[csl]

December Goals
V8 Indoors
Get out once
Climb something

Mon -
Tue - Hard Boulders - Managed a V7 on Comp Wall + various others. Then whole V2-3 Circuit .
Wed - Rest
Thu - Hard Circuits + AnCap. 6a, 6b, 6c, 7a+ circuits. 3 attempts at 7b+ circuit, fell from last move. AnCap 2 sets of 4. Pullups, Core. Middle two fingers of right hand feeling a bit dodgy. 
Fri - Rest
Sat - Cheddar. Fingers felt a bit creaky. So lots of v. easy routes + 1 go on Its and Kind of Magic. This felt difficult on first go, but linked almost all of it when stripping the gear. Will do this next time i go.
Sun - Core + Antagonist stuff.

Ok week, fingers on right hand feeling a bit tired.

[Muenchener]

STG (December): Another day on rock this year, weather permitting
    Indoor 7a redpoint.
MTG (2015): 7b redpoint
            Beastmaker 5A routine.
            Sautanz
LTG (<= 5 years): Big alpine rock routes: Totenkirchl West Face (Dülfer), Marmolada south face (Vinatzer-Messner)

M:
T: 8 sets of Beastmaker max hangs same as last week. Shoulder mobility stuff & 3 per side kettlebell TGUs to warm up
W:
T: Bike to work 25km
F: Wall, Boulderwelt. A spectacularly weak and crap session. Rounded off with 5 x 3 as-high-as-possible chest to bar pullups: the start of the 2015 Year Of the Muscle-Up campaign.
S: Baked marzipan stollen - German-style Christmas cake - as preparation for a winter Training Heavy strategy.
S: Half hour mobility, half hour kettlebells & core. 3 per side TGUs, 2 x 30 swings @20kg
   Wall, Thalkirchen. 3 x 20 minutes ARC

[andybfreeman]

Season 1 of periodised plan ongoing

M - Rest
Tu - 3rd and final campus session. New PBs on max throws and doubles
W - Rest
Th - Limit bouldering. Good session
F - Rest
Sa - Very easy climbing putting up ropes and draws for my gf
Su - First session of Power Endurance. Set a linked circuit of 3 boulder problems up and down a 45 degree wall and then back up a corner. 27 moves, 90 seconds

Weight - average 69.5 last week. 69.7 this morning. Moving in the right direction but slower than hoped

[krymson]

STG: Healthy Posture and Shoulders while maintaining fitness at 7a+ level
MTG: RP Lizard 7a, Peace Forever 7b, and Hardman 7b in HK over Chinese New Year(late Feb)

M  Yoga
T   Indoor bouldering
W  Weights: Shoulders, deadlifts, chest openers.
Th Indoor top roping 6s
F   Bday bbq
Sa Adventurous multipitch sport climbing - 6a,6c
Su Nice day out with friends, slightly wet!
    Warmup: 6b,6c,
    Worked a 7b
    Made progress on a 7b/+ - should be able to get it in the dry!
    Aeropow session at night to cap off the week

[JackAus]

STG: ?. Maybe more V7s, maybe DWS project. Abit all up in the air, depends on where I am...
MTG: Sushi Train V8. Adding this in now. I've had 2 sessions in 2 years on it and nearly stuck all the moves.
LTG: V11.

Climbed indoors alot this week. Weather was annoying so stopped work for all bar 2 days...

M:
T: Indoors I think. Cant remember. They all blur together.
W:
T: Indoors. Decent session. Finished on the campus board and beastmaker. Massive flapper from BM, doing 2 finger 1 armers and tore a big one...
F: Mega trek through dense Sydney bushland rediscovering an old lost crag. Re-topoing the area, 120 problems up to V9. Hasn't been touched in 8ish years.
S: Indoors with a mate. Fairly long session. Finished with a fitness circuit that just utterly destroys me everytime..
S: Fitness circuit in the AM. Boulder outdoors at the lost crag (Funky Town) in the PM. Sketchy slab stuff up to about V4.

[T_B]

85.3Kg

M -
T - Lunch - School. A few problems, weights (bench pressed 1 x 70Kg, 3 x 60Kg). 60 leg pulls.
W -
T - P.M. Works. Did the new wasp circuit in 1.5 hrs, flashed 27 of 33 problems.
F -
S - Woke up with painful left middle finger / ill
S - 5 mins open handed on fingerboard to test middle finger - no pain

Something is up with my left middle finger. It's stiff, as is my right middle finger, but no pain when actually climbing. It was painful Saturday morning despite not having climbed Friday? Another week of taking it easy and trying to establish what's going on (probably linked to weighted repeaters 3 weeks ago - see Dec 01 post)

[webbo]

Mon. Board just repeating stuff.
Tue. Nothing.
Wed. Board a bit of random session, struggling.
Thu. Turbo 1 hour.
Fri. Nothing.
Sat. Board hardish mirror session 41 problems. Move all the outside plants in pots into van then take them out at new house.Strip board of holds then spend 4 hours taking it down.
Sun. 2 trips to new house with stuff from shed, dismantled board etc and 15 bags of logs.
 

