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.

Hi all, SSB here, I’d like to start this week off with a formal cap doff to AlanLittle for a year and a week of quality stats.  A true man of the people!  It does take time to do the stats and to do so for so long is admirable.  At a time when nobody was really able to get out due to the pandemic so all the posts were very similar he managed to keep everything going.  Bravo Sir, bravo.

AJM – How’s burl prep for winter going?  Probably worth getting some hill reps with a big bag in too so you aren’t ball bagged by the time you get to the base of your route.  I always find the first one of the winter a bit of a shock to the system!

Tyler – Let’s consider it an unplanned deload week leaving you well rested and prime for training this week.  Sometimes it’s a blessing and saves us from that injury we didn’t know was on the horizon.

LiamP – Great recovery training motivation from you, good work.  It will be interesting to see how much you notice the difference when your leg is recovered.  How long before you can use it properly again now?

Me – weekly endurance session in there and some soul enriching wet classic rock – lovely job.

Derek Furze – welcome again.  100 pull ups every other day is impressive.  Could the time be put to better use though? If we always do what we’ve always done, we always get what we’ve always go (or something like that).  Have you anything specific you are aiming for?  It’d be a good base level for hard winter climbing that!

Ross Barker – Font trip psyche coming through there!  Very impressive Saturday tick list on the grit too, well done.  I’ll drop you a line next time we are in Shropshire visiting inlaws, I’m keen to steal all your beta on Rigpa!

Si dH – Good training at the start of the week, nothing you can do about the cold, just gotta ride it out.  I’ve never tried density hangs, have you found they make a difference?

Steve Claw – good work on Crow, I tried this years back but we had to back off after the first 3 pitches.  I always wondered what the top was like.  Shame you can only climb it when the days are short and the rock is so cold.

AlanLittle (the Man, the Legend) – 3-5kg isn’t much, that’ll come off in no time.  How long is your Greece trip?  Going in to it strong but unfit isn’t so bad, you’ve already got the burl for hard cruxs and you can pick up fitness the fun way during the week.

Tom Green – great work on Heavens Above.  I don’t think Chelly Express will take you more than a session.  Are you going to get stuck into the choss further right or spend an obscene amount of money on some fancy shoes and get involved in the steep stuff?

The Sheep – what distance are the two tris you want to do next year?  Are you aiming for ‘a time’ or just a nice day out?

Mattrm – good to have you back again.  Your profile says you work in IT, is there scope for a walk in your lunch break?  A 20min one mile at lunchtime each day – or even just once or twice a week to start with might be a good way of easing back into cardio and help the weight goals too. 

Biscuit – Very jealous of your trip plans, especially Lundy.  It was the monsoon season when we went.  We got hit by waves even on the high tide start to Devils Slide and Satan’s slit was ‘interesting’ in the rain!  Spanish sun sounds appealing too.

Cheers for the stats, and wishing you the best of luck on your stint of Fit Club statting!

Aye, absolutely buzzing about Font and more good grit days! Sounds good, I've got a decent amount of beta, and if you fancy I could also drop you a topo for  Crag B, Ally has expressed interest in visiting there as well.

Pretty good week from me to be fair

Last Week:

M - Gym session. Would've been alright conditions for Rigpa but wanted a social. Good Moonboard scenes and Font trip psyche. Tried a 1-6 but falling a couple mil short. Started making a new burly MB problem around the 7A+ mark but no beans by the end. Contrast baths and box split stretches to finish, been very bad at these recently.

T - Contrast baths and more leg stretches. Seems to be a time-efficient pre-bed combo, but not sure how effective it will be.

W - Rest.

T - Gym. Long warm-up then 6x10s hangs on BM2K bottom outer edges. 30 mins steady Moonboarding up to 6C and then some easier social bouldering.

F - Rest.

