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...     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

Last weeks post - https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_721-7299...

Leicestershire Psyche Vid: in addition to a huge still-working quarry that has some routes on one of its older tiers, mighty county summit Bardon Hill apparently also has some bouldering (although I never noticed it when I used go for walks up there with my Grandad) https://warwickclimbing.co.uk/adventures/localcrags/bardonhill/

Enjoyed last week's little discussion of how we would all heroically rack our wires for sea cliff heroics if we weren't (a) in the middle of winter, (b) in lockdown. And in my case (c) 350 miles from the nearest salt water. As AJM can confirm, my last attempt to go sea cliff climbing was anything but heroic - more Tyrolean than a day trip to Innsbruck!

AJM - Was sharkathon a tradition here before Shark moved to UKB Power Club? Sounds like some diligent effort working on the weaknesses. L sit to tuck planche will be impressive - how impressive exactly depends on how high your paralettes are! 

alexm198 - agree with you about the beauty - the forest in the snow in Chiemgau last week was breathtaking. I have a project in a particularly lovely corner of the beech woods in Konstein, if you're up for a spot of sport climbing in the spring. If we're allowed out by then! Any details of the shin prehab programme you're doing? My son has been having some shin trouble.

Ally Smith - sounding like generally good board results, moon- and fimger-. I've often wondered what, if anything, it's worth doing about L-R asymmetry, although I guess not a concern if it's only a temporary issue with a split tip. 

biscuit - another week of impressive dedication & focus on making the most of lockdown, not to mention seizing the slight chance to get out.

Cyan - as long as you feel like posting something helps, we'll carry on being glad to hear from you.

Liam P - dialling the fingerboarding back a bit sounds like a good call - but so does the resolve to also do callisthenics and weighted hikes. I've been struggling with motivation for the callisthenics part.

Ross Barker - "better to half-ass it than do nothing at all." A training motto to live by, asnd a large part of the value of groups like Fit Club.

Si dH - sounds like solid rehab progress; must be difficult to resist going too hard, too soon when things start to feel better

Somerset swede basher - so Kinder is well frozen then? Sounds like a good use of your commute.

the sheep - Alex seems to be convinced by Relentless Forward Progress for ultra training

Tom Green - good news about the ankle.

Tyler - oh dear. Must be frustrating when the hip's just not letting it happen?

AlanLittle - as long as you're still able to get out for a day at the weekend, you might just be able to hang on to your sanity despite all the other days being exactly the same as each other.

Absent - Neil Kazimierz Sheridan, planetmarshall 
 

I still feel bad about how much faff I created that day.

One day I'll have to go back and work out what it was I was missing.

You don't need to feel bad on my behalf, it was a proper fun adventure

Good evening Alan, a fine job as usual!

Something is always better than nothing, and this week I've had some good sessions despite what, at the time, felt like a proper shitter.

Last Week:

M - Rest

T - Nessy. Did The Highwayman's Escape (V5), almost sacked it off because the crux is even cruxier with my long legs, couldn't get in what the hip folk call "the box". Ended up using a bidoigt pinch thing instead of a decent slopey edge. Rest of the problem is piss in comparison, but still enough to give me a wee pump!

W - Few stretches

T - Rest

F - Dugout. Got spanked by everything, frozen feet, and car key fob no longer works. One of those days. Had pizza to cheer me up.

S - Fixed key fob and did a big antagonist session - 3 sets of 10 pushups, followed by another 3 sets of 8 but with feet on chair. Then 3 sets of 10 band pull-aparts, followed by 3 sets of 8 but with the heavier band. Box split and hamstring stretches to finish.

S - Rigpa. Good session, latching the shite crimp for half a second before sagging and dropping, a good three or so times. Excited for more on this one, feeling optimistic!

Next Week:

M - Rest

T - Fingerboard or dugout

W - Rest

T - Looks like the best opportunity as far as weather goes, hopefully Rigpa again.

F - Rest

S, S - Hoping to explore another local-ish oddity,  Nipstone Rock. There's a few problems and scope for new ones so could have a potter around.

Two sessions of antagonist and stretching scattered in the week as well.

Goals:

Don't get injured

Suavito (on hold)

Tierdrop (on hold)

Rigpa (going rather well for something hard)

Thanks Alan. More of the same this week.

