Good question. My technique actually improved a lot after I started the Catalyst training once a week, and regressed quickly in lockdown.

The training mainly consisted of exercises, sometimes on easy routes, sometimes building up to PBs. (My first v4 flash came on one of the latter).

The classes have not yet restarted. They were at Yonder, which is in North London. It is not easy to drive there from mine - bad traffic could easily turn it into a 4 hour round trip. There is also nowhere to park. On public transport, I need a train followed by 40 minutes on the tube. This strikes me as risky, given I would then spend 2 hours indoors with other people.

So classes are probably out until there is vaccine or treatment.

I guess a good idea is to do the exercises for at least half an hour per session. They are things like hover your hand over each hold for 5 seconds before grabbing it; nominate a limb that cannot touch the wall; move like a robot (only one thing can move at a time, a limb or your body); move up a grade if you flash a climb and down a grade if you fail it three times.

I will use my home wall and Craggy Island for this, which is only a 20 minute drive and has lots of car parking available.

Work is not going back to an office until January at the earliest, so it will probably be a while until I us a more central gym.

I thought they were doing virtual classes, or I feel like I saw Louis post about it.

Your home wall is perfect for working drills, just need to figure out a few you enjoy and will commit to doing.

Some of my favorites, sure you can find examples on Power Climbing’s YouTube or elsewhere.

1. Hover feet
2. Hover hands
3. Sloth climbs

Cool. John Kettle's book also has some exercises which could be useful (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07...rb_top?ie=UTF8) I have made it up to about the fifth exercise, but there are many more.

I did an 11 mile walk today. It drizzled the whole way.

Tapatalk seems to give a way of uploading photos. I gave up on it for a bit, as I don't like Imgur and I used to use phootbucket.

Here is me pre and post diet. I am now skinnier than the"after" - around 20 pounds lighter.

Neil Greshams Masterclass is also a good resource. You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...SMbK2tncTrI25r

MacLeod has a great discussion about technique training here: https://youtu.be/J6APsMJNXX4?t=239

MacLeod's emphasis on really paying attention while climbing seems so simple, but it is absolutely critical. For newer climbers I'd recommend focusing awareness on your feet. Most people simply aren't aggressive enough with their lower body. Try and feel how hard your feet are pulling or pushing into the footholds. Notice what positions allow you to get more weight on your feet etc.

Thanks, I will check both of them out.

Another thing I want to try soon is bouldering outdoors. I thought everywhere from London required an overnight stay, but it turns out there is some sandstone at Tunbridge Wells with a decent mix of grades. It is only about 50 miles from mine.

I climbed today at Craggy. It was good. I got a V3 - it is only the fourth in have got there. They are like v5s at Vauxwall. I got one hand on the final hold of another V3, but fell from the top.

They were both very crimpy, so maybe my fingerboarding has paid off. The one I got had a terrifying dyno at the end.

Highly recommend getting outside. It will definitely improve your technique, footwork and route reading. Plus it is just loads of fun playing around on rocks on a beautiful day!!!

I was booked on a trip which would have had outdoor bouldering. However, it was in April and corona virus got in the way.

My scuba club keeps its rib in Portland in Dorset. We'd booked a long weekend with the plan of bouldering for a couple of days, then diving for a couple of days. There is quite a lot of climbing in that part of England - a recent Bouldering Bobat video was deep water soloing from Swanage, which is just up the road from Portland.

Yesterday, I did fingerboarding followed by upper body lifts. The hangboarding was a bit disappointing - my little finger on the right hand became slightly painful, so I took it easy to try to aavoid injuring myself.

The lifting was:

• Bent over rows, 3 sets of 5, 65 kgs
• Overhead press, 3 setts of 5, 40 kgs
• Bench, 3 sets of 5, 60 kgs
• Loads of ring dips

My weight yesterday morning was 141.5 pounds (64.3 kgs). Today it was 146.75 pounds (66.7 kgs). Lol water weight - it would be nice if I got more readings around the latter level, but I suspect it's a fluke.

I normally do yoga before breakfast on Thursdays, but for some reason I was still in the Zoom lobby a while after it started. So i went for a walk. I also got an evening walk in, so ended up on over 30,000 steps.

I felt broken on Friday, so all I managed was a walk.

Today, I got a climb in on my home wall. It was a pretty good session. I really should make sure the mats are in the right spot if I do a dyno to a crimp at the top... No harm done, though.

Yesterday, I did an hour's yoga before lunch. After lunch, I then went for a long-ish walk, probably around 14 miles. I had intended to use my home wall afterwards, but I cocked up the timing and it was already dark when I got home.

Today is leg day, I'll climb tomorrow.

14 mile walk good lord that’s what 4+ hours?

I tend to go at just over 3 miles an hour over relatively flat terrain, so it was just over 4 hours. If I do more than about 25 miles, I start to slow down, but it has to be quite demanding for this to happen.

I like to get at least one properly long walk in per year (25 miles plus). I haven't done one yet this year - I think my longest was around 20. I should get a chance to do one in a couple of weeks. (I will probably do this one - https://www.strava.com/routes/12159486 - it has lots of hills.)

