[csl]

STG - the next month
Regularly climb problems on the Green circuit at the Arch - done
Stick to training plan each week - ok week, 1 fingerboard session missed.
1 day out on rock - done

MTG - june
Go to Ceuse fit and strong, climb privilege.

LTG - end of year
8a

Tue
 - Hard Bouldering + Aero 10 mins on 10 mins off.
Thu
 - Hard Bouldering + AnCap + Aero
   Good session, AnCap at good intensity.
Sat
  - Portland. Ace day out, went and tried Sweet Smell of Success, what a line! 1 bolt to bolt then first redpoint I realised i'd done the cruxes in really strong/hard ways and fell off. Felt knackered next go but managed it. Then went to Battleship Back cliff and finished the day with Bouys will be Bouys.

Only 8 weeks to Ceuse now, better get down to training. This week:

2 x Boulders
1 x AnCap
3 x Aero
1 x AeroPow
1 x Fingerboard

[the_dom]

Mon: Bouldering and max hangs
Tues: Rest
Wed: Deadlifts (up to 160 kgs), bouldering and max hangs
Thurs: 20 mins on the treadmill
Fri: Deadlifts (up to 170 kgs) and max hangs
Sat: Morning surf, afternoon bouldering and one arm max hangs. Decent session followed up by drinking what felt like all of the beer in Cape Town with a visiting friend.
Sun: Hangover. Only thing I could muster enthusiasm for was a quick run.

Another good week, although Saturday night hampered my ability to do anything other than laze on the couch watching cricket today.

[Muenchener]

STG (April) under 80kg. My average weight for the first week of March was 83.1kg; for the last week 82.5. Creeping slowly in the right direction. But over a year that would be 7.2kg.
MTG (2016): Redpoint 7b
LTG (<= 5 years): Redpoint 8a before I hit 60.

Trying to entertain a child in school holidays whilst not taking time off from work doesn't leave much time for training. Otoh seven easy paced hours on the bike are a good chunk of base cardio for the summer alpine season.

M: Easter Monday bike tour with M jnr. Only a couple of hours, but still felt too long & tiring to count as "active rest" after the kicking I gave myself on the circuit board yesterday.
T: Beastmaker max hangs: maintenance session.
W: Wall, Boulderwelt. Half an hour bouldering to warm up, then circuits: a dozen in two blocks of six, starting at around my onsight level [and decreasing rapidly]
T: Bike one hour
F:
S: Wall, Boulderwelt. Half an hour bouldering to warm up, then some up-down-ups & repeats on steep juggy boulders to work on body tension/upper body endurance, then half a dozen rounds on circuits ca onsight level.
S: Bike outing in the woods with M jnr.

[Duma]

Right, I'm back. Impending arbitrary age milestone means I'd like to get some grade based goals done by next summer, hopefully power club will provide a bit of extra motivation for the boring stuff...

Goals: 8A and 8b by next June

69kg.

Body audit: sore thumb, come on gradually over the last month, no obvious initial cause, pain on inside of second joint, swelled up quite badly beginning of the week after a decent session at the wall on Sunday.

M: avon gorge with cha1n for couple of hours in the afternoon, Thumb was really painful and shouldn't have climbed, but was a lush day and needed to take my mind off some personal stress so went anyway. Turned out great, we went up to Academic which he's been trying, so got perfect beta on a route well suited to a boulderer, managed it 4th go. 2nd of the grade, and much quicker than the previous!
T: nothing, nights, sore thumb.
W: nothing, nights, sore thumb.
T: nothing, nights, thumb improved.
F: nothing, finished nights in the morning, thumb still improving.
S: Cheddar, Lion Rock. Trying Shadow Walker 8a+. 3 goes. 1st time pretty much bolt to bolt, did first crux but didn't manage one hand and one foot move of the 2nd crux. 2nd go linked up and into first crux, linked section through first crux to rest before second,  managed all moves of second crux, though only in 1 or 2 move sections. 3rd go same point though better attempt at 1st crux, knackered by then so just pulled through the top crux to strip. Well psyched for this route, great climbing in great position. Need better recovery at ok rests, and to link the whole way through the top crux. Goals for next time: get through to top shake (guess it's about 7c/+ to here), link all the moves of the top crux (9 moves from the shake to the pocket that marks the end of the hard climbing)
S: TCA, had planned to go to dartmoor, but forecast crapped out. Good session on the newly reset mothership (steep) though my thumb, which seemed to be ok after routes on sat, is not very happy now. Icing it and see how it feels tomorrow.

