A new thread is posted each week on Sunday for anyone to jot down their previous week's activity. UKC fit club is a rich community with posters sharing their goals, noting successes and failures and offering support to those struggling to maintain motivation. Anyone interested in starting is very welcome to join, but to get the most of UKC fit club you should aim to post each week, every week, however little or much you have done. By making such a regular public record of your activities and by restating your goals every week this new habit will hopefully improve your training habits and drive you towards achieving your goals whatever the level of your chosen activity.

Link to last week’s thread:

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_868-7653...

Somerset swede basher: Great week, though it certainly ain't to my taste! Sounds like a right adventure though. Hope the finger is improving as you'd like.

mattrm: Some solid runs in there, good effort. Shame about the weight bump, but progress isn't linear, every now and then you get a step back and that's okay. Looking forward to hearing the ultra training plan!

AJM: Glad you're keeping up with rehab. Two weeks in France sounds mega as well, good luck getting the diet/weight optimised for the trip.

SteveJC94: Sounds like good progress on Submergence, hope it goes down for ya! Great week in general to be fair, board stuff, conditioning, cardio, all solid.

Ally Smith: Some good board sessions in there. Judging by your IG this week, a break did you some good and you're crushing it! Nice work.

Derek Furze: Another week indeed, but it sounds like you're on track to get back into it at full speed. I imagine the break would've done some good, to fuel the psyche if nothing else!

Ian Parnell: Brilliant progress on String Theory, glad to see it. One handed pickups can indeed be hard on the back, being assymmetrical, but with good form it can be okay. Symmetrical hangs are generally easier to do safely of course.

Tyler: Nice weight management, and good to see you getting back on the wagon after a bit of rest. Shame the elbows are so easily aggravated, particularly by non-climbing activities, could you commission your partner to do the water tank wrestling and wood chopping instead?

AlanLittle: Glad to hear you're almost back to normal, even if not 100%. Low density setting can be a bit of a nightmare, but what with modern gyms, big holds, funky moves and expensive setters, it is quite common. Have you got a decent selection of gyms to choose from, at least?

Tom Green: Same as SSB, sounds like a right adventure, but one I'll enjoy listening to rather than getting involved! What's remaining for your big mountain days out EOY goal?

Steve Claw: Sounds like, although complex, you're pretty clued up on the elbow situation and will find your way through it. Good work on all the new routes though, that experience on the 7b+ sounds memorable!

Randy: Great week, loads of good training and volume in. That project sounds like it'll go any day, hope the conditions luck out before you're away with work - I presume when you return it'll be totally out of season?

Liam P: Good to see some regular training habits forming. Any chance getting out with the weather windows this week?

the sheep: As you said, a solid baseline. Nice work. How's the 15k cycle to work, nice and flat or any challenging gradients?

biscuit: Assuming you're in Greece now, hope you're having a good trip, and the slight illness has cleared up. I don't think there's any shame in declaring yourself ill if it's only minor, it'll still make things harder and impact your training and recovery.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Thanks Ross, fingers crossed we get some more good grit days this side of Christmas to get the send.

M - Lower body conditioning - Squats 5x5, Romanian Deadlifts 5x5, Kettlebell swings 10x4, Plank 30sx4

T - 10 problems on the board, ranging from 6C to 7A+

W - Threshold intervals on the bike (25min zone 2. 3 x 4min zone 4, 2 min zone 2. 20 min zone 2)

T - Board projecting session, one move further on the 7A+ from last week

F - Zone 2 base ride. 74km / 454m ascent / 2hr 46mins / 165watt average

S - "Rest" day chopping firewood for the club hut all day

S - Unstructured intervals on the bike (on climbs & into headwinds). 20km / 173m ascent / 41mins / 180watt average (203 watt normalised power) 

In reply to Ross Barker:

Thanks for the statting Ross, hope you’re feeling better this week. A question for those of you experienced with weights. I’m planning on incorporating 2-3 months of weights for base strength training. I’ve not deadlifted before - would folk recommend that? Any other ideas? Looking to target shoulder, core, posterior chain. I also have rings (again v inexperienced). Tips welcome

STG (this month) – maintain a grip on daily life, maintain and enjoy climbing and training when possible. 1. New run/climb project Lite.

MTG (next 2 months)– 1. Success on some Grit E1/2 nemeses. 2. Give me strength – shoulders and core.

