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

And for those looking for more theoretical background, there's a useful subject index of publsihed researecg studies on the Beta Angel project. Not sure how actively maintained if is though. https://beta-angel.com/research/research-inventory/

Last weeks post - https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_723-7304... 

Leicestershire Psyche Vid: I'm going to run out of these at some point. Then it will be Shropshire. But not yet! I find it hugely amusing that this one was made by somebody based in Fontainebleau. Forest Rock or Trois Pignons? Draw your conclusions here: vimeo.com/51167497

Enjoyed last week's lively discussion.

AJM - thanks for the Steven Low links. Always find his stuff interesting. Looking forward to this week's sharkathon victory report (?)

alexm198 - started to write a response to your last week's comments but got sidelined into looking at the ZUT course instread. Are you doing the full 102.km / 5491 metres of ascent version?

Ally Smith - personally I tend to favour keeping pinch blocks as strictly vertical as possible, favouring muscular development over similarity to actual climbing. Have used them for ages though.

BarneyLoosemore - welcome! There a few all rounders here how can probably offer some tips/opinions on concurrent climbing & running progression.

biscuit - good news about the board build. Did the Monday Trowbarrow session amount to anything?

Cyan - yep, I'm fully convinced of the benefits of yoga.

Liam P - a pole will certainly take up less space in your living room than a moonboard. The beta videos are probably more motivating too.

Ross Barker - good to hear of progress on the proj. Watched avid of it - the topout looks a bit fluttery.

Si dH - do I recall correctly that your physio exercises are scap pulll-ups with tricaps engaged? Will be interested to hear how the new plan goes.

Somerset swede basher - actual rock? Yay! Diligent efforts for the rest of the week too.

the sheep - five runs including a muddy trail half marathon? Sounds promising for the ultra season.

Tom Green - "ticked everything else" sounds more important than the missed sessions

Tyler - don't go! As Dave Mac says in 9 out of 10, any level of maintenance training is infinitely better than doing nothing.

AlanLittle - the odd winter few days of winter grottiness are normal and nopthing to worry about given the negative result of the covid test. Other viruses are available.

Absent - planetmarshall, Neil Kazimierz Sheridan

Cheers Alan, managed some rock again this week, and some training. Skipped the bike session this week as was feeling a bit bleugh later in the week and felt an extra rest day and some eating might be better! 

Mon. Burbage North lamp session. Cheeky flash of Little Brown Thug Left-hand (f7A) and a quick ish tick of Banana Brexit (f7B) although I've done the higher start before so I knew the top bit.

Tues. 9km run

Wed. Rest, feeling a bit bleugh. 

Thurs. Struggled through a training session. Felt OK on the max hangs but got tired really quickly after that. 6x +28kg max hangs, 5x5 +12kg pull ups (just 3 reps on the last set), 3x10 press ups.

Fri. Rest again. 

Sat. Feeling better. 6 sets of repeaters +5kgs. Feeling solid at this weight now so will increase next time. 5x5 on the min pull ups. 3x 10mins on 10mins off in the attic. 3x10 press ups. Took the kids for a walk up to High Neb.

Sun. Walked the kids up Fleet Hill. Checked out a recently developed crag on the way home. Just a look. Currently covered in icicles but looks ace.

Robin and Dawid (especially Robin) have done absolutely loads of videos of esoteric bouldering locations around the UK. Their speciality seems to be Lancashire, to which Robin has also written the guidebook, they turn up in beta video searches on vimeo all over the place.

