[JohnM]

Weight 10st6lbs

M - Rest

T - Rest

W - Bouldering at Zillergrund. Started raining an hour into the drive but pushed on regardless. Most of the boulders were wet but the three crimps on my 7C+ project were dry. Warmed up on the 7A and 7B to the right and felt pretty solid after 2 rest days. Pulled onto the 7C+ but it felt desperate. I could barely do the first move off the good hold and the rock was condensing a bit under my fingers and going a bit "Cappuccino". Kept trying until I ended up missing the pad and back splatting onto the flat rock at the base. Got pissed off and drove to the wall. The session at the wall started off badly and I seemed to get an instant terminal pump. Tried an 8a 3 times and then in the end surprised myself by getting most of the way up an 8a+.

T - Woke up with a stiff back but didn't want to miss my planned training session. Did shoulder stability and core and then assisted one armers. These felt the best for a long time. Then did assisted one arm hangs on the Lattice rung. I am still crap at this and my half crimp opens very quickly and the lattice rung feels so slick that I just slide off. Then I tried to do single pull ups on the Lattice rung + 20kg. That is when something went in my left trapezius muscle and I had to abandon the session.

F - Rest. Very acute pain in my left Trapezius. I managed to convince my girlfriend to rub Volteren into it 4 times during the day.

S - Rest. A bit less pain but sill very stiff. Same treatment as the day before.

S - Much better but still a bit stiff in the upper back and neck. Decided to continue with the plan of trying the 8c at Schleierwasserfall again. Schleier was horrendous when we arrived. I have never seen so many people there. Loads of people shouting with their tops off, playing music, carrying bongos and guitars up to the crag...bad scenes. I like sport climbing but I hate it as well. Anyway, the 8c was wet in crucial places as expected but the lower wall and headwall were dry enough to try. I warmed up on the finger board and then surprised myself by doing the starting boulder first try and then all the moves on the lower wall first try. I aided past the wet overlap and then did the dyno first try. I made better links on the top boulder but one of the crucial footholds was wet and it still felt very hard. It was cool to watch Jakob Schubert flash the neighbouring 8c/8c+ route Lichtjahre (Megos had done it 3rd try a week or so ago and he thought it was 8c+/9a). Jakob also assured me that the 8c I was trying was hard and conditions dependent. However, he had pretty much flashed that one as well in the past so I guess hard is relative! My second go was even better and I managed to link most of the lower wall and then after the overlap through the dyno and up into the final boulder. I had a short rest and then linked the top part of the boulder to the chains.

This week turned out ok in the end. I am determined to do a harder bloc style boulder as most of the stuff I have done have been longer boulders. I might sack off the three move 7C+ though as it is too conditions dependent and I do not want to back splat again. Despite a bad back all week I was pleased with how my first session back on the 8c went. This is definitely the hardest 8c I have ever tried but also the best I have ever felt on an 8c after only 2-3 sessions. However, there is a long way between feeling good on the links and doing it and I need the top boulder to start feeling much easier!   

[duncan]

M - Jogged around the Heath
T - Drove to Weston, mainly to see Mum who was in need of a bit of company. Grabbed 2 hours at Uphill quarry with Purple Sue. Two other parties turned up whilst we were there: 6 climbers in an obscure Somerset quarry midweek, what is the world coming to?* No guitars or bongos. Warmed up on Risen From The Grave aka the cop-out way of doing Chiming For You. This is good climbing but a terrible warm-up - off-vertical 6c+ on small crystalline crimps - and cost a considerable amount of skin. Tried Living Dead (7b) but wimped-out at the rusty peg on the red-point. Did it with one hang and it would probably have gone next time but I was running out of time and skin. The climbing is great but the gear a bit Crockeresque: in ~30m you get  5 bolts and said rusty peg (tied off with AJM’s tat from 2012 - almost as bad as Malham. The peg is probably fine but I’m a recovering aid-climber, studied metallurgy in a different life, and it’s not far from the sea...).
W - Shoulder strength - IsYsTs etc.
T - Aerobic Power fingerboard session (7s/3s repeaters at ~60% MVC, on a 15mm edge) x2 mins. x 6 sets.
F - Shoulder strength. ~5km run in the rain.
S - Max. hangs fingerboard session (80kg on a 15mm edge). 
S - Shoulder strength

Decent week, acquired yet another unfinished 7b but don’t need any excuse to keep going back to Uphill over the next months, lockdowns permitting. Need to sort out my warm-up though: might dust off the portable fingerboard next visit.



*Some very good routes in the 6c-7c range, a lovely ambience (cf any peak limestone quarry), and ”working from home”.

