[tomtom]

2013 totals:
Outdoor: 90
Indoor: 6
Training: 8
New Grade 7's 20

Back in the swing again.... at last

Monday: Still over in Norfolk (been visiting MrsTT's folks) and decided to stay an extra day as I didnt have to be in work on Monday... we were staying in an old barn, and I took an hour out to have a 'Barnmaker' session. The house is replete with old beams, wooden edges etc.. that proved excellent for deadhanging, pull ups etc.. and I managed to spend myself doing just that in about an hour. The rest of the day was spent chasing rouge chickens from next door... fast little buggers!



Wed: Helsby. Ahhh... to touch rock again... first time in ages.. All the usual easier problems - tried some of the harder ones (failed) and worked on my explosive pull ups by doing a footless traverse with ever increasing distances between holds.. Off to editorial meeting in Munich in the afternoon..

Friday: Back from Munich in the morning, and off to Helsby for 12... a much better session. Did all but last moves on the 7A+ traverse - a couple of the med/harder problems I couldnt do on Wednesday, and fannied about trying and doing what I thought was a new problem just right of the ramp. Was great fun though and it was a great little session. Helsby in the woods is starting to show signs of wear on the lower footholds sadly... I'm nto sure its getting much more traffic as its so tricky to find - but the lower layer is quite crumbly and there was quite a bit of evidence of footholds crumbling/wearing rapidly.. please be careful people...

Sunday: Woodwell. The rest of the country seemed shrounded in clag and rain apart from the Lakes (which were clear) and Woodwell area... the rain stopped on the M6 just north of Lancaster and conditions there were great. Upon arriving, I saw another couple of boulderers getting stuff out of their car etc.. I said hello - and the looked at me like I was a lump of shit! I wandered along to the RH end - and 5 min later said people arrived there with Grimers Boulder Britain book.. As it looked like they didnt know what was where etc.. I offered to point some problems out to them - and they gave me looks akin to those as hardened commuters would would give to a chatty spanish tourist on the tube... huh. Oh well, they fucked off to Toms Roof area so all was well! Strange folk - most boulderers you meet are friendly and even if not wanting to talk are at least polite about it. Anyway... I laid seige to 'Whistler' (7A) and flailed around for about 90 min, all sorts of fridge hugging, deadpointing ensued - and having just got back and looked at Andy(i)E's and GCW's vids of it, I was along the right lines, but just not dynamic (or tall!) enough.. Great fun though and I think it will be dispatched fast next time when I have some beans left from not having to work out the sequence. Nice to be on the lime - great conditions and I now feel achy all around the shoulders/core area so a great work out...

[nai]

This'll be quick... the strange forearm niggle that I woke with following last Sunday has persisited all week. And to make matters worse on Wednesday I woke with a cold which also persists.  So that's a blank and very frustrating week. Reckon the goals are out the window, just roll 'em over (again).

[fried]

That's not a rouge hen, it's white

Monday-Wednesday - Nothing
Thursday - Indoor, feeling good. A sudden drop in temperature makes everything feel a bit easier. Campus 1-3-5 for the first time in my life. Back exercises + weights
Friday - Same as above. My elderly frame soon develops aches and I know it's time to knock it off. More back stuff, light weights and run up lots of easy stuff. Consecutive days climbing still does me in.
Saturday - Weather looks unpredictable and I don't fancy another session indoors, and can't face a drive out to Font. Make some Sushi for the first time ever.
Sunday - BM session. Hard with an actual timer as opposed to me counting the seconds.

Weight hovering around 75kg as usual.

[tomtom]

This'll be quick... the strange forearm niggle that I woke with following last Sunday has persisited all week. And to make matters worse on Wednesday I woke with a cold which also persists.  So that's a blank and very frustrating week. Reckon the goals are out the window, just roll 'em over (again).

Arse thats not needed. Still time to make it...?

[krymson]

Nai, why not just back down on the intensity? aerocap type of stuff maybe until you get better.


