UKC

Good evening everyone, just a quick reminder that at the end of the year I'll be stepping down as the stats minister. I can't remember if we decided on who'd be taking over, but just a quick heads up in case anyone wants to have a go!

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_fit_club_week_818-7541...

Steve Claw: Good effort on getting the project done. I think everyone can empathise with mucking things up on "the easy bit" when it should be in the bag!

AlanLittle: Solid training week. The mobility thing might not necessarily be mobility, but rather strength at the limit of mobility? Keeping a distant foot weighted gets harder the further up the other foot goes, which I think on steep boards is a very valuable strength. More board scenes coming this winter, then?

Tom Green: Top effort on the running STG. That leg fracture seems so long ago now, glad you're happy with how it has progressed. Surely the swim is training for British DWS?!

SteveJC94: Good training and weekend ticks. A Little Extra Direct is a tough one, escaped my grasp a few years back. Hope the flapper is healing up nicely, they can be proper grim!

Somerset swede basher: Shame you got rained off after looking promising on it! Another kick in the teeth falling ill again. Decent training at least, hopefully you'll recover quickly. Seems to be a lot of bugs going around at the moment.

Ally Smith: Great training work despite what sounds like a busy week. I think you'll find in that rushed session you were complimenting some of my new ones Shame the lurgy has got to you as well. Same as SSB, hope you bounce back soon enough.

Derek Furze: A challenging week indeed! Sounds like enough to keep you ticking over, and general S&C from the digging can be spun into a positive. Best of luck in this busy period!

biscuit: Nightmare! Sounds like it's healing quickly which is positive, hopefully it's been more of that this week. Cookie dough caramel cake might not be conducive to a climbing physique but, phoar, it sounds delicious! (and just the thing to perk you up when injured)

Randy: Great training week, the boffins at lattice got you working hard! When does the outdoor season start again in your area, or is it quite variable?

Liam P: Yup, take it easy on that. Bit of light work to ease it into shape should be good, I reckon!

AJM: Sorry to hear about the slump. Happens to everyone now and again, even I'm in a bit of one at the moment I think given the weather and the short days, they crept up very quickly this year! Doings odds and ends when you can is great, but don't be too harsh on yourself for not doing X exercise in the evenings - it is nice to pull hard, but there is so much value in just a fun session. I guess that's a reminder for anyone else who feels like they might be getting burnt out, do something fun! Outrageous silly eliminates, one-legged climbing, stylish french blows, etc. 

Evening everyone, challenging week for me, but more challenging for my poor fiancée! In hindsight I could've done some stretching or fingerboarding but to be honest I was just a bit bummed out about the situation. Got out on Sunday to an empty crag which was pleasant.

Last Week:

M - Rest.

T - Weigh-in at 78.1kg. Other half tested positive for COVID, so no gym this week!

W to S - Rest. Somehow remained covid-free?!

S - Solo hit to the Bala Boulders, nobody else there as expected! Bit of a siege on L'appel Du Vide (f7B). Couldn't get the heel to stick for ages, then spent a minute focusing on exactly which part of the toe on the other foot to place to get the hips in the correct position, and it went next go.

Spent a decent bit of time looking at and fondling the holds of Black Sapphire (f8A), the holds all look surprisingly decent. Sure, it's dead horizontal, but it has holds! Might be one for a future, stronger Ross?

Had a little scramble around the scree above, looks like some hard microroute potential but that's not really my scene. There is another boulderfield further west that might have something but will save that for another day.

Next Week:

M - Rest.

T - Rigpa.

W - Rest.

T - Moonboard.

F - Rest.

S, S - Bouldering.

Goals:

Antagonists.

Improve DIP joint conditioning on microcrimps?

Rigpa.

Thanks Ross, yeah, looks like it's going to take yet another visit. This week has been a complete write off due to illness. Shivers and shakes on Monday, stayed at home Tues and Wed too. Back to work Thurs and Fri sponsored by paracetamol. Shakes and shivers returned yesterday but today I've got through with no drugs and have just felt tired. Hopefully I won't be wiped out by work tomorrow and normality may return by mid week. I hope so as it looks like this wet weather might finally be taking a pause.

Thanks Ross. Another entry in the UKC Sick Club from me this week.

