UKC

UKC FitClub Week 792

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_791-747486?v=1...

Morning FitClubbers,

Cracking week of training and a good uptick in activity to coincide with the nice weather. Tyler is now the proud owner of a ‘Snowdon Half T-Shirt’, Ally casually drops in a 40kg hang after a 2 and a half month break, and we nearly lost Alan to a Wild Boar. Another week in FitClub...

Stats:

Sheep: Happy days. Sounds like you’re almost back to full fitness. Hopefully get a full training week in this week.

Derek: How long are you hanging the Max Hangs? I usually go for 7-10s but have played around with up to 30s hangs after reading Beastmaking. I like the positive mental attitude after Egerton – ‘got spanked…can’t wait to go back’! Thanks for the reminder on the handover – it’s creeping up. Next week will be my last set of stats then you’ll post on Sunday 5th June?

Alan: Good uptick in activity. The Sunday MTB outing sounds epic. What are your thoughts on the electric MTBs? I’ve never tried one, and thought they were a bit of a cop out, but looks like you still get a good workout but don’t have to push uphills as much.

AJM: Good effort on the tickathon. The 7’s are starting to fall thick and fast!

SSB: Strong week of limestone esoteria at Odin.  

SteveJC94: Bugger. You were going strong as well. Hopefully it heals quickly. Any signs it was about to go or was just an overexuberant pull? If you can still cycle 75km with the injury then time to work on the engine.

Tyler: Another big….GET IN! And fuelled by a jumbo sausage roll 😊

Ross Barker: Taller and lighter than me…wish I hadn’t asked! There’s an interesting table of ‘BMI v Fingers’ in the Fun Bloc Font Guidebook. He recommends a BMI of 25 (may be me at the minute…) only climbing 6s and fingers attached to a BMI of 21 can handle 7b-8a. Sunday sounds like a bit of a beast – hope it was dry when you got there!

Ally: Thought you’d forgot to post then you drop in with a +40kg Max Hang after a 10-week layoff! Very inspiring and made me pull my finger out and get back on the gain train. Lakes holiday sounds quality and like you got loads done.

Tom Green: Have you ever tried writing it down in a ‘Beta-Map’? It’s far too organised for me but seems to work for some people. How were the legs after the Grinah walk in/out? Good effort getting one of your goal routes ticked!

Biscuit: I have the same preference for front-squats - seem to be a bit kinder on flexibility/biomechanic issues in the hips. Looking forward to hear what you get done in Reiff.

Steve Claw: Another cracking FunClub post. Some big routes going down at Bosi.

Planet Marshall: Great week. 5 days climbing and 1 day in the gym. What Top Rope Solo set-up have you gone for?

Randy: Great to see you back training Randy. Pre-Covid fitness should be back in no time.

Have a good week FitClubbers!

Bit more cardio this week as I make attempts to lose the holiday weight gain. Another indoor session and finally made it outside for my first sport routes of the year.

Mon

Leg Rehab

• Calf Raises 3x 30
• Leg Extension 3x 15 (BW)
• Single Leg Glute Bridge 4x 16
• Banded Crab Walk x 4
• Knee Raises 3x 12

Pull Strength

• Rope climber 3x 1:40
• Weighted Pull-ups 3x 5/6/8 @ 22.5kg/11.5kg/1.5kg

Finger Strength 

• Max Hang 20mm4FD 4x 7s (22kg)
• Pinch Block 6x 7s LH(16kg)RH(18.5kg)

Cardio

• 20km Watt Bike (20:32)

Tue

Cardio

• Road Cycle 10km 136m Asc (35min)

Wed

Cardio

• Road Cycle 9.7km 143m Asc (30min)

Thu

Climbing wall

• Parallette Push-ups 3x 10
• 20mm Finger Pull-ups 3x 5
• Route Pyramid 10x routes up to 6b

Sat

First outdoor sport routes of the year were as depressing as expected. Terminal Pump after 10-12m of 6a then needed to dog the last section, followed by flailing wildly on a couple of 7s despite AJM’s best beta. Only positive was watching AJM work Zinc Oxide Mountain!

