I've enjoyed participating and following along with several of the logs here, so I figured I'd start one of my own.

Goals: This will be my 5th season climbing. I've primarily bouldered and dabbled in sport climbing. This year I've decided to make a push to try and build out my sport climbing pyramid. I still plan on bouldering but sport climbing is going to take a front seat, at least until the absolute coldest months.

Ideally, I'd like to solidify myself at the 12a range on sport. If things go extremely well, perhaps I'm able to tick a 12b or two in the early spring. That may be optimistic though.

Weaknesses: Physically, I think I am already capable of climbing in the 12a range. The biggest thing to work on will be learning to really try hard on a rope. It is a different experience than trying hard on a boulder problem. Staying relaxed and moving fluidly while pumped and under duress are weak points for me. I'm hoping this improves as I get more experience.

8/30:

End of a de-load week.

I spent some time trying to dial a new ancap workout. Basically, I'll do two hard boulders separated by 30 seconds of easy climbing. I figure the problem in this video is roughly V3ish. If I can fire an 8-10 move V3-V4 twice with 30 seconds of easily climbing in between my strength endurance should be adequate for anything I'll encounter on a 12a route in the area.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqWo_P2zRkw

A couple of things to note: 1) My form broke down a bit on the second rep. I just didn't drive hard enough with my lower body when I was tired. 2) I only did 15s of easy climbing. I'll need to add a down climb on the ladder to the right to hit the correct time. Ideally, I'll be able to add another hand move to this problem and do the 30s of easy climbing by the end of 6-8 weeks.

Also, I realized that I am holding too much tension on holds I don't like. This isn't a problem on an 8-10 move boulder, but has a big cumulative effect on routes. This is something more experienced route climbers talk about and is one of the many skill aspects to route climbing fitness that I am lacking. I understood this logically, but I felt it for the first time on the wall Friday.

Good luck, definitely appreciate all the help you’ve provided us on this forum.

I chat and climb a good bit with a mid40’s climber who has sent many 5.12’s outside. He has super impressive movement, built from what he has described to me seems like an enormous volume of medium-light intensity 25-40 move circuits.

I’m curious what you mean by tension, is it you find yourself wasting too much energy/time finding the perfect way to hold/engage difficult positions instead of just moving off of them quickly? Or simply are you over gripping these holds?

Didn’t you say you did a Lattice assessment recently? Would love to know the results and how they relate to your personal bests on the wall.

I am definitely over gripping on routes outside when I am pumped. Some of that is fear of falling and some of it is just not being comfortable when I am pumped out of my mind.

What I meant by tension was finding the right level of tension through the transition to the next move. I'd like to get where I can relax more in transition when appropriate.

The Moonboard sequence I was using is actually pretty cool for this. When I fire the right hand to the pinch I have to be super tight through that foot sequence. The jibs on the board are downward sloping and if my feet cut there I'm not strong enough to stay on. After I do the right hand bump, I was initially using a little black crimp for my left just below the black crimp I cross to. It's not a great hold for me, but I realized that since the feet are good I don't have to hold as much tension throughout my body. I can just bear down on the bad hold, but otherwise relax the rest of my body. Once I ramp up tension on a sequence I tend to not dial it down unless the holds are good. Master level is to be able to do 3-4 hard moves, mini-relax for a split second when setting up and then firing the rest of the sequence. I'm definitely not there yet.

General cliffs on the Lattice assesment were my upper body and core strength are good for the level I'm climbing. Finger strength was poor. Anaerobic was slightly under performing. Aerobic power was very good and base fitness was poor.

I knew my fingers were weak for the grade and really had no idea about the energy system stuff. I figured I was in ok shape because if I can't do a boulder it is because I can't do some of the moves. I can't think of a problem where I could do all the individual moves but was never able to link them.

I am somewhat skeptical of the modelling Lattice does. I have no clue how well calibrated it is. They only give you averages without any information on dispersion. That certainly makes me wonder. With that said, I do think it is quite useful for evaluating the effectiveness of training, particularly as far as endurance is concerned. That, to me, seems of greater utility than trying to make granular comparisons among climbers. I may do one again in October to see if I actually made any progress on the physical front over the last 6 months.

Sport climbing: 5 pitches. Easy mileage/base fitness

Good day outside. Took some fall practice and fixed a rope management issue that I didn't realize was a problem. Good Lawd it was hot out.

Band resisted push-ups 5x10

In!

Yeey, another climbing log to lurk!

9/4:

Warm-up to a couple of hard onsight problems

Hangboard: Half Crimp, Inside edge of 2nd VDER on Rock Prodigy Board

10 on 50 off x 4

Set 1: BW, Set 2: BW+15, failed at 8s on last rep

Moonboard doubles 6x2, 4-5 mins between sets

All V3 problems. Was super powered down on the last set and not completing the reps, so intensity level was spot on. Body tension on poor feet was a bit off on the 2nd rep of some sets. It felt like my lower body was a little late to fire. I am not sure how much of this is a technique issue or just fatigue.

