the week and ticked a 7A and a 7A+ but been poorly with a tight chest since then. It's not THE virus ( I did a test) so i suspect chest infection. Off to the Dr. tomorrow. 

A pretty solid week for me. Some good training done, progress against STG, time to step some of them up a little I think.

Monday - the wall do an online membership thing to try to help them keep ticking over which involves a load of zoom classes you can join. So I joined one on mobility and stretching, which was hip focused. I’m not 100% sure I was doing it all quite right but I certainly felt stretched at the end of it.

Tuesday - campus day. Warmed up, then each side:

1. 3-4-5-6

2. 3-4-6

3. 3-5-6

4. (2,4)-6 (I.e. just the pull through), hit it both sides but only matched once.

5. Same again but hit and matched both sides this time.

6. Started (3,3), then for each hand in turn bumped one hand up 4-5-6

7. (2,5)-6 - hit and matched once, touched once

8. Same again but no successes this time.

9. Started on the bumps again but power clearly fading so called time.

Wednesday - pull-ups day. 5x5 at 90.5kg with a normal grip - tick! Good step towards the STG, just need to widen the grip out now.

Thursday - a very hectic work day, so a rest day that didn’t actually feel very restful!

Friday - campus day again. Each side:

1. 3-4-5-6

2. 3-5-6

3. 3-6

4. (2,4)-6 - hit but didn’t hold one side, only touched the other side

5. 3-6

6. (2,3)-6 - held but couldn’t match one side, touched other side

7. (2,4)-6 - held one side, overshot the other

8. Bumps again, tried to come down too this time - some success but very hard to avoid dabs given the low clearance on my feet.

9. (2,4)-6

10. (2,3)-6 - touched one side, not really close the other side

Decent session, felt like albeit with more failures I did a bit more volume on more challenging moves. Think the new STG should be trying to consolidate the (2,x)-6 pull throughs.

Saturday - did some very unstructured stretching and a few planks in the morning. Then pull-ups before lunch - wide grip, 89.5kg, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4. Not quite, but definitely not a million miles off.

Sunday - decent set of dips 4x7 on the rings. Some archer rows too, 3x5 each side. Felt progress on both of these; doing more dips seemed more plausible than usual where the 6th is usually a bit scrappy, and on the archer rows I definitely feel like I am starting fairly directly underneath the rings now rather than initially being back at a bit of an angle, and I feel like I can do it with a fairly straight “bow arm” where previously there was a definite tendency for it to bend mid way to reduce the leverage and then push out straight again at the top. Also tried some bicep curls, which were rather hard work after the rows, but only squeezed 1x10 each side in before microAJM woke up from her nap.

STG: 

- solidify 1-3-4 and 1-2-4 on the campus board, work the (1,3)-5 pull. [feeling fairly happy on the 1-x-4 combos and hit the pull through a few times. Next stage is solidifying the 1-x-5 pull through variants]

- 5x5@90kg wide grip pull-ups [90.5kg on a normal shoulder width grip, a few pull-ups and a half kilo shy on wide grip - nearly there...]

- 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 [did a session of dips and rows]

- do some of the online wall classes [did one on hip flexibility]

MTG:

- 70kg one arm assist on the 20mm edge

- 5x5 @95kg

- solidify 1-3-5, 1-2-5, 1-4-5 campus despite bunched positions

- ladder the 15mm extra small rungs

Thanks Andy. Some! I went to the closest quarry to me on Thursday, it's not great to be honest but there are lots more of them.

Re: holds, I'm cutting a very rough shape with a hand saw and then using the angle grinder to shape them. This gives a pretty reasonable finish itself but I am using a separate sander that I already owned to finish them a bit smoother.

M: rest

T: board session. Can't remember any detail, doh.

W: rest

T: had a half day off for toddlercare purposes and took him out to Parbold Quarry for an explore. I might do this more often at some reasonably local places. Unfortunately I had a few goes on Parboiled (f7A) and I think was just about to do it when <Snap> off came the crux layaway in both my hands. No hold left behind at all, but what came off was intact so I left it in an obvious place in case a local wants to glue it. Did a set of lattice repeaters when I got home.

F: evening board session. Quite good after a slow start. Spent most of it working a new project which will probably be worth 7A/+:when complete in my board money.

S: rest

S: evening board session again now.

Not a bad week, Thursday afternoon's experiment didn't go to plan but Sol enjoyed getting out of Crosby (as did I) for the first time in ages so I'll probably do it again somewhere slightly more solid.

Only problem training wise is that my left ring finger DIP is not fully right. I can climb ok if I warm up well but I definitely couldn't do a proper fingerboard session on it.

Si

Worth considering test result may be a false negative - rates are pretty high.

Cheers for starting the thread Andy. My week has been pretty much how they tend to be at the moment: lots of walking, a couple of short runs and yoga sessions. Day off today so about to head out for a bonus run.

