UKC

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

Mattrm – well done with the walking in wk 766, hope you managed to sort out the dentist issues.

Steve Claw – great work at Brean, the top ascents page suggests you’ve got some success to report this week too.  I’ve got free time on the 27th (or possibly 28th) Dec if you can fit a session in then? Always keen for Brean!

Liam P – Yay! Freedom! Front levers are hard and presumably you’ve been trying them with a pot on your leg so they ought to feel much easier now its taken off.  Enjoy your new found access to the outdoors.

Si dH – Winter colds seem to be taking a disgustingly long time to get over this year, you’re not alone.

AJM – Good work on the cuttings boulder projects, loving the ‘for context’ videos.  Presumably these boulders are dry year round as long as you can take the cold?

Ross Barker – on problems where you swing out and off its sometimes useful to cut loose a move before so your weight is already out.  I’ve solved a couple like this recently.  Also useful is to just keep one toe on and swing the other leg out so you can scissor kick when you do take the toe off to kill the swing.  I’ve not been to Devils Gorge so I’ve no idea if either of these will work on your problem but worth a thought.  I saw on Pad Parties that you were hoping to get out today, its currently raining (8.30am) but I’m hoping its going to dry out later on as its really windy.

Ally Smith – Gorge problems look brilliant.  You look to be climbing really well at the moment too.  Does the gorge have a mega traverse problem worth a mega sport grade yet…?

SteveJC94 – Pool Wall and White Wall both look great, good targets.  Well done on Conan, I thought it was quite hard!

Alan Little – what’s the lockdown situation now over in Euroland?  Sorry to hear about your boy, at least it sounds like nothing permanent and a ‘earning opportunity’ for his mate without too much damage done.  Sounds like its time for you to get back on that fingerboard!

The sheep – doesn’t sound like the hurty big toe slowed you down too much!  Hope your mate is recovering ok.

Derek Furze – hopefully some good conditions or at least some dry weather will coincide with your upcoming time off.  At least fitness comes back faster than strength, maybe just a question of picking the correct project in the meantime.

Tom Green – I’m excited to hear how this weekend has gone! What sort of finger boarding did you do in the week?

Biscuit – looks like you’re another one who’s about to have a load more time available. Let’s hope the a4 tweak sorts itself out ready for crush time.

Tyler – I was only joking but that would be cool!  I’ve only been to Mannod once but found it harder than the drilled style routes.  Has the weather been good enough to take advantage of your new location yet?

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

I don’t have any regular partners in Wales so I might be begging people to come soon!

We’ve not moved in yet but I think there have been yellow weather warnings of one type or another the last couple of weeks. 
 

In fact, this week’s update is easy, my shoulder and neck has remained sore all week so I’ve not been able to do anything. Today I was meant to be flying to Siurana but had to cancel, gutted for myself and also my partner, hopefully we can get out there in the new year. 

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Do you reckon things will dry out later? I'm still in bed because I'd written the day off, but if you have confidence in things drying out I might be tempted to make the drive.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:  

Six weeks participating rather than being an interested follower and it has already been useful on many levels.  The comment on 'picking a suitable project' reminded that I was struck by advice given to Alan last week about improving route reading ability by picking things that you can onsight 50% of the time.  These two comments have given me considerable pause for thought (good job it is winter) in that I have never really thought in terms of picking projects at all and I (possibly worse) stick at a level that I onsight 99% of the time (as do a lot of people I see at the crag as well).  

There is a lesson in this!

Reminds me of a session early this year at Stoney West.  I think we did eight or so routes up to 6b+. one of which was dangerously loose.  All were onsight.  There were two younger lads there who didn't onsight anything - stick clipped the first two or three bolts, set of on the route, fell off, worked it a bit and mostly did it on their second tie in.  They were doing the collection in the centre at 6b+ to 6c+.  I chatted to them quite a bit - they had never climbed trad, which surprised me, but they also didn't know what their onsight level was, because it was such a rare outcome.  Fascinating.

I'll report in later!

In reply to Ross Barker:

It's still wet now so not looking good, I wouldn't bother 

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Thanks SSB. We're not in lockdown yet, but definitely have the threat of it hanging over us. Getting into walls requires a vax certificate *and* a test. We had the test requirement last summer for a few weeks too, but somehow it feels like more of an imposition now after we'd got used to something more like a normal life for a few months.