STG: Winter 22/23 - do an actual off piste ski tour
MTG: April Kalymnos trip with my son: tick at least two things from my wishlist
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M:    Rest. Light stretching before bed, including the Official Fit Club Box Split Test, on which I managed ~97% distance between inside of heels divided by height when only moderately warmed up. Thus supporting Ross's suspicion that whatever my newly discovered weakness at high feet on the board is, it probably isn't lateral range of motion. 

T:    Repeaters
W:  Wall, Elements. Volume bouldering session. Discovered a secret third kilterboard in the kids' room, entirely empty after the kids had gone home to bed - good chance for some high feet training.
    Misjudged the weather and got wet on the bike on the way home. This seems to be a bit of a recurring theme in my Fit Club entries.
T:    Too dark & wet to go out on the mountainbike in the woods, so took the other bike out for some urban cardio instead. Was shocked to find Christmas markets already open - wut!?

F:    Had planned another bouldering session but had a cold.
S:    Still had a cold. I hope! Covid self-test came up negative.
S:    Feeling considerably better, but cancelled a planned trip to the wall with friends anyway in case I was still infectious or not sufficiently recovered.
    Went out for an hour's gentle pootle on the bike instead. Late autumn, late afternoon in the woods: pretty but slippery.
 

Thanks again Ross and yes, the year end approaches!  I am able to cover January, February and March as originally promised, but also happy to do April, May and June instead if someone else is keen.

A really busy week with new work commitments so managed a short session of max hangs early in the week.  I was off-colour and not really engaged, so I packed in before finishing the session.  That said, my current garden project is hard labour and I am wrecked from every session on this anyway.  Who knew digging out trees could be quite hard?

Climbing tomorrow!  Hope it stays dry.

Cheers for the stats once again Ross :-D

Unsurprisingly, work and home stresses have combined to run me down sufficiently to catch myself a delightful enterovirus. Most adults are immune to hand, foot and mouth, but seemingly I didn't catch it as a child and hence i've had the full plethora of symptoms this weekend.

Week 47

M – Nowt. Jaded from overnight Squiggling. Daughter ill with H,F&M. Rest. Bit of bicep and shoulder DOMS.

T – $hitty workload continues. Felt like I ought to do some exercise, but motivation wasn’t there.

W – Unstructured board session. Normal warm-ups up to 7A flashes, then attempts at “Just Training” and “Powerslave Trainer” both 7C+ BMs. No success on either.

T – Warmed up on the FB before 1-arm dead-hangs. Crimpd timings; -2kg LH and -3kg RH x6 hangs on BM2K central slot. 

Sling test results on drag/open; see discussion on UKB for a screen grab of the results. I need to do the crimped version this week, but even without those I can see that my ring-finger needs to up it's game.

F – Fever, shivers and thumping headache

S – More of the same, #germclub

S – A face full of horrible itchy pustules #rashclub

Thanks Ross.

Another good week, but concerned I might be cutting it fine with the increased intensity as I have feedback pain where both forearm muscles attach at the elbow (Medial Epicondyle?).  I working away for a few days so hopefully it will settle down

M - Rest

T - Woody Board power hour and a few boulders including a V7 flash (an achievement for me)

W - Cleaned and worked a new project "Nighmares" which is a 10 degree overhanging 12m wall covered in a smooth calcite(?) layer with tiny holds, relentless with no resting points.  Probably 7c+ or possibly harder. Core-shot another static.

T - Rest

F - Woody power hour - Didn't push too hard as not fully recovered from earlier in the week.

S - Took my 2 boys for a boulder, which I haven't done for a while. Great to see them starting to get it, and looking to actually do the coloured problems as apposed to just play.

S - Rest

Yo yo. Thanks, Ross -top statting as per.

Slow start to the week -mild lurgy.  

Week 47:

M: Lurgy. Rest.

T: Lurgy. Rest.

W: Fingerboard, Strength, Prehab. 

T: Prehab.

F: Bouldering at Bowden. Fairly chilled session with highlight being Manta RH (f6B) (although this has clearly never been 6B in its life). 

S: Dry tooling at Masson. Short sesh, but pleased to (almost?!) get an STG leading Chelly Express (D7) placing gear (as well as clipping the bolts -I like my ankles, and the rock is suspect!) -probably can't fully claim this as I was too pumped to clip the proper lower off and clipped the chains on the adjacent route instead! However, it felt like a good marker for the Scottish season being able to stop and place gear (one piece for each bolt).

