[JackAus]

STG: Another V7. Drop down to sub 80kg.
MTG: V8. Sub 75kg.
LTG: V11

M: Fear Factory. Lots of slabs, aretes and generally pretty high with bad landings here. Not a grade give away place either. Awesome crag though. 3xV0, V2, V4 (new for me), V5 and worked a usual V4 arete (hard!) and V5 slab (high rock on to smeary right toe, no hands).Amazing problem.
T: St Leonards. Usual stuff up to V5/6.
W: St Leonards. No climb, gym only. 1km sprint on row; 5x10 each of front press, leg press, pull down, shoulder press, leg raises; 500m row sprint; 5x10 each of ab roll on knees and elbow tendon stuff; 500m row sprint; core 3x30 vertical scissor kicks, horizontal scissors, bicycles. Finish with a few back pull ups.
T: Donate blood. No exercise.
F: Rest day.
S: St Leonards. Made up bunch of problems to V6ish. Campussing to finish.
S: Sissy Crag. Wanted to get back to the Factory to clean up some high, rarely attempted problems but weather turned to poo on the drive there. Went to Sissy instead. V0, V1, 2xV2, 3xV3, V4. Then worked V5, V6 and 2xV7s. All tough problems. Sissy is known for tough grades. Don't expect anything to be easy...

Thought I went to the gym more than once.... Guess not. Weight is still coming down, which is good. Glad I had a couple rest days, felt much better afterwards.

[mindfull]

65.9-68.1kg. Bulking cause lost 6kg. Want to get back to 72-75 depending on my goals.
After 2 weeks of misery (cold and injuries), back to training! Super motivated.

Will reset my goals next week seeing how the 2 weeks of losing gains will affect anything.

WED:
- Stretching
- Full body (BenchPress/Pushups/Pullups/BOR/UR/Shrugs/Squats/ReverseCurls/Snatch/CleanAndJerk)
- Tai chi

THU:
- Tempo run 5K 20m34s.
- Stretching

SAT:
- Stretching
- Full body (BenchPress/Pushups/Pullups/BOR/UR/Shrugs/Squats/ReverseCurls/CleanAndJerk)
- Clean and Jerk PR 68kg @ 67.6kg BW

Shoulder pain is there but not too limiting. No climbing yet.

[fried]

A mostly crappy week.

I had a freak D.I.Y accident the previous Sunday, where I  tried to cut some plastic sheeting with a stanley knife blade. I wondered why nothing was happening until I looked down and realised that the blade was upside-down and embedded in my index finger. What a fuckwit.

So no BM sessions, felt tired, a bit sniffy (probably pollen) and generally a bit off.

Mon- Tues - Wed - Nothing
Thur - Indoors, tired, utter crap, barely scaped an hour, did some shoulder stuff. Knee's hurting again and I can't really risk falling on it, so completely unmotivated.

Fri - Rest
Sat - In need of some easy circuiting. Spent an hour trying to find the start of the Justice de Chambergeot yellow/ orange circuit. I'll try with the GPS coordinates next time, it looked so straight forward on paper.

Did the orange circuit at Rocher de Potets; an early season ritual, which confirm that I'm much stronger than at this point last year, but technically just as crap. Good to just top stuff out, ache more than a hard indoor session.

Sun - Tried a BM session, but after a couple of sets it was obvious that my arms were too sore.

My knee's worring me, might even have to visit a quack.

Sorry for the old man moaning.

[kelvin]

STG - sort breathing

Mon - Routes. Breathed okay, only held breath twice. There about 3hrs.
Tue - Charity on Idwel Slabs - Hen's first day on rock. Did a few pitches to show her how to build a belay etc and then she led out. Dry, not much wind and the sun even shone. Great day. First time I've used a rope on the slabs and it was slow going...
Wed - Rain. Walked all round Dinorwig, got drenched.
Thu - Rain. Tried on waterproofs.
Fri - Boulder indoors. Flashed V3, worked some V4s. Learnt loads.
Sat - Rest day. MRI scan on left knee.
Sun - Easy routes with new climbing mates. Nailed breathing, two feet on and broke in new Scarpas.

