30/06/13 Session

I had a short session today which was a mix of bouldering on the roof and on the 45' board.

I've been attempting wider moves on small crimps.

I finished the session on the fingerboard, doing the usual 5 pull ups on every hold on the Beastmaker 1000.

29/06/13 Session

Well after 3 days of rest due to my finger tip pulling up, I decided to have a session today. My nail was feeling fine and my skin thickness had increased do it looked like a good session was to be had.

The session went as follows:

1 x ascent of roof 6b+ (25+ moves)
1 x ascent of roof 6c+ (25+ moves)

Bouldered a V2 and V3 boulder problem.

Climbed a roof V4 boulder problem.

I then decided to rest for 10 minutes and then it happened...


I climbed the roof 7c problem after dropping the last move a few times on Tuesday. The problem felt easy and flowed very well, I think the fact I worked out a better sequence for part of the roof section really helped on keeping the power for the last move crux.


I then decided to attempt the 8b roof problem, I managed to hold the front lever style, pull out of a bat hang move and work out the main roof section. So hopefully I've got 3/4's of the roof sorted now and it's just the final section that pulls out of the roof up a 20' overhanging wall. There is one move here that feels about V5/V6 which I reckon will be the stopper, after the previous 17 moves leading up to it. So I plan to work this over the next week or so and get it dialled so that I can do this problem quickly.

45' board climbing

After spending about an hour on the roof I decided to try some board problems that I'd created. A load of new holds have been added to the board recently which has opened up a lot of possibilities for new problems.

I managed to climb a problem that is about V6 involving very wide side pull snatching moves to a big lunge for sloper. This is a good problem for training compression and worked well.

I did a few more problems around this grade and also started trying a new project that looks to be about V9/V10, it involves a mix of everything, with a side pull(left hand) sit start lunging to a sloping crimp(right hand), you then switch the side pull to an undercut and throw your right hand to a gaston, then get a high right foot and power through to a small crimp again. This section is pretty hard and will take a few sessions to complete.

Fingerboard training

5 pull-ups on every hold on Beastmaker 1000. 2 types of holds - 1 minute break - next type etc.

1-3-5-7-9-10 on large rungs (By this point I was very tired and decided to leave the campus session for next time).

The session lasted about 3 hours 15 minutes. I tried to limit rest times as much as possible and keep trying stuff during this whole period.

With regards to my progression; I'm finding a very big increase in power endurance especially on the roof problems. I'm also noticing more crimping power on the 45' board, which is allowing me to train much crimpier problems. Since I've been trying a lot of wide move problems I've also noticed a big improvement in being stabilised on wide moves.

All in all, the training is definitely working and I'm psyched to test it out on real rock this summer.

25/06/13 Session

Bouldering roof

1 x ascent of 6c+ roof problem

1 x ascent of 7b roof problem

Fell off last move on 7c problem, worked out a new sequence that makes roof crux section easier.

Campus board

1-3-5-7-9-11 reverse on middle rungs - 3 sets

My fingertip split on the last campus, so I decided to move onto the big rungs and keep my index finger off the campus rungs, so left hand was back 3 campussing.

1-3-5-7-9-11 reverse on big rungs - 3 sets

Fingerboard

I did 5 pull ups on the following:

- Jugs

- 3 finger pocket

- 2 finger pocket

- Smaller 3 finger pocket

10 pull ups on jugs again

Unfortunately I had to cut this session short due to the split tip. I'll have to take a few days rest now.

23/06/13 Session

I had a session at another local wall today to try out some new problems.

The session was good and I'm noticing improvement on trying problems above my usual grade. I've also noticed I've got a better lock off ability now and my power endurance increase is really helping on longer problems.

I'm planning on a big session tomorrow, so I'll update more tomorrow.

21/06/13 Session

Today's session went pretty well. It went as follows:

Warm up

I climbed the following:

V0
V1
V2
V2
V3

1 x lap of 6c circuit on 45' board.

Bouldering

1 x ascent of 7a roof problem

Attempt on 7b roof problem - Fell on last move.

Attempt on 7c roof problem - Fell on same move as yesterday.

Interestingly the 7b roof problem is feeling much harder than the 7c, this is due to it being a longer problem of perhaps 30 moves into a crimpy finish that comes out of the roof onto an overhanging wall.