M: rest

T: 5th session of physio exercises. Three with bodyweight +5kg, three with +8kg.

W: rest

T: planned a set of physio exercises but I cancelled them as I had to move a load of bricks down the driveway and was pretty tired, I'm supposed to make sure I'm well rested when doing them.

F: delayed 6th session of physio exercises. Three sets with bodyweight +8kg, two sets with +12.5kg, one set with +17kg.

S: rest

S: board session this morning, but I felt very sluggish. Canned it fairly early and did a bunch of TRX instead.

Slowly adding more weight to the physio exercises. Still feeling fairly happy with them at the moment. One more week then it should be time to re-evaluate and see what next, I'm hoping I can get some follow-up advice from the physio by email. Not feeling at all strong or snappy on the board, but didn't feel any finger pain either so I'll take that as a win.

Si

The mismatch between my intention - “I’ve done some E3s recently and climbing sport fairly well and these are all thread-em-up E2/3” - and the reality - failing to get any appreciable distance off the ground on any of them due to failing to find holds - was quite stark!

Cheers Alan. Another mute required on the Psyche Vid! Nice Bat Hook at minute 3 though.

Decent week for me. Seeing some hangboard gainZ in both hangs and Pullups. Also managed a tuck L Sit off the floor after several years of not doing them. However, a full back bridge and handstand push-up seem miles away! I can do a head bridge but pushing up just feels impossible. Handstands against a wall are also steady but I can only lower and raise about an inch. Be interested if anyone’s got any pointers...

Monday: 3x3 Offset Pullups 40/18mm (3 fingers), 6x10 Uneven Push-ups

Tuesday: Min Edge Hangs 3x4(7/30) 10mm, 3x10s tuck L-sits, 3x20 weighted crunches (2kg), 3x20s head bridge

Wednesday: 3x15s Handstand

Thursday: 3x2 Offset Pullups 40/27mm (2 fingers)

Friday: Weighted walk 12km 2:30 (13lbs)

Saturday: Offset Pull-ups 3/3/2 40/27mm (2 fingers), 6x12 Uneven Push-ups, Min Edge Hangs 4x4(7/30) 10mm, 3x20 weighted crunches (3kg), 3x12s tuck L Sits

Sunday: 3x20s handstand, 3x25s head bridge

More of the same this week with a small increase in intensity.

More likely, at least in my personal experience, to be a shoulder mobility than a pressing strength issue. Although could be either I suppose.

Might end up at the dug out when next visiting in-laws (childcare support bubble).  Would be good to have a (socially distanced) tour guide. 

 Mother Scary's?

I don’t know actually. I’ve had half arsed gos at it in previous years but I thought I’d give it a solid go this year - aware that over the course of several busy months I’d tapered down to a session or two a week, and with a “how can I make the best of it” view of the latest lockdown, it felt like a sensible time to try to build the workload up a bit again.

The paralettes are fairly high - I forget exactly but the bars are maybe a foot off the ground. I’ve toyed with the idea of getting another dowel and making some lower ones, partly to keep me occupied and partly as potential portable training aids. But I start off from a very low base so even on high ones would be a massive milestone for me.

Well, I finally put some batteries in my scales this week and it was not a pretty experience! With some small excuses like “wearing a big jumper” and “right after dinner” the scales creaked their way to c80kg which is a bit ridiculous. Still, if I think on the positive, I was still ticking problems ok before Christmas, and the mystery of why I was finding bw+10kg pull-ups really hard when I was doing bw+15kg over the summer is now less of a mystery. Thankfully, a weigh in this morning was looking more like 76kg, so I need to work out which is nearer the truth but it suggests that all is perhaps not lost.

Another fairly solid week. Still on for sharkathon, partly due to the wee mans continued desire for going out biking. I’m technically down a campus session this week, but this is somewhat deliberate as I nicked the side of my finger cutting veg on Friday - I probably could have done stuff on it still today but I thought leaving it an extra day or so and swapping in a bit more non finger specific stuff might be better. So maybe got a bit more climbing specific stuff to fit in next week. Feeling like I’m adjusting into the workload a bit more - in week 1 I was thinking that a 3-hard-1-easy week pattern would be a bit of a fight but this week gone (week 2) hasn’t felt so bad, fewer aches. Which is good in that if I can keep it up going forwards ultimately I’ll get more training done.

