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.

Link to last week's thread:

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fitclub_week_773-74286...

Hi All, been a while since I did one of these. Hope you have all had a productive week!

Derek Furze - quite a lot done there. What's your aim with the pull-ups, is it something specific or just general conditioning? Any plans to add weight? I would be really careful with the volume if you feel anything in the elbows. P.S I remember having my heart in my mouth a bit on Robert Brown going further above the gear in that block at the overlap, but it's a really great route (isn't everything on the main face at High Tor... one of my favourite crags.)

Randy - that's a lot of repeaters in a week! Have I understood correctly that they are one armed? What's the logic doing them like that rather than two armed?

Ross Barker - I do love the naming of problems at the Dug Out. I should really try a trip some time. Is it is child friendly? Looks like you're all set for a 7C tick with enough effort - I mean a 6C into a 6B can't be that hard to start, can it??🙂

AJM - 12 moves on two finger pockets? Urgh! Still, I'm very impressed you managed to fit in 4 climbing sessions around family and a grumbly finger, I wish I could achieve that. I can't remember my sequence on CME but I definitely had no skill in toe hooks when I did it and I vaguely remember it feeling harder than the other things I did on the block. Suspect I just held on the swing on the good holds. Maybe you should try a Janja scorpion kick.

Steve Claw - I think indoor bouldering always feels a bit hard when I do it for the first time in a while - probably to do with not being instinctively dynamic enough after getting used to climbing outside, especially if just on routes.

Alanlittle - re: Sunday, form can indeed come and go quickly. Equally, it's easy to just have a bad day sometimes. I don't know how hard your Beastmaker session was on the Saturday, but fingerboarding can be pretty wearing on shoulders and arms too. You might suddenly find yourself on form next time!

Si dH - keep remembering to hit those goals...

Somerset swede basher - Great Monday / Tuesday, 6 Font 7s on the grit in two day is hard work on the skin if nothing else! I've never done any of those problems. Are the Froggatt new fairly new?

Liam P - Great effort on your hardest boulder! From admittedly limited visits, that area was one of my favourite parts of the cuttings. P.S. no need for weights, try push-ups with the growing baby on your back; if you don't then they'll probably force you into it in a year or two anyway. If you're lucky they won't jump up and down.

Biscuit - hope you're feeling better? It should feel good to see the Board progression.

Ally Smith - where is the newbie, Pantymywyn again? (Or is it secret?) Pushchair pushing through mud is good core training I reckon.

Tom Green - A good structured week. I'm afraid I know nothing about turbo-ing. Re: your goals and visiting new crags - I think this is definitely a big bonus of moving house, it can be really motivating to visit new places. Any board building progress yet?

SteveJC94 - hope the climbing rehab is going well?

the sheep - A good active week! I think it's cool your whole family seems to like doing similar exercise activities.

Lots of people checking in and lots of training/exercise being done last time around. And Macron is letting us go to Font again. A good week I think!

Si

I should cross you off a Frankenjura trip invite then?!

2 of them were whole-family sessions, and the other two with miniAJM, so certainly indoors it wasn't like 3 full on sessions!

Yeah, for me it's certainly holding out a lot longer than Lost Decade or Years Around the Sun at similar sorts of grades.

One of those places that I would love to visit in theory but in practice I can't see how I could ever make it work. I am pretty weak on pockets and I haven't spent any real time on a rope for 5.5 years, so I suspect it would require a lot of dedicated training too...

Goals:

- Maintain my physio rehab on finger/shoulder every week and aim to stay uninjured

- Subject to above, maintain a consistent pattern of 2 fingerboard sessions per week until at least the end of March (starting with 3/6/9 protocol but I plan to move to one arm max hangs at some point)

- Go climbing once a week, have fun, try hard and maintain movement skills

- 3 Font 7s in Font at Easter, assuming we go

- 2 Font 7Bs across the year

These goals feel fairly modest but let's see how it goes... I will plan to review them post Font.

M: shoulder/bicep rehab at lunchtime, otherwise rest

T: lunchtime 3*30 second density hangs, 5 * 3/6/9 hangs with bodyweight+20kg (all on 23mm edge), shoulder/bicep rehab.

W: rest

T: lunchtime 3*30 second density hangs, 4 * 3/6/9 hangs with bodyweight+20kg (all on 23mm edge), shoulder/bicep rehab. I felt a dull ache in my long-running bad finger towards the end of the 4th set of 3/6/8 hangs, so didn't do the planned 5th set.

