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Journal - Increasing The Calibre (Read 22957 times)

Nizza

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#25 Re: Journal - Increasing The Calibre
March 08, 2016, 04:09:30 pm
Haha I think technically it might be called Fotowa Low

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#26 Re: Journal - Increasing The Calibre
March 08, 2016, 04:21:03 pm
If you see him again, please tell Will Fraker that Dom from Cape Town says Hi.

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#27 Re: Journal - Increasing The Calibre
March 08, 2016, 06:41:20 pm
I will indeed

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#28 Re: Journal - Increasing The Calibre
March 09, 2016, 10:56:27 am
Haha I think technically it might be called Fotowa Low

Fairy muff.

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#30 The Age Old Balancing Act
March 09, 2016, 07:00:41 pm
The Age Old Balancing Act
9 March 2016, 4:03 pm

I could taste my favorite burger as I licked the blood from my thumb, the perfectly done patty - medium rare, always medium rare, so the blood drips out with every bite. The soft bun, lettuce,  pickle and tomato and the cheddar cheese on top. My friends and I swear by it as one of the best in NYC, from a place just around the corner from me in Brooklyn. Our place has luckily has stayed off the top ten tourists lists that so often plague our favorite local spots. I've wanted this burger since I started dieting three weeks ago. The diet has been working, and I've felt better than ever I've dropped past barrier after barrier - I'm down to 168 pounds and now only 8 pounds from my target weight - another big step on my journey back to fitness.  But it feels like my body doesn't want to get me there.

That blood I was tasting was my own.

Only seconds earlier I had drifted off while preparing my evening meal and for the first time in my life cut the tip of a finger off - a chunk of the end of my thumb. Earlier in the day my left elbow had flared up, a historic problem linked to my back and my finger was still sore from the weekend. Ultimately I am putting the elbow and finger down to my body settling back into its climbing mode, the cut finger down to needing that damn burger.  For the first time in my life I feel like I'm feeling the effects of age, I'm only in my mid thirties which doesn't seem old to me - but if you look at sportsmen its substantially older than most athletes in their prime.  The journey back to fitness seems like a journey up a steep ridge, with a precipice of injury on either side.  

Luckily this week to make that journey less intimidating I bring a small amount of carbs back into the diet. Perhaps its time for that burger, everybody needs a treat once in a while...

 

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Steve R

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#31 Re: Journal - Increasing The Calibre
March 09, 2016, 11:29:25 pm
If you see him again, please tell Will Fraker that Dom from Cape Town says Hi.

Also, if you see him again please tell Bryce Viola that Steve from Hull says you've got a really rad name.

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#32 Re: Journal - Increasing The Calibre
March 10, 2016, 06:19:25 pm
If you see him again, please tell Will Fraker that Dom from Cape Town says Hi.

Also, if you see him again please tell Bryce Viola that Steve from Hull says you've got a really rad name.

HAHA will do.

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#33 Out Of Balance
March 10, 2016, 07:00:28 pm
Out Of Balance
10 March 2016, 4:45 pm

image.jpg On the surface it looks so simple

Get from a to b.

Yet climbing is an incredibly complex sport, some master it faster than others but there is only one true way to achieve what's possible for you. You'll have to commit and work hard, no matter how much natural talent you have - but you'll also have to go about it in a very specific way. Climbing is based around building blocks; technique, flexibilty, strength - contact strength, static strength, finger strength, core strength, dynamic power.  Each one of those can be broken down further, analyzed and trained to help you improve. You have to build steadily on each.

The more you build, the stronger and better a climber you become.

There is a problem though, if you're not careful while you're building these strengths you can easily create weaknesses. Each one layered upon another, ultimately creating instability in your body. I've trained exceptionally hard in the past and with it my body became out of balance. Years of surfing has helped somewhat, but when I woke two days ago with an elbow sore to the touch I knew those many years of training had created weaknesses which were now coming back to haunt me.

Luckily for me one of my former training partners from the UK is an exceptional physio and sat down with me last night for a Skype session to diagnose my problem and explain the exercises I would need to help bring me back into balance.  In my experience it's very hard to find a great physio that understands training, climbing and the issues it brings.  Huffy fortunately is an underground British climbing beast, knows his training, and also knows the history of my body's strengths and ultimately weaknesses.  It's the nerve in my elbow and it's caused by tension in the muscles in my back.  I'm now on the road to recovery, working on my rehab and training in ways he set out which won't make the problem worse.  

