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_728-7317...

This week I stumbled across an actual Psyche Vid: an oldie but I don't recall having seen it before. Chris Sharma working First Round First Minute, falling off a lot but not giving up. youtube.com/watch?v=JCqe96jtExU&

Fit Club fourteenth birthday this month. What are you doing fourteen of by 25th March? 

AJM - aha! A case in point with the unplanned deload weeks. I had hopes of combining a uk trad trip with a family visit this summer but, like your Frankenjura idea, I think that might well be getting postponed for another year.

alexm198 - with three months to go to the Ultra, I assume it's matter of sticking to the plan and putting the kilometres in now?

Ally Smith - sounds like a couple of good board & finger sessions, not to mention the Shropshire esoterica ticks.

BarneyLoosemore - no runs but plenty of other stuff. Hope there's plenty of entertainment & gainz to be had on the rejuvenated board.

biscuit - great to hear when it's all coming together

Liam P - proof indeed that planned deloads work. Excellent.

Ross Barker - plenty of actual bouldering in the circumstances. What's the connies window like for Rigpa between drying out and getting too hot & humid?

Si dH - hope you and family are recovered?

Somerset swede basher - Little Plum does sound like a good result for the winter's training. And Cemetery Park looks rather impressive for an artificial boulder - a bit like half of L'Éléphant.

the sheep - I hear you on the "training heavy" strategy. You're still putting in a decent number of sessions though, even if the runs are shorter.

Tom Green - very glad to hear you're starting to cardio recovery. As well as getting out bouldering obviously.

Tyler - great day out regardless of grades: correct attitude! 

AlanLittle - another good day of spring outdoor mileage

STG: Weight back below 85kg - eat when hungry not when bored. Start Couch To 5k.
MTG: Go climbing after lockdown? Get vaccinated before I get infected. 
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber by 2021. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

In which I should probably have listened to my own sermon last week about voluntary vs involuntary deloading. This turned into a desultory, low motivation week; I would probably have been better off just chilling for a few days.

M: rest
T: Beastmaker repeaters, scap pulls (two-arm and assisted one-arm), calf raises
W: 45 minutes bike to warm up, then ten minutes jog-walk intervals. Not as good as last week - slight calf twinges. Probably need to step up the skipping in addition to calf raises.
    Half an hour stretching.
T: Max hangs, shoulder presses, calf raises
F: Had intended to get another session in on my very cautious return to running programme, but I bruised my knee embarrassingly falling off my e-scooter (yes I have one)
S: 
S: Comedy attempt to go climbing at Schönhofen again. Woke up late, packed in a hurry, forgot my climbing shoes. Hung out in the sun with friends, practiced my barefoot technique on a few easy pitches, had all in all a very pleasant day.

Lockdown here is extended to the end of the month, surprising nobody. Lockdown One was seven weeeks; I didn't expect this one to run for five months.

Cheers Alan. Certainly the rest meant I started this week strong, although I’m feeling a bit wiped out right now - the feeling of constantly being on edge that possibly some of the other parents can relate to - that feeling of waiting for the next stumble, the next argument, the next thing to break - has worn me out a bit today!

14th anniversary fitclub goal - 14 quality relevant sessions by 25/03 [4/14]

I think my plan is to try to do 4 sessions weekly the next few weeks, maybe a 5th if possible, then finish the last of the 14 early in the week of 25/03 and then swing into a short sharp taper to hopefully leave me raring to go over Easter.

This week was mostly campus week, and something of a YYFY within the limited horizons of “training on wood”! Takeaway messages:

- Feeling like solidifying 1.5-3-5 and 1.5-4-5 is now a work in progress

- I can hit but not match 1.5-2-5 and I can miss but overshoot - at some point the two things will combine and I’ll get the hold with enough to be able to engage on it and match

- 1-4-5 - only once, sure, but everything has to start somewhere!

Did some other training too, a decent push session on Monday most notably, and a moderate amount of walking too.

Monday - glorious sunshine but a cold wind. Took the afternoon off - basked in the conservatory listening to music and then it was campus time.

1. Started strong 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1 one side and most of the other

2. 1-3-4

3. 1-2-4, albeit the last one rather messy

4. 1.5-4-5

5. 1.5-3-5

6. 1.5-2-5 - touched the hold both times but didn’t hold. Feels a long way!

