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_826-7557...

Stats:

Ross Barker: 

Your very strong start to the year continues apace – great stuff and good to hear that The Dugout is a decent venue in terms of the injuries you are managing.  Like you say, getting the balance right is tricky, but good to hear that you are hoping for a bit more structured rehab this week.  Clearly Ally and yourself have got a bit of grade benchmarking to sort out for this venue, though I suspect that some Moonboard sandbagging might be occurring!  Anyway, after three trips to the Dugout in a week – all clearly something of a campaign – you need to find somewhere else to downgrade!

I’m impressed that you’ve got out so often.  I don’t know if decent weather has coincided with my travelling and work, but every time I get a moment it seems to be wet / snowing / generally dripping.  It is drying up today (Friday), so there should be some dry stuff about at the weekend.

SteveJC94: Sorry to hear that illness has hampered your plans.  Good effort to put time into stretching anyway, which always feels productive to me.  Thanks also for clarification on RPE, which also came in from others – just to remark that my recent max hangs final sets have been pretty all out (9.6/10), but have made the ten-second threshold.  As my weight is down slightly, I am looking forward to reaching my monthly target ahead of schedule – a positive kick-off to the more focused period that I have to play with for a couple of months.

Hope that you are back on it and able to progress again now?

SSB:  Indeed!  Spring is on the way and at least it looks drier over the next week or two.

Amazing that the 1kg extra is such a struggle, though it does depend on the grip you are working at the time. Certainly on 20mm edges, a little bit extra can feel very significant.  I’m on front three at the moment, which is a deeper slot on my board.  I might look at some packers to reduce the slots for a second cycle in another month or so.  Also, your weighted pull ups are quietly climbing – 5x5 at plus 10kg is pretty good.

Repeaters always feel hard to me and perhaps a bit of a faff.  That said, I have just started them again (and confirmed the difficulty!), so I will follow your progress with interest.  I started with just 2.3kg in my bag and only managed two sets as a way back into them. 

Agree that conditions might be a bit sub-optimal.  Probably a lot of run off from melting snow as well as generally high moisture levels about.  Hasn’t slowed Ross much though!

Tyler:  Following your report on the dry tooling, I’d say your enthusiasm levels look just fine!  Sounds like quite a laugh from the colourful report submitted!  It also sounds that ‘if this had been a boxing match’ the ref might have stepped in with several mandatory counts – it sounds like a seriously pumpy effort, so got to be useful one way or another.  I hope the elbows have survived the beating anyway.  On the plus side, it seems that you have a new target to complete and a reason for ‘bothering with’ White Goods again at some point.  I’d never heard of it (probably because I’ve not dry tooled ever), so I looked it up.  Suffice to say, the overview didn’t make me want to add it to my ‘must visit’ list!

Alan:  Given my complete lack of enthusiasm for plastic, most of my wall visits can be described as ‘lacklustre’.  I’m gradually stopping going altogether!  I guess by comparison with sunny Greek tufas, most walls will leave something to be desired!  Anyway, well done for making the effort.

Good to see that the snow has arrived.  My brother updated to say they are now trapped in – they are up a side road that won’t get ploughed, so they have to dig it out with the neighbours.  He has expressed frustration at the previous lack of snow, though paradoxically it has been good for him as people spend all day in bars and he is a brewer.

Good to see you on the bike and at least putting the exercise together even though it was a deload week in theory.  I see there were a lot of good suggestions as to how to maximise your gains prior to Kaly.  Thanks also for your very thorough response on Leonidio for Biscuit – who needs guidebooks when FC steps in?

AJM:   Hopefully, you’ll have spent the week constructing a training spreadsheet to better record your Sharkathon start to the year?  I find I forget if I don’t make a record.  More than this, I find it quite motivating to actually put the record together, because you can usually see the progress emerging (or the gaps where something should have been happening!).  Regardless, you’ve put something in on every day which certainly fits with the Sharkathon goals, so good stuff. 

You probably know this while you are on it, but keeping a record would allow a bit of detail to be shared, if only to enable the rest of us to track your progress!  Good to see rehab, stretching and short fingerboard sessions making an appearance – certainly a decent mix along with a wet walk / run /chase the bus.  You’ve stated that you feel like you are ‘bumping along the bottom’ – completely understandable with young kids, work and everything else that January brings, so setting some simple aims or pattern would probably help overcome the ‘imprecision’.  Nothing you don’t know being said here of course!

Doing every day is hard, though Sharkathon is pretty relaxed in allowing ‘at least something’ to count.  I set myself the goal of four sessions that include at least three elements to count.  Having the goal is helping me push to get sessions done, though I have to admit having the time is making so much difference.

Steve Claw:  No worries Steve – perhaps avoiding focused training is no bad thing now and then.  I still find I can easily provoke my elbows doing DIY – using a handsaw in particular.  It does take a fair bit, but the action will eventually start to make my elbows sore.  I’m all for a good excuse, so I try to avoid it wherever I can!

Probably the first report from you in the last twelve months that did not include a list of new routes!

Hope you will be back on it soon and that your rehab is making some difference.  Plenty of time to see improvements before the Spring kicks in properly.

Biscuit:  It sounds like the walking has become a fair bit more organised.  Despite my comments about the old guides, I do think there are some fantastic walks around and many of them are pretty spectacular.

