[shark]

11.5-8 Average 160.4 (down 0.6lbs)

M. Drive back from Devon

T. Drive up to Malham. Met Nick there at lunchtime. As forecast weirdly low temps, low humidity and breezy. Occasional rain and sunshine. 3 x Cons. Oak dry. Several tie ins. Least worst links were throw to middle of traverse twice. Nick suffered on it too. Think it suits him even less than me and that’s saying something.

W.

T. AM Would have liked two rest days but forecast scorchio for fri. Tom keen for Crag X. Bit greasy but ok. Tried JR. Best goes tickling the slot in the bulge twice

PM Some pulls on the Bachar ladder when got home. Did a single double off both arms. Max hangs on the ergo edge. Not done these for three weeks so scores a bit down. Some speed pulls. Barbell O/H press and standing deadlifts

F.

S.

S. PM Systems board. Got to work on old Oak PE circuit. Wiped out after

Key week. First time on the Oak for 9 month and found it desperate. Last time I was 10lbs lighter. Thought I’d be solid on the throw move after specific move training, finger boarding and bouldering but it felt as hard as ever. Mahoosive kick up the backside.A few positives. Skin was good and fingers felt strong and didn’t suffer usual feeling of my back trampled on by a herd of wildebeest on drive back and seemed to have recovered after a days rest as opposed to the two days normally required. August was scheduled to focus on power and power endurance but feels like I have a lot of catching up to do. Up again on Tuesday and have an assessment session with the Kettle pencilled in for Friday now walls are open again.

[tomtom]

Keep the faith Sharkus - bet the next session will be better - always sketchy first try back on a project after a while...

Week 19....

Mon. Tired after Sundays exertions - long day looking after the boy. Felt like doing something so used an app to measure out the holds on the press and build a replica on my board. The Presslica. Tricky - as my board is 50+ degrees and the press isnt.. but with a bit of ingenuity got something that seems to mimic the press move about right...

Tues: One arm day. Average performance - but not disastrous having had a week off

Weds: Board session after childcare - quick (40-50 min) but really good session - climbed well lots of snap. Faded after 30 min though (eek!)

Thurs: Rest (Meaning a long day of childcare)

Fri: Hot Hot Hot. Had to run an errand to Stoney, so went to Beginners Wall for 90 min before. Was quite pleasant. Re-dispatched the start to Fossil wall fairly well after a very creaky start. Did all the moves overlapping on MoS but couldn’t be arsed to do it all (I really dislike the first two moves But love the rest of it). Played on Advanced Training (felt much better than last time - nearly did two moves on it... :D)

Sat: One arm day. Better than Tuesday - but faded fast after 7 sets... Spent 20 min on the Presslica again. Fun times.

Sun: Woke up feeling awful. Went to Blackstone in the afternoon. Alright conditions in the wind and out of the sun. Failed on the four problems I tried (grr... on one) but consolation prize was doing Robins Slap - a lowball but great fun 6B that I’d not done before. Even used TWO hand jams to top it out (technically one hand - one fist). Check. Me. Out CrackBoyz...

Bit of a shit week in general (first week back at work after holidays) and also Moved jobs (internally within the University) on Saturday. Hooray. My now former line manager decided he wanted a meeting with me - where used our last interaction to remind me that he was my line manager (several times) and ask me why I hadn’t replied immediately to an email from him (that someone else replied to) a couple of weeks ago. Taking out his anger about something or other on me, Fucking knob. Good riddance.

[shark]

Cheers TT. Not drawing any conclusions until I’ve had a few sessions.

[moose]

Keep the faith Sharkus - bet the next session will be better - always sketchy first try back on a project after a while...

I'd be heartened if I'd have done as well as he did. I always get utterly spanked by Malham after a break - no matter how much winter stamina training I've done, or how many sessions of crimpy, limestone bouldering I've managed.  I usually struggle to do Consenting for a few sessions (and only get properly "in" after a couple of months). My brain takes ages to switch from the horror of "there are no footholds" to the acceptance of "there are footholds everywhere, they're just all crap; so, stop procrastinating and get smearing".

[Will Hunt]

T - Piper's Crag. A few nice wall things and Asylum Left in a few goes. Tried the move going RH to the lip on Asylum in isolation and made some progress but didn't really enjoy the holds or the landing. Sacked off.

