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.

Link to last week’s thread:

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/walls+training/ukc_fit_club_week_819-7543...

Somerset swede basher: Hope the illness hasn't left you too beaten down. Another training week before the upcoming crispy conditions?

AlanLittle: Impressive box split. I seem to recall Tom Randall saying that 100% is generally as much as a climber needs, so that's something to be proud of! As with SSB, hope the cold clears up soon for you.

Derek Furze: I've never dug out a tree, but having removed the occasional weed and plant roots, I bet it's pretty bloody tiring! Fingers crossed the weather held up and you got outside.

Ally Smith: Another member falls victim to the lurgy. Deepest condolences, hopefully work quietens down a little and you can have a slightly more restful illness!

Steve Claw: Intense week! Looking strong on the board, and that new project sounds fiesty. Do take care with the training volume.

Tom Green: Solid second half. It's lovely at Bowden, isn't it? Shame it's so fragile. Strong efforts on the dry tooling project as well.

Randy: Strong Lattice stats. I know you're not much of a boulderer, but do you reckon getting out on reasonable winter days might be beneficial to your rock technique? Don't forget thick socks and a flask of tea!

SteveJC94: Good training week. Not much else to say, keep it up!

biscuit: Glad the injury is healing up quickly. Decent training at well, plus the usual beefy walk!

AJM: Pleased to see you're keeping the rehab up and generally staying active. Do you feel like the hamstring is getting better these days?

Tyler: First ever moon kick tick! Boardroom is a nice centre. I fondly remember getting pumped as sin jugging around on the psicobloc thing. Depot reds can be pretty tricky sometimes in my experience, so good work getting most done. Nice to hear you're starting to make some moves on the board as well, how are the elbows coping?

Thanks Ross.  Yes, got out on Monday to Llanymynech and enjoyed five routes. Quite nice in the sun, but a bit brisk when clouds came over.  I don't know the crag really, so good to get a few done.

The rest of the week consumed by work, followed by grandchild management and Disley lights switch on late Friday until Saturday afternoon.  Got rid in time for partying Saturday night, so all was not lost.

The dig progresses with a two hour shift on Saturday and another day decent effort today.  No proper training achieved, but this should be my last full week of work for a while. 😃

Probably, won't hurt, but from a mental point of view there is also a benefit in having an offseason. The Frankenjura day trips that i am doing are quite tireing and i also have a demanding job. Hence, i think i would burn out in the long run, if i also did a winter bouldering season.

Recap last week:

Mon-Tues: Rest and a lot of stress at work

Wed: Fingerboard 20mm egde, 6x10s with + 15kg; One assisted one armer on each arm with -8kg; assisted one arm lockoff with -5kg at different angles for 10-15s, 12 normal pullups

Thurs: Rest and some more stress at work

Fri: Fingerboard 20mm egde, 4x10s with + 15kg; One assisted one armer on each arm with -7kg; 15 normal pullups

Sat: Travel to India

Sun: Rest, trying to get used to 30° temperatures and recover from the jetlag. Lesson of the day: Don't forget your suncream because the stuff that you can buy in India is kind of weird . On the bright sight, at least i did not get sunburned.

Quite a hectic week, but at least i managed to get something done. Will stay in India for 2 weeks and i will take this as an opportunity to take a deload week the first week and just do some random fingerboarding as far as it will fit in my busy schedule. Second week will hopefully be a little bit more chilled at work and hence a little bit structured on the fingerboard.

Evening everyone. Happy to not feel like a potential lurgy vector anymore, celebrated by boshing out Llanberis neo-classic boulder. I realise now I forgot a weigh-in this week, not that it hugely matters.

Last Week:

M - Rest.

T - Rest

W - Impromptu North Wales hit. Went to Fachwen and seiged my way up Lockdown. First move caused a bit of grief on the DIP joints as its a big move off a tiny little incut crimp. Tactically found a way to practice the top moves without doing that each time, and a little while later I found myself completing it. Quick stop at the Cromlech for a friend to finish off Ultimate Retro Party, I got it in two-ish halves but it's far too sustained to link at the end of a big day! I'm sure I'll return.

T - Rest.

F - Rest.

S - Group Tension Board session. Strong scenes, scraped up a couple 7As. Always forget how pinchy the holds are on that thing! Thoroughly battered by the end of it.

S - Rest.

Next Week:

M - Rigpa or Moonboard, weather depending.

T - Rest.

W - Whatever I didn't do on Monday.

T - Rest, work Xmas do!

F - Rest.

S, S - Bouldering. Weather forecast looks gorgeous!

Goals:

Antagonists.

Improve DIP joint conditioning on microcrimps?

Rigpa.

Thanks Ross. Firing on all cylinders again, thankfully.