Morning all,

Thanks for short-notice stats AJM Yes, I managed to get out twice this week, but have been feeling a bit crap; lots of aches and grumbly joints. Hence, took it easy on the training - short and infrequent sessions only.

Week 20: 

M – Elbows grumbling from yesterday’s 1-arm training combined with gardening and further board construction. Kept it very steady to avoid any further flare up: Aero-cap 7/3/6/1 @ ~40% x10 (-20kg; everything F3SHC, F3, B3)

T – Maximum commitment – cut through the joists and got the final board in place. Made an absolute mess with broken plasterboards.

Experimented with concentric loading with Lattice block; 15kg x 50 reps x3 on each arm. Pumpy but mostly frustrating as fingers gradually migrated to edge of grip. Think my old crag warm-up board would be better for this?

W – Crimpd small edge. 8mm BW+22.5kg. PB Felt fairly steady so evidently made some recruitment gains as 22kg was right on the limit 3 weeks ago. Crimpd max-hangs. F3SC @ BW+5kg. All hangs. Hard, but completed all 6 hangs. Not quite a PB but certainly some progress from pre-lockdown levels. Then painted board.

T – Evening boulder at Frodsham. Came across a hideous mess of tick-marks/arrows on footholds; tw*ts. https://www.instagram.com/p/CALM0M5D6Cp/ Did 2 traverses that I'd missed when I lived more locally; 7A+ and 7B+ that included some lovely slopers. https://www.instagram.com/p/CANov9vjCEY/

F – I had a sad email saying that I had lost one of my Strava KOMs in Alderley Edge to a Pro rider – however, he needed 3 attempts to beat me by 1s! I reckon with some practice I might just be able to reclaim it..? Went out for a ride in the opposite direction and got a compensatory cobbled KOM "Secteur de Peover" by 3s lead. 2nd coat of paint.

S – Harmers Wood. Attempted The Dark Ark (f7A+) as Andy Popp had raved about its quality. Forgot to bring my stiff boots. Foot popped, fingers ripped off a tiny crimp and started bleeding from 3 nails! (I won't be using my new 4mm crimps this week!) Went around to Frodsham to grapple some big holds. Tried I was a Teenage Caveman, 7A+ on top rope. Broke a hold and smacked my head. Got a sequence sorted but core-shot my rope in the process. All in all, not the best day out!

S – 7mile hilly walk in the Goyt Valley, then finished assembly of the board: Holds on and then filled in final panelling hole so you don’t knacker the plasterboard when you cut loose. Finished at 9pm so have yet to christen her.

Wow! Quite the day on Saturday! 

Good effort getting on teenage caveman. Don’t imagine that gets much attention. I once saw someone fall off the roof when a hold snapped, demolishing a team of four spotters and exploding, still horizontal, on to the pads in a massive cloud of chalk. Thought he was broken for sure, it’s so high, but he appeared to be fine. Never seen chalk on it since then though and that was 2006 according to my guide book!

Cheers, had a good week mixing things up a bit. Did some longer steady runs, intervals with the youngest. Also managed to fit in a mini duathlon and a 10km time trial on the bike as part of our run club activities. It was brutal!

Hi All. Thanks for the stats AJM-nice to have you for a guest appearance!

Embraced risk-based decision making and decided I was happy to do a few activities that previously I had avoided (due to PR, rather than risk of disease transmission or other injury).

Week 20: 

M: Road Run: 47min Z1. 8.7km, flat, 5:22/km.

T: Board Session: Max Hangs +2.5kg. Limit bouldering. Circuits min-on/min-off x10.

W: Strength Session: Deadlifts 73kg 4x4. Pull-ups BW 5x5 on the min. Core usual killer circuit.

T: Board Session: Limit Bouldering. Circuits min-on/min-off x10.

F: Hill Run: First run not from my front door in a while -felt great to be on trails with some decent uphill. 7.3km, 322m vert, 6:05/km.

S: Climbing. Shunt session at Nesscliffe. Didn't take a brush (sandstone rookie!) so a lot of the time was spent hanging off one hand dusting furiously with the other! Managed all the moves on Imagination (E4 6a) -should go clean next sesh. Core session in the evening -2 sets of the killer circuit.

S: Strength Session: Deadlifts, Pull-ups, Max Hangs (+3kg), TRX (Crimpd Compressions).

Week 21:

Still need to sort a 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 (TICK!)

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

Squat 70kg 3RM (waiting on rack)

Deadlift 85kg 3RM (currently 78kg)

3 sets of core circuit. (currently 2).

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

MTG (End Aug):

Use CV as an excuse to toprope some of those routes I've always been too proud to headpoint ('I may get good enough for the onsight one day' etc etc!) -Marlene (E4 6a) Sex and Casual Ties (E3 6a) 

Eliminator (f6C) Yates' Layaway (f6B+)

Run the Stretton Skyline

Great anecdote! There's still a few fragile feeling holds in the roof and it would be fairly unjustifiable as a highball solo with the friable holds and horrid blocky landing.