Perhaps not surprising to find it hard to get back to the gym after a decent break in Spain.  January weather is hardly helping with general spirits!  Great to get another trip in the diary as it will give you some clear aims to get you through the winter training cycle.  March isn’t so far away of course, but time to fit a few training cycles in with varying focus.

A trip over to Spain is likely for myself and my wife in June, though there won’t be any climbing involved.  However, I will get over to my apartment (not likely to stay there as we want to explore elsewhere) and check that everything is still working – haven’t been since October just before the pandemic.  Following that, I will probably go for a climbing trip in the Autumn, using the flat as a base.

In reply to Derek Furze:

part two

Tom Green:  Good stuff re running plan – you will be building up fairly quickly as less than six weeks to go for your goals on this one, but I get the impression that you’ve run a fair bit in the past.

A shame to have to cancel a trip, but wise.  I’ve been struggling with work trips as time in the car has been aggravating mine, but seem to be through the worst now.  Anyway, who needs Scotland when White Goods is available!  Has Greg sent through any personal congratulations on your success?  Anyway, a definite highlight across this week’s reports and great to see you sort out a long-standing goal.  Tyler’s brilliant description makes it seem like the living end!  Great analysis of the things that make a difference and the important contribution that lots of little elements can make.

As with AJM comments above, how are your fingerboarding sessions going when set against your STG (and indeed weighted pull ups)?  Interesting that you have weighted pull ups set heavier than max hangs, whereas at the top of my max hangs (now more than 95kg) I have no chance of moving upwards – I have to lock off (from a step) and raise my legs to a crunch position.  Probably reflects the lack of attention I have given to weighted pull ups over the years.  Anyway, I will watch you progress on these closely.

Ally:  I’ve tried figuring re Tuesday’s sets, but can’t.  You’ve been completing BW +35kg on F3 in recent weeks and (I think) +7.5kg on your project holds – I suppose winding back the intensity on F3 might have left more oomph in the tank for your project holds, or neuro-adaption coming along as this is a recent introduction.  Anyway, just take it however it comes along!

The core stuff is interesting and I’m putting more of this into my own programme now I’ve more time, including side planks with a weight.  I’d be interested in how the assisted front lever is set up as I think this type of movement would be an asset for my shoulders.  I’ve got some ideas about how I can work it into my training doorway, but not convinced yet.

Impressive again to see something every day except Friday, including using the board with quite different aims.  Clearly working hard to find the right level for aero-cap with two sessions at this in the week.  It looks to be going along really well.

Liam P:  Thanks for the video link.  I’m still working hard on foundations until the end of January, but hope I can do something to progress OAPU through February and March.  Yes, I had looked at something a while back that stressed the importance of technique.  Like you, I also don’t think the splits is likely – age being my excuse – but it is good to be trying these things.  I really like the idea of one-arm hangs as well – it isn’t something I train and a pulley to take a bit of weight off would probably make it much more approachable.  Again, there is a technique with this as rotation is an issue I find.  Hamstrings most days is bound to be making progress – good stuff.

OAPU progress also promising.  It only seems a week or two back that you were on two fingers, so clear, measured progress happening and great to see.  Keep it going!

Inglesp:  Re. using the fingerboard most of us are doing max hangs and repeaters, with some doing density hangs as rehab.  Max hangs are very easy to measure progress and you can download timers as an app.  There is varying advice, but I think most of us are aiming for ten second hangs, usually with five minutes recovery before the next.  It is usual to run a test on your target holds (probably a more comfortable pair for a first cycle), where you do a succession with increasing weight until you identify your failure point – can’t do ten seconds.  You now have your current max (BW+xxkg).  You then use this to set your training weight and do six sets at 70-80% of this total (Ally is the guru on this so can confirm or clarify).  I have recently changed to each session being progressive (like the test described above) as it means I get closer to my real max each session.

Initial gains are spectacular as it is neuro-adaption taking place (learning what you can manage), but it takes a long while to build and consolidate gains – years really.  This is a finger (tendon) strength protocol.

The same app would likely have a repeater timer included – typically 7 seconds hang, 3 seconds rest repeated six times (total one minute); rest; repeat six sets.  These can also be done with added weight.  In theory, this is aiming at endurance.  There is varying evidence on what delivers the best gains.

Great work on the project and an early season success.  It is easy for sessions to become ‘social’ – it is part of the reason we do it after all!  In amongst it all you’ve put some decent training in with 4x4s and finding a circuit to measure your progress.

Lastly, the Hooper’s beta thing is pretty good and I’m using it a fair bit.  Nice to have some structured conditioning stuff in the mix.

The Sheep:  Agreed, the goals thing is really helpful in terms of getting out and training and it has been interesting to share them over the last few weeks.  You’ve got some good ones spread through the year, including some that come up quite early so it should help with keeping you on plan.

Your swimming distances are already impressive – 6km across the week!  I know you have a serious triathlon in mind for later in the year, but you are already covering good distances on a very regular basis.  Perhaps a different ball game in open water?  Added to that you have four decent runs in so your weekly distances are building up well.  Again, a decent platform developing for your planned targets.  It is challenging to work in zone two as it is easy to find a natural pace is faster – even for me an occasional dabbler!  I think the current philosophy is 80% of endurance training should be zone 2, even for elite athletes, but there are no doubt other opinions about.  I did read a reflection from some world class veteran endurance runner who was looking back on his career and wondering what more he could have achieved if he had followed modern advice!

