UKC

Back In The Jug Agane

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...     also this - https://www.instagram.com/p/CEGfCg7DbkK/?igshid=4a1o55jwpus2

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

Psyche vid - suggestions welcomed

Last weeks post - https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_711-7273...

AJM - at least you kept something going in the face of lockdown foreboding & living in a building site. What's a 5x5 in a fingerboarding context?

Ally Smith - plenty of sessions there, but a couple of hints of not sticking to the plan

biscuit - three very solid sessions there. Hope you'll be able to keep the momentum up through lockdown

Liam P - well done on the V4. What's the aid in aid of? Is Yosemite on your goals list?

mattrm - doing something is infinitely better than not doing something. DQS? 

Ross Barker - good luck with your recovery

Si dH - so three days on this week? It is tricky to find ways of fitting in more volume around adequate rest (and work and family commitments) isn't it?

Somerset swede basher - solid away team effort snatched from the jaws of the Lakes weather

Steve Jones - so no recurrence of the back thing? Good. I only have one pulley, so always have the cord for the assistance weight dragging on my chest. Have never been able to figure out if this increases or reduces the assistance weight.

the sheep - hope you do/did still have access to some facilities?

Tom Green - stop shirking the dull sessions! In my experience you start to look forward to them when you start to see improvement; I've actually been getting somewhere with shoulder mobility lately, which has been atrocious all my adult life.

AlanLittle - always hard to find the right balance after a big trip between keeping the momentum going and taking the necessary amount of rest.

Absent: planetmarshall, Tyler

Thanks Alan. 

The 5x5 is pull-ups, not fingerboard - probably should have been clearer! I had a goal of 5x5 with a wide-ish (edges of a doorframe pull-up bar) grip at 95kg. P.b. Is probably about 91kg some time over the summer.

Start of lockdown #2 this week for us. It looks like a bunch of my friends have been out over the weekend which hopefully indicates that should the weather improve some outdoor climbing will still be an option. 

Otherwise, it is fair to say I am a bit overloaded and stressed at work at the moment and that this is impacting my training - I’m one of those people who wants to sit down after a hard day rather than the kind of person who uses a solid training session as their way of unwinding. Doesn’t help that I’m basically perma-tired at the best of times! Still, just got to keep plugging away.

Monday - rest. Lots of work.

Tuesday - 6am-8am session at the wall. Easier to motivate myself for this than for the 8pm-10pm slot after a full day of work and child wrangling. Took a little while to get going, but I felt like I had a reasonably decent session in the end. Otherwise, far too much work.

Wednesday - day off. Went to Winchester to see my sister before lockdown #2. Which was really nice, good to see her again, lovely sunshine, bit of child lugging.

Thursday - a bit achey from said child lugging. Rest. Too much work.

Friday - too much work. Snuck out for a few short walks to try to settle microAJM.

Saturday - cracked on with the mini making goals. 

- I produced 10 fairly simple holds for his wall - 5 simple lozenge footholds and 5 bigger incut edges. The board feels fairly full now and having some more positive holds has opened up a few more opportunities where previously he was struggling (at his height, the tnut spacing forces some quite high feet lock in moves which he was struggling with on smaller holds). He seems happy with it.

- I made “the bivvy ledge” for the board. I had to take a bit off the back to reduce flex but it’s about 35-40mm deep, flat to very slightly incut and with a friendly rounding to the outer edge. Hopefully I’ll be able to build towards using this for on-wall rest intervals in 1-on-1-off training etc.

- with the triangular wedge cut off to make it work with the overhang of the board I created an outward sloping foothold rail for the board too.

