[SA Chris]

Short term plan is to keep plugging away at the gym lifting / tabata-ing. Need to shift the Beastmaker from our manky damp cellar to somewhere more useful where I'll actually do stuff on it but need to find an other half-friendly location / solid enough wall!

I've accepted proper wall / rock time is minimal, but had some OK rock time in Summer (having projects 10-15 minute walk away does help). I've been addressing known weaknesses at home now not much daylight; core, weight training, CV and the occasional session on the pullup bar / BM combination for fingers / campus moves. 

[nai]

Not getting to climb very much for a number of reasons so just trying to keep ticking over with gym sessions. Quite depressing when I do climb though as I feel like every time I do it highlights how quickly I am going backwards!

Re lunch gym sessions:
Guy I worked with made himself some portable holds and attached them to the Lat pull down machine instead of the bar.  Pretty effective if your gym has such a machine.

And you don't even need to make your own now:

http://crusherholds.co.uk/portable-fingerboards-hangboards/crusher-orb-fingerboard

[dave]

TTT I reckon the key is to try if at all possible to do some kind of climbing regularly, regardless of the frequency, regular as clockwork, then you'll always have a base to build on, and it's probably easier to keep the psyche if you always know when your next session is, even if it's in 3 weeks time or whatever.

Ideally if you can wangle say a particular night a week where you get a 2 hour window to go to the wall, or twice a week, or once a fortnight or whatever it has to be, then you've got a starting point. Also if you can get the BM up inside the house proper then that's something. If used properly you can even use a BM at home beforehand to hasten the warmup when you go to the wall to get most out of your window or whatever.

[Muenchener]

Figuring out how to make effective use of little bits of time is important.

I had a spell when I was collecting my lad from swimming club twice a week at 7 pm. (Bit older than yours I assume). If I left the office at 5, travel time was just under an hour, leaving max session time of an hour plus quickly getting changed. An hour for me isn’t  enough to warm up for an effective bouldering session, but I’m mainly training for routes anyway, and 3 x 15 minutes ARC with five minute rests fitted nicely.

[SA Chris]

Assume you have a season pass, £6 for an hour at our local wall would get a bit expensive!

[T_B]

Most of my sessions are 1-hour. Personally, I think most people waste loads of time 'warming up' and could have a more time-efficient warm up. If you're holding onto jugs you're wasting valuable time IMO. The benefits to short sessions are you always finish strong and need very little time to recover. I've had really good campus sessions 3rd day on. And yes, you need to buy a season pass to a wall so you don't think twice about a short session.

TTT - you need to get your FB up at home somewhere where you'll use it. Either that or get a road bike

[rodma]

Most of my sessions are 1-hour. Personally, I think most people waste loads of time 'warming up' and could have a more time-efficient warm up. If you're holding onto jugs you're wasting valuable time IMO. The benefits to short sessions are you always finish strong and need very little time to recover. I've had really good campus sessions 3rd day on. And yes, you need to buy a season pass to a wall so you don't think twice about a short session.

christ, what age are you? it takes me well over an hour before i stop creaking and start pulling, was a different story 10 years ago.

maybe I'm just old before my time

[SA Chris]

I'm the same. Unless I have a reasonable warmup I don't climb well, ache the next day and always seem to carry niggles and tweaks afterwards.

[T_B]

I'm 40 in January.

I reckon I'm less creaky now than I was 10 years ago, I put that mainly down to FBing fairly regularly, but also not thrashing/doing long sessions i.e. I very rarely try hard when I'm starting to get tired.

[nai]

And yes, you need to buy a season pass to a wall so you don't think twice about a short session.

when the Works and my eldest were both WIPs I paid for the reduced year pass reasoning lots of short sessions would add up, think it ended up costing me about £20/session once she was born.

TTT - you need to get your FB up at home somewhere where you'll use it. Either that or get a road bike

This is the way it goes, I've got a bike and a turbo trainer I'm looking to sell if you can't find anywhere for the board 3t 

[shurt]

I think having a baby is such a big change on every level and climbing is no different. I guess you just have to find a new way that works for you, rather than getting frustrated that you can't do what you did before. like someone else said I train mostly at home now and am arguably stronger than I was pre baby (he is 3 next yr so it wasn't instant for me).

[rodma]

I'm 40 in January.

I reckon I'm less creaky now than I was 10 years ago, I put that mainly down to FBing fairly regularly, but also not thrashing/doing long sessions i.e. I very rarely try hard when I'm starting to get tired.

hehe, I'm 40 next week, so can't really complain.

[dave]

Most of my sessions are 1-hour. Personally, I think most people waste loads of time 'warming up' and could have a more time-efficient warm up. If you're holding onto jugs you're wasting valuable time IMO. The benefits to short sessions are you always finish strong and need very little time to recover. I've had really good campus sessions 3rd day on. And yes, you need to buy a season pass to a wall so you don't think twice about a short session.