Was nice to be back in Wales, even if the weather was crap.

Good boulder session on Friday, felt like I hadn't tried hard for a while. Usual wrist issues with morpho stuff but learning slowly that for me, the best option is probably to miss a hold out - other people's beta is nigh on useless. Crimpy stuff felt easier than normal, I think down to using my feet more efficiently. Funnily, felt stronger than I have in ages despite the last couple of weeks just being easy volume.

Breathing on routes is happening now, have to be a little vocal tho but it's tough bouldering. For some reason I hold my breath on pretty much every downclimb. Not such a big issue as on routes but something to still be sorted.
Keeping two feet on means I'm having to make loads of extra foot movements and twist way more but I'm not getting pumped too often, which was happening even on easy grades. Still need to focus on where I initiate movement from - too many times today it was from my arms.

Been a really stressful week outside of climbing but no excuses next week, need more volume.

[Muenchener]

STG: go climbing
MTG (2015): 7b redpoint
            Beastmaker 5A routine
            Muscle-Up
            Sautanz
LTG (<= 5 years): Big alpine rock routes: Totenkirchl West Face (Dülfer), Marmolada south face (Vinatzer-Messner)

M: Attempted a kettlebell session, but sore ribs quickly made it clear that heavy TGUs or swings are still off the agenda. Managed some hammer curls, shoulder presses & mobility stuff.
T: Beastmaker 5A routine. Aborted after Set 15, but on reps/times achieved I did about the same at bodyweight as I did at minus six kilos in November. So it looks as if the winter training campaign achieved something yyfy.
W:
T:   Beastmaker. Two rounds of a cut down version of the Beastmaker 5A routine: 5 on, 5 off, 5 reps. Plus a few rounds of full crimps on a small campus rung, because I almost never use full crimps and need to train them up in case I ever need to.
F: Bike to work 25km
S: Wall, Thalkirchen. Didn't go to the circuit project at the other wall, because it was sunny and Thalkirchen has a nice outdoor area. Bad call. It was bloody freezing and I climbed like shit. In general, I have the feeling the wheels are coming off the wagon a bit at the moment, after a good autumn and a decent start to the winter training campaign in January. Need to do something to get back on track, not sure what yet.
  Bike to & from wall 20km
S: am: walk in the park with M jnr & friend; hill sprints
   pm: Wall, Thalkirchen. 2 x 20 minutes ARC.

[blamo]

STG: Figure out LTG (ugh... going on three weeks now), incorporate more campus board work and less finger strength work
MTG: Really short 8b/b+ sport route

M: Stretch, Run 6 miles
T: AM campus, PM max. hangs, stretch, weights
W: AM max. hangs, PM repeater hangs, stretch, weights
R: AM woody session, PM woody session, stretch
F: Stretch, Run 6 miles felt totally worked
S: Stretching, crap sport climbing, got suckered into a pissing contest and took the bait.   
Su: Stretching, great bouldering session killed the ego and worked hard!  I finally feel like I am starting to understand what bouldering is about.   

Road still muddy to MTG, won't get to it until after a 10 day bouldering trip.  Need to stop wasting time and feeding my ego by doing crap flashes/on-sights when there is hard for me stuff around I can't do.

[tomtom]

Fried. Wince. Ouch!

Short return this week - only got out on thurs (Brownstones) repeated 7A, split two tips on the two problems I wanted to try and did a Slopey fun 7A+ eliminate when I thought all was lost from my session. Away now on fieldwork until Sat so nothing more...

[sdm]

Monday: Bouldering. New white V4-V6 circuit. Did all bar 3 of them, flashing most of them. Font elbow appears to have surfaced, having been surprisingly absent when I was in Font. Stretching.

Tuesday: Supposed to be leading but no partner so did a new (to me) easy circuit, then repeated a few V4-V6 problems, followed by some slabby problems, focusing on balance rather than just cranking through them.