F: rest

S: had planned to take son No.1 outside somewhere but unfortunately he picked up a nasty cold at school so we had to stay home; rest.

S: Morning session at the Hangar. Felt like I was climbing well but running out of gas quite quickly on harder problems. Low sleep? I did several new purples and reds then spent most of the session working a couple of the tougher whites, on one I did all the moves but didn't quite link them, on the other there was a single crux pull on a matchstick edge that I couldn't hold. Afternoon, I'm planning to do my shoulder/bicep rehab.

This was my first week back at work full time since son No.2 arrived. Apart from son No.1 getting ill later in the week it has gone pretty well. However, I have only managed to fit in weekday training at lunchtime. After work I'm needed to help look after the kids and we don't yet reliably have them asleep before 830pm, at which point I'm knackered, so evenings are out. Early mornings don't work either because I need to get son No. 1 ready for school while my wife is feeding son No.2, then I'm straight in to work. The problem with lunchtimes is that I tend to eat my breakfast early and do a long morning at work, so by lunchtime I'm really hungry and sometimes feeling the cold a bit. I struggled on Tuesday and Thursday to feel like I was 'on it' when fingerboarding, I think basically because at that time of day in the week I am underfuelled for training. I need to find a good way around this that also works with my work schedule. Not sure whether to try and have an early lunch, a second (or oversized) breakfast, or just cram a load of sugar just before training... that last option has never worked for me in the past though. Any thoughts appreciated.

Si

Most family friendly sport destination I can think of? Pleasant rolling countryside, lots of gentle walking, short walk-ins, short accessible routes, brewery in every village, cakes aplenty, neighbouring cities have history/culture on tap.....

Like Font with ropes

To be honest I don't think I could combine family + ropes anywhere. With R having no interest in climbing, a climbing holiday only works if I can look after at least one of the kids at the same time as climbing while she does something else with the other one. She's not really up for spending whole days sat around watching. (Edit, maybe if we were with you guys or another family then maybe I could climb in the mornings while they all had a lie in...) If either of the kids gets in to climbing enough to come and climb sport routes with me when they are older then that would work (S seems to be real enjoying his 'rock club mini' sessions now...), but for the moment I think we are basically limited to bouldering.

Fair enough. Bouldering or crag creche then basically

Yer. And to be fair, I hardly ever have time to go sport climbing in the UK either (trad even less so), so the whole thing is a bit moot! One day I hope I'll be able to do whole days out again.

Thanks again for coming of the bench and providing the comments to push us forwards!  Good goals to fit in alongside a young family btw

Still not completely free of whatever bug I've had, but it isn't really interfering too much now.  I don't have any specific aim with pull ups - they are really about general conditioning, though I guess they have some broad application to climbing.  I am doing weighted pull ups as an experiment, but felt a very slight twinge in left elbow so might wind them back.

Sun Max hangs at +13.6kg - six sets of ten seconds.  3 sets of 3 weighted pull ups at +11.3kg.  60 push ups in sets of 12.  Hip stretch routine.  3.5km run with Julia

Mon Work and rest.  Hip stretch routine

Tues  Pull ups pyramid set to 50.  4 km run with Julia.  General stretch routine

Wed  Max hangs at 15.9kg.  Six sets of ten seconds.  3 sets of 3 weighted at 13.6 kg. Ten sets of 12 push ups.  Leg stretch routine.

Thurs  80 pull ups - 5 mins of sets of three at 30 second intervals.  5 mins of sets of six at one minute intervals and 5 mins of sets of four at one minute intervals.  4km run with Julia.  Five routes at Windgather - too cold.  General stretch routine.

Fri - wall visit, but cut a bit short by work pressures.  7 long routes to 6a+

Sat  Max hangs at 17kg.  Six sets of ten seconds.  5 sets of fifteen push ups.  5 km run with Julia.

At the moment I quite like the discipline of doing a bit each day.  However, I think I may try to condense the fingerboard and pull ups into the same session, so that I get a rest day more often.  I also have an upcoming challenge in that I will be working away for a few weeks, so not sure how i can maintain my fingerboard work - perhaps have to see what facilities they have at Milton Keynes wall!