Randy:  Yes, keeping redpointing shape will be a key goal for you and I agree, it needs at least a couple of sessions to regain smoothness on the rock.  If you are climbing at your limit, then precision is pretty important and it is difficult to practice other than actually climbing things.

Also agreed, travelling to India is anything but restful!  I used to fly a fair bit with business and it used to be really debilitating. 

Those lock offs look good and very thoughtful to be working the different angles.  I set out to do this when I am fingerboarding, but it soon gets ragged!  Also some good work on repeaters, where 7% extra is quite a load (as SSB can confirm!).  It is interesting to notice that ‘feel strong’ can contrast with finding the endurance aspect difficult – I’ve definitely noticed this starting back on them!  Are you doing these on a portable board or is the hotel gym really that well-equipped?

Ian Parnell:  By all accounts a brilliant ‘main goal’.  When you get an idle moment, you can let us know a few others!  I like the MTG for April, though it can be very impacted by any poor Spring weather as it needs a spell of getting out consistently to build up I find.  Anyway, if we don’t aim at it, we will definitely miss!

Re weight comments – try a short spell of keto.  It lost me 10 kg last year with zero sense of making an effort.  A good app on ‘Freshwell low carb’ provided by a couple of doctors that I know. 

Re max hangs – suggestions above in the comments for Inglesp.  As noted, Ally often has thoughtful views on this and may chip in, but once you’ve conditioned a bit, you should be able to build this up to find your actual max with a weight belt or a rucksack full of weights.  I think most of us would reckon five seconds is too short – 8-12 seconds is usually recommended.  If you are not used to pull ups then build slowly as they can be quite intense on elbows, particularly weighted ones in my experience.

Good to see a lot of core in there as well as running.  You really are going for it!  I note also that you are trying to put two sessions a day in which is impressively dedicated, but be careful to include enough rest for everything to develop.  Some of that is achieved by making sure your daily routines are different, which clearly you have built in to the schedule.  ‘Maybe too much intensity first week’?  Perhaps, it depends on your condition before launch, but all of us can be overenthusiastic!

Good to hear that the finger is settling – it isn’t unusual to get some soreness, but you won’t want anything more serious to happen.

Tyler:  Great to see that you’ve got out, both to check out the Gallt Yr Ogof bouldering and to revisit White Goods.  If the year is about quantity for you, then starting to chalk up the numbers has got to feel good.

Sorry to see that your board sessions are still causing elbow issues.  I don’t use one, but I guess the loads on a board are bound to be pretty intense and elbows are likely to take a hammering.  Hopefully you will get some good advice on rehab and be able to get it under control.  If not golfers, then what do you think – dry toolers?  Anyway, a ninety-minute board session is a fair amount of work one way or another.

The dry tooling trip sounds brilliant and your write up made me laugh.  Keep the contributions coming as they always bring some good humour to the piece.  I will be looking for a local expert to show me around Pen Trwyn as the year unfolds as I’ve got loads to do there, so I’ll happily hook up when the sun comes out. 

Great advice for Alan btw from Randy, SSB and many others.  Good to see a considerable degree of consistency in the suggestions!  Similarly with Alan’s Leonidio overview for Biscuit.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Got lots to do today so stats up early!  Another consistent week for me with decent progress.  Much happier to be getting into a good pattern again.  Work scheduling is a bit messed up for February so I had a frustrating Friday coming to terms with the impact on time next month, but I think it will only really impact that month (and breathe).

Sun  4 sets of 3 weighted pull ups (2 @ 9kg and 2 @ 10.1kg); 4 sets of stretches.  A short session as I was quite sore from the gym session at the hotel!

Mon  6 sets max hangs (19.3, 21.6, 23.9, 25, 26.1 and 27.2kg) - a new best for the year.  6 sets of 7 BW pull ups.  6 sets of 12 push ups,  6 sets of stretching.  Over 140% on max hangs.

Tues - Wed - work, family visits and travelling

Thurs  4 sets of 4 weighted at 11.3kg; block one and two of Hooper's beta x 2 - enjoyed this as it works on core and climbing related conditioning.  Two sets of repeaters @ plus 2.3kg as a start back to these.

Fri  Six sets of max hangs (19.3, 21.6, 23.9, 26.1, 27.2 and 28.3kg) - new PB and 9.7 RPE on the last one!  Depending on my actual weight at the time, this may well exceed my 144% target for F3, but I intend to go to 29.5kg during my last week to make sure.  5 sets of 8 BW pull ups.  5 set of 12 push ups and 5 sets of stretching.

Sat  three sets of repeaters at plus 2.3kg.  Hard.  4 sets of 5 weighted pull ups at plus 9kg (hard, but third day in a row).  Block one and two of Hooper's beta x2.

Weigh in at 65.5kg today.  Not bad.  Definitely recovering leanness quite quickly after weight had topped out at 68kg last week.  

In reply to Derek Furze:

Not sure why Tyler got two responses this week 🤣

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks for the stats Derek, and thoughtful comments.

Re: weight loss. I'm aiming to loose 6kg by June. So slow and steady. 1 kg lighter today (2 weeks in) so on target. I've swapped out quite a few carbs for protein and fat, i.e. eggs and greek yoghurt instead of bagels for breakfast. But I'm not close to going keto. My thoughts were not to calorie count at all at the moment, as need to be fueled up during my strength/power phase, if I'm not cutting my weight down on target as I get closer to my trip then I might consider the keto in April. Would 8-9 weeks be enough time for ketosis (if thats the right word) to kick in?

