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 published research studies on the Beta Angel project. Not sure how actively maintained if is though. https://beta-angel.com/research/research-inventory/

Molly being sickeningly strong Psyche Vid: https://www.instagram.com/p/COGYUMpjhwE/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link (Instagram videos are muted by default in my browser - this turns out to be a good thing)

Last weeks post - https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_736-7340...

AJM - I reckon a reversion to the previous teeshirt could be the way forward on Drifter Sit

Ally Smith - UTB and close on the sit sounds encouraging for early season strength. Intrigued to head where the equipping is going on.

BarneyLoosemore - jealous of a week in Pembroke! Are you already there? Will be interested to hear if the board endurance work bears fruit on steep trad jug hauls.

biscuit - nothing terribly surprising about newly built strength taking time to transfer to trad leading, especially on multipitch in an imposing place like Dow. "If it’s nice I think I’ll be out again." Hope so. Time to see what lockdown hath wrought.

Liam P - shame about losing Saturday in the Wye, but at least you got a decent day in on Sunday.

mrchewy - hope the counselling goes well. Always happy to hear from you when you feel like it's time to return.

planetmarshall - and he's on the post lockdown E-point scoreboard! Do you have a link to Graham's HVS->E1 ticklist?

Roadrunner6 - welcome back. What marathon are you doing?

Ross Barker - couple of decent pulley-friendly grit results there. Possible risk that projects suitable for warmer weather = lime = less opportunity for pulley-friendliness?

Si dH - well, I googled copenhagens and they at least sound more dignified than adductor machines at the gym. Finger behaviour sounds puzzling but encouraging.

Somerset swede basher - so, game on on the 8a+? 

the sheep - pinch punctures? I thought the cool kids were all running tubeless these days? 

Tom Green - a couple of decent training sessions is a lot more than no decent training sessions! And there's nothing surprising about head issues on early season trad, especially on more boutique rock types.

tyler - intermittent posting is better than no posting. "Made good progress on B&W a few weeks ago" - remind me what this is? Something in the Outhouse?

AlanLittle - will be interesting to see what the coaching brings - particularly whether establishing a regular relationship with a local coach makes a difference versus just one-off sessions.

You may be onto something there!

A busy week and non climbing weekend. I am down an outdoor session and a fingerboard session but overweight on antagonists and have done a decent amount of stretching. The relaxation was good and has helped in part to offset the stress of microAJMs latest sleep regression, which is debilitating and frustrating. Hoping to get back out this weekend coming, plus maybe a half day in the week.

Monday - after all the tall talk of this not being a rest day, it ended up as a rest day - a long and frustrating day at work and more troublesome child wrangling meant I had no gaps in the day and was just weary by the evening. Plus continued quad doms!

Tuesday - another busy day at work. However, this time I managed to do a pinch block session in the evening. 19.6kg plus block and pin, so some progress on this one. 20kg next! I like the pinch block. The thumb workout seems fairly separate from other training, so it combines well, ditto the fact it’s lifting rather than hanging is also beneficial for the same reason.

Wednesday - too busy. Rest is a strong and inaccurate description!

Thursday - aero foot on campus. Tried to push on a bit and got a decent pump going. Succeeded...

Friday - busy day at work and then drive to Cheltenham in the evening. Once we were settled, some stretching, a few sets of pushups and a couple of planche attempts. I took the little paralettes with me: a good portable training tool/toy.

Saturday - in the morning, some more planche attempts and stretching. Enjoyable day seeing friends. After kids were in bed, a few sets of pseudo planche pushups...

Sunday - countryside pottering, a few km walk, and a load of loafing about. Very relaxing. When we got back to the house, a decent stretching session, some core compression and more tuck planche attempts

Thanks Alan. Molly seems to be getting quite strong doesn't she?