Frankenjura is not all about 2 finger pockets (on my current project out of 16 holds only 4 are 2 finger pockets). The classic frankenjura hold is rather some strange hole where you are unsure how to grab it, try out different finger combinations for hours and the solution usually is find a way to grab the hold that really hurts, then you got it right

Thanks SidH for taking over the stats. My current training plan is to a ton of repeaters in the next weeks to build an power endurance base and for hypertrophy. Usually it works quite well for me if i have a longer period of repeaters and switch over to max hangs.

There are two reasons why i am doing them one handed: First of all i am using a portable fingerboard that is easy to mount and that you can only hang with one hand (https://tindeq.com/product/v-rings/). The other reason is that i think isolating your hands let you target your weaker hand better compared to normal hang with two hands.

Recap of this week

Mon: L-Sit (floor) 2x15s, Handstands against the wall, 2x8 pike pushups, 2x8 fingertips push ups, 10 Lunges, 30 normal pushups, 45s V-Sit-Ups

Tues: Rest

Wed: Fingerboard repeater session, 6 sets of 6x7s,3s with ~ 3:30 min rest between sets: 

20mm egde:  63,0% of BW average with right hand, 58,6% of BW with left hand

Pinch Block with 11kg

Assisted one-arm-lockoff, 80% of BW, 4 sets of 15-25s at different angles (170° -45°)

Thurs: L-Sit (floor) 2x15s, Handstands against the wall, 2x10 pike push-ups, 2x10-12 fingertips push ups, 15 Lunges, Pistol squats (2-3 on each side), 30 normal pushups, 45s V-Sit-Ups

Fri: Fingerboard repeater session, 6 sets of 6x7s,3s with ~ 3:30 min rest between sets: 

20mm egde:  64,5 % of BW average with right hand, 59,0% of BW with left hand

Pinch Block with 11kg

Assisted one-arm-lockoff, 80% of BW, 4 sets of 15-25s at different angles (170° -45°)

Sat: L-Sit (floor) 2x15s, Handstands against the wall, 2x10 pike push-ups, 2x10-12 fingertips push ups, 15 Lunges, 30 normal pushups, 45s V-Sit-Ups

Sun: Fingerboard repeater session, 6 sets of 6x7s,3s with ~ 3:30 min rest between sets: 

20mm egde:  59,9 % of BW average with right hand, 57,1% of BW with left hand

Pinch Block with 10,7kg

Assisted one-arm-lockoff, 80% of BW, 4 sets of 15-25s at different angles (170° -45°)

Kind of a weird week. Felt absolutely tired at the beginning of the week, then good in the middle of the week and absolutely wasted on the weekend. I am probably a bit fatigued from the last from the hard training around christmas and also had some problem with my sleep schedule this week after i went back to work. The plan for next week is to take a deload week where i reduce volume but keep intensity around the same level. 

Si,

I remember when mine were really young like this, and your actually doing well if you make it to work in one piece.  As I'm sure you know, it does get easier, but multiple children does bring a whole new level of things to get through each day.

Breakfast / Lunch wise, have you considered a milkshake? It can give the energy you need, but without feeling heavy or full, and is often fast acting.

My regular breakfast is: 150ml milk, 25g Whey protein, 1 x banana, 1tsp Caco, 1tsp ground linseed, 1 tsp (heaped) Peanut butter. (obviously in a blender).

I started doing it about 18 months ago to reduce the Wheat in my diet and increase the Protein. 

That's what I was thinking as well, but turns out I'm not quite a bad as I thought (see below).  Had a good week generally until disaster struck on Friday, when I put my back out getting the milk out of the fridge!

M - Rest

T - Indoor Boulders - Local friendly comp, came in 7th, which considering the ones above were all young boulders half my age, is a good result for me.

W - Sport at Portishead Quarry - 7b, 7a

T - Sport at Brean - HVS, 6c+, 7a+,7a+

F - Put back out getting milk out of the fridge, crazy considering I'm really active in work and climbing and train my core. 

S - Can move around, but have to keep upright.

S - A little better, but still really painful when I move.

Thanks SSB. Rehab is going slow and steady, but well thanks. The Physio's got me doing static holds with a portable fingerboard 5 times a day with slowly increasing loads - seems to be making a difference. 