Monday - 3 sets dips, 3 sets pseudo planche pushups, static leans

Tuesday - 5-3-5-3-5 aerobic session

Wednesday - 3 sets archer rows, 3 sets knee to bar, some ring turned out holds, 3 sets dips. Then later pushups and static leans, definitely feeling the load by the end of these.

Thursday - 2 mile walk with TSMotP

Friday - 5x5 pull-ups at c90kg total load. Completed it this time, just about.

Saturday - nearly 7 miles with TSMotP

Sunday - 2 mile walk with TSMotP. I’ve been doing some push training this evening, not too much structure but actually trying the progression movement a bit to try to get the hang of it.

Aspirational lockdown gainz goals for Jan:

- complete Sharkathon

- climbing maintenance, ideally 1 aero and 1 fingerboard/campus per week

- 2 pull sessions per week - weighted pull-ups, offsets/one arm eccentrics, archer rows or front lever progressions

- 2 push sessions per week - planche progression stuff, pushups and static

2021 Arbitrary training goals:

- 1.5-x-5 solidly on the campus board, then 1-x-5

- L sit to Tuck Planche on the paralettes as a marker point for having worked on a weakness

- 5x5 @95kg, and actually do some stuff on offsets

- some progress on a front lever

2021 Climbing goals:

- make use of continued working from home and hopefully greater tolerance of more remote working in future to do some longer hybrid climb/work trips (not ridiculously long, but extending beyond the usual 2 week mark)

- make the June-June 12 months my best period of bouldering yet (current score 6700, score to beat c7200)

- climb 7c/+ again

- work on my “why haven’t I already” and “harder local things to try” ticklist (start position 0% & 13% respectively)

- nail at least one of my Portland dws projects, try mark of the beast, and do some more stuff at Swanage and in south Devon.

Thanks Alan. It was frozen but everything is melted now. Saw someone climb the downfall (I've done it several times so headed to other things) shortly before a massive block of ice fell off over to the left of all the climbing. Scary stuff. 

I've felt pretty strong this week. It's probably just psychological as it's week 8 of my (self written and extremely unofficial) winter training plan so I'd be expecting to see some gains about now but the numbers do back it up. If I can do the same this week I'll think about upping some weight but I often have a weak week after a strong one and want to be consistent before adding much.

Mon. Completed 6 max hangs +25kg and weighted pull ups 5x5 with +11kg. 3x10 press ups. All felt OK. 

Tues. 11km run. 

Wed. Completed 6 sets of repeaters with +5kgs. 5x5 in the min pull ups. 3x10 press ups.

Thurs. 30km equivalent with the bike on the rollers. 

Fri. After work solo play on Mam Tor. Well frozen. Couple of grade IIs and backed off O'neils ledge (again). I think it probably would have been fine but my heart wasn't in it so erred on the side of caution not wanting to be that guy who got stuck on the face in the middle of a pandemic!

Sat. Walked the kids up Win Hill then 3x 10mins on 10mins off in the attic. 

Sun. Walked the kids up Crook Hill, drank some cider! 

No, all the stuff round Calcitron (E2 5b)

Hi Alan, thanks once again for the stats. 

Yeah, it's pretty magical out here. Nice to know the novelty doesn't wear off! Konstein sounds delightful, I'll definitely take you up on the offer when it's warmer and the circumstances permit!

I'm doing a slightly mad medley of all the preventative shin splint exercises I could find online. Anecdotally, I've had success in the past trying to strengthen my calves. Apparently shin trouble can often occur as a result of imbalanced lower leg musculature. But also weak hips and possible weak anterior lower leg musculature too. I guess I'm just... weak? I'm basically doing these daily and warming up before every run by doing 3 sets of these alternated with my normal stretching. I'm sure someone with more knowledge of lower body physiology (Biscuit?) would be able to offer more evidenced advice though. On the runs themselves I'm making a conscious effort to decrease stride length and increase cadence. Seems to be working OK at the moment. I have a little shin tweakiness on occasion but nothing bad. 