Another week that has been OK actually but i've struggled with energy again. I'm really not sure what's going on. I thought it was trying to climb outdoors and train so i dropped my training load twice, then i got ill (virus, not COVID) and i had a full week off work for the first time in decades. I'm still not feeling recovered. I just remembered the other day i got bitten by a tick a few weeks ago. So if i'm not feeing like i'm well on the mend by Tuesday i'm going to ask for a blood test.

M - Trow Gill - did some nice sunny and dry warm up climbs on the North side and then onsighted Distant Lands (7a) which felt OK. Went over to the South side to try a dry Brush With a Goat (7a) and basically bottled it at the end when i had to go feet above the bolt. I tried everything to avoid it and was then too tired to go for it. I need to do some falling practise. I had a bit of a collapse after that with energy levels crashing and my big toes really hurting despite being in my comfy shoes.

T - W - T - F - nothing. Tired.

S -  Steel Knotts (Borrowdale) VS, HVS, E1 (all seconded) and Loss Adjuster (E2 5c) led. I'm still very hesitant but feel like it's coming together. My gear selection/placement is improving but i am just not confident i have picked the right sequence when it comes to committing to the crux of stuff. When i eventually do them they feel OK.

S - family stuff

My plan for this week is to see if i'm properly on the mend and try and introduce a little bit of conditioning work on rest days.

It's looking like the wall tomorrow (rain) so a good opportunity to get some falling practise in and then we'll see what the weather does for the rest of the week.

Thanks Alan. Copenhagen idea came from Biscuit's article, I hadn't heard of them before either. Finger has continued to be peculiar. Felt a niggle a couple of times later this week but only in a minor way. Considering getting some more physio advice.

M: rest

T: second session back at the Hangar in the evening. Good session, I did a bunch more problems in the v4-6 range, similar to last week. I started off better than last week but tired more quickly and skin was a bit ruined after 90 minutes. Probably not fully recovered from Sunday. It's nice to be practicing some climbing movement again. There were some more funky problems I just couldn't read from the ground but once I got on with it the moves flowed and weren't very hard.

W: Afternoon - 5 x 10 second two arm max hangs on 18mm edge, followed by 3 sets of 8/2/8/2/8/2 on the incut edge with bodyweight + 8 kg

T: Evening - hip mobility routine and crimpd floor core

F:  Afternoon - 5 x 10 second two arm max hangs on 18mm edge, followed by 3 sets of repeaters on the incut edge with bodyweight + 10 kg. Evening - 4*10 hamstring curls, 4*8 Copenhagens on each side, 4*10 Face pull /overhead presses.

S: rest. Had the neighbours over for a BBQ and had a couple of beers (a social event! a social event!) so didn't get around to doing my planned hip mobility session.

S: tried going out to have another go at The Witch. Didn't succeed, felt weaker than last week - I think I was too tired after a bad night's sleep and the slog up the hill with all my kit. One to leave for now I think, it's too far to go regularly. I also had a play on Jerry's Roof when I first arrived, linked a few moves in the middle but there was a hand move I didn't manage in both of the two crux sections.

Si

Cheers Alan. A good week despite the rubbish weather.

Mon:

• Big Wall training at the wall: dusted off the cobwebs on all the technical faff. Organising belays, hauling, lowering, jugging, passing knots etc.

Tue:

• Rest Day

Wed:

• 6x Boulder Trebles (V3)
• 6x 1on1off (5a Circuit Board)
• Typewriter Pull-ups 3x 8,7,6
• HSPU 3x 1, 1, 0.5 (The 2” book is back. Not sure how I’ve regressed - think it may be due to putting a couple of pounds on over Easter)
• Crow Stand 5x 18s (felt like my elbows were too bent but I recorded a set and the video looks ok)

Thu:

• HSPU 3x 1, 1, 0.5 (2” book)
• Tuck Planche off the floor. 3-4s Max so procured some parallettes to join ‘UKC TuckPlanche Club’

Fri:

