[Duma]

M - knackered, poor sleep night before again.
T - eve, TCA (cancelled Cheddar due to the rain}, did all the new purple set (~35 problems 5-6b) and 5 blacks, 1 I'd tried before, flashed the others. Particularly pleased with the final one, steep blobs, knackered at the end of the session, but felt like I climbed it really well. Few tries on 3 others.
W - eve, run, 6k, hilly trail, 32 min
T -
F - eve TCA, only 45 min as by time I got there everyone was ready for the pub. Managed 2 blacks though, one of which was tricky
S - mates birthday, out drinking
S - surprisingly un hungover. Afternoon TCA, 2 hrs. 1 (low end) blue and 2 more blacks, both I'd tried a bit before. One was steep too, nice to get a problem that didn't suit. Tried a few others but no real progress. Started working the new hard circuit, should be good but has ridiculous downwards finish move that I will be ignoring for training purposes.

71kg

Weather been godawful this week, shame not to get back to Lion Sleeps but no window in the wet.

[shark]

Thanks Duma


11.12

M. Tor. Mina, Ben S and Graham. Lowish temps but humid. Dogged up to AM headwall. Crux in isolation felt easy. However, not being able to chalk up made links hard in conditions. Tried to link headwall from 2 moves in and got close fumbling the last move before the break. Second tie worked Push Up then led from its top to Prow hole but was broken. Had intended to carry on dogging up Crucifixion but wouldn’t have been pretty and dug me further into a hole. Time for time off.

T/W/T/F/S

S. Didn’t intend to go out  but glad I did. Home warm up then Tor with Steve. Cool breezy decent conditions. Initially regretted not bringing my route shoes. Couple of goes on cross thru move almost doing it both times. Then did from pocket and crimp to doing stab - no issue getting toe on crimp this time. Then got crux move on 4th attempt and climbed through with a big effort to doing the kick and feel off struggling to set up for cross thru. Delighted with that. Couple of attempts from start but didn’t get far. No depth. In other news Steve fell off the AM headwall on Cross N’Angry   

As usual taking time out is hard to do. I’d like to say I’ve used the time productively to make a detailed plan to address my weaknesses in order to send Cross n’ Angry and Ben’s and be the best climber I can be.

[Wellsy]

Monday - rested other than finger and shoulder rehab

Tuesday - board session and finger rehab. Finally did something it's taken me like three sessions to do, and then something else vaguely tough. Board strength slowly returning

Wednesday - Indoor session with some gentle climbing and finger/shoulder rehab.

Thursday - fingers, backsquatted up to 90kgs for 5. Strict press up to 40 for 5. Bench up to 65 for 8

Friday - rested

Saturday - tried hard on the board. Nearly did a 7A. Felt strong, finger getting better. Did some other chill climbing. Finger rehab.

Sunday - small board session, made myself a problem and did it in a session, 6C+ probably. Finger rehab. Squatted, heavy singles up to 110, benched, heavy singles up to 85. Deadlifted up to 145, a PB. 7 arm lock off on the right and 3.5 on the left, both PBs. 3 x 8 wide pullups

Feeling a powerful drive to get stronger and better at climbing. Need to work my finger back into condition and then get them really iron hard again. Regular board, lifting and edge lifts is a good life

[duncan]

Thanks Duma, it's not been the best of weeks in the Bristol area has it?

M - Westway aerocap/long endurance. Warmed-up with shoulders and elbows conditioning, then 9 easy routes. Stopped due to elbow soreness and needing to attend to a poorly lad.
T - Drove to Weston. Walked 10km.
W - Walked c.8km. Very brief dip in the Marine Lake, bracing.
T - Rained all morning and eventually cancelled the plan to go to Uphill. Typically it was dry and sunny by 5pm. Had I been more organised I’d have TR soloed something but I’d given up on the idea of climbing by then. Had a short swim in the sea. Walked c.7km.
F - Torrential rain, drove back to London. First night of The Proms, with the lad. Very good but hip is making standing at concerts harder and sitting on the floor impossible.
S - Legs conditioning: single leg squats, frog squats, heel raises. Shoulders and elbows conditioning. Tested elbow with a few, short, large edge hangs.
S - One lap around the Hampstead mixed pond. The water was disturbingly murky but being watched by a heron, unperturbed by me swimming 15’ away, was rather cool. Shoulders and elbows conditioning.

Sore elbow enforced a rest week, which I was overdue. Certainly the weather for it.

The cold water swimming is to acclimatise for DWSing. This isn’t a Damascene conversion but I tolerated it better than I expected. It’s also potentially an exercise that might be good for my general well-being as running is off for now and, I suspect, until I get a new hip. A possible down-side is craving sugary snacks as soon as I get out of the water. It also makes me even more of a north London cliché.

