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.

Tyler – how’s the neck and shoulder? Have they allowed you to get anything done this week?

Derek Furze – glad we’re being of use!  The weather is looking better from Tuesday so hopefully that will coincide with free time this time.

Alan Little – can you ask to move your time off to next year?  Given the circumstances it doesn’t seem like an unreasonable request.

Steve Claw – Someone’s got the Brean bug 😊 . Have you committed to an 8a project yet?  I don’t think it’ll take you many sessions given your fitness and onsight level.  In fact I’d say you already had the fitness you need, you just need to get one wired.

SteveJC94 – Glad the elbow is behaving again.  Did you make the drive to Scotland this week?

Ross Barker – I think you’ve got different strengths to me (I’m good at tic tac and poor at big burly dynamic moves) so its hard to advise.  Without getting too specific, I think simply doing more of the things you’re less good at will make a difference.  If you’re in the market for a lowball project then submergence (Burbage north) might suit you, one big move that’s easier for the tall and doesn’t need a spotter.  I’ve never managed it but I don’t think it actually too hard.  Hope the finger sorts itself out.

Mattrm – Gold star for you this week!  Absolutely smashed the walking, well done.  The key to fitness is consistency though, got to keep up a regular pattern.

Si dH – Well done for getting some training in to work around the injuries.  Maybe some techy slabs are in order to make you feel like you’ve done something but without having to pull too hard?

AJM – I’m loving the sound of the process on Stompin and sounds like you are making good progress.  Keep at it, it’ll come.

Biscuit – hopefully you’ve got through the last week in the current job.  I’m looking forward to you deploying yourself at future projects, what’s first on the hit list?

Ally Smith – what are kneebar intervals?  Is that resting on a kneebar for recovery between laps?  Is that one year of squiggle already? That’s gone fast.

Liam P – nobody got strong using good footwork 😉 don’t worry about it and save it for projects!  Although on a more serious note, maybe some mileage on indoor boulder problems or an auto belay rather than hitting the woody might dial the feet back in more quickly.

The sheep – I’d have thought you’d be used to all that cold water by now! I’m envisioning that running while the kids are at some sort of club is going to be the way forward for the future.

Cheers SSB! Yeah I'm psyched to keep going with it - it feels difficult in a sort of plausible gradual progress way rather than the more frustrating "well, I've spent 3 sessions and I still can't do *the move*" sort of thing.

A quiet week in climbing terms this week. 

Monday/Tuesday - work deadlines on Wednesday meant no time for much else

Wednesday - wall with miniAJM. Decent session on the woodie, wasn't feeling the bounce for jumpy stuff but got involved in a good twisty problem. Playing to my less weak areas admittedly but still hard work.

Thursday/Friday - work Christmas afternoon meal/bowling Thursday led to a hangover Friday. Saw a lot of people I hadn't seen since we left the office in 2020 which was wonderful, especially with talk of returning to office falling by the wayside and storm clouds looming more widely on the covid front.

Saturday/Sunday - seeing in-laws. Bit of walking and a few sets of dips on some park exercise bars which has acted as something of a wake-up call as to how little pushing I have done since the spring. Aching shoulders today! I need to get back in the game a bit on this.

Keeping fingers crossed for a few wall sessions this week and hopefully outside at the weekend.

Cheers SSB. I started climbing some circuits this week to get the feet moving. Feel like it’s slowly coming back but I’m still seeing strength gains so it’s hard to peel myself away! I may wait for the pending plateau which doesn’t feel too far away.

Unfortunately the weather scuppered my plans to find a rehab project around Swanage/Portland. I’m still limping slightly so leaning towards Portland with its shorter walkins. Looking for something in the 6s with a one-mat MEGA safe landing, and ideally no need for a spotter if anyone has any ideas?