T - Photo taking at Heptonstall. Finished off doing Trepidation and the top pitch of Triplex Direct - VS and HVS.

Sa - Kilnsey. Dogged up Subculture for the first time. The first bit is OK. Tough but might start to feel better after some more goes. The Slab Culture finish is a bit worrying - not sure how that's going to feel when tired. Think I'll need to put half a session into working that and getting it wired. Had 2 more goes at the start, getting a bit better each time but not linking it yet. Going again on Thursday to try and stabilise a key foothold that's looking very wobbly.

Where do people finish Subculture? The couple of people I've seen do it recently have clipped a short draw to the chain and clipped that to finish. There's not much of an obvious finishing hold.

[Andy F]

Will,

You can easily clip the original belay of Subculture from a good hold to the right, or better still continue over the roof and finish at the Myra Hindley belay. No extra grade, but a more logical and enjoyable end.

[Nutty]

Mon: Run. ~8.5km.

Tues: Intended to do some training, but plumbing problems intervened - dripping connection in the loft.

Wed: Board session. 10 warm-up problems then trying a few different problems. No progress on anything, felt a bit off today for some reason (dropped a couple of the warm-ups which I never drop).

Thurs: Rest.

Fri: Rest. Long drive to in-laws. Fish and chips on the beach in the evening.

Sat: Short walk with the family in the morning. ~9km off-road run in the evening, one of the paths was horribly overgrown which was only apparent once I'd committed to it. Legs felt like I'd done some masochistic nettle run bullshit.

Sun: Rest. BBQ lunch then drive home.

Not much climbing training this week, and the board session I had wasn't great. Good to get some runs in though. Ate too much over the weekend - weight is creeping up.

[gollum]

Safe to say, back to training with a vengeance. Apologies it’s a long one; edited highlights are I climbed outside a bit, climbed inside a bit, picked things up and put them down, hung off fingers and put one foot in front of the other. (Abandon hope all ye’ that enter here)

M - Back to the gym and a new one at that. Starting a programme that deadlifts six times a week, which could be interesting, although works on a range of different things and only one day near max. Today is 10x5 at 60k concentrating on being solid, which goes well. Rest of workout is chest oriented with bench press, incline press, dumbbell press, decline press and ring flys, all at around 70% of previous working weights. Finish session with some core work of tuck levers and feet to bar.....weak as shot but gotta start somewhere.
Chucking it down, so first trip to Leeds Depot. Not a bad session and definitely more successful than expected. Do most of the reds and flash all but one until we have a brew and when we start again I’ve just run out of gas, although before the session I’d definitely have been happy with having five left to do. More volume than I’ve climbed in a long time, given I was still recovering from a pec tear in March, that had had happened in January.
In the evening go to our old gym with Mrs B. Treadmill time. Try to go out at old 5k pace but bale at 2k and ease back to 10k pace, for the other 8k. Build this slowly too.

T - Deadlifts for speed today. 3x8 at 60% max. Mix core in to 3minute test between sets with planks and hollow body holds for 3 sets each of 2 minutes and 1 minute respectively. Felt tough by third set of each.
Main part of session is working triceps. Start with close grip press for 5x5 with a pause at the chest on final rep of each set. Move on to ring dips and dips for 3x6 each. Tricep cable press, single arm Tate press, overhead two handed press and single arm presses to keep up the intensity. Good session.
First visit to City Bloc in maybe 8/9 years. Joined at the start of lockdown and thought would make use of my membership. Warm up doing some moves on the scaffold to get the blood flowing and then first tentative steps into campus board work, taking things very steady indeed. Do some fingerboard work, just seeing what I can hold for a solid 5/7 seconds, with both hands, and am pretty comfy on 4 fingers down to 6mm, okay on small 2 finger pockets with both F2 and M2, okay on B2 on the middle sized pockets and solid on slopes although nestling and pinching (aka cheating.......a lot ) on 45° slopes. Then do max hangs on Lattice rung and get to body weight plus 45k before it feels like I can’t hold anything heavier for 5.....although equally not absolutely sure I’d have been able to stand with much more weight added. Finish session doing some jumps on scaffold rig and not doing some others. May grow old, but not sure I’ll ever grow up.