S - Ogwen. Intermittent showers were a bit annoying but luckily the boulders dried quickly enough in the breeze - managed The Ramp (f7A), which I'd previously written off as "impossible without dabbing", but it turns out it's really not too bad. Had another play on Saturn (V7), sussed the correct beta for the final move, as it turns out I'm not quite lanky enough for what I was first trying (unless I wanted to do a Cypher-style kick off a razor-edge!). Was accidentally lobbed down the hill when spotting my friend, 10/10.

S - Rest.

Next Week:

M - Gym.

T - Rest.

W - Rest.

T - Rigpa.

F - Rest.

S - Rest.

S - Grit? Maybe try one of those goals?

Goals:

Rigpa.

Suavito.

T-Crack.

Big Al Qaeda.

Welcome to your new role SSB and some immediately thoughtful questions raised.  

Good to know that I am equipped for crushing some ice!  If only the thought of it was remotely tempting these days! 

Pull ups are of questionable application I suppose, but normally I do them as background fitness and 100 takes me 20 minutes, which I'll combine with stretching routines when I've sorted some out.  My training days on the fingerboard are on the alternate days with max hangs, repeaters, which I mix up with press ups.  I don't have a campus board or anything, so pull ups at least replicate some of that movement.

Aiming for?  When I was younger, strength was never an issue.  Now that I am aging, I am just trying to make sure that I have well-rounded shoulder / arm strength as part of the equation and as compensation for extra weight!

Edit - proper post later after I've tried the stretch routine

Derek,

I was doing something similar over the summer, and although it was great for strength, I also hurt my elbows, so have had to stop it all together.

Possibly as SSB said, a more modest press/pull up regime might get the gains you need, and leave more time to work on something else?

Gym rings or anything core based will get good gains and mix up the intensity

Thanks SSB and welcome as the new MC

I had seen you comments on the logbook for Crow, looks like you did P3? which is possibly the best one, however P4 is also fantastic.  You should make the trip back to finish up, its much cleaner now.  Must be your tat still there on the P3 belay.

I've now got a bit of a calling to get out and do some more lost Cheddar WW's, but for now I have more pressing issues, as after a period of enjoying outdoor fun, I bouldered this week, including a comp and have some making up to do over the winter.

M-W away with family

T - Boulder session in prep for Sat comp.  6*10s hangs +15kg (less than before) and only got to 7s on most. Then bouldered V5-V6 circuits and did ok, but not great.  Not feeling strong.

S - Boulder comp, Redpoint did an amazing job at transforming the whole place into a Haloween UV boulder party.  Strange to boulder under UV with glowing holds, and hard to see the best hand/foot placements.  Did ok, 212 points. UV Party afterwards, reminded me of a late 90's Rave, only in a climbing wall.

Redpoint/Flashpoint do a friendly winter boulder league with monthly comps that I use to track progress and make goals. I generally look at goals being points, but as sets can vary in difficulty, I also use placement as a check.  Bouldering is not my first discipline, but I would like to achieve scores of 220-230 and placement of around 10th over the Winter. 

Cheers SSB and second the cap doffage to Alan - a great stint at the helm.

I have another X-ray at the end of November, which will be 3 months post break, so I’m hoping I can lose the cast then. Only 4 more weeks!

RecoveryClub Goals

• Recover
• 3x3 5sFrenchies (tick!)
• 20s 20mm +12kg (currently on 10kg)
• Bent Arm Planche (nowhere near)
• Full 20x Core Circuit (tick)
• Front Lever (on half straddles)
• Maintain <175lb (so far so good)

Mon

• 5x 4s planche leans (35” foot-hand)
• 3x 30 Dips (10kg)
• 4x 4s half straddle Front Lever
• 4x 5s one legged Front Lever

Tue

• 5x 20s Half Crimp 20mm (+10kg)
• One arm Scap Pulls 3x 8 (+2kg)
• 2x Offset Frenchies (BMJug/2 fingers on 20mm) 5s hold
• 4x One arm eccentrics 

Fri

• 4x 6s half straddle Front Lever
• 4x 10s one legged Front Lever
• 5x 4s planche leans (35” foot-hand)
• 3x 20 Dips (12kg)

Weight: 174lb

I’ve booked a week in Rjukan for February so have also started thinking about training for ice. Having only top-roped a couple of pure ice routes in the alps I have no idea on training. I’m thinking lots of calf-raises and pull-ups/lockoffs?