7. 1.5-3-5 - ticked one side, touched but didn’t hold on one side

8. 1.5-4-5

Standout best campus session to date [written on Monday!]. Admittedly 1.5-2-5 still feels like miles but a few sessions like this and the 3 & 4 combos will feel pretty steady. Then did some pushing. A few sets of pushups to get going then trying tuck planche holds and the progression from L-sit. I wasn’t filming but this again felt like a good session.

Tuesday - busy day, rest

Wednesday - campus day.

1.-3. - 1-2-3-4, 1-3-4, 1-2-4

4. 1.5-4-5

5. 1.5-3-5

6. 1.5-2-5 - hit the hold both times but couldn’t match. Progress...

7. Tried 1-4-5 but not very close - 1 is a worse hold than 1.5, the starting position is more bunched so more difficult to generate power from, and maybe also fatigue starting to kick in.

Given fatigue I decided to stop there. Didn’t feel as snappy when starting off as on Monday, and maybe my middle attempts felt not quite as neat (a bit more swinging and sometimes touching the frame with the lower body - unavoidable to some extent given the setup), but at the same time I still did the 1.5-4-5 and 1.5-3-5 ladders again and saw some progress on the 1.5-2-5 attempt - so still a session in which I moved forwards. Also about 5 miles of walking to drop off and collect the car for its MOT.

Thursday - my birthday. A day of overindulgence and rest. Got some WideBoyz soft grip for the crack trainer amongst other things...

Friday - busy day at work; also rest

Saturday - 3 campus sessions in a week is a lot maybe but it’s just a bit more fun than fingerboarding and sometimes you’ve got to follow the psyche.

1.-3. 1-2-3-4, 1-3-4, 1-2-4

4. 1.5-3-5, fumbled one side hit the other

5. 1.5-2-5 overshot the hold both times

6. 1-4-5, no success but managed to touch 5 on one side at least

7. 1-4-5 - ticked it! On one side, admittedly, but on the other side I got my fingers over the top of the hold so fairly close

Psyched - 1-4-5 I’ve now done at least once, and some good goes on 1.5-2-5 as well.

Then 2 sets of face pulls. Followed by a walk with miniAJM: just shy of 10km albeit broken up by lunch and some chatting

Sunday - some front lever holds and then messed about with one arm shoulder shrugs/static holds. I think 10kg on a rope over the bar and doing 2-3 shrugs was maybe the sweet spot. 

Thanks Alan.

M: Afternoon - 5*5 pull-ups with bodyweight +23.5kg. I only did 3 then 4 reps on the first two sets as I didn't have time for as full a warm-up as usual. Still feeling rough so skipped planned core session and ate fish n chips instead.

T: Slept well and feeling at least half better. Lunchtime - caught up on hip mobility session and 3*10 second L-sits from yesterday. This was good, I felt like I had an inch more hamstring length than usual so hopefully there is some real improvement going on. Evening - 6 sets of 30 second scap pull-up exercises on the incut edge with bodyweight + 17 kg.

W: rest

T: Afternoon - 6 sets of repeaters on the incut edge with bodyweight +5 kg. The first three sets were 6 X 7 on / 5 off and the rest were 6 X 7/3. Easier than expected - I must have been particularly weak when I did some 7/3 repeaters on this edge and got pumped the other week. Evening - TRX - four sets each of reverse flies, flies, IYWs and hamstring curls.

F: Evening - hip mobility routine and a third of the crimpd floor core session but then ran out of time.

S: morning - finished off yesterday's floor core routine, then rest. Pretty much over the bug by now.

S: Did a Board 10 session in the morning. Picked one of the hardest problems on the board for problem 9; got pleasingly close to repeating it in 5 goes but then realized I had nothing left for problem 10. Decent session.

Decent week. Starting to get itchy feet with stay at home orders ending in 3 weeks and a fortnight off work booked...

Si

Thanks Alan, this week I got excited by the good weather and sacked off all training and just went climbing, and it was great!

Mon. Tired from the wkend but keen to do something in a short window of opportunity so went on a beta solidifying mission to Infinite Power on the cemetery park boulder. Didn't do all the moves but think I know how to now so should be a productive session making links next time I'm down there fresh. 

Tues. Rest. 