Last week was fairly productive:

Monday

Pull-ups (10 x 4 sets), press-ups (10 x 4 sets), military press (5 x 4 sets), russian twists (20 x 4 sets), twisting crunches (20 x 4 sets), tricep dips (10 x 4 sets) 

Tuesday

Rest

Wednesday

Interval session on Zwift - over/under FTP blocks

Thursday

One arm max-hang testing session (on the uninjured hand! - 20mm edge, 3 finger drag). PB of bodyweight minus 20kg (43kg = 68%) followed by some easy bouldering

Friday

Rest

Saturday

FTP test on Zwift. 4 months of barely riding has taken its toll. FTP has dropped from 4.2w/kg to 3.5w/kg - definitely some motivation to get fit again!

Sunday

Easy bouldering

Plan for next week is to continue with finger rehab and ramp up the cardio work 

That could be a good idea, I'll try something similar - thanks.

Good luck sorting out your back!

Thanks for stepping in Si. Nothing outside for me this week except a bit of jogging, but starting to feel like a resumption of some decent training at the wall.

STG: see where I stand on jwi's sport climbing fitness benchmarks, scaled from 8a down to 7a by the simple expedient of subtracting one number grade across the board. Done: lactate theshold (poor), ancap (ok), anpow (ok). To do: strength
MTG: 1H 2022: onsight 6c+
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M:    One hour cardio (steps-ups & jogging), half an hour mobility & stretching
T:    Beastmaker - learning strict half crimp phase 2.
W:    
T:    Had intended to go to Boulderwelt, but slept badly last night & really didn't feel up to it by the time evening came around. Half an hour stretching before bed.
F:    Yesterday's postponed Boulderwelt circuits session. Seems like an extra rest day did some good: this was the first wall session of the year that felt halfway decent.
    JWI benchmark #3: Anaerobic power at 85% of max/Strength endurance: climb a [7c] 6c of 30 moves 2 times with 30 min rest between the laps. Did a (soft) 6c+. Felt ok.
S:    45 minutes jog/hike in the (freezing fog in the) woods
S:    Perfect bouldering weather in the morning, but I had promised my son the car to go skiing with his buddies. Reluctantly chanced the omicron cloud in the bus to Boulderwelt for another decent circuits session.

Thanks for the stats Si, yeah mostly relatively new problems and some very very new ones. There has been quite a lot of development in the woods recently with more soon to be done I suspect.

Mon. Shrugs, 6 sets of repeaters (+4kgs), 3x10 press ups. Then off for my booster jab.

Tues and Wed. Post booster bleugh.

Thurs. Shrugs, Max hangs (+25kgs).

Fri. Lamp session at Burbage to try the lower start to zaffs. Very pleased to cobble a sequence together and do 3 links that over lapped with the higher start. Very keen to get back there next week. It might take another working session to get the top dialled but it's definitely a goer. 

Sat. Early doors 9km run with 150m ascent. Got a bit carried away and did it at 4.20/km. Long drive afterwards which I was pretty stiff after. 

Sun. Rest, away visiting family, long drive home.

Another week of Sharkathon complete. I’m doing plenty of stuff, but not in a very structured way. Just hoping the focus on some things I don’t usually do will bear fruit. I could really do with boosting my work capacity - get some long days in, get my body used to doing more than short snatched sessions - but it’s less obvious how I might create time to do that.

Made a little progress on planning a holiday for May half term which could be fun - hopefully some time up in the peak.

Monday - light stretching and a few sets of side raises. Achey!

Tuesday - left it very late but some not especially structured stretching and 3 sets each of squats and shoulder press with 26kg barbell.

Wednesday - indoor wall. I mummified my finger to see if that helped by ensuring I physically couldn’t crimp but the bruised feeling returned very quickly. I did a few circuits and did some bar work - 25-30 dips and I spent a little while trying to get the feeling for the “around the bar” motion needed to try to get into a muscle up - starting off with a slight swing and also trying it with a more obvious Kip. This was actually quite interesting as for the first time I could feel what I’d need to be doing - I think I need more power to get through the transition, got to be able to get the bar lower, but at least I could see how it might in theory work.

Thursday - some pushups, planche leans and tuck planche attempts plus an ok stretching session in the evening

Friday - moved the pull-up bar downstairs to encourage more evening pull training (previously in the doorway of one of the kids bedrooms which meant it was unusable after their bedtime; in hindsight I should have moved it ages ago). Also added some attachments to the top of the board to hang the rings off, since opening the loft to hang them from there has less appeal in winter as it encourages the cold air in. In terms of actual training, I did squats 15@26kg and 2x10@36kg, some stretching, 3 sets side raises.

