UKC

First off, well done to anyone who managed to keep up any sort of training over Christmas weeks, especially those who managed to also exercise some restraint in the calorie intake front.

A new thread is posted each week on Sunday for anyone to jot down their previous week's activity. UKC fitclub 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.

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

Last week’s thread can be found here: https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fitclub_week_613-69760...

You can look back at your previous posts here (to some extent… it’s still a work in progress, this now goes back to FC500): http://ukc-fitclub-user-posts.s3-website.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/users.html **** @Guy - is this still supposed to work? ****

Posters:

Ally Smith – You are pretty much excused this week given the circs!

AJM – Weather has been pretty rubbish up here, you’d have done well to get up NTBTA and Crescent Arete this week…….did you get out at all?

Cyan – I must have missed something, why are you on a boat?

Alan Little – We need to talk about your BHLTG! As I see it there are two ways to achieve this, one is to get stronger and fitter indoors, the other is to find a route and batter it into submission. I know little about the former (plenty on here do) but plenty about the latter. If going for the latter method you really need to start shopping for a project as soon as routes get dry, it’ll take a couple of days on any prospective route to decide if it might be a suitable candidate, you’ll want to do this on a few routes so you are talking about 8 -10 decent climbing days just to work out what you are going to do. If you are going down the former route then you probably need to step up the intensity and/or volume. Either way I don’t think your MTGs are compatible and if it is something you are *really* keen on then it’s probably worth dedicating the next few months to see how you get on (what have you got to lose?). If you are ‘meh’ about it then disregard what I’ve written.

Guy – Good job on getting something done every day (and happy Birthday Jen but you are still getting an absent on the register though). I can’t be the only one wondering why Z1 training is better than doing an extra Z3 – 5?

Somerset Swede Basher – Is that the first time you’ve done a weighted pull up test, if not how does it compare to previous tests? Is middle two a weakness you want to train?

The Sheep – Your swimming mileage for the year is pretty impressive, an average of 22 lengths a day by my calculations.

Ardo – Pleased the MRI results are good, how does the climbing you’ve been doing fit in with the advice to rest?

Powderpuff – What’s the new training cycle, is it pretty strict? Is it something you’ve written yourself?

Ianstevens – I (and possibly others) really ought to follow your lead with daily yoga sessions.

Tom Green – Man, you are a planner! Your Q3 goals look ace although I do still smile when I see things like Jaz and Lancs quarry routes on the same list as the Westgrat and the Schmidt route, I guess it highlights the broadness of our church

Dandan – double fist bump for Transalvania, pity I didn’t bump into you whilst I was there although I did bump into a couple of people you were climbing with (Eddy works at my local climbing wall occasionally and my climbing partner knows Mac from back in the day).

Alexm198 – another who has drunk the TFTNA Kool Aid, hopefully someone can explain the Z1 thing to me….. Good to see you psyched for the pull ups

Biscuit – Boo for the skiing, hurrah for the not eating.

Cheers, putting it that way it does seem a good commitment to getting the distance in.  Fell just short of the 1000km running goal by around 50k and only got 1500km on the bike. Still have learned a lot and have a very clear idea of what I want to achieve next year

Managed to keep some sort of balance between exercise and eating. Made it out for a run on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and today. Nothing major just some nice trail runs between 5 to 7 km

Whatever TFTNA is, I've definitely drunk it. That said, I'm not sure I'd agree with it being kool-aid, per se, given the weight of scientific and anecdotal evidence they cite in support of the training methodology.

I'm not a sport scientist by any stretch of the imagination but my understanding is that the point of the Z1 emphasis is predominantly fat adaptation. The logic seems to be that the time scales across which an alpinist has to exert themselves are sufficiently long that the energy required is better produced by fat catabolism rather than glycolysis. Energy production via fat catabolism occurs optimally in Z1 (50-75% max HR) so spending a lot of time in Z1 optimises the body's fat catabolysis process. 

By contrast, if you trained Z3/4 the whole time, you'd become well-adapted to producing energy by glycolysis but if you relied too heavily on those well-trained pathways on a big alpine route you'd be more likely to bonk hard. 