[tomtom]

Funny week this one...

M: Rest I think...

Tu: Work

We: Curbar with Jim. Great day out - nice to be shown some new problems and old tricks I tired out in the Pit without success, but good day out nonetheless.

Th: Ache

Fr: Wall. Lacklustre session where I only went to clear my head really..

Sa: Curbar (again) in the late afternoon. Fun on trackside boulder (group of friendly visiting spanish having fun on strawberries). Tried and failed on sidetrack again (but got better - became warm and greasy so gave up before skin went). Wandered up to Bad Landing boulder with a bloke called Vince (hello!) and had a good session up there - did the hard part of Late Junction (that I'd not managed before) - the messing about with heels/tioes to control the swing and powered out on the bad lip part twice. Second time was really close. Then couldnt hold the feet/toe things on the traverse - felt like an unspecified core failure! Worked moves on La Muse. Good session

Su: Blobbed.

Its been a week overshadowed by a visit to a dermatologist on Tuesday afternoon (who wasn't a Dr Dermatologist etc.. - but was someone with a digital camera who took pictures and sent them off to some company in London) for an itchy spot thats grown on my back. Of course they can't tell you what it is there and then (it has to be looked at by the expert etc..) but basically say if its important you'll hear soon, if not then in a months time..

I got a letter through on Friday saying it was a basal cell carcinoma ~ which by my googling is a fairly 'safe' non spreading carcinoma. Still, whilst I appreciate the rapid diagnosis etc.., I've still not had the opportunity to talk to anyone about this who may know something - have no idea how long I am expected to wait to have it chopped out (its about 8mm so nothing huge), or what that procedure might be. Thats all to come I suspect. Anyway, its taken the wind out of my sails this week and climbing has been a pleasant distraction from it all..

[Duma]

Shit that's horrible tt, hope you hear soon re treatment

[Wood FT]

All the best Tom

[tomtom]

Cheers both - it's probably fine (nearly all I've read about it says it's minor) but obvs a concern - and lack of a person to ask about it is ~ frustrating!

[IanP]

Cheers both - it's probably fine (nearly all I've read about it says it's minor) but obvs a concern - and lack of a person to ask about it is ~ frustrating!

My wife's been through almost exactly the same but is a few weeks aheas - next stage was biopsy where use punch to excise a section for analysis.  Eventually after that got to see actual doctor/dermatologist to discuss options and is have full envisioning a few weeks.  Totally not malignant and no significant risk of longer term issues but process of getting there has be frustrating and sometimes a bit worrying. 

Advice would be try not to stress but do be willing to chase things if you're not getting responses. 
Ian

[ashtond6]

A great week for me, stg, mtg and ltg achieved (onsight 7a 2016, onsight 7b by 2019)

Really failed a rest days, 1 in 13 days

M - warmed up on a traddy 6a+, did black uhuru 7b second go then onsighted a brilliant 7a
T - close to 2 7bs at l'aparador, did a stunning traddy 6c
W - rest day walk
T - tried a stunning 7b+ corner, onsighted a beautiful 7a tikis mikis (trip goal)
F - cave climbing at masriudoms (wet in cornudella) after very little rest this trip. Spanked on 6c+ 7a+ and 7b!
S - my best day of climbing ever?! El falco, arboli. Warmed up on a stunning 30m 6c, had a false start on a 7b (did it second go, would have probably taken the flash if it wasn't at my limit), onsighted a beautiful 7a, onsighted my first 7b, failed on a 7c then warmed down on an amazing 6b+
S - absolutely knackered, did some fun traddy low 6's then did a super bouldery 6c at l'aparador

Happy happy 

[JackAus]

STG: More V8s. Consistent sub 75kg. Finger recovery. < added.
MTG: V9. Fear Factory List. 7/10 done. < Bumped up because winter approaching...
LTG: V11.