I can't look at this as a setback on my road back to fitness,  I see it as a new building block - one which will ultimately make me stronger in the end.

 

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#34 The Archives
March 11, 2016, 01:00:23 pm
The Archives
11 March 2016, 7:00 am

Stewart Watson the second ascent of Voyager V13 Stewart Watson the second ascent of Voyager V13

There is nothing better than putting on a coat you haven't worn for a while and finding a wad of dollars in your pocket. The perfect victory - something from nothing. Well I experienced the same this week when I finally worked out the log in details for my Increasing The Calibre Vimeo account after many years out of climbing.  Stashed amongst my limited number of published videos were 5 rough cut sections of a climbing film I had made for fun while at Sheffield University.

A decade ago I was studying Broadcast Journalism at the uni and borrowed their cameras once in a while for trips to the peak and Yorkshire with friends. I trained my housemate Andy Hutchison in how to shoot and we proceeded to capture some great climbing, including the second ascent of the Peak District classic Voyager V13 by Stewart Watson.  We'd originally wanted to put out a longer form film for free, heavily influenced by the skate films of old we wanted something which would be a 30 min watch, come to a crescendo and leave you ready to go out and crush.  But I was offered a job in London and the footage sat on a hard drive which I eventually lost somewhere between London and New York.  

The footage I found on Vimeo was parts of a film, the draft segments - I downloaded them and set about turning it into a short. Their age is given away by the fact they were shot in 4:3 actually on tape, long before DSLRs allowed for amazing quality HD footage to be captured by anyone who could point and shoot. The cameras were the best the broadcast department had, yet nothing compared to the iPhone of today for quality.   The music attached to the rushes also betrays their age, but I think it has a certain charm.

The time spent filming our friends had a huge impact on my life, because it was great practice in learning to shoot, edit and produce which led to a career in the media, the chance to travel the world and ultimately the life I have in NYC. I learnt the importance of timing from the skate films I had spent many hours watching and tried to bring them to the way we edited these sections, a skill I have since utilized a lot in my career. As I watched the Psycho section I remembered the time I spent meticulously trying to match Nigel Poustie's feet movements to the music - the details, it's all about the details...

Sure it's an amature student film and as well as the camera quality, the level of climbing has improved since then and many of those in it have gone on to much greater things - but I think that even a decade after we made it, as a short film it shows just a small glimpse of the great climbing the UK has to offer.  

If you watch it I hope it ultimately achieved what we set out to do - I hope it got you psyched to get outside and go crush a project.



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#35 Re: Journal - Increasing The Calibre
March 11, 2016, 02:09:50 pm
Really good to see this - when I was making my film a few people mentioned how many promising climbing films end up unseen and unfinished and it made me really determined to see mine through no matter what. I think yours was one of the examples used!

Psyched to watch it tonight.  :popcorn:

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#36 Re: Journal - Increasing The Calibre
March 11, 2016, 02:14:58 pm
Thanks Cheque Yeah it was a shame as my career took off and I got offered a job in London during my course at uni so ditched it and went down there.  Glad I finally stuck it up, a few shots need color correcting etc but I can't sort it currently but I think that is part of the charm of this and the story of how it finally came to be!

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#37 Better Call It A Fight Back
March 15, 2016, 07:00:43 am
Better Call It A Fight Back
15 March 2016, 2:36 am

image.jpg 'You know your problem mate?'   Matt said in his Aussie twang as we were heading back towards Sydney.

'You don't want it enough, you paddle like a pussy'

He was right, I did.

You see the surf was pumping, lips throwing, the locals had the spot dialled and the sharks, well let's just say they were always in your mind - not at the back, right at the forefront. It's a memory that will always stick with me, my good buddy - a ripping local, had called me out on something I had always known but didn't want to admit.

I was intimidated.

That moment changed my time in Australia, from then on waves came my way, I paddled in to the heavy sets - I learned to get barrelled. The thing is it's easy to say you want it, you can even trick yourself into thinking you want it. You can get away with living that lie for years.

The time out of climbing, purely surfing, had kept my body strong and as such the return to the sport, after all this time, felt easy.  

Don't call it a comeback I announced.  My body felt great, I could still campus 1-5-7 not long after my return and my back two still loved to feel those Beastmaker pockets.  

It felt too easy.

Even the dieting and early starts to work on my core every day felt easy, too easy. It needed to come to an end, I needed to be taught a lesson. I needed someone to call me out.  