Yes to the dates for the handover.  I will start June 5th.

The things we picked at Egerton were anti-style for me, which is a good thing to do every now and then.  There are others there that are more my thing and plenty more to thrash about on!

Did three runs this week - all 6.5km and all early morning. Other than that, I have had loads of finishing off work as this week was an end point for my current group of practices.  Went climbing Tuesday to Crummackdale - loved it and saw lots that I would like to do, so will schedule another visit.  It was a bit of a flying visit and the crag was wet in quite a few places, so only three routes - Little Pink Clare, Sausage Fat and The Older Generation (no jokes please).

Lakes from Monday - can't wait.  Haven't done five days on the spin for years now.

Cheers Liam, and thanks for the great run of stats, you've done a grand job.

Mon. Rest

Tues. More limestone esoterica but at a different venue , tried a 7C I've done the 7A+ stand start to before. Repeated the stand from a bit lower than before but couldn't find a way to do the sit. The FA keeps feet in the low plinth all the way to the good hold on the right but I can't reach it with feet that low and couldn't work out any normal sized beta! I'll come back for another play but there's some other stuff I'd like to try first.

Wed. Went for a cycle with someone that had done more cycling this week than I've done this year. It was faster than j could really cope with but I just about clung on to the back with out getting dropped but never took my turn on the front! 46km 640m ascent 26.3kph.

Thurs and Fri. Rest. Small Swede shares another primary school bug with us all.

Sat. Chee Dale but not feeling very energetic. Highlight was a flash of Egyptian Bizarre (7a+) although it was a bit of a shambles at the top when I dropped what I thought was my last draw for the belay, grabbed the lower off so someone on a nearby route could chuck me another one, then realised a had two tucked round the back of my harness. Happy to take the tick even if it's slightly tainted. Also spent some time cleaning up a dirty 6c+ which I toproped but ran out of time to lead. 

Sun. 10km steady cycle with the kids. Might possibly head out for a short run later, well see how I'm feeling! 

Good afternoon everyone, solid stats as always Liam.

Yeah I saw that myself. I'm not too sure on the science behind it, other than "more weight -> more load -> more injury" so haven't really paid too much attention, especially considering a lot of stuff in Font isn't particularly fingery.

It was! There was the occasional light drizzle but the rock dried instantly thanks to a hefty breeze. Legs were thankful to not be doing so much walking this weekend!

Very quiet week from me, excluding Saturday. Been busy with other stuff, and when I've had the time I've just not really felt like doing anything! Bit annoyed as long-term consistency is the key to steady gains, but hopefully this week will be a bit better. Payday will probably help

Last Week:

M to F - Rest. 77.6kg weigh-in.

S - North Wales. First tried The Last Dregs (f7C) but the crux felt a bit beyond me, so shuffled up Milestone Crack (f7A) as a consolation. Tried Saturn (V7) a few times but it's a right faff solo as each fall slides the pads down the hill, and then it started raining! Took shelter in The Pit and surprised my way up Harvey Oswald (V7). Sitter is on my radar though probably beyond my fingers at the moment. Later drove to the pass and tried Bus Stop (f7B+), got desperately close to topping it but just didn't have enough beans left at the end of the day. Will return!

S - Rest.

Next Week:

M - Rest.

T - Climbing of some sort!

W - Rest.

T - Density hangs.

F - Rest.

S, S - Bouldering.

Goals:

Bulletproof fingers.

Bus Stop.

Thanks for the detailed stats Liam. 

Two moments stand out. First was an awkward landing on an outstretched arm. Thought noting of it as it felt fine the next day. Second was a big gaston move to a volume on one of parthian's latest weird volume only/no hold sets. 

Not the best week sadly as the general shoulder pain has been getting progressively worse since Wednesday. I'm laying off climbing completely until my trip to Lewis next week and hoping that with strong painkillers I'll still manage to get plenty done. I've managed to get a Naproxen prescription to help with the pain and a referral to an Orthopedic shoulder specialist at the start of June. Hopefully it can all be sorted with conservative management. Worst case scenario is a SLAP tear that'll require surgery and 4-5 months off climbing - so much for having an injury free 2022!