M
   Steep Lead Wall. Outclimbed a friend who is well stronger than me(to
be fair he hadnt climbed in a week so his endurance was shot). felt pretty damn good. Made progress on my projects(7b,7b+,7c)

T
   Weights - antagonists
W
   Aerocap - ARC
Th
   Bouldering gym: Campus board and then bouldering with a strong friend. I feel stronger than before but the campus board didnt show it: 1-4 was doable but only on the largest rungs and it was strenuous!

Fri
   Aerocap: 20/10s, focusing on big moves
Sa
   Weights - Contrast, antagonists.  Aerocap: ARC
Su
   Steep board. Worked weaknesses - dynos, climbing "open",  keeping feet on when stretched out.

Hi/Lo training notes:
The last week i noticed that doing purely "ARC" for aero cap(the Lo) leaves me extremely weak in the body which means on a steep route climb I get fatigued even before i'm pumped, so this week I've started incorporating 20/10s with bigger moves on bigger holds. It's still aerobic in the forearms, but for the body it provides a good work out which i hope will transfer well to steep lead climbing.

[Muenchener]

STG (2013): Frankenjura VII onsight - haven't abandoned hope of one or two decent autumn weekends just yet
MTG (Spring 2014) 7a redpoint
LTG (<= 5 years): Big alpine rock routes: Totenkirchl west face (Dülfer), Marmolada south face (Vinatzer-Messner)

M:
T:
W: Wall, Thalkirchen. Routes: 5b 5c 6a 6b 6b 6a+ 6a+ 6a+. Felt weak. Maybe still tired from Sunday's big effort, maybe just unrealistic to expect to go all-out every session. I probably need to adopt a more structured training approach.
T:
F: Alpine approach training: 30 mins step-ups in big boots with 12kg rucksack
S: Wall, Boulderwelt. A few burns on my 7a circuit project - not going as well as last week, see above  - then ten endurance laps on easier circuits.
S: Wall, Thalkirchen. Endurance circuits. Oddly better than yesterday. Redpointed a 6c+ in four goes, then 8 laps on easier circuits.

[nai]

Arse thats not needed. Still time to make it...?

Dunno, I had five weeks from nipper starting school until a week long trip then thought the Tor might stay dry for another2-3 week. I was hoping to get 2+ sessions per week ahead of the trip, be fit and flowing, ready to crush.  But in three weeks I've only managed three sessions in total. Hardly good prep and I haven't tested myself at all so have no real idea what gains I might have made and what I might currently be losing. Unlikely to get too much done this week looking at the weather so kind of resigned to failure given the circumstances (however my mood hasn't been the best this week so maybe I'm just being pesimistic).

Nai, why not just back down on the intensity? aerocap type of stuff maybe until you get better.

That is a plan, I did start warming up for half a session on Friday but it became apparent that the arm niggle hadn't gone so had to can it.

[kelvin]

Not a lot of motivation post holiday and I think that the end of trad season approaching is making it worse.

Went to the wall twice, tried a 6c on top rope and am exactly were I was 6 months ago - a lot neater, braver but ultimately weaker. Next time in, I got on the campus rail with a foot on and boy could I tell the difference from when I was on it regular.

Gonna keep at this 'straight arm only' easy bouldering and work the fingers at the same time on the campus rails. Hopefully that'll end with neat footwork and strong fingers...

Something will work one day!

[shark]

11.2-5

M.
T. Malham. Looked dire when we arrived but only undercut damp on Oak. Dogging go then 2 goes from ground to undercut and 3rd managed to use undercut and got to lunge for horn. Last go got past undercut again but shutdown. Reworked a move above (holding sloper and snatching into at end of traverse right). Been struggling on this and reworked it and used a different foothold linking from horn to top. Great day, felt strong, buzzing.
W.Tried not to eat much
T. Malham. Full of confidence, weighing light, temps good, good team - even JD was at the crag - but for some reason it didn't happen. Maybe needed more than a day's rest. Also toe stiffness in whites went so kept pinging off a low shit edge. Time to break out a new pair. Basically got to undercut twice. Glum. 
F.
S.Malham. Good conds. 4 redpoints past undercut. Go1 greased off pinch. Other 3 goes could only get three fingers in undercut though nearly did it that way on second go. New whites worked a treat so no pinging off footholds. Gutted I can't go back midweek. Even Paul (uncharacteristically) said I was strong enough to do it. Hope it stays dry till next saturday

 

[Wood FT]

Hope it stays dry till next saturday

 

no cheese or wine and get it done!