Mon

• 3x 8 Scap Pulls
• 3x 8 One Arm Scap Pulls (+10kg)
• Max Hangs. Finger Strength Tank felt empty so sacked them off. Think I needed more rest or food (probably both)
• 4x 1 Campus Offset Pull-ups (1-4)
• 4x Campus Long Moves (1-4.5)
• Campus Pull throughs. failed on 1-4-5.5. Reverted to 4x 1-4-5
• 4x 1 Campus Bumps (1-2-3-4-4.5)
• Hour on the V4 circuit
• 3x 3 Rings Turned Out Dips

Thu

• 3x 2 Weighted Pull-ups (+35kg, 37.5kg, +40kg New PB for me at 151%) Still a long way off the Lattice Strongboys!
• Max Hangs 5x 8s 20mm (+17.5kg)
• 4x Campus Go Agains (1-4/5)
• Campus Ladders 2x 1-3-5-7
• Few pulls on to the old 6c+ Woody proj. Can do in 2 halves but still haven’t linked.
• Hour on the V4 circuit

Sat

• 2x 15s One Leg Front Lever
• 4x Offset Pull-ups (43” offset rope)
• Max Hangs 5x 12s 20mm (+17kg)
• 3x 5s Planche Leans (33” foot-hand)
• 3x Max Rep Pull-ups (16, 10, 9)
• 3x Max Rep press-ups (25, 15, 10)

Weight: 176lb but looking ahead to silly season I think this may well start to creep.

Have a good week.

I guess I'd say from the start I rarely/never go out with only one pad - I have a foot pad (link below) which I would highly recommend as a versatile way to expand the capability of a 1-main-pad solution. Use this for the sitter and the main pad to cover the topout, sort of thing.

https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15914137/evolv-wingman-boulder-mat-15914137

That being said, and without really knowing what you can and can't do (the Tank for example often has foot cams in the break, and the Petty Thief stuff will probably need heel hooks) a few thoughts:

- When you can get there, St Aldhelms is a fairly low pad venue on the quarried tier - The Crimp, Sit-start (f6B+), The Pocket, Sit-start (f6B), Strip Teasel (f6C+)

- The Scene (f6B). 

- most of the stuff on the Tank is good and quite lowball - Crouching Start, Hidden Agenda (f6B+), Vasco de Gama (f6C) etc

- New Cuttings is a tricky one - mandatory dropoffs from some problems and often high, but on the other hand fairly straight up lines and pan flat landings. If you wanted to check it out, then try Phat Slapper (f6C+). The same broadly speaking is true of Neddyfields, albeit with more polish - Ripples (f6A).

- Rocky and Diesel (f6A), Nu Breed, Sit-start (f6C) and some of the stuff round there probably goes with one pad.

- probably the lip starts round Petty Thief, Lip Start (f6A) would work.

Give me a shout if you want to hook up at some point to expand your range (I am a spotter and I have pads )

Some interesting details there that have made me think of having a mess about on the campus board at the wall next time I visit.  I've done it a few times before, but never with much idea of what to do and the bullet points you've provided give me a platform to start.

Impressed with the weighted pull ups - not something I have really tried before, but should develop strength gains.  Might give that a whirl as well as I need to introduce more variety when I have the time.  Keep the ideas coming!

Yes reading that it was immediately apparent that Liam is stronger than me at both pushing and pulling!

Been struggling with a bout of elbow tendonitis this week. Probably over did it on the circuit board last week. It's not too bad but will need to back off the training and just go climbing for a couple of weeks. I've not done as much cardio this year as I would normally so might have a last hour surge in that to bring my numbers up for the year.

Mon. Shrugs, press ups, crimpd tension and compression.

Tues. Aerocap session 3x10 mins continuous climbing up in the attic.

Wed. Rest.

Thurs. 45mins on the static bike, nominally 23km.

Fri. Rest. 

Sat. Headed east to find dry rock. Eventually managed Easy Idol (f7B). It took me ages (90mins ish) to work out the beta and I thought I was too tired to actually put it all together but managed to get it after a good rest. Pleased as the start opens up a couple of other problems now.

Sun. 12km run, 230m ascent. 

Thanks SSB.  I haven't had to stick to just slabs or anything, but have just needed to avoid some specific types of moves. To be honest the right bicep/shoulder has felt slightly better this week although it's still not right.

M: 3*30 second density hangs then 5 * 3/6/9 with bodyweight +27kg on the 23 mm edge. Felt harder than a fortnight ago, I failed near the end of the 9 second hang in each of the last three sets.

T: rest.

W: 3*30 second density hangs then a board session in the morning. Another good session, I managed a project from 2-3 weeks ago that is probably 7A and repeated an old 7A+.