In the end my own body called me out.  

If my elbow injury hadn't occurred I could have continued training steadily, easily getting back in to climbing - pretending I wanted it. But climbing and particularly the act of completing projects takes an incredible commitment. You need to know you want it before you set out or you'll never get it done.

My elbow made me realize I want it. Working on rehab alongside modified training. Feeling the pain in my arm as I wake, up even earlier to add rehab exercises to my core workout. It would have been easy to go back to surfing, forget climbing again. But the knowing that I am still pushing on, makes me realize this is more than a come back - this is a fight back and I want it more than ever.

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#38 Always Open
March 18, 2016, 07:00:43 pm
Always Open
18 March 2016, 6:48 pm

Never closed in the city that never sleeps Never closed in the city that never sleeps

Training while dealing with an injury is all about compromise. You have to work around your body's limits to still try to get as much as you can from each session.  Under the remote guidance of my old training partner and now virtual physio Huffy, I've been managing to keep training but with some modifications.  The elbow issue I've been suffering from is linked to tightness in my back, regular rehab exercises have been opening it up and freeing the nerve pain.  My plans to get back into my campus and Beastmaker have had to be put back on hold though in favor of training big open moves. These don't activate the back muscles causing my issue and allow me to train pain free.

I'm relishing this new training regime, being strong open is often a weakness for many people. It used to be a core part of my regular board sessions and ultimately it can only make you stronger on rock.  I'm sticking to attempting to flash problems so as not to put my body under too much pressure and I've managed to cruise a fair few of the problems at my local training venue this way.  Sure, the grades are probably softer than a block of butter left in the window on a hot NYC summer day - but in my injured comeback state I'll take the ego boost V7 flashes brings.

Still less than two months into the comeback - training open feels like a blessing in disguise. I'm learning to activate the shoulders again,  concentrating on my core and using power on each move.  Initially I was distraught at breaking my training schedule, redesigning my route back to fitness - but then I remembered something important.

What would Malc do?

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#39 Re: Journal - Increasing The Calibre
March 21, 2016, 01:10:17 pm
Cool old skool video there. I like that bit where you have a close-up of some chalked but gash hold and someone going for it and only just catching it  :yes:

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#40 Re: Journal - Increasing The Calibre
March 25, 2016, 12:53:00 am
Love the blog. Just out of interest, saw in your latest blog u do morning core sessions, what do these sessions involve?

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#41 When It Comes
April 20, 2016, 05:34:43 pm
When It Comes
22 March 2016, 1:22 pm

The sun sets on my way to my evening session The sun sets on my way to my evening session

You can feel it, there is a certain point when it just clicks.

Any comeback to climbing often feels awkward, body positions don't feel quite right, your fingers tweak, your core is loose. Then there's a moment when things start to change, you start to flow. I hit that point yesterday - after a weekend of sickness I wasn't expecting much as I hit the gym to work out the cobwebs in the early evening. But as soon as I pulled on things felt different. Maybe I'd needed the three days rest, maybe the stinking cold I'd had was my body telling me it needed a break. Telling me it had done what I'd asked the last two months, but not to push it too far.

I knew it as soon as I pulled on my first problem after warming up, a new one that had just gone up. A crowd of people were gathered trying it, I took one look and knew it wouldn't be hard for me, still within my current flash grade - but the important question I needed the answer to was how would it feel. I knew as soon as I pulled on the first hold, I flowed through the first few moves, my fingers strong in a prone position as I gripped and matched the crux pinch, my core locked solid, the morning core sessions paying off.  The last six crimp moves felt like I was pulling on jugs.  I topped out and walked back down the stairs smiling to myself, this is where it really starts I thought to myself, this is the true beginning.

This wasn't the float I have felt in the past, where you feel light as a feather and unstoppable. This was the flow though, the flow that I have craved for a while. Every move felt natural and easy, I still climbed open to save my elbow, but that even that felt normal.  I continued to work my way up my flash grades, dispatching a few problems I've had my eye on for a while.

This is where the journey really begins...

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#42 Routines and Rituals
April 20, 2016, 05:34:45 pm
Routines and Rituals
28 March 2016, 7:59 pm

image.jpg It starts on the subway, every time its the same - the routine, the ritual. Working through the preparation exercises to ensure pain free elbows, sure the looks from other passengers can be odd - but stranger things happen on the NYC subway. The structured warm up, each time the same, designed to keep my body still working, still flowing. The ceremonial taping of my finger, without which I couldn't climb, the tension on the tape just right. Shortcuts aren't an option as this is what it now takes.