[shark]

Hope it stays dry till next saturday

 

no cheese or wine and get it done!

Too late.

 

Cotes du Rhone and Wensleydale with Cranberries this eve

[kelvin]

Laxatives...

[Ti_pin_man]

 Stg: font 7a - bold aim for old guy

M - AM: core101 set; PM Easy climb session as bushed from climbing sat and sun.
T - rest
W - core101 set and hard climb evening including a F6b+ wahoo!
T - rest
F - core101 sets. medium climb, felt a bit tired
S - rest
S - rest or chillax as my girl calls it

Mentally a good  achievement this week hitting a 6b+.  Wahoo for me.  ;-)

[tomtom]

Laxatives...

Or red wine colonic irrigation

[JackAus]

STG: V7
LTG: V11

82kg

M: Took parents bushwalking. Not too far. Maybe 10km total.
T: Decent boulder session. Finally got all the moves on a project. Think its V7 but haven't done one yet so hard V6 it will probably be when I get it. Really fun direct version of a soft V7, really wide fridge hugging up a shield...
W: Hot.
T: Hot. DWS. Great day on the water. Not making much progress on project but did a bunch of other smaller lines. Found out that my project has been tried a fair bit before but it looks like I've made the most progress on it.
F: Hot. Firewood.
S: Hot. Firewood.
S: Hot. Firewood.

Not much climbing done this week but both felt like really good sessions. Hot for most of the week, cool for the first few days of this week now though.

[csl]

Goals
Climb 2x a week 2/2
Fingerboard 2x a week 0/2
Get outside 2x a month 1/2

Mon
Tue - milton keynes. Bouldering. Lots done up to v5. Some working a steep v7 ish problem
Wed
Thu - milton keynes. Lots more bouldering ip to v5 then stupidly close on the v7 i failed on last time. Feeling like im getting stronger.
Fri
Sat
Sun

Ok for climbing. Lax on fingerboarding!

[Luke Owens]

Checked my weight and body fat at the start of the week. 10 Stone 5 Pounds and shocked to find out I'm at 6% body fat without actually trying to achieve this!

Monday:
Lunch - Rock Ring pull-ups
Set 1: Large: 6 Medium: 6 Small: 4
Set 2: Large: 7 Medium: 6 Small: 6
Set 3: Large: 7 Medium: 6 Small: 4

10 Wide grip pull ups
10 Jug pull ups
3 x 20 crunches
20 dips
35kg Deadlift - 10 reps

Tuesday:
Lunch -
10 Wide Grip Pull-ups
20 Weighted Crunches (10kg)
10 Dips
15 Press Ups
15 Bicep Curls - 12.5kg
10 Arnie Press's - 12.5kg x 2
10 Hammer Curls - 12.5kg
10 Hanging Leg Raises

Evening  - Pantymwyn Bouldering - Warmed up doing a V4/6B+ I've never done in a few goes. Then managed "Singed" (V6/7A) after a few goes after failing on the last move last week. A cool 15 move problem!

Wednesday:
Lunch - 10 Wide Grip PullUps
10 Dips
3 x 20 Crunches
3 x 15 Bicep Curl (12.5kg)
2 x 10 Shoulder front raises (10kg)

Rock Ring pull-ups:
Set 1 - L: 8reps M: 8reps S: 4reps
Set 2 - L: 8reps M: 8reps S: 4reps

Evening:
Our son's first birthday! Had a little party, psyched!

Thursday: Rest

Friday:
Lunch - Monster session!
Rock Ring Pull-Ups
Set 1 - L: 8reps M: 8reps S: 4reps
Set 2 - L: 8reps M: 8reps S: 4reps
Set 3 - L: 8reps M: 8reps S: 4reps
Set 4 - L: 8reps M: 8reps S: 3reps

3 x 10 Wide grip pull-ups
3 x 10 Dips
5 x 20 Swiss Ball Crunches
4 x 10 Reverse curls (10kg)
4 x 10 Bicep curls (17.5kg)
4 x 10 Tricep curls (12.5kg)
4 x 10 Shoulder front raises (12.5kg)
3 x 5 Deadlifts (70kg)
2 x 10 Hanging Leg Raises

Saturday: Rest (DOMS DOMS DOMS)

Sunday: Cromlech Boulders with the little one, he enjoyed the mud and stones!
Did - The Ramp (V1), Browns Crack (V1), The Slopes (V3), Pocket Wall Direct (V4) & finally got on it and did the classic Heel Hook Traverse (V4) Great problem took a few goes!

