[shark]

11.1-3 Average 156.3 down 1.8lbs (target 152lbs)

M. Busy day and knackered from Sunday’s long drive back from Morzine. Had painful physio session with Louise as left shoulder feels out of sorts. Got flashed doing 35 in a 30 on Middlewood road. 

T. Still tired. Another busy day.

W. Malham. Following an update from Spidermonkey the previous evening I persuaded Paul to change venue from the Tor to Malham. FB warm up before I left and niggly elbow which I thought was mended immediately flared when I did some pull-ups on a sloper. Thankfully Paul drove. Got to Malham at lunchtime. Just us there to begin with. Cool and occasionally breezy at crag but drizzly, damp and rock a bit skiddy. Oak dry apart from undercut by third bolt as reported. Consenting x3 and F&EE x1 to warm up. Go 1 on Oak surprised myself by pulling on and climbing straight through to wet undercut. Dried undercut and did the rest in sections to put draws in and felt pretty good. Shortish rest and a second go and after one dry fire on start similarly got to undercut but it was wet again and came off. Did throw move second attempt and got thru to traverse left before shutting down. Longer rest. Go3 Hauled up to dry the undercut then came down and was able to climb to it but not pull on it as this time too tired. Go 4 Pulled up to third bolt then did throw to greasing off pulling into rest at start of top traverse - conditions had deteriorated. Busted by now so stripped it. Finished off with a short Fingerboard session on a portable board.

T. Tommy got A level results he needed for York.  Drove to Hull on business and felt shattered when I got back but Ben keen to go out. Debated going to try Bens Roof but went to Higgar as conditions looked ok for it despite Bens scepticism (he regretted not packing a jacket) About 14degrees and breezy so not too bad. Got angry failing on Sick  - 6A my arse. Got to work on start of Shit and eventually worked out a sequence doing all individual moves apart from final chuck for the nose on Piss as too tired by that point. Then tried to repeat Piss. Didn’t get it but had more power on the campus move than when I did it back in March. Left after 7pm. Midges coming out by then.

F. Rainy as forecast. With half an eye on going back to Malham on Monday I decided to train then have weekend off. Systems board. Warm up but then couldn’t do benchmark problem on crusher crimps as grip strength down so PE off the agenda so AeroCap instead. Did two sets of 20:10s timing 2 secs per move using metronome app. Did first set this way for 90 moves then last 30 at normal speed then managed whole of second set timed at 2secs per move which was promising as far better than when I tried this in April. (Need to do lots more of this to get in shape for RRG in Nov. My aim is to do 3 secs per move for 3 sets by then)

S.

S.

Overall an encouraging initial session on the Oak compared to previous years and I would probably have got to throw move twice if the undercut had been dry. Against that I did shut down rapidly so lacking depth as Paul commented though dieting and previous days physio may have been a contributing factor. Fingers felt strong and skin was excellent - no soreness which is unusual after an absence.

Dietary resolve faded somewhat on Friday and Saturday night. Niggly elbow not sore today but need to keep an eye on it.

If Spidermonkey’s report is ok I’ll drag Tommy to Malham with me on Monday but looks to be too hot for rest of week to go back. Booked in with Nick for Tor on Weds.

[monkoffunk]

Well done to Tommy!



STG - Sport projects. Do more DWS
Maintain Lose weight back 74kg.
MTG - Portland Font 7A+/B from unfinished list, autumn (or summer evenings).
LTG - 7C

M - Oakwood. Boulders. Some pretty good. Felt reasonably strong. Few circuits, not hard but I don’t feel fit right now.

T - Nothing.

W - Project. Boulders. Tried to get on board. So sweaty that could achieve very little. Very pinchy board. Lost a lot a skin. Didn’t feel like enough, so did some pull ups at home. Bit of yoga which was good.

T - Long day. Finished late.

F - Drove to Wales after work for stag do.

S - First activity of the day turned out to be abseiling which I always find slighting bemusing that people do as an activity in its own right, but I get the chance to climb the viaduct barefoot on top rope which was surprisingly good despite a bit of wet. Unfortunately fell a couple of times at half hight so not sure I can claim any form of FA. Sad times.

Some gorge walking and climbing up waterfalls after that. Skin in terrible state at the end.

S - Some kind of zip wire is the plan!

Hopefully get out to Portland tomorrow evening if the weather holds out. Bits of unfinished business to take a look at, be a good gauge of the fitness hopefully.

[Will Hunt]

Nowt.

[tomtom]

Nowt.

[Will Hunt]

Well, nothing strictly climbing related. I did a volunteering day with the YWT on Thursday which involved swinging huge hammers around and doing some sawing. This left my pinching muscles feeling absolutely wrecked for a few days after!

