[Will Hunt]

I think the issue is that there aren't really any big holds on the board. There's some blue things which form part of the warm up but they're more like little dishes than big sinkers. Some of the wooden things are a bit open-handed but there's not so many of them that you can really make up a variety of easy problems.

Maybe it's just McLeod putting the fear in me. I've never really had a finger injury other than a bit of tenderness in the pulleys that vanishes after a couple of weeks away from focussed crimping. I'd quite like to keep it that way and the book is very scolding of ignoring what your body is telling you.

Anyway, Nick has sent some helpful photos demonstrating an open handed grip on the slots - so yes it is possible.

[spidermonkey09]

M - core. Abripperx. Bit of DOMS the next day.

T- max hangs. Really good session. Success on 5kg assist. Experimented with max 3 finger drag hangs at the end and got down 1.25kg assist on the left and 2.5 on the right. Think i could habe probably managed it on both at the start of the session. Shoulder stability serms to be improving. TRX to finish.

W- repeaters. Changed the protocol on the anderson hangs so i do the heavier weights at the start. Completed set on bottom outside +6.25kg baseweight, slopers +1.25kg base, battery edge 3FD +2.5kg and the deep pockets at body weight.

T- rest.

F- max hangs. Felt weak from the start, especially in left arm which was weird as i am usually stronger on that one. Attempted 3.75 assist but predictably failed. Complete set but most hangs feautured poor form and/or an early drop off. Finished with the 3FD hangs which were quite consistent. Was pissed off at the lockdown today so hoping I can blame the poor session on that.

S- very warm repeaters. Succeeded on battery edge with +6.25kg base. Attempted +2.5kg on the 10mm but felt hard. Slopers with 2.5kg also hard in the heat but not bad considering. Finished with a bodyweight 3FD set on the bottom outside edge which felt ok but was definitely tired by this stage.

S- rest.

Another week goes by. Good progress and think the poor max hangs session was an abberration. Will do one later and see! Hopeful of going to do some traversing somewhere later in the week but will wait for the BMC response.

[Duma]

MoF - if I read yr post right you're doing one armed repeaters on the middle edge (on a bm2000? In which case it's 24mm ish) with 15kg assistance, but your best 10s one arm hang is 12.5kg assistance? That can't be right, is that on a different edge?

I’ve been experimenting with taking off weight, did the repeaters at start of the week with -15kg, and then tried taking off less weight for single rep hangs. I could definitely do -13.75kg on Sunday but not better, on Friday I’m pretty sure I managed one -12.5kg. The repeaters did feel like maybe I could have less assistance I think!

Sorry, maybe I'm being thick - it sounds like you're doing 6:4 repeaters at only a kg or so less assistance than your max 10s hang?? That's not right surely, or am I just weird?

[monkoffunk]

MoF - if I read yr post right you're doing one armed repeaters on the middle edge (on a bm2000? In which case it's 24mm ish) with 15kg assistance, but your best 10s one arm hang is 12.5kg assistance? That can't be right, is that on a different edge?

I’ve been experimenting with taking off weight, did the repeaters at start of the week with -15kg, and then tried taking off less weight for single rep hangs. I could definitely do -13.75kg on Sunday but not better, on Friday I’m pretty sure I managed one -12.5kg. The repeaters did feel like maybe I could have less assistance I think!

Sorry, maybe I'm being thick - it sounds like you're doing 6:4 repeaters at only a kg or so less assistance than your max 10s hang?? That's not right surely, or am I just weird?

Hmmm, what’s normal? Maybe I’ve made a mistake somewhere!

[duncan]

Why not just climb on big holds on your board until you are happy with how your pulleys feel? This will get the blood flowing and probably be better ‘active rest’ than fingerboarding.

Gradually increasing the load on the hurty bit - not too much and not too little - is a primary aim of rehab. The advantage of fingerboarding is it's easier to be like Gollidilocks. A very minor tweak might be fine with using bigger holds on the board. With a more significant injury it might be better to back off and just use the fingerboard for a bit before easing back onto the board where the loads are a lot more unpredictable.   

[JohnM]

Good work everyone. I worry for the UK rock after this lockdown with how hard people are going to be pulling down! I have definitely felt the benefits of being forced to train some basic strength during the shorter lockdown here in Austria. I need a self-imposed strength gain lockdown every quarter!