[Will Hunt]

Tu - after work Malham. Had one go on Baboo. Blasted the steep bit out of the rest but faltered a bit going into the set up for the crux and dropped the percentage move to the pockety edge. Stripped it and then did Shade as didn't think I'd get another redpoint go, which in hindsight was a mistake - there was time for another RP.

Sa - Malham. Wild, wet n' windy. Realised that to RP the route I had to go full gas from the rest to the base of the headwall so made a conscious effort not to stall after the pre-crux clip. Battered the New Dawn start and felt undiminished in the rest. Then charged up the steep stuff and got stuck straight into the crux. Made the crux percentage chuck to the pockety edge and got established at the base of the headwall. As Jim said afterwards, "you had a good go at wobbling yourself off the headwall". Not quite on fumes when arriving at the top of the headwall, but tired enough to make sure that neither of my feet were on the holds properly which made for an exciting moment eyeballing the final lunge to the finishing jug before latching it.

Loved this route. Quality start, punchy crux, pure class up the headwall to the victory jug. YYFY.

[Duma]

Nice one Will!

[Fiend]

Attempting this again for reasons below and thinking it might useful to write stuff down. Will try to keep it about climbing / training as best I can but probably some mental health stuff will creep in.

STG - ease back into climbing after a week off, do shoulder rehab, keep Lancs cleaning moderate.
MTG - keep incrementally regaining capability, do regular increasingly large falling practise, try to stretch bi-weekly, keep rehabbing (and moderating training of needed) to avoid injury.
LTG - regain physical capability for F7a o/s, F7b+-ish r/p*, to be able to take into trad.


M - Indoor bouldering. Depot - 28/30 Pinks, 20 flashes. Shoulder rehab.

T - Indoor bouldering. Rockover - 16 V2-6. Approached session with open mind and relaxed aims, but body felt surprisingly good so did quite a bit. Did / attempted too many pressy / pushy / squirmy problems (more than previous 6 Depot circuits combined) and both shoulders sore after. Demoralising but seemed to be a clear cause. 45 mins stretching.

W - Shoulders sore. New left shoulder impingement. Shit mood. Denham - short evening session doing very easy trad + photos at Denham. Bloody cold. Shoulders and upper back sore after. Painkillers for dinner.

T - Shoulders much better. Shoulder rehab?? (I forgot). Wilton 3, much warmer - mostly photos, 1.5 hours route cleaning, fine. Attempted E1/2 but backed off due to incomplete cleaning.

F - Nothing. Mediocre mood, should have done some activity.

S - Woke at 2am by fire alarm. No fire. Lay awake for a while panicking about climbing and worrying how on Earth I'm going to get any capability back. Realised I really have to try harder (but sensibly to avoid injury) - despite being critically hampered by depression. Woke better at normal time. Indoor routes. Summit Up - 2 x F6b, 8 x F6c. Steady mileage, felt in comfort zone, only fatigued on last 2 routes. Falling practise on every route which was good. Shoulders stiff / sore afterwards - relaxed hangs helped a bit. Shoulder rehab.

S - Almost nothing. Slept badly with cricked neck, woke with trapped nerve type pain and immobility. Breakfast of painkillers. Soon realised that it was localised to right side and general shoulders didn't feel too bad, so hopefully just a blip. Still a bad mood. Pondered about easy trad. Had a nap, drifted off panicking about how inactive and ill-disciplined I was and how I should at least go for a run and do some stretching (see above re: critically hampered by depression). Woke and did neither of those but did do full shoulder rehab and found relaxed hangs seemed to improve mobility. Right side neck and shoulder still sore at dusk.


Next week's STG: Depot circuit (subject to neck pain), reintroduce finger edge pull-ups (the only thing I've felt okay on in the last month) shoulder rehab x 3, stretching x 2, maybe some Welsh bouldering, falling practise if I do routes indoors or out.




*- Yes grade-based goals are strictly on for people with malformed genitalia and even more malformed senses of self-worth, but in this case it's a measurable means to a better end.