STG: Winter 22/23 - do an actual off piste ski tour
MTG: April Kalymnos trip with my son: tick at least two things from my wishlist
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 658

M:    
T:    Wall, Dachau. Checked out a new wall - not only new to me, but newly built - and met up with a former regular climbing partner who I've barely seen since before the pandemic. Forgot my chalkbag, and without it managed what I think are probably my first ever clean hand 6b's (but also fell off a 6a+). Borrowed my mate's chalkbag for the 7a we were trying.
    According to my logbook this is the seventy-sixth climbing wall I've visited, the first being the legendary Leeds Uni in circa 1979
W:  Bike one hour around town. Getting pretty chilly now, but I was still ok with my second warmest gloves.
T:    (Office Christmas party)
F:    Wall, Dachau autobelay routes at lunchtime. I liked the wall on my first visit on Tuesday, and was in the area in the morning for work.
    Climbing at lunchtime because:
    Evening hike up to a lads' night at a hut with a couple of mates who are hopefully going to be my ski touring guides/mentors later in the season. Snow and a half moon = night hike with no need to switch the headtorch on. Beautiful.
S:  Winter hillwalking, Hirschberg. Still late autumn in town, but already a foot of well consolidated snow above about a thousand metres.
S:    Wall, Freimann. Having already done two try-hard routes session this week, today I did some mileage at more moderate difficulty - ten routes around plus-or-minus 6b.

Evening Ross. Double-Weeker for me!

Week 819

NSAIDs, rest, lots of dead hanging and feeling sorry for myself (thought I’d save your fingers typing the stats!)

Week 820 

Third week of rest and T-Spine was starting to feel a bit better. Had a great chat with Biscuit on the Thursday which alleviated a lot of my concerns so nipped out on the Saturday for a testing session.

Few tie-ins at Dancing Ledge and jumped back on Mr. Choo Choo (7a). Top roped without a single back twinge but I’m still dropping the third clip off a polished open pinch. There’s a good flatty one move higher but I just need a bit more brave/PE. On a plus note my mate swapped his Top rope Dog for a Top rope Flash (incremental gains!). Finished off at Subliminal for a couple of routes. 

In hindsight, I knew my back needed a bit more rest but it’s hard to spot that niggle when you regularly train through others without issue. My biggest takeaway is I need to start doing more core/back extensor and flexibility training. 

Back on it this week!

The moonlit session sounds fantastic!

Yes a new climbing technique that didn't feel like it was going to put a vital joint out!

This week I've done nothing until this afternoon when I had a fairly intense session in the annex so I'll find out tomorrow. I managed the warm up circuit in both directions but think I'll be buying some bigger holds to give me a proper warm up and something I can lap for a few minutes. Still struggling for mats and powerful moves but for fingers and tensiony moves it's already pretty good.

Thanks Ross, been better this week but still a little low on energy.

Mon. Rest 

Tues. Foundry boulder session, nice to climb on the wave again.

Wed. Rest.

Thurs. BSMA lamp session. I can get to my previous high point 8 moves in every go now. Got the crux step over every time in isolation but need to sort a little hand bump to move into it. It's the bit between the start and the crux I'm still struggling with. Decided to sack off the beta I've invested a couple of session in and try the other way. This involves a hard cut loose but would be much high percentage if I can get it sorted. Will spend time on this bit next time. If I could work the cut loose out I'd be able to do the crux from the start I think. Still not worked the end yet though.

Fri. Rest 

Sat. Foundry lead session. Destroyed by the main overhang. The routes up to 6c+ all seem pretty steady then anything 7a or harder is nails. Lots of falls were taken!

Sun. Took the kids ice staking which turned out to be much more physical than expected, 9km run in the evening.

Looking forward to some cold and dry weather later in the week, finally.

Hi Fitclub. Thanks for the write up, Ross. Strong sessions from yourself this week. 

Week 48:

M: Rest. Planned bouldering didn't happen, but probably for the best as I was knackered! 

T: Prehab.

W: Trail run. 15.6km, 503m vert, 6:40/km. 

T: Fingerboard, Strength, Prehab.

F: Bouldering at Crookrise. Highlight was Crease Direct (f6A+). Also had some tentative goes on Ron's Crack II (f7A+) -actually feels doable but scary! Need to go back for Diet Pepsi (f6A+) -amazing, but waaaay harder than the guidebook grade of 6A+!

S: Bouldering at Thorn. Superb day. Highlight was Elemental (f6C) -beautiful problem, (although possibly not 6C?)

S: Trail run. 10.6km, 322m vert, 6:57/km. Felt hard after lugging two pads up to Thorn the previous day!

Week 49:

M: Core.

T: Run. (Or maybe tooling). 

W: Fingerboard, Strength, Prehab.

T: Bouldering.

F: Prehab

S: Run.

S: Fingerboard, Strength, Prehab.

STG -end Dec:

Triglav N Face -TICK.

Stewker (E1 5c) -TICK.

First of Many (none 5b) -TICK.