All told, pretty much a write off last week:

M - Rest

T - Easy hangboarding and circuit boar laps

W - Pain in the shoulder so resting and theraband work

T - 25k threshold bike ride

F/S - More rest and theraband work

S - 45k zone 3 bike ride

Plan for next week:

M-F - rest, ice and theraband work

S - Travelling up to Stornoway for a week on Lewis & Harris

S - Hopefully a dry, sunny day to kick off a week of sea cliff climbing - here's hoping the shoulder holds up! 

Hey all, thought I'd get back involved as I wanted a bit of structure to my training over the next 6 weeks. I've been building myself back up after the lost lockdown. This has been hugely helped by building a board in the garage.

M - Board session (1hr 15)

T - Run (10k)

W - BBC wall session (red circuit) (1hr 15)

T - Run (11.5k)

F - BBC board session (1hr 30)

S - Rest

S - Board session (1hr) Run (8k) Stretching (30mins)

Training wise - I am pretty time constrained in the evenings. However, I reckon I will be able to build in some regularly stretching and core intervals. I've been putting off max hangs for ages as massively prefer climbing on the board. Could be missing out on potential gains though? 

Thanks Liam,

Hard at Fun Club again this week, with a large slice of Try Hard Club

M - Had a spare couple of hours over near the Wye, so stopped in on Wintours Leap GO Wall.  Dropped in to check the routes and pegs on The Jackal and climbed out (TR) on Dog Eat Dog (E5 6a) which despite being a daunting prospect even with a rope above, I found ok going and well within my limits.  As I started at the bottom, so did a heavy rain shower, but due to the overhangs, everything stayed dry.  Quite a surreal experience, cranking tech 6a moves and looking behind to see a wall of rain metres away from you.

T - Found a new route project.  Very hard, probably E6 6c if I can even do it. Did all the moves individually on TR but to string them all together would be quite something.  Going to look at it as a longer term play thing.

W - Nothing

T - Avon fun. 7b+, 7c (failed due to conditions and skin), 6c+, 6b+, E2 5c.

F - Nothing

S - Had some fun with my 2 boys in Avon, climbed a Severe, checked out Mercavity cave, got an Ice-cream.

S - Nothing

thanks Liam! Hope you made it home on time…

My daughter was off nursery for part of the week which inevitably made life a bit more hectic. Squeezed things in around it. Got on something hard for the first time in ages at the weekend which was fun.

Looking forwards to something different for half term, week in the peak. No real goals other than trying to do a load of classics.

tickathon: 3 fr7s, 12 fr6s, 4 fr4/5s

Monday - 3x15 pushups. 

Tuesday - messed around trying to do face pulls - pulley round the pull-up bar lifting 12kg up. I can definitely feel it doing something, but it’s also a bit hard to pull horizontally in that way without anything to brace against. Something to experiment with. Also RDL rehab and another 3x15 pushups.

Wednesday - rest, in the hope of being able to go out Thurs. Rest in a sort of “juggling children half the day then working most of the evening to catch back up” way, obviously.

Thursday - microAJM still not well, so no outdoors. RDL, tried face pulls on the trx and got a far better session worked out, then got out the pick-up edge and did some open hand pickups. I was doing front 2 and middle 2 pickups for about 7s@28kg, which was surprisingly low. It’s quite a wide radius on the hold, so not much opportunity to drag the skin over a pronounced lip, and by the time the whole thing has tilted it doesn’t feel incut either. Looking at the positives - at least it makes the weight more manageable! Pushups to finish, 20, 20, 18.

Friday - rest

Saturday - Battleship with Liam and miniAJM. The main story was 1.5 goes on Zinc Oxide Mountain (7b+), which is a classic 7b+ of the isle. The first go I went 6 bolts up to set up a rope swing for miniAJM. If it’s true that the best climber is the one having the most fun, then for a while he was by far and away the best climber at the crag. Second time I think I linked bolts 1-4 and then 4-6, and then continued upwards. It turns out that bolt 6 (I hope I’m remembering these numbers right) is basically where it starts to get hard. It took me a little while but eventually I think I worked the rest of the moves out. There’s about a bolt and a half of crux I think, but then another bolt or so where it just keeps going a bit longer than you want it to until some proper big holds arrive. In effect, it starts quite steady bolts 1-3 and then just keeps getting harder until you get to the crux, and then after that you’ve got a bit of clinging on to do on moves which are definitely still hard enough to form a redpoint crux. There’s ok holds on which you could maybe have a brief shake but I don’t think there’s a proper rest you could camp out on anywhere.