Sunday - achey and tired

Mini making goals:

- more holds for miniAJMs wall [tick - made 10 holds]

- 2 monos and 2 2-finger pockets for the FoC board [not yet]

- resting jug for the FoC board [tick]

- set of parallelettes [need some more timber, due to arrive this week]

- poorer feet for foot on campus board [tick]

STG: Get through Lockdown 2.0 with sanity intact. Ideally also with some fingerboard gainz.
MTG: 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: Start of Lockdown 2.0
T: 40 minutes mobility, shoulders, wrist extensors
W: Beastmaker start-of-lockdown max hang benchmark. Several kgs down on where I was in Lockdown I. Unsurprising since I have done only endurance-focused work for several months and didn't so much as touch a fingerboard in October.

T: Unexpected day of free time due to VPN outage at work. Completely wasted it reading Ulster Noir thrillers on kindle instead of getting anything worthwhile done. Not good. Will definitely have to leave the house tomorrow though: out of coffee.

F: 1½ hours bike (to coffee roastery & back - essential supplies)

S: Our local "lockdown lite" regulations encourage outdoor exercise alone or in pairs, and don't prohibit travelling reasonable distances to do so. So ... local crag season. Zellerwand. Did half a dozen easy routes for the mileage, then had a bolt to bolt play on a nice little bouldery 7a. I've always found harder routes at this crag very technical and difficult to read, so pretty chuffed to get all the moves on this in a single go. I have my autumn project, if we get another sunny weekend.

S: Beastmaker - working on strict half crimp form with pulley assistance.

Training logs are good. Actually looking at them in order to discern pattern that one might learn from is even better. I've noticed that back in the days when my climbing was actually progressing - in contrast to the multi-year plateau I'm on now - I was doing fewer plastic routes over the winter and a lot more bouldering. Something to think about when (if) walls reopen this winter.

STG - Rescue Ciri and fight the Wild Hunt!

MTG - Y Fal 2h door to door

LTG - Y Fal 1h 30m door to door

Weight - 15st 2lbs

M - T - Rest  DQS - 7 and 13

W - 6 pull ups

T - 5 mile walk

F - 7 mile walk DQS roughly -10

S - Rest DQS -2

S - 1.5 mile walk and 6 pull-ups. DQS -4

Diet Quality Score, from Matt Fitzgerald's Racing Weight book.  Focuses more on eating 'good' food than how much food you eat.  Managed to start fairly well, but things took a hammering on Friday, however the burgers and chips from one of the local swanky restaurants was really nice.  Few beers to wash it all down and you see the score being pretty poor.  Didn't write down my Wednesday or Thursday score, but I think Wednesday was probably vaguely positive and Thursday wasn't great.  It was good to be focusing a bit more on diet.  Forced me to be a bit less horrific.

Then managed to get a few decent walks in as the weather was nice.  Also started doing a few pull-ups on the pull-up bar I panic bought at the start of lockdown.  Off work next week, so hope to catch up a bit on sleep if I'm lucky.  Maybe get a few more walks in as well.

Cheers Alan, thanks for spenting your Sunday eve on us.

Mon. Actually went to a climbing wall! Not done that for a very long time. 14x 13579 or something similar. Lots of needing to go again on the last few, should probably have done a few less reps. 3 laps of the 7a+ route circuit.

Tues. Rest

Wed. Cemetery Park Boulder. Did Gecko Fabulous (f7B) and Gecko Fabulous (variation) (f7B+). I'd worked up to the last 2 moves last visit but couldn't finish them off as the top was wet so they were quick ticks today. Worked some other stuff after. 12km run with run club after dinner. Last one as a group for a while I suspect.

Thurs and Fri. Rest. 

Sat. Went to Lorry Park Quarry. Put the clips in on Dark Energy as it only looked like a 2m section of the lower crack was wet but when I got up there the traverse jug, big side pull and resting break were all wet too so I stripped it. You could probably have dried yours hands en route if you were 8b strong but I need my 8as to be in good condition! Managed to onsight Supercrack (Sport) (7a) which was dry apart from a few footholds at the top and redpoint Deceptive (7b) which was much harder than it looked! It's borderline 7b+ anyway and there were a lot of wet holds which I avoided with some big moves and go agains so it ended up feeling pretty hard.