Wed. Went to look at the Tolerance Block. Its on Hallamshire golf course land so thought it would be good to get in before the golfers are allowed back. Clearly I wasn't the only one as it was covered in chalk with a hold newly missing from the middle of the face. I did Tolerance LH (f7A) quickly and the 6B arete to the left much less quickly but I guess that's grit for you. Tried Tolerance but couldn't really get off the floor. Headed up to Rivelin Quarries after and on sighted Mini Beak (f7A) then couldn't touch the 7A+ just to its right.

Thurs. 7km run

Fri. Rest. 

Sat. 'Woo woo'. Hear that? It's the sound of the sunny saturday send train stopping at station Wharncliffe this week! Managed a headpoint lead of Desolation Angel (E6 6b). I flashed it on the top rope, did another 4 laps all clean then cleanly led. Also took a look at the other E6 there too (Dragons Hoard) managed all the moves eventually but not in one. We didn't have a small enough cam to protect it anyway so leading it was never an option.

Sun. 15km steady mtb ride, easy trails. 

Hi All. Thanks as usual for the stats, Alan.

Week 9:

Ticked all planned sessions but fell off the wagon a bit with the prehab. Must be more disciplined this week -it really doesn't take much time or effort, so there's literally no reason not to do this!

M: Rest.

T: Trail run: 5.5km, flat, 5:24/km. Prehab (arms).

W: Max Hangs. Strength sesh. Prehab (arms & legs).

T: Board sesh: limit bouldering. Good progress on some problems -feels like fingerboarding is actually paying off.

F: Rest -unplanned but felt quite tired and sore.

S: Max Hangs -accidentally ticked STG by miscalculating the additional weight. Maybe I should mess up the maths more often, and test if it's just my mind holding me back! Strength sesh.

S: Bouldering at Grinshill. Fairly casual session, but pleased to tick Crab Pincer (f5+) -a grudge match from a couple of years ago -more confirmation that working on finger strength is starting to transfer to the real thing. Trail Run: 5.7km, flat, 5:17/km.

Week 10:

Daily prehab

2 x climbing

2 x max hangs

2 x strength

2 x run

14th Birthday Goal:

14 consecutive crack laps: 1 lap is up+down. A lap may be on hands, fists or mixed.

STG (End Q1):

Max Hang total 79kg (TICK!)

Weighted Pull-up total 83kg (on target at 81kg)

Jug circuit 5-on, 3-off

Board Problem 'GTH'

Curfew (6b+)

Run average 25km/week and Edale Skyline (Not going to happen, given the four week lay-off, etc)

MTG (End Q2):

Max Hang total 84kg

Weighted Pull-up total 88kg

Jug circuit 10-on, 10-off

Board Problem 'Le Grimpeur' (Tick!)

Eliminator (V4)

Grid Iron (6c)

Black Wall (E1 5b)

Run average 35km/week and Cheshire Gritstone Trail

LTG (End Q3):

Yates' Layaway (f6B+) 

Jack the Smuggler (7a)

Black Wall Direct (E2 5c)

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

2021 Goals:

35 E-points

Run 30km vert and 1000km

Nice one. Desolation Angel looks like a great line. Top work!

Happy Birthday -Wide Boyz soft grip is a great prezzie -I got some for Christmas and it has been a game changer for my fist crack (the wood didn't give enough friction for my crap teacup-jam technique, but with soft grip it's cruisey!)

Yes but you must warn me if I'm getting into "the best climber is the one having the most fun" territory! 

Another pretty slow poor week with only one poor session at the Outhouse, however, Saturday I went to the market on the bike and discovered none of my cycling fitness from last summer survived the autumn and winter. Today I went for a very sedate loop from Edenfield up Top O'Leech which I made even harder for myself by forgetting that its the small cog at the front for going up hill!

Work might be a bit shit this week

Cheers Tom. I've not done loads of headpointing (less than 10 routes spread out over nearly 15years) and I'm still not sure I like it but it was pretty awesome heading up that arete! 

Yes but you must warn me if I'm getting into "the best climber is the one having the most fun" territory! 

Another pretty slow poor week with only one poor session at the Outhouse, however, Saturday I went to the market on the bike and discovered none of my cycling fitness from last summer survived the autumn and winter. Today I went for a very sedate loop from Edenfield up Top O'Leech which I made even harder for myself by forgetting that its the small cog at the front for going up hill!

Work might be a bit shit this week.

Restrictions permitting I'm going to the alps for a couple of weeks with my wife this year and hope to do a fair amount of climbing whilst there so will also be looking for partners if anyone is not put off my constant whinging about injuries.