[shark]

11.9-10

M. Eve. Woodie. Bit tired but had fun - time flew
T.  Physio - I think
W. AM Systems board - PE Felt stronger but still not up to doing proper timed sets. PM Tried to do a set of 20/10 AeroCap but blew it by making starting moves too hard
T. Eve. Woodie messed about on Oak moves.
F. Eve. Derby to see a blues band then Works party
S. Lie in then clearing up in garden
S. Eve Woodie Had about an hour or so interrupted by going to see The Hobbit Part 3

Sorted with habrich to go to Squamish for 2/3 weeks in the Summer  and a week of sport climbing later in January with Paul Reeve. So with Font at Easter and Kalymnos thats 2015 sorted already.

Started a love affair with my new woodie.  so have no great inclination to go outside. Set a nails board project based on the Oak moves and just been working on that.
 
Dont seem to have been affected by the cold as much as the rest of my family - so far anyway.

Off on family skiing trip on Saturday. Psyche still reassuringly still back to normal levels.

[nik at work]

Short post from me this week
M - S nothing
Not a full rest week as my job basically revolves around pinch grip dead lifting sheet steel and spent the weekend plastering (shoulders!).

T_B just a thought re: finger soreness. I quite often wake up with sore stiff fingers because I have a tendency to sleep lying on them in a way which bends them back. When I wake they are very stiff and sore but once I get them moving a bit it eases. I used to worry about the onset of arthritis but now I reckon it's much the same as a crick neck sleeping in an awkward position and mostly ignore it. Dunno if your stiff finger on waking is similar??

[tomtom]

Week 4 of back injury.

Been away Mon > Thurs which thankfully meant no driving for 3 days, and plenty of chance to stretch and work on my back exercises. Its been starting to feel a bit better - free-er - I almost forgot it was bad once or twice.. but after the Xmas do on Friday its taken a turn for the worse again.

Yesterday was bad. I am going to turn this post into a rather despondent moan-athon I'm afraid...

I am getting fed up with:
1. Sleeping less than 6-7 hours a night - never interrupted or pain free
2. Doing exercises. OK - they help, but I am getting piss bored of leg raises etc...
3. Standing. I stand all day - I kneel at my desk - I stand at the back of meetings.. the only times I sit are if I have to eat something sitting down. Sitting = Bad, but I would really like to be a normal person and sit down watching the TV rather than lean against a doorway.
4. Not climbing. My life (pre injury) involved (in no particular order). Work, Climbing, Doing stuff with the wife (and occasioanly friends). Now climbing has gone there is a big hole in my day(s). There is only so much TV I can watch standing up... I need a hobby/activity that I can do and like. (I am shit at painting little soldiers btw.. )


Anyway - the positives are that I am losing weight! Despite not exercising - all this motherf*cking standing must be burning off some calories (and I've lost a load of appetite)... OK, its not falling off, but I've dropped a couple of pounds when normally I would put it on.

Comeback postponed until new year..

[Fiend]

I can give you some painting tips if you like Tomtom

Can you do any gym stuff?

[Dolly]

TT are you happy with the physio you've seen and the diagnosis and any progress ?


Also are you taking ant proper prescription strength painkillers ?
When my back has been properly knackered they've really helped me - not just because of the pain reduction but because they've allowed me to get a greater range of movement which has been the start of recovery.
Sorry if I'm telling my granny how to stuck eggs...

[Dolly]

Decided that the week before I wasn't doing enough so tried to do more...


M Foundry lunchtime then Pilates in the evening
T Gym kettlebells and core
W Beastmaker
T Foundry lunchtime. I was rubbish - didn't have any pull and was struggling to finish problems I'd done OK before. Probably just done too much as it was effectively my sixth day on. Work xmas party.
F
S Went to Secret Garden but it was wet so ended up at Mother's Pet. Wrong crag choice really. Should have gone somewhere else with more choice.  Did a few things but nothing that hard. I'm not going there again. I'd forgotten how much I dislike that grit swimming finish to everything.
S Run through Longshaw estate


So a good week in that I did more, not much booze, lost some weight, but need to make sure I leave enough recovery time between proper sessions.