Pull-ups: 5x8 1 min rest between sets, BW

Awesome can't wait to follow your progress

9/6:

Standard Warm-up

Hangboard:

1 set of 10 on 50 off x 4. 4 different grips with bodyweight

I tried something different this HB session. After my standard warm-up I rested a bit and then went over and did 2-3 fingery moves on the Moonboard, rested 3-5 mins and then did my hangboard session. The idea here is that fingery moves would get my recruitment up so I could give max effort on the HB. Normally, half crimp BW for 10s on a 15mm edge is an all out teeth gritting set. Today, after doing the fingery moves I probably had a 3-4s left in me at 10s. No clue what is actually going on here or if it is just randomness. I'm going to stick with it and see if it continues.

Hard bouldering session: 6 problems near max problems, 3 attempts each.

Overall, pretty good session. I sent 2 of my Moonboard projects, but got crushed on 2 of the climbs on the easiest circuit. These problems were quite hard for me. I don't think I will be able to do them.

Here are a couple of videos from one of the Moonboard problems. This is a variation on the problem I posted previously. I made a couple of refinements that were key.

1) I shifted my hips further right before the bump. This got more weight on my feet and made the bump much easier. I think you will be able to see the different hip position if you compare to the video a few post back.

2) When doing the cross I really focused on pulling with left foot and getting full extension with my right foot. In the second video you can see that my right heel is elevated and I am getting extension through my right foot vs the 1st video. My left knee is also slightly more to the left. The end result is my hips were over my heels more and my feet took enough of the load I could hit the right hand with enough precision to do the next move. I can only fit 3 fingers on the hold. If they don't hit the hold with enough precision I can't pull through to the next hold.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjqKfAEu8p8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHcpkOn4-uA

I keep learning the same lesson over and over, it seems. Getting into the best possible position prior to moving or moving dynamically to the correct position while doing a move is absolutely critical.

Here are my attempts on one of the problems on the easy circuit. This problem just feels nails hard to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMs4437CwH4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmeMYhf5Ux0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1axHuHQfio

Bar Core Work:

Hanging leg raises
Hanging L-sit with bent legs
Windshield Wipers
Front lever pulls with knees at 90

Reverse Wrist Curls 3 x 20

9/7:

Bunch of warm-up problems on the easy circuit. OS level or below.

25 move circuit at about OS level on 45 and 50. Shake on a jug for 1 min, then 4 minutes of easy continuous climbing. 2 sets total.

Definitely feel like I am getting a lot back on the 1 minute shake out. The first 15-20s suck, but I end up feeling pretty good after one minute. Hopefully, this means my recovery is improving.

I have some lateral tendinitis developing in my right elbow. The pull-ups and steep down climb section of this circuit have aggravated it. Hopefully, some wrist curls and weighted supination/pronations will clear it up.

One arm scapular shrugs 3x8
Prone TRX I and Ts 4x4
Supine TRX Ts 3x8
Reverse wrist curls 3x20
One Arm KB Press 4x6 35, 45x3

Enjoying how your sessions actually have a strategy lol. 25 moves on 45/50deg? Don’t care if they’re uber jugs that’s impressive.

I had to give up overhand chins due to my elbows. I can tell I’ve lost some overall scapular and kick off strength so I’m going to try to implement some weighted scapular work into my programming.

I think the unstructured training is fine as long as you keep progressing. I can only maintain structure during the warm months when I am in the gym often.

I may drop the pull-up volume next week. The top of the pull-ups or any lock offs can definitely light my elbows up. Pulling strength is not a weakness for me, so a potential overuse injury isn't worth the upside. Also, I need to clean up the down climb section of my circuit. I was too inefficient and locked off a couple of holds to move my feet.

9/9:

Feeling a bit rundown from under sleeping 4-5 days last week and decided to decrease the volume of my warm-up.

Hangboard: 10 on 50 off x 4. half crimp, back 3 half crimp, front 3 half crimp, front 3 open.

15mm edge half crimp at BW felt strong again. I am going to try the 12-14mm edge on the beastmaker for these hangs next time.

5x up, down ups: 2 problems on the 60, 2 on 50, 1 on Moonboard. Powered out on the second rep of most sets. All problems were on the easy circuit. No clue about grades.
I need to maintain aggression with lower body when under fatigue. Even though I have really focused on pushing and pulling harder with my feet the last few years, there is still more room to improve.