Weight: 142-145lbs

M: Repeaters (6 seconds on 4 off for a minute x 6 with 1.5 minute rests). My fingers felt good but my fingerboard hanging of the pullup bar setup means I have to lift my legs up and engage the core. This felt brutal after running 100km the day before. Put together a very amateur vid documenting my 100km run here:



T: Wanted to do a power endurance session such as the one Neil Gresham posted on Insta. Basically mixing repeaters with a minute of pullups and leg raises for 6 minutes then with 8 minutes rest. I completely underestimated how hard this would be and skipped Neil's calibration part (20-30 pullups on the edge of choice) and went straight to body weight on a 15mm edge. Failed in the first set so decided to calibrate on a 30mm edge. Managed 15 pullups with 6kg assistance and then 17 with 8kg assistance and then realised I was just too exhausted for this kind of training so stopped.

W: After work climbing session at Müll. Tried a 7c but it was boiling hot and the crux revolved around a dyno or static lock off a heel using a very glassy sloper. I could do the move off the rope every time but by the time I got there from the ground I could barely deadhang the sloper!

T: Climbing at Schleier Wasserfall. Finished off a cool 30m 8a with a hard boulder in the sky and then onsighted the classic Skywalk. This is never 7b but I guess classics almost never get upgraded!

F: After work climbing session at Kofnertal. This is Angy Eiter's local crag near Imst that she seems keen to publicise on Insta as a quiet place to go at the moment. It was a nice crag situated in a narrow wooded river valley and we were the only ones there so it was quiet! Put the draws in an 8a with a tough boulder right at the top. Surprised myself by getting though the boulder on the first RP only to realise I never bothered checking the final clip. Found myself out to the right unable to reach it before executing the final on-off mantle. The braver me would have just kept going and tried the mantle diagonally way above the last draw I had clipped, but the braver me is still in lockdown so I just jumped off. Go 2 I messed up the feet on the boulder. Go 3 I got though the hardest part of the boulder but the rope had wrapped itself around my leg. Fail.

S: Nice trail run - finally with another friend and his dog. 21km with 1700m height gain.

S: Schleier Wasserfall. Tried Hoanata Haltling an 8b+. I had been putting off trying anything above 8a+ in the last month as I wasn't ready to take a spanking. This went better than expected though after I found a sequence though the hardest first 4 bolts. Probably a Font 7C boulder followed by a 7c/+ route with really cool big moves between pockets and huecos in grey limestone. Had one decent RP but then my skin was trashed as the holds are small and it was very warm. It should hopefully  go on a cloudy day with a bit of a breeze (crux sequence in vid below). Finally tried to onsight the classic Schwing dei Ding but I chickened out of the diagonal "run out" at the crux. Seems to be a problem for me at the moment!



A pretty good week with some increased volume on rock and getting a couple of things ticked. I was pretty exhausted on Monday and Tuesday after running big on the weekend but bounced back to normal after that. Need to try and fit in some max. hangs this week but it is hard with the increased rock climbing to get rested and deal with very sore skin. Could be worse I suppose!

[Duma]

MoF - if I read yr post right you're doing one armed repeaters on the middle edge (on a bm2000? In which case it's 24mm ish) with 15kg assistance, but your best 10s one arm hang is 12.5kg assistance? That can't be right, is that on a different edge?

I’ve been experimenting with taking off weight, did the repeaters at start of the week with -15kg, and then tried taking off less weight for single rep hangs. I could definitely do -13.75kg on Sunday but not better, on Friday I’m pretty sure I managed one -12.5kg. The repeaters did feel like maybe I could have less assistance I think!

Sorry, maybe I'm being thick - it sounds like you're doing 6:4 repeaters at only a kg or so less assistance than your max 10s hang?? That's not right surely, or am I just weird?

Hmmm, what’s normal? Maybe I’ve made a mistake somewhere!

Well (and this is for 2 arms) the hardest repeaters session on the lattice app is at 80% of total max load (though they test max at 7s not 10), but you're doing them at around 95% - 98% depending on body weight.
Seems either you've got more in the tank on max hangs, or yr anpow (or whatever it is) is outrageously good in comparison.
Or I've misunderstood...