[T_B]

T_B just a thought re: finger soreness. I quite often wake up with sore stiff fingers because I have a tendency to sleep lying on them in a way which bends them back. When I wake they are very stiff and sore but once I get them moving a bit it eases. I used to worry about the onset of arthritis but now I reckon it's much the same as a crick neck sleeping in an awkward position and mostly ignore it. Dunno if your stiff finger on waking is similar??

I think that's what happened on Saturday night, as the middle joint was painful to bend and it seemed very odd that that was after a non-climbing day. I was sleeping in a different bed to normal and had had two large whiskeys! So maybe just slept a bit funny on it. I do think they're a bit stiff at the mo from overdoing it/one hard weighted FB session. Hopefully if I don't do much for a bit they'll ease off...

[kelvin]

STG - Get better on grit. Get leading regularly again
MTG (Next Oct) - Head to Spain for six months.
LTG - Track of the Cat E5, Jetrunner E4, Font 7A.

Mon - Boulder warm up, got on 45deg panel. Then TR a few routes. Then lead some stuff all at my limit, then TR a soft 6c and tried another one for the first time. 4hrs.
Tue - Rest.
Wed - Solid hour of trying to do pullups. Cant even do one with my hands next to each other on proper jugs (or bar) but can manage two in BM slots and deepest mono pockets. Mate's were laughing, it's just a bit odd. Boulder on 45/30deg. Yoga class 1hr. Then fall practice for over an hour. Took some big falls after leading to the top, lowering over halfway and then climbing as high as I dared before jumping off, on the vertical walls. Actually fun.
Thu - One hour yoga class.
Fri - Drive to the Peak.
Sat - Bamford, climbing at 9am. Gargoyle Flake 2nd, icy top-out. Lead some HVS but icy sloper stopped play, so downclimbed (including the 5b crux) stripping gear. Mates were on Trout and Jet Runner, so worked Jet Runner a few times - managed the 6a move a couple times, had to find a different sequence at the bottom as I can't reach the break as like the lanky mate I climb with. As the sun was setting, went to try and 2nd it clean but hands were just too cold by then and didn't make the mono sidepull stick. Not much climbing done but massive effort put in.
Sun - Plantation to meet friends but everything wet. They had a play on Green Traverse but we looked at routes for xmas hols. Calvary for Jonny, some E1 slabs, VS cracks for me. Climbing Station, Loughborough after but full of manflu and thus weak. Did easy boulders, flashed all the V2/3s I tried. Then got on the 45deg circuit board. Managed 20 moves on the 6b+, 13 moves when reversing it which I was happy with. No pump, just powered out. Had a few goes.

Tried really hard this week more than a few times. Pullup session broke me to be honest, so frustrating.

Gonna drop the Wednesday yoga session after this week. Thursday feels like it stretches me better and I really don't want to take the time out for two classes, climbing needs to be the priority. Starting to see benefits to it however.

Failed to fit in Aerocap session on Sunday, just felt so rough from the cold, wheezing like a gud 'un.

Decided that Jet Runner and Track of the Cat will be LTG - never really had a desire to lead anything that hard but Track has such an awesome sequence of moves on the slab and JR doesn't feel that far away anyway, certainly not when I'm having one of my infrequent good days. Nailed my own beta for it now, just need to get leading on grit lots before then. Gotta aim high!

[tomtom]

TT are you happy with the physio you've seen and the diagnosis and any progress ?


Also are you taking ant proper prescription strength painkillers ?
When my back has been properly knackered they've really helped me - not just because of the pain reduction but because they've allowed me to get a greater range of movement which has been the start of recovery.
Sorry if I'm telling my granny how to stuck eggs...

Hi Dolly - happy ish.. I think for now she's done all she can and if the exercises/rest etc don't see continued improvement then I need to go elsewhere and/or see my doc.

Re pain, I find that a low (200mg) ibuprofen dose really helps - but I'm trying not to take too many (none in the day and maybe two at night (4 hrs apart). If I have to drive any distance I also take one.

It's hard with Xmas etc coming up to plan any more treatment so steady as she goes for now. Scan would be nice to see what's actually going on.

Bizarrely sleeping in front wig back arched (chest on pillow) or lying like that makes things much better - adding to the view that it's all from my lower back...

[Fiend]

Kelvin, headpointing safe trade route E3s like Jetrunner is aiming pretty low 

If you're inspired by mid-grade slabs why not work out a series of progression onsights to lead up to them (which will get you lots of great routes in the process).....as well as a load of relevant bouldering / highballing to work up to them. Aim to up your ability to meet the routes' challenges!