Forest Rock is actually a pretty good small bouldering crag. The problems are good, the rock unusual but solid, no walk-in, and there's a shop selling takeaway coffee 100 yards away I spent a few sessions there 3-4 years ago. Cracked Up (7B) is great. Obviously not Trois Pignons though

Yep, that's right. Specifically, on a hold that is an incut crimp where the edge lies between the Dip and Pip joints. The point of this is to allow me to crimp down with my fingertips (rather than just falling in to a drag), but keeping the back of my left ring finger DIP out of compression in the way it would be in a normal half crimp, as it's the compression that causes the pain. I understand this is supposed to strengthen the flexor tendon and somehow stabilise the joint to help resolve the compression pain issue. I'm also doing some stretches to improve my hook grip (ability to close my fingers) which he said was really poor, and I guess this could also be helping. So far it seems to all be moving in a good direction as I'm able to climb on the board without pain now. Combining the hangs with scap pull-ups is just a good way to also check for any imbalance in my shoulders and try to correct them in the same exercise (I had a left shoulder injury 5 years ago that he thought could be an underlying cause.)

Kept to the plan fine this week.

M: rest

T: physio exercises (scap pull-ups on an incut edge, 6*30 seconds with bodyweight + 17 kg.)

W: rest

T: I did a 'Board 10' session as per the Crimpd app. This is basically five easier problems (around flash grade, 6B+/C on a board for me) and five problems closer to your limit. For the latter I picked three 7As and two 7A+s. The app suggests limiting yourself to 10 tries per problem but that would have been too much load for me at the moment so I kept it to three. Nevertheless I did every problem except two, and got to the last hold on those. Although these problems are obviously not right at my limit, I think that's a pretty good session intensity for me. It was a good session and I felt strong, there was some sticky damp effect going on in the garage I think.

F: 15 minute hip mobility routine followed by 3x10 second L-sits

S: I did a new variation I have created on the exercises I was recommended by the physio. Using the same holds to continue my finger rehab but doing a set of 6 * 7/3 repeaters on them (shoulders/scaps engaged throughout hanging time) rather than the 30 second continuous hangs with scrap shrugs. Given how good the holds are (I can lock off one armed on them for 5-10 seconds) I was surprised how difficult the repeaters felt at bodyweight. I was also surprised it felt harder than the thirty second hangs. I think I could add a little weight but not much - so there is definitely a lot of room for gains from repeaters! Afterwards I did some TRX - 3 sets each of low rows, reverse flies, IYWs, chest flies, hamstring curls. Felt well worked after all that.

S: rest. This evening I've been grinding the sides of my board to turn the edges of the plywood and frame into a comfy sidepull rather than an untouchable sharp splintery edge. I think this could be quite useful for setting compression problems.

Good week.

Si

Forest Rock was still mainly a trad routes venue when I still in Leicester. I regret never getting round to doing Sorcerer (E1 5b), supposed to be a classic. Steve Allen & John Codling were still working on freeing Sorceress - E6 being still pretty hard at the time.

I don't know if the trad ever gets done much any more. It's far more popular as a boulder venue. I think there is a slight issue with climbers being noisy or something with the house immediately above and behind the crag - I was certainly warned informally of this by a local when I first went, although that was probably 2015.  I have always tried to go in the cave and keep quiet while I've been there but doing a trad route you'd be very visible.

From what I've heard the topout is easier than Northumberland Wonderland (f7A), but not quite as easy as Kyloe In (V7). It is, however, where the bush is thickest! The main issue I could foresee is that, at least for a few months, most sessions will be at night and that the topouts are rarely bone dry in the winter and early spring.

Thanks to Ally as well for tips on working on narrow compression moves!

Nevertheless, an alright week I would say!

Last Week:

M - Max hangs, 6x10s +12kg, 3m rest. Left wrist felt a bit weird? Reactively did 4x15 reverse wrist curls to finish.

T - Antagonists, 3x10 pushups, 3x10 band pull-aparts, 3x8 incline pushups, 3x8 heavy band pull-aparts.

W - Density hangs, 4x35s -9kg, 3 min rest. Took an extra minute rest before set 4 and failed at 27 seconds. Not as pumped as last time but fingers started to open up so put the feet down. 4x15 reverse wrist curls again, followed by box split and hamstring stretches.