1 arm scapular pulls 3x8
TRX Prone T 3x8
Reverse wrist curls 2x12
Pronation/Supination 2x10
1 arm KB Press 4x6 35, 45x3

Going to try and fit some hip mobility and stretching in later. Fingers crossed it actually gets done.

What do you recommend for the exact opposite problem? Every boulder lately I'm working is pretty much an issue of putting the 2 halves together. Think I should be getting on the rope for longer endurance or doing circuits?

This is actually a fairly complicated question to try and answer, especially without a proper assessment.

My initial guess would be that your aerobic system is poorly developed and that is hindering your anaerobic system from operating at maximum capacity. Here is a quote from a book I read on energy systems that discusses this topic better than I can:

Here is a video where the guys at Lattice talk about endurance training for boulderers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufvkPCkFNPw

There are a bunch of different ways to do the regeneration and aerobic capacity workouts they are suggesting. You can traverse around the wall or up and down autobelays and breakup the time into say 5, 8 or 10 min blocks. 1 on 1 off is a good protocol to do as well. If you are psyched on learning to lead climb you can do stuff like 4x4 on routes or just route volume days (indoors or out). They key will be to keep the pump level pretty low, like 4-5 on a scale of 1-10.

Your anaerobic capacity could potentially need some work also. The Crimpd app has 3 different on the wall protocols to use. The general principal will be adding more density to your climbing sessions which results in powering out instead of getting pumped. The 6 in 6 session on the app is easy to do in a crowded gym.

Just adding in some low end endurance work 2x a week at the end of sessions and maybe increasing the density one session a week would be where I'd start, I think.

I should have said this earlier, but that is only a wild guess. Other than the little bit I've read here and there, I know next to nothing about exercise physiology.

When I did my Lattice assesment they thought my base fitness was ****. I figure I've done a bit more base mileage over the years than you have, so I'd expect yours to be quite poor as well?

OK thanks, that makes sense and something I didn't know at all--the aerobic capacity holding back the anaerobic and the sprinter example.

It's been particularly poor since I made lifting my main focus and put climbing (and other general exercise) on the back burning.

Need to read more up on this.


Edit;
Does this makes sense that as I've made upper body gains and ramped volume lifting I've increased ability to produce lactate, while not climbing as much and doing nothing for aerobic specifically, that is the reason I've been getting pumped out of my ****ing mind so easily?

I doubt the lifting will have much of an effect on your forearm flexors ancap as it relates to climbing. I'd be surprised if they were getting stressed enough to cause any adaptations, unless you were doing a ton of pulling. Even then, I don't know how well gripping a bar transfers to climbing specific grips. I'd imagine there is some transfer, I just don't know how much.

If you have been doing higher rep work then I'd expect those muscle groups to certainly have some anaerobic adaptations. That won't effect the energy production of your forearm flexors though.

With less climbing volume you have probably just lost some fitness, movement efficiency and weigh a little more.

9/11:

Warm-up using bad feet on the beginner circuit.

6 problems 3 attempts each. 3 problems on the 60, 1 on the 50. 2 on the Moonboard. Did not complete any.

I found a new V3 project on the Moonboard I am psyched on. I did all but one move this session. In order to do it I will have to figure out how to get more weight on my feet. I didn't have enough finger strength to latch the hold in the position I was in. I've got a few ideas for beta refinements I'll try next session.

Video of MB attempt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo9SWsB99AI

2 on 1 off x 5.

Push-ups 5x10 1 min rest between sets. Really focusing on protracting my scapula at the top of push-up.

Hanging Leg Raises 2x8
Hanging L-sit bent legs 2 x 30s
Windshield Wipers 2x5 each
Front Lever Pulls legs at 90 2x6 each.

Tendinitis is continuing to flare in my right elbow. Hopefully, I can get it under control. Pull-ups are definitely out this week.

9/13:

Unfortunately, I am a bit banged up this week. The extensor tendon on my right elbow is lit up. I also have something going on in my left shoulder that is making it grumpy. Hopefully, I can get this stuff taken care of before the climbing temps arrive. I have an idea of what I need to do with the elbow tendinitis, but am unsure about the shoulder. If the shoulder doesn't improve next week I may need to go see a PT.

General on the wall warm-up.

Hangboard:

2 sets of 10 on 50 off x 4 reps. I used BW+15 on the last set and had 2-3 seconds left in the tank. My 10s max hang on this edge in May was BW+18. Hopefully, that means my fingers have gotten stronger.

Fired the crux sequence of my Moonboard project first go. I just had to place my left foot a little bit to the left and to create more space for my hips to stay close to the wall. Next week I'll try and link it from the start.

Doubles on the Moonboard:

6x2, 4 min rest between sets. I am recovering MUCH better between attempts on problems than I was before the summer started. Fitness level has definitely improved.

Reverse Wrist 3x12
Push-ups 5x10, 1 min rest between sets.

