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/

Last weeks post - https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_743-7358...

Psyche Vid: none this week. And it looks like next week's is going to be the Innsbruck boulder & lead world cup: I read that despite general lockdown relaxations it's still being run without spectators, so even if it's raining I won't be able to go and spectate as I was contemplating doing.

AJM - interesting beta analysis for the Bowderstone - plus, as always, the route names. Good effort.

Ally Smith - excellent results on the FA and the 8a

biscuit - any news on training priorities emerging from the benchmarking week? Carrock looks like a nice spot - some impressive FA names on the problems too.

Liam P - not sure I can help you with the board-feet thing. I have the opposite problem - can keep my feet on the moonboard kickboard until my hands are quite high, but theh have trouble retrieving them. Good news with the paralettes

planetmarshall - if conditions in blighty are anything like they are over here then you're really pushing the limits of grit season/conditions.

Ross Barker - Welsh esoterica highballs season as a change of pace from Shropshire lockdown local esoterica season?

Si dH - oh well, at least one decent session in Finger Rehab Club is better than none at all. My son enjoyed garden camping when he was smaller too.

Somerset swede basher - given the amouint of time you've been spending on Peak lime, giveing the fingers a bit of a break sounds like a wise call.

the sheep - sounds like the swimming season is in full swing. Enjoy your few remaining years of the daughters allowing you to remain in the house for their parties!

Tom Green - the entire spectrum uk sandstone quality & impressiveness spanned in a mere two sessions. Well done. Eager to hear what else you got up to in the Far North.

Tyler - hope the ankle turns/turned out ok?

AlanLittle - good effort on the project. Now use that motivation boost to build some real post-lockdown momentum

A week in which heat, humidity and hayfever shattered my will to live. Good job I managed to get a success in the bank beforehand, and at least I still managed two decent wall sessions.

STG: Survive the heatwave. Fill out my couple-of-goes pyramid around the 6c-ish level before moving onto to any more harder projects.
MTG: Autumn 2021 trip planning (assuming no fourth wave / third lockdown)
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: "Rest day?" Had intended to go bouldering, but near-death hayfever left me prostrate on the sofa.  Half an hour stretching before bed.

W: Boulderwelt. Managed to get the kilter board to myself by going at lunchtime, and had a good session. Confirmed everything I already know about myself as a climber by flashing a couple of 6B's at 10°, whilst I have yet to get up anything whatsoever steeper than 35°.

T: Have been neglecting my general cardio fitness for the last few weeks - today I got back on the (figurative and literal) bike for 40 minutes

F: Discussed possible plans for the weekend with a friend; chickened out in the face of crushing heat, humidity and likely thunderstorms.
    Attempted a circuits session at Boulderwelt in the evening instead but pretty much wilted immediately in the heat. The 20 minutes I spent on the rings in the training room afterwards were probably the actually productive part of the evening.
S: 
S: Wall, Freimann. Falling practice and putting some of drills from my April coaching session into practice.
 

Cheers for the stats as always Alan.

Hah - I wish! The chap who was also keen is back off to Yorkshire so it'll likely have to wait until Autumn for another session. Wales is still going to be a common trip but likely nothing to the same level of boldness.

Bit of a dodgy week mental health-wise so did bugger all in the week, and a slightly naff gym sesh on Saturday morning. Note that the comments from Saturday were written shortly after said session and I've since calmed down a bit!

Last Week:

M - Contrast baths.

T - Contrast baths.

W - Rest.

T - Rest.

F - Rest.

S - Gym for 1.5h. Not sure if I dislike gyms or if I'm just in a shit mood.  Maybe it's the setting (why does every f*cking slab involve bridging or mantelling onto a blob?). Maybe the air is just too warm and stagnant. Maybe it's because I'd planned to go outside but partner bailed last minute. Can't believe I spent the £8 plus fuel to put myself through this, but at least it's a push to get a decent woody for when my finger heals. Finger still improving, was even able to play on the Moonboard on select holds, and campusing on the big rungs.

S - Rest.

Next Week:

​​​​​M - Rest and rehab.

T -  Bala Boulders hopefully!

W - Rest and rehab.

T - Rest and rehab.

F - Unsure, maybe  The Five Clouds ?

S, S - Rest and rehab.

Goals:

Rehabilitate finger.

Suavito.

Tierdrop.

Rigpa.

In reply to:

If anyone is in S Wales next week or Dorset the week after and fancies meeting to do some routes let me know, particularly keen for Lulworth DWS

Cheers Alan.

Lad was born on Tuesday so will call this an unplanned rest week! He caused a load of admin for the NHS but they got him out eventually. Mum & Son now back home and doing fine.