T - Rest

F - Attempted antagonists. 3x10 pushups, only 2x10 band pull-aparts because it snapped on set 3. Couldn't be arsed with that any more so did 4x15 reverse wrist curls to finish.

S - Rest

S - 5x5 pull-ups +10kg. Realised that getting strong fingers is all good and well, but arms are quite important too. Need to remember to keep up the antagonist work to not piss off the elbows. Followed with 6x10s max hangs +12kg. Wrists felt good on this, if next week goes well I might bump the weight up to +14kg. Finished off with box split and hamstring stretches.

Next Week:

M - Antagonists, core

T - Density hangs, 5x5s, stretches

W - Antagonists

T - Stretches

F - Possibly Rigpa if I can source some shoes, else max hangs, 5x5s, core and stretches

S - Rest (unless F falls through, then that)

S - Antagonists

Goals:

Don't get injured

Suavito (on hold)

Tierdrop (on hold)

Rigpa (going rather well for something hard)

Thanks Alan better week so going to try and stick at it. The little and often approach is what I need to maintain some interest, I need to get out of the performance mindset or at least rethink my benchmarks so I'm not so dispirited.

M: Run then short yoga 3x 15 press ups

T: Dumbell curls 3 sets of 10 reps; 3x 6 pull ups. 15, 20 and 20 press ups possibly some yoga

W: Run, unfortunately calf knotted near home so need to rest for a bit. Seems to be a recurring issue when I start running but hopefully when it clears up it won't come back.

T: Outhouse

F: Nothing

S: Yoga 2x 20 mins

S: Outhouse, getting close to best sessions from last year although not been on hardest problems. 20 mins yoga

I did shoulder presses most work days. 

Welcome to Calf Rehab Club!

Cheers Alan. I’ve had a decent week but getting very bored of the lockdown! Another mute on the Psych Vid I’m afraid (what is it with pebble huggers and dodgy techno!?)

Monday: 3x2 Offset Pulls 40/18mm (2fingers), 6x18 Offset Push-ups, 3x16 weighted crunches (12kg), 3x6s tuck L-tucks (almost straight legs)

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Min Edge Hangs 4x4(7/30) 10mm, 3x4 handstand pushup (6” off deck), Hero stretch 3x5mins, 3x7s bridge (6” push)

Thursday: 3x3 Offset Pulls 40/18mm (2fingers), 2x20 & 2x15 Offset Push-ups, 3x17 weighted crunches (12kg), Pike Stretch, 3x5s tuck L-tucks (almost straight legs)

Friday: Weighted walk 8km in 90mins 23lbs

Saturday: Min Edge Hangs 5x4(7/30) 10mm, 3x1 (and a half!) handstand pushup (4” off deck), Hero stretch 3x5mins, 3x7s bridge (can’t lock out elbows).

Sunday: Rest

The laydayz on the Pole Website have come up trumps! I’ve got a rough bridge but can’t straighten my arms (need more t-spine flexibility I think). Gonna switch it up and do sets of reverse press-ups the next couple of weeks to see if I can straighten out. Also seen good progress on handstand push-ups. I can lower and push-up from a 4” yoga block now. Both feel within reach.

Happy to be down to 184lbs after weighing in at 199lbs following the festive binge! Largely due to intermittent fasting, veggie diet, and cutting back on the booze. I don’t have any weight goals but will try and strip a bit more fat through Feb. 

Much of the same next week. Starting to feel like Groundhog Day with all the prison phys but making steady gains. Also back on an endurance phase so looking forward to getting back on the Hangboard Moving Hangs!

Any tips, my rehab usually consists of stopping until I get too bored to rest any longer.

Hi Alan, thanks for the stats. Yep, that's the plan. Though a minor setback this weekend, I had been waiting until I got paid this month to actually buy my ticket, but they have sold out. I emailed them and they seemed fairly nonplussed, said I can go on the waiting list and that lots of people drop out so it shouldn't be a problem to get a spot. Still, a slight bummer. Worst case scenario I'll find another race, but as I say, they seemed confident a space will open up.