Re: fingerboarding. My plans were 5 sec max hangs for this first 6 weeks of power/strength, then extend to 10 sec hangs for next 6 weeks of power endurance, then repeaters for the final endurance phase. Although I'd be open to advice from you and Ally if that doesn't seem like an effective plan. I'm afraid the figures for my tested max hangs are my real 100% max. I've always had incredibly weak fingers, even when I was regularly climbing E5 I reckon I would have struggled to body weight hang 20mm edges for longer than 10 secs - its one of the reasons I did OK at winter climbing as you always had a massive jug in your hands with the axes!

In reply to Ian Parnell:

As your diet is working fine, I'm only answering the question and commenting fyi.

Keto diets are essentially about swapping out the carbs, typically aiming for less than 50 grams of carb each day.  At this level, ketosis should be a daily occurrence as your body runs out of stored carb as a fuel source so switches to burning fat.  There is some evidence that this natural switching can be hard to kick off if you have typically been on a carb rich diet.  Incidentally, don't raise protein too much as the body can convert it to carb (glycogen) which prevents fat burning - 100g is the normal max.  So, yes, if you do proper keto, you'll easily drop weight in a short timescale - very noticeable reduction of fat stores.  No need to calorie count on keto at all.  I do reduce my eating window to eight hours as this also just about guarantees ketosis without having to be that precise on carb numbers.

I'm not very good on phases, but someone will comment.  You should see quick gains on fingerboarding.  Max hangs are a strength protocol, so as long as your rate of perceived effort is high, then the gains will accrue.  You should see progress fairly quickly (because of neuro-adaption).

E5 with weak fingers.  Clearly a technical genius 🙂

In reply to Derek Furze:

Hi All! Thanks as per usual for the stats, Derek.

Good question about the fingerboarding. I'm currently off target, but will keep plugging away and see where I get to. The difference between weighted hangs and weighted pull-ups presumably comes down to me underperforming on fingerstrength compared to jugs -like Ian P, but at a lower baseline! ;-p

Week 3:

The week plan was totally changed around, but still got most planned sessions done.

M: Trail run. 16.7km, 527m vert, 6:24/km. 

T: Rest.

W: Fingerboarding. Strength.

T: Rest.

F: Winter climbing at Aonach Beag. Chose Anaconda (V 7) thinking V 7 would be a good safe/chilled first route back after leg-gate, but given that the route was buried and the cracks were fully iced the crux actually felt bold. Was glad for dry-tooling endurance when hanging around digging for gear and placements. The cons probably made it technically easier though.

S: Rest.

S: Fingerboarding. Trail run. 11.6km, 443m vert, 6:54/km. Took it steady as it was mostly like running up and down a bobsleigh track!

Week 4:

Need to stop deprioritising prehab and conditioning -especially prehab, as it is so quick and easy -there's no excuse not to do it! (I seem to have written this sentence before, a few dozen times!)

M: Strength, core, prehab.

T: Run.

W: Fingerboard, prehab.

T: Run.

F: Fingerboard, strength.

S: Run or climbing.

S: Run or climbing.

STG (end Feb):

10 winter routes (1/10)

Average 27.5km running per week (17km. Due to 0km in bad back week)

Max hangs: 92kg

Pull-ups: 97kg.

Weatherproof and rebuild home board.

MTG (end Apr):

The Jim Grin (7a)

4 of my big UK mountain day list.

Average 37.5km running per week.

Average 2 board circuit sessions per week.

Max hangs 96kg

Pull-ups: 102kg

LTG (End July):

Sula (E2 5b)

Classic Envers rock route.

One of my Grande Course wish list.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Excellent detail on the stats again Derek! 

Max hangs are looking good now, 140% is a great figure to hit! 

I had a decent week and managed to get a few sessions in, though still wan't feeling back to 100% after being wiped by the lurgy the week before.

M - rest

T - 5 problems on the board (6C; 6C; 6C+; 6C+; 7A). 5 x 3 weighted pull ups @ +23kg

W - 3 boulders in 3 minutes x 6; 4 x 6 shoulder press; 4 x 6 bent over row; 10 x 3 hanging knee raises; 10 x 3 windscreen wipers; 4 x 20s hanging L-sit

T - rest

F - Varied grips deadhangs at 8/10 rpe - 4 x half crimp (+16kg); 2 x front 3 half crimp (+14kg); 2 x 3 finger drag (+12kg). 5 x 1 minute on, 1 minute hanging on a jug on the 6c circuit board. 15 x 3 twisting crunch; 15 x 3 dish tuck

S - rest. Busy with life admin so annoyingly I missed the stellar outdoor conditions

S - 1hr of zone 2/3 intervals on Zwift (a few big cycling trips planned in the spring so need to up my cardio game!) 

In reply to Derek Furze:

It would be amazing to have an hotel gym that is that well equipped . I always take a small portable fingerboard with me that i can attach to a pullup bar. Usually that works out quite well though you do get some weird looks from the other guests

Recap last week:

Mon:  Repeater 20mm edge, 6x6x7,3 at 105% Bodyweight. Treadmill run, 30 minutes at 5:30 / km. Did not felt fully recovered from the last week but at least i could do a full repeater workout again. Also felt fitter on the treadmill.