One frustrating aspect of it is that I still have a few days holiday that I need to take before the end of the year, was thinking of maybe another few days climbing somewhere to take advantage of fitness & momentum from the Greek trip. Now it's looking like travelling anywhere is going to be heavily discouraged. Again.

Apart from moaning about the pandemic I have, for the first time in a rather long time, absolutley nothing to report this week. Was busy at work Monday-Tuesday, then on Wednesday went down with what I hope isn't the persistent cold you've all been talking about. It's mostly not terrible - not enough to take time off work, but enough to make doing anything physically strenuous feel like a bad idea. So I haven't

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Thanks SSB, Its been a good week, I've definitely been Keen for Brean, and putting the Win in Winter.

M - Returned to Brean in no so good weather, it was Baltic cold with numb fingers.  However, got El Chocco (7c) without any major issues as I knew it was a goer from the week before.  The crux involves pulling over a roof on a un-positive pocket, however I found a cheeky finger lock in the pocket that allowed the move to be done with much more control and less finger strength.  Too cold to do much else.

T - Indoor Session - 6*10s hangs +15kg, onsight flashed a V6, and did a Autobelay endurance session (up 7a and reverse a 5 for 20mins, rest 15mins then repeat)

W - Rest

T - Back to a sunny warm Brean on my own (TRS) in search of that elusive 8a project. Black Snake Moan (8a) and Storm Warning Variation (8a), which have the same start.  Spent the day messing about, and think Storm Warning is a goer with a bit of training/time, however it is reported to be soft and possibly only 7c+ (which is still great).

F - Back at Brean - After speaking to someone who was new routing there I checked out and cleaned a line that will go at about 6c, and as the rope was up, did a few laps on Clashing Socks (7b) as I had the rope in place and its a cracking route if you follow the headwall direct.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Thanks SSB. Bit more of a productive week than anticipated since the elbow recovered better than expected

M - Rest

T - Knee rehab and elbow exercises

W - Elbow exercises & Zwift session

T - Moonlit bouldering at the plantation. Northeast Face (f6C) and Slot Sitdown (f6A) amond others

F - Elbow exercises

S - Rest

S - Got rained off at Hobson Moor so bailed and did a session on the MoonBoard

Plan for next week:

M - Rest

T - Power session on the Campus Board & limit boulder problems

W - Knee rehab

T - Core workout

F - Rest

S - Mixed routes in the Cairngorms (hopefully!)

S - More Scottish Winter

Great effort on El Chocco Steve Claw! 

Evening all, cheers for the stats and beta SSB. Think you're right on finding a better method for Be Ruthless. Ally's beta looks good, will try that next time I'm down there.

Naff week from me to be honest, pissed off my fingers and as a result tended to piss off myself a bit. Had wanted to get something done today but wasn't in the right headspace, and nobody else was keen so in the end I just did nothing.

Had some thoughts about more focused training (once I sort out the dodgy digits) - I feel that I should tune into my MB sessions with a focus on finger strength instead of pulling hard on things that are just my sort of cup of tea (big moves, big holds). Not really sure how to go about this, besides trying to pick more fingery tick-tacky problems instead of 3 move lankfests. I do think trying more "static moves on small holds" will benefit the finger strength, but then there is a trade-off with "explosive moves on decent holds", which is sort of my strength, I guess. Maybe dictate the first 30 mins post-warmup to fingery stuff, then the latter 30 minutes to the rest? Any thoughts?

Last Week:

M - 1.5 mile ish walk.

T - Moonboard power hour. Didn't feel bad but nothing hard ticked - some good pulling though. Finished on some techy slabs. Left index A2 pulley pain when pressed, gonna go full rehab mode and hope it's nowt more than a tweak, else there'll be some swearing going on. Cause is possibly being not recovered from last Sunday, and perhaps not quite a comprehensive enough warmup. Contrast baths.

W - Pain when pressing now quite dull, but noticed similar on right middle. Guess I'll monitor this one as well - not sure if it's actually an issue or if I'm just being a bit panicky.

T - Pain slightly more dull. Intended on a light session in the gym, ended up on the Moonboard due to lack of self control. Nothing above 6C but still sort of foolish.

F - AM and PM light fingerboard rehab pulls.

S - AM light fingerboard rehab pulls. Visited  Crag B as there was a bit of commotion, good scenes, a bit more grade consensus. Didn't climb though. Excited for the FitClub raid!

