[tomtom]

Bonsoir...

M: WANTED to get to Anston to get BetaBlocker done... Woodhead pass closed... iffy forecast in the peak... so I went to the Depot and had an alright session and did a bit of work... Did a 25 min yoga routine/thing in the evening

Tu: Work - 15-20 min of yoga in the evening. At risk of incurring the wrath of PC observers by talking about Yoga - I hate Downward Dogs. My hamstrings are so so tight I cant get anywhere close with straight legs and as they send loads of blood to my head I feel really strange. Anyway - went for a pint afterwards...

We: Anston. Iffy forecast - but arrived in between showers and it was dry. BetaBlocker Psyche was high... Warmed up - felt good - foot popped on first attempt - second attempt something went twang in my knee..



Th: Hobbled about quite alot... it eased off with vit i. Lateral ligament strain I suspect...

Fr: Knee felt better - so figured I'd go to rehab central AKA the Depot.. had a really good session in the end. Really gradually ramping up to give my knee a chance. Almost climbing as normal by the end.

Sa & Su. Out of no-where I was gifted a pass for part of both days. Weather was passable too.. but not wanting to crock my knee, I did a load of core exercises on Sat - including some windscreen wipers (with bunched legs - not enough room to swing em extended) which really are quite a work out that I'm not used to. Ached on sunday - and in 5 baby free hours watched TV, had a nice lunch and fell asleep on the sofa for 90 min or so...

Back on it tomorrow

[duncan]

STG: strength work (bouldering / fingerboard) 2-3 times a week. Manage aches and pains. Do a Kettle movement drill each time I go to the wall.
MTG: a proper 7b+ this year.
LTG: a classic Pembroke E5; 5.13 at 60

M - Hip, trunk, knee and shoulder conditioning.
T - Shoulder stretches
W - Vauxwall east. Bouldering to c.V3
T - Shoulder stretches,shoulder strengthening, trunk strengthening including prone Y on the rings (or should I say working towards)
F -  Vauxwall east. Bouldering to c.V3. Did their ‘benchmark’ V2,V3 and V4 problems (cruxes all 3 infuriatingly high-up). Had a play on the 40 degree moonboard. Hmmm, not sure this is for me. 25 degree version might be a bit more applicable to my needs.
S - Shoulder strength, shoulder stretches, caught up on sleep.
S - Shoulder strength, shoulder stretches.

Thought about getting out this weekend but the usual team all unavailable, feeling a little run-down and couldn’t face the 6 hours of driving on my own.

Falling off the top of boulder problems is not doing my ankle much good, so will seek out a wall with good 20-25 degree boards and get stuck in as per this thread. Other criterion is London zone 2. Blocfit (Brixton) looks a good option, anyone been?

[nai]

M - after a long slow warm up while trying to work out whether Anston would be dry I gambled and headed back to Apprentice area where I'd worked a new low traverse the previous week.  Luckily it was fully dry and I managed to link the hard section quickly then amazed myself and did it from the start next go.  Reckon it's slightly easier than Apprentice Prow but starting far right and climbing a 6B section means you're tired by the time you get to the crux (or there's a kneebar rest available half way of you're inclined) so 7A seems fair.



Full description here: https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,29699.0.html

T nowt

W
core
system board
gymnastic stuff

Doesn't feel like I've done much on the system session straight way but always feel it later

Th Legs & short gym session, managed a tuck handstand for about 2s

F - fingerboard testing session, max hang up 10kg, pretty pleased with that
TRX
Core

S - intended rest but started messing around with nipper doing balances then squats and lunges on a wobble disc and ended up doing a whole leg workout again. Found it more enjoyable than using weights and it felt pretty effective too.

S rest, but some shoulder and leg massage and stretching throughout the day

Missed AeroCap again this week, must get back into the habit of doing it.

[Murph]

Get well soon Tom.

M-10k run
T-
W-
T-half decent session down the works at the “yellow party”. New yellows, 5-6A, were very popular indeed. Ticked all of them. Three non-flashes. Shoulder seemed ok.
F-
S-5k run
S-Weather iffy so works, had intended to repeat Thursday but was persuaded to try the murple circuit, 6C-7A. Murph “I can’t do murples” became Murph “9 murples in a session”. Though I’m sure that the ones I ticked were towards the 6A end of 6C-7A this was a major breakthrough. Best indoor session of the year.