LTG (next 6 months) – 1. Give me strength – fingers, steep stuff and slopers. 2. Get properly to grips with safe Grit E3s. 3. Rheinstor Lower Traverse (f7A)?? 4. Attempt 2 on run climb project. 5. Trip to Sanctuary Wall

Mon – Returned to String Theory (f7A) – all dry! Warmed up on middle section. Then 3 tries. First fell off on 19th out of 26 hand moves. 2nd go fell off 21st move, Final go fell off tickling the 25th hold, 6” from the finishing jug! Power screamed the last half a dozen moves, so when I could hear lots of police sirens nearby I was worried that someone had phoned 999 with reports of a murder in the woods. Left mats in the trees for a quick return trip before work the next day.

Tues –  7th climbing visit to String Theory. Warmed up on the middle section, re-worked finish, then tried to tell myself to just enjoy it.

The start into the knee bar felt so awkward I considered starting again but then the crux, a full span, star-fished off two toe-hooks to a cramped fist felt surprisingly steady. I tried to relax as much as I could on the central section milking the heel-toes in the offwidth slots.

Over two thirds of the way through and suddenly it felt like someone had pulled the plug out – my energy evaporating.  The first finger lock should be exactly that; ‘a lock’, instead even though my fingers were in the right place, they felt like they could slip out at any moment.

5 moves to go and the loud half of my brain was telling me I was going to fall off. This was where yesterday both body and mind seemed to melt down, with my technique deteriorating so much I lost orientation of where any of the foot jams were, just flailing around. Today though something clicked.

It was far from a beautiful flow state, but with maximum concentration my hypoxic brain just about managed to remain functional. As I latched the penultimate finger lock, that I’d flapped at yesterday a final wave of doubt reared up. If my two stacked fingers slipped, I was going to miss the mats and fall head-first out the cave, down the hillside below. A big shout of ‘YES’ helped drown out the fear, drop my knee on one of the foot jams, reach through, and match the finish jug. Not relaxing until I’d stood outside the cave, hyperventilating with disbelief.

Wed – Nothing. Deep aches in many odd places particularly behind my shoulder blades and in my hip flexors

Thurs – 4 mile plod early morning

Fri - Nothing

Saturday - An hour’s bouldering at Stanage Apparent North on the way to the Dee Estuary for some bird watching. Did Magnetic North Start (f6A) and Crack Cave (f6B), two problems I’d failed on in previous years. A quick feel of the holds on Hamper's Hang (f7A) was an immediate ego check of me thinking I could boulder proper 7A!

Dumbell rows 11.5kg x 12 x 3, Dumbell shoulder press 9kg x 10 x 3

Sunday - finger block hangs 20mm 20 secs 2.5kg 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 (r 19 secs, l 16secs), 27.5, 27.5  Lattice pinch block (11cm) 20secs 5kg, 7.5, 7.5 surprised how much harder longer duration pinches are. Homemade 6cm pinch block 20secs 10kg, 15,15. press ups 12 x 3, twisting crunches, 2 point box, alt 1 leg bridges 20 x3

Reflection - It’s felt like I’ve made a lot of grand goals this year and not achieved very many, so really chuffed to actually see through the process on String Theory. It’s the longest I’ve spent on any climb yet, although realise 7 days is small beer for some. If it was hanging 100ft up, in the open air it would be one of the best roof cracks in the country, I think. The fact that it’s hidden in a weird wormhole in a scruffy nondescript crag added its own charm for me.

In reply to Ian Parnell:

YES IAN! That's mega! Great work (and great write up!)

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Nice one!

I always find the ones where you really have to fight on a kind of primal level are the best.

Makes me want to find it and have a go.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Thank you Ross,

I have a fair idea about the elbow issues, but not completely sure I am doing the best exercises.

Another quieter week for me as I spend more time on with the rehab.

This week, rehab everyday with main concentration on the right Tennis Elbow.  Will work on the rest once this is better.

One day out:

Tuesday - Brean trad again. Godspeed (E5 6b) although 2 star, and from 1983, it wasn't even on the Logbooks. Gave it a deep clean and gear check.  Removed a lot of rock, so made a wise decision to run it on a shunt first, which I got first go.  My friend pulled a key hold off on his shunt attempt as I was preparing for the lead.  Still made for an adventurous lead, and glad it all went to plan.  After that checked out another unlisted much harder route to the right, crux beta on that is brilliant, but too hard for me at the moment.

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Nice one Ian!

In reply to Ross Barker:

Cheers Ross!

Yeah got another two sessions in this week - one was still a short one but getting there!

I had the week off work but the weather was very depressing! Spent most of it bimbling around mud-soaked crags but did get one good session in at least.

Mon

On the hunt for naptime shunts. Had a recce of A38 (E6 6b). River running down it, bit of a drive to the parking, bit of a schlep in, and not a straight forward top anchor so probably won’t go back for it.