Cheers Alan.

Work got in the way this week but I still managed to chip away at my last few Lockdown STGs.

Mon - Rest

Tue- Hangboard Moving Hangs 4:30/2:00/1:30. One Arm Push-ups 5/4/3

Wed - Handstand Push-up (Head 3” off the floor) 3x 2.5, 1.5, 1.5. Pull-ups 3x3 (40mm edge)

Thu - Rest

Fri - Hangboard Moving Hangs 5:00/2:15/1:40. Handstand push-ups (head 3” off the floor) 3x 2.5, 2.5, 1.5

Sat - Pull-ups 4x4 (40mm edge)

Sun - Rest

I always get motivated by reading everyone else’s posts and there’s a lot already:
campusing, lots of weight on the hangs, E6 leads! and what I really need to start again...running!

Top job on stats as always, Alan!

Not sure, I only had the this breakthrough a couple of weeks ago and it's not been too hot since, but I feel like it might make the lip hold (can you even call it a hold?) even worse. Nowt I can do about that, though.

Rigpa still eludes, this week. I think for the health of my fingers and my mind I will give it a couple of weeks off, especially given that I may have now injured my right ring finger A2 with no discernible cause

Last Week:

M - Rest

T - Rigpa. Bad session. Couldn't stick the crux and it was really getting into my head and it's affecting my mood. Don't really know if I can chalk it up to anything in particular except being one of those days. I think I'll have two (at least) weeks break from it and do other things, maybe repeating old things, or maybe doing some new off-piste 7A-ish stuff around Grinshill.

W - Rest

T - 85 pushups

F - Rest

S - Secret crag. Lovely day, nothing too crazy but tried a hard linkup a few times, long way off yet. Ring finger A2 felt dodgy so didn't crimp anything too difficult with that hand - not sure what causes it, didn't have any tweaks before the session, maybe I tried to warm up too quickly? Also had a few comical falls resulting in me rolling down the hill a bit.

S - 65 pushups

Next Week:

A lot of this depends on the severity of this A2 issue I've got, but if it's just a slight tweak...

M - Grinshill? Nesscliffe? Llanymynech? Dunno, but the weather gets a bit crap after today so wanna do something!

T - Rest

W - Density hangs, 5x5s, bar core

T - Rest

F - Rest

S - A cheeky visit to Rocher Fingeurboarde? Maybe try that hand jam problem at the dugout.

S - Rest

Goals:

Don't get injured (stupid bloody A2)

Suavito (on hold)

Tierdrop (on hold)

Rigpa

Thanks Tom! Yeah that needs to be one of my goals for the next week or so really, to fit it to my crack trainer. I built it in lockdown 1 but then as it dragged out I focused more on finger strength and stuff so despite one really useful session practising various widths of fist jam in it it's been fairly underused since. But with hopes of some trad reappearing on the horizon, in Cornwall perhaps or on the grit, I should work on the thumb pump and general technique once more!

It's never really something I got much into - I tried it with a friend once but the route in question had a very blind crucial wire placement, so it all felt a bit Russian roulette and once I'd toproped it once or twice I felt like I didn't really have any great desire to lead it - I knew I could do the climb so whats the reward for the risk, effectively?

I always thought it would be something to do on better protected trad - quasi sport climbing, effectively! But never got round to it. Need to find the right line! 

Nice one

That looks a ballsy route. Well done! 

Thanks as ever Alan.

Yes it feels like things have come together but the underlying fatigue has caught up with me a bit.

After the Monday (my best ever bouldering day) i was wiped out on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Thursday was a half hearted board session.

Friday was a big day at work with nothing done.

Saturday i felt like i had a cold. I'm not sure if i was a bit run down which led to me catching something or if i'd caught something which led to me feeling a bit run down. Had a more successful board session but was still definitely lacking that little bit of power. It was also my birthday so there was a lot of cake and general over consumption

Sunday - a lovely day out doing some guidebook checking. Did some scrambling, a VS that was about VDiff, seconded and E1 and put up a new E2. Micro routes really abut 8-10 metres high. Fantastic day out.

I'm not sure what to do this week. I seem to be in a bit of a training dip, whilst actually climbing well. I'll have a think this afternoon and plan the next 6 weeks out and see if my training mojo comes back.