Started making inroads on expedition planning this week too, grant applications submitted and discussions started with operators. They seem confident things will be possible by September due to vaccine rollout but I am less optimistic. Still, good to plan so that we're ready to go if we get the green light.

Week 9:

Nice to have a rest week. Weirdly I struggled a bit with motivation and the mental side of the runs this week (i.e. actually dragging myself out the door), but physically once I got going I felt awesome. I suppose the physical side isn't surprising, a bit of rest has clearly helped. Was a bit lax with the accessory work this week, but I did have a PhD deadline so that's a handy excuse.

M Rest. Shin prehab.

T 8.30km. Pulled my now-annoyingly-common trick of going out a bit fast, getting psyched about my quick splits and then deciding about a mile in to try for a 5K PR, which I got, but I should really stop doing this. Do the prescribed workouts, consciously plan PR efforts if they mean something to you. 

W 5.88km Z1.

T 6.62km Z1. 

F Rest.

S 22.06km Z1. Was sort of dreading this run as 22km didn't seem very restful, but it actually went really well. I was conscious I was moving fairly quick (by my standards) but mostly ran by feel, and certainly never really felt like I was trying very hard, but Strava tells me I set 10k, 15k, 10mi, and HM PRs on this run?! I suppose that's cool, though it probably says more about how plodding-centric my running normally is, or about how I should actually be going slower on Z1 runs. Either way, it was a good run. Shin prehab.

S 8.12km. Again, got a bit carried away and went fast. Partly because I misjudged the temperature and it turns out skimpy running shorts aren't much cop when it's 1 degree outside, so speed was my only option... Once I'd warmed up I felt great. Consistent 7:30/mile splits, and still felt like I had a lot in the tank. About to do some shin prehab, I promise.

Last week's goals:

• 51.5km running [Tick, or close enough, got 51km]
• 1 core routine [-]
• 3 shin prehab [Tick]
• 1 day climbing if circumstances permit [No, warm weather and high avi risk]

Goals:

STG (This Week)

• 64.3km running
• 2 core routine
• 3 shin prehab
• 1 day climbing if circumstances permit

MTG (End of June 2021)

• Finish the Zugspitz Ultratrail
• Himmel und Hölle on the Zugspitze Nordwand
• Optimism on the Schneefernerkopf Westwand
• The 1938 Route (ED2) if the borders are open and partners can travel

LTG (End of 2021)

• Himalaya Expedition (or plan B)

Hi everyone. Thanks for the stats, Alan. A pretty good week this week, although no real climbing.

Week 4:

Dropped one fingerboard sesh, as fingers aren’t tough enough for three hang sessions and two board sessions. Ticked everything else.

M: Rest.

T: Max Hangs. Strength Sesh. Prehab.

W: Trail run: 7km, 172m vert, 5:55/km.

T: Board Sesh: Limit bouldering and AeroCap circuits. Bafflingly, ticked my MTG board project despite still not being able to hold the last move of my STG project. 

F: Prehab.

S: Strength sesh. Prehab.

S: Road/trail run: 8.75km, flat, 5:13/km. Max hangs. Board sesh: limit bouldering, fist crack laps (quite sore after a bit of time away from the cracks!) and half an AeroCap sesh (sacked off halfway through as I was too tired to climb properly and I thought slapping around the circuit was going to do more harm than good!)

Week 5:

Fingerboard sesh x 2

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' (Tick!)

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

2021 Goals:

35 E-points

Run 30km vert and 1000km 

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

Covid test result from my cold symptoms last week came back negative. Yay!