(and in case I get any kneejerk reactions about "criticising without helping", here's stuff I wrote to try to help: 1, 2)

[andy_e]

sleeping in front wig

Something rather amusing about this typo. Is it a chest or pubic wig?

[Schnell]

STG: fix finger, 7A+ nemesis no.1
MTG. looks like this might be finger related too due to slow progress with stg, keep going with shoulder stability stuff

Reasonable week considering the injury. I need to be more disciplined about not tweaking the injury at all though because I keep setting back the recovery time.

M. indoor session, mostly easy circuits then a bit on big rungs on campus board
T. stretching, shoulder stability
W. indoor session, similar to monday
T-F. bits of stretching and shoulders
S. nice day outdoors trying STG project which continues to elude me. I'm struggling to open hand holds I could cruise up when crimping which is why I haven't ticked this yet. Doesn't bother me too much though cos it's a nice problem and I'm having to be sneaky with body positions etc which is an enjoyable challenge. I tickled the last hold once but fell off in surprise. Next week. Unfortunately I did tweak the finger warming up though which was a massively annoying.

[tomtom]

Merkin.

[kelvin]

Kelvin, headpointing safe trade route E3s like Jetrunner is aiming pretty low 

If you're inspired by mid-grade slabs why not work out a series of progression onsights to lead up to them (which will get you lots of great routes in the process).....as well as a load of relevant bouldering / highballing to work up to them. Aim to up your ability to meet the routes' challenges!

(and in case I get any kneejerk reactions about "criticising without helping", here's stuff I wrote to try to help: 1, 2)

No knee jerk reactions here - the reason I post is to keep me motivated and glean advice from others.

Jetrunner may not be aiming high for you, it is for a punter who doesn't even consider himself solid at VS. Every HVS and E1 I've climbed has been a slab however. On Sunday, we pottered along Stanage looking at 'relevant' routes to tick over xmas - so I was following your advice before you gave it  The lads I've mostly climbed with this year all climb way harder than me, seems sensible to me to get on their rope after them and and try harder stuff safely. My body is too broken for highball bouldering I'm afraid.

I'll have a read up later, thanks for the links.

[Dolly]

Re pain, I find that a low (200mg) ibuprofen dose really helps - but I'm trying not to take too many (none in the day and maybe two at night (4 hrs apart). If I have to drive any distance I also take one.

I was thinking more of prescription strength codeine TBH.  Really worked for me as I could do that little bit more for a few days to get help me to get a relatively large increase in range of movement.
Of course I'm no healthcare professional etc etc

[fried]

Last big week of work until next year.

Mon - work
Tues - Forced myself across rush hour Paris, and had a suprisingly enjoyable session.
Wed-Fri - Work
Sat - Nothing
Sun - Indoor, slowly ticking through the 6Aish stuff, feeling a bit stronger, hate work eating into my climbing time.

Weather looks depressing for next week, so it looks like indoors until next year

[tomtom]

Re pain, I find that a low (200mg) ibuprofen dose really helps - but I'm trying not to take too many (none in the day and maybe two at night (4 hrs apart). If I have to drive any distance I also take one.

I was thinking more of prescription strength codeine TBH.  Really worked for me as I could do that little bit more for a few days to get help me to get a relatively large increase in range of movement.
Of course I'm no healthcare professional etc etc

I try and avoid codeine - mainly because it stops me shitting for days on end!

[rginns]

Overall a great week for getting projects done - I managed to knock another one off the list - Snakey B Original 7A, so they're falling at a rate of one every 3 wks. Nice.
On the training front however it's been disappointing. not nearly enough done due to various life things getting in the way, and also lack of motivation.

63 Kg
STG = Consolidate 7A, get a few established Lancs classic 7A/+s ticked by the end of winter.
MTG = 7B - By this time next year it will be good to have done at least one quarry based 7B.
LTG = 7C ha ha ha ha ha although I've given myself until I'm 40 (7 yrs)

M -Pull up session - 105 pull ups in 13 minutes - pb, but a long way off the target of 250 in 20
T - Lunchtime session - crushed Snakey B Original 7A after about 4 goes. It felt ok!! Another project off the list. YYFY! Evening - ab-ripper x session
W - nowt
T - tried to climb at Wilton 1, got rained off but scoped out a couple of good looking projects...
F - Tried to climb at Brownstones, everything wet. Virtually inaccessible due to flooding. Wet foot
S - Nothing - parents visiting
S - Good hour session on both 35 and 10 degree board, quite pleased but need more focus.

No cardio this week, no fingerboard session and only one pull up / ab ripper and board session. Disappointing really, I've lacked motivation this week. As I'm in Belgium 3 days this week, looks like I won't be back on track until next week.