[Coops_13]

M: Board session. Weighted pull-ups 90lb X5 *3sets

T: Legs and Chest. Bulgarian split squats. Bench press. Incline chest press. Shoulder press, Bice curls, Diagonal raise, Svend press. 20 mins peloton

W: Evening session at Lincoln Lake. Warmed up and starting working out the beta on World Famous Pow Wow, mega technical compression V8. Struggled on a few of the moves including the crux big move for ages before figuring out the correct heel placement and body positioning. Skin thin and sweaty, managed to pull it out of the bag, last go of the day. Sloppy at the top, classic


T: Chest press, Incline chest press, Chest fly, Bar dips, Density pickups 45lb

S: Mt Evans, Area D. 3.3 miles, 1100ft ascent. Down to try Slander V9/10, amazing high boulder in a meadow at 11.8kft. Managed to do all moves fairly quickly including big crux fifth go. Skin sweaty and crux much harder from the ground. Managed to get through crux once and punted right off the top c. V5 topout. Gutted, biggest punt of my life. Skin too far gone to get back there :/

S: Bench press 190lb X3 *3, 225lb X1 - new PR, first time doing two plates! Incline chest press, chest fly, shoulder press, bicep curls, external rotation. 2.76 mile walk. 45 mins peloton - huge new PR.

[andy popp]

A possible down-side is craving sugary snacks as soon as I get out of the water.

I basically only swim as an excuse to eat more.

[User deactivated.]

Fiend - Good to see you working towards a comeback. Given your chronic injuries, it strikes me that there's quite a lot of volume in your climbing/training week with many back-to-back days. From my sporadic reading, it seems those frequent, yet relatively lower intensity sessions can actually have quite a big impact on overuse injuries, in comparison with shorter, higher intensity sessions with more rest. Maybe you have figured out this is what works for you, but I thought it worth mentioning.

[Dingdong]

Fiend - Good to see you working towards a comeback. Given your chronic injuries, it strikes me that there's quite a lot of volume in your climbing/training week with many back-to-back days. From my sporadic reading, it seems those frequent, yet relatively lower intensity sessions can actually have quite a big impact on overuse injuries, in comparison with shorter, higher intensity sessions with more rest. Maybe you have figured out this is what works for you, but I thought it worth mentioning.

Especially sport climbing - I find sport is much more taxing than bouldering and is a full days work - would be better to ease into it with 1 or 2 days of - one easy volume day and one high intensity day on opposite ends of the week with some conditioning sprinkled in between with rehab work.

[Fiend]

Cheers Liam.

I appreciate what you're saying, but think we probably have bodies and conditioning at the opposite ends of the spectrum. 18 months ago (middle of LCL and GE) I had a useful discussion with thekettle about this - his conclusion was: "What works for you and your body is reasonably challenging volume". My own personal experience, based on things breaking every time I try to train hard is "What works for me and my body is reasonably challenging volume" (this was what happened before / during going to Font this spring).

Having said that, my recent shoulder flare-up has been attributed to too much volume of Lancashire quarry cleaning (thekettle hadn't said anything about that...), which was a bit of a blind spot in my bodily awareness, partly because it was an endurance-overuse fatigue and due to being physically incapable of most standard endurance activities, I didn't know that that could be just as damaging as tweaking / excess DOMS after a singular hard session. So I am keeping aware of overuse in that way.

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - boxing bag. 32,5°.
Tue - board climbing. First 30° session of the season. Static and crux links.
Wed - good mornings 100/105, bentover rows, push press.
Thu - board climbing, torrid. Static on current project. Weights.
Fri - light weights, very short on time.
Sat - boxing bag, torrid. New gloves were an issue.
Sun - clean and push 5x5 80%. Push press 5x5 45. Bar work. Tired, hot, humid.

[mr chaz]

Power Club:

M. Evening board session.
T.
W. Evening board session.
T.
F. Drove to Plymouth for brother's stag.
S. Aqua park thingy. I lasted 20 mins and was having a blast until I totally fucked my right shoulder on the monkey bars. It felt pretty bad and had to be dragged out of the water. FFS. Abandoned the afternoon activity and got straight on the beers.
S. Killer hangover and a new injury - nice.

[Dingdong]

Power Club:

M. Evening board session.
T.
W. Evening board session.
T.
F. Drove to Plymouth for brother's stag.
S. Aqua park thingy. I lasted 20 mins and was having a blast until I totally fucked my right shoulder on the monkey bars. It felt pretty bad and had to be dragged out of the water. FFS. Abandoned the afternoon activity and got straight on the beers.
S. Killer hangover and a new injury - nice.

Nothing worse than getting injured from non climbing related activities haha

[Fultonius]

Power Club:

M. Evening board session.
T.
W. Evening board session.
T.
F. Drove to Plymouth for brother's stag.
S. Aqua park thingy. I lasted 20 mins and was having a blast until I totally fucked my right shoulder on the monkey bars. It felt pretty bad and had to be dragged out of the water. FFS. Abandoned the afternoon activity and got straight on the beers.
S. Killer hangover and a new injury - nice.

Nothing worse than getting injured from non climbing related activities haha

ALL of my overuse inuljuries have been a combination of a period of sustained training then adding something on top. (too much DIY/sanding, adding in a new activity (kayaking etc.)