Last Week (Base Week 10/30):

M: Rest, gentle 1h walk in the hills with family. Probably counts as recovery pace. 

T: Christmas Day 75min Z1 trail run. 11km 310m ascent. Awesome to be out on some rough terrain early in the morning while everyone else was asleep. Promptly undid all training benefit by eating and drinking to excess for the next 3 days.

W: Rest, gentle 45min recovery pace walk.

T: Rest

F: Rest

S: Strength workout. 25min Z1 warmup run, then a full run through the TFTNA core routine and then some sets of BW pull-ups, weighted one-armed hangs and then a squat session up to 2x90kg. Went for a 100kg squat which would've been a PR but bailed out of it. 

S: Had planned on going to the wall this evening but forgot to check Christmas opening times. It shut early. D'oh! Will go tomorrow morning. 

Last week's goals:

[x] 100min Z1

[x] 1 ice mixed max strength circuits w/core routine warmup

[-] 1 day climbing-specific training

Goals:

This week

• 230min Z1
• 2 ice/mixed muscular endurance workouts
• 1 abbreviated ice/mixed max strength workout
• 1 day climbing-specific training

STG (End 2018)

• [3/10] 10x Scottish winter routes. This isn't happening! Thaw over Christmas meant all the routes were in the sea.
• [1RM: 32.5kg] 1RM pull-up w/30kg...? 

MTG (April 2019)

• 2x Scottish VII O/S
• 3x WI6 O/S
• 1x M8 O/S

LTG (End 2019)

• Something big and hard on the Howser Towers
• Caucasus trip - Bezengi Silver Stars or Fowler/Saunders Ushba West Face Direct.

Yes. It has become apparent to me that half a grade a year - my approximate current rate of progress - isn't going to get me up a route four grades harder in two years. Need to have a think about this.

Meanwhile ...

STG (2018): Not sure. Keep plodding on.  MTG (2019): Double digit 7's including Frankenjura 7b+ project  LTG (2021): Redpoint 8a before I hit 60 

M: 

T: Max hangs as warm-up for cooking Xmas dinner. Followed Dave Mason's advice, getting recruited up with shorter hangs at target weight instead of full length at lighter weight; seemed to work well.

W: Had planned to meet friends at the wall, but then came another bloody round of the bloody permanent cold. Binge watched Luther on Netflix instead (jesus, how hot is Ruth Wilson?)

T: Max hangs again as per Tuesday.

F: 

S:  

S: Wall, Freimann. Sick of the perma-cold but getting stir crazy. A mate messaged me to go to the wall; went. Reasonable mileage session all things considered.   

Thanks Tyler. Yes, it’s been a bit grey hasn’t it!

monday - at work in the morning. It’s amazing how productive I can be with no one else to bother me.

tuesday - christmas

wednesday - drive to in-laws in Brum

thurs - checked out the Birmingham Depot. A very good wall, will be back on future visits. Nice and airy, lots of problems, interesting setting. Did a volume sort of a session - about 20 problems from the V1-3 and V2-4 circuits to get going and then got stuck into the red V3-5 circuit, managed 19 of about 26. Even the easier ones still made you think, no mindless jug hauling to be had. Fell off most of the rest too - I was battered by the end of the session. Doing a whole circuit wasn’t really the objective at the start, but even if I’d trimmed the volume of the warmup a bit and played tactics a bit better I think it would have been a challenge to tick the whole thing - I think I’d have got fairly close, but it’s a decent volume of relatively tricky climbing.

friday - nothing, chilling with the inlaws

saturday - drive up to Peak. Nipped out for a few hours in the afternoon to Robin Hoods Stride. A difficult choice at times between windblasted and dry or more sheltered but damp/green rock. Basically did a bunch of easy stuff there and at Cratcliff - Jerry’s Arête was one I wanted to look at but was a bit green and damp looking, and whilst I fondled some holds on Jerry’s Traverse (seepage line anyway, but looks ridiculously poorly endowed with feet) and pulled vaguely onto the bottom of T-crack (again, looks desperate) I’d struggle to class this as attempts.

sunday - mega pub lunch, then maybe 3-4 mile walk back to help burn it off.