W - Today’s deadlift feels like the toughest of the week. 10 singles at 90%. Calculate it on 140, which is a weight that I think I would normally do okay, so end up at 126k. Early sets feel a grind, but then start to get into the groove until it becomes a battle again at the end. Long rests between sets, so do scapular raises in the gaps, along with some drills to get comfortable with false grip in the rings again. Have my first attempt at a peg board since I was at university and find it just as hard as I did then. Do leg raises and windscreen wipers for core. Finish with some general back exercises with machine pull downs, lock offs and snatches on the monkey bars.
Nip up to Almscliffe for an hour. Having worked Dolphin Belly Slap last week, do it straight off while warming up. Then do DWR (again) and work out the moves on the problem that links the two, which doesn’t feel a million miles away, although I am clearly much less flexible these days as I don’t remember the heel hook being quite as difficult to get into. Look at the Horror but decide that’s one to have a crack at with a spotter. Good short session with good conditions.
On the way home, drop into the Depot to have a go at the reds I didn’t manage on Monday. Do three first go, do a groove with a bit of work and a lot of sweat and completely fail to be able to see how to do a slab problem off big holds and a long reach. Get a sweat on, but don’t stay long. 
Evening visit to gym again with Mrs B. Steady treadmill 10k, although again sweat a lot.
A good day.

T - Raining again when I get up. Today’s deadlift stuff is a bit different with 20x20 Kettlebell swings, which I do between sets of my other exercises. It feels like a huge number and I use the 10k as it’s the lightest they have, but it still feels tough, although at least I’m excused any other core training.
Shoulder training today and they feel weak and to be fair were never the strongest. Started with seated barbell presses, followed by dumbbell presses. Work on lateral raises and then reverse flys for medial and rear deltoid. All for 5 sets in 8/10 rep range.  Front raises to finish off. Good session but the KB swings just add a lot of volume.
Chill for most of the day and then go to City Bloc to train later on. Warm up on the scaffold and do single handed and double handed up and down on the smaller rig and the bigger one. Go onto the 10mm edges and campus from bottom rounds to top ones, matching on the top ones. Close to the 8mm but not yet. Quick campus session keeping it pretty easy. Then spend half an hour playing with Kilter Board which is entertaining, Finish with some max hangs for 5 seconds with 40k added. Manage to complete 5 sets, then do 5 sets with 20k added, but much shorter rest. Finish by holding 14mm edges  and then 10mm edges for 5 seconds with 20k added, which is pleasing.


F - Apparently it’s going to be a hot one. Deadlifts 6x5 paused below and above the knee at a weight of 105k, which is supposed to stimulate maximum growth. Feels tough. Ancillary session is bicep work, doing lots of curl variants, drag curls, seated curls, S/A curls, conc curls, bench curls, ez curls, hammer curls and chin ups. Right arm, on which the long head tendon of the bicep is detached,  is not over keen but sometimes you just need to fire the guns and massage between sets does wonders, plus a good upper body stretch at the end.
Head to Almscliffe to meet friends before it gets too hot. Potter about doing lots of easy stuff around Pork Chop Slab. Very chilled and lots of fun.

S - Deadlifts for today are 1 rep every 30 seconds at 85% (117.5k) for ten minutes. Total of 21 reps and safe to say that by the end I am absolutely dripping with sweat. Solid session which is reasonably tough but thankfully brief. It’s described as weight and volume overload.
A little stretching of my back and easy core to finish.


S - .......and rest, apart from a bit of core and stretching.


This is how I was meant to spend my days when I retired. I’m currently fat, weak and old but with a fair wind and enough psyche I might be able to do something about two of the three. This week has felt like a cracking start to be fair.

[JohnM]

Last time I was 10lbs lighter.

August was scheduled to focus on power and power endurance but feels like I have a lot of catching up to do.

Wouldn't anything you could do in August be trumped by losing 10lbs (or maybe just 5lbs)?

Weight - 10st6lbs

M - Not a lot.

T - Not a lot.

W - Not a lot.

T - Tirol FKT route for August. Brutal start with 1250m of height gain in 5km, then technical/dangerous "skyrunning" above 2000m and then a punishing decent through talus fields and back into the 30 degree heat of the valley. Was hoping for a sub 3h30m time but I was slow through the middle section and the heat in the last 5km ruined me. 3h40m, 20km with 1900m height gain.