M: Lot 33 and St Leonards. Last day of easter long weekend. Lot 33 early to spot a mate on NSK V7. Bunch of hippie slackliners camping in the cave ruining the climbing vibe. He didn't tick. I repeated it first go and tried a couple other things before leaving to sit in traffic back to Sydney. Stopped in at St Leonards for a quick campus and fingerboard. Didn't warm up properly. Fucked A2 in left 4th finger. Fucking idiot. 

T: St Leonards. Tentative session to see what finger is capable. Despite constant pain and restricted movement, still quite alot. New stuff. All new problems bar hardest. Lever and pushups after.

W: Rest.

T: Frontline. Night session. Usual warm up circuit: V1, V1, V3, V5, V7, V6, V3, V3. Jumped back on If The Shoe Fits V8, a couple decent attempts before finger flared up, so moved to Rocket Man V10. Was feeling ok and even managed to get in the slot a couple times but finger was limiting me on that 2nd hold, just too much pressure on it. Headed all the way to the opposite end of the crag to try Hollow Mountain Dreaming V7. Tried this once back in summer and its so slopey that I didn't get anywhere on it, quickly worked out all the moves and ticked it 1st go. Then ticked the V5 that links into it 2nd go after dabbing first. So overall, good session. Glad to tick HMD.

F: Rest.

S: Tamborine Bay. Local crag. Sharp. Only been once before. Worked out moves on Sharik's Roof V9. Ended up getting all bar the start (finger limiting) but it takes so much fucking skin... Tried an unnamed V7 that links into the finish. I just can't work it out... Maybe one day I will. Seems so straight forward but it just isn't. Finished the day doing Masked Avenger 21/V3/4, big highball above the other lines. Good fun, backed off each go from higher and higher before doing it 4th attempt. Wasn't hard by any means but top out was abit sketchy by myself!

S: Jurassic Park. Sketchy, intimidating area in a national park north of Sydney. Have only been here once before over a year ago. Warmed up on some easy things then got back on the "easy" slabs. Love them but they're hard! Then tried Pinball Wizard again. V4 crimpy wall that I just can't do. Too many options for hands/feet and I can just never get the body positions or just pull hard enough on the bad holds. Great line though, definitely want to do it. On to Ain't No Easy Win V8, mega classic problem and hard too! 5/6m tall, slightly overhanging, slopped landing with pit start. First couple move easy then into the underclings which aren't as good as you want and the feet suck. Or I'm shit with those feet... Either way, I found it burly on the underclings being in that range of too short to lank it and too tall to do it bunched... Ended up getting all the moves bar the crux rollover. Wasn't even game to try it without a spotter tbh. Was only just landing on the pads and stopping from falling into the pit. I hate stepped and slopped landings.


Masked Avenger. Follows the seems from right to the arete then up.




Ain't No Easy Win. Set up for big roll over to the next crimp. Left foot blew off the smear almost immediately.

[monkoffunk]

Cheers both - it's probably fine (nearly all I've read about it says it's minor) but obvs a concern - and lack of a person to ask about it is ~ frustrating!

Hey tomtom, these things are always concerning, but if it is BCC you don't need to worry that much. They are surprisingly common. They spread locally but it's almost unheard of to metastasise. If you read one website on the internet about them, read this one: http://patient.info/health/skin-cancer-non-melanoma.