• Hour on the comp wall. Managed a V3 I failed on earlier this week (dead point off smears)
• Wideboy Ladders (concentrating on not swinging): 2x 1-2-3-4-5-6-7, 6x 1-3-4-6-7
• Broken Redpoint 3x3 Circuit Board (6a+)
• Assisted Lockoffs 3x 5s (other arm supporting)

Sat:

• HSPU 4x 1, 1, 1, 0.5 (2” book)

Sun:

• Bouldering: ticked 3 problems I’ve been stuck on (V3/4)
• Foot on campus 6x 30s (20mm)
• 10x 1on1off (5a)
• Assisted Lockoffs 3x 10s (other arm supporting)

Weather was annoyingly unsettled this weekend so didn’t make it out. Hoping to get back to Wye this weekend for another VS and 6a+/6b.

I’ve started recording my training on the Crimpd App which seems really useful. Managed 1071 minutes through April and all my Barrows’ Power & Caps are at the right levels. Although it means nothing until it translates to routes!

Thanks, Newport Rhode Island.

M: 10 miles steady 7:30 pace

T: Track. 9 miles with 3,2,1 mile tempo with 400m jog recovery m efforts at 5:50-5:40 pace.

W: afternoon easy 3 8 min miles on roads. Pm: 5.5 miles on local mountain with the dog

T: 12 miles on the road in heavy rain. 6:55 pace. 

F: afternoon, easy 3 miles on the road. Pm: easy 3 miles on a rail trail with the dog.

S: 24.6 miles 6:42 pace. Heart rate stayed pretty low.

S: 90 minutes on soccer, won 3-0, as keeper so easy session. Pm: probably easy 3 on the roads and an easy 3 with the dog on trails.

Last big week. Start my taper Monday. Drop it to 90% of my weekly load.

Indeed. I remember at the bar at the world championship in Innsbruck in 2018 thinking "I wonder who Jan's new girlfriend is", not suspecting I was looking at the future of British climbing.

Cheers Alan, unfortunately not, more of a  redpointing shambles really! After several failed redpoint attempts I realised that the way I was holding a hold when I pull on from the rope is slightly different to when I move into it from the floor so more time on the top rope needed to suss that bit out more comprehensivly. For such a short section of climbing that I can't do it's incredibly intricate! With other things drying out that are dry far less often it might be one to come back to in the late autumn when itl still be dry and the cornice will be wet again. Chee Dale is calling, I might have to park this project for the time being even if it is painfully close. 

Mon. Post vaccine bleugh.

Tues. Max hangs (+28kgs), 5x5 BW on the min pull ups, 3x10 press ups.

Wed. 6km run before work. Evening fingerboarding: 6 sets of BW repeaters, 5x5 BW on the min pull ups, 3x10 press ups.

Thurs and Fri rest. 

Sat. General redpointing shambles. Nackered afterwards though so much be good for something! 

Sun. 15km kiddy spin along the Longdendale Trail. Small Swede enjoying his new (well, new to him) bigger bike.

This turned rapidly and thoroughly into a deload week. Monday & Tuesday: resting after two days on last weekend. (Wednesday training). Thursday to Sunday: taking it easy after vaccination, conveniently coinciding with the first rainy weekend for weeks.

STG: Weight back below 85kg. 
    Start Couch To 5k. 
    New Project STG: link from the third clip to the end of the hard climbing on Dookie.
MTG: Complete one of my local (Zellerwand) 7a projects - short, sharp power endurance. Complete Couch to 5k
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber by 2021. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M: Rest day
T: Planned to do a max hangs session: started but realised that I was still not recovered from two days on at the weekend and it wasn't happening
    Half an hour box step-ups as a warm up then walk-jog intervals instead. Gradually feeling more comfortable with the jogging part.
    
W: Token training day. Max hangs, shoulder press, l-sits

T: ** VACCINATION DAY **
    Bike to the clinic & back, without passing out on the way home. Result.