Wednesday: Leading: 5b, 6a, 6c all flashed (only just on the 6C. I was more pumped than I can remember being for a long time and was convinced I was coming off on each of the last 3 moves). Then did the green 7b first go which felt surprisingly easy. First attempt at the white 7b+. Fell off once 2/3 of the way up, then took a lot of attempts to workout a sequence for the last few moves. Found a sequence that works when fresh but not sure I could do it at the end of the route. Bouldering: Finished off the V4-V6 circuit, then worked on 3 of the remaining comp problems (about V7-V9?). Made a bit of progress on two of the problems but still feel a long way from doing any of them.

Thursday: 7.5km run at a fairly easy pace, stretching.

Friday: Bouldering. Made a bit more progress on two of the comp problems and had a play on the 'fun' red nose day problems. Feeling a bit tired and achey so did some core work, then called it a day. Probably should have taken a rest day.

Saturday: Anston. Perfect conditions for most of the day. Ticked:
- Out of the Darkness (6C) Second go.
- Beta Blocker (7A) took quite a while to work out a sequence with the bunched feet but I was pleased to get it in the end.
- The Undercut (6B).
- Some easier problems on the Ebola buttress.

Also attempted:
- Fine Art (7A) just got shutdown on one move in the middle, the rest was easy. Think my sequence was wrong.
- Beretta (7A+) I was greasing off the last two crimps before you start going up. Would need more work but felt doable.
- Bullet (7C) rather optimistic - nowhere near the big move to the big pocket but you don't know if you don't try.
- Some things on the Wave Wall. I think I might have been one move from the top of Crimps Wall and The Tufa but I wasn't sure which problems I was on.

All in all, a good day. Especially after how tired I felt on Friday.

Sunday:Rest

2015 Goals:
Bouldering Pyramid:
7B: 0/1
7A+: 0/3
7A: 3/9 (Beta Blocker)
6C/6C+: 3/27 (Out of the Darkness) - 0/13 slabs/aretes

Sport: Do more sport, get in to redpointing properly

On the subject of Font elbow, does anyone have any tips for avoiding it/treating it (other than the obvious - rest more)? I'm not that bothered as it comes on after every Font trip and has always gone away fairly quickly but it would be nice to be able to avoid it if possible.

[Muenchener]

Sun: snowboard day with my sons. First new snow at Whistler for about a month. Character-building final run with son #2 (just turned 7) from near the summit to the valley with the upper third steep, icy and almost wholly in thick cloud and driving spindrift. Quite proud of him.

Yeah, well done him. White-outs completely mess with my head; ended up walking down from the top of Hintertux to the middle station once.

[the_dom]

Not the best week of training, but I knew that it would be a difficult one as a result of life things. On the upside, I've added a new YYFY-related STG.

STG: Tick some 7Bs in Font in April.

In terms of training..

Mon: 40 minute trail run
 
Tues: Weights - deadlifts and kettlebell swings

Wed: Solid hangboard session - one arms, max hangs and repeaters +3 kgs

Thurs: Bouldering - fell off the end of my long 7C project a few times and re-ticked a 7B that I haven't done in years. Crap conditions.

Fri: AM hangboard session - one arms

Sat: Alcohol (my brother's wedding, on a wine farm, to the daughter of a winemaker - minor YYFY)

Sun: Not the best bouldering session ever, for some reason. Retro-ticked a 7A+ dyno but otherwise felt very flat, in very warm and smeggy conditions. Went home and did a short hangboard session.

It's time to get focused and disciplined - a month to Font. 

[T_B]

85.5Kg

M - School lunch. Warm up then 10 x AnCap circuits (40 secs with 1min45 rest. Failed on last 2 at move 13 of 15). Felt good.
T - F/board p.m. 2 x 6 x 7 front 3, back 3 and 15mm edge. With 3.7Kg added. Fingers felt strong, probably a PB.
W - Foundry lunch 4 x 10 mins on with 3 mins rest on Furnace wall. Felt tired.
T - School p.m. bouldering. Warmed up and felt good, then went downhill very quickly. Packed it in after an hour - totally knackered/unable to pull/felt like I was going to break.
F - Day off work - full day of child care as missus in London all day.
S -
S - Foundry Wave. 2 hours fairly continuous bouldering (flashed most L2s and did a few black/yellows). Knackered.

