[shark]

As one depressed and unpsyched man(/shrew) to another, I am sure that the reason your more sensible Oak-training plans have failed (ie. the ones focused on hard bouldering) have failed to get you up the Oak, is because you love to seige stuff (weedkiller/eatswood/WSS etc. etc.).

Trying Ben's is primarily good training for trying Ben's, with some limited crossover. For general strength gains that will cross over to the Oak you need to be trying other stuff too. I'm not saying stop trying, but mix it up. Before you get the rage and rush to defend the current strategy- make sure you know what the goal is. The Oak, or Ben's, and keep the goal the goal.

Its not a strategy. Going on Bens is an enjoyable and convenient routine till I get out of this low patch and will help get me stronger. I am reasonably psyched for Ben's. Maybe going to a load of log venues to fail on 3rd rate 7A's will be more efficient and effective but is going to destroy what motivation I have currently.

all that gushing positivity on the August Lardathon thread must be helping your motivation as well

 

You going to start a September Largerthon thread ?

[tomtom]

A Lagerthon sounds good...

[lagerstarfish]

gonna call it "Lager's Extension"

[Schnell]

STG: 7b(+) os in italy. leaving on thursday so pretty excited.
MTG: 7B, long overdue, just haven't tried any more than once but have been close

M.
T. reasonable training session. decided to switch to bigger rungs for campusing as I'm plateauing on small 1-3-5. going for 1-4-6 on medium rungs which I can sometimes get. Ok FB session, still no way of adding weight at the wall which is annoying.
W.
T. Finish thesis! and give it to binders. Training session in a bit of a daze. Actually flashed a load of reasonably hard problems while simultaneously feeling knackered. Had to make myself stop and go home because it felt like injury time.
F. working, tired
S. v.tired. meant to train but just did some hard trad top-roping which was fun
S. More training, feeling tired again but had a reasonable session as a result of drinking a lot of coffee. Decent campusing and did an aerocap (i think) session. i.e. 35 sec foot on campussing, 25 sec rest x as many sets as possible. usually about 10 on the med rungs. I'm not sure I'm training the right thing, but I've got better at it anyway. I'll see the results next week anyway.

[Sasquatch]

STG - 5 local FA's 7C+ and harder (3 done, next two are MTG's? )
MTG - Local 8B boulders (2 days on it, feeling progress), and 8A+(2 day this year, need perfect conditions)
LTG - Mandala in November

weight - 167lbs

M-Rest - still exhausted from Saturday outside session
T- FB MAW - right hand was noticibly tired still from saturday, so not a great session.  Gave me a better feel for how hard I was trying on the project.  Levers -best yet.  Held 1 leg lever for 3x15sec. Abs 3 x 30 sec one arm ring plank each arm.
W- ARC 30min
Th- FB MAW - better than tuesday, but very low motivation day. 
F- Rest
S- Outside up in Hatchers.  warmed up, then worked project. Similar to previous day, but feeling closer and closer.  Managed to eliminate one of the start moves, and linked from just after the crux move to the top several times.  Some friends showed up, so we headed further up the valley to check out some new lines. Cleaned and climbed 5 new lines, v2,v6,v6,v8, and an incredible new highball v8. Best line I've done in a long time with very cool techy climbing to a crux at the lip at about 18 feet. Also cleaned another line that needs to dry more before we can get on it, looks like a fantastic v8-v10 range problem.  Found and partially clenaed a new line that will likely be in the v10-12 range and really good. Camped overnight - fun hanging out with friends. 
S- Back outside again.  Added a new v5, cleaned two new highball lines, did some landing building under another problem, so was not motivated to work on landong for the two new lines.  Another day.  Went to a line I had partially cleaned last year and managed a send of a new v9/10 crimpfest.  then went back and met group at an old v10 I had done 3 years ago.  Managed to repeat it quickly.  Then headed up to another project a friend was working.  I added a new line there in the v8-9 range as well, with one of the craziest moves I've ever done on it. 

All in all a great week.  The weight is still coming down. The FBing plateaued hard, but I think much of that was a result of the hard session the Saturday before.  Abs and Levers felt good and strong.  Good progress on project, and Some awesome new problems done.

[Sasquatch]

A lever with one leg extended, one leg tucked. 

[EdGowSmith]

7A:    34/50
7A+:  21/40
7B:    9/30
7B+:  6/20
7C or harder:    6/10

Stretches: 0/4

Mon: At the Barn. Doing lots of problems. Wrist is painful but can still climb.
Tues: Session at the Bunker, CWP fingerboarding.
Wed: Session at the Bunker, CWP fingerboarding, pull-ups, press-ups, 45.
Thurs: First day in Yorkshire.
Fri: Yorkshire.
Sat: Yorkshire.
Sun: Yorkshire.

Cool trip to Yorkshire, managed to get quite a bit of climbing in, nothing hard due to warmth but lots of stuff I want to return for.
Probably going to Font in October so going to train hard in prep for doing 8A there.