Tape up your right-hand; it's a solid jam but bit my flesh when doing it the first time without tape/jammie.  

Absolutely! I've tried it a couple times earlier this year when the weather was proper crap, the crux is keeping the tension to go for the break. Should be finger friendly, at least.

Cheers for the stats again Alan

Felt a bit wiped out this week. I've slept "okay" and eaten reasonably well, but training sessions have been fairly "meh". Skin and cuticle splits have also been an issue. I've written myself a brief training plan, aiming to be peaking in May when I have first block of SPL booked. Really hoping the Welsh border is open and I can get back on one of my Orme projects by then...?

Week 9

M – Nowt.

T – Started with a lacklustre warm-up boulder including a few failed attempts on my remaining 7B benchmarks, but lacked any pounce. Moved on to 1-arm max hangs at BW-9kg (the new “90%”) which felt desperate: Evidently not fully recovered from the Saturday beasting in the dug out. COMPEX core/groin rehab (can feel long-term groin strain a bit from Saturday kneebar antics)

Armlifting: Rolling Thunder & Lattice edge. Good, but split middle finger at first join on final set.

W – Brief aero-cap session; 5on/3off x3; hands circuiting, feet on the floor. Started to set aero-cap circuits with wooden holds. 5x5 fat gripz DL @90kg (~75% 1RM).

T – Rest – low the lawn!

F – Short session; felt heavy and $hit - probably shouldn't have bothered. Finished setting wooden circuit.

S – 4km walk across fields with squiggle in sling.

S – 1hr boulder; few 7A flashes in warm-up. Tried and failed to do a 7C with anti-style big lunge for diagonal crimp. Retro-flashed another 7C though. Split pinky at first joint; taped up and tried 10x 1on/1off aero-cap on the new wooden holds. Definitely need to work on the difficulty of the lower traverse, which is way too bunched and cruxy and caused a bunch of 40-50s failures.

This sounds like a totally bad ass exercise, what is it though?

It's a story of exacting revenge on floppy wrists until they're as strong as a metal hook...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Thunder_(film)

And it's also a revolving weight lifting impliment for 1-arm deadlifts that forces you to engage wrist flexors

https://www.pullumsports.co.uk/products/ironmind-rolling-thunder%C2%AE-revo...

Got mine as an eBay bargain

Thanks Alan! A great week in terms of psyche & feeling strong, maybe less so in terms of training plan diligence.. was supposed to be a deload week but couldn't resist the allure of the mini-Moonboard and ended up having 3 board sessions rather than 1. I'll try to take it easy this week to make up for it

M - density hangs, limit bouldering, bar core, stretches

T - rest

W - frenchies, curls, push-up variations

T - density hangs, limit bouldering - great session! Finished off the remaining 6A+ benchmarks and got through a good chunk of the 6B's. Felt strong, loving the new holds

F - rest

S - density hangs, limit bouldering. All but two 6B's done! Started projecting a cool 6C - single moves done, just need to piece them all together

S - weighted shoulder stability/mobility, curls

Afternoon Alan, thanks for the stats. 

Yes, I think so. In a sense, this has always been the plan! But I am hoping that in the next few months I can start getting a bit more vertical gain on the runs and put in some on-course recce runs, and incorporate some gym-based leg work if those facilities ever open up again?! Basically from April or so I am going to start a sort of periodised strength/vertical endurance period in the running to build on the base I've built so far. 

Week 14:

Good running week, though I did miss the core workout. Made up for it by ticking an MTG off the list. Slightly worried about how training-dense the weekends are becoming, but I'm sticking to the plan and haven't blown up yet, so maybe best to continue trusting the experts.

M Rest

T 9.24km Z1. Ran to the office to pick up some paperwork before going to the Kreusverwaltungsreferat for some delightful German bureaucracy. You haven't lived until you've run down the Ludwigstraße with a plastic document wallet rustling in your running shorts.

W 16.03km Z1. Shin prehab.

T 10.01km Z1. 

F Rest. Shin prehab.

S 31.51km Z1. Felt good, stopped a couple of times to quickly stretch out knees and they seemed happy enough. 