Oh dear, 4 days on having had only one rest day since the CWIF and I feel old Felt strong on Mon/Tue, but by mid-week was feeling totally knackered and craving fat/sugar. Second half of the week went to rat sh*t. Bouldered on the Wave Sunday more as a social thing than anything as severely lacking in motivation, but maybe should have tried to get outside despite dodgy forecast. Feel like I'm over-doing it and am going to break myself. A few weeks of fairly relentless Strength/AnCap/Power, combined with strict diet is taking its toll?

Dunno what I'm going to do this week? Any ideas? Just some lighter sessions perhaps. And need to get on real rock next weekend.

[T_B]

On the subject of Font elbow, does anyone have any tips for avoiding it/treating it (other than the obvious - rest more)? I'm not that bothered as it comes on after every Font trip and has always gone away fairly quickly but it would be nice to be able to avoid it if possible.

http://climbingphysio.blogspot.co.uk/

Plus, if they get really bad

https://tomrandallclimbing.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/golfers-elbow-a-possible-solution/

[moose]

Fried. Wince. Ouch!

Short return this week - only got out on thurs (Brownstones) repeated 7A, split two tips on the two problems I wanted to try and did a Slopey fun 7A+ eliminate when I thought all was lost from my session. Away now on fieldwork until Sat so nothing more...

What were the problems? I had a few trips to Brownstones last year and enjoyed it - I need some encouragement to return (beyond the prospect of falling off Hank's Wall repeatedly).  Any recommendations?

[Muenchener]

On the subject of Font elbow, does anyone have any tips for avoiding it/treating it (other than the obvious - rest more)? I'm not that bothered as it comes on after every Font trip and has always gone away fairly quickly but it would be nice to be able to avoid it if possible.

Hammer curls. Probybly not for rehab, but as a preventive before the next trip.

[shark]

11.6-7
Actual 11.6-7 (Target: 11.5-7)
Target this week 11.5-6 at weekend

M.
T. Malham 11.8 Nice day. Went up with Dave Hesleden and Ben. Met Katherine, Sam, Mina, Nathan and Andy Cave there. Started climbing with Ben then swapped to climb with Mina. Led and Tr'd FEE. First go dogged up and linked big undercut to top. 2nd go Did throw to going for big undercut. 3rd go jumared to horn and led horn to top which felt hard. 4th go Worked on start a bit and refined a bit of micro-beta from having watched Mina and then did ground to setting up for throw but little finger had flicked out of undercut. 5th go Tried to repeat horn to top but failed. Encouraging session - and amazingly my knee didnt cause any problems
W.
T. My lift to Malham bailed so did a FB session. PB on weighted hangs for crimps (+15kg) and drags (+27.5kg) on chamfered 16mm edge
F. Systems board.  Noon. Warm up got sidetracked pulling hard individual moves on crimps and gastons so postponed PE work. Late afternoon. vening. 11.6 tweaked last move so it went off small pinch instead of fat one. Did 4reps x 2 sets. Go 1&2 New hard way Go 3&4 old way Set2: Go 1&2 New hard way Go 3 and 4 failed on last moves on old way. Big improvement :-). Eve drove to Grange over Sands
S. Hutton Roof with the boys. Nice place but not overly inspired by bouldering. Failed on American Dream (no holds!) and puntered about. Nearly got butnt off by Tom on a 6B+. Eve Drank and ate too much
S. Walk

In-Laws have bought a place in Grange over Sands so expect we'll be going over there a bit. Has anyone explored or climbed on the limestone craglets in the woods above the town?

Off to Malham today (monday)

[the_dom]

..amazingly my knee didnt cause any problems..

 

[nai]