Saturday - 5-3-5-3-5 aerocap. Managed to lower the intensity a bit so hopefully more in the right zone. Then 11km pram pushing with a slightly oversized lunch in the middle

Sunday - spent half the day playing chaperone at two consecutive birthday parties with miniAJM. Afterwards, I let “messing about” overtake training and built a pick-up edge (a one handed portable fingerboard, essentially). After the children were in bed I did some stretching and compression.

Probably not the ideal choice. Part of the approach is a slippery mud slope, so not suitable for prams, and I wouldn't want to be carrying the child in case you slip over. Ally or AJM will have a more valuable opinion as I don't have any children. Grinshill is a lovely family walk though, but in winter too muddy for a pram if that's needed.

6C, 6A, hands-off kneebar, hard 6B then 7A/B. Omitting the last 7A/B section is still 7A up to that point, so you could call it a pumpy 7A into a droppable 7A/B one-mover. Grades, eh?

Cheers for the stats, Si! Had a decent week myself. Enjoyed the local crag, did a really worthwhile highball-ish thing and tried some super burly stuff today.

Last Week:

M - Stretches? I think?

T - Rest.

W - Little circuit with mates at Nesscliffe. Repeated Northumberland Wonderland (f7A) which is always a treat.

T - Rest.

F - Nesscliffe. Quick evening hit working the boulder start of Hang Loose (E3 6b), though it still must be a good 18ft or so to the big break. Hard to see holds and figure a sequence at night, including a heartbreaking wanger sliming off the break, but had a great time in the end. Would be keen to clean the top slab in the spring after work and get the full line.

S - Long frosty walk.

S - Manor Crag. Tried The Severed Ear (f7A+) (defo 7B), sussed the actual hard bit pretty quickly, but spent ages trying some very inefficient beta for the top half. By the time I knew what I was doing I was too tired. Shame!

Next Week:

M - Rest.

T - Rest.

W - Weather looks decent. Some local bouldering, I reckon.

T - Rest.

F - Rest.

S, S - Get outside!

Goals:

Rehab finger tweak.

Get better at trying hard when pumped or gassed.

A Mon With A Spade.

I wouldn't much fancy the slippery mud slope with miniAJM. It might be possible but it wouldn't be much fun and the chances of him not getting covered in mud feel fairly low. When you get to the crag there's a small safe area but only if they can be trusted to stay away from the "other" slippery mud slope approach at the far end, which has no natural barrier at the top of it.

Ok thanks both, sounds unsuitable

Hi All. Thanks for the statting cameo, Si.

All I can tell you about the turbo is it is flipping dull. So unbelievably boring, it even makes box steps feel like a stimulating exercise! Never done anything that seems to make time pass so slowly -keep checking my watch thinking that I must have done another five minutes only to find it's less than 60 seconds since I last checked!

Week 2:

M: Prehab -elbows and shoulders. 

T: Core sesh. Prehab -elbows and shoulders.

W: Prehab -elbows and shoulders (Was supposed to be a turbo sesh, but I felt a bit wiped out so canned it).

T: Max Hangs and Pull-ups. Did a testing session and was shocked to smash the targets I had set in December. I've no idea why my testing session back then was so much poorer -I'm pretty sure that I can't have got so much stronger in just six weeks. Maybe it was a mental thing post injury? Or I was still physically a bit wiped out? Or a warm-up/recruitment thing? Shoulder Prehab.

F: Core and Conditioning. Prehab -elbows and shoulders.

S: Turbo session -40mins, two legged. Max Hangs. Pull-ups. Prehab -shoulders. 

S: Climbing at Scugdale. YYFY!! OK, so it was pretty low-key top-roping but still felt unbelievably good! Highlight was a clean, one-legged ascent of Gillette (VS 5a) -I felt like Johnny Dawes!

Week 3:

5 x Prehab

2 x Core 

3 x Max Hangs & Pull-ups

2 x Conditioning

2 x longer walks to test the leg after cast comes off.

STG -end Jan:

Max Hangs: 75kg total (TICK -misjudged this, actually up to 86kg already).

Pull-ups: 77kg total (TICK -misjudged this, actually up to 90kg already)

Average 2 core sessions per week.

Walk my usual running loop (14km, 450m vert) with a climbing weight rucksack.

MTG -end March:

Run my usual running loop.