Might be doing something, either outdoors or in, today. Looks brighter tomorrow but we have to drive back, so maybe going to try to sneak in an hour or so in before the long drive home. Then back to the madhouse...

Morning Ash - no rest for the wicked - I managed to fit in a few sessions around social commitments and travelling.

Week 51

M – 7.4km run. 39min. First time running in years. Glad of no shin splints.

T – A little DOMS, a lot of turkey.

W – Lazy day at new relatives in Litchfield

T – Substation again. Weird forearm ache/strain, so spent a fair amount of time doing slabby/vert stuff. Finished with an hour on the 45, which in retrospect was probably a mistake. 2x8 dips to finish – WEAK!

F – Drive down to Sussex for mockmass. Forearm strain still present – hoping it’s muscular and not a tendon flexor unit strain

S – Mockmass/gentle walk.

S – Much shopping. I now have a bean to cup coffee machine! Next fit club meet in Cheshire is going to be highly caffeinated!

Thanks Tyler. Yes, first time on weighted pull ups so had no expectations. Need middle two strength for 2019 goals. An active week for me though not near any climbing training facilities at the start of the week.

Mon. 10km run

Tues. 20km on the road bike

Wed. 35km on the mountain bike

Thurs. Finger board repeaters then static core: planks, side planks and superman's.

Fri. Weighted pull ups, about 25 to warm up then 5x5reps all with +10kgs. Failed on lasp rep of last 2 sets. Then leg raises, Jack knives and Vups  

Sat. 5km pram run. 

Sun. Epic endurance session. Reduced rest to 2mins between laps, 11 laps in total, 6c up to 7c, 3 laps on the 7c then back down again. 

Hi All, congratulations on some amazing climbing in 2018!

Thanks for the stats Tyler. Glad my mix of the sublime (Lancs quarried grit!) and the ridiculous (everything else!) amuses!! Having started my climbing around Bolton, I have a soft spot for that style of climbing that never goes away, no matter what awesome venues I sample else where around the world! Jaz (and tooling in general) is more of a means to an end, although I do find it quite satisfying in its own right.

Last Week:

Low key week partly due to Christmas and partly due to managing to fit in a final episode of the lurgy for 2018!

Managed a good tooling session at White Goods, though felt weak and uncoordinated! (First session of the year due to waiting for new tools to arrive). Also a good bouldering session at Grinshill (a real battle with a fun 6A that revolves around locking off really low down).

Week 1 Goals:

Recovery from lurgy

1 Dry tooling session

1 Bouldering sessions

120 mins Z1

2 Core and General Strength Sessions

STG/Q1:

Scottish Tech 7

Cham classic mixed routes

SkiMo summit.

MTG/Q2:

6C in Font

Lancs Aretes

Bowland run-climb marathon

Welsh 3000s

LTG/Q3:

Cuillan Ridge Traverse

Lancs Aretes

Some of: Westgrat Salbit, Cassin on Badile, Grand Montets Ridge, Cordier Pillar, Innominata, etc.

XLTG/Q4:

Jaz

Schmidt Route

Lancs Aretes.

Hey Tyler, thanks for stepping up to the stat-ting hot seat. "how does the climbing you’ve been doing fit in with the advice to rest?", the 64 thousand dollar question. Got referral for physio, so looking to get booked in asap and get a definitive answer on this. I suspect, like most on this thread, that my idea of rest differs to that of the consultant and his usual patients. I'm keeping active, but not pushing hard at the mo, so will discuss with physio and amend training accordingly.

Mo: General walking, 7.3 miles. Rest day.

Tu: Country walk, 11.1 miles.

We: Country walk, 10.9 miles.

Th: General walk, 8.2 miles. Rest day.

Fr: Gen walk, 8.1 miles. 1 trad route before the rain.

Sa: General walking, 7.6 miles. 8 probs; 1 lap LB warm-up, 5 laps LB; MH, (4*12/180); IDH, (4*4*10:10/60).

Su: Country walk, 8.8 miles. 5 lead routes.

