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:

UKC Forums - UKC Fit Club Week 834 (ukclimbing.com)

No volunteers yet, so I will carry on until I get taken aside by the men in grey suits.

Stats:

Ian Parnell:   I’m impressed with the garage facilities and with Andy’s board set up as well – pretty inspiring stuff when compared to my single fingerboard and a few weights set up!  Anyway, it looked like productive use of time off work and positive that you can now do continuous circuits, which should be a good facility to have close to hand.  I’m actually a bit more interested in this use, as I find endurance training on a fingerboard both difficult and tedious, but laps on a circuit might be more approachable.

The enforced rest has pushed you towards shoulder rehab, so hopefully you are beginning to see a return on investment here?  Good to see that as the weekend approached, you were getting back to something a bit more useful again.  Keep remembering Pabbay!

SteveJC94:  Yes, the max hangs is building pretty steadily, as it always does when I can put the time in.  Quite gratifying at my age to actually be getting stronger again.  I don’t have any measurable comparisons with the old days, but I suppose I just want to get some control over something that is at least one factor in climbing at my old standard again.  Thanks for your supportive comments as ever!

 I guess the consultant news was probably expected (?) and at least they are happy with progress generally.  Five weeks to get into shape is possible -  it is a training cycle after all – though I guess it would depend on the nature of your targets.  Although a bit odd, you could do some maintenance training on your other arm by lifting blocks off the floor and such like, as well as hammering the Zwifting!

All this work on the bike has got to help your cardio generally so there will be some useful crossover, but do you have any longer-term cycling goals to pursue once the splint comes off?  You were aiming at an event in Belgium, which you will now be attending as a spectator, but you are putting in a fair bit of dedicated bike work – just interested to know where you might apply it!

Mattrm:  Great to see a bit more on the targets and your approach to getting on top of them over the Spring.  Interesting and quite surprising to see that pace on these things is not in the realms of fantasy, although I am sure the elite end of things looks quite different!  Good that you have a lot of local knowledge working in your favour.

Also, very interesting to see your pacing on the runs.  If my maths is right, ten minute miles work out at just under 10km per hour, which is my bumbly jogging pace and where I think of as zone 2.  I’d reflect it can feel ‘slow’, although that is sort of the point.  We had a bit of a discussion on this last year, which Alan then applied to his hillwalks and he has reported the effectiveness last week, so interesting to see all this tied together somehow.  Anyway, good to see the regular runs which are inspiring me to get started this week!

SSB:   Wow!  Clearly been harsh on the fingers, but a good sign that you’ve made the most of whatever conditions have presented themselves – good work!  The skin damage is also a sure sign of intensity, so you are obviously applying yourself to the targets on every occasion.  Interesting to see this as, even when I used to boulder a lot, my sessions would be a lot of problems with a couple of harder ones in the mix, rather than the focus you are applying to harder things.  More than fifty years climbing and still loads to learn!

In amongst the finger trashing on grit, you’ve put a pretty decent and fairly varied week together.  A good run at the outset, the lamping session with Velvet Crab and even a Foundry session to wind it up, so a balanced effort considering most of it was spent on ‘growth’!

AJM:  Thoughtful reflections on slabs.  It is all about what you choose to do I think and probably means we should aim to keep a balanced mix going across the spectrum.  I certainly find slabs hard these days, though didn’t when I was spending most of my crag time at Avon, which although not necessarily a slab, does require footwork and balance, as well as an ability to cope with runouts!

Agree on the weather which is pretty disappointing whenever I have any time.  Hopefully, it is saving it all up for when work eases off!  As you remark, it does help keep the focus on the more measurable goals of training.  Good progress with your 10mm hangs – those loads must be pretty intense on smaller edges and I suspect you would need more recovery time -after all, it isn’t coming on the back of a six-month programme of max hangs on slightly bigger holds.

The tip psyche seems to be having an impact for you -these weekly reports are more training focused that I can remember for a long while.  You had decent results outside last year, so it will be interesting to see how this stronger platform helps.

Randy:  An uncharacteristically quiet week from you, but with the good excuse of ill health!  I hope you are over it by now.  Thanks for clarifying the endurance test, which sounds exactly as brutal as I imagined!

A very strange week to not be commenting on new PBs from Germany!  I guess you were probably due a proper deload week anyway as you have had some fairly intensive weeks this year, though I know the intensity is often a bit less, or at least different, when you are traveling.

Alan:  Really interesting results from the skin up fitness that are perhaps supported by your summertime application of zone 2 walking – let’s hope so!

I’d also reflect that it might be helped by the impressive bike mileages being achieved, as you have slipped in some decent trips alongside going to the wall.  Your reports (and Paul’s) of overcrowding are quite surprising as I get the impression that there is a wall on almost every street corner!  It is one reason I avoid them though as they have got fairly busy even within working hours in the UK.

Four wall visits including some decent numbers; two bile tri[s and a ski outing makes for a really good week of fitness work all round.  Not long until the trip ow, so make sure you take care of you A4!