Max Hangs: 90kg total.

Pull-ups: 95kg total.

Some Scottish winter routes -no longer fussy what... just anything white on tools!

2022 Arbitrary training goals:

Roll over of last year's running targets: 35km vert and 1000km.

Weighted Pull-up: 100kg.

Max Hangs: 95kg.

Weighted hill climb: 2 laps of RT in 30 mins with 15kg.

2022 Climbing goals:

7a (Possibly one of: Arc en Ciel (7a) The Jim Grin (7a))

ALL of my local must-do list: 0/15

Visit at least five of my 'why haven't I climbed here' list: 0/5

Get at least one session at each of my 'I should climb more at this crag' list: 0/8

Start properly getting to know: Brimham, Almscliff, Caley, Slipstones. 

At least two days from big mountain list: 0/2.

Late summer/autumn alpine trip.

Wahey! Top effort on climbing again, even if it's one-legged TR. How many weeks post-break is that?

There are more sensible choices. I would think a slightly older child might be alright though?

Yep, in the vicinity of Pantywmyn. Full details when I've finished development.

Week 2

M – TV stretches.

T – Lattice block lifts. 5x5 45kg L 47.5kg R. Pull-ups 5x5 “on-the-minute” BW+10kg. 3x20 25kg bench press. Density hangs BW+10kg. Lunges for hip flexors with 10kg kettlebell.

W – An-cap boulder triples, which is considerably harder with Tom’s original timings (boulder/chalk/boulder/15s/boulder) compared to the 1min rest between each rep in Crimpd! I remember that I was powering out on 6C/+’s the winter before doing some hard stuff in 2018, so hopeful that my 7A/+ today is indicative of a good year to come (my aerobic base is woefully short of the 2018 level though, and I have very few options to get a decent mileage in). Later, 7/3/6/1 aero-cap hangs@BW-18kg (~40% felt fairly hard).

T – 5/3/5/3/5 low-end aero-cap as a warm-up. 6x6 F3SHC lifts @32.5kg. Was going to be 5x5 but felt a bit easy. More next time. 10x 1on/1off aero-cap laps of woods.

F – Nowt beyond some TV stretches (focus is on hip flexors at the moment).

S – Last minute pass out. Decided it’s better play The Joker card. Quite warm when the sun was out, but spot on connies with cold cover. Good reintroduction; swapped to the campus method – felt strong enough and the swing after catching the jug should be WAY smaller. Lots of good goes with skin loss concentrated on my right hand from slipping off the finishing hold a few times. Still not had got back to my high point of swinging on the jug though…

S – 2hrs muddy and misty walk around Lyme Park. 40min raking leaves when we got back (typically the weather improved when we were driving home!)

How much did your max hangs and pullups improve compared to your december test? Personally, i've seen fluctuations of my max strength level of up to 10% in extreme cases. Most of the time probably caused by fatigue or not being able to fully recruite on that days.

Also i would not be too surprised of some good gains in a couple of weeks, if you did not do that much max strength sessions before your initial test. 

Cheers Si. Yeah seems like a really good scene there too. Only had three trips but bumped in to the same faces working projects.

Busy first week back in work, and the nipper started nursery, so I only managed half a session and another half day at the Cuttings.

Wed

• Scap Pulls 3x 8 BW, 3x 8 One Arm (+10kg)
• Max Hangs 5x 7s 20mm Half Crimp (+20kg) 
• Weighted Pull-up 5x 5 (+20kg)
• Campus Offset pull-ups 2x 1 (1-4)
• Campus Longmove 4x 1-4
• Campus Bumps 2x 1-2-3-4-4.5
• Campus Go-agains 2x 1-4/5
• Campus Ladders 2x 1-3-5-7, 1-4-5-8 (R), failed on (L)

This felt a bit like I was going through the motions but the 1-4-5-8 on the 20mm rungs is a PB so can’t complain too much.

Sat

Cuttings Boulderfield. Jumped straight on Virgin Albino (f7A) but couldn’t figure out the beta (slopey undercut into a 2 finger pocket in the roof). Tried working the lip start but strained something whilst using the middle 2 on a 2f slot. Repeated Crouching Start, Hidden Agenda (f6B+) which I’ve got really clean now. Had a few goes on Dickhead Plumber (f7A) which was great fun but cut it short due to finger grumbles.