S - Rest. Left index painless now, right middle still a bit sore to press. Location of the pain suggests it might be the flexor tendon instead, which I guess makes for a nice change instead of the usual pulleys. Ugh.

Next Week:

M - Gym?

T - Rehab pulls.

W - Rehab pulls. Car will probably fail MOT.

T - Gym.

F - Rehab pulls.

S, S - Who knows.

Goals:

Rehab finger tweaks.

Rigpa.

Find a goal that doesn't rely on needing others (Suavito and other big ones need a decent spotter). North Wales and Peak doable as a day trip, in case anyone has recommendations.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

STG - 6a and improve diet

L/MTG - TBD

M - 2.5m walk

T - 2.5m walk

W - 2.5m walk

T - 2.5m walk

F - S - Rest

S - 2.5m walk

My wife was still feeling unwell, so I bailed on climbing.  Did well on the walk front.  Don't even want to talk about the diet end of things.  It was awful, that's it.

In reply to Ross Barker:

Funnily enough I was going to see if you fancied Sauvito today, unfortunately the forecast dry weather never did turn up. Another time. 

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Mon. Chunky endurance session at the depot. I timed my laps last session and most were taking me about 90 seconds, with that in mind I increased my rest between laps from 2 mins to 3mins. 6a, 6b, 6c, 7a, 7a+, 7b, 7b+ then repeated the 7b+ and worked back down again. This is the first time I've managed the whole pyramid without failure and I usually don't repeat the top lap felt like I had more in the tank so worked the 7c/+ circuit then did it in two halves 3 times. One for next time. 5x5 pull ups and 3x10 press ups.

Tues. 11km run. 

Wed. Rest. 

Thurs. Great conditions out on the grit for a lamp session. Managed Zaff Skoczylas, Sit-start (f7B+) in a session. Very happy with this. Had a play on the lower 7C start. Managed to hold all the positions but one move not done and none linked. I was pretty tired by this point and had gone through several tips so called it a night. Keen for another play though, could be a goer if I can find beta that works for me. There's quite a few videos of people claiming the 7C version without being matched in the pocket at the start. I think I'd only be satisfied with a full 'matched in the pocket' start as it does add to it starting 'properly' 

Fri. Rest

Sat. 5km run. 

Sun. The dry weather never turned up so I did shrugs, 6x max hangs (+24kgs), 6 sets of repeaters (+5kg for the first 4 sets then just body weight for the last 2), 5x5 pull ups and 3x10 press ups. 

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Thanks SSB. 

M: still ill.

T: decided to try a board session in the morning (after the using density hangs) despite not feeling 100%. Conditions were good and it actually went really well, I managed to repeat on old 7A+ and retro flash a 7A. Best board session for over a year - it was November last year when my finger injury stopped me trying hard on it. Injury check - left ring finger all good, right bicep painful at full stretch when warming up but fine when climbing.

W: morning - 5*5 one arm scap pull-ups with my left arm; I can't do these with my right at the moment as the position triggers pain in my upper bicep from whatever I did at the wall a couple of weeks ago (it seems to be more of a problem than I'd thought.)  Finally feeling mostly better, just an occasional residual cough.

T: morning - 3*30 second density hangs then 5 * 3/6/9 second hangs with bodyweight +20kg on the 23mm edge (I dropped back the weight slightly due to not having trained properly the last two weeks.) In the afternoon I did a lot of moving logs in to our wood store and shifting big piles of leaves.

F: morning - decided to squeeze in a trip to the Hangar as the weekend was to be spent visiting the in-laws on the south coast. Unsurprisingly I was feeling a bit tired, but did a couple of good whites. Injury check - felt the left ring finger slightly when warming up but it was fine when climbing. Right arm forced me to avoid a couple of problems as I didn't want to pop for a hold and shock-load it when stretched.

S: rest

S: rest

Still not feeling 100% recovered from the bug I had, but most of the way there. This was a much better week than the previous one! I'm hoping I can now get back to a fuller training load again.

Si

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Cheers SSB!

Yes, most of the Cuttings boulderfield and New Cuttings are pretty reliably dry. There’s a few things where there’s a bit more above them (boulders half embedded in the hillside sort of thing) that can seep, but most of them dry very quickly and the only theoretical hassle is the ground conditions - where it’s rocky it’s fine but if not the soil round here forms a pretty slidey mud when wet! There’s usually shelter from the wind somewhere to be found as well and a decent amount of sun - if anything summer is the challenge with conditions!