I spent about 45 minutes on these problems but decided to stop due to my skin wearing thin from the new holds. Climbing on sandpaper is probably a good comparison of how these holds feel!

Campus Board

1-3-5-7-9-11 reverse on middle rungs - I managed 5 sets of these today. I aimed for a 90 second break between the first 3, then a 3 minute break for the last 2.

I was feeling strong on these and managing the sequence with ease.

1-2-3-4-5 reverse with one arm on lowest rung, while other arms bumps up. Both arms completed. Medium rungs.(without letting go to switch arms).

1 x set of 3 pull ups as follows: One hand on campus rung 1, other hand on campus rung 4. Pull up to deep lock and lower back down - Repeat.

I did this for both arms.

8 x pull ups using middle and small rungs with arms as wide as possible. It's a good workout for upper pectoral muscles.

Hang on medium rung and do 15 leg raises.

1-3-5-7-9 again, but failed when reaching 11.

NOTE: The reason I decided to do this on the middle rungs is down to the fact that I feel that the large rungs don't offer much realism for what I'm aiming for.

The smaller rungs however are at the moment proving slightly more difficult for me, so I'm aiming to build up on the middle rungs for 2 weeks then incorporate the smaller rungs. I was speaking to a staff member who told me that the campus rungs are actually angled a few degrees steeper than normal. This means that you lose a fair bit of power and contact area when campussing. At other walls I find the smaller rungs absolutely fine, so it's nice to know that I'm not regressing in this respect.

Fingerboard

5 pull-ups on every hold on Beastmaker 1000. 2 types of holds - 1 minute break - next type etc.

12 pull ups on large jugs.

I then did a quick link up on the 45' board, which consisted of climbing up a V5 and down a V0.


Overall I think this session went pretty well. I decided not to use the weight vest just yet due to wanting to get some skin growth back before I potential weight it with more mass.

I'm noticing gains on the campussing which is great and my power endurance has definitely increased.

Perhaps the biggest gain that I have currently noticed is that my recovery rate from being fully pumped to half pump has rapidly increased. This is meaning that I can attempt more problems and do more training for a longer period of time than I was able to a few weeks back.

Oh, I also bumped into Matt Helliker, the top alpine climber who was also fingerboard training. He's a thoroughly nice chap!

I plan to now have a rest day on Saturday and possibly climb Sunday afternoon.

20/06/13 session

I was planning on taking a rest day today but headed to the wall for about 90 minutes to have a go on the new roof problems.

I managed to almost on-sight the roof 7c, I fell off 2 moves before the end. But this will definitely go next session, I'm sure of it.

There is also an 8b roof problem, that I tried. The first section is great and involves a jump start to a big hold which you then bat hang, you then move from the bat hang into the roof section. This is where I was failing. The move to the volume in the roof, basically takes core tension that would be more akin to front lever territory. So it seems that I'm back to core training for a while so I can do this problem. I think it will be fairly possible after I've got this move sorted.

Fortunately conditions are improving now and the humidity has been dropping, so my plan is to have a proper power session tomorrow and see how I get on. I shall also be getting out the weight vest. I'm thinking of using about 5kg and climbing the problems in the v3-v5 range and doing about 5 sets. I'll update tomorrow.

My psyche is high at the moment and I'm excited to get back north and on the limestone to see if this training is paying off.

18/06/13 Session

I went for a session today which lasted only 2 hours. Unfortunately conditions (indoors, yes... It's crazy...)are terrible. It's been very humid for about 4 days now and there is no end in sight currently. The humidity is about 80% at the moment so even doing a 10 move problem is causing overheating.

Anyway, I did the following:

1 x lap of 6a circuit
1 x lap of 6c circuit

1 x ascent of 7a roof problem

30 move V6 problem (involves going diagonally from bottom left to top right of board, reverse a V0, then diagonally bottom right to top left).

3 minute rest

30 move V6 problem (involves going diagonally from bottom left to top right of board, reverse a V0, then diagonally bottom right to top left).

3 minute rest

30 move V6 problem (involves going diagonally from bottom left to top right of board, reverse a V0, then diagonally bottom right to top left).

1-3-5-7-9-11 and reverse on middle rungs.

Overall this was a slow session, but as mentioned the humidity really caused problems for attempting stuff.