F - Finally mounted my BM2000 so now I have two interchangeable fingerboards (BM2000 and Lattice rung) that slot into an Iron Gym pull up bar. There is some flex in the bar that makes the standard hangs harder but it is way more optimal than my previous setup. I am finding the Lattice rung very slick and hard to hang but maybe it needs time to bed in. Various random hangs and pulls ups.

S - 3am wake up to go up Habicht (3,277m) one of the "7 summits" of the Stubai Valley. The early wake up was worth it as we were treated to a stunning sunrise and were already above 3000m at 8am. Then a long tour staying above 2000m but with very tired legs and punishing trails. Still an amazing day up in the local mountains. 30km and 2900m height gain made it over 1000 miles and nearly 95,000m of elevation gain for the year. My legs are tired!

S - Planned to go bouldering at Tumpen in Oetztal. I had high hopes for a new approach that avoided the now banned approach described to me in Power Club by user Ummagumma. Unfortunately, there is now a development site on that side as well and the owners have blocked all access. The boulders are now blocked on all sides by two development sites, a raging river and a 2000ft cliff so it seems access is now over which is a shame. Went bolt clipping to Oberried instead. I tried an 8a+ overhanging arete with slopers and heel hooks but was completely fatigued, had no core or shoulders and the slopers felt desperate to hang in the humidity. Then failed on everything else apart from a 4c and a 3c!

Two nice days in the mountains but a bad week for climbing. I got out once but was too knackered to do anything and I have lost motivation to train at home despite finally having a good setup. I think the heat and humidity just kills my motivation and I don't really have any specific route goals to aim at. Oh well, hopefully I can at least do a couple of training sessions this week.

[36chambers]

Where do people finish Subculture? The couple of people I've seen do it recently have clipped a short draw to the chain and clipped that to finish. There's not much of an obvious finishing hold.

Sounds like those people will get it next time.

[tommytwotone]

Back after a long break (and still amazed / intimidated by Gollum's updates!)

Week 2 of starting a new job, working from home, kids and other half away in Scotland leaving me at home at leisure.

Could have spent a lot of the week training / climbing / doing something useful but weather and general mental overload of getting up to speed left me feeling spent.

Only thing of note was:

Sunday: kids and other half had returned on Friday so took the kids off on an outdoor climbing adventure to give other half some P and Q. Decided on a jaunt to Roundhill, which is about as far away from my house as you can go and still stay in Yorkshire.

Well worth the trip though - managed a decent afternoon out with 2 x kids (3 and 6), not too much complaining on walk-in, everyone found things to climb, I did enough to burn myself out and I found a couple of things I could project if the mood takes me.

Definite potential for a full family picnic / climbing trip. Shame it's not closer!
 

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - 4' circuit x9 (4x2 +1 final set): TB DL x15, farmer's, overhead, rack carries 1' each.
Tue - rest.
Wed - weights, bar work, TB DL. 30 degrees inside the garage.
Thu - weights.
Fri - rest.
Sat - TB DL 25 x6 45/50 kg 2' rests. 34 degrees in the garage. 
Sun - 15' of loaded carries. Pecs, static/dynamic.

[mr chaz]

2 week update and a non-climbing trip to the Lakes:

Goals: i) Maintain finger strength ii) Get out and enjoy some climbing

20th-26th
M.
T.
W. Fingerboard - 2 arm max hangs
T. 30 minute HIIT.
F.
S.
S. 5km run - 28 mins

27th-2nd
M.
T. Lakes Trip Day 1 - arrived, little walk around Elterwater
W. Lakes Trip Day 2 - Decent walk up Pike o'Stickle and Harrison Stickle, pint in the Old Dungeon Ghyll. Class.
T. Lakes Trip Day 3 - Visit to Grasmere then onto Ullswater to check in at hotel.
F. Lakes Trip Day 4 - Hired a boat for an hour on Windermere then home.
S.
S. Fingerboard - 2 arm max hangs.

Had hoped to sneak in some bouldering whilst in the Lakes but the rain kept coming at the wrong times, ah well.

[shark]

Wouldn't anything you could do in August be trumped by losing 10lbs (or maybe just 5lbs?

Yep and I’m on it. Been reducing intake and not touched alcohol since then. Aiming to lose 1/2lb per week.