[monkoffunk]

MoF - if I read yr post right you're doing one armed repeaters on the middle edge (on a bm2000? In which case it's 24mm ish) with 15kg assistance, but your best 10s one arm hang is 12.5kg assistance? That can't be right, is that on a different edge?

I’ve been experimenting with taking off weight, did the repeaters at start of the week with -15kg, and then tried taking off less weight for single rep hangs. I could definitely do -13.75kg on Sunday but not better, on Friday I’m pretty sure I managed one -12.5kg. The repeaters did feel like maybe I could have less assistance I think!

Sorry, maybe I'm being thick - it sounds like you're doing 6:4 repeaters at only a kg or so less assistance than your max 10s hang?? That's not right surely, or am I just weird?

Hmmm, what’s normal? Maybe I’ve made a mistake somewhere!

Well (and this is for 2 arms) the hardest repeaters session on the lattice app is at 80% of total max load (though they test max at 7s not 10), but you're doing them at around 95% - 98% depending on body weight.
Seems either you've got more in the tank on max hangs, or yr anpow (or whatever it is) is outrageously good in comparison.
Or I've misunderstood...

Sure. It might be because I haven't tested anything, I've just been making it up slightly arbitrarily. I'll try again tomorrow, see what happens.

[Coops_13]

M: Lower body workout, focusing on Glutes and Hammies followed by TA-focused core

T: Lower body stretching. 30 pull-ups. One arm max hangs, 7s holds. R 3 sets -20lb, 3 sets -25lb. L 6 sets -30lb. Finger Curl hypertrophy 40lb. Weighted pull-ups +40lb X5 3 sets, +60lb X3 4 sets. Didn't want to go heavier on the doorframe pull-up bar

W: 2 mile run, 18:53. Max HR 209 but kept HR in zone 4 for majority of run. PR for the final 400m sprint.
Front Lever Level 2 exercises 3 sets. Biceps, shoulders, front and lateral raise 3 sets. 100 press-ups

T: Pistol Squat progressions, ankle stretches, elevated touchdown squats X8 3 sets, elevated single-leg sweep squat X5 3 sets.
30 pull-ups, Beastly 6C repeaters, Lower body stretching

F: 1.5 mile run, 13:52. Max HR 187

S: Camp Dick. 4X4 road closed due to snow, road to campground closed to stop people camping during virus. This made for a 5 mile walk-in to the boulders up to an altitude of 9,900ft. Lots of snow to negotiate and 900ft ascent, more postholing than I'd like. Found the boulders to be dry and amazing, psyched. Managed to flash Ball That Jack V5 before moving onto an amazing looking V8 Put Some Hair Around It. Did all the moves and was close to sending but too exhausted I think. Walk out was even more grim as the snow had softened further. Watch said I'd burnt 2,500 calories on the hiking alone. Destroyed after this but mega day


S: 4 mile hike near Boulder with pup, 600ft ascent

Amazing day out at Camp Dick, keen to return when the snow's melted a bit

[spidermonkey09]

Good work everyone. I worry for the UK rock after this lockdown with how hard people are going to be pulling down! I have definitely felt the benefits of being forced to train some basic strength during the shorter lockdown here in Austria. I need a self-imposed strength gain lockdown every quarter!

Weight: 142-145lbs

M: Repeaters (6 seconds on 4 off for a minute x 6 with 1.5 minute rests). My fingers felt good but my fingerboard hanging of the pullup bar setup means I have to lift my legs up and engage the core. This felt brutal after running 100km the day before. Put together a very amateur vid documenting my 100km run here:



T: Wanted to do a power endurance session such as the one Neil Gresham posted on Insta. Basically mixing repeaters with a minute of pullups and leg raises for 6 minutes then with 8 minutes rest. I completely underestimated how hard this would be and skipped Neil's calibration part (20-30 pullups on the edge of choice) and went straight to body weight on a 15mm edge. Failed in the first set so decided to calibrate on a 30mm edge. Managed 15 pullups with 6kg assistance and then 17 with 8kg assistance and then realised I was just too exhausted for this kind of training so stopped.

W: After work climbing session at Müll. Tried a 7c but it was boiling hot and the crux revolved around a dyno or static lock off a heel using a very glassy sloper. I could do the move off the rope every time but by the time I got there from the ground I could barely deadhang the sloper!