goal: 8a or bust

m - rest
T - Campus session 2, a struggle to warm up at home, should probably have sacked it at that point but went to the Works, paid in, and sucked goats. Had been pretty optimistic & psyched after previous session but wasn't feeling anything like as good.
w rest
T - Shipley, wouldn't have bothered given the forecast but had to collect something from nearby. 95% wet when I got there but the sun was poking through and the wind was just about doing it's job. Luckily Parker was dry enough so got on with that, effectively warming up on it. Boils down to one move which went from feeling nails to ok, as usual.  Managed to do it despite dropping the easy top three times on wet holds, a really great move.  Wanted to try the sit but yhat was too wet so moved on to a now dry Red Baron, have wanted to do this for ages so was almost disappointed to get it really quickly, nice problem though - a blind high heel, classic bit of handbags with a barndoor, a nervy stretch to end the hard bit and a fluttery topout. The final thing I wanted to do was Manson's Wall which is really steady all the way to the top. Unfortunately I'd been round the top a few times to towel it off and knew there was nothing positive up there and that 6" back from the lip was still damp and lichenous, so despite being stood comfortably 18" below the top with enough in hand to reach I couldn't make myself let go and do it despite several one-more-tries.  Pretty good day in the end, could have been so much better with decent connies though.

F - really sore, legs felt like I'd run a distance. 4x10 mins Aerocap.
s - rest, still sore
s rest

Not the best of weeks, only two hard sessions.  Hopefully I'll be rested and ready to go again this week (not feeling it at the moment though). 

[galpinos]

M: Skiin as per last week's post
T - S: Nothing

Goals for this week:

FB, wall and run.

[JohnM]

STG: Rest, prehab and start redpointing Bat Route.
MTG: Indian Summer, Kilnsey or Bat Route, Malham, onsight 8a in Kalymnos.
LTG: Big wall/hard multipitch, 8A/+ boulder problem (bloc style < 10 moves), UK 8b+/c, live in Spain.

Monday: Nothing.
Tuesday: Theraband and stretching.
Wednesday: Theraband and stretching.
Thursday: Nothing.
Friday: Nothing.
Saturday: Malham - Most things are pretty soaked including all of Bat Route after the crux.  Warm up twice on Consenting and then go up and do the crux on Bat Route a couple of times.  Next go I wanted to do the link from the ground to the rest but when I get there my fingers are freezing and I can't do the crux.  Do the crux again and sack it off for the day.  I go upstairs and try Toadal Recall.  I should have saved this for a proper flash go.  My 2nd go I have to put the draws back in.  Next go my leg gets caught in the rope mid crux.  I then have 2 more goes falling off the crux in the space of half an hour and fail to redpoint it. 
Sunday:  LPT - Put the rope up Skin Game for Anna.  Then put the draws in Statement of Youth.  It feels pretty damp in a lot of places and I don't fancy my chances but there is not much else to do so give it a go.  Somehow I manage to fight my way to the top moves without firing off the damp holds but get pretty pumped.  However, fitness from Spain came in to play and I managed to recover on the twin pockets before the traverse out right and up and I manage to finish the route.  Really pleased to finally get this old classic done!  I then put the rope up Contusion for Anna which feels desperate and I claim it has definitely lost holds!  I also tell Anna that she probably won't be able to do any of the moves which backfires when she cruises most of the sections I was really struggling on.

Not a bad week and good to have some rest after my Spain trip.  Projecting in this country is frustrating though.  I feel good at the moment and think if Bat Route was dry and I got through the bottom I would have a good chance of finishing the route.  Having a project in Spain was easy.  I could time a peak to coincide with the trip and then conditions on the route were pretty much perfect everyday with the only limiting factor being me.  But now it is back to the UK dealing with the cold and soaking conditions.  I have been reading the Rock Climbers manual and they claim that a peak can only last 6 weeks.  I guess I am in the tail end of that period and can probably fit two more session in on Bat Route before Kalymnos.  After that the peak will have passed me by and I will just have to hope Bat Route dries out and I can siege it into submission!   

[petejh]

Diabolical week.

STG: Melanchollie (in May) or The Brute (in August)
MTG: Onsight attempts on The Hurting, Cathedral, Banana Wall, Anubis (next winter)
LTG: 8c (within three years)
Ultimate goal: undecided


Supposed to be Base phase into Strength phase

M. core sesh/mobility
T. Beacon for ARC sesh, but arrived too late and the place was too busy. Bailed immediately and went home.
W. 1st Fingerboard sesh of strength phase. BM, a modified version of RCTM 'intermediate'.
T. ARC sesh @ beacon. Supposed to be 3 x 30mins up/down on autobelay. Did one set, then after a rest, just as I was getting ready to start 2nd set lower back muscles went into full-on spasm. Shit. Heavy dose of ibuprofen/caffeine/paracetamol, heat/ice/rest.
F. Drugs, heat/ice/light mobility.
S. Drugs, heat/ice/mobility. Managed 2nd fingerboard sesh with a strict straight back and lots of trepidation, actually managed to isolate the fingers and work them fully as per the program without aggravating back muscles. Result.
S. Heat/ice/walk/mobility.

