[tomtom]

M: 40 min session at Wilton 3. Progress.. train to Swindon in the afternoon

Tu > Weds Swindon. Work. Meetings.

Thu: Big work deadline for project submission. Done by midday. Loaded up the car to get out and it drizzled as I was driving - so went to the Depot instead. Had a good chat with Mr ScrapeGoat and we both flailed around on some problems. Went over to the 50 and was worse than usual... Not really surprising given the week...

Friday - no idea what happened

Sat: Went up to W3 in poor conditions. Square was dry - managed to persuade Robin there was dry rock there and he came up. Worked on Rodins - no real progress and did alright on other stuff. Then the drizzle got too much and we bailed. Just enough to count as a session I guess..

SuL: Kids party. Drained, mentally and sleep wise.

[shark]

Ta TT

11.3-5 Average 158.1 up 0.7lbs

M. Couldn’t get out till midday. Oscillated between intending to go Higgar or Remergence depending on cloud cover to Nicks annoyance. Clouded over so Remergence it was. Good conditions. Ridiculed twice on walk for taking a stepladder but it enabled me efficiently to work top half of BD. Tried the start a few times too. Nick got close. Closer than me

T. First perfect grit day of the season? Lovely at RobinHoods Stride. Met Nick again. Started on Spine Arête to warm up and we had a few goes on Bens Wall. Moved to Jerry’s Arête which I’ve done before. Nick did it and I acquired a hole in a fingertip adjusting on the pinch Taped and superglued it. Moved on to Cave Problem, which again I had done before. Same result. Nick did it, I didn’t and got a hole in another tip. Moved round the corner and Nick had a go at Grizzly Arête and I sat it out - done it before and is fingertip trasher. Amazed to see the foot block had come off.  Anyone know who it came off on? Could have been nasty. We then turned our attention to Dry Wit which I’d done before. No tick for either of us.

W Leaf clearing

T

F PM Headed out to Tor. Gopping. Was looking forward to working on the crux of Bens Without. Took dogs for a walk. Eve. Fingerboard weighted hangs session on ergo edge. First fingerboard training in 2 months. About 12% weaker

S 5 hours of leaf shifting at the office then 2 hours on systems board. Did well on benchmark moves and throw move making it gradually harder on each attempt. Finished with 2 sets of 20/10s

S More leaf shovelling and patio scrubbing

Starting to get a bit keener and ramp things up despite low level lingering cold.

Tom home and uncharacteristically enthusiastic to get outside - he wants to find something hard to try.

Had an insightful remote coaching session with Hazel on Wednesday addressing such things as process, pressure, expectation, regular route visualisation and focussing techniques.

[cheque]

STG- Sub-HVS *** Peak trad list 6 5/27 remain.

M- Rest. Carried 20kg of sunflower seeds about half a mile uphill to my car though which feels like some World’s Strongest Man shit.

T- Rest

W- Gym. Bike. Was not looking forward to it after work but was quietly confident that I would hit 15 minutes at least once. Did 14:29 followed by 11:30 which is demoralisingly less than the last two sessions  . It kind of felt like my legs lacked the strength/ endurance to get it done rather than just “running out of puff” but the result is the same either way and there’s no way doing this will make me less fit so I just need to keep doing it!

T- Rest.

F- Rest. Mid-afternoon it became clear that I’d need to work way into my evening climbing wall slot  However at that moment I got a text asking if I wanted to go proper climbing the next day. I suggested that we go to...

S- Black Rocks! Mild for December which meant that a day’s trad on the west wall (obviously the main side was totally gopping) was eminently feasible. When I was advised against bouldering again I resigned myself to not going rock climbing in the winter so it’s a great reminder that you can actually have a good day on the ropes if the weather plays ball.