The Night Watch (VS 4b)

Gauche (VD)

Minion's Way (HVS 5c)

Roof of the World CD Problem 4 (V1)

Angel's Wall (f5)

The Cruel Crack (f5)

Overhanging Arete (f6A) -TICK.

Delstree (HVS 5a)

Tufted Crack (E1 5c)

Chelly Express (D7) placing gear. (TICK)

Three big mountain days >1500m vert.

Ultra-distance run.

Weighted Pull-up: 85kg. Max Hangs: 80kg. (Adjusted down to reflect recent lack of training)

Weighted hill climb: 2 laps of RT in 30 mins with 15kg -TICK.

2022 Climbing goals:

7a (Possibly one of: Arc en Ciel, The Jim Grin, Rock & Roll, Clink) -TICK

ALL of my local must-do list: 6/15

Visit at least five of my 'why haven't I climbed here' list: 3/5

Get at least one session at each of my 'I should climb more at this crag' list: 5/8

(For lists see FitClub 772)

Start properly getting to know: Brimham 2/3, Almscliff 3/3, Caley 0/3, Slipstones 3/3.

At least two big, classic alpine goals -TICK

Week 48

Nothing to report. A whole week of #germclub. I tried working through it Monday and Tuesday, at which point is became obvious I was getting worse, not better and ended up taking the rest of the week off work.

On Saturday I thought about some gentle exercise, but instead spent 2hrs frustratingly trying to service my bike. 

Sunday was car breakdown and rescue. Need it fixed ASAP before cold connies next weekend.

Thanks Ross,

Was working away for half this week, but still got a couple of sessions in.  Elbows are still hurting more than I would like, so am going to reduce the intensity right down in the coming week.

M-W - Away

T - Woody power hour and then some easy going outdoor sport in the 6's

F - Rest

S - Woody Power hour, making real progress with being able to do a wider range of problems in the 6B/6C range, but not happy about the forearm to elbow tendon ache.

S - Rest

Thanks Ross.

I have definitely been seeing improvements at the rehab exercises I have been doing. I went to the physio again this morning and have a tweaked and slightly more specific set to try to hit the climbing specificity a bit harder. I'm still weaker on that side and at the wall yesterday I wouldn't have been able to crank up onto a heel comfortably but it is an upwards trend I think albeit with a shallow gradient.

I also think it has healed a bit tighter (even tighter! I don't have a lot of bendiness) and now have some stretching built in as well since I think some of the niggles I am still getting from it are just because it's tighter than my every day life needs it to be.

I had a very hectic working week with no real energy to do anything. I had a very solid rehab session on Saturday and I went to the wall on Sunday. This was a positive in terms of being able to do some climbing again without breaking my hamstring, but on the down side the shoulder tweak from a few weeks back is definitely still an issue. It mostly affects overhead at full extension as well as arms horizontal with knuckles pointing forwards (the end of a pressing climbing position). Hopefully I can work around it and still keep doing something.

Thanks Ross, feels like I'm starting to get used to the higher training load now. 

M - 1 on 1 off on the circuit board. 3 x 10 dumbbell shoulder press; 3 x 10 bent over row.

T - Rest

W - 10 board problems (6C; 6C; 6C+; 6C+; 7A; 7A; 7A+; 7A+; 7B; 7B)

T - 3 sets of 6 problems in 6 minutes

F - Rest

S - Soggy bouldering session at  Over Owler Tor. Managed to get Spider Crack (f6C+) and Spider Crack Sit-start (f7A+) fairly quickly before the rain set in

S - Rest

Congratulations to biscuit on his book launch! Looks good. I'll be happy to provide beer and a sofabed when the book signing tour reaches Bavaria

Thanks Ross. No beefy walk this week - phew!

M - Gym - legs 

3 x 10 min on/off on 6b circuit

Stretch

T - Leg DOMS

Easy board problems to test my side out and a little boulder at Rockover Bolton.

Stretch

W - Still leg DOMS

Max hangs - just 6x10sec half crimp to get recruited really

Broken halves on 7a+ circuit. Completed 3 blocks. Need to make harder next time.

T - last day of leg DOMS

F - Boulder UK. Just had a proper boulder. Nothing harder than V5 done. Either grades have got tougher while I've not been bouldering there or I'm way off the pace. Great problems through the grades though. I really enjoyed them.

S - Rest? I'm not with my training diary atm - maybe we did do a walk?

S - Eden Rock - problems up to 6C+. Great problems as ever. Does anywhere set as consistently well as Eden Rock? 

1on/off foot on campus x 10

I'm feeling quite fit but after not bouldering/pulling hard for 3 weeks there is just no zip there at all,

One more week to push on and then a deload week. Focus will be to try and get some coordination and recruitment back before the trip.

I've not even considered a book tour. I'll ask my finance department if it's deductable. If it is I may go on a 'book tour' that involves European climbing destinations......