M: Snowing heavily. Went for a walk in the local cemetery, eerily beautiful. Every winter I wish I had cross country skis to use in town - for about a week at most
    Then attempted a beastmaker session. Based on Fit Club discussions, am experimenting with adding some assisted one-arm scap pull-ups into my routine - seem like a worthwhile idea for shoulder strength & health. But, having got through my warm up / pulling routine, realised on my first repeater attempt that I'm nowhere near recovered from Saturday's repeater session. Did a few token max hangs instead.

T: Forty minutes mobility, running prehab, shoulder stabilisation

W: Big day at work, tired. Half an hour stretching before bed. Need to do more of this - see monthly summary below.

T: Once again work & nothing else

F: Sudden huge thaw means ice-free pavements for the first time in weeks. And I have reached the Biscuit Benchmark for strict form bodyweight calf raises. So tried to go for a run! Another calf twinge, oh noes, back to the prehab for a couple more weeks.

S: Beastmaker repeaters.

S: Sunday hike. The massive thaw means Avalanche Risk Level Ridiculous and/or knee deep mud in the mountains, so opted for a couple of hours of ankle deep mud in the woods instead.

TOTALS FOR JANUARY

THE GOOD

Fingerboard sessions: twelve.

Z1/Z2 cardio hours: 21, mostly hillwalking. And one run!

General strength & conditioning sessions: ten. These weren't really "general" but rather focused on (p)rehab for specific areas - running prep, shoulder stability. But those are important.

THE NOT SO GOOD

Average weight: 85.2 kgs. Already trending slightly down from the shocking mid-month peak, which is good, but still firmly in "heaviest I've ever been" territory. Need to find the motivation to somehow work on this despite continuing lockdown - i.e. seek relief from the grinding tedium somewhere other than in the kitchen.

Stretching & mobility sessions: Four. All in the last few days when I - quite rightly - panicked about the effects of spending far too much time Working From Chair. Need to be more consistent here.

Actual climbing/bouldering: zero. There were only a couple of days when my local lockdown bouldering spot might have been viable, and I wasn't feeling well on those days. Pity, but c'est la vie.

Thanks for the stats Alan and good discussions last week.

Managed some decent sessions this week and even managed to touch rock!

Week 4

M – Board warm-up; 4x 6B+ then 6C to 7A: 2 or 3 at each grade selected by most repeats. All flashed. Main session; 6x6 an-cap. 5x 7A+ plus “Hard Times” benchmark 7A (harder than a couple of the 7A+ benches). 3x15 wrist extensors with 7kg. Much harder than 6kg!

T – Tied to work until 6:30pm – not motivated enough to fit in a workout, so cracked a beer instead!

W – Now regular warm-up: 4x 6B+ then 6C to 7A: 2 or 3 at each grade selected by most repeats. All flashed. Then worked a bunch of 7B’s. Managed 5x including 3x new benchmarks, one of which was a surprise flash. Amazingly, this takes me up to 4th place in UK Moonboard rankings just behind a certain Mr. Moon! Break for dinner, bath, feed, bedtime, then had 30min spare so fitted in aero-cap hangs 7/3/6/1 x10 @BW-17.5kg (40-45% ish) with 3reps 65kg bench in rest period (not all sets, managed 7x3). Finally COMPEX core at high level before bed.

T – Rest.

F – More rest – drive to in-laws; felt very strange leaving the village for first time in 5weeks, even for the perfectly legal childcare bubble.

S – First time touching rock since end of Nov at  Grinshill; just 15min from in-laws house. Not quite the local choss for local people I feared and actually a useful all-weather venue. Completed a bunch of problems 6A-7A+ at the “Dugout”. A couple of independent problems and plenty of link-up options remain for any repeat visits when visiting in-laws again. In His Head (f7A+) was particularly entertaining as the only time I've deployed a fig.4 successfully on rock!

S – 20min/5k rowing & 15min light turbo in garage of in-laws garage.

Is Dawid "Polish Dave" who seems to be some kind of dark horse legend on ukb?

V impressive - have a wad point. Your warm-up is not that far off my whole session... I will just have to assume my board is harder and more intense than a moonboard...