[monkoffunk]

I was a fat punter for many years, steadily climbing through university, with a lot of goals and things I really wanted to do one day. I was very good at leaving a crag with unfinished business and very good at saying 'this time next year that will be easy for me'. Of course it never was. I never properly trained, but I still made slow improvement and occasionally ticked off the odd hard (for me) project, and that felt great. I even posted on power club with an account that I stopped using in 2012. Then I finished university and worked for two years far from even an indoor wall. I went on trips to Greece, Mallorca and Font in those years but I never 'trained' prior and I got spanked every time, even though it was fun to just be on rock. In the meantime I got weaker and weaker. Ultimately I couldn't do routes that had been easy for me before.

In August 2015 I moved to Southampton. I started to get consistent in going to the local wall in about October. In December in a moment of armchair motivation I wrote a list of routes I wanted to achieve in 2016. None particularly exciting, some of low quality and in grotty locations, but all unfinished business; all things tried and failed.

As I mused on these routes I wanted to do, I found another list of routes I'd written down in December 2014 to achieve in 2015. It was identical to the one I'd just made. That was my moment of clarity when I realised I was never going to achieve anything without making active changes. What I want to climb isn't important; how I'm going to climb them is. So I completely changed my diet, all but gave up alcohol, quit making sporadic unsustained attempts to go running and started focused conditioning exercises. I didn't really start proper training, but I did increase my consistency and frequency of getting to the wall, and tried to add some structure to my sessions.

By the end of January I'd lost 10kg from a peak in December, and no doubt due to the lack of booze, felt more motivated and clear headed than ever. Font in February was my lifetime most successful climbing trip so far, and the next weekend I climbed my hardest sport route ever in five goes.

Background and soul searching aside, I might be less fat but I'm still a punter and I still want to improve and start proper training. So I'm coming back to power club for a bit of accountability with consistency, to force me keep a record of my sessions and maybe to learn a bit how to train.

Sorry for the boring spiel, looking forward to getting (re)started!

STG: 1. Climb first proper Font 7A+, before summer gets hot.
MTG: 1. Climb French 7c+, before 1/1/17. 2. Tick off the hit list (would be happy with 10/13 this year), whack as some of routes might be.
LTG: 1. Climb Cider Soak and Academic, before 1/1/18. 2. Font 7B+, before 1/1/18.

M – 10 min super easy yoga routine.
T – Session on woody in TCA. Developing cold that’s been going round at work.
W – Too sick for planned aerobic capacity (at least I think that’s what I planned! Climbing lots of 1-2 go problems with 3-5mins rest between?)
T – 10 min super easy yoga routine. Thinking hard about recovery.
F – Cutting’s bouldering. Awesome day. Three 7As (although two were essentially the same and a couple of 6C+. First 7A flash, even though it was on the soft side. Some non-quality footage on the non-quality vid thread!
S – Visiting the girlfriend.
S – Less time than hoped, 4 sets of lock offs on rock rings for what its worth. Planning for next week…

[tomtom]

Thanks Ian/Monk it's reassuring to know that others have the same process/issue.

[tommytwotone]

@T2 - sorry to hear about that fella, hope it's all as non-scary as others are suggesting.


Gonna be a brief update for me...


STG: Enjoy Font on the weekend, don't get hung up on grades / sends (but would really rather like to do De Fil En Aguille at Cuisiniere)
LTG: Font 7something


Most of this week was spent gathering weird looks in the office as a result of doing back stretches a few times a day in our office breakout area!


Apart from that...


Saturday:


Went to The Climbing Lab (Leeds' new wall) on Saturday, purely on the strength of their kid's area as I had a day of looking after Una and thought it was worth a go - worst case scenario she'd be totally disinterested (not really tried getting her to climb so far apart from a quick go in The Depot where she was too short to reach anything) and I'd get to have a coffee.