Tue

Another hunt for dry rock across two crags (unsuccessful). Skulked back for a garage session.

• Pinch Block Lifts: Warmup10kg & 15kg. Working Sets 3x 7s @17.5kg RPE(8)
• Weighted Pull-ups. 35/43.5/47kg (previous PB) then 4x sets of doubles @38kg (80% of my 1RM) RPE(8)
• Unassisted Standing Ab Wheel: 3x 2. Still can’t do full reps but felt a lot more controlled. I’d guess I’m getting about 75% of the way to fully-flat then back up.

Wed

Rained all morning. Had a wishful bimble (sans-pads) for local bouldering and found the overhanging Paul’s Wall at Hanham was bone-dry. By the time I got home I didn’t have time to go back…and more rain forecast for Thursday!

Garage session

• 20mm Block Lift: Warmup - 12x 25kg, 10x 30kg, 8x 35kg, 6x 40kg. Working Sets 4x 4 @43.5kg RPE(8)

Thu

Went back to Paul’s Wall at Hanham which stays dry in the rain but apparently not the day after - seepage!

Fri

Mate tried Goblin Combe (wet) and I tried Cheddar (wet) so drove to Sand Point to try The Prow (f7B) which turned out to be fantastic. Sent The Barrel (Stand) (f7A) second try, got the finish to the Prow and worked out the start moves but will need lots more work to do the crux midsection. Feels the right side of impossible to make a good project!

Sat & Sun

Wet!

STG (end Dec):

• 2 sessions per week.
• Benchmarks: Fingers- 20mm Block Lift 1RM @60kg (52kg), Block Pinch Lift @ 20kg (17.5kg). Core- Unassisted Standing Ab Wheel (75%), Ring Wipers with Ankle Weight  (BW). Pull- Weighted Pullup 1RM @50kg  (47kg), OA Lock Off @90%BW. Push- RTO Dip with 75deg lean.

MTG (April):

• 3 off my Brizzle boulder List (1/3)
• 3 off my Cheddar List.

LTG (next 6 months):

• 1 off my Headpoint List.

Back in work this week…just waiting for the wall to wall sunshine!

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Woohoo! Excellent progress and execution. 

Cracking write up too Ian - is almost like you have some editorial experience 😉 

In reply to Ross Barker:

Yo dudes. Cheers for the write up, Ross.

'Big mountain days' are a bit nebulous, but the ones that are more plausible by year end are Welsh 3000s, The Corris Round and Windgather in a day.

Week 45:

M: Strength, Core, Prehab.

T: Alpine start and finish for work. 

W: Sport climbing at Dinbren. Worked Climb High (7a) -should have gone in a session with warmer weather, longer day or better tactics. Hopefully will get it done next visit. 

T: Hill run. 24.2km, 892m vert, 8:58/km. Absolutely awful weather -genuinely concerned for my safety!

F: Rest.

S: Sport climbing at Castle Inn. Highlight was the very lovely Route 1 (5a). 

S: Rest. Meant to run and fingerboard, but annoyingly woke up with a tweaked neck/back. 

Week 46:

M: Run.

T: Strength, core, prehab.

W: Rest.

T: Strength, core, prehab.

F: Run.

S: Climbing.

S: Climbing.

STG (end Dec):

Maintain finger strength -average 2 sessions/week (Currently 1.5)

Increase core focus -average 2 sessions/week (Currently 1.0)

3 off big mountain day list.

Yates' Layaway.

Hidden Dragon or White Wall (Masson, not Millstone!)

100m D6/7 in a session.

Year Goals:

110 days climbing for the year (currently 95).

1000 km running (TICK! -currently 1082km) with 40km vertical (currently 35.5km) for the year.

MTG (end March):

2+ off Scottish VII list.

1+ of Alpine Winter list.

Maintain finger strength -average 2 sessions/week.

Get ski practice in: 5+ sessions Dec-Feb.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Thanks Ross, yes, it was an unusual but great fun week! This week has been mostly indoors due to the weather.

Mon. Depot session. Circuit board 6a and 6b to warm up. Did a couple of purples but it was still hurting my finger so backed off and did the pink V2-V5 circuit (2 falls), then back on the circuit board, 6c, 7a, 7a+, 7a, 6c all with 3 mins rests between laps. 5x5 pull ups, 3x10 press ups.

Tues. Hour yoga class.

Wed. Awesome walls session. Chunky auto belay work. 4x 10mins on 10mins off. First set 6b up and down, second set I chose a 6c with lots of small holds and went up and down that, this was really hard but great training staying on small holds the whole way, next set up 7a down 6a+, also quite hard but not as sustained as the last one, feeling pretty boshed after this so just did 6a+ up and down for the last set. Pull ups, press ups.