Another session with progress this week which is good. The winter coughs and bugs are getting to me a bit though, I had high hopes, with access to the wall again and the children a bit older, of pushing onwards a bit this winter with my climbing, but looking back through the last few weeks there’s been at least one session per week intended but not delivered due to some form of pestilence - if I’m not careful it will end up being maintenance…

Monday - resting

Tuesday - had planned to go to the wall in the evening but got gradually headachey and a bit grotty as the day progressed so early to bed instead

Wednesday - feeling a bit tired but generally better. MiniAJM and I went to the wall. Hit the woodie, managed a 6B+ on the poor feet which I should probably do more of to focus on smooth movement/even pressure/etc, plus tried another problem, 6C I think, on the better feet which I made some progress on, tickled the hold at the end of the hard move and got the moves into that sorted. 

Thursday - microAJM not very well, plus I was a bit achey. Didn’t manage to get anything done.

Friday -  short woodie session once the kids were in bed. A strange session - I felt like I could move ok, and generate force/power fairly well. But if I had to hold tension across the shoulders - catching a big move, or tensing the shoulders on a cut loose - that bit just seemed to be missing in action. So sort of a decent session, and sort of a poor session, at the same time, in that I could tickle holds fairly well but not really hold them.

Saturday - the putting up of the Christmas tree, plus pram pushing to and fro the shops and round the park. Left shoulder and upper arm feeling a bit sore.

Sunday - the promises of sun had gradually been downrated as time went on. But after lunch miniAJM and I popped out for a brief scoping session on Stompin. Took a range of cheating apparatus with me - given it has bolts (Fr7c with an Fb7B start!), I thought a sling, a clipstick, a short length of rope, a harness and a grigri were all appropriate things to shove in the boulder mat! In the end a sling on the first bolt was quite useful as I could use this to get set up well on the edge I had been trying to match last time which gave me an energy efficient way to work the next two moves, which are the crux. I spent a little while exploring options, as the rock over onto a small right foot was tricky since weighting the foot was hard since it was well away from the centre of mass. But keeping feet on the left to push off just didn’t quite seem to work. A friend had mentioned a different handhold a little further right and in the end I settled on using this which made the right foot a huge amount easier to weight. A strong local turned up right at the end and gave me one more helpful piece of beta, swapping an unpositive flat edge as the target of this move for a tiny side pull which in theory makes the go-again easier to generate momentum for.

So, in the end my best go was yarding on the sling to get the edge in the post-match hand position, sorting myself out, rocking onto the right foot, getting the tiny side pull, and starting to engage for the go-again at which point my foot popped. But I guess that means that *if* I could get the match sorted well enough from the ground, and *if* I could do the go-again just a little better, I would hit the good side pull edge at the end of the crux and it would be one tricky foot swap before the easier highball topout. So I’m fairly pleased with the session.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Thanks SSB.

I’m sure the much anticipated lots of free time will soon get filled. But I am determined it will be filled with training and productive work stuff - working for myself. 12-15 hr days with 1000miles a week of driving are not sustainable for me or the planet! 

My rough plan is to get the next week out of the way and then start to get consistent with the gym and using the home board along side the climbing. 
 
I’m managing 3 x a week climbing ok atm despite being v busy. Two weeks ago I really wasn’t. So I feel like I’ve finally got over whatever was dragging me down. 
 

M - nothing 

T - nothing 

W - Boulder UK. Tried the V7’s that I didn’t think I could do last week. I was right. But I made some really good progress and felt good trying hard as before my warm up I felt very low psyche/energy. 

T - nothing 

F - drive to Edinburgh, eat, drink, sleep not very much. 

S - Ratho - lots of volume up to 6c. I am really not very fit. Curry and wine. 

S - moonboard session. Problems up to V6. Loved it. 

 

In reply to biscuit:

Given the company, I just knew a curry was going to be part of the weekend :-o

Glad you enjoyed the Moonboard.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Thanks for the positive comments on my new problems.  Ross should try out the heel beta, but should be warned that it's tenuous and can feel completly nails in a baggy heeled boot...

Week 48

Trying to include some more conditioning, core and aero-cap between now and christmas as a solid foundation for next year.

M – Rest.

T – Still had some DOMS from conditioning on Sunday. 20min stretching.

W – Board 10. Turns out I’ve been giving each problem too many goes, hence taking too long over the session. More like “Board 15”!