I think next week will be a trial to see what training I can sneak in between the sleep deprivation and laundry. The wall is only 5mims away so I should be able to sneak something in. Failing that, I’ll be back on the lockdown hangboard gainz!

Congratulations!

Don‘t worry too much about training until it starts to become clear what life is going to look like

Congrats!

If he was born on Tuesday and by Sunday you are still talking about fitting in training over the next week, it sounds like things are going ok

Thanks Alan. A lazy week this week from a training perspective. Still very busy at work and a little uncertain about priorities so just decided to relax a bit.

M: bouldering with AJM + mini in the lakes at Virtual Crag. Felt like I was very close to doing Technobabble and Hyperlink Sit but didn't quite tick either. Flashed Hyperlink (f6C). Fun day out with Sol.

T: rest

W: went to the wall in the evening but it was too busy, covid rates are rising fast again here and I felt quite anxious. Did a bit of stuff and left after an hour.

T:  nothing

F:  nothing

S: short morning session at Craig y Longridge, mostly trying Big Marine. I worked a new sequence up to the last move which I can do pretty reliably, but just didn't feel strong enough on the final two crimps to be able to go for the top at the moment.

S: just doing some mono hold lifts. Warm-ups then 4 * 10 seconds with 14 kg on each finger.

Si

P.S.. AJM if you read this, which side do you hold the Ash mono on, the slopey side or the incut side (assuming yours is strung similarly to mine so that it naturally sits at an angle.) I was using the slopey side originally as it's slightly more comfy, but I'm wondering whether it's a bit too friction dependent and doing it the other way would be better.

Thanks Alan, it's not to everyones taste but I do love a bit of Peak Lime!

I've done loads of 'in a session' grade problems recently. Having put quite a few sessions into that 8a+ that I didn't quite get earlier in the year I needed to just go out and climb stuff but this week I decided to get back on things I can't do in a session and really enjoyed it. Only one tick this week but a couple of things lining up nicely.

Mon. Minus 10 wall at Stoney. Managed The JLBP (f7A+) and made good progress on Gavs Problem 7B. I thought I'd done everything j can do at Stoney so good to see there are a couple of new problems to go at.

Tues. 50km on the road bike.

Wed. Rest.

Thurs. Terrible conditions at a very humid crag X. Decided to try Zippys into Pink Indians as at least I've done all the moves, just need to make it more efficient. It's long and pumpy 7A+ into short and punchy 7B for 7B+ (I thought that was stingy too, welcome to peak lime!) Worked an effient sequence on zippys and did 3 laps, worked a good way too link the two problems but the two small crimps on Pink Indians were too smeggy to work the top bit. Think brushing the holds then watching them turn black again in front of you. 

Fri rest.

Sat. Cemetery Park Boulder session. Decided to try Otter Chess, a 4 move brutal 7B+. I've tried it a couple of times before but only been able to do the first 2 moves. Managed the hard move and the top move too today. Just need to find a bit of foot beta to get set up for the move and this might go in a session or two. Really pleased to manage some moves I've done been able to do before. Fast 8km run after. 

Sun. Really steady and flat 12km bike ride with the kids. 

Is that w/c July 5th in Dorset?

The incut side. I had considered switching - less weight needed and also I guess it removes the lip drag assistance (same reason it's harder to hang front 2 on the lattice rung versus a bm2k pocket?). But I haven't really decided, because as you say it's a bit more than just taking the lip away. I think in IG videos it's shown using the incut side, which is why I started doing it like that.

Congratulations!

Congratulations Liam!

Thanks as always for the stats Alan. A shame you can't go to the Innsbruck WC in person.

Week 24

M – Bushed from weekend and Squiggle early morning wake ups. Managed some very minor core exercises only. 

T – Deadlift 5x5 @95kg (I’m a bit more consistent with these than previously and feeling a little stronger – really hoping it translates to increased body tension for burly Autumn project(s).

5 sets 6 reps BW lattice edge pull-ups as warm-up for fingerboard session:

F3SHC (BW+10kg) 7s x4

B3 (BW+35kg) 7s x4

M2 deep (BW+38kg - hard) 10s x4

W – 1on/2off aero-cap. Moonboard problem circuits rather than the wooden holds. Good chunk easier than 1on/1off even with the harder moves. 

T – Rest.

F – Lunchtime hour of power. Managed 3x 7B+/C Moonboard problems.

S – Hilly 50km loop including all the local cobbled secteurs.

S – Bolxd. Gardening and house cleaning.

thanks Alan!