A very full week training wise, still feel weak on the bouldering. Guess it'll take time to get back into after a long summer sport climbing!

[rich d]

Checked my weight and body fat at the start of the week. 10 Stone 5 Pounds and shocked to find out I'm at 6% body fat without actually trying to achieve this!

What method did you use to check your body fat Luke?

Quick one for me this week
Monday to Sunday - nothing fighting off some sort of illness - felt drained and knackered all week. Need to man the fuck up this week. 

[T_B]

83.6 Kg

M - Home fingerboard. First session on new fingerboard, positioned above kitchen door and in view of the TV. Sets of 4 reps on increasingly smaller holds, half-crimped for 10 secs with 3 mins rest. Culminating in back 3 half-crimped and front 3 dragged and finally 15mm edge - just about 3 x 10 secs half-crimped.
T -
W - As per Monday.
T -
F -
S - Works. A little bit of campussing, but mainly foot-on campussing for 1 minute blocks. Then messing a bit no the Motherboard with one foot, then traversing on the circuit board. Fell off the last move of the 7a/7a+ RAF traverse.
S -

Tweaked left wrist on Wednesday. It only hurts half-crimped and with thumb on - totally fine open-handed. I think what has caused it is putting a 15mm wooden edge below my moon fingerboard, meaning that my wrist is pushing against the wood when doing half-crimped hangs on the lowest edges of the moon board. I'm going to take the 15mm edge off for now and just open hand this week.

Saturday was a bit experimental as it's the first time I've tried proper one-footed bouldering. Felt great to link a few moves, though if it got hard I put my thumb on which wasn't great for left wrist. I'm 4 weeks post-op now and the foot/heel feels quite solid, though of course I mustn't weight it so v low traversing on the circuits board only. When my wrist sorts itself out, I think I'll be able to do a bit more on the motherboard (4, maybe 5 move problems) from v low starts.

Have settled on doing Beastmaker-style two-handed hangs, rather than assisted (which I'm too weak for) or adding weight. Plan to do some open-handed repeaters this week.

[Luke Owens]

What method did you use to check your body fat Luke?

We have this fancy machine in work that does a "health check". It checks your weight, BMI, Body Fat, Blood Pressure etc.

The body fat bit is worked out when you grab two handles(??), it's hardly going to be accurate though I imagine. I do remember using one of these machines about a year ago and it reckoned my body fat was ~10%.

[tommytwotone]

STG: Offwidth-age
LTG: Font 7b

M - Revovery from awful Brimham session day before which included giving myself the worst grit rash I've ever had on Fist Fight (4+ oddwidth problem). Spent most of day sulking at work, spirits raised by going to London in eve and meeting Falling Down of this parish for dinner and a couple of beers
T - All day in a meeting for work, train back and a couple of cans
W - Nowt
T - Snooker after work and a few pints
F - Nowt
S - Nowt
S - Quick session at Depot...felt great after week of doing nothing, pretty strong and knocked off a load of the harder bouldering league problems

Weird - a week of doing sod all, sulking and boozing too much and then come back feeling decent and strong. Go figure eh?