Go to Font and do 'Yaniro' at 95.2, it's great edit, perhaps not worth a trip all the way there on it's own

I'm not part of the in-crowd but that would be my guess.

All the best folk are here! 

Cheers Alan, its was a week of 2 halves exercise wise.

Monday, rest day

Tuesday, fast track hospital appointment in the morning. I have a persistent sensation of a lump in my throat and it was an investigation to rule out cancer which thankfully it did, diagnosis of silent reflux. Essentially heartburn but without the burn sensation. The acid however does irritate the throat hence the lump sensation. Anyway  very glad to get it out of the way.

Wednesday, felt drained after the previous day so took it as a rest day

Thursday, birthday so celebrated with a 17km very wet and muddy trail run. Steak and red wine in the evening. Getting ever closer to the big 50!

Friday, rest

Saturday, long trail run, 26km. High winds, horizontal snow and lots of mud and flooding. All in all tough conditions for my longest ever run!

Sunday, very gentle 5k to loosen the legs off.

Starting to get some pain in the knees after the longer runs now so may well drop a mid week run and go out on the bike to lessen the impact but keep up the cardio work. 

That's him

Yes. And ridiculously strong he is too! 

Thanks Alan. Yes, I did succeed in doing something every day, although between another hectic week and feeling a bit wiped out yesterday it was less than I had hoped.

It turned out that because the start of my week was mayhem that everyone else who needed to talk to me had to book the end of the week so in the end the whole week was busy. Most of my training was evenings this week. I seemed to have got a tiny blood blister or something in one of my fingertips - no idea how, not very significant but enough to be uncomfortable - which meant I toned down the volume of climbing specific training late week to try to let it heal.

In 8 weeks, I’m hoping to be in the peak bouldering (and maybe some roped stuff too, who knows). Fingers crossed. I feel like the next few weeks I should maybe reintroduce some fingerboarding, lower the campusing a bit, keep on doing the pushing/pulling stuff since I’m making progress and quite enjoying it. Then from the end of Feb I guess campus training comes back, maybe some minimum edge pull-ups or offset edge pull-ups as per Steven Lowe, and dial down aerobic stuff and a lot of the pushing.

Monday - 5.75km jog. A nice day to do it, but in reality I’d probably have enjoyed a brisk walk with some music on more. Maybe it would get better with persistence.

Tuesday - finally, after bedtime and further work, I sat down to contemplate training at 2130. Pleased that I managed to summon the effort to make a start - several sets pushups, some compression work and static holds, and some goes at the actual Lsit to tuck planche move itself.

Wednesday - 5x5 pull-ups completed at 92kg but not the cleanest effort, probably do this weight again before pressing on any further.

Thursday - snuck a 5-3-5-3-5 aerobic foot on campus session in.

Friday - 3 sets of bicep curls, a set of knee to bar and some tuck front lever holds at various levels of tuck

Saturday - campus. 1-2-3-4, 1–3-4, 1.5-4-5, 1.5-3-5 (fumbled 5 one side, fumbled the match the second side), 1.5-3-5 (one side poor, one side nailed), 1.5-4-5, 1.5-3-5 (fumbles/failures to match). I think this was a pretty good session - 1.5-4-5 twice is very good and I had several close attempts on 1.5-3-5 (it wouldn’t have taken many more % on some of those goes to turn it into a lot of successes). I think a bit more weight on 1-2-4 in future sessions would help to work on that longer pull through too.

Sunday - feeling wiped. Had to have a nap after lunch. Did a few sets of dips in the daytime and then in the evening some stretching and compression stuff and a few goes at the transition.

And, without wishing to spam but also knowing that Racing Weight and DQS has been of interest in the past to some on here, I’d just flag I’m getting rid of my copies of Racing Weight and the Quick Start guide in the for sale forum if anyone is interested.