Have a great FitClub week!

Thanks for your kind words SSB - a good start to your statting stint too.

A tapering week for me - perhaps slightly more so than intended but that'll be ok. I'm on Kalmynos for a week with my son, doing primarily father-son bonding with hopefully a bit of climbing thrown in, then when his half term week is over meeting up with friends in Leonidio for two weeks.

STG: Next week: enjoy family holiday on Kalymnos. Hopefully get *some* climbing done
MTG: Week after next: Leonidio. 2 x F7's redpoint and/or 6c+ onsight
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M: 
T: Wall, Boulderwelt. PE circuits. Short late evening session but feeling strong - good tapering
W: Flu jab
T: Wall, Boulderwelt. Attempt at another PE tapering session. Quickly discovered that the nurse yesterday wasn't kidding about about no strenuous exercise for 48 hours: bailed shortly after warming up
F: Pack suitcase: long rope, many quickdraws
S: Travel to Kalymnos
S: Kalymnos: raining

A bit of a mixed bag as still building up after summer and recent illness.  

Mon  Max hangs on two differing grips - 3 sets on both at 11.3kg.  Still building this back up.  50 pull ups in pyramid sets to six and 4.5km run.  Still in recovery from illness

Tues  40 pull ups in 10 mins

Wed  Trip out to Rivelin.  Four routes, but a poor destination for me as I have no targets left that are in reach at the moment.  Robin did some good stuff however.

Thurs  Rest as busy with work

Fri  7:3 repeaters on three finger slots and four tips.  3 sets of each with three mins between sets.  5.1km run

Sat  Max hangs on three finger slots - 3 sets at 10 secs at 11.3kg.  Four tips at 8 secs at 11.3kg and slopes at 10 secs at 6.8kg.  50 pull ups using low reps at short intervals.  10 sets of 10 push ups.

Lattice hip and leg stretch routine.  Probably won't be able to walk tomorrow despite it only being six minutes!  7:3 repeaters on three finger slots and four tips.  3 sets of each at 3 mins.

Aiming to split the days better next week, rather than mingling things together, so that finger intensive days are separate from pull ups and antagonistic exercises.  All depends on work and weather of course...

Thanks all for comments and suggestions.  Good points re elbows Steve, but having had a long history of this, I have rehabilitated successfully and it is partly why I work on keeping up strength across the whole system.  No elbow issues for a couple of years now.

STG.  Introduce flexibility training as a warm up routine as this is clearly a weakness.  Make sure more core work is included in pull ups by using pike position or tuck knees (a Steve McClure suggestion).  Train at the wall once a week if weather / work prevents real rock.  Go bouldering if nobody available for roped stuff.

Thanks SSB. The density hangs are very much part of my finger injury rehab programme rather than about training to get stronger per se. The point is to load my bad finger at a level that causes slight irritation of the painful joint for a long time under tension, in order to initiate a healing response. It's just 3*30 second hangs with both arms on a 20-22mm crimp, taking a bit of weight with my feet on a chair sometimes to get the right amount of irritation but not too much. Fingers are spread apart to avoid unintentionally supporting the bad one. For my particular case it seems to have helped a lot. I basically do them at the end of my warm up every time I'm climbing or training fingers, before moving on to whatever else I'm doing that session.

M: Took son No. 1 out to Earl. Mixed conditions but the holds were all dry on Sloping Beauty (f7B) so I had a few goes on that. Unfortunately though I couldn't hold the crucial sloper well enough to match in. Maybe one to try again if I'm there in primo conditions. Would have done Hanging Groove (f6C) but the top was covered in green slime. Moves wired for an easy tick next visit I think.