[csl]

Goals:
- Stick to regular training: not doing much as trying to stay fresh for when I can get outside.
- Do as much climbing outside in July/August as physically possible: not gone great so far due to circumstances outside of my control.

Didn't manage to get outside last week, had to drive to France for a funeral and had various annoying stuff in the diary on the weekend. I did manage:

1x session indoors. Did 3 V5's and everything easier than that at the wall.
1x max hangs testing session: Haven't really got a great deal stronger (+0.5 kg on RH, less on left). Will do another 8 week block after I go back to work and have less time to climb outdoors.

[spidermonkey09]

After a few weeks off experiencing a bit of a psych lull (probably caused by too much climbing in noisy Peak quarries) I'm quite psyched again. Spent the last week in Yorkshire in the van which was great.

M - rained all day.

T - weather looked shit again so went to Malham. The parking there is a shitshow at the moment now that the village is blocked off; I bet the villagers will try and keep it that way! Had been on GBH a few days previously so went back on that and got through the first bit of the crux a few times.

W - Giggleswick. Did Sunset Boulevard easily after putting the clips in after a shambolic attempt last year. What a great route. Just about scraped up Sunset Brown as well which is perhaps very slightly harder, but clearly not 7c+.

T - A day ticking at Robin Procters. Pulled a big flake off the 7a on the left hand side. A crowbar would remove more dodgy rock but might also pull the crag down, so perhaps some glue is a better option?

F - really hot, so sat by the river at Burnsall all day. Obscenely busy at the parking but 10 minutes walk away and it was quiet. Glorious.

S - Dodged the showers at Stoney Bank and did a few easier things, the best of which was Oedipus at about 6c+ (never 7a+!) and Come On 6b+. Such a good little crag. Went down to Malham for an evening RP on GBH; got higher but was too tired to clip the draw in the runout. I want this clipped because my sequence to get into the flake involves some tenuous foot moves and I don't want to look down at all the air!

S - pissed it down all morning so decided to squeeze in another RP instead of driving anywhere else. Had a mindblank first go and completely forgot a crucial (massive) foothold when feeling good which was very annoying. Fortunately it all went to plan next time and I made it to the chains; by far the quickest I've ever done a route of that grade. Blown away by how good it was top, both in terms of moves and rock quality. Say it quietly, but maybe even better than Zoolook?

Really nice week away just enjoying being outside. Psyched for Yorkshire so will hopefully get back up there a bit more frequently at the weekends. Back to work this week as well so hopefully more of a sense of structure returning for my training. Will see how far I have regressed on the fingerboard this week...

[JohnM]

Fortunately it all went to plan next time and I made it to the chains; by far the quickest I've ever done a route of that grade. Blown away by how good it was top, both in terms of moves and rock quality.

Nice tick and quick work! I remember it being a great route as well and whilst not necessarily better than Zoolook I thought it was cool how the style seemed much different despite them being close neighbours. I remember one savage hold though - maybe a sharp undercut?

[Yossarian]

M - Lazy / tired from weekend biking and boozing (aiming for no more now till Font)
T - Annoyingly heavy on scales. Wall. Absolutely fucking demoralising - felt like I was climbing with a rucksack. Drove home plotting to cancel holiday...
W - Wall. Returned for another go. Still pretty shit on anything beyond about 15deg, but managed to complete various things I'd plaited on the day before.
T - Shoulder feeling tweaky. Did various previously-prescribed rehab exercises. 1hr hard turbo trainer and then lots of stretching.
F - Great fingerboard session, another hard hour turbo, then stretching.
S - Wall. Really fun session. Made some progress on steeper things.
S - Fairly big press / antagonist / core session, another hour on turbo, lots of stretching.

Decent progress and quite optimistic that I might end up in some kind of ok shape for Font. Have 3 more weeks to get a bit stronger and skinnier and hopefully not fuck things up in the process.

[spidermonkey09]

Nice tick and quick work! I remember it being a great route as well and whilst not necessarily better than Zoolook I thought it was cool how the style seemed much different despite them being close neighbours. I remember one savage hold though - maybe a sharp undercut?