Birch Tree Wall is on my sub-HVS list which I’d assumed I wouldn’t be ticking any more of this year. It’s an embarrassing gap in my BR CV being possibly the best VS at a crag covered in excellent VSs (partly because many of them would be HVS elsewhere...) and obviously a place that I’m known to have climbed at a lot. For those not familiar it’s a climb of three intense parts- an awkward thin-hands crack in a shallow corner with rubbish/ awkwardly-located/ nonexistent feet (as strenuous as it sounds if you’re pretty rubbish and have been climbing solely indoors for 6 weeks ), a weird twin-crack section that combines disappearing handjams and offwidth footwedging (this is where I fell off on my only previous lead attempt when I was climbing at BR all the time) and finally a sloping foot traverse on the wall behind the Gaia block which varies from a bit scary to flat-out dangerous depending on whether you’ve got any cams left or not.

I didn’t feel warmed-up enough the first few tries at the first crack (took a little fall which is definitely a good thing) but after seconding my mate on one of the many variations on that wall went for it and got it done with the music from the second level of Sonic the Hedgehog in my head.  Seconded some other obscure stuff and generally had a great day. Bolehillbilly came out late on too which was cool.

S- Planned lift weights but way too sore. Went to check out Harston Rock in the afternoon. I want to do “best HVS in the Churnet” The Helix next year so thought I’d have a look at that. Bumped into British climbing’s premier internet troll on the way in  . Somewhat predictably it’s very muddy in the Churnet and the first crack of the Helix will need a bit of gardening to make it a pleasant experience.

Work and family stuff made sticking to my training schedule impossible this week but I got to go rock climbing so fuck it- hopefully get the four-session routine kicking again this week.

Very pleased to tick another off the list- the remaining 5 are either up on Kinder or on lime so very very unlikely to get any more done before the end of the month!

[Mr E S Capegoat]

I’m deeply wounded by this Mike. Maybe renegade or apostate or energy systems community heretic, but never trolling

[Will Hunt]

Wednesday - Lamps at Caley. Warmed up then had a shambles session on Secret Seventh. Crap. Couldn't get the toe hook to stick at all and it ripped my shitty La Sportiva shoes to ribbons (in exactly the same way that the toe hook on Layby Arete did to the last pair. Why are La Sportiva shoes made of fucking cotton wool?  ). Not sure whether this was a connies thing (it wasn't very cold) or a shoe thing or a shittness thing.
Then walked over to Blockbuster and jumped to the low pinch thing and held it so got some pads and put rock shoes on and tried it properly. Then couldn't stick the jump to the low pinch. Did experiment with other methods and found that going to the high vague crimp on the right worked and best go was getting the foot up then trying the left hand bump into the sidepull. This might actually go so should probably try it on a cold day.

Sunday - The Lab with Bab and massively pregnant wife. I did a decent amount of climbing but the Lab's setting seems totally fucked up. Everything is either a complete path or utterly nails. There are a few problems on the black circuit which are covered with chalk till half height and then the chalk just stops dead. Like, the crux is far too hard and nobody's even managing to slap the next hold. FFS, sort it out. This is on problems that they've graded V4/5 as well. It's mental. I did manage my two session project though - a pockety pink "V4". It starts on two crimps and a reach into a deep two finger pocket. You do a long rose move into another deep two finger pocket. You then have to drop into this and catch an adjacent pocket before you fall off (it's overhanging and the feet are dreadful - you're almost campussing). Adjust hands and then do a long deadpoint to another two finger pocket. Then up a couple more moves and, with bad feet, throw to a pair of gastony crimps, and with bad feet again, go for a big hold at the top. Savage savage savage.

Bab had a good time in the kids room and finally got the hang of doing little foot steps instead of getting hugely bunched up all the time. She went right to the top of the wall, which must be 4 or 5 times her height, with me following up behind her to catch her if she fell off. #prouddad

[moose]

(in exactly the same way that the toe hook on Layby Arete did to the last pair. Why are La Sportiva shoes made of fucking cotton wool?  ).

Toe-hook? Tell me more.... a couple of weeks ago, I had a go at Lay-by Arete for the first time in years and got no-where near it, so would be grateful for any tips. Years ago, I felt I could get equally close to latching the high crimp on the arete with either a tenupus RF heel on the starting RH sidepull, or my LF heel wraped vaguely around the arete.  Neither method felt likely this time, and I am not sure which way to pursue.  Any advice, does your toe-hook relate to either of my methods?