After consulting Dr Google, pretty sure I’ve a mild Flexor Unit Strain in my ring finger to add to my injury list. I’ve got a trip to Scotland this weekend (which looks like wet scrambles more than winter climbing) so will take a 2 week break for the fingers and ease back in to it.

Have a good week!

Also, if the first test was before Tom moved house (?) then the locations and conditions can make a big difference. My BM2000 fingerboard had noticeably more friction in my old cellar than it does in my garage now.

Thanks mate. Six weeks and one day! I know six weeks isn't particularly long, but it felt ridiculously good to be out again!

Good point -I guess at my relatively low weights, it doesn't take much change to be a big percentage increase.

So previous test was Dec 10th (ish) and I was 71kg BW and max hang was a pitiful +3kg, i.e. total 74kg so my (too modest!) goal was to put 5% on that by the end of Jan.

But I was pretty run down then, scared of dropping off the fingerboard on to my dodgy leg, etc. so I may not have been truly maxing out.

In contrast, I maxed out at 86kg total last week and felt like if I hadn't tired myself out on lower weights I could probably have gone heavier. Probably a combination of factors all adding up -hopefully some of them being genuine gainz!

They were done in the same house, but I do notice a bit of difference to how the wood feels depending on whether the logburner has been on for a while or not! Could be another small component to the difference!

So all in all you made ~ 16% gains, maybe 20% if you started with higher weights. I don't think that it is that suprising. First of all, conditions were probably a little bit better. Then you got comfortable with the exercise allowing you to fully push yourself to the limit. And last but not least, you will definately have gotton a little bit stronger if you trained consistently for six weeks. I would guess the real improvement could be around ~ 10%. 

So keep up the good work, but be prepared that you will probably not see the same rate of improvement over the next week.

Makes sense! Now I just need to embrace the law of diminishing returns!

I do like this method of presenting the goals, so will shamelessly copy!  Good for reporting progress over the year (or the first few days of the year in your case!)

Some good bouldering going on there.  Cheshire and Lyme Park?  We must be nearly neighbours!

The only problem with it is that it makes it difficult to hide missed goals! ;-p

Although I reckon that’ll be less of an issue for you than me!

Nonsense!  Yours are falling like ripe plums already!

Great forecast for the Peak this week if anyone's free to get out during the day.

Two week update for being slack - 

Next Week

• Figure out some goals for the year
• 22km trail running or equivalent
• 2 sessions weight training
• 2 sessions bouldering outdoors

Week beginning 3rd Jan

Tue

Local trail run. 6km/155m. Drive to Scotland.

Wed

Savage Slit (Winter) (V 6) with James. First Winter route in two years and was definitely not feeling hill fit. Conditions were great but poor visibility meant at lot of circuitous post-holing trying to find the crag. Led all 3 pitches (didn't bother with the top out as abbed for rucksacks) . Note to self to improve hill fitness.

Thu

Trail Run. Shining Tor 9.15km/350m

Week beginning 10th Jan

Wed

Drive to Wales. Hoof camping gear up Tryfan and Bristly Ridge. 4km/752m

Thu

Walk over Glyders and back down to the car. 8km/333m

Fri

Drive to Lakes

Sat

Pinnacle Ridge (Grade-3) and Striding Edge (Summer) (Grade-1) (Walk). 17.6km/1254m

Sun

Walked into the boulders by Threshwaite Cove Crag attracted by the Lakes guide's 15 minute approach time. Should have known better really and actually looked at the map. Didn't really do much but it's a pretty spot and a nice walk.

Thanks Si. The lurgy hug around a bit this last week too but i am going to tempt fate and say i have put it to bed now.

M - Rest/bit ill

T - Tried an easy session on the circuits at BUK 6a, 6b, 6b+, 6c+ done on the small board. 7a on the big board. 2/3rds of the 7b then got caught up working sections of the 7c with someone. My patient had to come and find me as I got a bit distracted..... Not a bad session after all especially as I only had my baggy comfy shoes I wear with socks

W - BUK - boulders. Gave myself the goal of flashing a V6 and getting a V7. Got the 6 but the new 7's either felt very hard or I don't have much zip at the minute. 

10 mins continuous easy circuits.

T - Gym - quick deadlift session. 5 x 5 reps @ 110kgs. 7/10 RPE

Did a few sets of 5 wide pull ups too.