Sun. 6km run. 

Cheers Alan,

A Big Wall is something I want to do but I think it’s too far beyond my reach to quantify as a goal at the minute. I’ve messed around with Aid Soloing for a couple of years, and spend one night a week at the wall working through systems. It’s good fun and hard work!

Interesting to read about your previous experience with indoor/outdoor training. I’d have thought indoor training would be more beneficial as it allows you to pull harder, but obviously there’s a specificity about training outdoors.

I haven’t had a bad week considering restrictions. Managed to squeeze my gym session in before lockdown, as well as a last visit to the pub, so will have to come up with something novel for next week’s strength session.

STG: Continue on Eric Hörst T4C Programme. Just finished week 2 (of 3) of strength phase. Hit my goal of a new weighted pull-up 3x3 PB (+27.5kg).

MTG: Lead 10x VS by end of 10week cycle. 1 of 10 done this week but will struggle to achieve due to lockdown.

LTG: Solid on HVS/E1. DoWH HVS 4c being a goal for next Spring.

Mon: Aid Climbing at the wall. Made a traversing and overhanging line (hard work getting up in the top steps), then some cleaning and jumaring.

Tue: Strength session. 3x3 pulls (+27.5kg) Dips (+27.5kg), Barbell Rows (72.5kg), Deadlifts (102.5kg).

Wed: Rest day

Thu: Trad climb at Swanage. Tensor II (VS 5a) - pumped out and fell at the P1 roof traverse. Not sure if it was due to messing around placing too much gear under the roof, a severe lack of endurance, or both! Enjoyed climbing Wall Street (HS 4b) afterwards with no issues.

Fri: Rest day

Sat: Weighted walk. 9km in 2 hours carrying 60lbs. Could definitely feel the increase in time/distance/weight.

Sun: Max hangs on the fingerboard - 5 sets of 5 hangs (10s on 30s off) on 27mm 4finger crimp. Ready to move on to the 18mm edge next week.

Ended the week listening to a Malian Rock ‘Songhoy Blues’ record I picked up, starting this years’ Christmas Pudding, and drinking the left over Brandy!

Happy training😀

Thanks Alan. Had a slightly easier week for my fingers this week, I didn't want to do 3 days on again after feeling a bit tweaky one day last week.

M: rest

T: Board session in the evening. Mostly felt a bit creaky but to my surprise managed to do my other remaining long term project on the board. Another 7B? It had originally felt harder than the one I did last week, but the crux move suddenly seemed easier. Cold temperature helped I think. 

W: rest

T: Afternoon - 5*5 pullups with +23kg. Evening - a couple of max hangs with +23kg then a short board session just doing a bunch of problems around 6Cish. Didn't have the oomph for anything harder after the earlier pull-up session. 

F: rest

S: morning at Craig y Longridge. Made short work of Fertile Delta (V7), it was fairly steady when fresh. Got to the top move of Big Marine fairly comfortably twice but the finishing hold was wet so I didn't have the guts to slap for it. Played on a few other things then tried the sit start to Fertile Delta, which should go next visit.  My wife baked a cake for some reason, I ate too much of that and then washed it down with a few beers to celebrate the back of Trump. Good recovery nutrition?

S: Had a good fingerboard session this morning. Did 6 max hangs on the lattice edge with +25kg and one with +33kg, showing some progression as my max a few weeks ago was +31kg. Then some upper body TRX work, and then three sets of bodyweight repeaters on the lattice edge (7/3*6). Then did a one arm hang with bw - 9kg on each arm (on the bm2000 rather than lattice edge) at the end to see how that is as I've not done one arm hangs for a while. Felt good.

In the week I was trying to rest a bit more but actually felt more tired in my sessions - shows the importance of sleep as I got a bit too focused on the US elections and woke up very early (3-4am) on several days. Pleased to do the board project and Fertile Delta, and the fingerboard session today was good, so a good week overall. Think the training is having some effect. 