With each new tweak comes a new ritual.

Climbing open only for the elbow, open handed for the finger. A set of rules to keep me moving.   I guess this is the price you pay for trying to return to climbing in your mid thirties after a five year hiatus. The desire to get out and test myself on projects is stronger than it has ever been, but these rules won't work in the outdoor environment. I have to keep my head down and keep working, expectations low.

Training by the rules, embracing the rituals.

It's still paying off, I'm getting the mileage in, my flash grade improving - never trying too hard, trying to keep the body well within its limits. The biggest battle is with the frustration, I want to try harder, I want to get on the Beastmaker and campus board, out and on projects.

But until then I have to play the waiting and healing game.

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#43 The Little Things
April 20, 2016, 05:34:45 pm
The Little Things
31 March 2016, 12:53 pm

image.jpg My bag vibrated as I dropped it down on the mat, I ignored it - well in the zone, pulled on and dispatched an eliminate I'd just set. Set to the rules - big moves, open handed. It flowed easily, I caught the big press out left with ease and the flick to the flat ledge with my right went down without any bother. Something was different, I was climbing in a different way than I ever had before. Sure I'm not yet as strong as I was in the past, but perhaps that was it. I was climbing in a more mature way, not just pulling hard through the moves.  

I was focussing on the little things - the details.

I remember in my early twenties watching the video of Jerry Moffatt and Ben Moon out in Utah. Two things stuck with me, Ben Moon put up Black Lung and Moffatt commented that you can still do hard stuff in your thirties as you have the climbing history, you're more mature.

I remember at the time thinking that was a long way off. Well, I'm there now gray hairs and all. Well Moffatt was right, those little details and that climbing history matter.  It's not just a history of technique or training either, it's an understanding of the details in your body.  

As I dropped to the mat I picked up my phone from my chalkbag it was my remote physio  'it's the attention to detail' the text started.

Just before I hit the wall I'd come off a long Skype call with my Physio and ex training partner Huffy, he's a mm who knows his details. Remotely working through my elbow and finger problems he assessed and diagnosed. My elbow has made great progress  and is now fine to climb normally on. Huffy made a diagnosis on my finger and a buddy taping technique that allows me to climb with very little pain.

I realised how fortunate I am to have so many great climbers as friends who focus heavily on the details, they matter. In the same way Huffy,  Dave Mason has been a great support on my training regime, getting down to the finer points - even commenting and fixing the position of my shoulder blades when I fingerboard.

I've met many people at the gym in NYC who are newish to climbing, they get fairly strong inside  - but watching them climb makes you realise what they lack - the attention to detail.

Moffatt was right, it matters.

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#44 Fighting Fit
April 20, 2016, 05:34:45 pm
Fighting Fit
6 April 2016, 10:06 pm

image.jpg As I pulled on the first rung I knew this was a breakthrough, a big step back to fitness. My first campus session in 5 years and it felt good, hard, but damn good. I still wasn't at full fitness as I made those moves, but with the elbow back to normal the injuries I was carrying didn't effect my ability to pull down. My fingers are improving and I'm carrying a frustrating pain in my hand, which has stopped me sidepulling, picked up from it being crushed during a game of soccer last week, but I neither stopped basically pulling - and so I set to work.

image.jpg I ran through my old routines, the movements felt as familiar as they did all those years ago. The strength wasn't quite where it was but my base level was high. I'd found a new training partner too in my buddy Sam Gardner. Sam built the campus board at our gym and it is perfectly set up, half rungs after 5 to aid progression. I needed them too, only managing 1-5-7.5 as my max on the large Metolius rungs. We moved through my old routines, noting down each attempt, each different exercise.  I smiled as I dropped to the mat on my final rep, this is it I thought, it has finally begun - game time.

The timing couldn't be better as I've hit my first major weightloss target of 164 lbs. With my friend Mark Ireland's diet I've shed 16lbs in a little over 6 weeks. Amusingly due to him being in London we've had to monitor progress through selfies. Even with the irritating injuries it shows in training, I'm beginning to move well again, feeling light. I've now added a 30 min TRX session to my morning core work out.

All I need now is the finger to heal and to step up to the Beastmaker...