At the beginning of the first lockdown I thought "my chances of avoiding infection for a year or more until we have a vaccine are about nil". Glad to have been wrong about that.
    
F: Post-vaccination rest day - no particular side effects except just generally tired. 
S: Another slow, quiet day taking it easy. Jabbed shoulder aching a bit.
S: 2½ hours hike in the wet muddy woods, including some spells of walk/jog intervals.

I created a UKC ticklist from it - see the vertebrate publishing website for other transitional grit routes (link on the ticklist description)

https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/set.php?id=4905

Warmer weather for me generally means Wales, but it is along he same lines where the holds get smaller and incut to account for loss of friction! It's slowly getting better to the point where I reckon I could do some easier crimpy things so long as they're pretty static.

This week has been a quiet one climbing-wise, but now the house saga is pretty much over hopefully normal schedule can resume. Also got the next 7 days off work which is sick, anyone fancy a cheeky boulder? Keen to go wherever it's dry!

Last Week:

M - Rest

T - Rest

W - 4x20s 9kg no-hangs to rehabilitate pulley. Felt like a slightly too light level of loading, will try 10kg next time.

T - Rest

F - Crimping cardboard boxes

S - More crimping boxes

S - Rest

Next Week:

​​​M - No-hang rehab, 10kg

T - Rest

W to S - Free as a bird. Weather typically dodgy to coincide with annual leave. Dartmoor looks like a potentially fun couple of days, Northumberland could be cool too. Would also be nice to not go alone (open invitation if anyone wants to come along!).

Goals:

Rehabilitate A2 pulley

Suavito

Tierdrop

Rigpa

Yes, this is in the Outhouse, for context Neil, who’s wall it is, used this to train on for GBH (although the moves and holds are not really similar), his managing to do this twice without stepping off coincided with him managing the route. 
W: Depot - Managed a good portion of the reds which is no worse than my best effort to be honest but I think there might be a lot of easy ones (apart from in the new extension which I mostly avoided because new mats and old bones don’t mix).

S: Trow - Went bolt to bolt on A Nice Polka-dot Demon Gets the Royal Shaft (7a), first RP I didn’t use the crucial beta, next go I got through the crux and dropped the last hard move due to pump or cold fingers (not sure which). Then tried the 7b direct start which went badly due to dirt, tiredness, long reaches and probably just weakness. Not sure how to feel about my performance, but enjoyed myself and beginning to feel like a climber. 

Very long shot but I’m in Reif with Fi from 17th to 22nd May so if anyone fancies a route or two here or on Stacy Pollaid I’ll be up there with climbing gear. 

Ha! You might have passed our motley crew of 2 prams 4 adults and 3 freerange children in the region of Torside reservoir?

Hi All. Thanks Alan for the stats -did you have any takers for giving you a break? (That isn't me volunteering by the way! Next couple of months wouldn't work so well for me).

A good week -ups and downs, but think I can spin the downs to become 'learning opportunities'!

Week 17:

M: Rest.

T: Max Hangs. Strength sesh. Hill run: 12.1km, 573m vert, 7:10/km.

W: Board sesh: An Cap on the thug circuit. Prehab.

T: Hill run: 12.9, 466m vert, 6:18/km. Feeling like I'm slowly getting back in to my rhythm with the hill runs again. Just need to start building in more height gain. 

F: Climbing: Gogarth. Gutted to fall off the second pitch of Atlantis/True Moments/Freebird (E2 5b) after doing the main traverse (foot slipped off a hold and I was off before I knew it! Annoyingly I'd only used that foothold because I was trying to climb smarter and more stylishly... it went fine when I just did an ugly high step on to the better higher foothold). The annoyance was balanced by the fact that I felt pretty good and in control on the lead on a route that is pretty much at my leading limit. Finished the day with Breaking the Barrier (E1 5b) which I didn't find soft touch, but possibly because I hadn't climbed on quartzite or whatever that rock is and was a bit tentative with my footwork.