Week 7:

Fairly enjoyable week, definitely settling into the rhythm of running frequently and at higher mileage now, too. The shin stuff seems to be working and the metrics all seem to be going in the right direction so that's promising.

M Rest. Shin prehab.

T 10.25km Z1. Shin prehab.

W 8.22km "Z1", more like a couple of kilometres Z1 warmup followed by some Z3. The training plan I am following doesn't have any dedicated speedwork until around week 5, and I think I was hankering for a bit of speed so allowed myself to go for it a bit. Fun. Shin prehab.

T 10.25km Z1. Made a conscious effort to atone for Wednesday's speed sins by doing a proper Z1, with average heart rate down at 130. Felt nice and cruisy. Shin prehab.

F Rest. Core session in the evening. Shin prehab.

S Snuck out to Sylvensteinsee to do some ice climbing. Climbed the WI4+ variation to the Grammersberg Eisfall, which was enjoyable. The last time I climbed cascade ice was 2016 when I climbed my first and only WI6, so naturally I totally underestimated WI4 and got more pumped than I have in a while on the main pitch. I also wore softshells like a total rookie and got soaked. 6.87km run in the evening, on which I felt weirdly amazing. Put in consistent <8min/miles, probably in the dreaded Z2, pushing a bit of Z3 by the end. Shin prehab.

S Paid the price for Saturday's frivolities on a truly punishing long run. 23.01km of mad Englischergarten loops. This run had such chaotic energy as I didn't really have any idea where I was going, I just resolved to run until I had the mileage done. Running in a fair quantity of fresh snow was utterly tedious. Shin prehab.

Last week's goals:

• 58km running [Tick - 58.6km]
• 2x core routine [1/2 - felt like I could use a proper rest on Monday, so sacked this off]
• Daily shin prehab [Tick]

Goals:

STG (This Week)

• 61km running
• 2x core routine
• Daily shin prehab
• Possibly some more ice?

MTG (End of June 2021)

• Finish the Zugspitz Ultratrail
• 3 x big winter alpine routes (looking extremely unlikely at the moment!)

LTG (End of 2021)

• Himalaya Expedition (or plan B) (as is this!)

shropshirebouldering.co.uk is a fine online guide, but I'd be keen to join in for a session! The wee area is proving quite popular at the moment though, every time I've been there's been someone else for at least part of the session.

Ah looks as if my embedded links didn't work. The words 'these' should link respectively to:

https://runnersconnect.net/shin-splint-exercises/

https://gizmodo.com/banish-shin-splints-forever-with-one-magical-exercise-5... (pure clickbait!)

Mon - Thurs: Work, work, work.

Friday: Celebrated my housemate finishing her exams with leftover Christmas booze.

Sat: About an hour of yoga. Very queasy.

Sun: Long dog walk. 45 mins yoga. 

Unfortunately not much done over Christmas and NY! But back on track this week! Got started with indoor cycling. And some weird bodyweight exercises using a bed sheet over a door! 

M: 5 mins indoor cycling, 2x25 squats, plank 30s

T: 10 mins indoor cycling

W: 10 mins indoor cycling

T: 10 mins indoor cycling, 3x8 bedsheet rows

F: 10 mins indoor cycling, 3x8 bedsheet bicep curls. 3x6 press ups, 2x6 tricep ext using my stair step

S: 10 mins indoor cycling

S:  10 mins indoor cycling, 3x7 press ups, 3x8 tricep ext, 3x8 rows, 3x8 biceps (all using the bedsheets!)

Hi Fit Club. Thanks for statting Alan.

Week 2:

Dropped one board sesh, but added an extra run. Ticked everything else.

M: Board Sesh: Limit bouldering and AeroCap circuits. Trail run: 5km, flat, slow.

T: Rest.

W: Max Hangs. Strength Sesh. Trail Run: 5.9km, flat, 5:28/km.

T: Rest.

F: Max Hangs. Strength Sesh.

S: Rest -unplanned, but shoulders felt very niggly (think I over did the TRX stuff in Friday sesh).

S: Road Run. 11.5km, flat, 5:19/km. Finished with v sore R hip -need to be careful to rebuild slowly after last year's lay-off.