T: lunchtime visit to the Hangar. Managed 6 whites - a good session for finishing things, including a couple of slabs! (I am usually pretty bad at slabs these days but one of these I was particularly pleased with)

F: rest

S: short half hour at the Hangar while son No.1 was at mini rock club in the morning (it's supposed to last an hour but for various reasons that got cut down.) After warming up I just did a couple of reds and the single white that was newly set since Thursday.

S: rest so far. I might do some stretching this evening if we get the kids to bed on time...10% chance maybe?

I haven't really followed any sort of plan this week but it was a good one as I got a decent amount done and felt like I was climbing well.

Si

Afternoon, cheers for the stats and recommendations, SSB!

I went out and got a set of scales this weekend as I rarely weigh myself, only ever if the topic comes up at a friend's house who does have scales. 78kg! About 8kg heavier than I was a couple years ago. I think I'm genetically blessed/cursed (remove as applicable) with building muscle, as I can't really see shaving off much BF% being sustainable. I shall embrace the hench.

Out of curiosity, has anyone here ever tried a fingerboard regime to condition fingers against injury? I feel that mine aren't really all too bombproof, and don't respond very well to strength training (albeit I've not tried loads).

Last Week:

M - AM rehab finger pulls. Evening gym. Lots of easier problems. 5x3 pullups +25kg. Might push to 27.5kg next time, but got the right ballpark. Left index A2 feels pretty good now, but right middle still not good. Think I'm officially "injured" again, but can't pinpoint a diagnosis. Contrast baths.

T - PM fingerboard rehab pulls.

W - Rest.

T - Gym. Decent session, was able to try a couple of hard ones. Left index A2 feels back to normal, and the right middle is being less vocal about its woes. Still not quite right, a bit stiff when warming up, and still unsure of the specifics, but whatever I'm doing is pushing it in the right direction.

F - Lots of walking, probably a few miles.

S - Rest.

S - Gym. Another decent session. Tried a sustained 12-move problem (practically a multipitch by my standards) and was chuffed with my ability to keep pushing despite fatigue. Fingers still improving! 5x10 pushups and lower body stretches to finish. Does anyone find hamstring stretches fun?!

Next Week:

M - Rest.

T - Rest.

W - Gym.

T - Rest.

F - Rest.

S, S - Outdoors, or gym if weather is still not complying.

Goals:

Rehab finger woes.

Rigpa.

Not very psyched at the moment, think it's a combination of dodgy fingers, crap weather and a slightly stressful time at work. Ah well, I'll get through it.

Thanks SSB.

Yes I think the 8a is not far away, just need to pick the right one, get a bit stronger and stay fit.  I'm going to sample a few more and see what I find.  I too have what I think is some elbow tendonitis, so won't be pushing mega hard.

M - Indoor strength session, but unfortunately wasn't feeling strong. 6*10s hangs +15kg and Woody session.

T - Indoor ropes and auto-belay session, didn't get loads done. 3hrs low to medium 7's

W - Rest

Thurs - Indoor boulders 2hrs - 6*10s hangs +15kg, Play on the gym rings and various boulders

Sun - Indoor strength session, feeling stronger today.  

• 6*10s hangs +15kg felt good with a lower body position.
• Rings 3*5 sets of Y's and T's front and back.
• 3*10 +10kg scapula pull ups.
• 3*10 front leg raise (on chair thing, not hanging)
• 1hr Woody session, getting a few I failed on earlier in the week and also a 7A!

This is great!

I’ll try to pull on a few this week and see how it goes with the heel.

I’m definitely up for a meet at some point but need to make sure I’m not wasting your time. Having recently had a nipper I now realise the crux is getting out the door!

I do most of my bouldering with my 4 year old, so I'm hardly a model of high efficiency and not-a-second-wasted!!!

Other than messing around, this is the first time I’ve used the Campus Ladder properly and it’s good fun! I split the following exercises between the week:

• Offset Pull-ups: trick is to push with the lower hand!
• Long Moves: As far as you can reach (then match if you can).
• Pull throughs: reach one rung lower than your ‘Long Move’ and pull through with the other hand as high as possible (again match the top if you can).
• Bumps: Keep one hand on the first ring and bump the other up each rung as high possible (match top rung).
• Go-agains: Long Move then immediately try to bump the same hand up another rung (match top!)
• Ladders: Skip rungs as you get stronger.