[SA Chris]

M - gym - weigts at lunch
T - tempo session on dreadmill. Evening - first beastmaker session in ages. Surprised when i managed to hang 45 for the first time. Only a second or so, but it's a start. Inspired - did a set of repeaters that actually felt OK.
W - not much, took cubs to panto. Oh yes i did.
T - umm, weight at lunch, i think.
F - proms 3km race. Felt like speed work better than last time, started off going a bit more steady, with some in the tank to finish. Pushed and felt good throughout, but got confused as to where finish was and sprinted too early, to redline and stagger over finish. time 11:44, 1 second faster than last one. Bouldering comp in evening. Got there an hour late due to being held up at work, but managed to pull a couple of the harder probs out the bag, mostly due to luck and lank, and won veteran category.

S - burst, nothing, took kids to panto.
S - mild hangover, took kids to a castle to see santa, waited 2 fucking hours. Ho ho ho.

[Will Hunt]

(in exactly the same way that the toe hook on Layby Arete did to the last pair. Why are La Sportiva shoes made of fucking cotton wool?  ).

Toe-hook? Tell me more.... a couple of weeks ago, I had a go at Lay-by Arete for the first time in years and got no-where near it, so would be grateful for any tips. Years ago, I felt I could get equally close to latching the high crimp on the arete with either a tenupus RF heel on the starting RH sidepull, or my LF heel wraped vaguely around the arete.  Neither method felt likely this time, and I am not sure which way to pursue.  Any advice, does your toe-hook relate to either of my methods?

My beta: Step on, heel on, move hand up arete. L toe on little dink just under a thin, worn horizontal foothold. RF in break and LF up to good foothold on arete. Bump LH up to good hold at horizontal seam. RH to higher undercut. R toe step through to smear on arete and bury LF around arete and grip it. Pull in with the LH and slowly go up for the crimp on the arete. Come around and slap left hand to horizontal seam around corner. Then go again into break?

The gripping with the toe is what makes the move to the crimp slow and static.

[moose]

Thanks Will.  My usual tactic was vaguely wafting the LF around the arete and peeling off in comically slow motion - I'll try to be a lot more active with it next time. 

[nai]

STG: Moonboard 7A, Font 7C
Spring 2020 Lime Font 7C.

M -
semi warm up at home, headed south hoping Chip Shop Mantel would be dry so I could finish Yoghurt Hypnotist which I sussed the moves on back in October.

Started at Stanton to warm up, hoped to do a couple of things that I'd climbed all bar the wet tops on Saturday but despite sun on the tops they were still too damp.
Headed to Rowtor with lowered expectations and not surprised to find the topout soaking despite being in a decent breeze.  Decision time, head back to the edges where conditions should be decent or round to Short Seans area and see if CSM dries in a couple of hours? Thought I'd knock off SS-no-block quite quickly and would still have time to head elsewhere so opted for that. An hour later I'd slapped for the runnel six times and had the tip of me middle finger in it four times but still not managed it and decided to call it a day on that.
Had lunch, walked around to look at CSM which was no better so decided to have a play on Domes.  A few WTF pullons then it started to come togther and feel feasible, couple of sighters on the move then managed to latch it. Luckily I'd had a look at the top and knew there was a decent hold up there but it was still slippery and scary-as being quite likley to miss the pads and fall into a kind of gully if you blew it up there. Worked the low start a bit, long stopper move for me.
Tried core back home but seems I was cooked.

T - ill - nowt
W - ill - nowt

Th - felt a bit better, bit of half hearted warming up at home and headed out wondering if I should really bother, figured even if I didn't do much it'd be better being out in cold air.
Headed to Owler with Dolly to check out some #kinglines.
First up a look at Sisyphus, Dolly had given up on this but I offered up a couple of subtleties and he started to come close to the first move. Close was as far as I got as well so we were forced into looking at the other stuff.  Fortunately a look was all Owler Single Ladies needed to be dismissed (bit of a shame, thought it'd be worth doing just for the name) and one go on Overhanging Face before deciding it was too cold (nothing to do with quality, of course) and retreating to a relatively balmy Secret Garden.
Had a quick go on Zaffs which felt more feasible than it has previously but after firing off decided to await connies and got stuck into the main event: Harder Side No-Arete Eliminate #kingline, a two move 7BA. Didn't take long to work out that there are no subtleties - pull on, slap, slap, don't fuck up the finish. Dolly knocked it off fairly steadily.  Took me another couple of attempts but luckily got it before the threatening rain arrived.