Week 3:

Fingerboard sesh x 3

Strength sesh x 2

Climbing x 2

Run x 2

STG (End Q1):

Max Hang total 79kg

Weighted Pull-up total 83kg

Jug circuit 5-on, 3-off

Board Problem 'GTH'

Curfew (6b+)

Run average 25km/week and Edale Skyline

MTG (End Q2):

Max Hang total 84kg

Weighted Pull-up total 88kg

Jug circuit 10-on, 10-off

Board Problem 'Le Grimpeur'

Eliminator (V4)

Grid Iron (6c)

Black Wall (E1 5b)

Run average 35km/week and Cheshire Gritstone Trail

LTG (End Q3):

Yates' Layaway (f6B+) 

Jack the Smuggler (7a)

Black Wall Direct (E2 5c)

Cairngorm Classic Rock IAD, El Cap nose-day (880m climbing) and Welsh 3000s

2020 Goals:

35 E-points

Run 30km vertical (and >1000km)

Remembering to get my own report in this week:

STG: Weight back below 85kg. Start Couch To 5k.
MTG: Go climbing after lockdown? Get vaccinated before I get infected. 
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber by 2021. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M: Rest after yesterday's wintry hillwalking. Legs not as sore as expected.

T: First big presentation of the year at work this afternoon. Went well, was tired afterwards. So another rest day.

W: Beastmaker repeaters. Hmm. Second repeater session and already starting to get skin soreness with the increased volume. I assume I'll get used to it.
    Plus running prehab exercises.

T: Streets too icy to ride a bike or try running, so in desperation resorted to half an hour of box step-ups.

F: Beastmaker - allowing myself one max hangs session per week until I manage to fully resign myself to repeaters

S: There are still a couple of districts in the Bavarian Alps not in the strictest lockdown, so managed another boys' hillwalking trip with my son in Chiemgau. A lot more snow than last week, so harder work.

S: Beastmaker repeaters plus pistol squat progressons, shoulder press, and I joined in the l-sit craze. I've always been able to do these with hands flat on the floor without too much difficulty - hamstring flexibility helps a lot. Gaining the pike/compression strength to transition through to a tuck planche is another matter entirely.
    Half an hour stretching. Am spending far too much time sitting in my office chair; need to get more movement and variety of position back into my everyday life.

Forecast is above zero and sunny on Wednesday. I'm going to make another attempt to get out to the local esoteric bouldering spot at Buchenhain.

I think this is going to force me to do something about the pike/compression and also the hamstring flexibility, as well as the straight arm pushing strength. I actually find L-sits quite hard, and having videoed myself yesterday evening my feet were definitely below the line of my hands transitioning through to the tuck. Many areas to work on.......!

Thanks Alan. Sterling work as ever.

A decent training week this week. I won’t detail what my strength, power and endurance sessions are as I did that last week and they’re still the same and general weights/bodyweight exercises prior to starting the second phase of specific climbing sessions.

I’ve still got my ticklist in action but with the weather and lockdown it feels more appropriate to get some training goals sorted so I’ve done some benchmarking this week and made a spreadsheet for geeky tracking.

I finally feel like I really am in a training routine now that would take something pretty big to derail.

M – Max hangs re-test. Half crimp, bottom rung of BM1000- 30kgs added @ 70kgs bodyweight.

Strength session.

T – Nothing - work

W – Nothing - work

T – Max hangs pinch – Tension block. A measly 10kgs on the right and 11 on the left

Pull ups 2rm - 32kgs added

Strength session

F – Power endurance test – Half crimp, bottom rung of BM1000 @ 60% = 20kg taken off – 270 seconds

Power session

S – Endurance session planned – not done as we went for a massive walk in the rain and snow and wind instead. About 11 miles 400m ascent. 3.5 hrs.

S – Power session planned. But there was a slight weather window (and the rest of this coming week looks rubbish) so I snuck out to Trowbarrow and had a play on [climb(59238,"The Pit Problem"). Only the start, middle and end were wet (it's 3 moves long) so it was all good! I've never seen the Shelterstone so wet.

I got told I may be starting a move too early but I don’t feel it adds much. I managed to have the crimp a couple of times but my brain just wasn’t in the right place to engage. This kind of bouldering is still feeling very alien to me. But in the dry I reckon it’s a goer.