Thurs and Fri rest. Had to work late Thurs.

Sat. I got today all wrong. We headed out to millstone with the intention of trying hard and probably falling off on some trad. Unfortunately, of the routes I wanted to try two were wet after unexpected rain Friday night, one was too finger cracky for my still grumbly finger and the other had a team on so we eventually settled on some grumbling and then some bouldering. I've previously failed on the 7A version of the keyhole traverse, not being about to do the section between RS and RSD even in isolation. After a team beta mission (by which I mean Pete worked out how to do it) I managed to do Keyhole Traverse 2 (f7A). Nice to do something I'd previously failed at and clearly all the endurance training is making a difference. Typically, by the time we left pretty much everything was dry and in great looking condition but I had a kids party to go to so had to go.

Sun. 12km run, first half 300m up, second half 300m down. 5.18/km.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Thats a very good point and something I will explore with Fi later, if I don't post next week you'll know that went as well as you might expect!

M & T: Despite saying I'd do some rehab I did nothing of any description

W: Fortunately Dinbren was just dry enough to avoid having to go to White Goods dry tooling with Tom. Chilly but tolerable I played about on In Search of Someone Silly which took some working out. Fell off the last move on my final TR go possibly due to my bleeding tips but more likely because it's hard. Disappointed to have accumulated another piece of unfinished business

T & F: Nothing other than some psych inducing watching of Britrock, nothing as gobsmacking as last year's Greg Boswell film but the Matt Wright one was enjoyable.

S: Back to Dinbren, utterly soaked, after debating options for an hour we decamped to Castle Inn. There are excellent routes there, my fingers got a work out and there was good craic so a pretty good day in the end.

S: Beacon, felt like a big session with no down time but only did ten tie ins in 3+ hours. Arms blasted, rested on everything but tried hard. One of the winter projects felt harder than I thought it would, didn't go on the other. No obvious signs of arm blowing up yet....

In reply to Ross Barker:

Cheers lar. It seems that a week off did me good 👍 

Week 44

M – Wandering around Brighton with my dad and 2 Squiggles recovering from lurgy

T – COMPEX core and a couple of CoC #2 closes

W – Repeat

T – Packing to go home

F – Travel home. I ended up doing 5.5hrs driving 😞

S – Squeezed in board session. Warmed up whilst simultaneously wrangling mk1 squigg.  Then my wife took squigg and I had some recruitment goes on "Just Training" 7C+ Benchmark.  3rd go I tickled the crux and 4th go I caught the crux badly with front3 but managed to quest on through to the top.  

5 min rest, then instead of the intended undercut crux of Das Schnitzel Alt, I had a go on Moon Challenge (7C+ Benchmark), and after 3 goes found myself doing the crux for the first ever time and somehow kept it together to the top. 

70min after starting, I was all done and passing boxes up into the loft! 

S – 4 mile child free walk while grandparents wrangled both squiggs. 

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Epic, well done.

In reply to Liam P:

Nice work trying The Prow. Try Little Big Horn as a stepping stone to doing the full line. I've only had one session on The Prow and I didn't do it (it was hard and I only had one pad) but LBH is really worthwhile and less pad intensive.

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Nice one Ian!

For base strength training you can’t go wrong with a 5x 5 programme. Lots of info on Google and you’ll likely see rapid gains if you haven’t done it before. For shoulders/core/posterior chain I’d recommend deadlifts, weighted pull-ups and weighted dips - I’d skip squats as you’ll end up with deadweight quads! 2-3 months is enough time to see some good results.

If you don’t have dip bars then ring dips are just as good. Start off working the Ring Support Hold for time, then build up to dips. Eventually try Rings Turned Out Hold then Rings Turned Out Dips. Once you can do the Rings Support Hold you can also start working towards L-Sits and Muscle Ups etc.

In reply to Ally Smith:

I keep watching your Instagrams* and am excited to see you take this Moonboard strength to the crags

* I did until you brought out the lycra

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

I did see your name on that. Will give it a go!

In reply to Liam P: thanks Liam I’m going to have to Google a fair bit of that but sounds like good structure. Mention of muscle ups though… that sounds like lifetime goal stuff!

In reply to Ally Smith: Ally how much grade advantage do you get from the Lycra? Are we talking one, two or more grades?

In reply to Ian Parnell:

I did some earlier in the year, and intend to again over the winter when I'm back to full health. I found going up to bodyweight and a bit above ok, but am entirely self taught so not sure about form & safety; going much heavier feels too scary. I'm considering paying a coach for some tuition before I push it much further. 