Tues: Weighted pullups + 16kg with 3 min rest: 10,10,9; decided to do the pullups in a seperate session i was too tired on Monday to do them afterwards. Tried a bigger weight increase than usual i was doing the pullups fully rested . Felt good on the first set but could notice the difference on the last two sets.

Wed: Repeater 20mm edge, 6x6x7,3 at 105% Bodyweight. Treadmill run, 30 minutes at 5:30 / km. Felt fitter but also quite tired during the repeater and hence did not push too hard. 

Thurs: Travel from Chennai to Mumbai

Fri: Rest

Sat: My new hotel did not have a gym, so i tried to do a repeater session by standard on the cord of the board and pulling statically on it. Not ideal set-up but enough to get a pump. Did 6x6x7,3 again, effort level felt close to 105% BW session on wednesday. Afterwards did a long hike in a closeby national park: 4:15, 22km, 530m elevation

Sun: 5:30 am early morning running session with a crazy colleague of mine and her friends. Not sure why they start that early, temperature would have been still fine at 9:00 am and it was dark for the first hour. Did about 14km in 1:30 on a hilly course. Afterwards, streetfood breakfast: Poha, Vada Pav and Chai tea. Fingers crossed that i don't get sick as i have a 24h travelwith two stop overs in front of me tomorrow

Pretty unusual week. Felt as i did more cardio than climbing related training, but it was a nice break from my usual routine and i was presently surprised about my general fitness level. Tomorrow i fly back to Germany and will probably get a huge temperature shock. Plan to take it easy the first days and hopefully can push again on the weekends.

In reply to Derek Furze:

There's some strong folk here - inspiring!

Summary of last week

Challenging week in some ways. Due to tweaky finger, held off training in first few days of the week, and I’m going to leave off the fingerboard for a couple of weeks. The properly rubbish stuff happened on Wednesday when my wife’s horse had to be shot after its leg was broken when it was attacked by another horse. All very traumatic for my wife but I was surprised how much it affected me too. For a few days I couldn’t sleep properly. This coupled with the fact that this stage of training power and strength is my big weakness, means psyche got pretty low. Especially Friday’s wall session, where I had to continually gee myself up that what I was doing will be beneficial even though I spent the meat of the session failing to do individual moves. Thankfully the weekend was joyous – lovely climb in the sun and then a gallop round the moors with mates.

New STG – half a dozen grade 6 boulder problems on rock including a 6B by the end of February.

Mon. pm: Push ups strict (10), tricep dips (10 hands on stool, feet on sofa), twisting crunches (20), bridge leg raises (20) x 3

Tues pm: On the minute pullup pyramid: 1,2,3,4,5,5,4,3,2,1 = 30 pullups

Run: 3.5 miles? 35mins. Easy. Light mobility

Wed pm: The Depot, Warm up (jog, mobility, 5 x green, white, blue, black) attempt 3 reds 1 top, 2 last hold three times. Attempt 4 purples, 2 top 3rd go. Short but positive session.

Thurs: Rest – v poor sleep too tired

Fri: Poor sleep

pm: The Depot, warm up ( jog, mobility 5 x green, white, blue, black) attempt 3 reds, 2 top. Attempt 6 purples, 0-2 moves at a time felt bit hopeless. 30 degree board attempt 5 x 5a!!! probs, top 2 struggling to pull on others. Light mobility

Sat: Better sleep

am: Lovely few hours bouldering in the sun at Stanage. 9 easy probs up 5+. Lots of attempts on Lower Cube Traverse (f6A+) and Quick Wall Traverse (f6A+) – close! Both will be good STGs to measure finger strength progress. Soul food, but boy do I find bouldering hard.

pm: conditioning, strict pushups (12), tricep dips (12), twisting crunches (24), bridge leg raises (24) x 3 sets. Light mobility       

Sun: am 5 mile fell run 54mins hard up and down frozen moors

pm warm up, lock off ‘hovers’ on home board 8 x jugs, 8 x undercuts (struggling on undercuts).

3 BW offset pullups each side x 3, 3 BW lapis rollyball (new toy!) pullups x 3, Frenchies (full lock, 90, 120) x3. Total 36 pullups.

In reply to Tom Green:

Anaconda looks good Tom, I'm jealous.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Because I’m worth it!

In reply to Derek Furze:

Sheep;. Forgot to say that Castleton is twenty minutes, so happy to provide support and / or join in celebration pint!

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Yep! Cool moves. Not sustained/balanced enough for three stars, but short difficult sections between easy bits suited me just fine for my first route of the year!

Sorry about the horse. Sounds like a rough week. 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Last weekend was neither kill nor cure but it seemed no worse for dry tooling, the elbow seems worse for more finger intensive work. Even so it seemed wise to have a couple of days rest.

W: Board, more of the same, no breakthrough

F: 20 mins yoga (first for months) the a short board session. Managed 17 of 23 moves of the red yellow circuit (clockwise).

S: More mountaineering cosplay. I had intended to do Hidden Gully but the subscription on my OS app had run out and for some reason I couldn’t top it up. I didn’t trust myself not to get lost  so decided on Crib Goch (you may scoff but the last time I went to Craig Du we were escorted off by a bloke wearing HiTec boots and one of those compass wrist watches with us dress as if going up the Eiger north wall, the embarrassment still burns 30 years later!).