Hi again - cheers Alan! Missed a few sessions at the back end of the week, which I'm gonna attribute to high workload and lack of sleep. Overall though I'm feeling quite good

M - rest

T - 8x10s +10kg/18mm hangs. Felt good, probably a few more kg's left in the tank. Still doing these open-handed due to finger niggle. Then limit bouldering, and a gentle 3k in the eve

W - floor core and forearm curls

T - strength-intensity bouldering & 1 on 1 off aerocap. Probably overdid the intensity of this a bit given the niggle 

F - scapula activations and 4 x 3 pull-ups +20kg. An evening 5K that I felt quite good on. Will keep the mileage low though over the next few weeks as I really don't want to re-aggrevate the splints

S - rest

S - left a lot to today, with quite a bit of residual fatigue and sleep deficiency. Ended up missing the max hangs and boulder doubles, also partly on account of the finger niggle, as well as the shoulder strength/stability. 10 on 10 off aerocap, and ring core & IYT's in the evening

Thankfully in for quite a mellow (deload) week so should be able to get some good recovery in, and hopefully get over the finger niggle - if not I may take a full weeks rest before my next training block

A quick response for Calf Rehab club.

If your calf is tweaky when you run and it seems like too much effort to get sorted for a run of ony 500m (understandable) try your stairs. It's a nice measurable way to gradually increase running type loads in the calf/ankle prior to return to running.

Start slow - set a metronome on your phone (90 steps per min to start, build up to 170 steps per min)

Maintain a heel raise of about a third

Do this on the way down as well as the way up - be careful!

Once that's OK increase your heel raise

Then start missing out steps (Bounding) to introduce energy storage/release.

Thanks Alan.

A de load, board building and testing week. I will put details of goals/targets up next week as i seem to have misplaced my training diaryand can't remember them all

M - Trowbarrow - Ned's Problem (f7B) after 2 days of training before hand i wasn't expecting much. Once i remembered the key bit of beta (use all my fingers on the crimp - not exactly rocket science) i can consistently reach the lip. The movement of the enforced cut loose, sideways swing and then using the momentum to stick a toe/heel on the lip is currently evading me. Good to know it's just a movement thing and i'm strong enough. Witnessed an easy send of Ned's Problem Footless (f7C) which has now become my lifetime climbing goal. So impressive.

The rest of the week was building my board and some max hangs. I was tired. Realistically i'd trained too long without a de-load week. But there hasn't been much else to do.

I have my training goals and my climbing goals all set out now and am feeling psyched to get back to training. It's a new phase (specific) in the Climb Strong programme. So shifting towards climbing based exercise. Looks like the board arrived just in time.   

This week:

The majority of our holds will arrive tomorrow (Friday) so we'll be setting. But the main goal is to complete 1 each of the Climb Strong strength and power and endurance workouts. 

I found my training diary - Phew!

Last weeks test results

STG - 6 one arm scapular shrugs on BM1000 jugs - done on both sides. Couldn't do two on the left when i started. There's a big difference still, they're easy on my right, but good progress and a goal ticked.

MTG - Pistol squats - still got 6 weeks left. Goal is 2 on both sides. I can now do it on the right but am struggling on the left. Again it's improved but needs to carry on.

New STG's - 6 weeks 

Max hangs (BM1000 bottom rungs) from 30-35kg's @70kg body weight (150%)

Max pinches 12kg both sides  -currently L=11 R=10

Max Pulls - 2rm from 28 to 35kg added at 70kgs (150%)

Power Endurance - 7:3 repeater test 270 secs - maintain

Box splits from 157-160cm

Body weight 10 sec 90 degree lock off on B1000 jugs both sides - currently 10kg assistance.

Tindeq testing 

Peak load - L = 64.7kg R = 61kg

RFD - L =6656 N/s R = 6907 N/s

These are for reference. It basically shows i'm not very strong and not very powerful in pulling, but that will be a focus over the next 6 weeks so things should change, hopefully.