Core

F - board power session, managed a long term project then did it with slightly worse footholds too, one more varition to go.
Close to another project.

Conditioning -
squat +30kg.
hamstring extensions
DL to 70kg

TRX - T, Y, Reverse fly, low row, pressups
Dips
Core

S 3 hours car/van washing. Tiring

S started a warm up but wasn't feeling it so canned it.

Nice to get a couple of successes, felt an age since the previous ones, was starting to doubt myself.

[galpinos]

Chest infection still an issue. Pottered at the wall on Tues and Thurs evening, coughing up a lung in the corner between goes.

[gollum]

M - Went up to Almscliffe. Great weather when we got there, cold and crisp. The ground was still frozen when we got there. Spent an hour of do playing on DWR and doing bits and bobs around there. On a big span felt a funny tweak in my pec/arm pit, so called it a draw, just spotting Steve on a little block opposite Morrell’s, by which time it was starting to get much colder, so we legged it.

T - Pull day. Start with steady rack pulls for doubles and work up to a bit too taxing 150. Try a pull up, it hurts so don’t do any more of them. Go through a range of rows. Prone rows with a lock at the top, T-bar rows with really tight elbows, face pulls with bands and isometric rows on the bands. Finish off with some roll outs for the abs.

W - Cold is back with a vengeance and arm still a bit sore so another rest day I reckon. Ice my arm and take NSAIDs and do a few pull ups to see how it’s going later on. Feels okay except when arms are wide apart, which feels not quite right but not far off.

T - Depot in Leeds for a crack at the gimp problems. Definitely not feeling it. Don’t think cold is shaken and arm is still sore. Make the best of it, but not great.

F- Rest/sulking with cold.

S - As above

S - You’ve guessed it.

Taken it easy this week to try and fight off cold and sore arm. Great to get back up to Almscliffe at beginning of week.

[Coops_13]

M: Apartment Gym. 10 mins elliptical then 50 pull-ups and 50 press-ups interspersed with stretching
 - Overdid it with DOMS for the next five days (wrist was fine though)

Thu: Woke with painful wrist - suspected I slept on it funny. New pain in new location 

S: Breckenridge skiing. 15 downhills with 20k descent. New PB top speed of 49.4mph. Short turns and carving improving

S: Apartment Gym. 10 mins elliptical then shoulder strengthening physio and stretching. Wrist not up to pull-ups / press-ups

[duncan]

Well done Mike, have you though of going into mental coaching? I think your tactic of earworming 90s video games could have a market!

STG: rehab. elbow
MTG: tbc
LTG: E5, 7b+

Summary of the last five weeks of rehab. It’s a bit of an essay but it might be helpful for some recovering from tendon problems.

TL;DR: heavy isometric exercises triggering some pain promotes recovery from tendinopathy. There is a lag between doing better (able lift more weight) and feeling better (less pain). Mechanical bathroom scales are better than a pulley and weights at measuring low-load fingerboarding.

Returned from Spain five weeks ago having done minimal climbing but with a very sore elbow. My usual strategy of starting a trip with a tweak which resolves after two or three days of relaxation, sunshine and real rock didn’t work this time. This not only affected the climbing but also more important things like picking up a wine bottle! It was the most painful elbow problem I’d had since the 80s in terms of affecting my non-climbing life. A similar-feeling problem took me out of climbing for two years in 1984-1986. Knowing what I know now, the complete rest I was advised then did more harm than good and caused considerable angst. 

My usual approach to any injury is Easy Trad^TM  but this November was a wash-out everywhere, let alone crags at an elbow-friendly angle. I rested for ten days or so and the pain got worse. Cue much despondency.

