[Three Nine]

Thought I'd join on as a means of motivation for next year through these dark times:

STG (1-2 months): 7B (Suavito?)
MTG (4-6 months): Raindogs
LTG (8-12months): Pierrepoint/Supercool

M: -
T: Wave - All level 2s but turned into sluggish session with multiple attempts on black up the middle. Left with a tired core from cutting loose
W: -
T: Wave - All level 2s then ticked aformentioned black, kept spinning off puprle on the left. Finished session with a short board hit avec Gritlad, burnt him off, must remember to try the Joker...
F: Family
S: Family
S: Partner reluctant on getting out his bed for the Tor so... Wave - All level 2s then ticked purple, finding the next 'spottys' a bit too much of a leap so worked green spotty and reclimbed three level 3s. Finished with 3 slow routes (6b- 6c+) and a weak display of core with instruction from Gus, lots to work to do here (yyfy/nnfn)

An indoor week, sad I didn't make it out yesterday as reports from the Tor were grim weather but dry rock. Lots of volume but, as ever, little direction. Will read an article/text Barrows

I suspect you would find supercool easier than Raindogs.

[tomtom]

What a rubbish week for climbing (weather wise)...

M: After (the day before) coming close on the 7B+ Renaissance Men at Wilton 4 - I went back on Monday morning and sent it second go.. 1-2 degrees - so despite some residual dampness conditions were pretty good friction wise. Apologies for the appalling top out on the video below - I wasn't really expecting to get it and hadn't thought too much about how to scale the wall of green-ness (and after front pointing a mossy wet bank in Instincts to get back down I didn't fancy doing a nice repeat for the lens... ).



I then went just around the corner and spent a really fun hour trying two of Mike Adams recent creations - and worked out a nice different sequence to a 7C+ there that felt like it would go (the new sequence was required by some of the holds being gopping wet! - necessity is the mother of invention?) - but then ran out of beans. The most fun I've had sat on a muddy quarry floor surrounded by dripping rock in ages

Tu: Weather. gah... Beastmaker session...

We: Work, stuff etc..

Th: Well, I blame the Outside Webcam - as despite drizzle and clag in Manchester it looked half decent over the eastern edges... Driving over it was clag all the way to ladybower - then semi clag. I got out of the car at Plantation car park and having seen the wet streaks on grand hotel area from the road decided not to bother. Thought I'd chance CragX - gopping. Seepy and condensed. Then had a bizarre conversation with a local who was looking rather sternly at my car as I walked back to it... transpires he was thinking of buying one like it and picked my brains about its strengths and weaknesses... Nice chap. Anyway.... decided to have one more roll of the dice and went to Curbar. Curbar. It always dries fast... meh. There was a sole boulderer at Trackside and she was as disappointed with the conditions as me.. the top of trackside was damp/wet - sides were alright ish though greasy.. Gorilla Warfare was sort of dry but unpleasant (mind you - is it ever pleasant down there? Possibly if a bomb were to go off nearby it would be a decent place to be - but its not somewhere you'd sit back on your pads and soak up the atmosphere - anyway I digress...). The problem was - there was no wind... so whilst it was not raining -it was not drying. I nearly didn't do anything - then I got stuck into Tracking (the 7B+ low traverse) that I'd done a few years back - and enjoyed re-working out the moves. By then the top part of Strawberries was damp - so I was never going to get the problem done, so I gave up when a fresh bout of drizzle came in.

Fri: TomToms grand safari expedition to find dry rock part II. I went up to the Lancs quarries - as I really couldnt bear driving across to the peak.. and everything was wet. Even the Snakey B *why does it have this name?* part of Wilton 1 which I was assured is the most likely place to be dry in Lancashire on a wet day... Seepage, runoff and condensed. Lock stock and two barrels. Took the scenic way back to avoid friday prayers traffic in Bolton...

Sa: Went to the ballet. Romeo and Juliet at the Palace in Manchester. Was really good - an excellent production featuring more men in tights than a late 80's climbing film...

Su: Nothing. Cabin Fever. I finally cracked and went to Logport wall early evening as all the kids groups were leaving. Had a really really good session... excellent set of v5 and v6 problems - really enjoyed myself and there was a good crowd of people there.

Weather so far this week looks similarly shite - so not looking hopeful for next weeks power club!

[36chambers]

M - Thought I'd try out some Tabata training.

Not trying to be an ASS, so apologies if this comes across as such, but in training semantics actually matter quite a bit.  That is not a Tabata-Its a 20 second circuit.