T: Afternoon - did 3*30 second density hangs then a max hang test on the 23mm edge for 12 seconds, to set the load for my next 4 weeks of 3/6/9 hangs. I managed it ok with bw+27kg and failed after 10-11 seconds with bw+30 kg. This is slightly annoying as a 27kg load requires use of my old plastic/concrete weights which are really bulky and awkward, so it would have been nice to make 30kg! Overall though I'm very happy with this. 4 weeks ago I only just managed 20kg. Most of the gain will undoubtedly be a combination of psychological factors as I've got used to hanging on my injured finger again, with some minor neurological gains (and maybe just good conditions on the day). But still pleasing. Finger felt ok. Then did 5*5 one arm scap pull-ups on the pull-up bar, no assistance.

W: Morning - took son No.1 to the Hangar for 'Rock Club Mini' and had a short hour to climb while he was in the class. Did one white (v5-6, felt like upper end of that) and spent a while working two others but didn't quite manage to hold the crux on either (lo and behold, the moves I couldn't do were off left hand crimps).

T: Afternoon - crimpd app hip/leg flexibility 'C' routine. The 90 second holds (vs 60 seconds in the 'B' routine) were quite hard, particularly for the high steps.

F: Had a very bad night's sleep with the newborn. Did density hangs then 5 sets of 3/6/9 with bodyweight+27kg but it felt hard, I struggled with the 9 second hangs. Might drop back to 24.5kg unless the next session feels easier. Finished off with 3*3 power pull-ups.

S: rest

S: 3*30 second density hangs followed by a short board session. Just a few things up to 6C. Wanted to get a good length session done on the board for the first time in a while, but childcare duties intervened and then I felt really tired. Bit disappointing really.

Si

Mon. Kiddy walk out to devoke water (major strop from mini swede) then bouldering on Eskdale Common. Some 6s to warm up then really pleased to get Rational Thinking (f7B+) in a session.

Tues. 8km flat run.

Wed. Rest and drive home. 

Thurs. Went bouldering at secret garden. Spent ages on Bigmouth Strikes Again 7A but couldn't work out the start. Open to beta suggestions if anyone has done it? Consultation tick of Beach Bum (f7A) which I tried at the end of a session last year but never finished off. Pretty wiped out after this.

Fri. Rest.

Sat. Endurance session at the depot. Started on the circuit board with 2mins rest between laps. Where I didn't managed to do it clean (X) I pulled straight back on and finished the circuit (occasionally only 4 moves at a time!) 6a, 6b, 6c, 7a, 7a+, 7b, 7b+(X), 7b, 7a+(X), 7a(X), 6c, 6b, 6a. Then did 3x 10mins on 10mins off. Only ever tried this on an auto belay or in the attic so was interesting at a boulder wall. I found somewhat with a white V0-V1 next to a blue V1-3 and just did laps up the blue and down the white which seemed to work best on a gently overhanging wall. 3x10 press ups.

Sun. Pleased to feel fine after yesterday's session but stayed off the fingers so as not to overtrain as it was (for me) quite high volume. Hill reps session. Just under 8km with 250+m ascent at 5.13/km.

I think I’ve been unhelpfully ambiguous - my “priorities for the winter” is about what I need to train during the winter months not what I need to train for winter climbing, which I think your comment about big walks relates to? I did used to enjoy winter climbing but from the south coast with the family to plan around it just doesn’t really work any more.

Half term this week so had my parents down for some of the week and my sister down this weekend which has been nice but has also meant I haven’t got that much done.

Monday - stretching and compression

Tuesday - stretching and compression. I also put 30kg onto my lifting pin and did reps lifting it up with a good handle - 1 hand deadlifts in essence. I’m not convinced this is enough weight - I’m not sure I have enough weight, although I might try 40kg before admitting defeat - so I maybe need to try to get the load onto one leg at a time?

Wednesday - nothing - work all day and then a rare chance for dinner out with MrsAJM whilst my parents looked after the tiny terrors.