I started a progressive tendon loading programme four weeks ago and the improvement has been dramatic. Appropriate loading rather than rest to promote good healing has lots of evidence but it’s counter-intuitive and not easy to make the first step.  I’m not a big believer in eccentric exercises for elbow tendon problems, this may be the most usual approach but most tendinopathy research is on lower limb injuries where muscles work eccentrically in running and jumping. The wrist extensors function largely isometrically in climbing, so I did isometric exercises.

In practice this meant investing £7 on one of these to do part-bodyweight one arm ‘hangs’ (I’d had the thought for many years but mechanical scales, suggested by habrich, are the key technology). The more usual way of doing this is with a pulley and counterbalance but loading one arm with 15kg needed an impractical and unsafe 60kg counterweight. Crane scales would work too but are a lot more expensive and I'm not sure the precision is necessary. 

I followed the usual guidelines of tendon rehab.: heavy loads (starting with 30%MVC progressing to 80%MVC), short duration (3-4s) and low reps. (starting with 5) aiming to reproduce 4/10 pain. I was able to increase the exercise dose (load and reps) but there was no change in the pain for a good 10 days. It is difficult to convince yourself you’re doing the right thing. I stuck with the programme and, eventually, the pain started to improve too. I'm not completely better but much improved. 


Plan: continue rehab. Enjoy some snowy hill walking and sunny bolt clipping.

[Yossarian]

Six weeks since last PC / last time on rock. Did first round of Blokfest last month - daughter came second in her category, I actually did ok and would’ve been 2nd in the masters if I was a couple of years older. But various work and relationship complications have meant that training has dropped right off.

M - Wall. Feeling heavy and sluggish. Spend some time on the prow, trying quite hard but lack of oomph was very evident.
T - London. First job interview in years. Rode hire bike around a bit and walked a long way.
W - London. Unexpected meeting about doing a picture book series, which will be amazing if it works out. If job from previous day works out, I’m going to have to get all of this stuff done in evenings and weekends, which is going to be interesting. More walking and biking.
T - Pull-ups 10 x 7 sets, plus some KB press. Couldn’t face doing anything weighted having had so long off.
F
S - Wall.  Spent 90 minutes on the board, focusing on doing other people’s problems for the time being, getting mostly shut down on sandbag 6As and Bs. Was going to do some easy campusing, but still feeling a bit stiff from pull-ups on Thursday. Squad had gone to Bristol for 2nd round of Blokfest, so daughter climbed with some stragglers and then we worked on some things together. Finished off with BM 45deg slopers - managed 15sec which I think is better than I’ve done before. Skin a bit trashed.
S - Yonder with daughter. Not been before - what a lovely wall. Both feeling pretty tired, but still managed to do some decent problems, and also had a mini session on their lovely all wood symmetrical board.

Various life-changing issues floating about at the moment, so of which are exciting, others not quite so positive. If I end up accepting a job in London (which is both exciting and nerve-wracking) it’s going to have various implications for climbing. On the other hand, I will become much more organised with holidays. Already thinking that 2020 might have a 80:20 bouldering to routes focus as, with kids in tow for all trips, Font and Switzerland will be a lot more productive than to try to drag them to a sport crag / find belayers / preventing terminal boredom. But seeing as most of the sport routes I have my eye on are shoulder bouldery / PE anyway, I think that this strategy might actually work quite well.

[jwi]

TL;DR: heavy isometric exercises triggering some pain promotes recovery from tendinopathy.
[...]

Very interesting Duncan.

Why are you doing unilateral isometrics?

[cheque]

Well done Mike, have you though of going into mental coaching? I think your tactic of earworming 90s video games could have a market!

  I've written on here before how useful I find having a song in my head when climbing- occupies the part of the mind that does the worrying and overthinking and seems to enable the much-vaunted "flow state". In summer 2017 when I was doing lots of redpointing I had it completely down and would get a pre-selected song going in my head in a little preparation period before I set off. It's harder to get going for trad onsighting though and I am not (yet) the climber I was that summer unfortunately. Probably a sign of progress that I had it on Saturday though- I was talking to my mate about the mini Mega Drive I'd received as an unexpected birthday present immediatly before setting off and that did it.

[tomtom]

(in exactly the same way that the toe hook on Layby Arete did to the last pair. Why are La Sportiva shoes made of fucking cotton wool?  ).