On Saturday I was performing Best Man duties at a friend's wedding, so spent a couple of nights in the week prepping a speech and going through it a couple of times so I could do it without notes, which bumped climbing. But all went well so time well spent. Had a fab do at the wedding having a good laugh with footwork and dunnyg of this quarter.

[tomtom]

Mon: Anston. Didn’t go near Alpha... spent a couple of hours working Reservation... a good couple of hours. Found some new beta - worked a couple of things out. Its moved from the maybe to the most likely/red point it category.

Tu: Work

We: Dire forecast... but managed to stay just north of the rain on my way back to Manchester with a 90 min session at Church crag. Sub ideal conditions - tacky and didn’t dry very well... worked and did the high traverse (very good problem) though hands greased off the bigger holds a couple of times. Tried to do the shield RH again and again, but kept greasing off the RH large hold... anyway - felt suitably worked which was a bonus as I wasn’t expecting anything. Traffic Dire - took two hours to get home...

Sa: Where to go... nearly went to Blackstone, but Shallow Grave at Trowbarrow was an itch that had to be scratched. I went, climbed well and didn’t do it. All the way up to the two crimps now feels toughish but completely wired - so its all progress but I might have to move away from it for a bit as its pissing me off....

[Steve R]

Double log as been a hectic (by my standards) time so didn't get round to it last week:

M - MV wall pm. did some of the new problems upstairs then board. felt good - great to have some snap back and quite a relief after feeling weak on it previous few weeks.
T- wall pm.  same again, good session.
W - packing/logistics
T- started drive to france
F-  finished drive to france.  some unpacking and sorting.
S- more sorting and attended a friend's wedding
S- some easy local sport

M - rest.  preparing house and kitchen for family guests.
T- rest. entertaining/cooking for above. 
W - some easy granite sport then 1 dog on Big Mac, a bouldery 8a+/b in Sabart cave.
T- Sabart again.  3 dogs on Big Mac.  coming together - all moves but think foot beta on crux needs refinement for the link.  Did a nice, quite short 7c (2nd go) up the back of the cave in between dogs.
F- Very hot day but went climbing in the evening.  Just did one route - a classic 7b, le secret at le carol.  Hot, greasy, airless, desperate ascent but brilliant route, place and experience.     
S- biked up my col (~10km and ~600m up) hot, felt hard.  seldom got out of bottom cog and up on pedals a lot on steeper sections due to feeble power output from sparrow legs.  Got home and ate kitchen, all very counterproductive for climbing but felt nice to open up lungs with clean air. 
S- max hangs on bm2k edge.  Then got reacquainted with my cellar board, felt unfamiliar at first but managed a couple of my old problems and fingers felt good.

Weight: weighing in on my (I fear more accurate) scales in France yields good news and bad news... good first - recent form on boulder problems outside, boards and training suggests I'm as strong as I've been (not saying much) in absolute terms.  The bad - I'm 77 and a fukin half kilo!     

[gollum]

 M - Got a plan for the week and now just need to execute it.
Steady 10k up and down the hills at home. Nice and easy work while listening to my book.

T - Push day. Bench for triples up to 100k followed by presses off the pins for singles up to 115k. This is starting on the rack, down to the safety bars, rest there and then press. It seems to work better than starting on the safety bars as you are in the right position to press. Very pleased with that. Then go on to shoulder presses for four reps and do last two sets at 50k, really grinding the reps out. Finish off with some explosive clapping press ups which I haven’t done in ages. All felt really good today.
Normal Tuesday evening at Depot. Start with some scapular mobility work, does feel like it’s starting to pay off a bit. Campus session. A little bit off the mark tonight but only by a fraction and feels less off than it has done lately. Repeaters session goes much better with 15k added for first set and then rest went to plan with all grips feeling solid enough.
Working on a project session. First problem goes okay, working my way through the moves, getting good links. Fingers too tired to do it again in one though. On second problem get to top move really quickly but then start to tire on my goes. By third problem I am shot, get most of the moves but not so much in the way of links.
Feels like a solid day and head getting back on it, just gotta wait for the body to catch up.

W - Deadlifts to start. Went really well and 140 was very steady so went for 160 and it flew up more easily than I can remember in a long time. Will add a bit more weight next time I’m trying to go heavy for me. Definitely very comfortable with conventional deadlifts these days although maybe I should still do the odd sumo lift for balance. Then go through some power rows, shrugs and Roman chair while I am stripping the bar down. Next onto some ultra strict pull ups with a tempo of 2 seconds up, 1 second at top, 2 down, 1 at bottom with a stretch. Brings the number of reps right down and do 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 with thirty seconds rest. Definitely feeling the effort. Finish off lifting with a couple of OAP on each arm for three sets and then some cable pulls to the waist. Get in some Achilles and shoulder rehab while I’m working too. Feels like a big day already. That’s more like it. Lunchtime repeater session on BM 2000 at Big Depot. All gripe are absolutely solid as a rock. After first few sets I shorten the rest down to a minute as well, so there is definitely progress going on. Treadmill 10 after work. Feels good.
Another good day for volume and psyche.