Yeah, there is at most one downward pull on the entire section independent from Zoolook, and even that could be considered a sidepull. Much burlier than Zoolook which I remember being old school crimping; on GBH I was dropping one foot off a lot to flick into the next handhold, almost like on a board. I think conditions are a huge factor on it as if it was remotely sweaty it would rip you to shreds. I also got some good short person beta from Ian Dunn which saved a lot of skin.

Presumably when you did Well Dunne you started up Zoolook?

[Coops_13]

M: Climb Clinic Physio. Two-hour assessment and exercises. Very climbing specific and happy with 8 - 12 week strengthening cycle planned

T: Rotator cuff exercises and saw other physio - happ with plan and gave me some additional stretches

W: Core

S: Hike at White Ranch Open Space Park. 5.5 miles, 850ft ascent

Wrist improving slowly still with the odd jolt of pain from random movement

[ummagumma]

S - Planned to go bouldering at Tumpen in Oetztal. I had high hopes for a new approach that avoided the now banned approach described to me in Power Club by user Ummagumma. Unfortunately, there is now a development site on that side as well and the owners have blocked all access. The boulders are now blocked on all sides by two development sites, a raging river and a 2000ft cliff so it seems access is now over which is a shame.

Apologies that didn't work out. Didnt realise there was a development site now - it is a shame as i used it before when the upstream assess was closed.

There is local bouldering area in the forest at Habichen itself called Sherwood Forest. It is not published. I have been there recently so you can actually get to the boulders this time!

Youtube and Vimeo have videos of the area to get an idea:




Haifisch is v nice.

It is a relatively small area but good quality.

PM me if you are interested and I can send coordinates etc.

[duncan]

Coops: sounds promising but remember the timescale for connective tissue strength gains. Slowly does it.

M and every day - Walked/shuffled 7-10km.
T - Fingerboard: max. hangs (12 x 7 seconds at ~90%).
W - Booked ferry to Fontainebleau (last week in August, Camping Les Courtilles du Lido if you want to avoid me).
T - pre-Font training for the lad at Fairlop Waters (best outdoor bouldering in Essex). Played around on “The Enormous Roofed Block” having fun surmounting the roof eliminating various holds. f5+-6bish
F - Fingerboard as above
S - Shoulders.
S - Met up with csl at Portland Wallsend, warmed-up and got stuck in to Sweet Smell of Success. Managed all the moves after a fashion but it was a bit greasy and felt hard. Did another few routes down by the sea and, as ever, it’s a lovely place to be and absorb the atmosphere irrespective of the climbing.
M - Shoulders
T -
W - Portland, met up with Dan, Conor-not-csl, and Rachel down there.  Milage day at Battleship: 10 routes to 6c, onsight or grey-points. Very brief look at Zinc Oxide Mountain (I think not!). A decent day.
T - Shoulders. Badminton with the lad. Tweaky (tennis) elbow after this.
F - Ran 5km!
S - Weston with family. Shoulders.
S - Shoulders. Elbow still tweaky.

A mixed couple of weeks: felt like I was starting to get some confidence back on lead (50 routes in a month will do that) but then stupidly tweaked elbow. Hopefully a week or two without pulling hard and it will settle. Rather than trying yet another route I probably should focus on and put the time in until the job is done.

Ran 5km continuously for the first time in 6-7 years and quite enjoying this.

Mixed feelings about going to Fontainebleau now, but hopefully it will feel like we’re doing the right thing in a month’s time.

Plan: ease back into things, get csl climbing on rock.

[Coops_13]

Coops: sounds promising but remember the timescale for connective tissue strength gains. Slowly does it.

Absolutely. Following physio's guidance but good that I'm not starting from scratch...

[SA Chris]

M - run in the pissing rain while Kyle at athletics training. Struggled to get going, but did it more out of solidarity with him.
T - down to Clochindare Bay. Aim to get link project done. Warmed up, but even though it was cool and breezy, rock felt glassy and couldn't do match on crimp in the middle at all even in isolation. Incredibly frustrating. Instead opted for getting the finish problem wired. Managed to do it 6 times, still failing every second go initially, but crucially knowing when to switch between heel hook and toe to rock over got me finishing it every try at the end. Amazing evening, dolphins passed and a seal popped up to watch.
W - a bit of kettlebells.
T - not much
F - worked in evening
S - not much
S - bike ride with kids - weather between downpour and a bit of sun. 13 km.