Utterly fucked-off about back going into spasm, first problem since surgery 18 months ago and there was zero warning of any problem beforehand - no aches or mobility issues and have just seen out a good winter full of hard graft, wasn't doing anything hard at the time it went into spasm just standing around.
Had massage today which ironed out some painful trigger points in the mulifidus, booked to see chiro later to see if facet joints might be an issue, hope not and really hope it's not a big step backwards.

[iain]

STG: Chulilla at Easter, 2 weeks of training and a week taper left.
MTG: Hasse Brandler in late summer/autumn and resume my Shark-lite Infinite Gravity project addiction.

M: Rest
T: The Tor for a lovely afternoon/evening session, couple of others there. Conditions were mostly ok so reacquainted myself with Powerband. Best go was start to cross, fall off, get straight back on and fall off pocket move. That was my best effort from 10 months ago which was heartening. Only managed the pocket move once but I'm fine with that as I haven't been bouldering much recently. Finished with some ancap laps on THFML as the sun went down and the owls t'wooed at each other.
W: Family arrive for visit
T: Sneak out for a shortish session at the Foundry. Tried getting on some harder things aiming for some redpoint practice and sustained PE but despite the routes I was trying being only a grade harder than I'd previously flashed or done second go I kept finding bouldery crux moves I could barely do in isolation. Finished the session hardly having topped out and not quite sure of what kind of workout I'd had. Disappointing.
F: Family
S: Family and nephew herding for the afternoon. Unfortunately this nephew doesn't like being picked up so no opportunity for nephew assisted weights/workout.
S: AW for a similar disappointing session to Thursday.

Not much volume this week due to family visit. Since I was getting a little bored of endless laps on the same routes I thought I'd try something different with the time I did have but this just didn't work and so this week felt a bit wasted.
Aim for this week is much more volume but using bouldering and the circuit boards to do something more structured and controllable.

@Fried It's healing ok?

Utterly fucked-off about back going into spasm,

That's rubbish Pete, finger's crossed it just needs some tlc ...

[r-man]

Fried. Wince. Ouch!

Short return this week - only got out on thurs (Brownstones) repeated 7A, split two tips on the two problems I wanted to try and did a Slopey fun 7A+ eliminate when I thought all was lost from my session. Away now on fieldwork until Sat so nothing more...

What were the problems? I had a few trips to Brownstones last year and enjoyed it - I need some encouragement to return (beyond the prospect of falling off Hank's Wall repeatedly).  Any recommendations?

Brownstones is great, a really friendly crag. I'll leave it to tomtom to recommend his favourite problems, however if you like the style at Brownstones and are climbing in the 7's, there are more (and I think better) problems at those grades in other quarries. A tour of Wiltons 2,3 and 4 would make for a good day. Ousel's Nest is a good shady spot in the summer. Stronstrey, Stanworth and Healey Nab are all worth a visit too.

[petejh]

Utterly fucked-off about back going into spasm,

That's rubbish Pete, finger's crossed it just needs some tlc ...

Chiro said that it's a minor strain of the facet joint capsule, which set off the protective muscle spasm. He thinks it's not a big deal at all compared to the injury I had previously - and no reason to alter my training plan. Am actually going to increase the training load by upping the intensity of posterior chain strength exercises - deadlift, squat and back extensions with very light weight, for the first time in a long time.

[a dense loner]

Let me see if I read that correctly Pete. You've had a back spasm recently that was bad enough to go and see a chiro and you're going to start doing a load of dead lifts, squats, and back extensions?
 

[fried]

@Fried It's healing ok?

It's fine, It didn't even hurt until 2 days after. By complete coincidence I met a client last week who did almost the same thing, he needed 2 stitches and spent most of the Saturday in A and E. I must've got lucky I guess.