As it turns out navigation would not be an issue clear blue skies and thanks to my dry tooling skills I made good time across Crib Goch but by the time I got to Crib y Ddysgyl I was running in fumes. Being a mountaineer of the modern idiom I descended after the main difficulties mainly to catch the earlier bus but, as it turns out, I’d not have had the energy for the slog up to Yr Wyddfa summit. I’d misremembered how long the walk back is and ended up having to move quickly for the last hour which left me utterly wiped out. Disappointed by my fitness but it was an amazing day and another tick!

S: Really creaky and joints a bit sore so forced myself to do 20 minutes yoga which was much needed.

Learnings from the week:

Short sessions on the board only

General fitness needs urgent attention

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek. With this week's dry rock I've not been anywhere near the fingerboard!

Mon. BSMA session #5. Big break through this eve, finally worked out the last of the moves I've been struggling with, yay! Then repeated all the moves in sections (8moves, 3moves, 3moves, 6moves). It goes in 4!

Tues. Rest.

Wed. Really stressful day at work (most of the time working with kids is great, today it wasn't). Got back out for BSMA session #6 but was still tired from Monday. Managed multiple links of the two short middle sections together so it goes in 3 now! Also made a good link of the last 11 moves in a oner too. It's coming, maybe not soon, but it's coming...

Thurs. 8km run.

Fri. Rest.

Sat. Went for a winter walk with Mrs. Swede. We parked in Ingleton and went up to Ingleborough summit via Black Shiver Gully (I/II) and down Falls Foot (Gully 1) (I). Whizzed the car round to Ribblesdale where there was way less snow so left the winter gear in the car and walked up Pen Y Ghent. 18km walk in total with over 1000m ascent. Impressed with Mrs Swede who's not done anything wintery since before kids. Quote, 'you know that heavy looking stuff isn't going in my bag don't you!?'

Sun. Walking in the peak with the kids (winnats pass, mam tor etc). Carried the bag of family paraphernalia which wasn't much lighter than the winter bag really. Not quite the rest day I'd hoped for!

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thank you Derek,

Had a few days out this week, which have been great, but I have not been doing the rehab exercises often enough.  I can find it hard to fit things in, until I get into a proper routine.  However, the lack of improvement has given me the drive needed to "reset myself" and make a firm decision to get on it.  Going to Font in April, so need to be on top form.

What I have found is that I can climb into the high 6's or more providing its not past vertical, so may get some mileage in on the top rope (as its more fun).

M - 6*30s Density Hangs

T - lots of work

W - vertical sport 6b+ and 6c+ all easy going

T - 6 *30s Density hangs

F - Found a new HS in Avon! was looking forward to following a mate up Padansac (E3 5c), but he had to back off and it was too late to have a go.  Was one of the first things I climbed on the Sea walls back in my student days.

S - Cold day out 6a+ 6b+ TR on E5 all straightforward, so moved up to a steep 7a, which was pulling too much as I felt it afterwards

S - Gentle indoor bouldering with my eldest V2-V3 in trainers

In reply to Steve Claw:

That's more like it!  Straight back in with a new route!

In reply to Derek Furze:

Good evening all, my, what a cold week it has been!

Cheers! Whilst it does appear strong on paper, and I am feeling quite strong, I think it's not perhaps so significant given it's mostly moves I've already done before, on problems that suit me. As much as I'd like to regrade a few things (and already have), having two tall blokes regrade an entire crag might not be the most accurate thing in the world!

Dugout is permadry in the truest sense of the word. Never seeps, and gets enough sun that you'd rarely find it condensed. The walk-in, however, can very much be wet!

A good week from me. Ticked off the plans as far as getting two little hangboard sessions and getting 5/7 ice baths in, assuming I don't flake out on it this evening. Two grit days is a great bonus too, of course!

Last Week:

M - AM density hangs. 3x30s, picking up 20kg off the ground. Intensity felt good, could feel the presence of the A2 but not painful. PM centre set followed by Moonboard. Felt great, finger was fine, think I got the intensity bob-on. Three newbies: "Buy A Fire Extinguisher", "Arco Bianco" (my personal favourite, definitely biased but I think it should be a benchie!), and "Thrash Particle". Ice baths to finish. Oosh!

T - Rest. Weigh-in at 78.4kg.

W - Ice baths.

T - Robin Hood's Stride. Relatively short day out, slightly hindered by the snow, but very scenic nonetheless. Managed The Blob's Eliminate (f7A+) pretty quickly, then tried a couple of hard bits on the Egg Boulder at Cratcliffe, but I think I let myself get a bit too cold unfortunately. Need to sort out my car's screen wash pump too, I won't always have a passenger to squirt water at the windscreen!

F - AM density hangs. 3x30s, picking up 20kg off the ground. Ice baths in eve.

S - Social hangout at Nessy. Relatively light session but sussed a potential sequence for Pete's Route (V6) that works around the missing nub hold. Quite hard but definitely possible! Ice baths in eve.

S - Curbar Edge. Great day with great people. Started off at Trackside (f7A), as one typically does. Conventional heel method was still elusive, but then I had a brainwave; "what if I just bumped my right hand all the way to the top?" So I did that. Ungracefully. But successfully! But also to the great disgust of my peers. Next played around on Gorilla Warfare (f7A) and Early Doors (f7A+). Got all the moves done on both, but the topout on GW was too spooky over the block, and ED was just a bit hard after the draining start. Flashed Bad Lip (f7A), then tried Late Junction (f7B) but honestly just found the moves unenjoyable. Probably won't pursue that any further! Ice baths before bed (hopefully).