Same as last week with a mix of training and Xmas eating. Diet ok, aside from excess Xmas food and drink. Xmas enjoyed, review of 2018 and 2019 planned over the next few weeks and hopefully some dry grit to climb.

Hi fit clubbers

Its new year so I think I better jump back in again and start reporting so I don't lose focus. Looks like everyone has been busy. hope you all had a good new year

I have a confession to make I'm turning more into a runner these days than a climber so I need to try and sort that out its just easy to get out for an hour run instead of all the arrangements that need to be made with child care to get out climbing.

M - 9km, 124m accent, 06:00 min per km z1

T - Rest and lots of food

W - 17.9km 539m accent, 05:54 min per km z1

T - Indoor bouldering - only there 45 min so just played about

F - Rest

S - AM - 10.3km, 204m accent, 05:46 min per km z1

     PM - 5km, 59m accent, 04:41 min per km z3

S - 21km, 592m accent, 06:38 min per km z1

      Took the kids swimming and done a few laps with them

Hi Tyler!

Re: the boat, I live on it

Mon: Ran five ish miles round the coast. I'd forgotten about hills.

Tues: No exercise whatsoever.

Wedns: Run. Couple of miles on the coastpath, back by road.

Thurs: Rest. 

Fri: Wall. Short boulder.

Sat: Portland. Bouldering. Up to 6b, sat underneath Nu Breed for a bit.

Sun: Portland. Bouldering. Super close to Years Around the Sun. Maybe next time?!

Thanks for the stats Ash. Well right now I am reporting the zones I was in rather than aiming at doing specific workouts, and it is an estimate since my garmin has died Generally I have been trying to do more Z1 rather than less of the more intense work in order to improve aerobic endurance/stamina rather than time I can spend at/near max capacity, with the intention of it having more cross into alpine climbing endurance. As Alex said it's just targeting different energy systems to faster running.

Recently I haven't done enough miles or long runs to make it worth relaxing the pace so I have been slipping into z3 workouts, thats what I end up in if I 'just run'- neither fast nor easy, and not especially good training Z1 is also what I end up doing if I run with Jen, she is a good pacer. 

There is a run club at my new office which is fairly competitive and pushing me to do a max effort once a week now, not a bad thing since I never run that hard by myself, but a bit different. 

Monday: Morning routine (pullups, pressups, knee to elbows, assisted one leg pistol squats)

Tuesday:  Xmas day 5k park run. Came 21st out of about 150, would have done slightly better if I wore trail shoes for the extremely muddy course.

Wednesday: Rest/eat

Thursday: Rest/eat.

Friday: Bouldering in the loft, flashed a v6

Saturday: 1:20 z3 run, 4x 8 mins on 8 mins off autobelay aerocap. Thankfully felt a bit better than last week.

Sunday: 45 minutes z1 run, Bouldering session on backwall. 

Really I should have run on Wednesday and climbed on Thursday as planned but used xmas excuses. In the end I did get all the sessions I planned in, but could have been better.

I'm going to spend the next 2 weeks continuing to settle into my current routine- 3 climbing sessions including an aerocap session, 3 runs, and morning workouts before work. I feel that this simple approach has been working well for the last few weeks and has let me deal with Christmas stuff without worrying about fitting everything in etc. It is a sweet spot amount of exercise for me where I don't feel too lazy, but it isn't all consuming, and I do seem to be progressing slowly (at bouldering). 

Thanks Ash! My posts were a little absent in the latter part of last year but I have been doing some exercise and have improvements - NY resolution: write my UKC posts. Core is improving for 666 front lever goal and I have also started to increase my pullup reps and distance for running.

Max pull-ups: 8

Total distance run: 21km

Last week I managed my first V7 so pretty happy with that and the decision from the Castle to make all their gradings for problems easier.

Mon: nowt - home for Christmas

Tues: 5km park run - better time than last year.

Weds: rest

Thurs: rest

Fri: bouldering 

Sat: 9km, 6.17min/km.

Sunday: 7.12km, 6.13min/km. Bouldering - completed V7 (worked the previous week).

Also, meant to post this: https://www.uphillathlete.com/consistency-process-dopamine/?utm_source=News...