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - fingers garage session. Only two good hangs and then another flapper. Clean and press, snatch pulls. TB DL 80 kg x10, pull ups x4, EMOM x7. Hard.
Tue - rest.
Wed -  light weight and pull ups session.
Thu - board climbing! Finally. As heavy as a carrier ship but grinded it out despite Monday's flapper still open. Weights.
Fri - gym, legs.
Sat - core: one arm plank and dumbbell row, ab wheel. Snatch pulls.
Sun - weights. Clean, press, snatch DL, snatch pulls (10, 5, 10, 10) x7.

[RobK]

Sorry, by this, do you mean you're stronger on your three finger drag hangs than presumably four finger half crimps? Is this the same for a lot of people? Interested as I am significantly weaker on my three finger drag and wonder if it's something I should be working on.

Yep, approx 5kg stronger currently! I don't really train 3FD beyond a few hangs at the end of the max hangs session but tend to drag holds where i can which might contribute to it? At least one other person I know is stronger on 3FD than 1/2 crimp but not sure how prevalent it is.

Wow, on two armed hangs I can probably hang in the region of an extra 20-30kg with a four finger half crimp as opposed to 3FD. Interesting how there can be such big physiological differences. Maybe some sort of inherent weakness there I need to work on.

[spidermonkey09]

Wow, on two armed hangs I can probably hang in the region of an extra 20-30kg with a four finger half crimp as opposed to 3FD. Interesting how there can be such big physiological differences. Maybe some sort of inherent weakness there I need to work on.

Interesting. I've never tried two arm max hangs on 3FD so not sure how similar mine would be!

so for a 2kg assist I have a 5kg weight on the rope - which feels more comfortable. if that makes sense...

I know that kind of defeats the point of being able to hang on one arm without the other helping the balance/swing etc.. but it has got me through the 'transition to zero' etc.. etc..

I have considered this but in a more measurable way, eg adding a weight to a harness! In fact I did that the first time I got down to bodyweight over lockdown. I only ever do these hangs when knackered at the end of the session of half crimp max hangs so it might be interesting to do them first one day to see if they are easier.

I think buying a few weight plates of around 0.5kg would also help; currently my smallest is 1.25.

[SA Chris]

M - run 10.5 km. Beastmaker session
T - evening climbing, only got away at about 5:45, headed to Ritchie Shore, low tide. Conditons good, did a bit of a warm up and some of the easier probs on the lower section, before trying some projects. Moves on LH one still feel committing, will need to slap for what may or may not be a hold high up to commit to finish. Had a few goes on middle line and after some probing found a haft decent crimp, but not sure after that. Need a few pads and spotters to commit. Went and tried the traverse on the upper section, extending it from the "impossible" move, where I chicken out upwards. Can see what to do, now just need to figure out how. Need more pads, landing is shit. Dark before trashed.
W - wall session. felt ok, nothing revolutionary
T - short evening run, went down to Clashfarquar to look at a problem, but too wet and tide too  high, couldn't get near it.
F - tricep curls in front of telly.
S - wall on afternoon with son. Belayed him on a couple of routes, then set him up on autobelay, and bouldered for a bit. Feeling ok on 45, managed a couple of harder probs.
S - cycled with kids to meet partner finishing her virtual London Marathon. We got wet but not soaked.

[tomtom]

I think buying a few weight plates of around 0.5kg would also help; currently my smallest is 1.25.

Bottles (or half full) of water... in a tote bag etc..

I went and weighed myself - so now know that a pair of jeans, a hoody and my phone in my pocket adds 2kg :D
(before and after mealtime can make a difference too!)

What has become of me....

[Duma]

Bring back Gollum's detailed descriptions of daily torture rather than this joyless stripped back affair...

[Fiend]

Bring back Gollum's detailed descriptions of daily torture rather than this joyless stripped back affair...

  yeah Gollum don't go into a huff just because people have rumbled that you're weird, it was bad enough when Scrotham did that. Particularly don't skip over climbing exploits. Maybe you could do a slightly more organised summary, bullet-points and the like??

[gollum]

I still write the long version, so will include both in future and folk can read whichever bit they want to.

I fully accept being weird. 

[Fiend]

Do a spoiler tag for the full details of each day, let's make it as complicated as possible 

[gollum]

 

[nai]

Still decorating and fitting some climbing in where possible:

M - quicky to Stanage Right. Managed to top out Crimpy Roof at the third visit having been repelled by a wet heather cornice previously.

T hour at Burbage South AM. Finished off Knock Knack Paddywack and The Grazer then went to join Dolly on Pocket Wall LH which didn;t get polished.

W - quick board session I think, but I might be thinking of a warm up ahead of one of the outings

Th - eve at Burbage South, did the red circuit off ukc (all bar one problem which had a puddle beneath it and a yoof spitting on holds at the lip, but I did two others to make up for it). 20 problems mostly 5+ to 6B. Good fun apart from the final problem, Doggy Style, which must be a huge sandbag?

F
S 30 mins LI
S