S: Climbing: Gogarth. Back to Holyhead mountain to wait for the sun to come around and got the day off to a bad start tripping and twisting my ankle on the walk in and then inexplicably managing to back-clip/z-clip some gear on King Bee Crack (HVS 5a) -literally never done this in my life before. Sat on the rope to fix it and then lost all motivation and desire for the route -basically sulked like a small child. Then had to sit on the rope twice seconding The Strand (E2 5b) -combo of poor endurance and bad footwork/not finding rests. Redeemed the day slightly on the first pitch of Central Park (HVS 5a) -pleased to keep my head together on a total crap-fest of poor gear and shit rock quality.

S: Climbing: Rhoscolyn. Seconded The Sun (E3 5c) and the brilliant Centrefold (E3 5c) -both with rests (although on The Sun this was pumping out trying to remove an in situ nut). Both felt a million miles away from me leading them... I just can't imagine being able to hold on long enough to place gear and work out the moves. Led Icarus (HVS 5a) which felt overgraded and over-rated!

So what have I learnt from a weekend of mediocre flailing around?!

1. I climb incredibly badly on second -rushing, not finding/using rests and climbing in an inefficient, uneconomic style. (I don't know whether it's a hangover from longer alpine routes or just because I don't regard seconding as part of my climbing day. Maybe both!)

2. My footwork isn't particularly sharp at the moment.

3. Poor footwork and technique isn't helping my perennial lack of endurance.

4. I have a tendency to give up and sulk if things don't happen easily.

I guess some of this will resolve with more mileage, especially trad mileage. I probably need to move from pure strength training to more endurance work (brute force isn't the limiting factor on routes, although I still need to be stronger for some of my bouldering projects). I will be both a better and happier climber if I change my mindset to enjoy seconding and be more zen/rock warrior about things not always being easy!

Week 18:

The next few weeks will (weather permitting) feature a lot of climbing so training will just be ticking over...

Prehab on non-climbing days.

2 Runs.

Maybe a fingerboard session depending how I feel.

STG (End Q2):

Max Hang total 85kg

Weighted Pull-up total 88kg

Thug circuit 1-on, 1-off

Eliminator (V4)

Grid Iron (6c)

15 E-points (1/15!)

Edale Skyline and/or Cheshire Gritstone Trail

MTG (End Q3):

Yates' Layaway (f6B+) 

Jack the Smuggler (7a)

Black Wall Direct (E2 5c)

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

2021 Goals:

35 E-points

Run 30km vert and 1000km

Cheers Alan. Yeah, arrived Friday - weather's a bit crap today but Sat/Sun were pretty action packed! My trad game is a bit rusty (particularly placing gear), but the fitness gains are definitely there which is nice.

M - rest, stretches

T - a short limit bouldering session, then 1 on 1 off

W - 1 on 1 off, then 8 on 5 off

T - shoulder strength/mobility, rest

F - more rest!

S -   Stennis Head, a mileage session getting back into things - cold, but calm & sunny so generally quite pleasant. So nice to be out again! Giltar slabs at Penally East in the evening, a delightful spot

S -  Saddle Head in the morning, managed to get sunburnt despite it being about 10 degrees! More mileage, with Sea Mist (HS 4a) being the highlight - great positions and rock. Headed to  Bosherston Head in the evening for some harder stuff. Keelhaul (E2 5c) was incredible, the combination of a big swell & isolation (didn't see a single other person or party from carpark to crag!) made it all the more intense. Topping the roof was pretty special! An all time favourite route for me.

Today (Monday) is a write off, but probably a blessing in disguise as we all needed a rest day. The rest of the week looks decent, potentially some showers but also some sun too. Psyched to have a go at an E3 - maybe The Butcher (E3 5c)? We'll see

M – Fairly beasted from aiding/bolting: Rest

T – F3SHC (BW+8kg) and B3 (BW+28kg) hangs. 1-arm engagements. 10s on / 50s off x4; x2. BW+12kg. Hard.