Edit to add, I've ordered a few more small crimps for my board this week. I'm hoping they are thin, but really positive so I can still use them. At the moment I don't get much board mileage on really small crimps (< 3/4 pad) as it's just too steep and the smallest holds I have are just not often usable. The guy who makes these said be used them on a 50, so they should be ok...of course he might be much stronger than me!!

Si

Thanks for starting the thread and thanks for not forgetting me!

After two missed entries before this weeks I really ought to have more to write but I've been pretty slack. I've one week left on my current work project and was expecting some off before my next project for training, personal admin, study and completion of a major DIY project I've started (refurbing the attic) but I found out on Friday I'm going straight into a new project. Given the parlous state of the economy I shouldn't complain but the thought of a few weeks on the bench was all that was keeping me going!

To business, not a lot in three weeks, a couple of local walks and a couple of fingerboard sessions a couple of weeks ago is, I think, the sum total. One good thing I did was go for a night run-walk to meet some friends on top of Whittle Hill. It felt like a bit of an adventure so I think I ought to do that every time the weather is benign.

I probably need to get a crude plan together, I think my focus will be alpinism so any suggestions welcome. I know Z1 is all the rage but not sure if that's worth doing if you have limited time to train....

I had to Google this and although I was familiar with the name Molesworth and the phrase "as any fule kno" I knew nothing about the books, pity as having done 5 mins research they strike me as the sort of thing I would have enjoyed.

"so no recurrence of the back thing? Good. I only have one pulley, so always have the cord for the assistance weight dragging on my chest. Have never been able to figure out if this increases or reduces the assistance weight."

M - 5 easy/flat run. Bench press session - 5x3 @ c.85% of 1 rep max, plus pull ups and core stuff

T - Squats  -5x5 @70% max, plus Romainian deadlifts and core stuff. Followed imediatley by 38mm repeaters @ 40%. Then another flat 5k after work

W - 8.5km (D+ 300m) up and over walla crag with an old work mate visiting before lockdown. Plan was to then do some shoulder/arm work, but went for another run in the evening with another friend - 7.5km (300m). Then had pizza and a few beers.

T - Squats 5x3 @ 83% max, plus RDL, core etc. Anotehr flat 5k, and then 38mm repeaters @ 40% in the evening

F - 7.8km (300m) in the morn and bench 5x5@ 76% (plus core etc) in afternoon.

S - 16km (560m) round Derwentwater and over Catbells in what passes for a long run nowadays.

S - Short Deadlift session followed by max hangs at 90%.

I'm always struggling to increase my pull ups. I don't know if it is becasue I am putting on weight so even though getting stronger I still can't do more than 3 or 4 in a row (at best!).

Also wondering if following deadlifts with hangs is good or not. Not sure if that warms up my forearms or exhausts them! I'm compleating the sessions OK so will continue with this for now!

Thank you for the wishes Alan (and everyone else in last week's thread, of course)!

Recovery has gone quite well, this week I started doing a bit of hangboarding again, hopefully I should be back up to standard next week as progress has been rather fine.

This week:

M - 6x10s bodyweight hangs on 19mm edge, 3 mins rest. Got tired quick and developed a headache, but fingers felt fine. Wrists a bit tweaky.

T - Rest

W - Rest

T - Rest

F - 6x10s, no headache and definite improvement over Monday. Box split stretches between hangs to maximise efficiency. Wrists felt fine this time, I think I wasn't well recovered on Monday. Will try adding 5kg next time.

S - Rest

S - More 6x10s with 3 minutes rest, this time with 5kgs added. Felt like I could do more but don't want to rush into an injury. Recovery progress! Same as Friday with stretches between hangs.

Next week:

M - Rest

T - Power session at the bars and some max hangs.

W - Rest

T - Max hangs

F - Rest

S, S - Grit? Will have to read up on the travel restrictions, a lot has changed since I last stepped outside!