50s on/70s off aero-cap laps of woods. Kneebar intervals.

T – Gluttonous champagne afternoon tea to celebrate Squiggle’s birthday. No exercise.

F – FB repeaters. F3SHC @BW-15kg followed by 6 move jug campus.

S – Shoulder a little grumbly; presumably the campus moves were too intense. Rehab and aero-cap.

S – Velodrome taster session. Hard work in the warm and very dry atmosphere, compunded by having riden a bike for >month. Brillian fun and a real insight to watching track cycling on the TV. More cautious than my younger self would have been, mostly because I couldn’t completely trust the manoeuvres of the 11 other amateur rdiers on the track with me.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Count me in for Sauvito

In reply to Steve Claw:

My younger self would have been outraged if the new route comprimised the integrity of the 2 remaining trad routes in the middle of boulder cove (Three Snaps to Heaven (E6 6a) Torpedo (E2 5b)), but with an older, more sensible head on, I reckon any newbies should be fair game on that bit of crag.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Cheers SSB. Finally back at the wall this week after the green light. As expected, upper body is feeling strong but my footwork (the little I had) has completely disappeared.

 Mon

• 3x 8 OA Scap Pulls (+10kg)
• Max Hang 5x 10s 20mm (+15kg)
• 6x 1 Campus Offset Pull-ups (1-4)
• 4x 1 Campus Long Move (1-4)
• 4x 1 Campus Pull through (1-4-5)
• 4x 1 Campus Bumps (1-2-3-4)
• Woody Session. Either my shoes have shrunk or my injured foot is still swollen but it was agony. Along with poor footwork and a lack of confidence in dropping off meant it was a bit of a disaster.
• 3x 3 Rings Turned Out Dips
• 2x 12s One Leg Front Lever

Wed

• 5x 4s Planche Leans (33” foot-hand)
• 3x 15 Knee Raises
• 3x 5s 30degVSit holds
• 3x 5 LSit to VSit Reps
• 3x 15s LSit

Thu

• 3x 8 Scap Pulls (BW)
• 3x 8 One arm Scap Pulls (+10kg)
• 3x 2 Weighted Pull-ups (+25kg, +30kg, +35kg). Checking through training diaries, the last time I did weighted pull-ups was 2017 and I was pulling BW+25kg. Very happy to get a new PB at +35kg and could possibly squeeze out a bit more before Christmas.
• Max Hangs 5x 10s 20mm (+16.25kg)
• 4x Campus Go Agains (1-4/5)
• Campus Ladders 1x 1-8, 2x 1-3-5-7
• 5x Woody. Bit better. Worked an old 6C+ in 3 sections but couldn’t link. Still  lacking confidence in going for the hard moves for fear of dropping off. It’s coming though.

Hopefully the weather plays ball this week as I’d like to finally head out for something easy!

Have a good week.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Likewise.  I took a look at the top of Achtung Torpedo! (E5 6b) When I was there and am thinking about going back to check pegs/loose rock, but it looks spicy!

I'm also quite tempted by Kamikaze (E5 6b), but the name is slightly off-putting, along with the snappy rock.

On a serious note, the guy I spoke to (who you probably know) is being very careful to keep clear of the trad routes.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Mon - away with work

Tues - travelled back, but did manage 6*10 secs max hangs at +15.9 kg.  70 push ups and stretching

Wed - lots of work, but managed 60 pull ups in two pyramid sets.  Pull ups can feel hard when I am not managing two sessions a week!

Thursday - rest

Friday - bouldering and autobelay session at the wall.  Largely just movement, but tried a few things that I couldn't do, so put some work in at least

Sat - rest

Not had the time for running lately and my wall session was a bit short as work needed attention.  However, I don't have to travel this week, so should be able to put a more focused week in as we head towards Christmas.  Weather and time conspiring against getting out, but I will get some project thoughts together for the New Year.

Inspired by some of the achievements on here though!

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Cheers, thankfully my mate is going to be fine if he puts some lifestyle changes in place. Scary thing is he is the same age as me.

Anyway not a very productive week gone by. Really feeling the cold, to the extent at times i couldn't face having to get changed to go swimming!

Monday, nothing

Tuesday 1km swim

Wednesday nothing

Thursday, !km swim, stretch class and 5k run in the evening

Friday, 1km swim

Weekend, ferrying kids here there and everywhere. Need to make myself get out on the trails again!