T: Climbing at Schleier Wasserfall. Finished off a cool 30m 8a with a hard boulder in the sky and then onsighted the classic Skywalk. This is never 7b but I guess classics almost never get upgraded!

F: After work climbing session at Kofnertal. This is Angy Eiter's local crag near Imst that she seems keen to publicise on Insta as a quiet place to go at the moment. It was a nice crag situated in a narrow wooded river valley and we were the only ones there so it was quiet! Put the draws in an 8a with a tough boulder right at the top. Surprised myself by getting though the boulder on the first RP only to realise I never bothered checking the final clip. Found myself out to the right unable to reach it before executing the final on-off mantle. The braver me would have just kept going and tried the mantle diagonally way above the last draw I had clipped, but the braver me is still in lockdown so I just jumped off. Go 2 I messed up the feet on the boulder. Go 3 I got though the hardest part of the boulder but the rope had wrapped itself around my leg. Fail.

S: Nice trail run - finally with another friend and his dog. 21km with 1700m height gain.

S: Schleier Wasserfall. Tried Hoanata Haltling an 8b+. I had been putting off trying anything above 8a+ in the last month as I wasn't ready to take a spanking. This went better than expected though after I found a sequence though the hardest first 4 bolts. Probably a Font 7C boulder followed by a 7c/+ route with really cool big moves between pockets and huecos in grey limestone. Had one decent RP but then my skin was trashed as the holds are small and it was very warm. It should hopefully  go on a cloudy day with a bit of a breeze (crux sequence in vid below). Finally tried to onsight the classic Schwing dei Ding but I chickened out of the diagonal "run out" at the crux. Seems to be a problem for me at the moment!



A pretty good week with some increased volume on rock and getting a couple of things ticked. I was pretty exhausted on Monday and Tuesday after running big on the weekend but bounced back to normal after that. Need to try and fit in some max. hangs this week but it is hard with the increased rock climbing to get rested and deal with very sore skin. Could be worse I suppose!

Dream week John! Youre right, could definitely be worse!  great effort on the run. Horrifying.

[36chambers]

S: Camp Dick. 4X4 road closed due to snow, road to campground closed to stop people camping during virus. This made for a 5 mile walk-in to the boulders up to an altitude of 9,900ft. Lots of snow to negotiate and 900ft ascent, more postholing than I'd like. Found the boulders to be dry and amazing, psyched. Managed to flash Ball That Jack V5 before moving onto an amazing looking V8 Put Some Hair Around It. Did all the moves and was close to sending but too exhausted I think. Walk out was even more grim as the snow had softened further. Watch said I'd burnt 2,500 calories on the hiking alone. Destroyed after this but mega day

Allez Coops, that climb looks mega. Big days out ftw.

[HarryBD]

Good job people. Enjoyed your vids Coops and John!

Definitely feeling lockdown fatigued this week, have barely moved. Managed to keep my weight under 81kg avg again which is great. Managed 4hrs of running which is plenty (really felt like I’d backed off and clearly managed to keep some miles ticking over). 2 finger board and pull-up sessions and one core so failing on this but whatever.

M - run 35 mins. 5x5 pull-ups +8kg. FB Max hangs 10s +10kg x6 failing on last rep

T - run 60 mins. Core

W - 5x5 pull-ups +8kg. FB Max hangs 10s +10kg x6 complete and felt like trying hard

T - 40 min run really bad (think it was the heat but head wasn’t in it)

F - run 60mins again poor (head in it put struggled in heat again)

S - Birthday today. Not psyched but felt better as the day went on. went for a walk in the wood by our flat and played on the 3ft tall boulders in there. Managed to do something to my wrist with the mantles ffs. Few beers

S - run 60 mins great. Cold again which I definitely feel better in. Bit cold for shorts and T-shirt though, took about an hour to defrost and we didn’t have any hot water.

Felt more up for it this afternoon so hopefully keep some momentum for the rest of the week and think about where I’m going to be climbing after work.

[Will Hunt]

S - Birthday today. Not psyched but felt better as the day went on. went for a walk in the wood by our flat and played on the 3ft tall boulders in there. Managed to do something to my wrist with the mantles ffs. Few beers

Nice. Did you repeat my problems? Do any new ones? Gosh, we'll have to get an Unknown Stones guide done.