Goals:

Recover from Covid-19 and don't injure myself by pushing too hard too soon (done the first bit, just need to continue being careful about injury)

Tierdrop

Suavito

Old King Cascade

Unnamed Local Project

... for which I am now Crag Moderator. I'm really on a roll with violating the "never volunteer" rule.

Large but utterly average "only worth it if you're fairly local" crag btw. Hope I'm not expected as moderator to actually do advertising for it.

That kinda assumes that there is a plan; normally I only "plan" a day ahead at most, rather than long-term.

Week 45:

M – Rest.

T – More rest: Rain lasted longer than forecast, so put back planned grit session by 24hrs and did DIY instead.

W – Plantation lantern session. Warmed up on the Green Traverse and some eliminate slaps/mantles. On to The Joker; got better and better and even had a little swing on the finishing jug. https://www.instagram.com/p/CHNCKboDlYJ/  Considerable skin loss when sliding off that go! Conditions then went bad as dew started to form – wasted 10min trying Honorary Caley (f7A) and could barely get off the floor as I hadn’t twigged how damp it was.

T – Tendon density: F3SC (BW-12.5kg; moderate) and f3 drag (BW+4kg; hard). Got the intensity just right I think. A couple of months of this and I might get RA within the range of an-power…? Bench; 3x 6reps @60kg. Felt hard and a bit tweaky on my pec so halved the planned number of sets.

F – 18km @ 28kph

S – Back to the Plantation; this time with the permitted +1 company. Warmed up on various things from 5+ to 6C, then a quick furtle of The Joker. Too warm, too humid and too little skin: tips were rolling after 3rd go. Quit and sought out slopers. Then proceeded to fail/flail on everything until my tips were bleeding. (Jerry’s Traverse, Ben’s Reverse, Rose & unemployed businessman). Good technique workshop from the gritmeister though. Gardening.

S – 31km @ 28kph. Winterised the Moonboard by boxing in the ends – should eliminate cold air condensing on the holds above ceiling height. Final bits of painting. COMPEX core/groin rehab.

D'oh. Not really keeping a very good record of what I'm doing. Must try harder.

Monday

First run after the operation. Felt good, though general CV fitness has, as expected, gone through the floor. Burbage Loop, 6km, 190m.

Tuesday

Rest

Wednesday

Bouldering at  Stanage Popular. Enjoyed pretty much a full day of bouldering, highlights included The Henge (f5). Had a go at Gripple Nipple (f5) but looks like I didn't do it properly so will have to head back for another go.

Thursday

Rest

Friday

Bouldering at  Roaches Upper Tier. Highlights were Don's Crack (f5) and Tittersworth Rib (f5+). Couldn't quite get Wildy's Arête (f5+) so will have to go back for that one. Watched Sam Simpson do Wings of Unreason (E4 6a) without actually having to dyno which is cheating as far as I'm concerned...

Saturday

Initially at  Newstones and Baldstones but was a bit busy and on the unpleasant side of windy. Went to  Gradbach Hill which was lovely, but got utterly spanked on the definitely-not-HVS The Gape (HVS 5a) (E2 5b feels more like it). Also found John's Arête (HVS 5a) to be a bit bold for lockdown climbing so retreated and saved for another time.

Sunday 

Rest

Cheers, understandably all facilities are shut down again  Still gives mor time to concentrate on running as i had been telling myself that I was getting enough exercise by swimming more when i truth i find the swim easy. So goal is to be back up to half marathon distance by the end of the month!

Week went as follows.

Monday, 1km swim

Tuesday, nothing

Wednesday, last day in the pool, heart not in it so just 500m

Thursday, 10km trail run

Friday, mental day at work moving labs, didnt get in until late evening so nothing

Saturday, 10km trail run

Sunday, 10km trail run

Hi all. Thanks Alan -hope you aren't regretting volunteering too much!

 >Tom Green - stop shirking the dull sessions!

Forgive me, Alan, for I have sinned... Another week where I determinedly avoided anything approaching strength and conditioning work!