Weight 64.9kg->64.2. Moving in the right direction again.

Had meant to put Rock Climbing Technique drills into practice but didn’t get act together. Still, mustnt grumble.

[spidermonkey09]

M - rest.

T - Depot. Pretty good session, starting to feel like I'm remembering how to boulder again. Not used to big dynamic moves after a summer on the limestone.

W - fingerboard. Weak again, think the problem is doing it second day on. Need to reconfigure this when back from Spain. Finished off with some core but in a bad mood after fingerboard spanking so sacked it off fairly quickly.

T - Depot. Another good session. Did a few yellows which are normally a good benchmark for me.

F - rest. Sorely tempted to go to the pub but resisted.

S - Predator. Two redpoints, both felt good but no high point. Second go totally in the zone but spooned the sequence and fell off. On the plus side, I now know exactly how to do the crux, its just a matter of doing it.

S - Predator. Felt really good on the warm up bolt to bolt go and repped the crux a few times to try and learn the positions. Smashed through previous high point and shook out for ages on the flattie. Went full a muerte on the last hard section before the jug and dropped it one move from good holds, utterly boxed and unable to crimp up the holds. Gutted as one more move and I think I'd have been in. Had a second go but was understandably powered out and dropped the crux again. Both very pleased and very pissed off!

Good week but its the hope that kills you. Off to Spain on Friday so the weekend is out. Thinking of going back on Wednesday for a last ditch effort. Sort of wish I hadn't got so close as then I could knock it on the head for the winter with no 'what ifs' in the back of my head!...

[Bradders]

M - Depot Leeds in the evening. Did a couple of yellows in short order, both of which had previously rejected my advances. Tried a couple more yellows briefly to no avail then went on the 50'. Tried three problems where I can do all the moves but haven't linked them yet; still the case. Three goes on each, mostly falling from crux moves higher up.

T lunchtime - 2 rounds of a circuit of weighted pull ups (x4r, up from 3 last week, @ 20kg), dips (same reps/weight) and TRX Is & Ts. However, also added 1 arm pull ups at the start of each circuit and managed 2 reps on each arm with half decent form, using one of the thick purple bands for assistance
T evening - general fingerboard warm up then gradually increasing weighted hangs before finally doing 5x 1r 10s hangs + 25kg on the BM2K low edges, 4f half crimp

W - 3km run in the evening

T morning - general fingerboard warm up then gradually increasing weighted hangs before finally doing 3x 1r 10s hangs + 25kg on the BM2K low edges, 4f half crimp
T evening - very unstructured but enjoyable session at the Depot Leeds. Repeated a couple of yellows, made progress on a couple others, tried an orange and failed miserably plus did a few purples that I'd not tried before.

F & S - lots of stretching, foam rolling and mobility work

S - had hoped to get out on the grit (hence 2 days off prior) but heavy rain through the morning put paid to that. Went to the Depot instead briefly and did a very short session. Shame not to get out as I felt really rather good. Only items of note were flashing what felt like a very hard move on the barrel yellow (dropping RH into and undercut) and making up a simulator of one of my projects.

[Coops_13]

Two weeks from me due to being away:

29-Oct -> 4-Nov
M: Tag rugby - lost match
T: Arch. Spent a while on the new set, almost did a new white (V5 - 7) but very hard, more like 8. Retroflashed another white and finished with a bit of moonboard and campusing
F: Arch. Shortish session at the wall on problems

5-Nov -> 11-Nov
Week in Iceland doing lots of driving and walking. Managed a couple of bouldery traverses in my big boots on some basalt columns

[shark]

11.2-11.3 average 157.0 up 0.3lb

M.

T.