In reply to Ross Barker:

Thanks Ross. 

Still very much not 100%, any strenuous cardio activity completely out of the question, but easing back into other activities including a surprisingly decent wall session at the weekend.

STG: resume something like normal training - local cragging season is probably already over for the year
MTG: Summer '24 uk trad trip with my son and/or Rough Bounds Scottish backpacking trip
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 823
LTG: Winter 24 or 25 - do an actual off piste ski tour.

M: 
T:    Back at work and a huge backlog (no surprise there), so didn't make it to the wall in the evening. Managed a short no-hangs session and half an hour stretching before bed instead.

W:    Still rather tight chested and easily out of breath, so demanding cardio activity is out of the question (frustrating!) but the doc said to get some level of outdoor activity in, so spent a total of about an hour pootling about on the bike on various errands.

T:    Still didn't feel up to going to the wall, so once again no-hangs & stretching.

F:    Another hour's gentle bimbling on the bike including a visit to the DAV guidebook library. If I can't climb I can at least dream.

S:    Wall, Thalkirchen. Another-gently-easing-back-in session on the autobelays, that actually went suprisingly well. 6a 5c 6b 5a (thought this seemed suspiciously easy for 6b. Oops, wrong colour) 6b 6b+ 7a (attempt) 6b

S: Short evening stroll in the woods, half an hour stretching
 

In reply to AlanLittle:

I'm trying a new approach in my fingerboarding/no-hangs. Background: I've been at around 125-130% bodyweight on the BM1000 ~18mm "medium" edge for ages. And I'm a natural open hander who rarely crimps, so that's in a somewhat lazy chisel grip rather than a strict half crimp. Strict half crimp I'm barely above bodyweight on the same edge. So I'm trying to (a) bring my strict half crimp up to a more respectable level and (b) hopefully shift my absolute max up a bit. 

What I'm trying is a change from conventional 7 to 10 second max hangs. I'm doing set & reps of lifts from the floor, making sure to squeeze actively into my half crimp, and using a very conventional weightlifting 3 x 8 to 10 set/rep scheme. Not sure if this is what people refer to as "Yves Gravelle style"

Plan is to do this for a few weeks, hopefully see progress, then benchmark to see if the progress if any carries over to actual fingerboard max hangs.
 

In reply to Ross Barker:

There are other bouldering walls to go to. But even my son and his buddies, from another generation entirely, are complaining about "nothing but jumping" in the current set at the newest one.

In reply to Ian Parnell:

The lycra must be worth a grade?

Well, it being cold enough in the garage to warrant lycra is worth a grade from grip improvement...

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Yep, "5x5" or thereabouts has worked well for me.

5x sets of 3-5reps a couple of times a week took my deadlift from ~120 to 148kg in < 3 mths.

I'd agree with avoiding squats unless you have a ski trip planned 😉

In reply to Liam P:

Fantastic weighted pull ups there Liam!

In reply to Derek Furze:

Gunning for Ross’ 60kg 1RM!

In reply to Ross Barker:

Well done Ian.

Loving the lycra Ally.

Nothing from me this week.  Other hobbies/weather/motivation got in the way. 

The ultra training plan honestly isn't much.  It's something I found off the interwebs, so will probably be totally incompatible with my life, so I'll probably end up doing something different, but we'll see.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Well, of course i did not got lucky and it was basically raining the whole week. I would not say it is completely out of conditions in  December, but it is more likely than not that the conditions will be too bad. But who knows, with climate change i would also not be surprised if we get 20° in  December

Recap last week:

Mon: Indoor Climbing Boulderwelt, tried the 7a Traverse again, but could not make any progress on it. Maybe i was still too tired from Saturday. Did a bunch of other boulders in the 5b-6b range and finished the session with 4x12 Pullups with 2 min rest

Tues:  Leg workout: Bodyweight squats, Lunges, Calf raises, Ankle Mobility

Wed: Indoor Climbing Boulderwelt, again trying the 7a Traverse, improved my high point by 1 move, probably had a good chance of doing it if i would have got the next move. Afterwards did about 16 Traverses in the 5a to 7b range with 1 min rest; Pullups: 4x12,11 with 2 min rest

Thurs: L-Sit 2x15s, Handstands, Bodyweight squat, Lunges, 40 Pushups, 45s V-Situps

Fri: Rest

Sat: Indoor Climbing Boulderwelt, Kept banging my head against the 7a Traverse again without any improvement. I am probably way past the point where it makes much sense from a training point of view but it where it has become more of an ego thing to finally finish it. Afterwards i did some easier technical boulders, and managed to send 3 6b/6b+ boulders. Then i had the glorious idea of trying a high heel hook beta on the next boulder and twisted my knee. It was not too bad initially, but the pain got worse during the day while walking.

