8/29 - Climbing gym 2 hours

Light session, but tried the longer hangs in Anglin’s article

30sec hangs
20mm half crimp - hard
One arm bar hangs - easy
Slopers - hard

The fact that I could half crimp the 20mm edge for 30sec is mind blowing. I couldn’t even half crimp like 3-4 months ago. Hell same goes for one arm hangs. Bet I had 45sec with no twisting in the right arm.

Did light campus stuff too.

Limit bouldering - not really. Having an issue with my eight big toenail. Took it easy because it hurt to press hard on it. Soaking it and hopefully it doesn’t turn into anything serious.

Strong! Really nice work on improving your hangs. That's great progress!

8/31 - Climbing gym 3.5 hours

This session was HARD. Definitely feeling travel and lack of sleep. Toe was good enough to climb but definitely not 100%. Idk just a heavy day today, woke up at 3am and couldn’t get back to sleep so that might have impacted things.

Don’t think I got up anything harder than I’d grade a V4. Tried a lot of powerful/tough moves on the big overhangs. Worked on two different V8+ problems but was unable to link multiple moves.

This was also my 4th session in 6 days, if I’m going to use the Mon/Tues/Thurs/Sat schedule I’ll have to start practicing better skin care.

Another climbing gym TR below (with a “celebrity” sighting)

Climbing gym - Denver Bouldering Club - 3 hours

Super cool gym, old school feel. Has a decent gym and a moonboard. They use a E/M/H system with -/neutral/+ grades. For example, their M-neutral graded climbs are V4-V6. M+ is V6-V8. I climbed all but one (12ish total) M graded problems in the entire gym but could not get a single M+. I wouldn’t rate any of the M’s outside of the one I fell on a bunch over V4+. Again maybe I’m sandbagging. The M+’s were all super hard.

Have a bunch of videos below in the next post y’all can judge.

Anyways so I’m like 2 hours into my session and head back to the room with the Moonboard and a Cave climbing section. Bunch of strong people have taken over the board so I go to the cave. There’s this large dude trying a super hard problem and it doesn’t take me long to realize it’s Adin from Eric Karlsson Bouldering. Anyways I don’t say anything but I start working a super hard M+ (V7 maybe?) and he chimes in with a “yea man that thing is tough”. So I strike up a convo, tell him I know who he is and we chat and project together for like 30min. Always amazed how chill and social everyone is in this community and Jesus that guy is big, he must have 30-40lbs on me all muscle.

Great session, another one that reaffirms I’m closing in on legit V6 climbs and can basically send true V4/V5 problems with very little issue. Have ~10 vids I’ll post later.

Entire session logged (I’m definitely being too harsh on grades but whatever). Turns out I did 14 problems in the V4-V6 set.

M (V3+) Flash
M (V4-) Flash
M (V3) Flash
M (V4+) Sent 3rd go - video
M (V3) Sent 2nd go - video
M (V3) Flash - video
M+ (V6) - Fail
M (V3+) - Sent second go fail video
M (V3+) - flash video
M (V3) - Sent second go
M (V4+) - Flash
M (V4-) - Flash
M (V3+) - Flash
M+ (V6+) - Fail 3x
Comp problem (V4?) - Sent 2nd go video
M1 (V4) - Sent 2nd go
M+ (V7) - Fail 5x
M+ (V6+) - Fail 2x

lol@you grading a campus route with 8+ moves V2. Surely that can't be right? Not saying V2 can't require some skill but damn I always thought campusing whole routes started at V3. Especially when it's not straight up. At the same time most of your other grades look spot on to me so maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Love that comp route. Totally my style and definitely looks like a legit 3. All the 4's look strong too

I notice you do a hand tap at the top instead of holding the position on the finish. Is that standard/how it's done nowadays? I feel like I must have been taught wrong because I saw Magnus doing the same thing in videos

I wonder if that type of grading system was common in gyms a long time ago? That's basically how my gym grades things. We don't have a + - system, just beginner/intermediate/advanced. The levels tend to overlap a bit, so that the easiest intermediate might be easier than the hardest beginner climb. In practice, this ends up being a + - system I think.

I'm rubbish at climbing, but I've noticed a big variability in grades between gyms.

I get about half of the v3 graded ones at Vauxwall. At Craggy Island, anything graded v2 or higher is really, really hard. (Their v1s can include dynamic moves on tiny crimps.)

It’s a v2 boulder and I think it keeps its grade as a campus. Tons of decent climbers were barn dooring off of it feet on. I told a guy next to me it looks as easy without feet. That’s obviously bullshit but I don’t think it’s too much harder.

lol figures you’d like that route because I 100% thought of you on that one and the crimp yellow one as well. Lol internet friends.

If I tap it’s because it’s a finishing jug, I definitely hold the match if it’s in question but all of those are jugs I can one arm hang from.

Yea I liked it, because as I spoke with a few folks there it doesn’t pigeon hole you into a grade. So you end up trying problems outside your level which is great for improving. Whereas in my gym for the longest time I didn’t even look at the pink (V6-V8) or black (V8+) because I simply believed they were outside of my abilities.