[HarryBD]

Nice. Did you repeat my problems? Do any new ones? Gosh, we'll have to get an Unknown Stones guide done.

Haha yeah. I’ll send you some vids I made lily take

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - 16' of loaded carries.
Tue  rest.
Wed - board climbing, circuit from holds 9-10 to top. Push ups, shoulders, snatch pull 30" finisher, dumbbell thruster 30" finisher. Tired.
Thu - TBDL 80 kg x5, landmine row x5, fert to ceiling x5 back to back, x5. Glutes. Overhead carry. Tired.
Fri - rest.
Sat - weights, loaded carries outside.

[measles23]

Sorry late entry:

Great video JohnM - brings back mixed memories of doing the Gurkha challenge 100k South Downs race when I was a young Army medic - highlight being half time stop when we trephined each other’s toenail subungual haematomas.. That was possibly the last time I ran anywhere

66.6kg

New training program as Alison has enrolled us for virtual coaching with Rachel Carr. Impressively personalised programs for the family - I pity her putting up with me, as I bastardise her program to fit in with my own

Mon- Familiarisation with new campus board/pegboard setup. Some novel campus board ideas work, but hard - a gaston variant and a side pull variant. Fridge hugging vertical campus rungs wasn’t on; also small resin rungs agony so relegated to the 40 deg board..
Pegboard great fun and feels butch, but not sure how valid as a real training tool, and need some actual exercise ideas for it, rather than just monkeying around..

Tue- Deadlift: 12 sets up to 48mm block lift single at 220kg, finished with 5x5 at 160.

Compressed core - 3 sets of: Mountain climbers 20/side, L-sit progression 30s hold, bicycle crunches 20/side, hanging leg raises 15
Shocking form as my lack of wrist extension won’t let me do exercises with hands flat on the floor so I’ve ordered some small parallettes which will help.. Also I can’t do more than 5 reps of anything, so had to rest an enormous amount!
Conceptually challenging as I hate this kind of crossfit like training, but RC has given reasoning so will work with it..

Wed- Forearm prehab - 3 sets of:  forearm curls 30/side, extensor curls 30/side, hammer twists 30/side, tendon glides 30/side - liked this, and much needed as well overtrained by now

Hip flexor conditioning - 3 sets of: L sit floats, wide led separate floats, wide leg joined floats, wide leg spins - feels appropriate- as expected shocking lack of hamstring flexibility..

Thurs- Max hangs BM2k small holds pulley assist: 16 sets up to -15kg x 5s on left, -10 x 5 on right. Worse than last wk - struggling with form/conditions/tweakiness

3 hours on 40 deg board setting, projecting, but not doing, a 7 move V8ish problem playing to weakness - long move to small crimp, big slopey pinch, big moves sideways and up. Quite chuffed with my setting on this one, unlike everything else on the board!

Secondary fingerboard session on BM2k smalls, two arms 5 x (+10kg x 5s)

Rower 1hr

F- 5 sets ring muscle-ups (4,4,4,5,3)

Weighted pull-ups: 6 sets up to +50kg x 2, 4 x working sets wide grip +30x3s.

Peg board 5 sets variations of going up and down

Ring stabilisers - 3 sets 10 reps of IYTW pulls - struggled a bit to make these feel purposeful

Forearm prehab again

Extended core- 3 sets of: SpiderMan plank 1 min, wide dish hold 1 min, star side plank 1 min/side, superman plank 20/side. Hard really struggled again

S- Campus board familiarisation. Lightish as fingers tweaky. 6 sets of variety of exercises.

Family circuit - 3 sets of choice of exercises 2 per family member - this is only fun if you have a nice family; if they know how to exploit your weaknesses it is evil!

1.5hour ‘TAB’; family walk while carrying 30lb rucksack

40 deg board 1 hour projecting - did the V8 problem, worked all moves for a V7ish problem on woodies.

Sun- Deadlift: 13 sets up to 220 off 24mm blocks; working sets 5x3 at 180. Feeling good - ready to try 5 plates off the floor next sesh - used some skateboard griptape on the floor to solve my slippy shoe problem.

Had a lightbulb moment with all the anterior core stuff set by RC - I am really bad at indoor high stepping, which usually drops me silly points at the military comp series I do - I always presumed it was just poor hamstring flexibility, but now think it’s a combination of that and weak ant core in the compressed range of motion, so will work on that..