Monday - Virtual Crag near Coniston with Si dH. This crag has a steep base which has been developed as a “drop off at the jugs” style bouldering crag, making use of the steep lower section whilst avoiding the easier and dirtier upper. The guidebook says it’s similar to the Bowderstone which is about right - a similar basic “indoor climbing outdoors” sort of style, steep, mostly good holds and fairly basic climbing style. I managed the obvious ** 7A, Technobabble - about 3 hard moves up a very steep crack before the crack turned juggy and it became a lot easier. I then put some time into Hyperlink, a 7A+ up another steep crack further right. Managed to work out the lower moves pretty quickly, and on my best go I hit the hold on the lip of the steepness, which is basically the end (judging by the chalk, you match on that and are probably done - or at least no more than a move above left), but couldn’t hold it. In hindsight, I didn’t work the top enough - I should have explicitly done the 6C stand version to sort out the best feet for the last move and the right bit of the top hold to go for - but I didn’t expect to progress on it so quickly and there was also a ticking clock in terms of the number of quality tries on anything my fingers and shoulders had left. Still, a 7A and close on a 7A+ is a really solid day out for me, so very pleased with that (at home, either one in isolation would be a good day!).

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQHUNiZDlW6/?utm_medium=copy_link

Tuesday - rest. Whacked after a solid block of trying hard. Stuffed full of the good things in life at The Crafty Baa, had a mid afternoon doze whilst listening to music, barely needed dinner!

Wednesday - more rest. Still aching! Slightly drizzly forecast with low hanging cloud restricted options and the Bowderstone would have been too much, so more family time.

Thursday - popped back to the Bowderstone. Tried hard on Picnic Sarcastic sitter but it was not to be! I managed to get to the move putting in the left heel a couple of times but never quite get it to sit properly. I managed to get there at least once despite a lot of messing up along the way! In one way that’s good, in that It suggests to me that I can do it, it’s just a matter of time before finding that go where it all works ok and the heel seats properly. Although it would obviously have been better still to prove I can do it by actually doing it! I think if I had more time it might have been useful to try to climb the stand a few more times to get that move more wired, but the risk of that today was using up enough energy to then be able to do nothing with that knowledge! 

Friday - the usual rush to get packed out, then a few easy problems at Carrock Fell - coincidentally running into biscuit again - followed by the start of the drive home, seeing family and stopping at Casa Smith overnight to see Ally and family.

Saturday - saw a few more friends en route but mostly a day of driving home

Sunday - wall with miniAJM. Did some circuits, which was a bit sweaty especially with a mask on, but good to get a bit of a pump going. I think I did the easiest four circuits, then the hardest of the four again, then linked the easiest into next easiest. 220-ish moves all told, I guess . Maybe take gloves next time to up volume without skin trashing...? Also did a few actual problems, not very many though. 

In the end, depending on exactly what you count, I did about half a dozen 6C/+, 1 7A (Technobabble) and 1 7A+ (Picnic Sarcastic), together with “shouldawouldacoulda” efforts on another 7A+ and 7B (Hyperlink and Picnic sitter). All those 7s in their own way have encouraging pointers in them. 

For a brief period my 8a.nu score hit 7100, although the first post lockdown send from last year has now dropped out which pushes me back down to 7050 (c7100 is my best ever calendar year, and c7150 my best rolling 12 months). There’s another problem due to drop out in a month or so but then after that it’s fairly steady until September when the problems I did last year in Northumberland start to fall away. So that goal is maybe still on for some point over the summer.

Been thinking about what comes next. As ever the immediate goals are difficult to manage - my climbing is likely to continue to be bouldering and now dws, so I will need some stamina/PE whilst retaining bouldering snap. A week in wales in august will need boulder snap but bracketed by dws project season from now until some time in Sept or Oct. And I want to get back into the groove on flexibility and antagonists. 

- my current plan is to try to be a bit fitness focused this week in advance of a weekend of dws, to at least try to avoid the total pump humiliation of last year, then move back to a blended approach after that. 

- one thing my evening hits this trip suggests is that I can do evening stuff after their bedtimes without getting completely exhausted, so I’m going to try to hit the wall each week. I figure 8 wall sessions in the 8 week’s between now and north wales has the potential to make a measurable difference to the outcome.

- a longer boulder project like Liquid Sun might be a good crossover with the other fitness oriented goals. But I’ll have to see. 

A shame you didn't have time to sample the delights of the garage Moonboard whilst stopping over.

Which August week in North Wales? I would be interested in meeting up so long as you're not on the Lleyn!