Sun: Rest on the couch and icing my knee

A little bit of a frustating week. Conditions did not allow for outdoor climbing and i felt generally quite tired. Usually, i would have taken a Deload Week but due to my upcoming India trip i wanted of course to get in as much climbing as possible. Then of course i injured myself because i did something stupid. I probably need to remind myself every session that i am turning 40 next year and should not try to imitate everything that i see on youtube

And to make matters, my left ring finger is feeling a little bit tweaky again. So hopefully i can use the next two weeks of no climbing to get at least that one sorted out.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Good morning all, a challenging week for me. The tweakiness I was feeling last week has lingered on and is very much indicative of a new injury on my left middle finger. Feels symptomatic of a classic A2 strain, but there's also a weird soreness in the knuckle. Crimping aggravates, dragging is fine, so it's possible to keep climbing sensibly. I believe that's injury number 6 of the year?

Definitely could've avoided it by being more sensible the week before, was just being too reckless. Pillock!

Last Week:

Avg weight 77kg

M - Back climbing. Left middle PIP felt a bit naff, I guess last week's session was too hard. Right hand feels good as always, can just about hang the BM2K slot for 5 seconds, and the award for most unbalanced climber goes to me! Good session otherwise though, just got a lot of steady moves in, and even did some hamstring stretches like a good boy. Ice baths before bed.

T - Ice baths before bed.

W - Ice baths before bed.

T - Gym. Finger felt really poor so didn't climb after warming up - 1RM weighted pulls up to +60kg, not the fullest RoM, but chin over bar. Some super light loading on the left hand half crimp as well.

F - Left middle finger feels crap, no resting pain but it's apparent under mundane load, undoing buttons, clothes pegs, etc. Fed up of bloody injuries!

S - Ramshaw Rocks. The finger was still vocal about its woes, but luckily I could let my skin do the work most of the time. Didn't do anything too hard but did half a dozen or so decent problems. Rekindled psyche for Tierdrop (f7A+), would love a rematch when I'm less crippled.

S - Ice baths before bed.

Next Week:

M - Rest.

T - Climbing.

W - Rest.

T - Climbing.

F - Rest.

S, S - More climbing!

Goals:

Rehab left middle finger.

Improve ability on tiny edges.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Having complimented Liam on his weighted pull ups, I note that your levels are also staggering!  Mind you, I have never tried these on a bar, but have always used the fingerboard jugs.  Not sure it explains the 30 kg differential though!  

In reply to Ross Barker:

Brilliant stats as ever thanks!  I didn't get to look until quite late and was a bit taken aback by the number of responses to the thread when I finally did look - it was already about 25, so my first thought was that I'd clicked on the wrong week!  Then I read the thread and realised what all the fuss was about - brilliant work Ian on String Theory.  It sounds like an epic journey really and hats off for persistence.

No training again for me this week and I'm not sure why - I think it was just pressure of work and tiredness from a couple of bad days on the road impacting motivation, plus a perverse determination to get outside on the days that I could.  I also haven't yet completed my next training module and not having this available condemns me to more of the same as I have always had (this is a poor excuse, as I enjoy pushing the patterns anyway).  This week!

Outside climbing was a bit impacted by very poor conditions, but glad I tried anyway.  Wednesday was wet at Stoney, so rather than wait an hour or so for things to fry, we nipped up to Froggatt, which was also streaming, with the added disadvantage of a cool breeze.  Five, fairly wet in places, routes before the rain swept in.  Off to the esoterica of Minera on Thursday - apparently fast drying, but nonetheless streaming.  Decided that everywhere else local would also be streaming, so just got on with it, because after all - it is bolted.  Did six routes up to 6b, most of which involved negotiating wet holds at some points.  Quite a laugh really,  Went for a look at the upper quarry routes, but were rained off here before getting up anything.

Only after the visit did we note that the bolts have been reported as unsafe - thunderbolts with no resin!  Tbh, I think they are probably a bit like drilled pegs, so safer than some of the more alarming 'do not climb' comments.  Ticked another new crag.

Picked up a finger strain on a wet undercut pocket, but it seems to be settling ok after a couple of days.  Despite no training, I should note that i have been excavating an extension to my car parking, which has involved removing about thirty 25kg bags of soil, landscaping and laying MOT before slabbing the area.  Might explain why I've not had the energy for training!