Huge discrepancy for sure. I’ve been to 12+ gyms over the last year and the range is enormous. I will say my home gym has definitely started setting tougher and is more in line with a lot of the others.

Route style matters a ton too. Like TTGL and I would have majorly differing opinions on certain climbs because of what types of routes we like to work.

Took Tues/Wed completely off, body definitely needs it. Even post deload I’m still super beat up due to all the climbing.

Climbing gym - 2 hours

20mm Hangboard testing
BW+15 x10 sec - easy
BW+25 x10sec - easy
BW+35 x10sec - medium
BW+45x8sec - hard/to failure
BW+50x6sec - hard/to failure

Good to get a starting point. Want BW+70 x10sec by EOY.

Did some medium intensity circuits then limit bouldering. Think I went too hard again, need to figure out a better plan for limit climbing.

That's monster! Really nice work on the hang progression over the last few months. You've made great progress.

In the Andrew McFarlane assessment video posted on youtube, Lattice thought that BW+50% for a 2H hang on their edge is V9/V10 finger strength. Their edge is 20mm but has a larger radius than the tension rung, so probably feels like 18mm. If you hang BW+70 for 10s you will definitely be in that range!

I try to structure strength work, before endurance work typically. I find that if I do any endurance work I am too tired to pull hard on limit boulders. How pumped are you getting on the medium endurance circuits?

For sure I typically keep the sessions separate but the board was only at 15deg and I am never able to send the medium graded circuit so wanted to walk up it a few times before they lowered it back to 30 lol. No pump it was super easy at that angle, crazy what a difference it makes.

Re:finger strength. I do think 50% is doable (which is why I set 70lb as the goal because I expect to be at 135-140 bodyweight then) but it will mean nothing if I cannot improve body tension and my CoG positioning by then.

With that said here is my new 4-day/week training “plan”.

Monday (AM) - Repeater Hangboard and light/medium circuits
Tuesday (PM) - Density (20-30sec) Hanging and technique drills
Thursday (PM) - Intensity (7-10sec) Hangboard and limit bouldering
Saturday - Projecting/Outdoor climbing

Will run this as a a four week accumulation block, then one week deload then re-test. Think I can get through 3 cycles by year’s end.

Sprinkling it lifting on an auto regulation basis but all I’ll really care about it weighted chins progressing. Curious where anyone would place some campus work as I think it can be useful for the application of new finger strength. I tend to do heavy chin ups on Sunday so thinking Thursday.

I'd say don't worry about the campus work. Just do some steep bouldering on fingery holds that require you to move dynamically. I think you will get most of the physical gains from campusing and will be climbing. At the end of the day, you are going to be moving explosively and snatching holds either way. Might as well develop skills while you do it.

Another project day where I started slowly but by the end ticked off four boulders I wanted to climb. Also tried some harder stuff and was happy to link 2-3 moves together.

Edit: sent two new pinks, continue to think these are all like V5 until proven otherwise.

Climbing gym - 3.5 hours

Black Smalls (V7+) - nah
Pink 2nd sister (V7) - noooope
Black Big Tex (V8) - 1st 3 moves!

Purple Smalls Right (V5+) - Sent 4th go
Purple 3rd sister - Fail 5x
Orange Big Tex (V5) - Sent 2nd go
Pink 3rd sister (V5) - Sent 2nd go
Pink ropeside (V6) - Fail 2x finish move
Pink ropeside dyno (V5) - Sent 2nd go

Wish I got better video of this one, easily best Dyno I’ve done. Lost style point by keeping the right hand on though lol.

Max testing

Neutral grip chins

4xBW
2xBW+25
1xBW+50
1xBW+75 (0 RiR) - Hit BW+80 last year but haven’t trained heavy chins so I’ll take this for sure. BW+100+ by year’s end if I stay healthy.
4xBW+50 (1 RiR) - Easily have 5 fresh, maybe 6



Frenchies
Lock offs
Banded one arm chins

Took all of these easy and elbows still hated me lol.

Band pullaparts 4 sets
TRX stuffs 2 sets

Took it easy, new mesocycle starts tomorrow.

9/9

AM - Chest and side delts
PM - Climbing Gym 2.5 hours

9/9 - 6sec10off x6 2min rest

20mm BW+10 half crimp
20mm BW+15 half crimp
15mm BW+0 half crimp
15mm BW+0 half crimp
One arm hang on bar BW+10
One arm hang on bar BW+15
Tension board pinches BW+0
Tension board pinches BW+0

20 move Easy circuit at 35deg - 5x @2min rest

Did some perfect repeats on V3’s. Was about to leave and bumped into a friend who is always asking me for easy purple and pink boulders to try lol. Showed him a soft pink one I sent Saturday and he did it in like four tries.

While he was trying I attempted a hard purple (V5-V7) I failed like 5x on Saturday and actually walked up it my 2nd go today. Go figure after all that other work. Think it’s a V5+ mayyyyybe V6- if I’m being generous. There’s one boulder left on that wall (V8+) and it’s comp style so my dream to one day finish a wall will have to wait.