W. Cloudy, rainy good conditions. Warm up Consenting then did Taking the Space with rests including the runout on wet footholds in the rain. Warm up go on Oak. First redpoint climbed it perfectly. Didn’t get horn in exactly the right place but should have been able to hold it and adjust but didnt. Mental block no doubt. Next two attempts not so good. Ethan got Predator. Decided it was last day on it for year

T. PM Foundry - shortish campus board session

F. Foundry campus. Some improvement.  Then moved onto Wave. Tried green and black spots right of centre of steep bit from standing - good moves. Flashed pink to its left and fell off going for top on pink on flash on its right. Eve drove to Northumberland on long planned "lads" trip with Dolly, Mark and Robin. Rained all the way

S. Kyloe in. Warm ups. We got on Monty Python sit. Multiple attempts and got close to holding the sloper a couple of times. Dolly got it. Surprisingly Rob blew it a couple of times at the top just before the handjams. Eve Fine meal in Packhorse in Ellingham - recommended

S. Hepburn. Threatening skies. Did some good warm ups. Joined by Karl T and Wodger. Did Another Flake 6C then started raining. I was keenish for a return to Kyloe but the others weren't so decamped to Karl's for tea, then back to Sheff. 

Nice weekend away. Although I said it was my last day at Malham have somehow provisionally booked to go back on Friday with Paul. Going to keep at campus for a few weeks and see if I can get back to doing 1-4-6 on S7 rungs and 1-4-7 on jugs which I think I've managed in the past. Reset replicas of two of the hardest moves on the lower section of the Oak on my board but not tried them yet.   

[yetix]

M:Contortion class, managed to get my box splits to the floor and was close to pancaking. However, I managed to pull my groin...
T:Campussing and 30 degree board, could still climb so long as I ensure my right leg isn't used for pulling...
W:Rest
T:Cave was the driest I've seen it this year. Madness. Unproductive and painful session.
F:Rest
S:Max hangs, campussing and creating a few longer problems on the 30 board to do in the future.
S:Easy session with the other half.

[cheque]

Rehab Diaries week 12

STG- Leading at least HVS/ low 6s by end Sept 2019.

M- Rest. Didn't sleep well.

T- Rest.Tired.

W- Daytime 3x7 pullups, 3x20 pushups. Evening gym. 30 minutes on the bike, levels up 1 from last week as usual. Sweating and grunting as usual.

T- Rest.

F- Foundry autobelays.As last Sunday I just tried "aspirational" routes after doing a 5 to warm up. Shockingly improved on these! The main route I try is a slightly overhanging 6b+ (white at left side of the Furnace if anyone's interested)- on Sunday the crux for me was that I had to match a hold 2/3rds of the way up and absolutely yard on it (while yelling) to get my right hand onto the next hold, which felt so thin that I'd sometimes just fire off it. Today I could just do this move without matching the first hold, didn't have to grunt and never droppped the move! Two hour session in total. Really good progress.

S- Filming a bit in the morning, which involved carrying stuff. Walk along Curbar in the afternoon.

S- Gym. Experimental first session on the leg machines. Wanted to find a way to just work my weak leg as I inevitably favour the strong one when I'm struggling on the bike. Tried two that you do up and down curls on but it turns out that the leg press machine is an amazing rehab tool for me- it's perfectly adaptable to one-legged use (you can plant your foot right in the middle of the plate) and hit my biggest weakness, pressing out from a totally bent leg. Did this with increasing weights to failure. Walk around Millstone/ Lawrencefield later.

More progress. Can't believe how much better I'm getting at (indoor) climbing.The cool thing is that my technique is still there, I just lack the physical ability to apply it all, so as I get more strength and coordination back, I'm suddenly so much more improved in what I can climb. It's fun!

Unexpectedly, using the leg press machine immediately gave me more freedom of movement in my bad leg- I could touch my left heel to my arse yesterday evening for the first time since the accident.  Not sure what aspect of the excercise helped this (could it be neural?) but it's more good news. Going to use the leg press machine every week from now on- I'll benchmark my right leg with it and keep going 'til my left is that strong too.

[jwi]

Almost surely neural. Inspiring logs btw, thanks for posting these

[tommytwotone]

Nice one Cheque, good to hear you're on the mend rapidly. Assume your progress on the Furnace route could just be getting back to your "base level" again through actually doing some climbing, plus a bit of recruitment?

As for updates from me, followed up a pretty good week with nada due to combination of work stress, home / partner logistics, feeling a bit under the weather, then finally at end of the week, poorly child. Not a good week for my attempts at booze-free weeknights either on account of the above.