A Tabata is 8 reps of 20 seconds on 10 seconds rest of the same thing. so 8 reps of 20 seconds of jumping lunges. The 20 second should be ALL OUT.  Therefore if you do an actual Tabata, it WILL kick your ass as you're going all out from the 1st second.  It doesn't matter how fit you are. It's quite brutal, and is not a workout intended to GET you fit, it's intended to be a way to maintain fitness rather than build it. 

Thanks for the reply, you don't sound like an ass at all. I'm aware that traditional tabata exercises are just one exercise, but I have seen many fitness websites (including T nation) argue that mixing up the exercises is better. I admit I made an error in that when following the video I went at their tempo rather than go balls out, which obviously undermined the whole thing, likewise with using a light weight afterwards. I was expecting to be spent by the end, but then the 4 minutes was suddenly up.

It's all work in progress. I've got a running watch with a heart rate monitor, so next time I'll use that and go hard.

Although I'm not convinced by only doing one exercise, as on the later sets surely fatigue will kick in and limit your performance. Unless I do something like cycling, like in the original study.

[36chambers]

Tell him it's non-specific as well. He hates that 

Having a high level of fitness is good for everything

[AndyR]

The weather has been brilliant (cold, clear) but I have mostly squandered it by training indoors. Now forecast to crap out, possibly snow.

Should have been bouldering - conditions have been mint. Some decent long-term projects finally fell YYFY...

[k2ted]

Monday - boulderuk. Managing most v4s playing with 5s so coming on in past 4 weeks.
Thurs - boulderUK, felt as though climbed ok

Need to weigh myself v soon. Was 15 stone 5 weeks back. can't loose any of the lank tho!

Only goal is to do V6 within a year.....

[Sasquatch]

I've got no issues with circuit exercises, supersets, complexes, etc. as they are great workouts, just call them what they are.  Tabatas were a specific thing.  I guess now they mean anything that does 20 seconds on 10 seconds off.  I've even seen 6 rep "tabata" workouts. 

Certainly in the later sets fatigue will set in.  I think thats actually the point of doing tabatas.  My understanding is that the initial sets deplete the energy in the muscle groups being worked, so the later work from a depleted state thereby eliciting a muscle response of increased energy storage. 

[Nibile]

Regarding Tabata protocol, seeing the video I was about to say the same thing as Sasq. A Tabata is a single excercise repeated 20"/10"x8, trying to achieve as many reps as possible in every set.
I'm no expert, but I think that the fatigue that kicks in is of two kinds, a muscular fatigue and an aerobic fatigue, if you get what I mean. I was reading around about Tabatas yesterday, and the original studies showed an increase in both anaerobic and aerobic capacity (the latter increased more in the Tabata group than in the regual cardio group).
Moreover, the Epoc is massive even after hours: still double after an hour!
Anyway, as we all know, the worst session that we do is still better than the best one we don't do, so...
Glad I share this suffering with someone else.
 

[duncan]

Hanging rows in rings/TRX?

That's a good idea. It would also be an excellent back and hip extentensor 'posterior chain' exercise. I'm hesitant to use rings as their wobbliness seems not specific to climbing and introduces an unnecessary risk (John Gill ascribes his shoulder problems to them).  A low bar would achieve the same goal I think. The offspring would love either...

[Hugh]

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

Missed last week due to Events, so a bumper 2 in 1 post:

Mon: Quick 4x4s session at TCA. Skin surprisingly good after Dartmoor on Sun.
Tue: Max hangs
Wed: TCA, Woody, short power problems
Thu: Swim.
Fri: Quick session on the hard circuit at TCA. Completed on our first house. YYFY!
Sat: 5km run
Sun: Nowt, fixing up house

Mon: More house fixing. Did a quick power-endurance session on the finger board and rail at home.
Tues: Max hangs. Not great, utterly knackered. More house.
Wed: Still more house stuff. Went to TCA, failed to do a load of problems that I'd flashed a couple of weeks before.
Thu: House...
Fri: And again...
Sat: Went to TCA with wife and son. Had great time and was climbing really well - did some probs on the woody and hard circuit despite spending most of my time chasing a two year old around.
Sun: Max hangs.

Completely exhausted and still have loads of diy to do in the coming weeks. Just trying to maintain some semblance of fitness for the moment. Raining so much it's not like I'm going to be getting out anyway.