T- Push day and lots of picking things up and putting them down. Bench on the flat and decline for doubles working up to a very solid 100 on each. Then did triples on the bench with my feet up. 80 was solid enough but 90 just too unstable so stopped after 1 rep. Finished off the lifting with some German Volume Training shoulder presses. Got the weight just right I think as don’t think I could have completed if it was any heavier. I’d forgotten just how brutal this can be.
Lunch stretch and rehab stuff.
Evening session at the Depot. Playing with some of the yellows. Managed one and close to a couple more but was easily distracted repeating the purples that I really like before they disappear. Flashed another comp problem, having seen some beta that didn’t involve jumping, which I was pleased with and gives me a score I’m happy with and with a few weeks to try the remainder. A good session with a mix of fun and laughs and trying hard.

F - Pull day. Deadlifts and sumo deadlifts alternating goes. Got to 150 on both. Not lifted sumo for a while and knees felt like I hadn’t as well for about 5 minutes. May be time to dig out the knee sleeves if I continue with this. Standard shrugs, rows and lower back work to follow and then finished off with my Achilles rehab.
Lunchtime is a steady 10k to get the weekly mileage up where I want it to be.

S - Long run at a nice steady pace. 20 miles in just over 3 hours. Feels pretty good afterwards with only limited stiffness. Plan of running easy to allow me to run further seems to be working pretty well.

 S - Very easy recovery run was the plan. Set off up the road keeping heart rate low and then really just kept going until I had done a very slow but very comfort 10 miles.

A good week when things start to feel like I’m back on track and things will be good in a month’s time.

[spidermonkey09]

M - rest

T - Malham. Good conditions but struggled massively with nerves. First go up felt strong but somehow completely missed third undercut in boulder. Second go much better; hit and held crimp but foot slipped. Knackered third go so did a link instead. Another thing to contend with in redpoint nerves; got to just enjoy trying it and not stress about the outcome. Easier said than done but stand no chance getting that wrought up about it!

W - Depot. Definitely tired after previous day. Some circuits followed by campusing; couldn't match previous weeks efforts but did some reasonable sets. Repeated crimpy replica on board easily and moved on to foot on campusing in effort to regain some lost fitness. Probably a PB; 60 secs on, 30 secs off x 8, at a rate of one move per second. Needless to say I was brutally pumped by the end. Skin sore but stopped in time to avoid serious issues.

T - rest.

F - rest. Watched the monsoon from work with an impending feeling of doom.

S - Malham. Waited for report that the crag was somehow dry before heading over. Arrived to find the route dry and Ben/Al advising that conditions were good despite sun on the rock. Got warm and had a go in new shoes. Rinsed the boulder and proceeded up headwall without too many alarms. Made it through hard heel move before the pump became terminal. Fought really hard to close the crucial crimp and did so before coming off, matching my previous high point from June. Not too gutted as I did nothing wrong; just got pumped. A long rest and I gave it another go intending to just do some links on the headwall. To my immense surprise I made it through the boulder again with a massive, massive fight and scrapped up headwall feeling knackered the whole way. Rested for an age in undercuts attempting and failing to recover and unsurprisingly fell off hard heel move out of the rest. Can't be too annoyed with that; getting through the boulder twice in a day a real bonus; if that continues the route becomes a question of fitness.

S - back at Malham with Scott to do some fitness work. Conditions better if anything but more rain swirling around. Felt tired on boulder first go up and dropped it right at the end; caught the jug but didn't have the guns to hold the cut loose! Did good link through boulder all the way to big move at end of crux sequence and spent a while refining my sequence up there. Made one key change, using same holds but in a different order which should hopefully avoid having to pull on a bad crimp when pumped. After a long rest I planned to go up and blast my forearms until I couldn't hold on but somehow made it through boulder for the third time in the weekend with ease. Recovered well in kneebars and arrived at undercut rest feeling fresh. Left the rest feeling really good, pissed the hard heel move and felt good on crimps. Closed the crimp with a big effort, got foot on with a bit of a stab and set up for the big move to the incut crimp in the corner which marks the end of the hardest climbing on the route. Laid one on and watched as my fingers made the distance but landed just to the right of the crucial hold, and that was it; off I came. Gutting as really felt like that was the one. Scott rinsed Baboo which softened the blow but was gutted we weren't already in the pub to be honest!

A massive training weekend which has turned the route into a test of endurance. Three times through the boulder in a weekend beyond my wildest hopes for progress, along with a new high point last go, second day on. 4 goes up yielded 8b+, 8b+, bouldery 8b and another 8b+. Got to be pleased with that really although falling at final hurdle tough to take. Resting today and back tomorrow evening for a redpoint before a few days off in the Lake District. Keeping the faith!