Ross Barker:  Good to see that only one day of your trip was effectively lost to weather, which isn’t bad for March.  Some really good areas on the list and a fine set of problems to report back, as others have already noted.  A great day at 95.2, but pretty closely followed by l’Elephant – certainly a decent flash.

You must be delighted that the nagging finger injury didn’t cause any trouble – perhaps an indication that work on the board is an altogether different level of intensity though it could also be that you have got through it with rehab work.  The main thing is that the trip worked well and the injury behaved, so a good platform for the rest of the year.

Tyler:  Can’t wait to see the old man’s circuit!  As Ian remarked, I definitely have got less and less keen on landing on the ground.  Odd really, as I’ve never broken anything and my only significant climbing injury was a smashed face that I got at the top of a crag!

I did think Annex was a wall that I’d not heard of, but this is your home board isn’t it?  If so, it is a while since you’ve put time into that as I think it was aggravating your elbow.  If so, then not ‘pushing it’ might be worthwhile as an approach, by giving yourself a bit of time for tendons to get used to the loads.

The Ogwen snowbash sounds excellent and a decent way to rescue the day.  Similarly with the Beacon session – I know it isn’t where you used to be, but it seems solid to me in relation to your recent history.  I may well be wrong (often am), but whether ‘lots of rest and route familiarity’ were significant or not, that session looks more consistent than I have seen for a while.  It’s all building blocks in the end.

In reply to Derek Furze:

and the second bit

Steve Claw:  Is this a new guide to Avon, or something a bit wider in scope?  Anyway, brilliant to be in the thick of a ‘jaw dropping amount’ of new stuff and no sanctions will be applied for ‘only cleaned and prepped two this week’.

I didn’t see the injury mentioned at all, though perhaps the quieter week kept things in check?  Press ups now appearing as a regular feature and you are now a few weeks into these, so should be feeling some returns by now.  I did see your comments on the other thread about working on your core, which is interesting as not something I’ve through about much.  I think you described it as transformative or some such and I’d be interested in what you did and what you noticed.

Biscuit:   I passed on your comments by way of encouragement.  I think there are some health professionals getting really good results with an approach that is to one side of the mainstream view and they can feel like they are swimming against the tide.  Dr Unwin’s work in Southport has been going for a very long while now, but is still an outlier in terms of approach despite a very strong evidence base for the intervention.

A decent trip report, if not quite up to your expectations!  It is only March, so not surprising that stamina wasn’t there and I think it takes me somewhere around fifty to one hundred routes on rock to feel smooth.  I used to do early season foreign trips, but always felt like I got a beating compared to end of year trips!  Anyway, read your report again, plenty of ‘fantastic crag’, ‘cracking crag’ and loads of falling practice!  Add in a tortoise, which trumps my last year’s sightings of slow worms and adders.  Mind you, being at Giggleswick on the day the Brimstones decided they had finished with hibernating was pretty special.

Tom Green:  Yes, dry days are notable by their absence.  Despite that – to get to week ten having climbed every week so far is really excellent and even better that it includes several fairly adventurous trips away.

Runs going well and now hitting your weekly targets consistently, which is encouraging for the slackers amongst us.  I hope to start this week, though troubled a bit by a bad back at the moment.  You seem to delight in the desperately arduous as running through shin-deep snow sounds like torture to me.  Three other sessions across the week also, so some of the other STGs might be going down soon.  I hope so, as you seem to rachet them up at regular intervals, whether or not you’ve hit them!  Perhaps a good tactic…

Liam P:  Excellent work on the weight loss and with your encouraging words for Tyler.  I could tell he was delighted for you!  I am also in need of a stricter month, as I have had a bad weekend with my Dad’s 90th birthday party!  Seriously, good to see that it is working quickly for you and without much feeling of having to work at it – exactly my experience.

Some decent one arm hangs work.  Clearly the pulley set up is the secret to working this more effectively, so I am planning to make these changes as we head into Easter, so that I can also train at less than BW and do more variation on OAPU.

Good to see your boulder pyramid continues to grow over lunch breaks.  I’d observe that you are doing more, and more consistently, than last year so should have a better platform when you do get onto the rock.  Perhaps a bit less stretching in the pattern this week, though maybe the sore back didn’t help.  I saw a video on hamstrings that talked about releasing them with a non-stretch method, so I’m going to include that next week.  Good work on 10mm – clearly a strength down south…

The Sheep:  Sorry to hear about a tough week, though also glad that you go t through somehow.  I think your platform looks strong, though there are others on here more who are much more in tune with running than me who can comment.  Interesting comment about feeling better when you force yourself to do something – I adopted this attitude a bit more at the crag last year and felt it helped.  I thought I’d rather try, possibly fail, but get a workout and learn something, than walk away and save it for another day.  Most things are not that important, so get on with it…

Good distance at the end of the week.  You are definitely building well (Matt take note) and most weeks see you stretching it out now.  Plenty of swims included though perhaps a bit packed in at the ‘good’ end of the week.  Keep it up – April coming up soon.