[Dolly]

@TTT Your body probably had the chance to recover a bit I would guess
@ Shark - you'll be fine with the cheese and wine - just don't do carbs and you'll float


M Beastmaker then Pilates
T Furnace board but felt tired from Monday sess
W Core sess at the gym
T Run at night in Aber
F
S Good long sess in the shed where I failed on lots of things but did some as well. Smell of dead animal has dissipated.
S Run in the evening


Went to see the physio about my finger. She said it would be fine, couple of exercises to do. Interestingly she said that the fact it hurt when I climbed wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Anyway the only way its going get better is with more climbing

[duncan]

Fri: amazingly cajoled the same partner back to belay me again. Rescued her quickdraws, sent the new route (Off the Couch, .12b, Pet Wall) then met up with AndyR at the Grand Wall boulders for a few minutes and did my first Squamish V6 ... admittedly this may have been the first time I have bouldered there in prime conditions and Andy did supply extremely precise beta.
Sat: nothing
Sun: nothing

The new route was one of my most satisfying climbing moments from what's been a great year. It breaks off from halfway up one of Squamish's most classic sport routes and takes an undercling line across a shield of impeccable glacier-polished granite, with a couple of cruxy technical moves to finish. Looking backwards and down at that point feels amazingly exposed and isolated for a single-pitch route, with the rope arc'ing miles back to the belayer. Oddly it is even been previewed on the big screen, in the last Twilight movie. It cuts left from under the climber at 1:48 here! OK it's blink-and-you-miss-it but ...

Excellent.  A new route on Pet Wall is a cool thing to do.


M - Shoulder stability stuff. 
T - Biscuit factory. 20 mins of easy pottering.
W - Shoulder stability stuff. 
T - 3 hours root canal surgery. Didn’t feel like doing much.
F - Frantic day. Teaching, submit grant application, speak at conference in Birmingham, issue press release for clinical trial into MBT shoes. Lots of interest (quiet news day) including Times, Telegraph, BBC and Die Welt.
S - Marginal forecast. Drove through rain to Bristol but weather cleared as we arrived at a damp Fairy Cave Quarry. Did some of the 'classics' on Rob's slab, including Volume 11 (E3). Also strayed onto some of the utter rubbish on the sunny side, narrowly missed out on a coveted XS grade tick. Climbing punctuated by texts from increasingly excited PhD student reporting another news outlet running the story. Times website have our study next to piece on Peter Hicks! The closest I’ll get to a Nobel prize.
S - Running around after offspring. Foot-on pull-ups. Shoulder stability stuff. 
Scored tickets for Die Walkure at Bayreuth next summer in the online mêlée. YYFY or possibly Ho jo to ho!

Good week, mostly for non-climbing reasons. FCQ has less training effect than 20 mins at the wall but was fun day in good company and it’s good to keep getting on the E3s.  Not sure I’ll be rushing back.

[Sasquatch]

STG - Train like a Fiend
MTG - Train Like a Fiend
LTG - 8A(Fatty Project), 8B(Muffin Man Project) and 8B+(Niffleheim) local projects.  They finally feel possible...

M - Travel back from South
T - FB and short run - Felt weak
W - Run 6mi, Gym session-Boulder up to 7C, Easing into Weights
Th - Gym session-Aerocap, sore from Wednesday's Weights
F - Planned on running, but crap weather meant no motivation.
S - Gym session - Boulder(several up to 7C), Climb-OS a 7b, 7b+, a 7c+ with one fall. Same wts as Wednesday, but definitely felt easier
S - Rest, crap weather meant no motivation.

Felling a bit down as the season is pretty well wrapped up.  Have two routes I'd like to do, but no partner and low motivation.  Lets see if the low motivation is just a post trip funk. Might get 1-2 more weeks of climbable weather.

[cheque]

Red River Gorge still. Trip goal- 5.12b (7b)