In reply to Derek Furze:

I do it on the BM1000 jugs, the gym I go to doesn't have an actual pull up bar (yet!), but it does the job. I suspect if your shoulder width doesn't suit the jug placement, or the jugs aren't huge like the BM, the difference could be pretty considerable. I think for me there's probably not much in it, though.

I was hoping that the couple of pounds lost during my illness, plus the four months or so since last measurement, would mean I could improve the +60 PB, but alas it was not to be

In reply to Ross Barker:

Thanks Ross. Not quite on holiday yet. Can't bloody wait though.

After a couple of weeks of below par performance I feel like I’ve bounced back a bit in the second half of this week.

M – Gym and stretch  a.m. Still just a light session.

p.m.  30 mins on 6a,6b.6c. Gave up after 20 as I was sick of going round and round

T – Kendal Wall routes – not a good session. Still not feeling great. No motivation to try hard. Tried to try hard but not feeling it. Started to get worried all my training gains have gone and the trip will be rubbish.

W – Rest

T –  Very quick play on the new BUK circuits. 6c and 7a flashed and then repeated. The green 7b(+) felt very hard with multiple moves I couldn’t do. Then tried the blue 7c and did it in two halves (ish).

F – Routes at Preston Wall – really good for short punchy routes. On-sighted a handful of routes up to 7a+. I discovered a bit of try hard on the 7a+ and felt optimistic. Tried a 7b and fell off the second move. Dogged my way up it. Totally nails no way I’d be able to climb it etc. Rested a while and fell off the second to last move because I got in a muddle. Half and half ‘bugger!’ and ‘yes!’. Tried a 7a but didn’t have the beans left. I’d powered out. They really are good routes.

S – Rest – lunch at Tebay services on the way to Penrith. It’s not far up the road and I may go there again for lunch. It was lovely.

S – Routes at Kendal. Trying a new thing from chatting with a GB coach the other day. Essentially it’s density type work. Pick what your goal is and create levels around that.

So, this trip I want to onsight 7b. Outdoors that could take 10 -15 mins +. So I need to get comfy hanging around on 7b territory for 10 mins. This is not climb fast for 1 min, rest for 6 on a jug, but climbing very steadily.

There are many ways of doing this – 3-5(3 mins on, 1 min off) for example. Today I just played around with the 10 mins on. It really changed my indoor style. I felt no pressure, comfortable and relaxed and felt like I climbed well.

6a+ warm up then 7a(repeat), 7a+(repeat), 7a(os) and 7b (flash). Pleased with that.

The 7a+  is one of those routes that you don’t want to repeat. It’s always going to feel hard. I felt like I cruised it.

The 7b was a new route from Emma Twyford. I normally find her routes very hard (my issue, not her setting). This was hard but I never really felt in trouble.

I’m going to chat further about it this week and will use it in the 4 weeks of training between Greece and Spain.

Obviously I am now feeling optimistic about the trip. But, pride before a fall. We are British and pessimism must come first and all that……

One more routes session on Wednesday and then that’s it. We fly on Friday.

In reply to Ian Parnell:

That's really good to read Ian. Your determination and focus on goals is inspirational.

This is where I direct patients interested in the gym:

https://www.barbellmedicine.com/the-beginner-prescription/

VERY good quality content all over their output. Podcast is great for all things health. You can learn about bodybuilding and your cholesterol scores all in the same place.

They won't spam you either.

For deadlifting this is a good place to go:

https://natashabarnesrehab.com/blog/5-simple-steps-to-a-perfect-deadlift

As long as you progress as slowly as you should then the chances of doing yourself a mischief are remarkably low. She has lots of good info on RPE and how to judge session intensity and progression. 

She will spam you a bit though

Happy to informally chat through anything like this. I have a prepared document for what to do after rehab that gives you the basics of exercises/sets/reps etc so you can adapt for yourself. Let me know if you want it.

In reply to Ross Barker:

All these injuries are not going to do you any good unless you learn from them! 

Just 5% less on a session can stop you from going into the red. That one last try, when you're already tired, or going over the required intensity when training because it's not training unless you're trying REALLY hard.

It is really hard to judge though. I dug myself a nice little fatigue hole a few weeks ago. So deep I couldn't see I was in it. 

Questions I normally ask the frequently/constantly injured:

1) Do you have a plan?

2) Does that plan include what RPE the session should feel like?

3) Do you have a plan B for the session in case plan A is too much? If you don't we tend to stick to plan A even though it's too much.

4) Do you track your load? How?

5) How do you keep an eye on the outside factors (work/life stress)?

6) And the question that should actually be number 1 - Are you doing the basics well? Sleep, nutrition, recovery (which isn't just putting your feet up). If you're not don't train until you are. 