Next Week:

Same as last week - two hangboard sessions and minimum 5/7 ice baths as well.

M - Rest.

T - Indoor session.

W - Rest.

T - Indoor session.

F - Rest.

S, S - Bouldering.

Goals:

Sort out the A2 injury.

Antagonists.

Rigpa.

In reply to Randy:

We have snow in town again, though not as much (yet) as the week before Christmas

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek, and thanks Randy and SSB for the helpful & constructive advice on my winter training plan. I've taken it on board, with more emphasis on bouldering for the next few weeks and a new STG.

Reasonably solid training week this week I think

STG1: Winter 23 - do an actual off piste ski tour if & when proper winter returns.
STG2: Kalymnos training: every lead session at the wall, get on something outside my onsight comfort zone and either get up it or fall off it. Current score: 2/2 sessions
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 823

M: 
T: Wall, Thalkirchen. Another rather weary & weak routes session, but at least I tried a few things outside my onsight comfort zone and successfully fell off them!
    Bike one hour there & back
W:    An hour shoulder prehab & stretching
T:    Wall, Element bouldering. Taking Randy's advice about putting more emphasis on bouldering for my first training month I bought a monthly pass - breakeven is five sessions.
    Rounded off the session with half an hour of general strength & conditioning including 3x5x60 deadlifts. These didn't feel too hard while I was doing them but boy were my hamstrings sore afterwards!
F: 
S: Fingerboard
S: Wall, Element bouldering, deadlifting, rings. 

After three weeks of temperatures more like April than January it is now snowing again. Will probably get the skis out next weekend
 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek!

I’ve not done a spreadsheet, but I have logged things a bit better this week! I did used to do a lot of tracking, but I’ve drifted a bit of late. Once I get out of the remedial building back stage with the fingerboarding in particular I might get back into it again.

Yeah, sorry, I guess my very terse and undescriptive entries don’t make your life that easy writing stats! I guess the aim would be to go to the wall at least once a week, probably twice if the weekend weather is rubbish. I guess three would be the ideal (once with miniAJM, once on my own, once with the family at the weekend). A couple of rehab and stretching sessions is a must to try to get the hamstring sorted out. Fingerboard for variety I guess. There’s two things I really need to get on with which is trying to work out what’s up with my shoulder and switch up the rehab on the hamstring a little bit.

Yeah, I don’t think I could do proper training each day but by allowing walking to work and having the variety of rehab and “training” I can mix things up enough.

Monday - stretching, rehab, foot elevated pushups 

Tuesday - fingerboard. Managed to get back on the 8mm edges, albeit only at bodyweight (I did get to 4s with bw+6, so actually more promising than I had expected). Off my previous bests by some way (I haven’t weighed myself recently, so uncertain exactly how much), but the recruitment is building back up. It’s fair to say I’m not really a big fan of the 8mm edges for training, they’re a lot harder on the skin than the 10mm (I know Ally probably trains on 4mm edges dusted with broken glass, I’m a softie and I don’t care!)

Wednesday - 3.5mile walk to and fro work; MrsAJMs birthday so otherwise nothing 

Thursday - 1.7mile walk to work. Short stretching session in the evening.

Friday - short rehab, stretching and pushups session. Varied the hand position on the pushups to try to make them a bit tougher.

Saturday - walking round durdle door in glorious winter sunshine.

Sunday - fingerboard. Bodyweight on the 8mm edges again.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Cheers Derek. The one-arm hangs came about from running out of weights and seeing Decathlon were charging £50 for a 20kg plate! Removing limbs (not literally) is free so here I am. Going well so far!

Hit a bit of a plateau with the hammy’s. I can front split, knee-to-heel, the length of a yoga mat (1.8m?) but haven’t got any further for a couple of weeks. Will try mixing it up with lying hamstring stretches to see if that provides a breakthrough. 

Mon

• Hamstrings

Tue

• Hamstrings 

Wed

• OA Hangs 6x 10s 40mm @81%BW
• 10x 5s Planche Leans (35” Hand to Foot)

Wall

• Warmup: Hamstrings, Scap Pulls 3x 12
• Volume Bouldering: lots of V4s, couple of V5s, and lots of V6 fall practice!

Fri

• Hamstrings

Sat

• A half day of glorious January sunshine at Portland. First outdoor sport since Chorro in November so was a bit rusty, and the rock was absolutely freezing, but great to be out. High water mark was dogging a 6b+ which I then got sussed on TR. One to go back for.

Sun

• Hamstrings

Goal for this week is: stretching every day, 2x wall sessions, 2x OA Hang Sessions, OAPU Club and 1” further on my planche lean.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek for taking the time to write such detailed responses.

Having managed something most days since Christmas, last week was fairly atrocious with a work team meeting in Hamburg and then desperately trying to fit regular work into spare hours/friday.  Coffee and weiBbier were consumed in near equal volumes last week :-o

Week 3

M – Travel to Hamburg involved a good 800m airport sprint to get my connecting flight in Frankfurt.  Later, hotel gym – treadmill and 5x5 90(?)kg deadlift (unknown as not sure on bar weight). Decent equipped gym in Radisson Blu - would go again.