Small Step:  Some thoughtful reflection there Paul that reminded me of the Flow book (I think called Flow: the psychology of happiness) from a fair bit back.  A long while since I read it, but I remember lots of it resonated with my thoughts about climbing.  Lots of it is based on climbing so it was bound to resonate!  I don’t know what the evidence-base is like, but nice ideas.

Another decent week for you with plenty of activity, even if some was as a result of having to ‘pull myself together’ as you put it.  There are a fair number of routes done at the wall with a pretty good spread of grades – solid really – so a good foundation for a project perhaps?  It would give you a pre-Easter target to work something and send it by Easter, so not a bad way of motivating progress.  It must be getting close to getting outdoors by now in Germany, so having a project to close off the indoor season sounds worthwhile.

Inglesp and Ally MIA this week.  Hope to see you both back this week!

In reply to Derek Furze:

...and my week

A bit messed up tbh with work and childcare, but managed to keep on track.

Sun - rest day activity of OAPU training with five single pull ups each side with two finger dish for opposite arm.

Mon - six sets max hangs up to 22.5kg.  50 pull ups in a short pyramid.  6x1- push ups.  Six sets stretching and Hoopers beta.

Tues - Weighted pull ups - 3x13.6; 3x14.7; 3x15.8; 3x16.9 and 2x18kg - new PB.  4x15 push ups.  10 weighed squats.  $ stretches and 4 x hoopers.

Wed and Thurs - work and childcare

Fri - Six sets max hangs to 22.5kg.  45 BW pull ups.  6x10 push ups and six sets stretching and hoopers.  Not bad as had to travel south.

Reasonable progress.  Aiming to get pulley sorted and start up running again soon - this week if time allows.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Deload was originally planned for this week, instead of last week. A little bit unlucky as i am heading to Frankenjura for the next two weeks, so being ill definately did help to be in peak shape for that:

Recap last week:

Mon-Tues: Rest

Wed: Easy Handboard session, 20mm egde 4x10s @120% BW; 4x10 Pullups with 2min rest

Thurs: Indoor Bouldering, Elements Wall, just did a bunch a volume in the 4c to 5c range with minimal rest

Fri: Rest

Sat: Indoor Bouldering, Elements Wall, a couple of 6a/6a+ flashes, one 6c after a couple tries, and two 6c+ after a few tries, one arm pullup testing: 90° starting angle: could do one on the right arm with very solid form and got up to ~ 60° with my left arm; 180° starting angle: got up to 120° with my right arm and 150° with my left arm, finished the session with one set of 20 pullups

Sun: Rest

Still not feeling 100% healthy but it is slowly getting better. Max strength was surprisingly good, probably also because i am finally fully rested. Unfortunately my endurance and general fitness has took a hit as expected. Hence, i will try to take it a little bit easy next week in Frankenjura and hopefully be in better shape in the second week. Weatherforecast at the moment looks also a little bit mixed and it has rained a ton in the last weeks, so i am also not expecting great conditions.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Cheers Derek. Another smug-post this week (sorry Tyler!) Weighed in at 83.7kg so -0.9kg, and -4.8kg total after Keto Week 3.

Yeah, I think once I bit the bullet and embraced the resin I’ve got a lot more out of it. It’s definitely saved on petrol and weekend pass negotiations! Loose plans to move closer to rock next year so more time to get strong (with the occasional interim trip thrown in).

Yeah wanted a full rest for the back. Will start again this week. Now I can finally touch my toes I’m planning on dialling it right back and just working a strict hip hinge with a variety of ‘good morning’ stretches. Haven’t heard of the ‘no-stretch’ so will take a look!

Stats for this week:

Monday

Fingers & Pulls

• OA Hangs - 6x 10s 40mm @87% BW
• 5x 1 OAPU 50mm edge (80%BW)

Tuesday

Wall

• Volume Bouldering up to V5 and working a few of the harder roof problems. Back felt alright!

Friday

Antags & Small Edges

• Ditched the Parallettes and did some Planche Leans from the floor. 5x 10s with hands 45” from feet. Felt strong and think I can shorten the distance/increase lean next week.
• Inspired by AJMs 10mm hangs, I had a go at some 10s 4Finger Drags on my smallest edge (I always thought this was 10mm but turns out it’s a 12mm ‘ergonomic’ edge so 10mm + 2mm rounding!) 10/11/13/15/17/18.5kg. Be interested to see what I can get on a true 10mm edge but don’t want to buy/make one!
• 12mm 5x 10s FC (+1kg)

Sunday

Wall

• Project Bouldering. Nothing for the pyramid but progress on a few hard problems including peeling the side skin away from my first fingernail on a f7B slab crimp. It’s a microcrimp high-rockover on crappy jib feet, so basically a Full Crimp pullup on half a pad. I’m solid on the hold so adding weight to the hangboard doesn’t feel like it will train much, but using the pulley to train assisted Full Crimp pull-ups sounds like a recipe for injury…hold my beer!?