Long post incoming about my training strategy these last 16 weeks of 2019. Overall goal is to get myself to legit V7 gym-rat level while getting outdoors a few times.

Here are my current stats and goals for the next 4 months:



**None of these strength goals matter if I do not improve my climbing technique**

Taking a lot more video lately and w/ Cottonseed’s keen eye here, it’s very apparent I have a long ways to go in terms of footwork, body tension, and center of gravity positioning. I am committed to more structured climbing session 3x/ week with one outdoor/project day a week with a bit more freedom.

In order to hit these targets I will be significantly lowering the volume of my lifts in the gym, upping their intensity, and climbing 4x/week instead of 3x. Work travel (7-8 days/month) can make this somewhat difficult, but overall I want to start climbing more as it’s such an enjoyable and stress-free use of my time.

I also want to switch over to a more flexible diet and auto-regulated training structure in general. I’ve been very strict about my diet the past year (just hit 380 straight days logging in My Fitness Pal) and frankly it hasn’t resulted in any better body composition and just adds to my neurosis. I’ve formed very good diet habits which should allow me to hit minimum macro/micro nutrient targets without tracking.

I also want to start adding more bodyweight based lifts into my training including pistols, dips, and muscle-ups. Going one step further, I will be adding the OHP back into my gym days, as well as weighted scapular pull-ups and Frenchies. This should help strengthen my entire shoulder girdle which I believe is very important in climbing.

The structure of my plan will be 4 weeks on, 1 week deload, 1 week max testing, repeat. I’ll get at least two of these macrocycles in and perhaps 3 if I skip one of the testing weeks.

What is your plan for weight loss without tracking? Just make some less calorie dense food choices and watch your weight on the scale?

380 days tracking is impressive. I've done tracking for 3-4 week periods of time to get an idea of macros and serving sizes. I am not sure how sustainable it is though, at least for me personally. I'd think I would have to get a lot more systematic with my meal prep to do it long term.

What hip flexability test did you do?

Good luck on the upcoming block. Make sure you take care of your elbows. Frenchies,.or any sort of lock off training really light mine up.

I’m in a maintenance phase for now, it won’t be hard to drop these last few pounds. Just a handful of weeks in a deficit by year’s end. I’ll watch the scale and adjust intake as necessary.

I basically did one I saw in some climbing video recently where you face a wall and go into a split as much as possible until your pelvic region can’t stay in contact with the wall. Didn’t see a great way to test hip flexibility so I’ll just go with this.

Taking it super light lock off wise at first. Do think I’ll try some one arm isometric hangs at 90/120 degrees that power climbing posted on YouTube yesterday. C4HP also seems to really like those so I’ll be curious to see if I can do them, and if so if they have a net positive stimulus to fatigue/injury ratio.

9/10

B3W1D2 (4 vert 3 rear delt 3 biceps) (1-2 RIR)

—AM—
Weighted chins 10,8,7,7xBW+15
Reverse Pec Dec 12,12,10x70
—PM—
DB Hammer curls 11,11,10x30’s
Scapular pull ups 3x10xBW

PM
Climbing gym 2 hours

9/10 - Structural

20mm half crimp x29sec
Tension pinches x14sec
15mm open crimp x18sec
Big slopers x30sec - hard
One arm bar hangs +15lbs
—Right x30sec - med/hard
—Left x30sec - hard
Middle Two on bar x30sec - hard/painful

V3/V4 perfect repeats x8
Medium 20 move circuit at 15deg x5

Really still at a loss about how I’m going to train technique. I’ll just keep doing circuits and perfect repeats on overhangs until I figure something more specific out.

What specifically are you trying to improve technique wise? It will probably be useful to pick out one thing and just focus on it for the next 3-4 weeks during your warm-ups.

I believe I have a few issues from your feedback and watching much better climbers. If I listed them in importance it would be this:

1. COG positioning - I do think I use momentum very well (for my grade level) but from watching my videos lately there are lots of spots where I could remove unnecessary contact strength or power output simply by getting my COG in a better spot before making a move. Drill idea: hover hands?

2. Body tension/rooting - You and I have discussed this at length. Drill idea: bad foot holds on overhangs? This to me is the most difficult concept to put into action.

3. Hand/foot matching. I’m horrible at hand matching and also I do the jump swap for foot swaps. I see really good climbers do these matches/swaps so quietly and without losing contact. Drill idea: no ****ing clue, just practice more?

The nice thing is that COG positioning and body tension are two sides of the same coin. Your hips have to be in the right place to apply max tension through bad feet.

I think just climbing overhangs or just all the warm-ups in general on progressively worse feet, is a great place to start. It will expose poor positioning. If your hips aren't in the right place and you are not driving through the footholds, your feet will cut. As you spend time doing this you will develop a feel for where you need to be and how to maintain tension.

Foot swaps. I think you can do these on your easiest warm-ups. Just swap feet excessively as you are getting warmed up. Progress it by using smaller feet, steeper terrain or both.

Ideally, your gym has enough hold density to do these sorts of things. That is not always easy to find. A lot of gyms set problems that are spaced out and you cannot easily sub holds or feet. If that is the case you may have to use a circuit board or spray wall, to find the right setup.