Week 45:

M: Prehab. Shoulders and elbows.

T: Max hangs.

W: Board sesh. AnCap -good fun session.

T: Hill run. 94min Z1. 14.7km, 491m vert, techy. A pretty joyous outing, which resembled the Lloyds advert at one point -running along a ridge flanked by eight wild/feral ponies!

F: Max hangs. Prehab.

S: Sport climbing. Poor outdoor session at Llanymynech. Basically, didn't trust my novice belayer so struggled to commit to the climbing. 

S: End of the week guilt = double sesh!

a.m. Board sesh. Limit bouldering. Crack laps (still really struggling with tea-cup jams -feel like I need more friction than I get off the wood to make up for my poor technique!). AeroCap circuits.

p.m. Trail run. 108min Z1. 19.7km (300m short -damn!), flat, muddy.

Week 46:

2 Runs

2 Core sessions -NO REALLY!

2 Climbing sessions

2 Prehab sessions

2 Strength sessions -DO AT LEAST ONE!

STGs (End Nov):

BW <72kg

Max Hangs +4kg

Pull-up 2RM 90kg total

Curfew (6b+) The Day of the Triffids (6b)

Black Wall (E1 5b)

Run Edale Skyline

MTGs (End Jan):

Max Hangs +8kg

Pull-up 2RM 100kg total

Grid Iron (6c) The Deep (6c+)

Black Wall Direct (E2 5c)

Run Cheshire Gritstone Trail

LTGs:

7a, 6C.

33 E-points in 2021 (to beat current best year).

Run Welsh 3000s

Revisit Cairngorm Classic Rock in a day

Long alpine rock routes off my to-do-list?

I used to use DQS. It really helped me but a tip i picked up more recently has really worked for me to help with focus and motivation.

A time based goal not a score or weight based goal.

Two weeks of focus (actually 11 days). Have a weekend (fri, sat, sun) off then see where you're at. Go for another fortnight, a week. Whatever your motivation feels like it can do.

Works for me rather than a never ending battle to get to weight/body fat X

Thanks Alan.

So that was week 7 of Lattice Lite. My hardest yet in terms of trying to fit everything in. First time i'v not done everything.

M – Nothing. Tired.

T – Quick climb at BUK after seeing a patient. As the walls were about to close an open climb rather than training seemed like the thing to do. Still feeling a bit jaded so I decided against a max effort session. It was busy in the valley so I went to the other side (my least favourite) and ticked the V4,s and 5’s. They all went pleasingly OK. V5 used to feel tougher than that so I am now starting to believe I’ve made progress.

W – I was in a wall but decided an early night was better than climbing.

T – Max hangs and conditioning

F- Nothing

S – Outdoor boulder at Humphrey Head. A lot of stuff was surprisingly wet and the perma dry cave was busy. Went to the far area and played around on some easier problems and had a go at Son of Krypton (7B). There’s some beta I need to make work for me with a heel. Currently I can only reach if I use a toe hook. One to go back to. Conditioning after

S – Aero cap fingerboard sesh and conditioning

This week is the first time I feel like I’ve not hit targets. A mix of busyness and lockdown.

Got my lockdown plan sorted now though. I'm changing weighted shrugs from two arm to one arm assisted and max hangs to one arm also. It's the start of my medium term plan to really improve my arm strength through range. I'm not too bad at holding holds at a span but i am not very good at pulling and i can't even lock off on either arm.

An-Cap/AeroCap work is going to have to be on the fingerboard, as will max hangs. Then get a boulder sesh in outdoors when the weather allows.

I’ve learnt how my new weekly schedule works now so have hopefully got organised around it.

Flights changed from Alicante to Tenerife for Xmas climbing holiday. Feels a bit more likely that it will actually happen so I’m psyched again. Full speed ahead now for the trip. I have put a couple of pounds on so booze needs to be drastically cut back and my diet improved to as good as it was a few weeks ago.