M- rest.
T- North 40/ the Gallery. Was really psyched to onsight "best 11b in the Red" Amarillo Sunset but blew it at the last hard move. Amazed how thrashed I felt after that and dogged the second try, finding out I was using the slopey front of the hold I fell off rather than the positive back of it. Disappointment. Feeling like I needed more mileage I did all the classic easy routes at the Gallery then got on an 11b "slab" (slab here means an 88 degree wall) in my bendy moccasyms- it's precision edging all the way and I had a nightmare.
W- Funk Rock City (winner of the "crag name that sounds most like a Rick James song" competition) too hot- bad crag choice really- and we got lost on the way. Warmed up on a 10b slab that was very runout and kinda scary in the heat. Top-roped an 11d that felt demoralisingly hard, also possibly due to the heat but also due to incipient headcold. Not a good day.
T- the Hideout/ Bibliothek. Warmed up on a 35 metre slab with a famous view of the Muir Valley- trees on trees basically. Went to the stunning and secluded Bibliothek after, a wall of 11s in a beautiful setting. Did an 11a I failed on last year but illness and partner's intense hissy fit put me off my harder rote which I dogged like a trouper than sacked the whole thing off for a much less taxing nature/ photography walk.
F- rest. Feeling pretty ill. The other group of English climbers (including a few UKBers) came to slum it at Miguel's for a few days and we entertained my American mates with our terrible basketball skills. Even I found the sight of 6-foot-something Barrows getting burnt off the court by an obese 12-year-old funny, but the disparity between their list of sends and mine was less so.
S- rest. Still Ill. Went for a drive way out of the climbing area for some much-needed solitude and  a slice of Americana which included a yard sale.
S- the Gallery again. Feeling great and well rested. 11a warm-up then, as my chosen route was busy (this weekend was Rocktoberfest which  means the Red gets stupidly crowded at all but the most hardcore crags) got on the nails 11b slab again. Sent it second go as the hardest slab I've ever done and felt pretty good on the successful go.

Not a great week ( by climbing trip standards- an ace week by normal ones obviously) but one that improved greatly on Sunday and has improved even more today with cooler temps and the hardest route I've done here so far. Nearly half of the trip left so still time to achieve all I want to hopefully!

[the_dom]

Can't remember what my goals are because I have no motivation whatsoever for climbing.

Monday: In Johannesburg. An early start meant all I wass up for was leg rehab exercises and 5000m row. Hate rowing.

Tuesday: Rowing machine intervals (30s hard row, 30s rest; repeat 10 times); 4km easy run on the treadmill in 20 mins

Wednesday: Flew back from Johannesburg. Rest day.

Thursday: Absolutely fantastic surf at 6AM. Perfect head high beachbreak peaks with only 3 other guys out. Backed it up with another surf in the evening, on as good waves. Makes up for not feeling psyched about climbing.

Friday: Another fantastic dawn patrol surf. Less fantastic evening surf in very small waves.

Saturday: Morning surf in small sideshore crap, but wasn't all that bad as I borrowed a minion's longboard, which was the perfect board for the surf. 40 min trail run in the afternoon.

Sunday: Short fun surf in the morning, followed by dismal surf in the evening.

Overall, have been more psyched to surf than climb. Think the body and spirit needs this.

[iain]

Conrats on the FA Habrich  New eyes on an old cliff.


STG: Infinite Gravity

Mon: Rest

Tues: Had intended to climb but didn't feel right.

Wed: Works bouldering then circuits. Managed 2 sets of 2 laps but a combination still feeling sub par and my routine being too time intensive on a wall shared with others meant I cut it short.

Thurs: Rest

Fri: Short bouldering session, first day this week feeling good. Managed to do a couple of new projects and comfortably repeat several problems that had previously been session projects. Good progress.

Sat: Rest

Sun: Had intended to be a day on IG but the weather was rubbish.


An almost successful week in that I had a partner for IG but the weather just wasn't good enough, at least on the day we could make it down.
It was around this time last year that the weather changed from reliably good to mostly poor. Keeping fingers crossed for this weekend again.

[webbo]

Mon. Board struggling ended up doing a mirror session as a result of being too tired to do anything else.
Tue. Feel knackered.
Wed. Still knackered.
Thu. Board worked out a couple of new problems using holds I couldn't use before.
Fri. nothing.
Sat. Board repeat thursdays problems with as much difficulty as when I did them first. Turbo 1 hr
Sun. Board worked out a bit of power endurance circuit 6 repeats 5 mins between each one.

a bit of a shit week felt tired all week, lots of stress at work. I should have rested monday, also found out that I am going to be a grandparent

[Grubes]

Well done habrich
Is burning down the couch what me and simon were on that stupidly hot day?

[Grubes]

Got the guide out. Me and simon both tried burning down the couch neither of us got the tick but did all the moves to the 11c(6c+?) lower off. Far too hot for us that day

I think he onsighted flingus clingus 12b (7b?) a couple of days before