S: Trail run. 20.9km, 599m vert, 7:12/km. Felt like a good adventure -first headtorch run of the winter, squinting through the mist up on the moors!

Week 48:

M: Bouldering.

T: Fingerboard, Strength, Prehab. 

W: Run. (Or maybe tooling).

T: Prehab.

F: Bouldering.

S: Run or hill day.

S: Fingerboard, Strength, Prehab.

STG -end Dec:

Triglav N Face -TICK.

Stewker (E1 5c) -TICK.

First of Many (none 5b) -TICK.

The Night Watch (VS 4b)

Gauche (VD)

Minion's Way (HVS 5c)

Roof of the World CD Problem 4 (V1)

Angel's Wall (f5)

The Cruel Crack (f5)

Overhanging Arete (f6A) -TICK.

Delstree (HVS 5a)

Tufted Crack (E1 5c)

Chelly Express (D7) placing gear. (TICK)

Three big mountain days >1500m vert.

Ultra-distance run.

Weighted Pull-up: 85kg. Max Hangs: 80kg. (Adjusted down to reflect recent lack of training)

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

2022 Climbing goals:

7a (Possibly one of: Arc en Ciel, The Jim Grin, Rock & Roll, Clink) -TICK

ALL of my local must-do list: 6/15

Visit at least five of my 'why haven't I climbed here' list: 3/5

Get at least one session at each of my 'I should climb more at this crag' list: 5/8

(For lists see FitClub 772)

Start properly getting to know: Brimham 2/3, Almscliff 3/3, Caley 0/3, Slipstones 3/3.

At least two big, classic alpine goals -TICK

Actually, the outdoor season has not even finished, yet. Managed to get in another session in the Frankenjura on this weekend, but i am pretty sure that this will be the end of the season. For sport climbing season usually start ends of february/beginning of march and if you want to you you could Boulder also during the winter, though i am not a big fan of that.

Recap last week:

Mon: The Lattice fun continues. In hindsight should have taken another rest day, as i did not feel 100% fresh:

• Repeater test + 7kg: 1:55. Was supposed to be done at 70% max, but i miscalculated it to 72%. Probably i still lacked some oxygen in my brain from Saturday's effort
•  2 rep Pullup max: +45 kg (160% BW)
• Ring-Exercises
• Front Lever: Failed at the position with one leg bend. Generally, i can hold the position but i am not strong enough in my shoulder to get into the position with a straight arm, which was required to get the points

Tues-Wed: Well-earned rest

Thurs: Final Lattice Assessment session (some recap and thoughts further down below)

• Max hangs, 20mm egde one handed for 5s: right hand with 10 kg assistance and left hand with 12 kg assistance; got close on both hands to hold it with 2kg less assistance but in the end narrowely missed the 5s mark
• Repeater test @ 60% Max, BW - 5kg: 3:45
• Max BW Pullups test: 21 reps with good form 
• Hollow Body Hold: 45s
• Plank: 4 minutes; luckily 4 minutes was the max score and you were allowed to stop after that mark
• And the final highlight, side plank: barely missed the 4 minutes cutoff with 3:45 on the left side and 3:30 on the right. Needed 5 minutes rest afterwards to be able to get up again
• At this point the test would have been finished. But as i did the 70% test with the wrong weight i decided to redo it with the correct one after a 20 minutes break. Managed to get to 2:15, pretty sure that 20s more would have been possible if would have been rested

Fri-Sat: Rest

Sun: Season finale in the Frankenjura. Very miserable conditions, 2-3° and quite moist after a lot of rainfall in the last days. Got back on Chasin' the Trane (Helmut Albrecht Gedenkweg) (7c), where i got shut down beginning of October. Despite bad conditions it went much better this time. Could do all the moves and got close to linking the crux boulder. Top part felt also much better, though it definately helped that i stayed in the crack system this time, instead of trying to climb the 7c slab right next to it

Recap Lattice Assessment:

In hindsight a little bit more effort, than i thought it would be. 3 testing sessions in my opinion a little bit too much. Maybe it would have been better to spread it out a little bit instead of doing the session back to back, but i wanted to get it done before my next trip to India this weekend. All in all, some exercises are imo a little bit superfluous and one could have probably shortened this to 2 days. I am also a little bit surprised that there no campusing exercises or anything else that measures your power output

Summary Lattice Results:

I am above average compared to my current grade in every metric including flexibility. Was a little bit surprised that my aerobic endurance was even better than my max strength in comparison. I did not train that much endurance and on the rock i always felt that endurance is holding me back. Maybe it is more a technique / overgripping problem that i sometimes get pumped out of my my mind on relatively easy climbs. Apart from that, conditioning was also way above average and as far as i understood the report, my push and pull strength is balanced.