TTT - you need to get your FB up at home somewhere where you'll use it. Either that or get a road bike

You're a fucking anomaly on the warmup front though T_B. Personally I've tried shortcutting to a quicker warmup before, but it inevitably ends in either getting pumped the first time you try to link any moves, tweaking something, or some other weird thing. I had a quick warmup a year ago at Sabots, pulled on to try Salle Gosse and gave myself a weird fullarm pump thing that took 4 days to fully subside. Generally speaking, I find rushing the warmup more often than not is a false economy. I'm backing this logic up in the knowledge that broadly speaking I don't tend to get injured.

[the_dom]

Mon: Treadmill
Tues: Treadmill and hangboard
Wed: Hangboard - 3/3/3 protocol and max hangs
Thurs: Hangboard - 5/3/1 protocol
Fri: Treadmill
Sat: Rest day
Sun: Hangboard - 5/3/1 and bouldering. A few sevens ticked.

..ish. I think that about covers the week.

[Sasquatch]

Toby, Nice work on the sendage

M- A little weights and bouldering in the gym - Shoulder felt terrible.
T-Work
W-More Work
T-Even More Work
F-Never ending work
S-Gym with Wife, Shoulder still felt horrible
S-Work

Long week of work trying to get new business going.  Look slike I'll be take the next 3 weeks off, then gently coming back to see if I can get the shoulder sorted out. 

[petejh]

STG: Re-hab bicep tendon. Moderate drytooling training whilst bicep heals. Build chain resilience.
MTG: Onsight attempts on The Hurting, Cathedral, Banana Wall, Anubis (this winter), 8b+ (by next summer)
LTG: 8c (within 2 years)

M. TRX and KB workout, good beasting!
T. Curls 3x15 (7kg), eccentric lowers 3x15(12kg), neck strengthening.
W. Manod drytool crag: 4 pitches of M7, not as much as I'd hoped to do but feeling lackadaisical.
T.
F. Curls 3x15 (7kg), neck strengthening.
S.
S. Curls 3x15 (7kg), Core & mobility sesh, 3 min plank


Hoped to get a DT sesh in on weekend to gauge my level but no partners; so still undecided what to do this winter. Lack of psych and focus due to other stuff.

[duncan]

STG: Strength work: fingerboard or bouldering, twice a week. Don’t get injured. Rehab. finger.
MTG: E5 OS and 7b RP by end of year?
LTG: Long hard (for me) rock routes in the Alps, Dolomites, Picos and Scotland. 7b+ RP.


M: Shoulder exercises in Athens airport. Flight delayed 5 hours due to fog. Home at 3.30am.
T: Tired. Fingerboard micro-session: warm-up on bar and big slots.
W: Still tired. Shoulder exercises
T: Westway. Bouldering to V2. Short session but completely battered.
F: Shoulder exercises. Teaching the lad to swim.
S: Shoulder exercises
S: Westway: 10 x routes to 6a+. R middle finger tweaky again. Teaching the lad to swim.

Enjoying teaching the lad to swim but hate pools and feel exhausted after an hour in the water; copious food and sleep required to recover. Not good for other training. Had a bit of a moment when I realise I’m eligible for old person’s discount and free swimming in the morning. Roll on the senior citizens travel card!

Not feeling very syked, body not working very well, weight increasing... it’s that time of year. MTGs feel way off right now. Plan: do something, anything...
 

[LiamB]

One year this week since I injured my knee. 2 weeks since the NHS physio signed me off and said I could sensibly climb again (two and half months since I started climbing again, tentatively).

STG: Continue Knee Rehab, 7A (End of the year), lots of grit bouldering.
MTG: 7B (April), 8a (September); Picos next summer?
LTG: 8c

M:
T: Boulder (Tor), Scared on dynamic moves on Saline Drip and Little Extra Starts, CB, Split Squat (6 x 17kg), Row, AnCap
W: ACap
T:FB, CB, Pull (5 x 25kg), ACap
F:
S: FB. Went out early afternoon. Rained within 15 minutes. Should have gone further South apparently. Works. CB.
S:

Rain made it hard to get out. Knee feeling stronger but can't really heel hook yet. Better on high foots.

[Hugh]

STG: 7B. More grit sessions.
MTG: Don't get broken.

Mon: Very quick session doing 4x4s.

Tue: Run 5km.

Wed: TCA, another very brief session. High power stuff, long rests.

Thu: Run 5km.

Fri: Planned to hit Snuff Mills again, but pissing it down so another brief pootle at TCA.

Sat: Nowt.

Sun: Fingerboard repeaters and some low-level added weight.