[Wood FT]

Thought I'd join on as a means of motivation for next year through these dark times:

STG (1-2 months): 7B (Suavito?)
MTG (4-6 months): Raindogs
LTG (8-12months): Pierrepoint/Supercool

M: -
T: Wave - All level 2s but turned into sluggish session with multiple attempts on black up the middle. Left with a tired core from cutting loose
W: -
T: Wave - All level 2s then ticked aformentioned black, kept spinning off puprle on the left. Finished session with a short board hit avec Gritlad, burnt him off, must remember to try the Joker...
F: Family
S: Family
S: Partner reluctant on getting out his bed for the Tor so... Wave - All level 2s then ticked purple, finding the next 'spottys' a bit too much of a leap so worked green spotty and reclimbed three level 3s. Finished with 3 slow routes (6b- 6c+) and a weak display of core with instruction from Gus, lots to work to do here (yyfy/nnfn)

An indoor week, sad I didn't make it out yesterday as reports from the Tor were grim weather but dry rock. Lots of volume but, as ever, little direction. Will read an article/text Barrows

I suspect you would find supercool easier than Raindogs.

Great!

[tommytwotone]

Anyway, as we all know, the worst session that we do is still better than the best one we don't do, so...

A lesson I need to learn Nibs.


An all-time low for me last week - between illness to family and associated disruption, bad weather and work stress I managed precisely zero constructive training and way too much boozing and bad eating.

[petejh]

*Any suggestions for body-weight / closed-chain exercises that emphasise the shoulder lateral rotators ie infraspinatus/teres minor? YTs, bent-over rows and external rotation with theraband exercises all hit the right muscles but are not very specific to climbing.

Hanging rows in rings/TRX?

That's a good idea. It would also be an excellent back and hip extentensor 'posterior chain' exercise. I'm hesitant to use rings as their wobbliness seems not specific to climbing and introduces an unnecessary risk (John Gill ascribes his shoulder problems to them).  A low bar would achieve the same goal I think. The offspring would love either...

Using TRX, standing 2 leg chest flys. For extra points do balanced on one leg keeping spine in neutral.

Also TRX deltoid flys - Y, T and low.

Between those 4 you should be hitting the right spots.

[36chambers]

Cheers for the comments Sasquatch and Nibile, much appreciated 

I've got no issues with circuit exercises, supersets, complexes, etc. as they are great workouts, just call them what they are.  Tabatas were a specific thing.  I guess now they mean anything that does 20 seconds on 10 seconds off.  I've even seen 6 rep "tabata" workouts.   

I'll try and be less flippant with my terminology in future. 

Glad I share this suffering with someone else.

My shameful Powerclub confession is that I sometimes work out just because I enjoy it.

[Sasquatch]

Cheers for the comments Sasquatch and Nibile, much appreciated 

I've got no issues with circuit exercises, supersets, complexes, etc. as they are great workouts, just call them what they are.  Tabatas were a specific thing.  I guess now they mean anything that does 20 seconds on 10 seconds off.  I've even seen 6 rep "tabata" workouts.   

I'll try and be less flippant with my terminology in future. 

Glad I share this suffering with someone else.

My shameful Powerclub confession is that I sometimes work out just because I enjoy it.

No shame in that.  Take pride in that which you love. I'm  of it quite often. 

Part of the reason I responded that way is that I think Tabata's could be really good route training.  Do them on a system board and do 3-4 sets working distinctly different movement types(crimp ladder, sidepulls, underclings and sloper ladders maybe...), and you'd get a heinous workout. I'm not at that point in my training cycle, but I will likely add them in in lieu of a foot-on campusing session. 

[Fiend]

Anyway, as we all know, the worst session that we do is still better than the best one we don't do, so...

Word 

[tomtom]

Anyway, as we all know, the worst session that we do is still better than the best one we don't do, so...

Word 

Unless you get injured...

[JackAus]

STG: More V8s. Consistent sub 75kg.
MTG: V9.
LTG: V11. Fear Factory List. 7/10 done.

M: Rest.
T: St Leonards. No new problems, prepping for comp on weekend. So ran laps on most of the harder things and my own problems. No campussing/shoulder work.
W: Rest. Work night.
T: Rest. Work night.
F: Frontline. Warmed up then jumped back on 7th Day Ascentist. V9 in guide but not even close to that. Re-worked my moves and sequence and was struggling as it was too burly. Tried something different near start (heel/toe cam instead of big fuck off drop knee) and it made the first half piss. Thats like half my energy saved right there. Can't believe I didn't even try this last session. Took a few more goes as still very slopey but did it... Then followed it up by FINALLY doing Diplomatic Immunity V4... 
S: St Leonards had boulder comp. Didn't enter but drank a lot of free beer (one of the guys working there also owns a brewery...) and did a lot of heckling...
S: Hot. Frontyard. Another crag with ~30 problems that I hadn't checked out. Shit's hard there. Fumbled my way up a couple things up to V3 and that was it. Everything is desperate. It was great getting shut down. Need to take a rope there and clean a few of the higher problems.