Pre climb mess about with my Tindeq

Peak Force Right = 44.8kg on Tension Block 20mm

Peak Force Left = 45.6kg on Tension Block 20mm

ROF left = 8188 N/s

ROF right = 8827 N/s

RFD data I need to do some calculating for. But at a quick glance it appears to be showing I should be considering getting stronger. I’d agree with that. I am recently discovering just how weak I actually am. I still can’t one arm shoulder shrug well on my left or lock off on either arm. The Lattice challenge and Emma Twyford being bored at home challenge (21 PISTOL SQUATS!!!!) have really opened my eyes to how young in training years I am again. Ah well it can only get better.

When I compare my ROF score with a 90kg CrossFit athlete I recently worked with they were nearly double my ROF. That’s the sort of score I’d like to get. I’m going to test again this week and then see what happens at the end of my next 6 week phase which includes quite a lot of power work.

2 weeks left of this first phase. I keep contemplating a de load week but while there is no climbing going on i think i'll wait until the phase is done.

STG: 2weeks

Un assisted 1 arm shrug x 6 on left arm.

MTG: 8 weeks

Pistol squat x2 both sides

Solid 1 arm 90 and 120 degree lock off each side – 7 second target

Max Hangs – from 30 to 35kgs (this will be 150kgs)

Max pinches – from 10kg R and 11kg L to 12 each side

Power endurance – 270 secs - maintain

Kleptomania (8a)

Angel Deelite (7A)

Sun of Krypton (f7B)

Voodoo People SS (f7B)

Ned's Problem (f7B)

The Crushinator Low Start (f7B+)

Texas Hold Em' (f7B+)

Wild Rose (f7B+)

Ash Tree Wall (f7C)

LTG: 1 year +

Not sure on climbing specific goals, but i'm not getting any younger and you can't go wrong with getting strong. So:

1) Front lever - 10 seconds good form

2) One arm pull up both sides

SHIN SPLINTS

As a general comment shin splints are an overuse injury. So reduce the input they are getting to manageable levels. This can be through cadence increase (unless you're already around 160) of about 10%, change of terrain or reduction in volume/intensity.

A good hip, knee and ankle strengthening program would not go amiss. There's an awful lot of evidence for S&C improving performance and reducing injury in running now. 

But you can rehab it through running alone by managing your workload very carefully. Send me an email and i'll send you the info i use for doing this. 

Super, thanks. As I say, I am not having much shin pain at the moment but keen to factor in some S&C to pre-empt any issues as the mileage increases. Would rather not have to ease off in future weeks, but if it comes to that, so be it. Will drop you an email now.

I've not clicked on the second but the first is OK for general info, but their exercise selection is a bit rubbish. Clams are way too low level. Side lying straight leg lift  (with heel higher than toes) is much better. 

Calf eccentrics can take more load but we're not after strengthening the calf just eccentrically for running, We need more concentric strength AS WELL.

How many strict singe leg calf raises can you do is a god test? Raise up as high as you can, onto your first two toes, not rolling out, little finger lightly on a wall for balance is allowed. I'd look at about 30 for a runner or your calves are not conditioned enough.

Pick an exercise for each area that is really hard to do and do it for 6-8 reps 3-5 sets 3 times a week.

That explains a lot, I'd been feeling like the clams, hip thrusts and donkey kicks were complete piss. As for single-leg calf raises, just tried and got to about 25 so could probably use some more work here. 

I've also wondered in the past whether my gait might contribute too. I supinate quite heavily, but not entirely sure what to do about that. 

I've been working diligently on the calf raises too, although I maybe need to be a bit stricter with how much hand I'm resting on the wall for balance.

Don't plan to actually start the running programme until I'm confident of non-icy pavements though.

Interesting points raised Biscuit:

Apart from the Crossfitter, do you have any reference data for ROF development for climbers apart from yourself? Is this ROF on the same 20mm edge, or something juggier?

The 21 pistol squats was ridiculous - if i'm feeling strong I can manage 2. I can't imagine how fat my legs and bum would be if I was able to do >20!

Thanks for all the stats Alan - astute commentary as always.

Week 2

Struggled a bit with child wrangling this week; apparently 6week old babies are hitting “peak crying” ☹ - our little 'un has been drinking huge quantities of milk this week. Peaking at >900ml daily, meaning more feeds, more burping, more changing, more grumbling and less sleeping for any of us!