Thursday - in the interest of getting some more aerobic training dedication I put some big footholds on the lowest t-nuts on the board, between my rows of usual feet. Tried 2-on-1-off with this. I think the bigger feet have fixed the higher holds on the green traverse. The lower section is still tricky - some of the green holds have a half decent edge (and are incut to about the angle of the board, so at least flattie), some are definitely more rounded-open hand so feel a chunk worse. I think I’ll screw a few good feet right down by the floor to see if that gets the overall position to one where basic stamina works well.

Friday - fitted the big feet mentioned above, but otherwise nothing

Saturday - about 4 miles of walking round Weymouth, which was nice.

Sunday - walking round Swanage. Had hoped to do something on the board after my sister left but microAJM was tired and crashed out early (she shares a room with the board!).

+1

thanks Alan!

Hi All. Thanks for the stats SSB -the king is dead, long live the king! Alan, I hope you are enjoying that smug feeling of waiting for the stats to be posted, safe in the knowledge it's nowt to do with you!

A good week in many ways -none of which were training related!

Week 43:

M: Rest.

T: Alpine start/finish for work.

W: Dry tooling. Mileage session at Masson -six laps of M6/7 routes that I've done a lot before. All felt technically easy but physically hard.

T: Work day -managed to fit in a little shoulder prehab sesh.

F: Trail run. 8.1km, 305m vert, 6:32/km. Short and sweet. 

S: Dry tooling. Warmed up with a quick toprope of Heavens above, then got on Chelly Express (D7) and flashed it! Was really keen to onsight this as it is very 'Scottish' so thought it would be a good benchmark/confidence booster ahead of this year's season. Had a tiny bit of beta, so wasn't a full onsight, but close enough. A fight at the top, with killer pump, but very pleased to get it first ever go.

S: Trail/hill run. 13.7km, 454m vert, 6:57/km. Gloriously brutal weather made this feel like a bigger adventure than most runs from the front door! 

Week 44:

145 mins running.

2 x climbing

2 x core and strength

3 x prehab

STGs (end 2021):

Heavens Above (TICK!)

Chelly Express (TICK!)

White wall (D8) (Replacement for Chelly Express!)

Run all segments of the Cleveland Way (2/9)

Average 1 E-point per week (1/4 -weather may make this fall by the wayside).

MTGs (end March 22):

Lots of Scottish mixed at VI and VII

Something long, hard and suffery in the Alps.

I probably needed a bit of a break from the running and my shoulder means I probably shouldn't be climbing but its starting to drag a bit!

M-W: Nothing, still nursing a cold

T: Day off work so decided I ought to do something. 6km on treadmill started surprisingly strong but deteriorated towards the end but had only intended to do 5km so not bad. Went to BUK, managed a few V5s, some flashed so not terrible all things considered. 

F: Family stuff

S: Treadmill, intended as a long run but only managed 1hr 15mins, I could have gone on but was really labouring after an hour which surprised me as I thought I would mange more just by slowing my pace and relying on my innate stamina. Could be I was going too fast or my lingering cold but either way I need to get a bit more scientific about my running as my current plan if just belting out 30 - 40 mins when /I get a chance has probably taken me as far as I can (I've sort of made a goal or running a 2hr half marathon).

S: Big Depot Leeds, lots of try hard and took a few falls, left battered so all good. I'm ignoring my performance....

I'm back at my desk after 6 wonderful weeks of SPL.

I've learnt a huge amount from being sole child wrangler for the last month while my wife returned to work part-time.

My aspirations of getting out with Squiggle worked out better than feared, but also not as productive as I'd dreamed.  We've done 1-2 rucksack walks a week and a few other days out, but I soon knocked on the head the idea of taking her outdoor bouldering (too cold for her, too logically challenging to get a pram anywhere but the cave). 