I reckon it's a case of your body being able to trundle along just below overuse, then getting pushed over the edge by the additional thing PLUS the fact that I (and I assume others) treat DIY like a bloody max nags session, sanding with all our might for hours on end, ignoring the signals.... 

[Aussiegav]

Deload week. Felt tired this week. Hoped to get out on Saturday to climb. Rain put that idea to bed.

Maybe brexit also means we don’t get the European heat & sunshine

Power Club

Monday -

Half Crimp 95% max. 6sec 3sets.
BW plus 20kg.
3 finger open. 95% max. BW plus 25g


Tuesday
Campus
Tired tonight
2-4-5
Twice each way
2-4-6
Twice each way
2-5-5.5
Twice each way

4x4 30sec circuits

5 sets of 3. Weighted pull ups BW + 8kg


Wednesday
Rest

Thursday
Rest

Friday
Rest

Saturday
Went to the Depot.
5x3 jumping pull ups and finger board warmup.

5reds. All flash. 5purples. 4 tries max. Did1. 5th go.

5x3. Weighted pull up. BW + 8kg
Hanging knee raises 20:40. 3 sets

Sunday

6x 10. Single arm overhead press. 10kg
6x 10. Lawnmower starts. 22.5kg

45min Peloton ride.

[Dingdong]

Power Club:

M. Evening board session.
T.
W. Evening board session.
T.
F. Drove to Plymouth for brother's stag.
S. Aqua park thingy. I lasted 20 mins and was having a blast until I totally fucked my right shoulder on the monkey bars. It felt pretty bad and had to be dragged out of the water. FFS. Abandoned the afternoon activity and got straight on the beers.
S. Killer hangover and a new injury - nice.

Nothing worse than getting injured from non climbing related activities haha

ALL of my overuse inuljuries have been a combination of a period of sustained training then adding something on top. (too much DIY/sanding, adding in a new activity (kayaking etc.)

I reckon it's a case of your body being able to trundle along just below overuse, then getting pushed over the edge by the additional thing PLUS the fact that I (and I assume others) treat DIY like a bloody max nags session, sanding with all our might for hours on end, ignoring the signals.... 

Aha I meant more getting injured doing random household chores. I sliced a massive bit off my thumb a few months back cleaning some BBQ tongs that were unnecessarily sharp, or the time I slept weird and woke up with a stiff neck I couldn’t movr, or just generally stubbing my toe so hard I can’t put a shoe on 

[Duncan Disorderly]

No power club...

M: Rest
T: Moonboard (25 2019 Set) @ AW - 5 x 5+ - 6A+ repeats to warmup then jumped on new 6C benchmark... Rinsed to the last move about 5 times but for some reason couldn't stick the last hold, seemed to be sagging off the RF and couldn't maintain tension - felt tired and elbow that's been fine seemed to be grumbling so sacked it off... T
W: Sore elbow - back on the rehab...
T: Wall with Energizer Bunny and our daughters - Forgot the rope so just belayed and pottered on the MB. Showed him my projects on the MB which he mostly proceeded to flash! Strong bastard! Fell off the last move on the 6C benchmark again!! Session 3! Did manage to repeat a 6C that I'd done before tho...
F: Rest and elbow shite...
S: AW with GF - Not the longest session, warmed up then F6c, F6c+ and F7a - All felt piss. Elbow hates me tho! Bought a tandem sea kayak and took out out to Agden for a test paddle in the rain... Great!
S: Moonboard (25 2019 Set) @ AW - Determined to do stupid bloody 6C! Long warmup - 7 x 5+ - 6B... Rest then get to it. Abysmal!! Must have dropped the last move 10 times! Arse... Session 4!! Feels like this isn't going to happen... Went for a pint!

Funny week - elbow isn't happy. Think it was the Depot last week that caused it, too much squeezing... Seems okay on the board but routes aren't great (reckon clipping causes problems) or slopes... Definitely feel like I'm working weaknesses on the board now, done most of the benchmarks that suit me so am having to pull harder and do movesI wouldn't usually do so it's all good - if a little demoralising... Might take it easy this week as looking back I seem to have been hammering it a fair bit recently and definitely feel like I'm going backwards now... Waiting for the monsoon to end!

[remus]

Funny week - elbow isn't happy. Think it was the Depot last week that caused it, too much squeezing... Seems okay on the board but routes aren't great (reckon clipping causes problems) or slopes...

For some reason the routes at awesome walls seem to be particularly good at setting my elbows off. Maybe something in the setting style? I can climb for months outdoors without issue, but sometimes it only takes a couple of sessions there for them to flare up.