[Nibile]

Anyway, as we all know, the worst session that we do is still better than the best one we don't do, so...

Word 

Unless you get injured...

A fellow climber, once, tried to jinx me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.

[duncan]

Using TRX, standing 2 leg chest flys. For extra points do balanced on one leg keeping spine in neutral.

Also TRX deltoid flys - Y, T and low.

Between those 4 you should be hitting the right spots.

Thanks for these ideas. I had a brief play with a home-made set-up last night and they certainly do hit the spot. 

There is a wider discussion to be had about the utility of this kind of unstable, open-chain of exercise for climbers though. Instability increases the sense of difficulty but I'm not convinced this helps climbing. Rant.

Might be most applicable to swinging an ice axe now I come to think of it, no wonder you're a fan Pete!

[SA Chris]

M - Nothing
T - Nowt went to see Andy K
W - Ended up working late, only managed a short but productive session
T - some weights I think
F - Nothing
S- AM swimming, nothing in afternoon, weather was shite
S - Drove to Edinburgh in heavy snow, mega sketchy drive. At too much and drank expensive vin chaud at markets

Not the best week.

[Muenchener]

I'm hesitant to use rings as their wobbliness seems not specific to climbing and introduces an unnecessary risk (John Gill ascribes his shoulder problems to them). 

Surely less of of an issue when you're below the rings and pulling on them - and thus stablising them - then when you're supporting weight above them?

[jwi]

Surely less of of an issue when you're below the rings and pulling on them - and thus stablising them - then when you're supporting weight above them?

Agree. They don't feel unstable to me. Not more than some floor exercises like pushups. And it's quite convenient to just hang some slings from the regular pull up bar

[petejh]

Using TRX, standing 2 leg chest flys. For extra points do balanced on one leg keeping spine in neutral.

Also TRX deltoid flys - Y, T and low.

Between those 4 you should be hitting the right spots.

Thanks for these ideas. I had a brief play with a home-made set-up last night and they certainly do hit the spot. 

There is a wider discussion to be had about the utility of this kind of unstable, open-chain of exercise for climbers though. Instability increases the sense of difficulty but I'm not convinced this helps climbing. Rant.

Might be most applicable to swinging an ice axe now I come to think of it, no wonder you're a fan Pete!

Really good 'rant' that (it's not a rant). I must have missed it first time round. Some twatting of nails.

I checked out your study on pilates and trans abs. Also looked at your list of other studies on pubmed - going off that list it looks like you've done a fair bit of research on training and the abs, but not much on the posterior chain muscles. Is to fair to say there may be non-specific (to climbing) 'instability exercises' (want of a better term) that do confer performance benefits in posterior chain muscles outside the confines of the given exercise, that you're not aware of?

As for the bodyweight instability stuff, I do a lot of this - 3 times per week, nearly every week, for the last 2 years. But I don't do it especially with specific training for climbing in mind. I do it because of the fairly significant spine surgery I had in October 2013. I had lost all nerve power in my big toe and couldn't lift it. The op bought the nerve power back, but not to full strength. I was told it would take 2 years fro the nerve to re-grow to its fullest extent, after which any gains I'd made would stop and that would be all I'd get back. I had to really beast myself and push the neuromuscular balance type exercises hard for the two years it takes for the nerve to re-grow, and it's just got to the two-year point whereby I won't make any further gains in nerve signal.

So the core stuff I do is mixed in with a load of balance stuff for the right leg because I'm noticeably more wobbly on the right leg due to the nerve signal not being transmitted properly to the leg muscles, I get tired ankle, calf and cramping foot on that side on slabby climbing. Hence I do a lot of one-leg exercises where I really notice my calf fatigue much more rapidly then the other side, also the ankle stability is poor. Without constantly challenging the neuro-muscular control in that leg I've been told the nerve power will drop off.

Bit of a long story, buts that why I'm so into the instabilty exercises.

I do though have an excellent core for both climbing and general life!

[webbo]

Is that core is not just for Christmas