Thought it was an interesting read.

Thanks for taking over the stating Tyler, much appreciated.

I got into doing them about 4 years ago, as a new years resolution in fact. Clearly stuck, although I tend to slack a little on trips. I only do 20-30 mins, mainly in the morning. Helps me to have a good stretch out, wake up a little and maintain my degrading flexibility. It's now a habit that's hard to break (not that I'm going to try of course!)

Goals:

STG (end 2018): 1) finish at least one of two long-term projects (weather depending) - Beltane (7b+) or Deliverance (f7B+);  2) complete planned strength and power sessions for the next 6 weeks (missed one session out of 18); 3) 600 hours of training this year

Some scope for Beltane next Monday (cutting it fine on the 2018 thing) if the weather plays. 

Managed 2 and 3 (by 36 seconds) last week. As for 1... well it was sunny on NYE and I was in the quarries. But that's for next weeks post! Going to need some new STGs next week, thinking of training specifics to match my plan.

MTG (April 2019): 1) Climb >10 7s (sport) - off to NZ in April so ideally before then but always scope to add some there if I can find a partner (>24 in terms of equivalent grades). 2) FKT on the Routeburn Track (33km ish, ~1250 m elevation) - currently stands at 4:57 AFAIK.

LTG (end of summer 2019): Depends on winter progress - either a 7c or an 8a. Don't be shit in the Snowdon Skyline race (Sept 2019).

Last Week:

Monday: 1) Yoga; 2) Social climbing at the Castle - routes <6c, boulders

Tuesday: 1) Yoga; 2) Trail run (got to earn christmas dinner!) 8.4km, 160m elevation; 3) Foam roll

Wednesday: 1) Aylsebury Boxing Day 5km - first 5km race in ages, first road race in years - 19:34 which is about a minute of my fastest; 2) Yoga

Thursday: 1) Climb, Big Rock Bond, boulders

Friday: 1) Yoga; 2) BRB (again) social session

Saturday: 1) Parkrun (21:00 but it was muddy an I had road shoes on) and some extra, 12.8km, 154m elevation. 

Sunday: Rest (aka driving all day)

Next (this) week:

Some time in North Wales on Monday/Tuesday for NYE, so a last ditch attempt on finishing Beltane in 2018. Then back to work on Wednesday, and a bit of an unstructured training week this week before some direction again next week. Aiming for the standard 3 climbing sessions, 2 strength sessions, 2 max hangs and 2 runs, which should be do-able if I can get back into routine. 

Hi Tyler , thanks for doing fit club this week.

New training cycle will be 10-15 problems a session.....not too strict as I've not been  climbing for 3 weeks and i need to ease myself in gradually. Its basicly the VIR CIR training written in "self coached climber". 

Getting over the man cold from hell  and Christmas meant no training again last week, but I'm at the wall now writing this post so at least the rut is finally over!

Thanks Tyler,
I forgot all about saying hi to you, although our visits only overlapped by a small amount, is that right? It's a small (climbing) world, it seems there are only about 2 degrees of separation between any two climbers in the world!

I had a pretty good week considering it was the first week back from a holiday, the first session of pulling on plastic is always a miserable experience but it actually went ok this time around. Halfway through the week I realised I should probably check my Lattice plan so there was a bit of panic when I discovered I had 6 sessions to squeeze in somehow!

M-W: Competitive eating

T: Indoor routes; 8 min on 5 min off x3 and then just playing with some of the new routes. There's a shiny new project route that's in the region of 7c+/8a and it's pretty decent. Not as hard as the route it replaces I reckon, but will take a few goes for sure.

F: DIY Club, made a start on my side gates

S: Indoor Boulder; working hard project routes then nipped into the gym to do bench, squat and shoulder press.

S: More DIY club. Was supposed to be doing another boulder session but ran out of motivation, I also missed a fingerboard session this week, naughty Dan.

I'm not super motivated for training right now but i'm going to plug away at it for January and see how I feel, perhaps I need another break from the regime. It's not that I've lost motivation for climbing generally, i'm currently very keen on outdoor routes, i'm just lacking any enthusiasm for putting the hours in on the plastic.