Went trampolining with my daughter and landed a front flip - very pleased with myself 

F - Possible outdoor boulder session called off due to low cloud and cold. Went to Eden Rock. Again felt lacking in the top end pulling power. Got a couple of V5's but that was it.

S - Walk in the Lakes. We both agreed to cut it short as we were feeling below par. 850m ascent and 7 miles done. 

S - Kendal Wall - technique on slabs for the first hour. 6b and 6c warm ups on the big walls. 7a repeat on the big wall. Just missed a 7a+ onsight on the big wall as I read the crux wrong. 

I did more than i thought last week now i look back.

What I didn't do is any supplementary work. Next week I start working out of another wall, which has a squat rack and weights and BUK have just invested in a deadlifting platform and bench. So no excuses now really.

I aim to climb 3 times this week and get my gym visit and 2 strength sessions done.

Stunning Peak weather, but flat out with work this week!  You've put some miles in!

Top effort on the front flip. Always way harder than back flips!

Oh I went for a front as i presumed a back would be harder. Scarier anyway

Restated with simple tracking...

Peak District stuff - mainly stuff I missed out on years ago

Dangler, Unprintable, Auricle, Black Hawk Bastion, Rasp,  I'd be pleased to do any of these, as grit isn't my favourite style and I'd have to commit some time to grit to have a chance. (0/5)

Black Grub, Armageddon, Robert Brown, Phil's Route, Tower Direct - all three star routes that passed me by for some reason.  Only been on Robert Brown of these and just couldn't find the way... (0/5)

More trad limestone from further afield includes Digitron, Solo in Soho, Tearg Wall and Black Wall Direct, Plumbline - getting to Llangollen is pretty straightforward and I love the outlook and the less familiar crags, so I am drawn to the area - only trouble is that there isn't much to warm up on at some crags there. (0/5)

Sport - project something hard for me.  I'm drawn to the triple around I Punched Judy First for reasons above, but Countdown would be a more local goal.  Onsight a 6c+ at least, though 7a would be better. (0/3)

Visit Scafell - only done one route up there despite living in the Lakes for a while.  Get back to the Cromlech - also viable in a long day.  Get back to Cloggy - had a day last summer demonstrating that it is also possible in a day.  Spend more time in Pembroke - just love it.  Do Mousetrap and Wendigo. (0/6)

Training goals - keep it going through the heart of the season so everything is maintained.  Run twice a week.  Pull ups - build up reps to 15 while keeping overall quantity at 100 - 150 twice a week.  Do weighted pull ups in threes at plus 20 kg.  Max hangs at 135% on main grips.  Work towards a one armer, though it always feels a long way off.  Practice one-arm hangs as it isn't something I have done. (1/4)

Move weight down from 73 kg to 69 kg and keep it there. (1/4 - progress!)

Lots of inspiring routes there. Some of those grit ones are a bit more specialist than others

'Specialist' hmmm.  I think I understand the code!  Tbh, I could probably substitute all sorts of similar grit routes and I'd be happy.  They represent a standard that I'd like to do again on natural grit and they are just ones I haven't done (not even tried most of them).  I'd have to motivate myself to put a few days in on grit and that is the challenge for me - love the places, but can't find much interesting to target these days without walking up a hill in conditions where I could be on Cloggy

Grit is often a good choice on days with a reasonable amount of wind / sun after a period of rain when other crags would still be soaked. Many grit crags are very fast drying (including Stanage, and probably also Higgar and Bamford but I haven't been to those two crags on those conditions.) 

Most of those grit routes are not particularly specialist but you will probably find Unprintable to be hard for E1. Don't miss it though!

You're right of course - many of them are great for that kind of day.  Less so the places where I have plenty of less familiar routes to go at, which really is my challenge  For me to get on stuff I haven't done means progressing through loads that I have done, which isn't as motivating as going somewhere new!

Fair warning re Unprintable, but I quite like a battle.

Aaand ... according to lateral flow tests it might not be omicron, but I picked up something on the bus or at the wall that has mostly kept me from training for the first half of this week. Bugger. Feeling better today than yesterday, but still nowhere near 100%

Childish excitement at instant progress with one of my modest goals;

Move weight down from 73 kg to 69 kg and keep it there. (2/4 -now below 71kg!).  Might revise target and aim lower as my current approach to weight reduction is an absolute breeze!  Dreaming of 67kg...

Also done a day of elbow rehab for a bit of pain on left elbow (not previously troublesome) and significantly reduced already.