[shark]

S - Long run at a nice steady pace. 20 miles in just over 3 hours.

That’s impressive banging that out -especially if you felt it was a steady pace. Have you run a marathon or do you intend to? In fact are you working to a plan and do you have goals you are training towards or is this just what you do?

 

[SA Chris]

Half marathon next weekend, so on running for a bit, then back to climbing training.

M - Run while Kyle at Athletics. Hill reps on the paths around the park. Felt OK, but surprised to find a tick on me.
T - Nothing. Train down to Glasgow for presentation.
W - Up at 6:30 luckily weather forecast wrong and still dry. Fast 6.5 km run to Cunningar Loop artifical boulders, fun half hour bouldering until I ran out of skin and it started raining a bit, which gave me an excuse to head back. Always have a good time on these boulders and they seem to be holding up well, apart from seems like local neds like throwing gravel / sand onto the top of them, so some topouts even have realistic luck based scrittle. Navigation error on the way (extra 1/2 km?) on 5 km home meant I had to miss breakfast and find out about wave energy opportunities on an empty stomach.
T - Nothing
F - Run home from work. Took a detour to make up 19km to station, where I realised van keys still at work, so an extra 4 km home. Knackered
S - Leg stretcher / jog with kids on bike.
S - Barbeque, ate too much, was good though. only 1 beer.

[SA Chris]

S - Long run at a nice steady pace. 20 miles in just over 3 hours.

That’s impressive banging that out -especially if you felt it was a steady pace. Have you run a marathon or do you intend to? In fact are you working to a plan and do you have goals you are training towards or is this just what you do?

 

What he said. That's a faster than steady pace to me.

[gollum]

S - Long run at a nice steady pace. 20 miles in just over 3 hours.

That’s impressive banging that out -especially if you felt it was a steady pace. Have you run a marathon or do you intend to? In fact are you working to a plan and do you have goals you are training towards or is this just what you do?

 

What he said. That's a faster than steady pace to me.

Thanks. It’s the pace that I can hold for quite a long time and can chat at. I’ve run a bit over the years but not as consistently as I do at the moment. My wife is the runner of the family.

My plan is to run Chester marathon in October, White Rose Ultra in November and then a few other bits of races working up to a 24 hour event next July near Leeds.

I am kinda working to a plan but as much as anything it’s just going with how I feel. At the moment there is quite a lot of volume but not much speed work. I think not hating treadmills helps as do lots of my running there. I like fells and treadmills but am not so keen on roads.

Trying to build up a base for when I retire and have things that keep me out of the house.

[SA Chris]

Which WRU are you doing, the 30 or the 60?

I'm signed up for Glen Ogle 33 in November, figured i need to do a 50km race in my 50th year.

Concentrating on volume before speed is a good approach, if longer distances are your aim.

[gollum]

Which WRU are you doing, the 30 or the 60?

The 30, I am fairly confident of being able to do it and was tempted to try the 60 as I wouldn’t be confident at all about that. It’s actually very close to home so will have done plenty of recces before November.

Glen Ogle looks like it’s on stunning trails in a great place. Good luck and hopefully your legs will be good for the ceilidh afterwards

[mr chaz]

Gollum, wtf do you eat for breakfast?! I need some

[Bradders]

Resting today and back tomorrow evening for a redpoint before a few days off in the Lake District. Keeping the faith!

Get it mate! We'll psyched reading that, fingers crossed for you.

[gollum]

 

Gollum, wtf do you eat for breakfast?! I need some

  Yoghurt or porridge. Lunch of chicken and cold beans is the key though....... every day.

[SA Chris]

Glen Ogle looks like it’s on stunning trails in a great place. Good luck and hopefully your legs will be good for the ceilidh afterwards

I think I'll be propping up the bar with a medicinal malt or two.

GO is recommended as a good first ultra, great scenery and good fun. Dee 33 here in Aberdeen is supposed to be easier physically but it's a there and back on a route i know so well the boredom would kill me. Glen Lyons is another one supposed to be good, but it was the weekend after London Marathon so probably not sensible.

[gollum]

Cheers, I will have a look for the future.

Enjoy the medicinal malt.

[duncan]

Summer (English version) still seemed present and correct where I was this weekend. Breezy on both days though and by late afternoon the conditions were better for climbing than picnicking. Autumn approaches... 

Good luck spidermonkey, I enjoy these updates even though it’s a long way from damp sea-cliffs and warm grit.