The important question is npw of course, what to do these results? I probably need to think a little bit longer about question, but one finding is that my endurance is better than expected. Hence, i think it is fine to keep that at maintenance level for the moment. Also my technique is currently holding me back way more than my level of strength. Easy fix for that would be more time on the rock, though that will be hard to achieve in the next year with my current lifestyle.

Thanks Ross, brilliant set of stats as ever - really appreciate the effort that goes in to this! Thankfully the flapper's healing nicely so I've had a decent week of training.

M - Varied Grips hangs @ 80% (BW + 15kg). 3 sets half crimp, 3 sets 3 finger drag. Project bouldering on comp style problems. Floor core (10 x 3 twisting crunch; 8 x 3 dish tuck; 8 x 3 superman)

T - Rest

W - Pyramid (V4 x 2; V5 x 2; V6 x 3; V7 x 1; V6 x 3; V5 x 2; V4 x 2). Weighted pull ups @ 85% (BW +18kg - 3 x 5). Push ups 10 x 3; shoulder press 10 x 3.

T - 6 problems in 6 minutes x 3 sets. Core (8 x 3 ab crunches, back arches 10 x 3, kettle bell twists 15 x 3

F - rest

S - Board projects 

S - Flexibility and stabiliser conditioning

Thanks Ross. Great statting as ever.

Yes, the cakes at BUK are amazing and I felt I deserved it.

I am pleased to report that it is healing quickly, and I managed to get a decent week in. No hard moves for this reported week.

M - Lancaster 10 mins on/off x3 on 6b circuit

Stretch

T - Half hour run

Stretch

W - BoulderUK - Max hangs. Single hand, middle BM2000 rung. Minus 10 kgs off each with a pulley, but my left felt way more controlled than my right, which was a surprise.

Stretch

T - Rest

F - Boulder at Kendal up to V4/5

Stretch

S - Lancaster boulder up to V4/5 and broken halves (2 blocks) on a very intense 7a circuit.

Stretch

S - Another big walk 21km and 1100m ascent.

What’s the story with the big hill walks, Biscuit? Just getting out and enjoying your back yard, or is it gearing up to some mountain-based shenanigans?!

I foolishly bought Rachel a book with 36 walks to tick all the Wainwright's, mentioning that I used the book to do them all in a year ages ago. Cue the 'hold my beer;' moment (wine actually) and an entirely arbitrary challenge to tick them all in a year. 

It gets my cardio in and keeps the hill fitness for mountain walk ins next year.

Haha! Created a monster! There are definitely worse ways to keep the cardio ticking over though!

It's been one of those weeks where I had to check back to see if I had posted! Looks like I didn't. I was away for the second half of the week, full on adulting doing a presentation at an industry conference. Did some pushups and hamstring rehab in the hotel. Then a busy weekend at my parents place, did some gentle walking and stuff.

Eek, already missed a week and perilously close to missing another.

Week 818

First visit to Boardroom, made sense on the way back from Manc but 45 miles from home is a long way!

Short session on my board, warm up traverse now done in two sections!

Week 819

Short session on my board, still not managed my warm up traverse, resigned to buying some new jugs!

Depot Manc, when I was coming here regularly and going well I’d manage most of the reds in a session. Managed most of the reds in a session, including solving one with my first ever Moon Kick. Might have to make regular trips back to Manc to help my ego. 

My wife and I have that book.  A couple of the walks were definitely interesting.  Sadly we never quite finished them.  It's a good set of walks if you want to tick them all quickly.

Yes it is good. I used it years ago to do just that. I started planning and had maps all over the lounge floor and then saw the book in a shop in Keswick. Problem solved!