Being a trad punter, and relative newbie to training, the thing that impressed me was the power required for a 1-5-9 (even a 1-4-7). I feel like I can pull hard statically but generating the power to pull through to higher rungs feels impossible. Really enjoy it though, and it’s great for contact strength/latching holds.

I mix it up with pull-ups. Spend months doing high volume BW sets then when I inevitably hit a plateau I’ll switch to weighted. First 2RM, drop weight to 3x3, then 5x5 before finally going back to max rep BW.  I’m on a bit of an upper body max strength binge at the minute mind!

Thanks SSB. No further thoughts as yet about trip planning & holiday days; instead gave some thought to an STG assuming walls remain open. The threat of an actual lockdown seems to be receding, thankfully, although I'll still be glad when I'm eligible for my booster shot after Christmas. I'm a sucker for a good benchmark, so decided I was intrigued by jwi's suggestion on ukb: https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,31635.msg649667.html#msg6496.... So:

STG: see where I stand on jwi's sport climbing fitness benchmarks, scaled from 8a down to 7a by the simple expedient of subtracting one number grade across the board.
MTG: 1H 2022: onsight 6c+
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M:    Wall, Weyarn. Rather desultory autobelay session to feel out to what extent I'm recovered from last week's cold. Not entirely, it would seem
T: 
W:    Half an hour stretching. Have neglected this lately in favour of just climbing before & during the Greek trip. With dire consequences - need to get back on the wagon.
T: 
F: 
S: Wall, Boulderwelt. Easing my way back in post-cold and post-post-trip deload
S: Wall, Weyarn. First of my STG benchmarking sessions:

(Due to wall traffic & availability of autobelay lines - also boredom - I actually did two different 6b's three times each) This was interesting. The first five laps felt easy, like I could have kept going all night; then the last one was suddenly a fight. Suggesting that as a benchmark I probably got the level pretty much spot on. I suppose having just come back from a Greek sport climbing trip it's not entirely surprising my ancap level is about where it should be.

Thanks SSB. Yep we took a bit of a punt on Scotland this weekend but unfortunately it was a bit mild and wet. All good fitness training if nothing else!

Last week:

M - Rest

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

W - Knee rehab

T - Core workout

F - Rest

S - Walked into the coire and got blown left right and centre even when gearing up at the base of the route - bailed an headed back to a warm van

S - Headed north and took a punt on Beinn Eighe with the hope of doing East Buttress. Everything was stripped so opted for a quick solo of Fuselage Gully to salvage the weekend

Plan for next week:

M - Rest

T - Hangboard repeaters & bouldering

W - Core exercises & knee rehab

T - Campus board & MoonBoard problems

F - Rest

S - Bouldering in the peak 

S - Rest

Thanks SSB.

I made it through alive, just. Nothing actually 'bad' happened. But it was super busy and the in addition things like my van breaking down, locking the keys to the replacement car inside it and then losing a house key on a night out at 1am all meant it was quite wearing.

First proper day in the new job today and i've got a few minutes between patients to type this up. A very welcome change of pace. 

M - Work

T - Work.

W - BUK - two V7's. One flash and one i never thought would go, but did. It was a high rockover even for Ian Vickers! Good session.

T - New work admin day

F - Routes at Kendal. The aim was to get a manageable pump and deal with it on routes. Success! 8 routes i think up to 6c+ on the big walls at Kendal. 

S - Not much - family stuff

S - Lancaster wall - session on the vertical/slabby blacks. Lots of failing and lots of movement practice. Finished off on the 25 degree board. It's good and fingery. Problems up to 6C

So I am coping with 3 sessions a week aNed's Problem (f7B)nd feeling OK off it. I should now be able to fit in the gym regularly (2ce a week) and some prehab exercises. That's my goal to get in place for the new year when i want to get out bouldering once a week and start to introduce some fitness work.

Ned's is first on the ticklist!  Ned's Problem (f7B)

Cheers SSB, Im trying to combine the kids swim and run training with my own so all good there. I seem to have got over the feeling the cold issue, maybe a side effect of the booster jab?? Anyway a much more productive week to report back on.