STG: enjoy climbing, don’t get injured, try an E4.
MTG/LTG: tbc

M - Shoulder strength: IsYsTs, pull-ups. Hip and knee strength: squats, pistols.
T - Westway routes to 6c. L. shoulder felt a bit crunchy, so shorter session than planned.
W - Fingerboard max. hangs. Shoulder strength: IsYsTs
T - Shoulder strength: IsYsTs. Hip and knee strength. Weighted pull-ups to 20kg.
F - Hip flexibility stuff.
S - Birchen Edge with the lad. Soloed some easy routes and played on the Three Ships. Spotted caterpillars and butterflies. Long day but the lad was fine with the 3 hour drive and he enjoyed the climbing despite finding warm grit quite awkward. He’s not the only one.
S - Shoulder strength: IsYsTs. Posh picnic and opera in Sussex. 

Good day out with the lad, normalising the ludicrous behaviour of London-based climbers.

Realised I’ve lost the habit and only done 4 shoulder strength sessions in the last two months, so it shouldn’t be surprising the left (dislocated) shoulder started feeling not quite right again. Will get back on the routine with this.

Trialing weighted pull-ups. I’ve always considered them a bit “personal trainer” and not relevant to my climbing but my basic strength needs a kick up the arse and changing this is not easy at my age. Steep bouldering is the classical solution and I’ve never done much so there is potential for improvement here. My rationale for avoiding it has always been the low transferability to ledge shuffling versus the high likelihood of being put out of service for three months. If I’m honest, it's also because I find it hard and dispiriting. The plan is to do some not-very-specific strength work (weighted fingerboard and pull-ups) then proceed cautiously on a steeper board over the winter.

Looking forward to  a long weekend in Pembroke with AJM. I’ve had mixed fortunes here recently, trying to overcompensate with climbing for other areas of life. Will try not to get too attached to achievement ... but an E4 would be nice...   

[tommytwotone]

Goal - one for new (to me) outdoor 7a to make it 3 for the year.


Second week of partner and kids being away in Scotland, leaving me on my tod. Sadly, not loads to report as I spent a lot of the week getting the house ship-shape to put it up for sale.


F: early finish from work and off to Pudsey Depot. Good session trying stuff at limit (and above). Managed to get up a couple of (V5-7_ purples, one flash and one second go.


Only other thing worthy of note is I put myself on a weighing machine at Boots on Saturday and since I last did it 2 months ago the verdict is:

• Weight: down to 67.4kg from 67.7kg (woop)
• BMI: down to 23.3 from 23.7 (woop)
• Body Fat %: UP to 18.9% from 14.2% (WTF?!)
• Body Fat Mass: UP to 12.7kg from 9.6kg (WTF?!)

In football management cliche terms, I think I'll "take the positives" from that then...

[andy_e]

Hmm, I'd wondered if that was you at the Depot on Friday briefly wearing the ape index t-shirt before going tops off for power...

[tommytwotone]

Indeed it was - 18.9% body fat of "Dad bod" out for power!


I did wonder if that was you as well. I will say hello next time...

[SA Chris]

normalising the ludicrous behaviour of London-based climbers.

At the crag on the day? Or in general?

[Nibile]

• Weight: down to 67.4kg from 67.7kg (woop)
• BMI: down to 23.3 from 23.7 (woop)
• Body Fat %: UP to 18.9% from 14.2% (WTF?!)
• Body Fat Mass: UP to 12.7kg from 9.6kg (WTF?!)

You've lost weight via losing muscle mass. It's a common effect of every "normal" dieting plan.
It goes to show that just watching the weight is highly overrated, especially for sports purposes.

[duncan]

normalising the ludicrous behaviour of London-based climbers.

At the crag on the day? Or in general?

I was referring to the insane time us Londoners spend travelling versus time on rock. 

At-the-crag behaviour all was very good, although the closest person to a southerner was from Northampton which probably explains this.

[Coops_13]

T: Spot Denver. Warmed up then got on the Kilter board. First experience of this and first board climbing since finger injury. Set to 45Deg, finger held up! Did a V3, two V4s and three V5s. Finger starting to complain and skin sore so went to weights. Squat up to 205lb X2 (PB). Also did some lighter squats to lower depth (been using a bench to stop me going low to help knee). Bench up to 185lb. As walking to get water, I stepped on a nail which was lying around at the wall Psyche dropped after that...

W: Tetanus Shot...

T: Had planned to get out but Tetanus shot on Wednesday meant my arm was dead

F: Guanella Pass after-work solo session. Warmed up on the usual problems including Far Left V4 (new one for me). Moved onto Love Matters which has been touted at V8/9 since the last break. Sounds like 7B+ to me… Felt stronger on it and did the first few moves I'm not sure I linked before. Had some burns before others who were there left. Managed to send solo, psyched. Hardest boulder of 2019 so far and definitely one of the best.


S: Hiking up Mount Bierstadt 14,065ft. First 14er along with half of the US. Grim amount of people but nice to be out..