S Himmel und Hölle on the Zugspitze Nordwand. Significantly more hölle than himmel. Several factors made progress slower than we'd hoped: lots of fresh snow on the route, making the mixed climbing slow and the snowfields a wade; the inaccuracy of the weather forecast, which meant that the promised 'sunny spells' were, in fact, heavy snow throughout the day with basically zero visibility and strong wind in the afternoon; the fact that I ended up leading 1100m of the route, so I was pretty fried by the end; the fact that 'the end' was one of the most psychologically testing pitches I've ever climbed in the mountains (steep, tottering, protection-less choss with the very real possibility of killing belayer/chopping rope/decimating the team that were foolish enough to follow us up the route). Topped out at sunset and my partner requested we doss in the lift station. At the time I was annoyed and wanted to crack on down, but in retrospect this was the wrong call, the descent was involved and we would've got lost or had an accident. Can at least confirm the Zugspitze lift station is a more comfortable night than the Midi toilets! Overall, 17.6km/+2000m, of which 1200m was the route, difficulties up to M5+/M6 X.

Last week's goals:

• 75.6km running (blimey that seems like a jump!) [66.79/75.6 + training effect of Sunday]
• 1 core routine [-]
• 3 shin prehabs [2/3]
• Zugspitze nordwand?! [Tick]

Goals:

STG (This Week)

• 70.8km running
• 1 core routine
• 3 shin prehabs

MTG (End of June 2021)

• Finish the Zugspitz Ultratrail
• Himmel und Hölle on the Zugspitze Nordwand [Tick - 7th March]
• Optimist on the Schneefernerkopf Westwand
• Eiger nordwand if borders are open and partners can travel

LTG (End of 2021)

• Himalaya Expedition (or plan B)

Not half as cool as it sounds unfortunately! Still another thing to measure....!

good efffort, that sounds pretty hard core, especially for a weekend hit

Sounds hardcore. Effort!

Thanks both, I'm certainly looking forward to doing some extreme coffee drinking next weekend instead...

Impressed that you were comfortable to head up that kind of a route after doing 30km the day before! Respect! 

Never mind taping for the hand jam... it’s the finger lock at the lip which is hungry for human flesh!

You guys inspired me to finally check out  the dugout... mostly above my pay-grade but Doug feels temptingly close to being doable. Cheeky beta request: do you guys use the finger lock on the lip thumb up or thumb down? I really wanted to get it thumb down, but didn’t have the reach to catch it that way. 

The dugout is cool but I only ever go there when the weather is truly awful and I'm sick of the hangboard hahahaha!

Finger lock on the lip? Eh? My beta is as follows:

Lunge RH deep in crack for solid jam

Span LH to the pinchy lip

Move RH shallower nearer the lip but still the same crack (after this some people get a kneebar in I think but I can't seem to do that), is this the fingerlock in question? I didn't find it too bad, but not really jamming properly?

Keep heels on the back shelf for maximum tension and get RH onto the slopey hold ok the face

Try really really hard to throw for the juggy break

Now this might not be the ideal way as I've not managed the last move with this method, I'd be interested to hear how you'd do it.

Edit: When did all the problems here get names, too? Back in my day they were just numbers, I say!

Yeah! Only just clocked that 30km warmup... defo not climbing in the Alps with Alex this year... much too fit!

I think your pinchy LH must be my finger lock?

So my sequence (so far unsuccessful!) is:

Pull on from jug to RH hand jam. Feet high and span to lip, with LH thumb up finger lock in the crack just around the lip. Knee bar, with R knee in crack. Move RH to a shitty crimp round the lip (just R of the LH finger lock). Fall off.

I worked out some better foot beta (L foot on shelf on back wall, R foot jammed in hand crack) which I hope is going to allow me to go for the break despite awful core tension. But then it went truly dark and I called it a day, so haven’t properly tried this sequence yet. 
 

For what it’s worth, I also love a good numbered problem. Seems more like traditional, soulless bouldering!

My cunning plan involves water bottles being already filled for the next day & dinner cooked by the time I make it to the bivvy

This bit of beta seems to apply to the whole cave, it seems...

I usually prefer a named problem but given how many lines and sections and links and whatnot, I feel like this venue is better suited to numbers anyway (then again, I also don't tend to like weatherproof caves all that much!)

It doesn't stop, it just changes. In my case it's "where is the teenager, who is he with, is it safe to go to bed now?" And I can scarcely imagine how much worse it must be with daughters.

Excellent detailed beta discussion of an obscure problem at an obscure venue, love it. I do like a good hand jam, it makes me want to go and try the problem when I'm allowed out, although I suspect I might be disappointed by the quality..?