Went really well - after a bit of encouragement I got her to pull off the ground a few times, and toward the end she was enjoying moving between holds, albeit with me giving her a bit of a power-spot. The guys who run the place are ex-Depot regulars so I know when pretty well, and they did me a huge favour in keeping Una amused while I did the off problem so I even got a to climb a few things.


Best part of the weekend was going in to Una on Sunday morning when she'd woken up and pretty much the first thing she said to me was "I want to do some climbing"! 


Sunday: spent day clearing out and decluttering, to the point where our spare room is beginning to resemble a usable space for the first time in c.18 months.


Off to Font on Thurs (flying out and meeting mates who are driving over there). Only got 2 full days a probably a mini-session Sunday so keeping fingers crossed for weather now.

[Three Nine]

W – Too sick for planned aerobic capacity (at least I think that’s what I planned! Climbing lots of 1-2 go problems with 3-5mins rest between?)

[/quote]

 

and by manual, I mean Barrows' pdf

[Coops_13]

STG: Heal knee, wrist, fingers....
MTG: Get solid on 7B/+ boulder and 7b/+ sport
LTG: 8A & 8a

M: Rest day, went to Croatia exploring other crags
T: Started well, was working a 7b at Misja Pec. Fell off the rockover move at the top (last hard move) and swung round under a bulge to smash my knee into the rock. Cut to the bone, had three stitches and thought I'd just need a rest day. Barely able to walk had to cancel the rest of the trip and come home to get it looked at NNFN!   
W: Feeling sorry for myself
T: Flew home
F: Saw knee doc who says there might be cruciate ligament damage or damage to my joint capsule. MRI on Monday...
S:
S:

Apologies, now my power club posts will not be consisting of any crushing for a while...

[cheque]

Fell off the rockover move at the top (last hard move) and swung round under a bulge to smash my knee into the rock. Cut to the bone, had three stitches and thought I'd just need a rest day. Barely able to walk had to cancel the rest of the trip and come home to get it looked at NNFN!   

  Sorry to hear this.

A great week for me, stg, mtg and ltg achieved

Good effort, your goal-setting skills are evidently lagging behind your cimbing ones though. 

I was very good at leaving a crag with unfinished business and very good at saying 'this time next year that will be easy for me'. Of course it never was. I never properly trained, but I still made slow improvement and occasionally ticked off the odd hard (for me) project, and that felt great.

Yeah, that's basically me.

STG (next month or so)- get big wall fitness required for making film.
MTG (by late Autumn 2016)- Finish film while making progress towards LTG.
LTG (by end Nov 2019)- 8a.

M- Soloing at Stanage Popular. First climbing of any description for a whole month, first quick 'n' convenient session as a Sheffield resident- cackling with joy on arrival at parking. Utterly terrible at climbing though- making dad noises on VDiffs I'd done before. Going straight after Easter foodbinge probably didn't help. #punterlife   

Tu- Final moving stuff.

W- Soloing at Burbage North. Started off climbing as bad as on Monday but made progress during the afternoon.

Th- Solo seaside trip to work on film logistics. Utterly physically and mentally exhausting. Too soon to be able to bring myself to list details.

F- Rest. Wrecked.

Sa- Rest. Felt alright though- surprised how quickly I'd recovered from Thursday.

Su- High Tor film logistics work. Highly productive once I'd got parked. Stomped up with heavy bag, jumared the height of the crag, etc. All specific training.

Thursday was awful- shocked at what I've let myself in for (was genuinely questioning my commitment to the project at one point) but it's all progress. Goals pretty much explain where I am now.

[Nibile]

Gradually shifting goals, it's getting hot down here. I'll stick to the last board project of the season, let's see if fans and air conditioning make the magic, along with massive massive front2 and front3 crimping.
Probably too hot already for my project on rock. I'll surely have a go though.