BenF mentioned he'd looked at it too, but backed off multiple times owing to the above (well founded) concerns 

Thought this was a good article all y'all

https://www.trainingbeta.com/lifestyle-changes/

Welcome to the new statting regime!

I Shall Be Released, Week Zero

STG new: Vary my POST-quarantine training to include more general strength & mobility. Weight back down to pre-lockdown level
MTG: Autumn Kalymnos trip? Do a beginner ski tour in spring 2021
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber by 2021. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M: Off work & allowed out, but weather bad so no bouldering. Taking a spell of rest. Bit of stretching & foam rolling.    
T: ditto
W: ditto
T: WALL! Headed to Weyarn, where the exterior lines are open with liquid chalk and distancing. Pretty dank, dismal and crowded tbh, but at least made a start on some autobelay mileage to rebuild endurance.
F:     
S: CLIMBING! Möhren. Sport climbing in a limestone quarry that I'd been meaning to check out for a while. Not great, but better than not climbing.
S: Climbing again! Returned to Seltmans in Allgäu, an old haunt where I did my first 7b a couple of yers ago. Nothing ambitious today, just had a pleasant day repeating some of my old warm-ups for the mileage.

Took a slightly awkward sideways swinging fall on a slab on Saturday & have tweaked my ankle a bit. Hopefully it won't amount to much.
 

Yep, although I think it'll bloody hard, and will depend how long lockdown/furlough etc lasts. Also avoiding injury (see below).

M - Bike to Threlkeld (8k, 120m, 30min) Blencathra via Halls Fell (6k, 785m, 2.5 hrs) bike home

T - Bike to Borrowdale (12k, 115m, 35 mins), Walk Glaramara (8k, 700m, 3 hrs), bike home. Unfortunatly my lockdown significant other pulled something in her quad on the way down which is a worry...

W - Recovery style walk around the lake, 16k, 300m, 3hrs

T - Ride to St Johns (7.5k, 135m, 30 mins), Walk Clough Head to Hartside (18.5k, 1000m, 5 hrs), bike home

F - Bike to Dunmail (17.5k, 150m, 1hr) Walk Steel Fell/Helm Crag loop (15km, 900m, 4hrs), bike home (longer way 21km, 1hr 20)

S - Recovery style walk around the lake, 16k, 300m, 3hrs

S - Ride to Borrowdale (12k, 115m, 35 mins), walk Eagle and Sergeant crag (7.5k, 500m, 2hrs). My foot went - similar feeling to what I called my metatarsal fracture, but the other foot. No swelling this time but v painfull sporadically.

I also tried to do some weights at somepoint but shoulder pain and lack of energy meant I bailed before doing anything worth logging.

Not a great week, didn't get as much done as planned and the injuries are a worry.

Thanks Andy. Wall is still falling foul of spare room clutter but THIS WEEKEND! 

It's been a bit go this week. Some reasons are that I need a filling which I can't get until July (maybe) and grandma got a bit confused by the Boris 'stay alert' announcement and decided she could just un-lockdown and go about her business as usual...

3 runs total 15 miles, yoga every day, bar and rings, core, fingerboard, 3 mile walk

STG: hit the 100k mark on schedule, 108 sun salutations complete. On the latter, I did them in 50 minutes and chose to do Sun Salutation A. I definitely underestimated the load (108 rounds is 432 deep forward folds = screaming hamstrings and DOMs for 4 days afterwards which was crippling running this week) and 108 Chaturangas as significant shoulder load. Will definitely aim to do again - the next step "up" is 54 Sun Sal A and 54 Sun Sal B, which would make it much longer - maybe 90mins continuous and strong movement?

New STG: Wall, 125km May, rehab hamstrings

MTG: Rock, increase shoulder mobility and finger strength

My shoulder mobility is awful. I happened to notice Shauna plugging a shoulder mobility workout on Instagram /YouTube today so I tried it before climbing on my board this pm. It seemed to work well, at least as a thorough warmup and might make a long term difference, who knows. 

STG - 14st / 30 minute 5k

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

LTG - ???

Weight - 15st

M - T - Rest
F - Finishing off the planter
S - Push ups
S - Rest

Most of this week involved prep for decorating, working on the planter and then doing all the wallpapering.  I put 'finishing off the planter' as a thing, cause I spent 3 hours dimensioning timber, drilling, screwing and the like.  As I'm a fat knacker at the moment, that was tiring, so I'm going to go with it being exercise.

I'd love to say that I'd be able to 'delay' taking it down, but I suspect that the pressure from my lovely wife to keep the garden tidy will mean there will be little delay.  I suspect that I might just get a better pull up bar.