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek, finger tips are on the mend now although they still look a little mangled.

Mon. Wall session, 4x10mins on 10mins off. The start of some endurance. 

Tues. Rest.

Wed. Big session at Roche Abbey,  did The Jester (f7A+) and then Jazzy Jester (f7B). Worked out the moves on a couple of other things but didn't have enough beans to pull them through in one at the end of a long session. Great conditions today. 

Thurs. 9km run.

Fri. Rest.

Sat. Tried Roche Abbey again but it was a bit condensed. Did a new link up  Less Perverse Bad Habits (f7A+) by mistake (but it's actually got some cool new moves in it). Unfortunately pulled something in the back of my left leg which put an end to heel hooking or even just pushing on my left leg so I didn't get to do the stuff I'd worked on Wednesday. 

Sun. Leg woke me up in the night to grumble. 16km cycle at kiddy pace.

Been having some thoughts about the next couple of weeks as it's looking warm and wet. I could do with more power, it's often a reason I fail on moves when bouldering and I've become a bit of a one tricky pony for long shuffley static problems. Also, with sport season looming I should probably invest some time into some aerobic work (anaerobic capacity is generally ok). So... I'm going to do a block of wall sessions where I do a campus board session (sticking to the big rungs) into an aerocap session twice a week with the 3rd climbing slot as a 'go and have fun' session and just do whatever I'm psyched for outside. Also going to do some sets of chin ups (rather than pull ups) to address my measly biceps which will hopefully stop me being so terrible on undercuts. Sound like a good plan?

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek!

STG - stick to training plan

MTG - Ultra in June

M - T - Rest

W - 1.2m run

T - S - Rest

S - 1.2m run

This week definitely didn't really go to plan (which was 3 miles).  On Monday evening, I wimped out of going down the pool.  On Tuesday I definitely felt ill, so bailed on climbing.  Wednesday despite feeling probably the worst of the cold, I trudged out for a run.  Which went better than expected and there was a slight improvement in pace.  Generally struggled for sleep and energy this week, which was mostly my undoing.

On the upside, I had a good physio appointment about a long term injury that I've been battling for a long time.  So that's great. 

I guess next week the plan will be:

1 swim

3 miles of running

Maybe a bouldering session somewhere?

I ought to start a diet of some kind as well.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek. Originally the aim of the trip was to get a 7b each climbing day, after the first warm up day. That got downgraded as I knew the run up wasn't helping me, but to come away with 1 x 7a on the last day was way below par. It had only been New Year since I was last on rock so I can't blame early season issues. Anyway no point dwelling. It was a lovely holiday and a new favourite place to go for Winter sun. 

An easy week after the trip and to get used to the low carb diet was the plan. Also avoiding crimps to get on top of niggling finger joints.

M – Nothing

T – Lancaster Wall - Bouldering on slopers and pinches – my nemesis style. I actually quite enjoyed it! Just up to about V4/5.

W – Nothing

T – A quick bouldering hit. 1 hour of problems up to V4. 

F – Routes at Kendal all on the big wall. Felt good. 6b, 6c+, 7a+, 7b+ (fail – good route now on the project list) 7b fail. Tired.

S  – Bouldering at BoulderUK. Up to V6. Mostly pinchy/slopey but some crimps mixed in. A lovely sociable session. I felt quite good, but still tired from yesterday. Did some hard moves.

S – Rest. A walk in the sunshine and a stretch.

The Furze Keto diet (tm) has resulted in about a 3kg loss. This is only water at this point I guess, but the effect on my appetite has been very interesting. No hunger, no snacking, very steady. I haven’t been counting carbs/calories while I get into it. I’ll start keeping an eye on that this week.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Seems like the best way to sit out the poor weather. You'll get some good neural gains in a couple of weeks on the campussing side of things.

In reply to biscuit:

Thanks, my next question was going to be how long do I need to work this system for to start seeing gains?

In reply to Derek Furze:

Good evening all! A good week coming back to regular schedules, though right now I'm coming down with the sickness, so let's hope that sorts itself out pretty quickly!

Yes, very delighted with this. Hoping it keeps up on this upward trajectory.

Last Week:

M - Rest.

T - Rest.

W - Back on the Moonboard! Skin has healed back a bit glassy but no dry fires. Finished a new one I'd tried before Font, thanks to a hold orientation being slightly corrected. Thus, "Bleed American" was born! Might be a dabby finish with a right side wall (sorry Ally!), but unfortunately adding a foothold would duff up the hand sequence. Next, almost stuck the first move of "School's Out" which is looking promising for future sessions. A2 well behaved the whole time.

T - AM density no-hangs, 3x30s, 22kg.

F - Rest.