On the plus side, listened to a few training /climbing podcasts and am on a mission to get my fingerboard up in the kitchen this week as I'm working from home a fair bit, which is bad for my lunchtime gym sessions, but would afford me an hour to smash out a hanging session at home.

 

[Will Hunt]

W. Warm up go on Oak. First redpoint climbed it perfectly. Didn’t get horn in exactly the right place but should have been able to hold it and adjust but didnt. Mental block no doubt.

In future, please bear in mind that you have an audience reading these posts who are emotionally invested in this almighty siege. My heart nearly leapt from my chest on reading the first two short sentences.

The comment about the mental block confirms my armchair coaching comment that one of the more significant barriers to success for you is now mental (hardly surprising after so much time vested in the route). What Pete said about training failure struck a chord. A winter doing 'up' problems on the grit and reading Jerry's book is my prescription.

[shark]

The comment about the mental block confirms my armchair coaching comment that one of the more significant barriers to success for you is now mental (hardly surprising after so much time vested in the route). What Pete said about training failure struck a chord. A winter doing 'up' problems on the grit and reading Jerry's book is my prescription.

Yes I am keen for grit bouldering starting tomoorrw in fact.

Lanny Bassham's "With Winning in Mind" is on my xmas list and is meant to be good

[jamesturnbull97]

First full week in the Red

M.

T. Purgatory. Not much of note really. Gave Lucifer a couple of goes, can do the moves and little sections so feel like it could be possible but I’d much rather spend my trip on other stuff seen as there is so much to go at. Then had a poor flash go on Dracula 04 which just turned into a working burn.

W. Motherlode. Got horrendously flash pumped warming up on a 12a, then got on Transworld Depravity 14a. Did all the moves and linked the 3 cruxy boulder problems. Amazing route definitely keen to put some time in, hopefully feel better in colder non-humid conditions.

T. Went out and shot photos of Mina and Anna on Lucifer.

F.

S. Morning session on Transworld. Really cold conditions but warmed up well and didn’t feel too bad when climbing. Good session, linked the 2 middle boulders from rest to rest and then the top boulder to the top. Pleased with how it went feels like a goer.

S. Another morning session on Transworld. Car thermometer was reading –2 on arrival to the parking. Felt a bit under the weather from waking up so didn’t have high expectations. Repeated yesterday's links and wrote off some bits of beta so not a complete waste. Went over to the Purgatory in the afternoon and finished off Dracula 04 13b in horrible fashion with numb hands and missing all my feet, not my finest display of climbing.

[slab_happy]

Blocfit (Brixton) looks a good option, anyone been?

Yup, and will be returning when I'm next in London.

It's tiny and scrappy and can only be found by venturing down an underground tunnel filled with garages; I felt like I probably lost years off my life from the petrol fumes. What you see in the photo on the website is most of the wall -- there's a balcony which (IIRC) has TRX stuff, and a weights area under it, and that's it. I liked it a lot!

The Board de Lune is 40 degrees so don't know if that's a dealbreaker for you. It's all very short so would be ankle-friendly.

It would be absolute rubbish if you want to boulder and have lots of nice new problems each time, but would be very good for doing focused training because it doesn't give you any other options.

Forgot to say, nice atmosphere -- based on one visit, it seemed friendly but non-intrusive and not snobby. Obvious assumption that if you're there you're there to train and have your own plans for what you want to do, but no sense that anyone who's not doing 1-5-9 is out of place.

[duncan]

It's tiny and scrappy and can only be found by venturing down an underground tunnel filled with garages; I felt like I probably lost years off my life from the petrol fumes. What you see in the photo on the website is most of the wall -- there's a balcony which (IIRC) has TRX stuff, and a weights area under it, and that's it. I liked it a lot!

The Board de Lune is 40 degrees so don't know if that's a dealbreaker for you. It's all very short so would be ankle-friendly.

It would be absolute rubbish if you want to boulder and have lots of nice new problems each time, but would be very good for doing focused training because it doesn't give you any other options.

Thank you. Sounds like the anti-Castle. Totally what I am looking for. 40° MB not a deal breaker as they have the lower angle circuit and symmetry boards.

[Wood FT]

Sort of wish I hadn't got so close as then I could knock it on the head for the winter with no 'what ifs' in the back of my head!...