Mon - very tired from the weekend. Doms. Weights complex, speed x2. Snatch from hang x8; snatch x5. Hill sprints x8. Mental task as well as physical.
Tue - rest.
Wed - BM incut rung +16 +20 x3 alternate. Quite good. One good go on circuit, fell on 23, 45" rest, top. Must train more.
Thu - climbing class. Feet on campusing (not at home) 4'x2.
Fri - clean and press, full snatch, hill sprints. Fucking hard.
Sat - hungover and tired. Rode my motorcycle, passing through hordes of admiring people. Or at least that's how I remember it. Must have been the dozen of g&t of the night before.
Sun - weights. Mostly snatch variations. Tired, but grinded through.

Being very slack and nasty as of late. Must get back on track. Want to add new campus rungs to my board for proper PE.

[csl]

A great week for me, stg, mtg and ltg achieved

Good effort, your goal-setting skills are evidently lagging behind your cimbing ones though. 

I was going to say the same. Goal of gaining only 2 grades on your onsight over 3 years? It's clear you should be looking at something a lot harder than that! Well done!

[Wood FT]

Su- High Tor film logistics work. Highly productive once I'd got parked. Stomped up with heavy bag, jumared the height of the crag, etc. All specific training.

Drove past yesterday and must have seen you on the ab down original route. I would love to see footage of the big routes over there, there's a snippet of Bastille in the extras section of one of Al Lee's films (Psyche 2 maybe) and the rock is certainly the star.

Thursday was awful- shocked at what I've let myself in for (was genuinely questioning my commitment to the project at one point) but it's all progress. Goals pretty much explain where I am now.

you'll have a core of iron

[monkoffunk]

and by manual, I mean Barrows' pdf

I will read it again!

[petejh]

STG: first 8b+ (Mecca), by mid June
MTG: undecided
LTG: 8c, by June 2018

Bouldering phase.

M. Cave, better session than Sunday - twice fell off last move on Rock Atrocity. Core got a bit tired and din't get as far after. Kettlebells workout in p.m.
T.
W. Cave after work. Fell off last move on Rock Atrocity, really should have done it, bit lazy. Core faded again after. Slight DIP joint swelling/achyness.
T. TRX and kettlebell workout
F. Core and mobility workout.
S. Cave - 15 minute session. Sent Rock Atrocity 1st attempt this time - luckily, as my lamp died 2 minutes later so I wouldn't have had a second go. yyfy!
S. Llandulas Cave, pumped stupid on Zoidberg (6c) and Pearl from a Shell (6c+). Did 3rd ascent of Doylo's 'Catch the Pigeon', not a mega-classic but a great last move throw!

Monitoring swollen/achy DIP joint, same one injured two years ago so suspect it's some fluid build-up.

Good effort ashton6 sounds like 7c/+ rp and 7b+ os are realistic goals this year!
Hope that tuns out fine TT.
Cheque if you need any assistance with sea-cliff rigging/malarky/logistics I may be able to help out.

[Falling Down]

TomTom - Hope all turns out OK.  Good to read the comments from others affected.

Another quiet week on the climbing/training front.

M-W - Nowt apart from some light cycling.
T - Pantymwyn - Managed some eliminates on the Robert Duval wall.  Nice to climb on real rock.
F-S - Nowt apart from walking in the country (to the pub).

My weight's been creeping up again with a lack of exercise so this week's goal is to turn that around and do something every day even if I can't get to the wall.

[SA Chris]

M - Some weights
T - Some core
W - Wall session. Project prob for the evening fell at first go (almost disappointingly!) so spent rest of evening repeating things I could do, and failing on things I could.
T - Some weights, concentrated on triceps, which seem to get neglected.
F - Nothing
S - Swimming lesson
S - Short walk in afternoon

Feeling at a bit of a loss at the moment. Mind focussed on sorting out funeral of a relative on Thursday / Friday, trying to get through a shed load of work before then and get sorted for a week on holiday next week. Hopefully some more daylight in the evenings when I get back so can get down to some regular outdoor sessions as plastic is getting a bit tedious without anything to be training for.