[Sasquatch]

I rest about 2 minutes.  I found I can do longer, around 20 seconds on the first one, but then the second and third are about 12 and 8 seconds.  So by cutting the first one short, the others are better. 

I also found that warming up doesn't really help, but i do them at the end of a workout either way.   

[tomtom]

gonna call it "Lager's Extension"

"Lagers Lock in"?

[french erick]

Nowt climbing my finger is sore.
Plenty exercise but nothing climbing specific.
Baby brains are keeping me from being depressed from lack of climbing.
I cannot wait until I can train and climb again...I do miss it.

[cha1n]

Right then, never posted before but hoping that publicly humiliating myself will force me to try harder, so please give me lots of abuse if I'm being lazy.

STG - Climb limestone until its cold enough for grit, tick as many classics as possible and get fingers stronger at the same time.
MTG - 8A on grit would be nice this winter, only climbed 7Bs up to now but that was on day trips. Now living in the motherland (Sheffield).
LTG - Plod along ticking all the classics but steadily improve too. No injuries, improve diet and do more antagonistic stuff on rest days (where I mainly just feel like watching tv all night)

Mon - 3h session at the works. Did a bunch of the white circuit, then some guy roped me into trying a shit load of slabby/vert techny nonsense. Didn't do too well which reminds me that it's been a long time since climbing in this style and that I should probably mix up steep stuff with this style for when grit season arrives.

Tues - Rest

Weds - Tor for the second time. Sold some trousers to Seb and got some heel-toe beta off of him for Basher's Left. Did it first go with the beta (and handy spot). Had a play on cave problem moves but feeling tired.

Thurs - 1.5 session at the works. Spent most of it falling off of the biggest holds on the woody whilst some youth levitated between the smallest holds. Did some muscle-ups (not many) and wall handstands at the end.

Fri - Rest

Sat - Shopping and other grown-up boring stuff that you have to do on the weekend

Sun - First session at Rubicon. Did all the warm-up stuff in the corner in the low 6's, then went around to try some stuff on Kudos wall. The sun was on it by then (my excuse anyway) but I failed pretty miserably. Tried the press a few times but wasn't really sure how you're 'supposed' to start it, can get going if I start matched on the sidepull but think you have to start differently. Sacked it off to try what I hoped would be an easy 7A (A bigger tail) but failed on that too. Got home, watched some videos of people climbing the problem and realised I had terrible beta.

This makes me think that I should either get better at route reading, but more likely that I should watch videos before I go, maybe even download them to the tablet so I can watch them whilst I'm there.

So not an overly successful start on the Peak District limestone. I'm not particularly good at stuff that relies a lot on pure finger strength and have mainly been climbing on really steep stuff where you can cheat or climbed on slopers. This has highlighted my pathetic, weak fingers so I've now vowed to keep climbing on the shiney rocks until they get stronger. Although limestone is shit, it's much more fun than dangling by my fingers on a fingerboard. Let's hope next week goes better (it already is next week and it's started off better thankfully)!

[Sasquatch]

This makes me think that I should either get better at route reading, but more likely that I should watch videos before I go, maybe even download them to the tablet so I can watch them whilst I'm there.

Whilst I believe in learning alot of the possibilities of movement from watching vids, I think watching vids specifically to learn problems beta should be relegated to non-local stuff where you know you will have a limited window of time, or stuff where you've unsuccessfully worked for several sessions and it's well within your grade range.  Working out beta is both one of the most rewarding and educational aspects of climbing.  There are subtleties of holds you'll never see in a video, and often times small changes make huge differences.  If you want to get into the 7C-8A range you have to learn these, and I think it's better to learn them as you go.  Plus everyone moves a little bit different so you may not always get the "right" beta and you'll never know unless you figure it out for yourself. 

All that said, to each their own.  If you're having fun, who am I to judge

[cha1n]

All that said, to each their own.  If you're having fun, who am I to judge

Yeh, that's a fair comment. I've only got limited time on the evening to try these problems, so I'm happy to watch videos. With all this eliminate limestone crap it's good to see the official starts for stuff and make sure you're using holds that are in and accepted beta, etc.

I've done around 10 7C's on other rocktypes, so I'd like to think I'm pretty consistent and the grade and usually my beta that I've worked out myself matches the beta I've seen on videos. Definitely agree though, everyone has their own beta. I did the weedkiller traverse last night and had to use a toe for the crux middle section where everyone else uses a heel, so it was good to figure out my own beta for this problem (have watched quite a few videos and everyone uses a heel or just campuses it if you're really strong).

[Sasquatch]

  Glad I wasn't describing you then and was just preaching to the clouds.
And I forgot/don't know how particular the starts/sequences are on some of the peak lime problems, no personal experience, just seen/read/heard a bunch.   