I'll get a whole bunch of new goals for the year planned out next week, i'm just not sure where to focus my energy quite yet...

666 Goals:

Horny Lil' Devil/Mark of the Beast/Camino a la Perdicion; 0/3
+66kg weighted pullup - +60kg;
666 one-arm pullups - 45/666;
666 ‘good’ handstands - 32/666;
66 routes at 7a and above including 6 routes at 7c+ and above - 23/66 1/6.

Going crazy here... new year psyche has come up against new year lurgy.

Obviously sensible to avoid the cardio stuff whilst I'm still coughing up a festive green colour, but what are Fit Club's thoughts or experiences of strength training through the lurgy? 

Is it:

a) A good way to prolong the lurgy and delay recovery?

b) Harmless but unlikely to yield any worthwhile gains?

c) The correct and productive choice for the dedicated Fit Clubber?

WWOD? (What Would Ondra Do?!)

I'm going to go with somewhere between A and B depending on the state of your lurgy. My guess would be that your central nervous system is busy enough doing it's lurgy fighting business and probably won;t appreciate the extra workload of trying to recover from strength training sessions. 

Best case, B, worst case A, but either way not worth it if you ask me. Frustrating I know but just try to think about the long game.

Thanks mate. Just needed telling!

Cheers Ash. Late-ish post for me. Well the not eating too much (at one time) has gone OK, but I've been constantly hoovering up chocolates and mince pies at my Mum's and work. Sorted myself out now and resisted chocs at work yesterday so feeling very proud of myself.

I should report on a Sunday as I forget what I've done. Two sessions of climbing I think?

Depot - got a couple more on the WBL before that round finished.

Kendal - tried to get a couple more on the WBL but failed. 

Leg/shoulder physio going OK.

No skiing done.

Went for a great run up Hellvellyn. 

I need to get a bit of a focus again. I was doing well prior to Xmas. Starting back at uni next week and been told to expect the busiest term of the entire degree. Great! 

Going to crack on with WBL's and leg/shoulder physio for now and my V6 BUK goals for week 666. 

This Summer i'd love to just get out climbing but that feels a bit vague. I'd like some more mountain trad and hit Chapel Head a lot. Need to start musing to see me through the next few months with some inspiration. 

To play devil's avocado for a minute, when I've been in a similar position I've read that if your lurgy is above the neck (e.g. cold, sore throat, headache, whatever) then normally you can get away with light workouts (especially recovery pace cardio, which I've actually found beneficial in the past). Conversely, if you have any symptoms below the neck, e.g. fever or upset stomach then rest completely. 

That said, I'd agree with Dan's assessment that any hard training will stress your CNS too much and delay recovery. 

So my two cents would be that you could get away with some light workouts, and particularly with cardio it might be worthwhile (you probably wouldn't see gains but you might prevent losses). But there's always a risk of overdoing it and that would be bad.

Can't remember what I did last week but at some point I completed the wood circuit at BUK, as usual with me it was a beta change rather than getting stronger that did it. Still don't think it'll make a good training circuit for me.

Other than it was Christmas so I ate like a pig.

Cheers Tyler.

AWOL week:

M-T: work

F: ski touring Austria

S-S: ski touring and wall sessions at Zell wall. Mad children running around mats but great bouldering. Got most of the Schwer circuit (6C-7A+) and one of the Sehr schwer (7B-7C). Didn’t get to Innsbruck wall due to flight and Christmas opening hour timings. Next time! Zell was a good base and flying into Innsbruck rather than Munich saved lots of time.

Last week:

M-W: travel and Christmas. The lowlight was Christmas Eve Heathrow-Oxford-Bicester-Slough-Lewisham. 

T: first day in Morocco - a few single pitch E1s and recced a couple of walks ins to new areas

F-S: multipitch HVS-E2 

Uh no it doesnt work at present.. I had to disable my AWS account after an incident. You can remove the link for now, I'll try and cobble it back together and get it up at some point.

Just for future me. 

M - S - Nothing you fat lazy so and so. Well apart from moving some boxes around the place.