Sunday - playing chaperone to the tiny terrors on a variety of play dates - Swanage beach this morning and then a friends garden this afternoon. Feeling somewhat frazzled! Overcame my sloth this evening to do another set of open hand pickups.

Thanks again Liam, I’m still pretty pleased, nothing to do with the event itself but because I followed a process to improve and reach a goal. It wasn’t scientific but has worked for me on red point projects. It consists of:

1. Trying hard on the actual route, concentrate on the hard bits but visualise what the end will feel like so try these bits when too tired to do anything else 

2. Don’t hold back on each session, it’s easy to use tiredness as an excuse to hold back, your body will do that for you.

3. Don’t expect linear progress/don’t get upset by setbacks

4. Ignore niggles - I expect biscuit won’t agree but when your 52 everything niggles so you can’t sweat the small stuff. 

Now to see if this can be applied to getting some general climbing fitness rather than a specific red point/running goal.
M&T: Rest

W: Clogwyn y Bustach, perfect for me as there’s a low level traverse and I was pleased to get Tawg (f6C) quickly despite some nervousness about only having one mat and no phone reception (my ankles are pretty weak), I guess it’s pretty soft at the grade but that’s good as there are a couple of things that link into it. 
T: Back to Bustach, got 'Nam Traverse (f6A+) and Super Glue, Now (f6C) both of which took more time than Tawg. Had another play on Homage Traverse, skin pretty ragged. 
F: Rest

S:  World's End with Tom. I think we agreed not to speak of this! Needless to say I need to be mindful of 3. above if I am to return to trad glories!

S: Battered but had arranged to go climbing so thought I’d go and reacquaint myself with the warmups at LPT as I didn’t have them ticked in my log book and I am that sad. Pleased to find Under the Boardwalk (6c) straightforward but Skin Deep (6a+) and in particular Kaffe Fasset (6c) felt bold and hard. 

That sounds pretty scary given the length and steepness of the route!

How’s ZOM affected by the sun?

Wouldn't be ideal I wouldn't have thought - there's not that many holds that are slopey but I think it would be harder on the skin on the little holds if it was also hot, plus having to chalk up more often would make it a bit more tiring. Hot afternoons probably quite hard work, but potentially cooler evening sunshine might still be ok.

I haven't either, and am enough of a purist that I have no intention of doing so. They're been the subject of heated controversy at DAV AGM's in recent years around whether huts should provide charging facilities. The last time I bothered reading the results the purists were winning.

That's the obvious other side of the coin - it's hard to argue against something that gets people out & about and moving when they otherwise wouldn't be. I've also heard the argument that they help weaker team members to keep up, so that serious cyclists and their not-serious-cyclist partners can enjoy going for rides together. Which also sounds like a good thing.

Hi y'all. Thanks for the quality stats, Liam. Enjoyed the 'previously on FitClub' round up of last week!

A fun week, but one that highlighted that it is difficult to fit training and climbing in without compromising one or the other... Climbing is always going to be more fun and, for me at the moment, give more improvement. So I think I need to be realistic about my weekly targets when the sun's out, just aiming to fit in the highest priority training sessions that give most bang-for-buck in the most important specific areas for my bigger goals.

Week 20:

M: Fingerboard. Elbow and shoulder prehab.

T: Trail run. 18.3km, 593m vert, 6:32/km.

W: Trad at Higgar and Burbage N. Highlight was finally getting on the File -amazing route and delighted that it felt really steady. Lowlight was a pathetic dog up the Rasp -just too much route for me! 

T: Rest.