I've got a bit of an edge about figuring out beta.  We've got a couple of strong local kids who keep asking how to get better, then after I tell they need to climb more problems and learn how to read the rock, they proceed to get shutdown and give up instantly on problems they should be able to do because they can't figure out the beta(in the v3-v6 range). But then go watch some video we've put out and manage to send v8-v10 range problems.  Then try to claim the "easier" problems are sandbagged, while the "harder" ones are soft.  Strong and dumb.

Cheers and good luck. 

[tomtom]

Don't be too disheartened - getting spanked by peak lime seems pretty typical... I've done a few 7B's & 7B+s on grit (one 7C) and on peak like my tally is two 7A's and one 7B (until a month ago it was but one 7A!)....

[cha1n]

No Problem, I was hoping I'd get some critical feedback over the coming weeks anyway. Would love to know where I'm going wrong but I think I know anyway as I've never done any formal finger strength training and I've been climbing for around 5 years.

Yeh the Peak Lime seem tough Tom. The 7A I was trying at Rubicon seemed really hard, even with the wrong beta I would have expected to get further. Oh well, it's all training!

[Luke Owens]

Heading out to Font for a week on Saturday, haven't bouldered in ages so i'm just going to enjoy it with the family.
 
M: 10 hour weather and traffic nightmare drive back from Portland
 
T: Rest/Unwell
 
W: Rest/Unwell
 
T: Rest
 
F: Bad weather meant a "climb what ever is dry" session on Pen Trwyn. Resulted in 2 brilliant routes. Onsighted the classic "Testament" (6c+) in less than ideal conditions, got flash pump but sucked it up and got it done.
 
Then came close to onsighting "Norman's Wisdom" (6c+), went the wrong way and couldn't reverse. Did it 2nd go.
 
S: Rest
 
S: First visit to The Diamond, holy hell what a crag! Did "It Came From Beneath the Sea" (7a+/b) 2nd go. Hardest route I've done of this length ~30m. Felt good all the way and was able to use the rests really well. I thought I was on Rub a Dub-Dub (7a) but some guys told me otherwise, nice to get another self-sandbag tick!
 
Tryed on-sighting Rub a Dub-Dub but fell on the crux high up, pumped out trying to figure out the moves. Then climbed to the top pretty easily.
 
Sun came onto the wall and conditions turned dire.
 
The Diamond is seriously inspiring, the type of routes there are what I want to get good at. Psyched to get back!

[cheque]

I'm not particularly good at stuff that relies a lot on pure finger strength and have mainly been climbing on really steep stuff where you can cheat or climbed on slopers. This has highlighted my pathetic, weak fingers

Same here. Watch out that you don't do what I did and fuck yourself up on crimpy peak lime bouldering filth that requires finger strength you don't have. As boring as hanging is, it's a much safer way to build strength than using nasty little holds in anger and alternating the two is, I now realise, the way to go for the weak-fingered.

[Doylo]

Heading out to Font for a week on Saturday, haven't bouldered in ages so i'm just going to enjoy it with the family.
 
M: 10 hour weather and traffic nightmare drive back from Portland
 
T: Rest/Unwell
 
W: Rest/Unwell
 
T: Rest
 
F: Bad weather meant a "climb what ever is dry" session on Pen Trwyn. Resulted in 2 brilliant routes. Onsighted the classic "Testament" (6c+) in less than ideal conditions, got flash pump but sucked it up and got it done.
 
Then came close to onsighting "Norman's Wisdom" (6c+), went the wrong way and couldn't reverse. Did it 2nd go.
 
S: Rest
 
S: First visit to The Diamond, holy hell what a crag! Did "It Came From Beneath the Sea" (7a+/b) 2nd go. Hardest route I've done of this length ~30m. Felt good all the way and was able to use the rests really well. I thought I was on Rub a Dub-Dub (7a) but some guys told me otherwise, nice to get another self-sandbag tick!
 
Tryed on-sighting Rub a Dub-Dub but fell on the crux high up, pumped out trying to figure out the moves. Then climbed to the top pretty easily.
 
Sun came onto the wall and conditions turned dire.
 
The Diamond is seriously inspiring, the type of routes there are what I want to get good at. Psyched to get back!

You'll never look at Dinbren in the same way again 😉

[tomtom]

I'm not particularly good at stuff that relies a lot on pure finger strength and have mainly been climbing on really steep stuff where you can cheat or climbed on slopers. This has highlighted my pathetic, weak fingers

Same here. Watch out that you don't do what I did and fuck yourself up on crimpy peak lime bouldering filth that requires finger strength you don't have. As boring as hanging is, it's a much safer way to build strength than using nasty little holds in anger and alternating the two is, I now realise, the way to go for the weak-fingered.

Not sure about the fingerboarding myself - but yes - watch it on the Peak lime... Pubicon gave me tweaky elbows the summer before last - and I've avoided it since... had a decent summer at the Tor though (by my own low Peak lime standards)..