S: Lincoln Lake. Back to Powder Keg V7, felt much easier than before which is good. Fell off the top move a few times using whack beta before putting it to bed. Moved on to 8=D V8 which was a bit too awkward to be fun. Finished the day having a play on Tangerine Man V8 an amazing long climb with some funky moves. Definitely need to come back when fresh for this.


Psyched to be able to get out so much and be putting things down. Going to be away in the week the next couple of weeks so will be confined to weekend climbing. Summer still very much around in CO though I am fearful of it ending!

[abarro81]

• Weight: down to 67.4kg from 67.7kg (woop)
• BMI: down to 23.3 from 23.7 (woop)
• Body Fat %: UP to 18.9% from 14.2% (WTF?!)
• Body Fat Mass: UP to 12.7kg from 9.6kg (WTF?!)

You've lost weight via losing muscle mass. It's a common effect of every "normal" dieting plan.
It goes to show that just watching the weight is highly overrated, especially for sports purposes.

All those measurements will probably be within daily fluctuations and measurement error, e.g. depending on how much salt you've eaten how hydrated you are etc. It'll have very little to do with anything real

p.s. muscle mass isn't always good

[SA Chris]

I was referring to the insane time us Londoners spend travelling versus time on rock. 

Ah OK. Yep I know how tough it is. I have to walk a full fifteen minutes to the nearest bouldering, trad or sport to my house, but a full extra ten minutes to the DWS.

(shame a lot of it is shite).

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - weights. Forearms still tired.
Tue - rest.
Wed - rest.
Thu - weights, bar work.
Fri - light heavy bag, light weights.
Sat - weights.
Sun - rest.

With regards to T2T post, the weights and BMI variations are surely marginal, the other two aren't and seem more related to longer term changes. Given an accurate measurement.
And yes, for general health muscle mass is - to some extent - always good. Metabolism depends on muscle mass and my sports physician always tells me that the most important thing is to always keep or increase muscle mass over the years. This is related to the effects of age, lower testosterone production, physiological loss of lean mass, etc. To fight this process we need to work on muscle mass, not against it.
In any case, I'm not going to embark in a pro-muscles crusade, surely people on here know exactly what they're doing and - especially - why.

[tommytwotone]

• Weight: down to 67.4kg from 67.7kg (woop)
• BMI: down to 23.3 from 23.7 (woop)
• Body Fat %: UP to 18.9% from 14.2% (WTF?!)
• Body Fat Mass: UP to 12.7kg from 9.6kg (WTF?!)

You've lost weight via losing muscle mass. It's a common effect of every "normal" dieting plan.
It goes to show that just watching the weight is highly overrated, especially for sports purposes.

All those measurements will probably be within daily fluctuations and measurement error, e.g. depending on how much salt you've eaten how hydrated you are etc. It'll have very little to do with anything real

p.s. muscle mass isn't always good

Aye - I'd assumed as much. The jump in body fat was a bit disappointing as I've been off the ale for a month now - though I have I think been compensating by eating a lot more crap than usual.



Plus - I know we've never met Nibile, but safe to say, if we ever do, I don't think that when you clap eyes on me the word "muscle" will be the one that immediately springs to mind!

[Nibile]

 
On a side note, by the tone of your post, I wrongly assumed that you were on a caloric deficit of some sort or on a weight-loss plan.
I think I was wrong.
Would be interesting to know how much time passed between the two measurements and what changes happened in muscle mass.

[cheque]

Rehab Diaries Week Fifty-two

STG- Sub-HVS *** Peak Trad list (11/27 remain), onsighting HVS/ low 6s by end of September.

M- Stoney with my girlfriend who is coincidentally also called Stoney. Target: Sin. It's a 25m VS corner crack, the concensus on which is that it's very good, 4c all the way and has good gear. I reckoned at least two of those statements would need appending with the caveat "for Stoney" but felt confident anyway. Stoney (the woman) laughs at me for making very long-winded ascents of the routes off my list and I was genuinely confident of being able to prove her wrong. After udging up the chimney that leads to the ledge at the start of the route I still felt good but this did not last long- the first 6 or so metres of the route is very goey; bridging on polished holds that weren't as good as I'd like and I found the moves to exit this to what looked like an in-balance point highly inscrutable. Cue much up&downing as my feet got very pumped each time I searched for a solution.

I did not feel warmed-up at all and not even really up for it so decided to have "one last look" before downclimbing, taking the gear out as I went and going home in the daylight for our tea. I then did the move and found myself, not quite in-balance, fiddling a wire into one of those fucking Stoney cracks that wires simultaneously seem to sit in properly but also not be seated in effectively at all and make a weird hollow sound as you rattle them about around in there. It was at this point that I remembered why it's more then seven years since I did trad here- last time I fell almost the height of the crag head-first in a gear-ripping, belayer incompetence-related fall.  I thought I heard a helicopter overhead but it was just the sounds of the road being twisted by my fear-addled brain.