 

 

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#45 Re: Journal - Increasing The Calibre
December 12, 2016, 03:49:10 pm
Whappened?

Nizza

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#46 Re: Journal - Increasing The Calibre
December 20, 2016, 08:37:22 pm
Got a bad lumbrical injury which left me unable to train, luckily then the surf got pretty damn good here for 5 months.

Had my first session back yesterday so back on it so it starts again!

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#47 Re: Journal - Increasing The Calibre
December 21, 2016, 11:06:55 am
Good man getting in the water at least. Been sucky here.

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#48 Here We Go Again
December 29, 2016, 04:34:14 pm
Here We Go Again
20 December 2016, 9:24 pm

Forgive me, it has been many months since my last confession and I find myself yet again on another journey of redemption.

In the half a year since I last climbed much has changed. I'd been slowing getting back into climbing, enjoying the training and had sampled some of the amazing rock the northeast has to offer. But then it all went wrong - a lumbrical injury from an 'interesting' hold at the gym and my comeback to strength was on hold.  Months went by and it wouldn't heal, then disaster struck again and I broke my hand playing soccer. Luckily the water warmed up and the surf got good and I left any thought of climbing behind.  A new job came, diets were left behind and weight put on.

And here I am.

20lbs heavier and sore from my first  session in many months. Luckily due to a pretty solid 6 month regime of nearly daily TRX and regular surfing my body felt good, sure I got pumped quickly and was too scared to crimp but it was a start.

So here we go again, winter is here and its time to train for spring. This time I'm hoping I can stay injury free and tick a few problems as the temperature warms up again...

 

 

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#49 A New Approach
January 10, 2017, 07:00:27 am
A New Approach
7 January 2017, 7:10 pm

There's no doubt I'm back climbing, my skin is sore and my feet are still reeling from being stuffed back into my Five Tens.

Over the past year I've tried to return to climbing a couple of times and each attempt has fallen flat through injury. Each comeback has felt the same, and anyone who has had a layoff knows the feeling well - that first week at the gym is brutal, your  body floppy, fingers opening on holds you used to consider finger jugs, forearms pumped on problems you'd previously not even consider a warm up, and the thought of climbing anything past vertical seems ludicrous - all those beers and time on the sofa has left you with the body tension of a jellyfish.

It's embarrassing.

It was that way for me last year - but something has changed. Until this past week I'd climbed once before Christmas and then barely at all since June. But as I ran circuits of boulder problems in each session of 2017 something was very different, the body tension was there, there was no pump and I was flashing V6 problems across the horizontal roof. There is only one thing that I can credit with this - TRX.

Since June I've done between 4-6 TRX sessions every week and it shows. I'm heavy, way too heavy - at the start of the year I weighed in at 187.4 lbs. The lightest I have ever been while climbing is 146 lbs, currently if i was a boxer I'd be in the light heavyweight category and at 5'10" that's not a good look for bouldering and especially not good for my fingers. Despite this weight my TRX training has left me with some of the best body tension I've ever had and exceptionally strong upper body.  

I can't recommend TRX training highly enough.

Starting a return to climbing in good physical condition is a complete change for me and its made me think differently approach how I approach bouldering. I took five minutes out from a session to write an honest account of where my weaknesses and strengths lie - to then help me build a training regime around it. I'm taking a different approach this time. I've never been short on power and the TRX regime I've followed seems to have improved that - less focus on methods I would have traditionally used such as campussing and a more refined focus on TRX and overall body conditioning. I'll still use the campus board, but just not as much as I used to.

If I'm honest with myself I have three real weaknesses - my finger strength, flexibility and skillset. My climbing style has always been basic and to pull off some of my projects I need to climb better on rock - so mileage and different styles of problems will be key. I'll be hitting one mileage session a week, focussing on different techniques I'm less strong on. The beastmaker will play a key role in my coming regime, particularly the max hang sessions Dave Mason has laid out for me in the past. Finally I'm adding daily yoga, there's no doubt in my mind this will change my climbing completely - I've seen huge gains from it in the past.

First though I've got to get to my my training cycles and they are two months off - I'm due to start in March. I'm taking January as a mileage month - flash and second go problems only, the February as a month of actual bouldering before finally hitting the train. Luckily winter has well and truly hit the east coast so its the perfect time to get fit.

If there is one thing multiple comebacks teaches you - it's don't go too hard too soon.  

   

Source: Journal - Increasing The Calibre


 

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