S - Quick evening MB. Managed a newbie, "Flavour of the Weak", mighty fingery and static. Got even closer on the first move of "School's Out" but only had one or two goes. Spent a few goes on the dyno of "Undisclosed Desire", distance isn't too bad but actually latching it is another story! A2 once again pretty well behaved. Need to be careful not to overdo it as the confidence goes up.

S - Rest. Coming down with some sort of lurgy...

Next Week:

All subject to progress on this illness...

Goals:

Sort out the A2 injury.

Antagonists.

Rigpa.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

...I'm guessing a 'couple of weeks' 😂

In reply to Derek Furze:

A bit more impressive than I intended this weekend!

STG: 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: 8/9 sessions
MTG: April Kalymnos trip with my son: tick at least two things from my wishlist; belay him on his first 6b
LTG: Be a confident, well rounded low to mid 7's sport climber. For measurable definition see Fit Club 823
LTG: Winter 24 or 25 - do an actual off piste ski tour.

M: Bike one hour. Motivated to keep up the Z1/2 cardio mileage now I have evidence that it works!
    This was on the way into town & back for a spot of evening shopping. The lad wants to be introduced to some trad this summer, and I don't want anything bad to happen to him, so we are now the proud owners of a Black Totem (and doubles of some other useful cam sizes).

T:    Working too late for my DAV group evening at Thalkirchen (and tbh after last week's crowds I wasn't highly motivated to get finished earlier with work anyway!) 

W:    Wall, Element. Light bouldering session and white circuit endurance benchmark. 62 moves today versus 46 a month ago. 35% improvement can't be *all* just benchmark motivation factor, so it seems like my new approach to route fitness - less moderate mileage, more trying harder things - is working.
    20 minutes shoulder stability/mobility, half an hour bike there & back.

T:    Wall, Freimann. Consecutive days on training: met up with a couple of friends for a short evening routes session. 6c+ onsight, yay. Even on plastic I don't do that very often.
F: 
S: Mountainbike in the woods. Headed for a more distant patch of woods than my usual local circuit today because it looked cool on the map; three hours out I realised I had drastically underestimated just how much more distant it was. Oops. Four hours total.

S: Wall, Weyarn. Tapering session: light bouldering to warm up, then just a few goes on harder routes with long rests in between.

A rather good last heavyish training week pre-taper. Significant improvement on my endurance benchmark, confirmed by my first 6c+ (plastic) route onsight since before the pandemic. Not having been on rock for over two months clearly isn't ideal, but physically I'm feeling well prepared for my trip.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thank you Derek,

There are 2 books now nearing completion.  First is the Mendip trad book, which is everything south of Bristol except Cheddar (Split Rock, Brean and all the Mendip Quarries) which hasn't had an update in 20 years.  The second is the new Sport guide for the Bristol (and Mendip but not Cheddar) area, with a huge amount of new development in Avon, Brean and the Quarries.

Unfortunately the injury is not really improving, I'm just living with it.  Off to Font in 18 days, and its unlikely to magically heal, but its a family holiday, so unlikely to be going that hard anyway.

I'm fairly sure improving my core was a big thing for me.  I'm tall (6'2) with long arms (+3inch ape) so for me it came down to being able to use that height effectively, which means I have to be able to control the body in-between.  I used to drag my toes and other bad habits, but since I have improved the core and learnt to create better tension (core and legs), I have been climbing much harder and with better style.

Partly through not wanting to pay for new shoes, and also keep the good ones for best, I started doing all my training in the worse pair of shoes I had.  The holes in the toes meant that I could no longer just place the foot and go, as it would skid off.  Instead I have to think about where I can get the shoe to grip, then how to adapt the body position and create tension in the leg to make it work.  Indoor holds are generally quite big, so this is not all that hard to do, but the outcome has been that I am now super thoughtful about the foot position and the tension/weight that is applied to it.

The final benefit which seems obvious, but is quite a subtle thing.  When we climb it's actually quite hard to coordinate all the limbs perfectly, pushing with the legs as you pull/grab with the hand.  We all do it, but I think to varying levels of efficiency.  Once I got a real connection with the feet, then I found it much easier to drive upwards with them.

For anyone reading this, I did not do any super core regime, just simple planks, leg raises, Gym rings I's, Y's and T's etc.

I have been working away this week, so unfortunately nothing to report.  I did consider doing some conditioning or press-ups, but the work has a somewhat physical nature to it, and I just didn't have the energy for it.

In reply to Derek Furze: Thank you Derek for the stats. The wall was a lockdown project. I go through periods of using it, often getting drawn in by the shiny coloured circuits of boulders at the amazing walls here in Sheffield but every time I come back to use my own wall I'm reminded what a good facility it is and how lucky I am - I should be climbing E7 with the training resources I've got around me!