In reply to biscuit:

I feel like we should have these saved as the second post of every FitClub! 

In reply to biscuit: Sounds like you’re in a great place pre trip. Reading your posts over recent weeks it seems like not putting pressure on yourself is your biggest challenge. I’ve really enjoyed watching Toby Roberts in the international comps this year and it’s been a massive illustration of how preconceptions shape performance(the difference between bern and Laval was just 3-4 weeks but a transformation of his climbing) It’s something I’m guilty of and an area I’d like to improve. I’ll drop you an email re training info.

In reply to biscuit:

Thanks for the thorough response and questions, definitely a kick up the arse that I need to get out of this cycle.

Not a written one, but limit climbing (usually on the board) twice in the week, plus an outdoor bouldering session which may be limit or may be volume depending on how I'm feeling. If the weather doesn't allow that then I'll head indoors, and end up limit climbing!

Nope, but "trying flipping hard" is generally the aim. RPE is probably 8-9, occasionally 10. But I guess the point is that RPE isn't considered beforehand :P

Plan B is normally to work through some easier benchmarks which I've not yet done, though the nature of getting these completed means that my plan B slowly becomes more and more intense! Recently that's been my plan A instead, either for the sake of completion or because I'm anticipating that limit bouldering is off the cards, which does end up leaving me without a plan B - which is exactly what happened here I think. Persevered through the tweakiness under the guise of "steadier volume" when in reality it's still very intense.

Not really, I used to set 5 minute timers with an hour limit on the board, so I'd only get to have a dozen high-effort attempts. I can't remember when or why I stopped, probably something to do with getting more benchmarks done

One night a week I take the time to reflect on the events of the week, which I think helps me do a pretty good job of managing things. Not that I'm particularly stressed person anyway, except when injured, ironically!

Sleep is pretty good, normally in bed around 10-10:30pm, fall asleep within 30 minutes or so (I noticed it takes way longer if I go through a period of not climbing, anyone else?), and naturally wake up around 7-7:30am. Normally awake earlier in the summer, but almost always feel pretty rested.

Nutrition has been pretty good for a month or two now, good protein intake and enough calories, split between three even-ish meals, plus the odd snack in between. Weekends it perhaps might not be as good due to lack of routine.

As for recovery, I'm not sure exactly what I'm missing there! The fingers stay pretty mobile, typing a lot for work, playing guitar, etc, but aside from that I'm pretty sedentary. Except for that three week period where I did some running

So yeah, I think the culprit is poor load management, easily getting roped into trying harder for longer than I should be, instead of being more pragmatic and telling myself to be sensible. Maybe I should bring the timer out again when I get back to high-intensity climbing...

In reply to Ross Barker:

Thanks Ross! I'm very much looking forwards to it, I love the south of France and very keen on trying to actually get some sport climbing done.

I need to put together some sort of comprehensive plan, ideally this week.

- I need to do some fitness

- I need to continue with rehab

- I ought to do some strength training and weight management

- I need to manage this all round the new demands of being in the new job and therefore away from home at least some of the time. Partly that requires working out what facilities I can easily access. There's obviously walls in Bristol, but I also need to investigate the office gym as that could hold the trump card in terms of convenience (and more basic strength work would be no bad thing for me).

This week was the first week in the new job, which meant a couple of nights away. I did some bodyweight squats and some slow sets of pushups and a little bit of stretching in the hotel room - I've been avoiding a lot of shoulder work for a while given the need to rehab but happily the aches the next day were symmetric and consistent with someone who hasn't done pushups in a while, not asymmetric and the sign of a tweaky shoulder!

I had a positive follow-up on my shoulder today, good feedback on progress made and have a new set of exercises to work on.

A few busy weekends coming up so a good opportunity to try to get some momentum going with the routine (none of the pesky distractions of outdoor climbing!)

In reply to Ross Barker:

I didn't expect you to bare your soul online . But it seems to have been cathartic and useful

I think you've found your answer.

The injuries you suffer from are over use related.

Nothing hampers your performance more than injury.

ALL overuse injuries can be avoided.

But we're not Toby Roberts aiming to get the last 0.0000001% of performance gains by a certain date. We climb to enjoy it and those times with friends. There's a lot of negativity tied up in injury. Many come to me declaring themselves to be stupid. They weren't stupid, they just got caught up in the fun. 

The sad thing is you never get the reward of seeing the injury you missed. You'll never know you missed it. You only get the feeling of the experience/effort/training that you missed. That's a crap reward system. That's why it's so hard to do.

In reply to biscuit:

That's thought-provoking (and very supportive) comment.  Good work Biscuit. 🙂