We’re booked into Durdle Door campsite from Sunday 27th June, heading to South Wales sometime this week

Congratulations to all three of you, great news

Unfortunately not, I gave it until Wednesday as it seemed to be getting better. Went to MCC and climbed badly (it was a million degrees though!) and waking around I turned it agin very slightly but it seems to have knocked it back quite a lot. 
Went to Yorkshire Sunday, ran away from midges at Dib Scar after an easy warm up so ended up top roping a couple of things at Kilnsey but I only using my left foot on very big holds that I could get at least half a foot on. 

The week running up to the 21st (we are busy that weekend itself). 

So this coming weekend I am hopefully camping on Portland, the tides are very good for Portland dws (high springs at a sensible time of the morning as far as these things go). Hopefully Mr Smith will also be joining the fun. More the merrier, if timings work.

The following weekend (4th July) I am up north from the Thursday, which might make it tricky to get out again - but I can have a look at my calendar and if not I could potentially try to hook you up with some local friends who might be out.

Thanks Andy, if I can find somewhere to camp nearby I’d definitely be keen for that. Where are you camping?

https://www.facebook.com/Portland-Bill-Camping-115447643571576/

Congratulations! 

From personal experience, ease of access is the key to maintaining any training stimulus.

Having a fingerboard and woody 5m from the backdoor was the only thing that allowed me to keep training when our little 'un arrived. 

Hopefully you're also well set-up to do the same.

I hope you meant that and aren't just doing the British thing of saying "you must visit" whilst cringing at the prospect because I've just booked Portland campsite from 25th to 28th of June.

Is the sort of thing usually done with a wet suit and which crags can you DWS on Portland? I used to have the DWS guide but it disappeared (unused, obvs!).

Hi all. Thanks for the continued stats and wisdom Alan!

Another week of no training but good climbing -just the way it should be!

Week 24:

M: Lots of victory tea drinking and beach wandering.

T: Travelled from Orkney to North West.

W: Walked in to climb Am Buachaille. Spent a couple of hours saying things like 'I'm sure the sea will be calmer when the tide goes out a bit more'; 'I think those waves are only reaching the bottom 3-4 metres of the route'; 'Perhaps the swim will be safe if we time it between waves'. Eventually saw sense and walked out without risking a drowning.

T: Wind speed and direction similar to Weds so didn't bother with Am Buachaille but had a super fun day cragging at Sheigra (that rock!!). Drove south to Stoer.

F: Original Route (VS 5a). Just pure enjoyment. Nothing bad to say about this day. Partner volunteered for the swim, so I didn't have that to contend with. Tyrolean worked perfectly. The crux traverse was only slightly greasy, so was a fun start to the route rather than the sketch fest a lot of people describe. Then did the stack in two big, glorious pitches of steep, easy jug-hauling. Sunbathed on the top for an hour or so. Just perfect, relaxed fun. Drove back to Sheigra.

S: Watched the rain all morning. Wandered around Sheigra in the rain in the afternoon. Then walked in to Am Buachaille for the evening low tide, to be rewarded by a stunning sunny evening with a flat calm sea. Survived the swim out to climb the superb Atlantic Wall (E1 5b) -topping out just before sunset and abbing off in time to catch low tide for the return swim and get back to the cliff top in the last of the light. Perfect day and felt like a reward for persevering.

S: Long drive home, but made more tolerable by the smug vibes of having climbed all of the 'big three' Scottish sea stacks. (Now to move on to seastack esoterica!?!?)

Week 24:

Going to be a big work week, but hopefully will get some training discipline back:

Run x 2

Fingerboard x 2 

Strength and conditioning x 2

STG (End August):

Eliminator (V4) and Yates' Layaway (f6B+) 

Grid Iron (6c) and Jack the Smuggler (7a)

Red Square (E2) and Black Wall Direct (E2 5c)

Edale Skyline and Cheshire Gritstone Trail

2021 Goals:

35 E-points

Run 30km vert and 1000km

Sounds like a class trip!

Did you get a chance to fondle any of the bouldering at Shiegra? I've been toying with a week-long trip in Autumn to visit the Highlands with pads, would you recommend?

I'm really hoping it wasn't just a polite invitation with no actual commitment too!

I'm sure AJM will be nothing but the perfect host: pre-chalked holds and move by move beta please

I'm coming over for a morning; not sure if it'll be Sat or Sun - depends on family commitments - we're staying 90min away in Devern.

Yep, it was a good trip -a bit weird in that we didn’t climb every day (on a climbing holiday -shocking!) because we were quite focussed on climbing the three stacks. But worth the driving and the messing about!

We didn’t have a pad, but we did have a bit of a look and a play on the bouldering. It’s really good, especially some of the stuff just off the beach… perfect rock and great lines. Felt similar to some granite bouldering venues, with a mix of blocs and faces. A few cool roof problems, good aretes, techs crack lines -the lot! I think there must be a lot more that we didn’t see too. 