F: Sport at Knipe Scar. Got Arc en Ciel -YYFY! Really chuffed to get this goal ticked... it's low in the grade and its very much my style, but that's the point of sport climbing, no?!

S: Trad at Worlds End with Tyler. Not the glorious crush-fest that it could have been but, to be honest, I wasn't that disappointed... Led a couple of pretty nice HVS's and was actually fairly chilled about my decision to back off the E1 (wasn't confident in the gear below the hard moves and really can't be arsed breaking another leg!).

S: Ad hoc strength sesh! Filled a shipping container with heavy boxes!

Week 21:

M: Fingerboard. Strength. Prehab.

T: Run. Prehab.

W: Fingerboard. Strength. Prehab.

T: Either hill walk or: Run. Prehab.

F: Climbing.

S: Core. Prehab.

S: Rest.

STG -end June:

Arc en ciel -TICK!

Ultra distance hill run. 

Eight of my big mountain day list (at least two on consecutive days). (1/8)

Keep injury free (elbows, hips and knees).

MTG -end Sept:

Two big alpine routes.

2022 Arbitrary training goals:

Roll over of last year's running targets: 35km vert and 1000km. -going to cancel this, as I'm spending more time hillwalking with a big bag for greater specificity.

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, The Jim Grin, Rock & Roll, Clink) -TICK!

ALL of my local must-do list: 1/15

Visit at least five of my 'why haven't I climbed here' list: 1/5

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 2/3, Almscliff 2/3, Caley 0/3, Slipstones 2/3.

(For lists see FitClub 772)

Late summer/autumn alpine trip

STG: Long weekend coming up, forecast for Grand Beau Temps in the eastern Alps. Original plan was the Dolomites but huts there aren't open yet, so still not sure where we'll end up.
MTG: 2022 climbing?
MTG: Winter 22/23 - do an actual off piste ski tour
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M:    In addition to my regular but not usually mentoned here moderate crimp progression hangs, today I bought ten kilos of the cheapest rice I could find and put it in a bucket to start having a play around with. (Put a little over half of it in a bucket actually - turns out five would have been plenty) This was interesting - less resistance than I expected initially, until ten minutes later my wrist extensors were burning like they never have before. Feels like it will be worth sticking with for a while for see what happens.
T:    1½ hours evening bike in the woods
W:    Wall, Element bouldering. It occurs to me that it's a long time since I've really done gym set boulders systematically, rather than just a handful as a warmup for something else. Things to be learned in terms of (weird) movement patterns.
T:    Bike 2 hours. Scouting out a lunchtime/evening circuit in the local woods linking as many bits of singletrack with as little forest road as possible (character building wildlife encounters notwithstanding). Work in progress.
F:    
S:    Frankenjura, Hetzendorfer Wand. Arrived with the intention of ticking off one of last year's projects, but it quickly became apparent just how realistic that was on my first day on a rope since January. Ha! Work to do. I did the moves just fine on toprope on a couple of harder routes my mate was trying, so that's at least a sign something is still working, but my lead head clearly needs rebuilding. Again.
S:    Frankenjura, Sonnwendwände. An unfashionable but actually rather good crag, to which I intend to return when I'm actually back to performing respectably. Led some pleasant easy routes to start rebuilding mental confidence; found an improved sequence on toprope that then got my mate up his redpoint project, which was also a slight confidence builder.

Thanks for the stats Liam

Happy with my deadlift progress.  I see that the <80kg category at the All America Armlifting Championship was won with a 150kg axle deadlift over the weekend, so i'm not a millions miles off the pace (I wouldn't have a chance with the winners 85kg rolling thunder lift though!) 

Week 20

M – Warmed up with a few sets of increasing weight/decreasing reps, then tried some max DL. Bar+100kg (previous best with his bar) felt fine. +110kg also went up easy. I ran out of weights at +118kg (141.6kg) or 183% of bodyweight. Reckon I might have a little more in the tank when I get hold of some more weight plates, but probably not 200% yet.

T – Board. Bit sluggish after dinner. Attempts at 3 of my remaining 7A-B benchmarks but didn’t get very far with those due to high humidity and being a bit weak and shit.  Moved on to aero-power session instead. 20x 6C benchmarks on-the-minute. Fun session but a bit of a skin thrasher.