Excellent training week in all for me, especially today’s Avon route. Training wise – felt like the finger rehab is now progressing into finger training again. No running this week as I'm trying to be cautious having had the ‘rona last week and still feeling a bit phlegmy. Arms/energy feels a bit flat/empty still – not sure if this is after affects of illness or detrained or added belly timber after snacking too much? Tried out foot on campusing for first time. I’d welcome any advice from more experienced folk on here who’ve had success with it. The Crimp’d app I think just has a single set of 6 reps to failure with rest equalling work time – which is what I did (actually did 7 sets as brain a bit pumped!). Is that what others have done? Should I rest 10-15 mins and try another set of 6? I can see gains being quick as one gets used to the exercise and the need to pace moves so don’t rush through. Anyway advice welcome thanks.

Mon - Am: Finger block 20mm lifts 10 secs Full Crimp (2.5kg, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, 12.5), Half crimp (2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, 17.5, 20, 22.5, 22.5).

Pm – ARC at home wall 11mins x 3, 10min rest

Tues – shoulder rehab with 3kg weight

Wed – Am: Depot bouldering: Warm up 5x (green, white, blue, black), attempted 16 reds got up 12. Attempted 1 x purple. Felt strange from start of session; kind of empty/no umph?

Pm – Core: 3x 30 (twisting crunches, alternating single leg bridges, alternating 2 point box) 

Thurs – rest 

Fri – Am: Finger block 20mm lifts 10 secs Full Crimp (2.5kg, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, 12.5, 15, 17.5, 20, 22.5, 25), Half crimp (2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, 15, 17.5, 20, 22.5, 25).

Pm: 15 min warm up. Home wall, foot on campus board. Rest same time as time on: 75 secs, 54, 36, 30, 25, 24, 20 = total 264 secs. Felt light-headed and a bit ill after.

Sat – rest

Sun – Yellow Edge (E3 5c) in Avon. First trad route of the year – glorious. First climbed this 31years ago. Nice feeling to feel the fear rising on the last pitch and being able to quickly calm down and piece things together. Lovely afternoon out with an old friend.

  

In reply to Derek Furze:

Yep the annex is just my board, I bought some new holds this week that was supposed make for an easy warm up circuit and a bit of ARCing (is this still a thing?) but even these are a bit tricky.

T: New holds arrived, only had a short time to put them on and not enough washers for all of them. Half by accident and half by design made a banger 24 move circuit but its harder than intended. Had a play on it and managed it in a few sections.

T: Annex - managed my new ‘warm up’ (purple & white) circuit after about an hour. 
S: First visit to Manor crag, seems like it might have been the only dry spot (to begin with). Got up Ill Manors (f6C) quite quickly considering I had to warm up on it (this may be because it’s very similar to some stuff on my board but mainly because it’s soft). Just as well as it started to rain before I could get on anything else felt like a boss getting a tick from the day (hardest of the year), loved being out in the wind and drizzle knowing these sessions reap dividends down the road  

S: Felt strangely fatigued considering I’d not done much yesterday but went to the Beacon and had a similar session to last week. Got my first (I think) Beacon 6c OS but failed on my other objectives.

Overall a reasonable week as this is the first time I’ve done 4 session in a week and consecutive sessions for at least 18 months. Could pay for it with my elbow but I’m going to be out of action for a week from Tuesday.

Stuck to the diet except for lunch today and a Twirl on Friday, losing heart as not lost anything this week

In reply to Ian Parnell:

If you're doing the foot on campus to failure 6 times with rest=work time that is enough.

They are very effective sessions but also quite hard for the forearms to deal with and recover well from. Doing that twice a week at most is the recommendation.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

Well I spotted you were planning on doing it for a couple of weeks and that should be enough to get those initial neural gains (think coordination of muscles working together in a new way to them). 

The aerocap stuff is always worthwhile and a bit like going for a recovery jog it's effect is pretty instant, though small in 2 weeks. 

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Nice one with Yellow Edge, always feels really "out there" at the top. Took a big whip onto the thread a few years ago when the Exploding Galaxy Wall did just that with my handhold.

Awesome weather in Avon yesterday, wasn't that far away cleaning a route.  Hope you remembered your Ice Cream money!

In reply to Ian Parnell:

That (and Steve snapping a hold off by the big thread, I'd have gone a fair way of I'd fallen there!) brings back memories...

http://travelswithrockboots.blogspot.com/2020/04/limestone-back-home-wed-ca...

In reply to Derek Furze:

I thought I posted last week?  I was away from home, so might have got lost with dodgy phone reception in our holiday cottage?

Squiggle's sleeping habits haven't improved much over the last 2 weeks, but feel refreshed from being away from work.  Annoyingly, I tried some light pinch lifts on Saturday evening and immediately felt the return of wrist pain.  More rehab needed   And lots of core, deadlifts and shoulder conditioning.

Week 10

M – 8mm 10kg M2 half-crimp lifts. 3x 35s lift / 3min rest for both.

T – Our daughter has been waking early for nearly 3 weeks now, meaning CBA for any intense evening exercise. 6x 10s 20mm lifts with 27kg while watching YouTube. Fairly steady; felt like rehab intensity.