Great to have that motivation brewing over the winter though, fuel to the fire.

[Coops_13]

Quick questions before I try it out tonight:

For increasing "finger endurance" (i.e. the feeling of fingers having no strength left after a number of fingery moves - felt this while trying Hannibal in the summer), would repeaters be the best exercise? Assuming 7 on 3 off for 6 or 8 reps, 3 sets is the protocol. Which size holds should I be using for half-crimp?

[spidermonkey09]

Quick questions before I try it out tonight:

For increasing "finger endurance" (i.e. the feeling of fingers having no strength left after a number of fingery moves - felt this while trying Hannibal in the summer), would repeaters be the best exercise? Assuming 7 on 3 off for 6 or 8 reps, 3 sets is the protocol. Which size holds should I be using for half-crimp?

Thats what I've been doing Ross. I used a combination of a lattice/campus rung, bottom outside on the 2000 and the deep slot on the 2000. When I was going well on it a few weeks back I did  slot x 2, lattice rung x3, slot x2. The holds are large because I had a 10kg vest on, although I took that off when doing a set on the bottom outside!  7 secs on, 5 off (allows time to chalk up), x 7. Hope that helps.

[spidermonkey09]

Great to have that motivation brewing over the winter though, fuel to the fire.

Hoping it won't come to that, but you're not wrong!

[Coops_13]

Quick questions before I try it out tonight:

For increasing "finger endurance" (i.e. the feeling of fingers having no strength left after a number of fingery moves - felt this while trying Hannibal in the summer), would repeaters be the best exercise? Assuming 7 on 3 off for 6 or 8 reps, 3 sets is the protocol. Which size holds should I be using for half-crimp?

Thats what I've been doing Ross. I used a combination of a lattice/campus rung, bottom outside on the 2000 and the deep slot on the 2000. When I was going well on it a few weeks back I did  slot x 2, lattice rung x3, slot x2. The holds are large because I had a 10kg vest on, although I took that off when doing a set on the bottom outside!  7 secs on, 5 off (allows time to chalk up), x 7. Hope that helps.

Thanks mate, that's helpful

[cheque]

Almost surely neural. Inspiring logs btw, thanks for posting these

Cheers man, nerves are quite amazing. Glad you like my posts.

Assume your progress on the Furnace route could just be getting back to your "base level" again through actually doing some climbing, plus a bit of recruitment?

Yep, it’s just getting better at climbing by doing it. It’s the pace of improvement that’s amazing me and the timescale- it’s really not very long since I couldn’t do a 1b rockover and not long before that since I was getting out of bed by using my arms to swing my legs into position!

Purgatory.

Motherlode.

Firstly, I’m so jealous that you’re in the Red. I have such fond memories of those two crags- saw the biggest spider I’ve ever seen at Purgatory.

Secondly, watch you don’t spend your whole trip at just a few crags. There’s so many great spots and you can get between loads from the same “parking lots”. One of my fondest memories of my two trips is the day we did ten routes at ten different crags. My biggest regret is going to the ‘lode too much and putting too much energy into redpointing there.

[measles23]

Cheers Tom

66.2kg

M- nul
T- Griff’s soaked with condensation and seepage so went to Rubicon; unconvincing session on bigger belly, although can do the Johnny G move pretty much every go now..
Manchester Depot for a couple of hours comp prep for next week - bunch of V5 os and one V7
W- nul
T- Strength Asylum superset 1 armers/DL - 8 sets up to a couple of smooth singles at 200 - couldn’t get 215 off the floor - solid single 1 armers +2.5kg feeling tired
Stoke AW bulk middle grade comp prep - not really sparking
F- nul
S- Stoke AW evening session - handed in the “history of bouldering” timeline poster that boy and I had fun making for NIBAS 3 - bulk mid grade problems; climbing better than earlier in the weak and did a couple of V7s quickly..
S- Alton remembrance service; last minute panic trying to figure out how to wear gongs on a suit, as first Remembrance Day out of uniform.. Boy did Cub Scout procession/wreath laying

[lagerstarfish]

S- Stoke AW evening session - handed in the “history of bouldering” timeline poster that boy and I had fun making for NIBAS 3 - bulk mid grade problems; climbing better than earlier in the weak and did a couple of V7s quickly..