Monday, rest day

Tuesday 1km swim at lunchtime and intervals in the evening with the youngest and her run club (mix of kids and parents) Total of 5k covered

Wednesday, 1km lunchtime swim and met with eldest daughter after work for a swim session with her and another 2km swum

Thursday, 1.5km swim followed by stretch class at lunchtime and 5k run in the evening whilst youngest swam

Friday, 1km lunchtime swim and 5k evening run with the wife

Saturday, father in law visited so no activity. However beer, rugby on TV and a curry made for a good day

Sunday, very nice and mild day, 7km trail run with the wife to burn off the previous days consumption 

It's a homemade session based upon AO's Silence kneebar training; 6x 40s hold / 20s rest in the kneebar machine on the side of the Moonboard (weight vest for added spice).  Hoping to get back some of the core ability I had previously...

Week 49

M – Static core +8kg. Lower body stretches. Shoulder ROM exercises.

T – A little core DOMS. Rest.

W – Boulder pyramids, 7A+ to 7C. Stretching later.

T – An-cap repeaters on F3 drag & F3SHC. Shoulder ROM exercises.

F – 1on/1off x10 aero-cap laps on 6B+ up then woods circuit. Kneebar intervals. 1.5x Crimpd static core.

S – Started the day feeling a bit grotty. Developed a temperature and went for an afternoon snooze.

S – Still grotty. Another snooze.

Not a huge surprise that I succumbed to a virus on Saturday havig burnt the candle at both ends; Squiggle wrangling, normal work, training, and the biggest strain of job-application writing last week.

Feeling perkier today and completed the last big work call of the year (8am-3pm non-stop MS-Teams review session). This was thankfully pencilled in as a deload week, so taking it easy fits well.

I previously collected some thoughts and experiences here: http://allysmithblog.blogspot.com/2017/08/finger-injury-some-thoughts-on-re... 

However, I recommend you also listen to: https://theprehabguys.com/podcast/talking-tendons-with-jill-cook/ that's more focused on over-use injuries, but some of the principles discussed therein apply.  If I was to have a substantial finger injury again, I would be looking to longer, less intense loading to build tendon density at the outset, before increasing intensity/reducing length of contraction. 

Si dH has included a typical session in many of his training logs for the last month(s). 3x 30s "density hangs" - listen to that podcast and you might be tempted to go for even longer duration; 40s @ an RPE of 7/10 (at the end of the hang).  The correct intensity for a rehab obviously varies depending on the severity of injury, but you do need to be loading a tendon to achieve strength gains and rehab the tendon for high loads of bouldering (equally, if it's blown to bits, the loading will be very low - see my initial -20kg hangs from earlier blogpost).

Great write-up, cheers! I'll give that a listen today. Hopefully I can find some training discipline to get me taking preventative measures.

Thanks for a thorough response.  Too busy this week to do much with it unless I get a chance Friday, but will definitely experiment before Christmas.

Looks like (weather permitting) I'll be heading up to Gardoms this weekend. Friend is keen for Marks Roof, and I'm keen for Suavito, if we fancy a bit of a meet-up? Unsure if it'll be Saturday or Sunday, I'm pretty flexible.

Currently committed to tieing in with my usual partner but if that doesn't happen for any reason I'll give you a shout.  Forecast is mist so hopefully it won't be a Peak wide super clag.

Not sure yet if I can get out, but if the timing and weather works I'd be keen to meet up. Think Mark's roof should go really, and I could contribute pads/beta for Suavito. Keep me in the loop with your plans

STG - 6a

MTG/LTG - Not be ill?

M - S - Lurgy Club!!!

While I wouldn't say I've been free of lurgy this last few weeks, while my wife has been very lurgyfied, I've only been lightly lurgied.  This week has been a complete flip of that.  I've been feeling horrible.  But my wife has been a bit better.  So yeah, I'm definitely a fully paid up member of lurgy club.

After some mmm-ing and ahhh-ing we've reckon we'll be going to North Wales instead on Sunday. Seems a much safer bet, weather-wise. Of course you are all welcome to join, though we've not picked a venue yet!

As predicted, it's a Peak wide super clag here, definitely don't bother coming this way! We are going to head to the wall. Enjoy Wales