W – Aero-power; mixture of Moonboard problem(s) and wooden circuit. 2min on;5min off. Too intense! Powered out instead of pumped out. Needs some tweaking.

T – Rest and wrangle.

F – Big day out. 3.5hrs equipping (2 lines now fully equipped and 2 half-done; grades; 6b+/7b+/8b/8b+/c? Room for more too) and 90min bouldering (got 4x 7A+/B’s done).

S – Weighted pull-ups; 5x5 BW+25kg. Completed the lot; could maybe add extra weight but consolidating probably better bet. External rotator conditioning.

S – Toddler paced walk and rainy picnic at Torside reservoir.

Hahahaha, I'm certainly not cool and is I'm accelerating towards 50 im definatly not a kid either!

The new rims were tubeless ready but I decided i couldn't be arsed with the faff. Like to just sort things and then leave them, so went with some puncture protection with the new tyres. Obviously didn't protect from user error when putting the tyres on the rims. Had a pretty lightweight week in terms of exercise. However there is another light at the end of the tunnel with the pool being opened up at work next week  Already got 3 sessions booked in!

Week went as follows;

Monday, 11.5km trail run, scoping out new routes whilst the youngest is at swim training

Wednesday, 6km run, again whilst daughter trains. 

Sunday, gentle 5k with the wife

Yes, pleased with that lead plus the opportunity to go somewhere new.

Last week:

Monday

Sidewinder (HVS 5b) at  Chatsworth Edge. Another top-end HVS from Graham's list and first visit to that crag for me. Many enticing looking routes for the crack connoisseur.

Wednesday

8km/335m trail run around Eyam and Stoney.

Thursday

Bouldering at Substation. First indoor climb since the last lockdown - a bit surprised to be finding most of the reds doable. Highballing has also been helping the headgame somewhat (at least on indoor boulders) 

Saturday

Bouldering at  Blackstone Edge. Highlights were

• Pockington Lane (f6B) (flash)
• Be Skilful (f6A)

Sunday

Trad at  Ramshaw Rocks. Attempt on Alcatraz (E1 5b), another of Graham's transitional HVS->E1 routes. Couldn't get this clean though - faffed with gear, couldn't find a good rest, eventually came off.

Last week's goals - 

* Not officially starting lattice program until 10th, just do some conditioning work in preparation - probably a bit of a rest week this week. Just keep things ticking over
* 3 routes from Graham's HVS->E1 ticklist - 1 tick, 1 attempt
* At least 20km trail running - only 8km

This week's goals - 

• Another indoor session
• 20km trail running
• 3 routes from the HVS->E1 ticklist - and maybe a benchmark E1.
• Try and make better use of time on trad days.

Quite possibly, there were a few groups out that looked something like that. Did you get back before the rain hit? We started at 10.30am and we just made it! We were the ones with two high speed 4 Yr olds oblivious to anyone else on the trail and a little one on the back of my bike that sang loudly most of the way along. 

Nope. But don't worry, I have resigned myself to my fate - both that there's no actual prospect of lockdown over here ever ending, and continuing to do FitClub stats during same. I was a bit worried that there might be a rush of people joining/returning post UK lockdown, massively increasing the numbers & workload, but there seems to be no imminent sign of that happening.

I never was that good at timely homework habits - writing everything on Sunday evening after climbing is too hectic, need to do most of it during the week as I'm going along.

This passed me by a bit first time, but I could probably do the 4 weekends 30/5 to 20/6 if that's any good - I'm a bit hectic with work until then but sorting it out in holiday evenings ought to be pretty ok. Let me know if you want me to.

Thanks, but I've decided I'm ok to stick with it for another few weeks. Will be looking to pass the baton on in July or so.

No problem!