Toe-hook? Tell me more.... a couple of weeks ago, I had a go at Lay-by Arete for the first time in years and got no-where near it, so would be grateful for any tips. Years ago, I felt I could get equally close to latching the high crimp on the arete with either a tenupus RF heel on the starting RH sidepull, or my LF heel wraped vaguely around the arete.  Neither method felt likely this time, and I am not sure which way to pursue.  Any advice, does your toe-hook relate to either of my methods?

My beta: Step on, heel on, move hand up arete. L toe on little dink just under a thin, worn horizontal foothold. RF in break and LF up to good foothold on arete. Bump LH up to good hold at horizontal seam. RH to higher undercut. R toe step through to smear on arete and bury LF around arete and grip it. Pull in with the LH and slowly go up for the crimp on the arete. Come around and slap left hand to horizontal seam around corner. Then go again into break?

The gripping with the toe is what makes the move to the crimp slow and static.

The same as this way (3:40 onwards)?

[duncan]

Why are you doing unilateral isometrics?

Partially because I think it's easier to be consistent in the load you're giving the painful arm. I'd cheat, subconsciously, and favour the better arm to a varying degree doing two arm hangs. And partially because I think one arm hangs are a bit more specific to climbing, at least when your feet are on something and you're front-on. Specificity seems crucial in training but there is, currently, surprisingly little evidence either way as to how important it is in injury rehabilitation. Until this becomes more clear, I prefer to be as specific as I can.

[Will Hunt]

(in exactly the same way that the toe hook on Layby Arete did to the last pair. Why are La Sportiva shoes made of fucking cotton wool?  ).

Toe-hook? Tell me more.... a couple of weeks ago, I had a go at Lay-by Arete for the first time in years and got no-where near it, so would be grateful for any tips. Years ago, I felt I could get equally close to latching the high crimp on the arete with either a tenupus RF heel on the starting RH sidepull, or my LF heel wraped vaguely around the arete.  Neither method felt likely this time, and I am not sure which way to pursue.  Any advice, does your toe-hook relate to either of my methods?

My beta: Step on, heel on, move hand up arete. L toe on little dink just under a thin, worn horizontal foothold. RF in break and LF up to good foothold on arete. Bump LH up to good hold at horizontal seam. RH to higher undercut. R toe step through to smear on arete and bury LF around arete and grip it. Pull in with the LH and slowly go up for the crimp on the arete. Come around and slap left hand to horizontal seam around corner. Then go again into break?

The gripping with the toe is what makes the move to the crimp slow and static.

The same as this way (3:40 onwards)?

Yep, the order is slightly different but basically the same. Hard to tell what Simon is doing with his left toe. You get it right round the corner as he does, then I sort of lift my toe and grind it into the rock - really grip it.

Getting the crimp and holding it is definitely not the end of the problem (as I well know  ). Slapping the LH to something a bit higher on the arete and then going into the break is the kind of thing you just have to go for.

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - push ups, dips, bar work, weights. Knee very sore.
Tue - rest.
Wed - BM pockets, quite strong. Pull ups, push ups, weights in between hangs.
Thu - rest.
Fri - rest.
Sat - rest.
Sun - weights, push ups.

[tomtom]

I use Simons method and have got up to yarding up to the crimp (the move before the still on the video frontpage) - but find the lowest percentage part is actually the 2nd or 3rd move - the smears on the arete.. probably a conditions thing but the low smears always feel really really bad to me

[moose]

I use Simons method and have got up to yarding up to the crimp (the move before the still on the video frontpage) - but find the lowest percentage part is actually the 2nd or 3rd move - the smears on the arete.. probably a conditions thing but the low smears always feel really really bad to me

It's possible to miss out the low arete smear - you start with LF on (RH flagging, or on a little brown edge), bump LH up to pinchy bit of arete, step up RF into thin break, and swap feet at the high arete smear. 

That said, I still use your method usually.  If I'm fresh enough to smear with vigour, I get to the big roll-over move every time.... and then peel off going for the crimp.  When I pull in with my LH, I lose the angle I need to make the smear work and slide off.