W – Short weights session. 5x5 bench @62.5kg (i.e. back to old level pretty quick). 4x10 sumo axle deadlift @75kg. 7/3/6/3 repeaters @BW+17.5kg (Crimpd reckoned I should be doing these at 25kg – hell no!). Got lazy and skipped core.

T – Drop-interval aero-cap. 2x6C, 2x 6B+, 2x 6B 2min rest, x4 (it should have been x6, but ran out of time).

F –  8mm 17kg F3 half-crimp lifts. 3x 35s lift / 3min rest for both. 

S – Driving to Sussex.  Light aero-cap grippers.

S – More grippers, Crimpd static core and some thumb lifts. COMPEX core.

Week 11

M – Nowt.

T – 5x20 sit ups the only exercise.

W – Light grippers.

T – 100min / 40km hilly road ride.

F –  6km coastal walk. 5x20 sit ups. Crimpd static core. Light grippers.

S – Nowt. Driving home via lunch in Oxford.  Quick play with pinch block after dinner resulted in return of wrist pain.

S – Co-ordinating a lamb roast for Mother’s Day took up much of the day. Squeezed in 3x10 axle DL @BW.

In reply to Somerset swede basher:

I’d go more specific than that. Google ‘Yates Rows’ or Underhand Barbell Rows. That replicates the movement of undercuts better as you’re pulling to your midsection which isn’t possible with chin-ups.

In reply to Ally Smith:

Disley has had its own share of power outages of late, so your post could well have been fried at this end as well!  No worries anyway 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Ah, ok.  I didn't realise you were that close to us.

15miles away in Knutsford we were having lots of flickering lights the week before we went away.  No proper power cuts, but enough to reset the central heating timer.

In reply to Steve Claw: Were you up on the ramp? 
 

reply to Andy nice blog. Great pair of routes the sort of climbs you don’t forget. Very keen to go back and repeat Amanita as soon as I can. 
 

replt to Biscuit: thanks for the foot on campus advice

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Definitely routes that stick in the mind.

One day I'd like to go back and do some of the alternative top pitches for yellow edge, some of those sound good. 

In reply to Ian Parnell:

I was down by the Suspension bridge, got out early and spent the morning is glorious sun, no-one around.

Amanita has been on my "to do" list for a while just never got round to it.

In reply to Steve Claw:

I'd be up for hooking up together. I come down every couple of months to visit my folks and then need a days climbing to balance out the experience!

In reply to Ian Parnell:

Sounds great, send me a message next time your heading down.

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek, great shout on the pick-up hangs - I'll have to break out my lattice mini-bar next week! 

Not overly surprised by the consultant's prognosis and if nothing else it helps to have a date to aim for now. I haven't got any specific cycling goals this year, other than to get out and explore some more of the great area surrounding Manchester (particularly the Forest of Bowland which is my favourite area to ride in). I've not done a 200km ride since 2021 and barely did any rides over 100km in 2022 so that's probably a good one to aim for this year. 

M - Rest

T - 80% of FTP intervals

W - Rest

T - Tempo intervals with a 5 minute VO2 max effort to finish

F - Rest

S - 40/20 intervals

S - Floor core & flexibility 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Yeah I always used to characterise main wall as believing between footholds. Coincidentally a lot of discussion of Avon this week!

Thanks! Another decent week this week although I leant a bit more towards the fitness side than the fingerboard.

Yeah, it’s an interesting observation that. I think you’re right, I seem to have sort of drifted back into it rather than there being a defined moment where I switched a bit more into training mode. It definitely helps having found some training which doesn’t aggravate my shoulder - whilst I enjoy the wall there was always that sort of should I shouldn’t I sort of thing going on, first with the hamstring and then with the shoulder. And in some ways the miserable weather whenever I’ve been free has also helped because it’s easier to just get stuck into a pattern and a routine if you’re not also trying to make sure you’re free and rested to fit an unpredictable weather forecast.

Monday - shoulder rehab plus about 2 miles walking after dropping car at the garage.

Tuesday - base stamina 5-3-5-3-5 on the home board. I try to climb fairly slowly with a lot of foot movement to increase transferability to outdoor pace. It’s also not all movement as there are two jugs which offer a place to shake out, one of which can be turned into a decent bridging rest with a foot on the side wall. My aim is to try to minimise the use of the decent rest over time so that my resting is eventually just on the jugs. Currently I barely need it in the first block of 5 and the use creeps up over the next two as the 3 minute rests don’t offer full recovery. I use this timing pattern as it basically works and is available ready set up on the crimpd app, but at the intensity I do it it’s definitely aerocap not the regeneration level workout it is billed as on the app.

Wednesday - I’m not sure following aerocap with fingerboarding is necessarily the best ordering, if I’m honest I got confused as to what I had planned out! Fingers weren’t feeling super but nevertheless got to bw+13 for 8s on the 10mm edges. Also about 5 miles of walking to get the car from the garage and then go to and fro work.