I had some TRX work scheduled, but dropped it to give my shoulder some rest.

9/14:

Easy mileage, Sport/Trad Outside. 4 pitches sport, 1 trad. Did not lead the trad pitch.

We barely dodged the rain today. It was sprinkling on us but the routes stayed dry. I picked up a few things about crack climbing. I actually found some decent hand jams and learned a little bit about how to position myself to get max value out of the jams.

The shoulder feels better, but my elbow is still quite angry. Pretty low intensity session so hopefully it will help me recover.

9/16:

My shoulder is feeling better, but the elbow is about the same. I decided to reduce the volume and intensity this week and see if I can give these overuse injuries some rest. I think this is a bit of blowback from not taking my de-load week serious enough and under sleeping. A friend once told me, "Take a de-load week, or one will be taken for you."

Warm-up to about onsight level.

Hangboard: Lower outside edge of the Beastmaker 2K. I think this is around a 14mm edge. The goal was to find my 10s max and then do sets of 7s hangs on the edge.

BW 10s, BW+10 9s. BW+10 7s x 6. 1.5 min rest between sets.

I am pretty psyched on BW+10 for 9s. If my gym wasn't as hot and humid I wonder if I could do BW+15 for 10s?

2 on 1 off x 8. 15-20 degree overhung.

TRX Prone T 3x8
Reverse wrist curls 3x12 15lbs
Push-ups 5x10 1 min rest between sets.

9/18:

The shoulder and elbow feel much better today. Dropping the intensity and volume has certainly helped. Somehow, my lower back is a little tweaked. I am not sure what happened exactly. The old man decided to rear his ugly head the last 2 weeks it seems.

Warm-up to a hard onsight on some of the new problems.

Hangboard: Tension 20mm, half Crimp

2 x 4 10 on 50 off. BW, BW+15. I couldn't complete this workout on this edge 6-8 weeks ago.

4 x 25-30 move circuit at about onsight level, followed by 4 minutes of easy climbing.

On the easy climbing I really focused on driving constant pressure through my feet. This is something I have gotten away from the last month or two. It was nice to revisit it today. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep it up outside on Friday when the stress level is higher.

Reverse Wrist Curls
Push-ups 5x10 1 min rest between sets.

9/20: Sport Climbing down in the Canyon

5 pitches. I generally got my but kicked this session. Did a 10+ warm-up and chuffed the final move at the anchors 3 times. Then did 2 attempts on a 12a. They were basically bolt to bolt. I was able to do all the moves but linking them seems a ways off.

Overall, it was a productive and a fun day out. I was fortunate enough to be out with some really experienced climbers whom I was able to learn from. I picked up a new tactic on how to work routes and got a few flaws in my technique pointed out.

Technique wise I am climbing with too much tension. This is actually something I feel like I do well on boulders, but have to learn to dial down on routes. I need to relax a bit more in transition of a crux and on the moderate sections. The next thing I learned is that on heel toe cams I am not activating my glutes and straightening my leg. Instead, I am just hanging off my joints which results in not getting max value out of the cam. Another climber pointed this out to me awhile back and I didn't quite understand what he was talking about. I think I get it now? Of course, I will have to practice a lot more to be able to actually execute.

The beatings will continue until skills improve!

9/23:

I didn't sleep enough this past weekend and it certainly spilled over into my session today.

Warm-up to a harder onsight.

Hangboard: 8 x 7s with bodyweight on BM2K small edge.

4 x 4s. 1 boulder 4x with 20s between reps. 2 sets on the 60 and 1 on 45. Both were probably V2-V3ish.

This was the first time I did this session on the current set. It is leftover from a competition, so the hold density isn't as high as it normally is. I didn't quite hit the intensity level I was hoping for. Ideally, I'd like to fail on the last reps on sets 3 & 4, but didn't choose the right problems to do so. Not a bad day to undershoot on intensity though. I am dragging.

I did practice relaxing in transition and under fatigue. I realized that I still need to be pretty active with my lower body to maintain and put myself into good positions but much looser with my upper body. This definitely improved my efficiency towards the end of sets.

Reverse Wrist Curls 3 x 10, 20lbs
Push-ups 5 x 10, 1 min rest between sets.

The shoulder and elbow are feeling better, but not 100%.

I stepped on a scale this morning and weighed 146.5. 142-145 will be a nice weight for me this season. I think just by adding in a few more veggies to my diet, I'll get there without too much trouble.

If my forearms are producing as much force as they were when I did the Lattice assessment in the spring, a bodyweight of 142 will put me right at the strength levels they would like to see for V7 and 12+. Hopefully, I've gotten stronger since then. Of course, I've got to learn to ****ing rock climb if I plan on getting max value out of that physical capacity on a rope.