5/20 climbing 2.5 hours

My best session ever. Sent 15+ routes V1-3, flashing most of them, then sent a new 4 similar to the 4+ compression climb I sent last year. I called that climb a 5 at the time but after reviewing the video and gaining more experience I think it’s not quite at that level.

At this rate looks like Green traverse V5 will go next session. I’ll probably downgrade it to 4 or 4+ when I send it. If the 2nd half of the traverse were just slightly harder I’d say it’s a 5.

There’s still 3 V2-3 climbs I either haven’t tried or haven’t been able to do. Two of them have low scrunchy starts pulling on crimps and the 3rd is a cave climb. After that there’s a few climbs with the 2 3 4 card I haven’t sent yet.

Watched some climbing team kids project an 8 with an utterly ridiculously hard crux after a beastly traverse.

Fingers didn’t hurt at all. Will still give them 3+ days rest. I can’t do more than 2x/week until I’m 100%. Maybe I could go 3x if I cut sessions shorter or take longer rests

Hip hurt a tiny bit early in session. I tried a move where I had to go from a heel hook to rotating onto the foot and standing on it and I went for it dynamically rather than repositioning the foot and felt a 4-5/10 pain, not even totally sure where it was localized. Just left inner hip/hamstring area I guess. Not doing that again until hip is 100%.. maybe my technique was wrong

5/23 climbing 2 hours

projected an awesome 4 I just need to link together

hip still hurts a little. fingers and shoulders were ok

5/26 climbing

Sent my 4! I’ll have to climb it again and video next time. Really fun compression type climb with two drop knee/back steps. There was a slightly more standard grip centric way to climb it but I figure I should use my flexibility when possible

Skin has been problematic.

Going to reduce climbing volume next week and focus on getting back to Momentum and losing weight

Have all but totally quit marijuana at this point as part of my quest to calorie restrict. My strategy is to ingrain the habit of not eating post dinner over 2-3 weeks and then attempt to reintroduce the vape pen for its therapeautic value. If it still causes problems then I guess I can’t have it anymore. It sucks but feeling slightly better than normal for a few hours a night before sleep isn’t worth failing at dieting over. That being said I am a little concerned that my sleep quality is going to suffer, the marijuana helps with getting to sleep and pain reduction. There’s always a possibility that after this break I can go back to using it only at bed time/in bed for night and that way get the sleep benefits, which were the reason I started smoking in the first place

You ever try using anything for you skin? When I climbed outside constantly I found this stuff to be a godsend

https://www.amazon.com/OKeeffes-K035.../dp/B00121UVU0

You can get it at home depot and other places as well

Ty, will give it a try

I had some Kiel’s ultimate hand salve cream, was great but not friendly to open wounds

5/27 climbing 45 mins

Tried out CRG Watertown again. At least half the routes I climbed were soft for their grade. It was kind of disappointing, I flashed a 3 and a 4 and didn’t really care because they were clearly 2/3 and also boring climbs. None of the lower level routes were particularly inspiring and I couldn’t find one 4 or 5 I cared about. Gym was also way too crowded. Think i’ll stick with rock spot. I ***** about the grading in Dedham but it’s nice to be able to go to other gyms and flash 3’s and 4’s

These shorter sessions are fun all the same

When I am climbing outside a lot I use this as well. I have some friends that swear by Rhino skin. I have never used it though. If you have access to some problems or a board with wood holds that can help mitigate skin damage. During the outdoor season I try and climb mostly on wood when the weather is poor. This helps saved the skin for outside days.

5/30 climbing 40 mins

sent a few V1-2, finished my warm up and didn't have much in me and called it a day after falling on a 3.

Big climb coming on Friday. Seeing my ex climbing partner and doing a 3+ hour session.

Weight is down from 199 to 194.

Might need a new climbing gym, becoming difficult to make it into South Boston and extremely dissatisfied with the bouldering selection in Dedham. There are probably 3 V3 routes in the entire gym right now. Seems like the gym is much better for people climbing Vb-0 or V5+ than it is for intermediates. In part it is the route setters faults.