T – 11.5hr day. No exercise.

W – Hotel gym at 0630. F3 crimp density hangs with 30kg. Bench 5x5 @60(?)kg. Brief spin on stationary bike.

T – Travel home. Nowt.

F – Ended the day with the work “to do” expanded rather than shrinking, hence no exercise.

S – Car and wallpaper/furniture shopping.

S – Finally got back on the board.  Warm-up 5x5 BW+5kg pull-ups. Then 9x 6B+ to 7A warm-ups. Linked boulders an-cap. Up 7A+/down 6C.  Better than last week. Felt much more controlled but still trying hard.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Lufthansa? They seem to have a thing for scheduling absurdly tight connections in Frankfurt. Either it's some kind of showing off, or they haven't quite grasped how big their home airport actually is.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Now that I have seen your busy week, I regret volunteering your expertise to advise Ian!  Anyway, if you get a moment...🙂

In reply to AlanLittle:

Yes, a 50min connection with Lufthansa.

It was tight before we landed 10min late, then we had to get a connecting bus and clear passport control with 3 other tight connecting flights.

Being near the front of the first flight, plus some light footed airport sprinting meant I made it, but my two colleagues were forced to wait for the next flight 3hrs later.

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Hi Ian,

I recall a day together at Malham a few (10?) years ago when you seemed to be just fine crimping heartily on small crozzles?

Perhaps your fingers aren't (weren't) that weak on rock, but that the specifics of deadhanging a 20mm edge highlight a perceived weakness?

IMHO the 5s hangs you're completing might be too short to achieve long-term gains in strength and that 10s is a standard protocol here. Ned's book he even suggests that you can go out to 20s for "max-hangs" to promote strength improvements from muscle hypertrophy?

Probably better to lower the intensity with a pulley and increase the hang time to 10s?

And for the "power-endurance" phase you're suggesting, switch to sub-bodyweight repeaters of 6x 6on/4off, progressing to 6x 7on/3off at the same intensity as you get fitter.

In reply to Ally Smith: I’ve got some bad news Ally my logbook says it was nearly 15years ago! Good to see you haven’t got any weaker since then!

thanks for the info. I’ll amend my protocol when I get back max hanging in a week or two.

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Oh dear, how time flies!

I have successfully used deadhanging at low intensities as a means to rehab finger injuries, e.g. BW-30kg for 10s hangs, so maybe no need to avoid deadhangs - just modulate the intensity to appropriate levels.

In reply to Ally Smith: thanks for info. Will try that although that sounds close to my max hang😅

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thank you Derek for your detailed and thoughtful comments, especially on fingerboarding.  I like the sound of doing something where progress is measurable, and so I'll look into getting some weights.

Last week didn't quite go to plan -- it was too cold/I'm too soft for any serious running, work surprises meant I didn't manage to fit in any sessions of the Hooper's Beta routine that I'd planned, and then the wall was too busy for my planned 4x4s session.  But on the plus side, I managed to get out for some proper climbing, with bpmclimb of this parish.

Mon - 5km road run, too cold.

Tue - 7km road run, too cold.

Wed - Projecting session at Gloucester Warehouse.  Worked the moves on a 7a face climb, but couldn't quite link everything.

Thu - Day out at Wyndcliff Quarry.  South facing and warm.  Lots of short routes up to 6b.  Good to remind myself how to use small footholds.

Fri -

Sat - Had planned 4x4s but large NICAS session took up most of the wall, so I ended up projecting the 7a face climb again.  Managed to get to the top on 5th attempt on autobelay, so need to come back with my lucky belayer.

Sun - Social climbing at Redpoint Worcester, and met Johnny Dawes!

In reply to Derek Furze:

Blimey, not sure how we have got to Wednesday already, very busy week so far. Happily the wife has found another half marathon for us to have a go at in early May so keeping a nice tick over in the calendar. 

Had a good steady week consolidating on work already done to provide a good platform to push on and increase running distance for the early April half.

Monday, 5.5km evening run

Tuesday, 1km swim at lunchtime and a 7km evening run

Wednesday, 2km swim at lunchtime

Thursday stretch class

Friday, 2km swim at lunchtime and knocked off work early and got home in time to do a 6.5k trail run with the wife as the sun went down

Saturday, lovely 5k trail run with the youngest, sliding on frozen puddles and chucking stones on a frozen lake to hear the cool noises they make bouncing over the surface.

Sunday, rest day

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek. I'd be over every month if I had a place out there.

This was another week of getting back into it indoors.

M - Too busy to climb

T - Too busy to climb

W - Boulder UK - Spray wall - up to V5 - enjoyed it

T - Boulder UK 10 on 10 off x3 aero work

F - Lancaster Wall - Kilterboard - good sesh up to V5.

S - Rest

S - Kendal Wall - routes. Unstructured. Tried a 7b. Read it wrong on the onsight then had two further goes which were both affected by people climbing on adjacent lines in my fall line. First time I hung around and let them climb past and got too tired. Second go I kind of gave up. It's a brilliant route and I'll have to get it next time.

I feel like I'm back into the swing of things indoors and this week I've started structured training again.

In reply to AJM:

Some very exciting news... I went to the wall today and I tried a problem with a heel hook and it didn't hurt!

It's been nearly 12 months since the last time that happened. Very exciting stuff!

In reply to AJM:

Wahey! That's fantastic news!