Work’s starting to pick up again, so posts will get shorter!

[teestub]

66.6kg

🤘🤘🤘

[Duma]

66.6kg

🤘🤘🤘

Beast mode!

[Bradders]

Conceptually challenging as I hate this kind of crossfit like training, but RC has given reasoning so will work with it..

Out of interest, what is her reasoning?

[Nibile]

66.6kg

Thurs- Max hangs BM2k 

3 hours on 40 deg board

Secondary fingerboard session on BM2k

Measles, I read that as you're losing weight.
If it's so, I highly suggest you to compensate for the lost weight while fingerboarding and projecting. Weight loss alters your relative strength, so unless you compensate for it, your training is altered as well in absolute terms.
When I got my knee surgery in June '19, I lost 3 kilos due to forced rest. Obviously my fingerboarding scores skyrocketed, but it was a false progress in absolute terms, because of the weight loss and because I intended to recover that weight as soon as possible.
So I started adding 3 kg for fingerboarding sessions (could no climb) and I've kept things that way ever since. So, while I was recovering muscle mass, I was also improving my previous scores, that were already compensated. I never ditched the added weight until I was sure that I had fully compensated, but at that time all my scores were improved by the 3 kilos I had kept until then.
It's the old "Train heavy, climb light" approach. 

[measles23]

Conceptually challenging as I hate this kind of crossfit like training, but RC has given reasoning so will work with it..

Out of interest, what is her reasoning?

Conversation goes something like this:

Me: Think you might be onto something because I got serious DOMS from the compressed core workout, and the DOMS is mightily triggered by high stepping; could it be my piss high step is combination of hamstring tightness and weak core at compressed ROM. But seriously 3 sets of nearly 100 reps of ant core exercises, I’m a strength athlete and hate crossfit - Sharratt would kick me out of his gym!

RC: yeah but you’re obviously so feeble you need to prove you can cope with these piss easy conditioning exercises before I let you up the weight/drop the reps

Me: yes ma’am you’re the boss 


Thanks nibs - my max hangs are max so I can’t add any more! I guess the maths means I’m losing relative finger strength, but have been a little overtrained with fingers.. also at that annoying level of around +50kg on BM2k smalls where conditions/prehension/point of balance make it less predictable for progression - thinking of using bigger holds 1 armed

[Nibile]

Cheers.
I don't exactly get the numbers because I can't recall the previous ones, in any case what I wanted to say is to keep track of the actual weight that you hang, separating relative and absolute strength gains.
I'll try to be more clear.
Time 1. BW 70 kg. Hang BW - hang 70 kg.
Time 2. BW 68 kg. Hang BW - hang 68 kg. Training below par, relative strength constant (BW), absolute strength - 2 kg.
Time 3. BW 68 kg. Hang BW + 1 kg - hang 69 kg. Still training below par, relative strength increased by 1 kg on time 2 but absolute strength still down by 1 kg on time 1.

By adding 2 kg on time 2 we keep things constant for long term progress in absolute strength, regardless of BW variations (that we can happily apply on ze rock).
HTH.

[measles23]

Yup it’s a fair point nibs and I hadn’t factored it in..

I suppose the eternal delusion is that the weight stays off, but it never does!

Reminds me to start using weight vest on the board..

PS Lore now I’ve got my board up I always intended to copy that core exercise you had on the board, but I can’t quite remember what it was - something like moving your hands up while keeping feet on same holds, or moving feet up with hands the same?? Remind me about it dude please!

[Nibile]

I suppose the eternal delusion is that the weight stays off, but it never does!

Remind me about it dude please!

Hey beast.
Well if we maintain weight constant with added weights during a diet, in reality when we go climbing the weight does come off! 

Regarding core, I do three types of exercises (53° board).
1. I grab a high hold (2 cm rung) with one hand, place one foot on the lowest usable foothold (a specially made one) step on and stay put.
2. I grab two decent holds, step on the lowest usable footholds, then move feet up on higher ones, then down, etc. Going down is the hard bit.
3. I grab two bad holds, step on the lowest usable footholds, then move up to a better hold without cutting lose.
Excercise 1 is on an incut 2 cm foothold, 2 and 3 on 1 cm flat (surface perpendicular to board) footholds. All wooden.
Get in!