M – Small amount of core: 4x 20s L hang and COMPEX.

T – Nowt. Super squiggly sproggle.

W – Day off. Too much squiggle wrangling the day before/overnight meant my thoracic spine didn’t wanna play ball. Hence, longer warm-up than usual, no max efforts and 6x6 Crimpd an-cap session instead. Nicely powered down at end of session using 3x 7A and 3x 7A+ benchmarks.

T – Short warm-up on the board inc 3x 6C+/7As. Then 2-arm max-hangs; BW+55kg. Good try hard session. Later, hollow body holds for core, reverse wrist curls and external rotator cuff 3x 10 6kg.

F – Nothing. Extended squiggle wrangling.

S – Morning board (fresh 7A+ benchmark and repeat of 6x6 an-cap session) then short sunset walk.

S – Nice lunchtime walk with wife n’ squiggle (~5km). Stretch and core COMPEX.

An actual Bardon route pic! Cool. The Craig Buddon one brought back memories too - specifically the memory of trying Virago (E1 5a) when it was "VS" in the yellow guide. Had a word with Ken Vickers in the pub afterwards about his grading skills. 

As a change from strength and power training on my 30 degree board I have added 3 volumes and a variety of larger holds.

This week I am trying to do 1000 moves a day. Nothing hard, just longish pumpy sequences of about 50 moves followed by a 5 minute rest.

I'm currently about half way through today's 1000 and, whilst a bit tired, not feeling too bad. It's how I feel tomorrow or in a couple of days that will be the real test.

Your plan sounds pretty similar in structure to mine, general mileage midweek and then back-to-backs on the weekend. If you're interested, I have a pdf of the book I'm using I'd be happy to share. Feel free to email.

Yeah i honestly couldn't get my head round it. Compared to 15 pull ups (which i don't think i could do either actually). But Charlie Torrance got 20 as well. That's a very strong house.

The obvious assumption is that if you want to climb 9a then get good at pistol squats!

Orrin Coley getting under 9 mins for the lattice challenge is bonkers.

I don't have any data at all. Once this COVID thing has blown over i plan to do some free testing at BUK, Kendal and maybe Manc Depot to start getting the info. In return i can give people a broad brush response as to their relative strengths and weaknesses.  

I am doing max pulls on 20mm but the RFD on a handle for now. The idea will be to test and compare the two to attempt to identify a weakness in the chain - fingers or arm/shoulder.

It's got lots of potential to be useful for directing training. To know you've maxxed your power out and need to get some strength work in, or to focus on finger contact strength as they are weaker than the comparable attritbute in your arms could be really good.

My next step is to try and use the jumpd app (a £5 app that does the job of very expensive exsurgo type tech) to measure velocity of pull repetitions to spot the decline in power output.

I need to get better at Excel first to keep all this data in a useful format i can interrogate.

Wow, the old yellow guide, I believe i have a copy lurking somewhere in and amongst all my old guides 

Yes please, that would be brilliant, thank you!

Obviously not that alien. That move up to the crimp with your right hand is damn hard for a 7B imho. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the problem is a total one move wonder.  I spent an hour trying it once and never got close. If you are almost latching the hold in poor conditions you are obviously going well

In layman's terms what is ROF and how is it measured? I'm intrigued.

Oh well that's good to hear, thanks. 

It's tricky to judge as the people I have seen on it are sponsored wads, local strong youths (warming up on Vitruvian Man) and GB coach. I may be setting the bar a bit high. 

Rate Of Force, or Rate of Force Development is used in conjunction with your max force. The relationship over time shows how much of your max force you can recruit and most importantly how quickly.

It can give you a few variables - Peak Rate of Force development (max explosiveness potential), Index of Starting Strength (how much of your peak you can access in the first 300 milliseconds, Index of Explosive Strength (time taken to reach peak force)

The CrossFit guy was about 80% on his Index of Starting Strength. Seriously explosive. To make more power gains he will either have to train very intensely on power (injury risk) or do a strength cycle to increase his max. 

Useful benchmark. Being strict with just a little finger instead of a flat hand for balance I'm currently on 25. Another couple of weeks work to do