Climbing the route actually went alright- the rests come between the hard moves as you'd expect for a VS and although I felt irrationally scared, faffed about and overgripped all the way I thought I would do it. High up I made a tough sequence upward thinking I'd be in balance stood on a spike ready to place gear and figure out what would probably the final challenging bit but once I was up there I plain panicked- the only holds available were shiny thin handjams that wouldn't keep me from hinging backwards and I was committed. I put loads of energy into reversing breathlessly back as far as I could knowing I would fall in the process but somehow didn't and found myself back at the ledge at the start of the sequence, panting. It looked like there was still miles to the top. I was done. It was starting to go dark. I felt sick. Fuck this.

I put an extra runner in and gingerly weighted the rope to be lowered by my fully-briefed (and now freezing cold) belayer. As this happened one of my pieces popped out. Not the top piece but I can do without that sort of thing happening as I lower off, to say the least . Once I'd gibbered to the floor I went up to set up an ab for the gear (not a quick process at Stoney- it involves going up a big Diff chimney/ mud chute and locating the top of your route via brambly paths. As there's nothing fixed at the top of Sin you have to do this twice to avoid leaving gear) and to my immense displeasure found that right where I'd panicked there's a good sidepull edge in one of the cracks and you're very close to the top. I'd basically done the route.   

T- Lawrencefield with Erm, Sam. Didn't feel up to climbing much but I never refuse an invite to get out. Sam'll hate me for publicising it but he made a smooth ascent of Suspense. I attempted to improve on my previous attempt to second it (Spring 2017) which involved one fall on the headwall.  This time I found every single move tough and some of them impossible- literally had to be winched up a lot of the headwall (on a guide plate- following the knowledge I gained on the multipitch tactics thread and this demonstration I decided to get one myself) and I pulled on the peg at the top. Also felt a bit scared. Not sure how much of this inability was due to being tired from the night before and how much due to just being rubbish but the only positive I came away with was that if/ when I lead the route it will be extra satisfying.

W- Rest.

T- Five Clouds with Sam. Crabbie's Crack is my route here- the first one I tried from my list, , but also one of the hardest- it gets HVS on UKC. The crux involves both bridging and rocking up onto a smeary high left foot to get up into the hanging crack so it's no wonder I couldn't contemplete committing to it way back at the end of March. This time would surely be different!

It took me a while to get some good gear in and make a plan, which necessitated going up and down from a good ledge a fair few times to avoid a flash pump but I was confident and ready to commit. When I did so I got my right jamming-gove hooked on the gate of the crab on my highest cam.  Sam taking my weight on the rope pinned my hand behind the rope, basically hanging me from it without an easy way to get it unhooked. It took a good few minutes to free it.

Next go up I got through the crux to the bit where you exit the crack onto a little ledge. This involves laybacking. I didn't commit, freaked out and lowered off. Not great. Next go it was going dark but I just needed to commit to getting up onto the ledge. Headtorch on, let's do this. I got way up, very close to getting up there but my timid attmpts to do it without laybacking meant that I'd buried a jam in the crack I was leaving, I hadn't brought my left foot up at all and I was therefore in an impossible position. I slumped onto the the gear but my jamming-gloved hand remained deep in the crack, above my head, above the gear I was hanging from and with most of my weight hanging from it. This was the same hand as before and after 11+ years of climbing without this bullshit happening to me, it was now happening twice in an evening. Much swearing and grunting ensued.

Thanks to Sam for this picture of me after I'd lowered down.   



I seconded Sam on the route and found it steady- climbed completely differently with the rope above. Lots to think about on the drive home.

F- Rest. Bought a guide plate. 

S- Kinder South-eastern edges with Reeve (of this quarter) and fellow debilitating trauma survivor Marie. A big day as we couldn't park where we wanted to so went up and down in a huge loop- up Crowden Clough, down below Ringing Roger if anyone's interested. The sixth time I'm been up Kinder this year but hopefully not the last. I forgot my shoes  but luckily Reeve had a pair of Scarpas that fitted me fine. Very strong wind on top made it colder as the afternoon went on and I was freezing before seconding Upper Tor Wall (9 years after I led it on the first day I climbed on Kinder) as a warm up.

The main event was Flash Wall, the only route on my list I'd never seen in the flesh. It's a ~20m quarried(!) vertical wall following a crack system that gets very wide at the top. I knew it's reputation as one of those routes that would be a grade higher if it wasn't very well protected but that didn't fully explain how nervous I felt before setting off- rarely have I felt so shaky pre-route . If I hadn't been belayed by an extremely patient psychologist I would probably have backed off in the first 6 metres but Reeve got me back into the midset that I've enjoyed climbing trad in for most of this year - not fast by any means but with a measured calmness that had completely abandoned me on Monday evening.