Thursday - about 2 miles walking, otherwise rest

Friday - did 1-on-1-off at lunchtime. Stayed on the medium feet the whole time, got a decent pump on.

Saturday - parents visiting. About a mile or so walking in the afternoon carrying one or the other child.

Sunday - glorious morning and in general a nice day. Definitely a springlike vibe today. Another couple of miles of walking with some child carrying. After my parents left in the afternoon I did a 1-on-1-off on the board again. 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Hi Clubbers. Thanks for the stats, Derek. Shout if you get fed up... I probably owe another stint. However, if you're happy doing them, I'm happy not doing them!

Week 11:

M: Rest -dropped planned session as felt a bit knackered.

T: Trail run. 20.0km, 542m vert, 6:24/km.

W: Fingerboard.

T: Strength sesh.

F: Bouldering on  NOS Boulder. Trail run. 15.3km, 451m vert, 6:07/km. 

S: Fingerboard.

S: Strength sesh.

Week 12:

M: Rest.

T: Run. Fingerboard.

W: Climbing.

T: Run and paint board.

F: Fingerboard and Strength. 

S: Climbing.

S: Hill day.

STG (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 93kg

Pull-ups: 97kg

MTG (End July):

Sula (E2 5b)

Classic Envers rock route.

One of my Grande Course wish list.

In reply to Tom Green:

Thanks Tom.  I'm okay at the moment with the next three-month block as I have taken on less work and am still feeling reasonably fresh with it.  I think this will be helped as the character of the weekly reports shifts a bit as the season develops.  I will see how I feel as I approach the end of June!

In reply to Derek Furze:

While I'm sure we all appreciate the amount of time & effort you're clearly putting in - I know I do, I look forward to your comments every week - don't feel obliged to keep up the same level. I know in my stint as MC I didn't always find it easy to think of something constructive & insightful to say to everybody, especially ...

... on Sunday evening on the way back from the crag

In reply to Derek Furze:

Thanks Derek. It was a mental week with a nil report on the exercise front.

Middle daughter was sick at the beginning of the week which didn’t resolve itself. To cut a long story short she was admitted to hospital at the end of the week and had emergency surgery to remove her appendix. She is still in but hopefully coming home tomorrow. 👍🏻

In reply to AlanLittle:

Haha - yes, I'm only interested because I will have time to do both!  I've got a good system now where I make comments on a word document that I run through the week - that way I am spreading the load and it doesn't seem onerous.  Come Sunday, a quick check for any late submissions and I can load it up (usually!).

In reply to the sheep:

Best wishes for a speedy recuperation and hope all back on schedule soon.  

In reply to AlanLittle:

Strong agree on all points, I often can’t think of anything new to write about my “training” so I certainly don’t expect some to come up with something novel in response! 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Cheers Derek, she is doing really well. They just need her to finish her course of IV antibiotics and she is good to go home 

In reply to Tyler:

Yes, it is definitely easier to respond when the weekly write up includes something novel - like wading around Ogwen or new PBs for whatever.  That said, I do enjoy having to try and make some constructive comments where I can and more importantly, it keeps me interested and more disciplined with my own routine.

Actually, although comment can be trickier when someone reports 'a new lowpoint', I even find the honesty helpful - after all, climbing can come with some disappointments and the wry humour is a real tonic!

Anyway, for the time being I'm happy in my role in Fat Club 🙂

In reply to Tyler:

Mailed you re Saturday.  Number is 07961077733 if that is easier 

In reply to Derek Furze:

Hi Derek, great job yet again – thanks!
Flow seems to be on a bit of revival in climbing – there’s a few things on the net from Hazel Findlay / Cameron Northsworthy.

In case someone is interested here’s a link to a podcast. I haven’t had a chance to listen in yet:
https://www.strongmindclimbing.com/news-resources/a-conversation-with-flow-...

I’m a bit late because a few difficult things (trauma stuff) came up towards the end of the week, and in tandem with a big workload, engulfed my climbing as well – this time no success with levering myself out of the messy stuff. It doesn’t always work – which only means though I cherish it all the more when it does…
Mon: long stretching and good fingerboard session
Tue: body tension (Hoopers – lots of plank exercises), felt really good, weighted hangs
Wed: wall Thalkirchen. A touch too much on Monday and Tuesday? Felt a bit lethargic and hesitant…alas, I think the trauma stuff was stirring. Nonetheless: 2 warmup routes, then 6 x 6b, 2 x 6b+; brief session on the 15° spray wall – finally cracked a move I’d been trying for weeks!! As it turned out, the last hurrah for the week.
Thu: light upper body exercises.
Fri: storm clouds brewing…stretching
Sat: felt dreadful but still went to the wall, Bad Aibling…meltdown…no more needs to be noted.
Sun: like a hangover – a lot of reflection, a bit of stretching and then jogging followed by light upper body…

Hope all are well and in good spirits,
Paul