Despite that, over the last 6 weeks I've managed:

• A bunch of physio on dodgy shoulder
• Plenty of home board sessions during her morning 90min nap time
• 3x new Moonboard benchmarks 7A+, 7B, 7B+ (which is in pretty much reverse difficulty order IMHO)
• A new 8A link-up Start the Week (f8A) at Pantymwyn
• New 7C+ link-up (Ashes to Ashes (f7C+)) and a couple of other 7A+/B newbies
• Bolted a ~f7-ish project for next year and fixed a couple of bolt positions on this years newbie (Thumbsucker (7c))
• Got really close on Greenheart Service (V12) doing it in 2 overlapping sections on 2 occasions

The last week has been a write off with Squigg catching a virus during her first nursery introductory session and becoming a >40C snot-monster with a hacking cough and bright green eye-boogey, which inevitably both me and my wife then caught.

Great effort Ally. You've got a lot done. I'm now on SPL and have come to similar conclusions re: outside bouldering. I did it with son No.1 after only a fortnight, but that was in the middle of summer and there were a couple of places I could push him easily in the bassinette that weren't far from civilisation. It's very different this time of year (and some babies just want their mum more often!)

I'm afraid the virus is a sign of things to come, but we found it does tend to settle down after the first couple of months in each new 'setting'.

One of them will be a specific sprint event, Battle of Bosworth tri, 750m open water swim, 20 km cycle and 5k run. The aim is to beat this years time of 1.38.38. Should be doable as this years event came off the back of lingering injury and subsequent low intensity training.

The other will be more a scenic glad to get round type of affair, either Olympic or half iron man distance depending on what's available. Ideally it will have the swim leg in the sea   

Have a couple of specific runs i want to do as well, locally the Charnwood peaks loop which comes in at 16 miles and also the Edale skyline which is 20.

However in order to achieve these i really need to be reporting some better training stats!! Last week was a tad low on volume. Managed to swim every day Mon-Fri, 1km per session. ran intervals on Tuesday evening and a stretch class Thursday afternoon. 

welcome to the new role SSB and a final thanks to Alan! 

Just realised I’ve not posted. Life is busy atm. 
The week can be summed up as a de load week. 
I seem to be going OK at the gym. 120kg deadlift for 5 reps, bench press 70kgx3 and squat 90kg x 2 have been done in the last couple of weeks. That’s at 71kg body weight. 
 

 Squats scare me so I didn’t add anymore weight but they also feel the hardest. There’s not much more to add there. This gives me the info to work out some working set weights now. 

I had a midweek social climb. It was very poor. I then felt pretty rough after and got ill again. 

I recovered enough to go to Lancaster wall. Good long session. Lots of try hard but I’m not firing at 100%.

Spoiler alert - the same happened this week. I can go to the gym and feel ok. But everytime I climb I get headache, sore throat, very tired. I’m testing 3 x a week so it’s not covid but it’s bloody annoying. 

I’m experiencing something very simialr myself, I don’t feel ill enough to declare illness but can’t do much of value either. Over two weeks now

Thrice over...

Describes my last three or four weeks exactly!  Through it now though

Thanks to Alan.  Enjoy the statting SSB.

STG - 6a and improve diet

L/MTG - TBD

M - Rest

T - 1.5 mile run

W - 3 mile run

T - S - Rest

My mate was off with work, so didn't make the wall.  Thought I'd just go on my own instead, but was so tired I just sacked it off.  Decided to restart running, so went out on a 1.5m run.  Great.  The following day (as it was half term) was looking after the sprog.  What did he want to do?  Ride his bike to the park.  It's not that far thought I, I'll just jog after him.  Easy.  Went there in the morning and again in the afternoon.  On the way back various parts of my legs were really hurting and I just realised how much running I'd been doing.  After months of not running.  Ooops.  Paid for it the next few days.

Well at least I can rule out those rare, fatal, diseases I was Googling. It’s good to know it’s not just me tbh. It’s very frustrating. Including the week I was on holiday and just didn’t fire or feel right it’s been 3 weeks now. It can do one! 

I'm the same, feel like everyone is ill at the mo. Conditions looked amazing on the grit Thursday but I was too wiped out to go and enjoy it. I've not headed out this morning. With a few paracetamol I make it through work but totally destroyed by about 7pm ever night and just end up in bed. Frustrating but reassuring it's not just me.