This got me to the crux, near the top of the wall, in a great and confident state of mind. Unfortunately every way I attempted to solve it felt improbably tough and I just couldn't make myself commit to a move I felt sure I'd fall off. After a lot of attempts over an incredibly long time I'd completely worn myself out and for the third time in six days I was in a situation where it was going dark and my mates were freezing to death while I fucked about so I came down. There was solid gear so when on the ground I realised that I should have at least taken a little fall off it but hindsight is an fantastic thing.

Seconding the route I discovered that unlike Crabbie's Crack I couldn't even top-rope the crux move! It's quite a route Flash Wall- definitely the toughest on my list that I've been on and one of the best too. I could blame not wearing my own shoes, the extreme wind, getting huge bits of scrittle in my eye, being knackered from climbing four times in a week for the first time post-accident or other stuff (fans of Burnley FC manager Shaun Dyche may appreciate how I just claimed not to be making excuses while making four excuses) but I'm happy to admit that it's just too hard for me. Realistically speaking I won't be back on it this year. 

S- Rest. So sore and knackered. Ate about 3000 calories.

Got out climbing four days this week.  I owe August an apology as I completely slagged it last week but, despite a lot of rain and gales, this week has also had some beautiful evenings and lovely temps consistently. In a few weeks time after-work climbing will be a fantasy so it's great to make the most of it.

As much as I'd love to tick all my list by the end of this year I'm going to chill out on it because it's just got me into a ridiculous situation of trying trad routes that are at my mental limit with little or no warm-up day after day, testing belayers' patience and having an attritional effect on me physically as well as mentally. I'm on my third visit to some of these VSs now which is absurd as it's not meant to be some sort of headpoint project, in fact the original aims were-

-Prevent the “all the routes I can climb are shit or I’ve done them before” malaise that I’ve known to affect other injury-weakened trad climbers.

-Get my trad head/ efficiency/ fluency back

-Get me out to crags I’ve never or seldom visited before (with some leg-strengthening approaches in there too)

-Make me better at the steep crack climbs style that I’ve often avoided

-Have a good time with my mate who I used to do trad with all the time

I ticked all of those months ago but have rolled back on the second one a bit this week. Need to take it steady and just focus on having a good time to regain it.

[nai]

M - had spent Sunday's session musing that it was probably a bad idea to do an intensive PE session on what you planned to be the first day on of three. Unsurprisingly it was and rest seemed the sensible option.

T - garage bouldering, finding doing five minute blocks of decreasing intensity quite effective. After warming up I start off working single all out moves, then tryng to link, then 6-8 moves and finally a long problem.

TRX
Core

W AnCap, 12 reps, failed 8, 10, 11 & 12 at various points. Love this workout, pull and pull 'til you power out
Core

Th rest

Fri repeat of Tuesday but was feeling tired after 3 hard sessions in 4 days, wasn't completing the problems but still felt like I was working hard
TRX
Core

Eve - drove to wife's sisters in Scotland

Sat - big day at Edinburgh Fringe, on feet for hours, saw a couple of shows and took in the street entertainment. Absolutely knackerd, fell asleep on sofa before MOTD had even started.

Sun - rested hard.

[tomtom]

Good post Cheque.

[SA Chris]

Sat - big day at Edinburgh Fringe, on feet for hours, saw a couple of shows and took in the street entertainment. Absolutely knackerd, fell asleep on sofa before MOTD had even started.

We did 2 days of Fringe with 2 kids, including walking out to EICC to see Elements of Freestyle. They were wiped.

[lagerstarfish]

Got angry failing on Sick  - 6A my arse.

at least it's not a five anymore

https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,16633.msg292932.html#msg292932

[nai]

We did 2 days of Fringe with 2 kids, including walking out to EICC to see Elements of Freestyle. They were wiped.

We had kids with us, they seemed fine but all four adults flaked out early

[shark]

Got angry failing on Sick  - 6A my arse.

at least it's not a five anymore

https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,16633.msg292932.html#msg292932

 

Can't even play the short card if Ru thought it was 5+

[spidermonkey09]

Some of the hardest problem's I've ever done have been 5+, especially in font! If I'm correct in thinking that this is referring to the original Vertebrate Peak bouldering guide (the one with Ben Moon on the front), then loads of stuff in that guide is totally sandbagged! Still the best around though.

[tomtom]

Got angry failing on Sick  - 6A my arse.

at least it's not a five anymore

https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,16633.msg292932.html#msg292932

 

Can't even play the short card if Ru thought it was 5+

Maybe you're not strong enough? :p

[Johnny Brown]

Got angry failing on Sick  - 6A my arse.

at least it's not a five anymore

https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,16633.msg292932.html#msg292932

 

Can't even play the short card if Ru thought it was 5+

Might have been my fault that. I have a method which is trivially easy.