Yeah I've decided for the most part I'm only allowed to try and do these big routes if I can fit them around long runs in the training plan! Not sure bivvying in a car park is the recommended way to recover after long runs, but at any rate, everyone talks about 'time on feet' as a big component of ultra training so I'm hoping this weekend will be a good one to have in the bank.

I'd be keen to partner up for some alpine adventures, Eastern alps is easier for me but I have a car so can get to Chamonix or the Ecrins easily enough. 

Let me know when you have an idea of dates, maybe we can figure something out. I expect after June I'll have my own injuries to whinge about too, so no worries on that front!

Err, what finger jam?

Beta alert:

Flattie at the back; R heel on; RH hand-jam; R foot at base of crack and R knee into widening in crack.

LH to lip; RH to sloper (below weird gaston jug thing); LH back underneath to undercut finger jam and compress hands to release R-knee from crack.

Double heel-toes at back of roof; LH back to lip, then pull through to jugs in break. Cutting feet optional - you can get a foot jam in the pod to reduce cut loose, but for links it might be better/quicker to take the swing and smash on?

I wouldn't say it's worth travelling for, but if you happen to be nearby and everything else is too wet then you might find it worth a visit.

Can we rename the Fit Club to Dugout Beta Club?

I think you and Ross must be too strong to need the finger lock!

I get a really good finger lock in the circled bit of the crack around the lip. From Ross’s beta I’m guessing he uses the crack as half of a pinch along with the arrowed hold?

Sorry everyone not interested in Shropshire caves! We’ve hijacked this week for BetaClub!

A little further left with the thumb where the crack would be if it continued, as shown in the front page of Sean's guide: https://shropshirebouldering.co.uk/public/images/home/home.jpg

Any beta not pertaining to Shropshire caves will be ignored and shunned!

I have accepted the inevitable with regard to the direction of upcoming Esoterica Psyche Vids.

That looks hard work. I definitely don’t have the finger strength for that. I’m going to have to stick to my finger lock!

You must have reet skinny fingers to get a jam in the that tiny crack!

Yep! Tiny little child fingers. It’s quite hard to pull through with a thumb up lock, but your beta has given me an idea for swapping to thumb down once I’m more established. I’ll keep you all posted... I’m sure the non-grinshill FitClubbers will be on the edge of their seats! ;-p

I am expecting a fully edited video of all of your ascents and subsequent fistpumps, pointing out minor beta differences and set to a suitable soundtrack. Screenshot from Twitch if necessary.

Meeting up would be great and at the moment I have last week of June and first week of July pencilled in but that is contingent on being allowed to travel. 
I wouldn’t expect anyone to travel far to climb with an old crock like me so I would head east. It would be great for me to see somewhere other than Chamonix for a change. I’m sure you have routes you want to do in Cham but I’m probably not the person to do them with!

I want side by side synchro-climbing footage with swoopy yellow & magenta arrows, Udo Neumann stylee

Ideally involving Ai Mori hanging one-handed off this alleged fingerlock whilst casually chalking up.

Words can't convey how excited I am for Shropshire bouldering this spring/summer, to publicise this new crag and hopefully get a dry spell to have a go at Golden Sally (f7A) (among the others on the same wall).

Definitely need to organise a tour de Shropshire esoterica when the restrictions lift off a bit!

It's been a long time since I posted on here, hi to everyone who's still posting. Great effort!

I'm going to start posting again if you don't mind? Life has got rather low, I'm currently struggling day to day with PTSD, and climbing for many reasons has had to take a back seat in recent times This has been frustrating and demotivating in and of itself. Then covid happened.

In the summer of '19, after a year of no climbing, I went to Switzerland for a month and managed to tick 6c second go. I was happy with that, as that's my highest grade but I sadly took a fall before a first bolt a week later and tweaked my ACL badly. Since then, there have been dislocated fingers, uncontrolled asthma blah blah blah and the latest was cutting through to the bone on my pinkie with a circular saw just two weeks ago.

I've climbed two days outside in all that time and perhaps ten times indoors. So starting from the bottom of the hill and upwards feels a difficult place to go.

So I'll start reporting this week if that's okay. It won't be much by others standards but progress is progress.

Welcome back to rehab club! 

Welcome back!

Delighted to hear from you again!

Nice one. Great to have you back!