Hahaha!

I am booked for the campsite and will be going as long as the weather is good - which it currently seems to be. I'm camping with the family so if it switches to being horrible then I won't be going - 2 days with a 4 year old and 18m old going stir crazy cooped up in the tent doesnt appeal - but then I suspect noone else will be either.

I usually wear swimming shorts and a t-shirt or rash vest - I don't own a full wetsuit but also don't spend that much time in the water after a fall - unless I particularly need to hoover up route beta.

For logistics beta - I will point you at my blog to start with which also links to a UKC ticklist and tide times and so on.

http://travelswithrockboots.blogspot.com/?m=1

Thank you for this, enough at both a low grade and height to keep me busy. 

Cheers Alan, the swimming is indeed going swimmingly I wish i could say the same for running though which seems to be getting slower and slower. 

Eldest daughter will be 18 in September so i suspect we will be banished from the house for that one. She does still want to go open water swimming with me when it gets warmer which is nice.

Monday, 1km swim

Tuesday, 1km swim and 45km ride home

Wednesday, 1km swim, 6km run ansd then an 8km run whilst the youngest daughter did run training and swim training

Thursday, 1km swim followed by stretch class

Friday, 1km swim

Saturday, on taxi duty for seemingly the entire day

Sunday, rest day with the added bonus of steak and chips for dinner as it was fathers day 

Just watch out if he turns up in his dressing gown… 

I have a surf towel now! No more dressing gown at the crag - end of an era/error!

Does that mean one of these stylish numbers? https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/adult-surf-poncho-500/_/R-p-309946?mc=8574475...

Faced with another winter of home office I'm seriously considering treating myself to something from https://www.baturina-homewear.com/#/

But if I do it definitely won't be accompanying me to the crag/beach.

Those are serious dressing gowns

And yeah, similar to the one you linked...

Hi Alan. Thanks as ever. I hope the momentum comes. I often get a dip after a big tick. I think it's a personal thing - some launch onwards i need to recoup my psyche.

Carrock is indeed a great place but similar to a lot of Lakes places it suffers from bracken round about now and midges.

Just a quick one from me. The testing has revealed i could be stronger (fingers and arms) but the priority is aerobic fitness. 

It was a busy family week so i only got a bit done. A 7:3 @40% aero cap fingerboard session and a 5:3:5:3:5 with feet on the floor on my home board.

We went to Carrock again unexpectedly - still too hot and quite midgey. Trying V5 slabs on granite in the sun doesn't work! Consolation tick of the excellent Undercut Arete (f6C+) which as i flashed it can't be V5. It is soft but still brilliant.

Currently typing this at home part way through what should have been 3 days in Wales. Everywhere was wet today. Going back down tomorrow.

Thanks for keeping up the group psych Alan!

• Yoga every day
• 1000m of pool swimming at the lido. Then too many people in my lane going too many different speeds so freaked out and left.
• Rheinstor low traverse (7A) lappage and a semi-wild dip in the swimming hole at Lathskill
• 6k world's sweatiest run (330m ascent) to Masson Lees from the treehouse. Worked out it is only 2k door to pit, but it was so sweaty that drove back in the afternoon to do routes. 6a/6a+ mileage as warm-up, but then it looked like it was going to rain so didn't get on the project.
• Sent Dorset Rockfax to print. It's a well-needed update and totally massive and I bet some bugger put up a new route the day we signed it off... 

Yes, though I'd be fibbing if "condiions" are the reason I wasn't getting up stuff...

Last Week

Lattice Lite Week 6

Tuesday

"Style Triad" (Strength) - Bouldering at  Newstones and Baldstones. Again a bit warm for grit, mostly seeking out things in the shade. 

Wednesday

Strength and Conditioning

Friday

"Style Triad" (Strength) - supposed to do the Pyramids workout but substituted this instead. 3 problems at Substation, starting to see some improvements including my first send of one of the problems on the Black (V4-V6) circuit.

Saturday

"Boulder Triples" (AnCap) at Substation.

Sunday

Trad at Wilton 1 - first trip there, surprisingly quiet given that the conditions were pretty much ideal. Onsights of

• Christeena (VS 5a)
• Cameo (E1 5a) - outstanding route

Last Week's Goals

• Another Project Bouldering session outside - done
• Two leads at E1 or above - 1/2
• 27km trail running - fail!
• Do at least one session indoors. done

Next Week

• Lattice Lite Week 7
• 27km trail running
• Two leads at E1 or above