Sometimes friends attempt to invite themselves onto the proper long walks. I try and discourage them unless they know what they are getting in for- the endorphins wear off by about mile 15; I don't stop as there is no time; and by the end I am hungry, tired and sore.

Weight: 141.5 pounds. Conclusion: 2,600 calories a day seems to be about maintenance at the moment,.

I had a long weekend away, scuba diving in Scotland.

Wednesday I thought I had corona virus symptoms, so I went for a test. I didn't do much exercise - I ended up working to midnight to get ready for the long weekend away.

Thursday The test came back negative, and the symptoms vanished, so I drove to Scotland, leaving mine at around 2.30 p.m. and getting there for 9 p.m. I didn't get much exercise in due to driving, but managed 11,000 steps.

Friday Diving! I got a 45 minute seal dive in. I got some walks in, finishing on over 20,000 steps.

Saturday Diving! A 60 minute reef dive - it was very nice, and stunning visibility. Only 17,000 steps.

Sunday Diving! Another 60 minute reef dive. I went for a bit of a hike afterwards, getting 28,000 steps.

Monday Diving! Another 60 minute reef dive. I drove home afterwards, getting back to mine at about 10.30 p.m. I only managed 10,000 steps, mainly due to the inconvenience of a 8 hour drive.

I will climb tonight.

Weight update: Below 140 pounds today, so I need to find a way of eating more.

Some Scotland pics:

I was ill, so had two days off exercising. I felt better today, so did stuff.

I went for an 80 minute walk over my lunch "hour", and climbed this evening. I did trading stuff on the woody.

Yesterday, I did a 7 mile walk.

Today, I did an hour's yoga in the morning. In the afternoon, I climbed for 2 hours. It was a solid session - I got 3 Craggy v3s, which is the most I've ever managed.

I'll go for a walk this evening.

17 April
1 hour yoga before breakfast.
Hangboarding in the evening, followed by finger curls, followed by weighted core gubbins. It was around 2 hours in total - my finger strength was pretty good.

18 April
I got a decent, 70 minute walk in over my lunch - ahem - "hour". It rained heavily for a bit, so the park was nearly empty.
I am off climbing this evening, I assume for 90 minutes. (One needs to pre-book, and that's the maximum slot length).

My logging seems to have lagged.

Picking up from 3 days ago, I was doing yoga before breakfast, with the idea of climbing in the afternoon. I tweaked something in my back, so gave up on yoga and took it easy for the rest of the day.

The next day, I visited my parents. This took 7 hours driving for the round trip. My back withstood the journey fine, and I got a decent walk in (18000 steps for the day).

So I went climbing yesterday. It was good - a 90 minute session, which is the longest the gym allows. My current project has the crux at the top, so I fell from the top many times and the back was fine.

KgI went scuba diving today.

The weather was absymal with driving rain, cold air and gusting up to a Force 5.

The dive was nice - a very slow drift along a shallow reef. Visibility varied, at best it was around 2 metres. Water temperature was 15 Celsius. My air consumption was 12 litres a minute, which is pretty good. (My dry suit was dry, unlike the previous trip, which helped a lot).

I had a dive yesterday on the Scylla. This was where I did my first ever UK sea dive, I think in 2013. It is a warship, purposely sunk for for divers. The depth to the bottom is 26m, so I meandered around the top for the dive.

It is bloody lovely - loads of life on it. It was a 51 minute dive, max depth 18 metres, 1 to 2 metres visibility, air consumption 12.9 litres a minute, so also pretty good.

I did a walk today - 37 km (23 miles).

My legs are now a little sore.

I went for a climb today. It went badly. I got one hard route, but it was all a bit of a struggle.

My hypothesis is that I was not fully recovered from yesterday's walk. My heart rate was higher than normal whilst on the wall, which is consistent with the hypothesis.

I went scuba diving in Plymouth. It was bloody lovely.

I did three dives, one a day. Each was around 55 minute long; average depth 15m; max depth 20m. Visibility was superb.

One was by a lighthouse. A helicopter came to pick up some folk working on it. The skipper said it was the first time in 20 years he had seen the chopper.

I got a quick, cheeky climb on my wall this lunch. The total session, including warm up, was only an hour, as that was all the time I had (there was a client meeting immediately after lunch).

I did a bunch of technique stuff, concentrating on footwork. It seemed to go reasonably well - I got everything I tried eventually, although some things took a few goes.

Weight update: Probably around 142, so I need to eat a bit more if I am so succeed in gaining weight. (I am a lot less certain about my weight now I weigh daily, as water and waste weight are quite volatile).

I did an hour's yoga yesterday before breakfast. (It was actually more like 50 minutes, as I forgot to set the timer on my filter coffee machine, so I spent the first 10 minutes making coffee.)

I then lifted in the evening, doing:
I did indeed do some finger boarding followed by upper body lifts:

Military press 3 sets of 5 @ 35 kgs
Bench 3 sets of 5 @ 55 kgs
DipsLoads!
Facepulls 4 sets of 12.

I will do lower body lifts tonight. Hopefully tomorrow will be bouldering outdoors, here:
http://www.southernsandstoneclimbs.co.uk/