Will resume Momentum by next week when my hip is hopefully 100%

6/1 climb 2.5 hours

Flashed a couple 3’s and sent several V2-3 l. I’ll take it

Shoulder got a little tweaked when I chicken winged

Gonna go easy this coming week and hit up PT

6/5 climb 2-2.5 hours

This session reinforced everything I love about climbing. Went to CRG Framingham and was blown away at the quality of the bouldering. Despite being noticeably smaller than RS Dedham there were way more V2-3 and the setting was amazing. Over and over I found myself doing moves totally different from any I’d done previously. The walls were higher than Dedham and the mating thicker. Rather than constant ridiculously hard starts, final moves were more challenging, and rather than getting shut down because of strength:weight ratio the technical difficulty of these boulders wasn’t totally dominated by grip strength requirements, in fact that was rare for the boulders I tried. It’s hard to explain how much better the setting was than Dedham. At the same time, V4 was as hard as always, in fact I didn’t send one the whole session. Despite this I had an awesome time, flashed a new 3 and sent 2 others and came very close on 2 4’s. Signing up for this gym for sure, whoever they have setting for them really knows their ****. Also a totally tear and pain free session. Pretty sick

awesome!

Nice work! Good setting is absolutely critical, especially if you have any interest in getting outdoors. Keep on crushing!

5/8

Climb 3.5 hours

Tried to pace myself and go slow but was still under performing after the first 2 hours. Flashed a new 3 and sent 2 others + several 2’s. Fell on a bunch of routes V2-4 for the rest of the session. Everything this session was in the cave where I’m quite inexperienced, dissatisfied but not surprised that 2’s we’re giving me trouble and I couldn’t send any 4’s. Did come close on a 4+. I got a little frustrated at the end when I couldn’t get the finish on a 2 without cutting feet and campusing

Have another session sunday w/a college friend and then probably gonna rest all of next week and hope my finger heals. Got kind of bad news today from my friend/former coach: he asked if my finger popped when it got hurt and I told him no it just cracked... “that’s just as bad.” Damn.

5/10 climb 90 mins

Had nothing in me and couldn’t send better than V2. Grip wasn’t there at all and this was rock spot so it wasn’t happening. Wouldn’t have climbed but had a chance to see a good friend from college. Gonna take 3-5 days off now

6/12 momentum 50 mins

Abductor Rocks
Squat BWx10
Heel tap with arm raise
One leg glute bridge
Horiz cable abduction
Plank
Wall arm raises front, back
Sumo RDL 1x10

Cable Band Row 3x15
Cable Band OH press 3x15
Shoulder rotation band 3x8-10 (hard)

TRX Row 3x8
Side plank 3x2
Prone bench arm raise 3x12

Shoulder rotation (no weight) 2x20
Landmine press 2x10
TRX Bicep Curl 2x5
TRX triceps press 2x8


Trying to do Momentum 2x/week now and walk/run/hike with dog on off days

Not sure if I should climb more than 2x while my fingers are still healing

Seeing hand doctor to be safe next week

6/14 climb 2 hours rock spot s Boston

This was really bad. Not as bad as last session but close. I had good energy today, I wasn’t sore anywhere, everything but my right toe seemed fine. The nail on the right toe has been growing back and suddenly started becoming ingrown. Putting weight on the toe was slightly painful but not prohibitive, however I quickly found foot crushing was impossible. Despite my high energy I climbed terribly today. I sent 3-4 routes between V1 and 2 and fell on everything else above V0. I made it to the final move of a 3 and fell which was the highlight of the session. I ended the session with a V4 slab climb that looked very promising until I found a toe crush and had to abandon the climb. Several routes in the V2-3 range had moves which felt physically impossible. It was almost like I regressed 15 months in my last 2 sessions. Could coming in a few pounds heavy really do this? One positive: fingers felt remarkably well this session at least

Considering pulling out the toe nail by the side so it stops growing into my toe. Foot Doctor isn’t for another 6 days

Anyway it’s been hard but I’ve been able to stop the vaping and late night eating. Hoping to see pretty significant results the rest of this month, gonna be eating out 1-2 nights a week and keeping what I eat modest, beyond that basically PSMF/1600 kcal, then bump the calories back to 1800-2000 after that and just keep pushing. Some walking this weekend could help

Bad sessions are just going to happen from time to time. I wouldn't worry about it. Dan John has a saying that something like 1 out of 10 of your sessions you are going to wonder why you are even at the gym. It just is what it is. I had a few in the beginning of last week myself. You are not alone haha

I know it doesn't feel this way, but 5-10lbs in weight probably won't make much of a difference at this stage of the game with your climbing. 1600kcal a day is a massive deficit and is definitely going to hurt your ability to practice (I'm guessing your maintenance calories are probably 2500-2700?). A smaller deficit may be more prudent in that it will allow more practice time over the course of a week and could potentially reduce the likelihood of an overuse injury due to poor recovery. Staying healthy and climbing tons of volume will really pay off 3-4 years down the road in terms of building a solid base of movement and sport specific strength. Just my 2 cents.