A sort-of-rest week as elbow feeling really tweaky. Thankfully much better now as long as I remember to stretch during the day.

Seconding all the previous about babies and climbing, particularly fitting micro sessions around the madness. I got well into fingerboarding at silly hours in the morning; given I was being woken up anyway I figured at least I'd feel like I was doing something positive. I think it's led to significant gains over the last year or so, plus got nappy change time down to less that 3 mins

[filz]

Light week due to lack of time and lower back pain

M - quick workout: overhead walk, push ups, ab-wheel and some finishers
T - good strenght session on the board
W - ring rows, push ups, ab-wheel, bridge, handstands
T - nothing
F - another quick workout: some pull ups, ab.wheel and squats
S - S On Saturday I wake with lower back pain so I didn't climb in the weekend

[webbo]

Mon.Turbo 1hr.
Tue. Board working a few new things.
Wed. Turbo 1 hr.
Thu. Board hardish mirror session.
Fri. Nothing.
Sat. Board circuit of 6 problems 4 times each after warming up. Turbo 1 hr.
Sun. Leeds wall tired from yesterday. Didn't get up anything startling did quite alot of climbing though.
Eating and drinking far too much.

[tommytwotone]

Thanks all for the psyche / ideas - all good ideas.


I'm actually going to sell my BM2000 as I think it's a level beyond what I need right now, and replace with one of the thin Crusher ones which a) are more suitable for what I need and b) is probably more likely to be allowed to be put up in the kitchen.


I don't think I fall into the "crack your knuckles and get on with it" TB school of training, in fact every time I do hangs with a 90 degree bend I can feel my elbows screaming so will just have to take it easy.

[AndyR]

...
F bouldering Kraft Mountain, did a nice circuit V4
S bouldering Joshua tree. Did yabo roof at V3, (Joshua tree v3 = UK V4+/5?!?)
S rest


I really suck at bouldering and often don't have the drive to try hard. I want to change this but I'm struggling!

Seems I climb routes at my max boulder grade!

Ps USA bouldering grades are nails.... Either we are too soft or they are too harsh!

I was in J-Tree saturday as well - nice weather!
I dunno if US bouldering grades are too harsh - I think they're pretty fair on the whole - though I do think there are some traditional sandbags in the V2-5 range that should probably be bumped up, but never will be... The same could be said of font as well...

BTW, I do agree that the grades at the lower end in Kraft are quite stiff.

[tomtom]

Bm1k is a great board 3T. Much prefer it to my 2k...

[Pako]

STG - Get rid of my finger problems
MTG - Get back to training regularly and properly without being injured
LTG - Would be nice to climb some 8A stuff or beyond next year when I move in Europe

Basically, I have just been training on my board for the past 8 months or so, and crimping hard constantly. I cut loose on some tiny crimps a couple weeks back, after a session of only trying my crimp ladder project, I stopped soon after because my index finger hurt on the DIP joint, it hurt if I tried to pretend half crimp on some plastic edges, and hurt if pushed in certain directions. I stopped climbing for a week and iced fairly regularly, it stopped hurting, then I decided in my infinite wisdom to get back to climbing with an hour of campusing with friends on my board with no warmup, going to one arm a doorframe with full crimp, then going to climb at a social competition.
Of course, that made my right middle finger hurt on the DIP joint. I have only climbed 2-3 times each week in the week and a bit since that, and while I was resting after that happened all my middle fingers', index fingers', and slightly my ring fingers' DIP and PIP joints now hurt if prodded. They don't hurt while climbing (I now only half crimp holds, and have added some slopers on my board and have been mainly focusing on those, as well as warming up much more.) At the start, they hurt if I tried to clench my hand into a fist, but I have been constantly prodding them and clenching my fist, to the point where it doesn't hurt at all, and I can push my fingers fairly deep into my palm until I feel pain. And of course, the PIP joint is swollen on the middle fingers. It has been that way for quite a while though, and I have had times in the past when I have noticed that my joints hurt if prodded hard, so I think it is just now that it has really been noticed.

Any ideas on how I should train around these finger injuries? For the next couple weeks I won't be climbing much anyway because of other commitments, and there will be a week when I won't climb at all for certain. I have read about how it isn't healthy to stop climbing, so maybe just climb twice a week or so until the fingers start having to pain, then start climbing again?
Is it safe to climb regularly (4 times a week on my board), while my fingers feel pain if prodded, even though they don't hurt while climbing? Quite worried really, I would love to be training hard right now, and the next 5 months or so will be prime time for hard training, but this might put a stop to it. Lately I have just been doing rings and upper body strength stuff, but I already miss my regular board sessions. Thanks for any advice. If it gets much worse (it seems to be improving in some ways lately though) I will pay for a video call with a finger physio, but it would be great to fix it through clever resting and such.