W – Used massage function of my COMPEX to try and sort out continued spasming rhomboids with partial success.

T – Nothing.

F – 5x5 axle sumo-DL. Sticking at the old intensity for now, despite showing 1RM has increased, as I want to cement in engrams for good form. Hence “@80%” ~105kg.  Crimped max-hangs; BW +45kg. Moderately hard, but completed all sets.  3x10 EZ bicep curl bar+24kg.

S – Gardening club, then 32km flat road ride, 1hr10min.  Felt a bit rubbish starting out but legs came good in the second half and felt like I could push on a bit.

S – 90min at Harmers wood. Bit of the traverse to warm up, then an hour trying The Dark Ark again. I still struggle to believe this is “7A+” or even 7B but at least I’ve now done all the moves and some good links on TR. (Crux for a RP might actually be getting off the floor without smearing crud on your left foot!) Stupidly did some more gardening and set off my traps/rhomboids again with resultant headache...

...but this morning woke up with a temperature of >38C and the headaches continue, so perhaps it's partly viral? (Thankfully have a couple of LFTs leftover, so can confirm it isn't a COVID relapse).

Any juicy details for the new route?

I used to have a list of Avon and SW new route opportunities; I can probably dig it out for you if interested?

Thanks for the encouraging words Liam. I've seen some progress and feeling better every session.

Recap last week

Mon: Rest

Tues: First real indoor bouldering session since over a year at the Elements bouldering wall that Alan also visit. Wen't better than expected, did fine on the more static problems but did not stand a chance on anything dynamic. It also helps that i did not have any reference point, wall has opened up a couple weeks, they just grade in their own level 1-7 range without any font range. So i can just focus on the problem don't compare my performance to previous years. In the end i had more stamina than expected and my skin was long before my forearms were dead.

Wed: Rest

Thurs: Fingerboard Repeaters: 20mm Edge, 4x 6x7,3 at 90 % bodyweight; 4x8 Pullups (bodyweight)

Fri: Rest

Sat: Bouldering Sessions, Elements Wall. Focusing on doing a bunch of volume below and at my flash limit (Level 3 and Level 4). Skin was feeling much better and technique is slowly coming back. The funny thing was that i don't that more power would helped on any of the problems that i could not get up in 2-3 tries. Probably a combination of my power being quite and my technique kind of a rubbish

Sun: Travel to Chennai, India

Another positive week and i feel that the illness is finally really out of my system and that i just need to build up strenght and endurance. My biggest training challenge at the moment is working around my currently hectic job schedule, which involves many early meetings and a lot of travel.The next 10 days i will stay in Chennai. I hope that i stay healthy this time and manage to get more sleep. I've got a portable fingerboard with me, so hopefully i manage to get in at least some quality sessions. Not sure if try again to boulder indoors in a 40° warm gym

I'm sure its nothing on leading those routes (which all come in at solid E5).  However, there is something quite adventurous about Rope Solo, as your all on your own with 100m of static line snaking up the cliff, lots to think about and make sure you get right. The danger is all there, but on your terms.

I will share all once I get up it, however I can say its a 12m wall, with a 10% overhang.  Lots of small crimps, high steps and dead point moves, and all on small wires.

Would love to see the list, obviously your welcome to come down and we can try a few or them.

Sounds awesome! 

Cheers Liam,

Gradually getting back into it (no pun intended), not quick but then i never was 

Monday, 7.5km trail run

Tuesday, went to a science conference/trade fair. Was staying overnight and had checked there was a pool available. Arrived early to get a god long swim in only to find out the pool was closed. Consoled myself with a 3 course dimmer and a free bar 

Wednesday, wandered round the show and attended talks, all a little bit fuzzy.

Thursday, 1km swim and stretch class

Friday, 2km swim

Saturday, 7.5km trail run

Sunday, 5k run

Basically this setup from Petzl - https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Setting-up-a-self-belay-system-on-two-rop.... It's a bit belt and braces but I'm new to it so happy to put up with the extra faff for a bit more of a safety margin.