You’re right, I will keep it at 1800-2100 with high days of 2500. That being said if I have days I am just not very hungry I will happily go as low as 1500 (for now. I know where that leads long term)

A little peeved with coach at PT gym, considering saving money and finding a regular gym with bands and TRX, and just going there for physical therapy

5/15 pull-ups 1x14 @199 not bad considering I haven’t done these since last year

Forgot the relevant part:

Right toe nail is ingrown causing inflammation. Climbing on it yesterday resulted in the nail cutting into the toe and internal bleeding in the toe. Toe is black blue and red today near the side of the nail. I'm now on antibiotics. I've been given no timeline but am seeing foot doctor next Weds. It seems likely they will pull the nail out of the side of the toe and then who knows what long term complications will arise, or what the healing will be like.

Looks like I'll be taking a little time off climbing. At least I'll be lighter next time I climb

Not sure if I can blame myself for this one, my shoes were never too tight by climbing standards. I guess my nails just couldn't take it and I waited too long for a follow up to the podiatrist after the original nail died

Man, that is frustrating! Do you think climbing shoes were a contributing factor or was it just some random **** that happened?

in regards to bad sessions, what has your sleep been like? Rest is the most important part of training

but like cotton said, bad sessions happen. Be glad its in the gym and not outside somewhere youve been looking forward to going for a long time and are only there for 2 days!

I think I smashed the wall with my toe at some point and that plus climbing shoes killed the nail. When the nail finally came off the new one got ingrown, perhaps due to climbing shoes, but it’s also something that happens sometimes after a nail dies. What I’m sure of is climbing on that toe last week drug the ingrown nail in causing bleeding in the toe and a lot of bruising plus minor infection

On antibiotics now, hoping this toe is in much better shape when I see the foot doctor on Weds, but not sure how this can be fixed without removing the nail (me knowing nothing about nails)

Still possible if it gets a lot better I can climb on it in another 10-14 days but idk

It’s been OK, very good the last 4-5 nights. I think the weight gain plus a lot of fingery or very long routes plus over training all played into this

Would like to be back down to low 190’s by the time I climb again and will hopefully get back to sending 3’s or better (and not falling on 1’s and 2’s lol)

5/18 climb 2 hours or so CRG

Oh man

So the antibiotics and baths worked and my toe was almost totally pain free today, slightly red, all the black and blue vanished, and barely hurt to put pressure on it. I tried on my climbing shoes and they were painless

Went to CRG starting off feeling tired and proceeded to have my best climbing session ever. I flashed 10+ routes V0-2 to start the session, sent a few 3’s with minimal effort including a flash, and then sent a 4 on the 3rd try after getting some beta advice.

After this insane first hour I started projecting, stringing together several moves at a time on various 5’s and 6’s until I found a 6 I really liked. I was able to do 75% of the route and the move I fell on seemed to have more to do with speed and precision than anything else. The route was awesome, basically a slew of horrible side pulls and 2 finger pockets with several huge moves, I loved every moment working on it.

I was frustrated only by one 3 I couldn’t seem to figure out, and a 4 with a kneebar finish that required total commitment, which I didn’t feel quite ready for. Possible related to the story I heard right before the climb about a climber breaking their neck in the gym recently... jeez. Person is apparently not going to be paralyzed.

On the diet spectrum I’m happy to say I’ve hit target calories several days in a row and am having minimal hunger and no problems without marijuana. Just gotta keep this going

Most likely will break now until Saturday’s climb in CT. Maybe will do one PT session and a couple walks in the interim. If I feel really energetic on Weds or Thurs I will probably go for another short climb and try to send the 6


Left big toe nail felll off today though, lol

awesome session!

man, im so glad that with all my climbing and running I never lost a toe nail, sounds awful/disgusting