I use a Rescucender (Petzl's replacement for the Shunt) as a primary ascender as it's a rope clamp rather than a toothed device, and use a micro-traxion as backup.

Last Week
---------------

Tuesday

Back to  Staden Quarry for some TRS laps on Mosaic Piece (E4 5c). Actually not bad, but basically unprotectable unless you place gear all the way up Charas (E1 5b), which is a good couple of metres to the left. Safe to say I'm unlikely to go for a lead attempt on this one.

Wednesday

Gym. Supersets Pyramids of Pullups/Front Squat, DB Incline Press/Deadlift. Ditched the downside of the pyramid which feels more time efficient. Think the volume is plenty.

Thursday

Some faff at  Ramshaw Rocks. Didn't really climb anything as felt wquite tired. Messed around on Melvyn Bragg (f7B) a bit but had basically forgotten everything I'd learned since last time. Need to leave less time between attempts.

Friday

AeroPow session at Substation. Went with Crimpd's 20 problems in 20 minutes (Substation Pinks). 2 sets, 15 minutes rest. Felt like a good session.

Nothing at the weekend.

Last Week's Goals
--------------------------

• Two AeroPow sessions. One should be laps on the lead wall or TRS on a limestone crag. - Done
• Max hang session - No
• A Strength and Conditioning session - Done
• 20km trail running - No
• At least 2 leads at E2 or above - No trad this week.

Next Week's Goals
---------------------------

Bit of a rest week as heading to Lewis on Saturday.

• One climbing session
• One strength and Conditioning session

Ooh i nearly forgot. I’d like to say it was due to all the amazing climbing I’ve been doing in Reiff. But that would be a lie sadly. It rained, a lot, and we bailed on Wednesday. But that’s for Sunday’s report.

Anyway, the week before Reiff I did very little. It was a busy week with sorting work out before the trip. I didn’t even keep a training diary so i can’t quite remember what I did.I did some stretching and home exercises.

On a damp Tuesday we went to  Raven Crag, Thirlmere for some guide book work. We did Communist Convert (VS 4c) (which was a bit shit tbh) and couldn’t do the top pitch of Totalitarian (E1 5c) as it was wet. We then went to  Gowder Crag and did Fool's Paradise (VS 4c) which was damp and uninspiring. I finished up Kaleidoscope (HVS 5a) (i think). Marginal conditions day.

Getting properly fed up of marginal days out. I feel like my fitness gained over Winter is draining away and all. My plans are falling apart.

Obviously we will now have the greatest Lakes Summer in living memory and it’ll all come good, but I just haven’t been able to fit days off with good weather so far this year, despite moving work around to give me 3 climbing days a week. Rained off in Spain and then rained off in Reiff. Don’t book a climbing day with me - it’ll rain!

Spolier alert - I had a lovely day climbing in the sun today and all feels better with the world. I just needed to get that off with my chest - thanks for listening.

I did the 20 in 20 a couple of times as I transitioned to outdoors. It felt easy for the first 10, the next 5 got me worried, the last 5 were brutal. It’s a great workout.

You do mention wrist extensors so you may be doing this already but we really don’t need strong finger extensors. The extensor hood is an evolutionary marvel and does what it needs to do through connective tissue tension. Finger extensor muscles just need to open our hands against gravity. They don’t oppose our flexors any more than the weedy little muscles on the front of your shin oppose the muscles of the calf.

I can’t argue against a bit of wrist extensor work though. 

If you’re doing rice bucket work open your hand to make a spider shape. Then move your hand in the rice. That will hit the spot.

Biscuit is only 5 years behind you and very much feels that a niggle can be given some attention, but shouldn’t be a reason to hold off.

A niggle is a niggle, not an injury.

And you can probably still climb with an injury!

Should I cancel June 24th on the grounds of likelihood of rain then? 😀

I am very much hoping I will have shrugged off my bad luck by then 🤞 

 From what I remember of the few times we climbed together, finger strength isn't a weakness for you...

Perhaps using the board for some anaerobic laps or even some repeaters on the board would be a useful supplement to what appears to be very strength focused training?