I watched him try that worlds toughest indoor route at K2.

He's a sicko, idk how you differentiate a V14 and V16.

The V8's in my gym seem ridiculous. I think we have pretty good grading, maybe slightly on the easier side.

I thought the Seattle bouldering project had tough grading until I read some stuff online that said they graded easy. Soooooo I just ****ing suck.

That K2 route is insane. Several great videos on youtube of climbers projecting it.

They say that online about a lot of gyms so who knows. According to my friend/coach Rock Spot Dedham grades a little hard on the lower level routes. There aren't really any soft V2, and about half the V2 are really V2+

Exercise 139

Ran a 5k on the beach this morning. Took 27 minutes, was nice to have a change of scenery. Got a few more days of vacation. Hoping the rest helps my elbow.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ad...rk-el-capitan/

^scares me even reading about this - but I gather it is a pretty big deal in the climbing world

Yea read that last night, dude is absurd.

At some point I should start climbing outside.

Exercise 140

5k run - 24:39 (7:57 pace)

Nice day for a run on the beach. 80 degrees and overcast with a breeze.

Vacation is over, back to eating right and getting ready for Spartan Race Saturday. Then I'm on the road for two weeks. If I can find a way to get through June no worse than I started it I'll consider that a win.

Ran sprints and hills. Best quarter mile time was 1:25 not pushing myself to 100%.

Exercise 141

Bouldering 2.5 hours.

Sent a new V3/V4 thanks to a beta from someone else watching me struggle. Sent another 10 or so V2/V3 problems. Then worked on big moves on V1's boulders, trying to climb them in 3-4 moves what might normally take ~8 moves. Teaches me to move my feet up a lot more.

Plan to get better is to climb 3x a week.

Session 1 - V1 climbing working on technique
Session 2 - work each wall going from V0-V4.
Session 3 - project a couple V4+ problems

That along with back and grip work should get me to a pretty good spot by end of July.

Exercise 142

Press
6x110
10x80
10x80
10x80

SS1 3 sets
Incline bench 8x115
Front DB raises

SS2 3 sets
BTN press
Side raises

SS3 3 sets
V-Ups
Cable side raises

Mile run 6:53

Exercise 143

Chins
5xBW+30
6xBW+20
8xBW+10
8xBW

SS1 3 sets
BB rows 10x135
DB shrugs

SS2 3 sets
Lat pulldowns
Rear delt cable flys

SS3 3 sets
Rear delt machine
DB curls

Looks like a good setup

I always hear these climbing coaches recommending strength endurance workouts where you do 3-4 lower level climbs in a row, take a short break, repeat 3-4x.

Not sure if it's useful at this point, or better to just warmup and smash volume once a week

Pretty sure you're crushing me btw, no way I can send 10 new V2+ problems in one session

I've tried to do a wall flash where I go V1 through V4 in a row without stopping.

My hands are smoked after the V2 lol.

Spartan Race tomorrow then work travel for a week. Already signed waivers for climbing gyms in two cities though. I'm enjoying visiting the gyms in all the cities I go to, this will be five different climbing gyms if I can make it to both.

Exercise 144

Spartan Race 1:08

Time on same course was 1:23 last year. Partner slowed me down I'd guess by 10 minutes. Winner ran it in 31 min ffs. Think if you let me train for a year with this one race in mind I'd only break 45min. It's 3.5 miles of running alone with 20 obstacles and a **** ton of stairs.

Fun race, I'm in really good cardio shape I wasn't even breathing hard the entire time. Did the rope climb twice with no feet lol. Don't understand proper form so just used all arms.

Wasn't tired after plus I'm traveling for five days so I decided to get a quick shoulder brogasm workout in today.

Exercise 145

Press
8x95
8x95
9x95

Incline DB bench
8x40s
8x45s
8x45s

Cable chest flys 3 sets

SS1 3 sets
Cable delt flys
BTN press 10x65

SS2
Side raises
DB curls
Shrugs

Exercise 146

Bouldering 2 hours - project session

Found a rock gym in Milwaukee, apparently they just re-did their bouldering wall. It had about all you need to get in a good session and luckily just a few other people were there. Any more than 8 and it would have been crowded.

Super cool slab, mantle, cave, etc. type problems and their route setters liked awkward starts for sure.

Found a V3/V4 to project with a bunch of big cool moves. I think it's a V3 for anyone over 5'10 and V4 for anyone under. I could just barely do a big move statically so I'll call it a V3.

From there I tried a new thing to help improve my grip endurance. 4x4's. Find four lowly graded problems and do them in succession without resting. Did this three times. Tried it on V2's and I was gassed by the second problem.

Exercise 147

Bouldering 2.5 hours

Made it to Brooklyn Boulders in Chicago. Really cool spot except their AC was out and it had to be 90 degrees inside at times.

Did all (12?) the V2 problems in the gym minus one. Gives me confidence that my flash level is V2 since Im hitting 80%+ easily on first attempt across a lot of different gyms.

Moved onto some V3's, found four to project. Ended up setting two, a cave overhang that I basically campused and this awkward slab where a chick and I worked out a sweet beta.

Found two super crimpy V3's but could not finish either. Finger strength still my downfall. Was pretty spent at that point. Those routes I just need to do early on in my session once my fingers are warm.

The V3's in the gym seemed tougher than mine for sure. At least half a grade harder. Just need to keep working on my grip and I'll be at a V4 level before I know it.

Walked to and from the gym, run keeper tells me it was 4.2 miles total. Love Chicago and was cool to just walk around and enjoy the city. Dallas is a big city too but we don't have the same feel, much more spread out.

6/14

Ran down to a park that had a quarter mile track. Did some sprints and pull ups.

6/15

Exercise 148

Bouldering 2 hours

Flashed 17 V1's in 20 minutes. Pretty good cardio workout. Messed around a bunch of different routes after but I got pumped early. Can tell my finger strength is marginally better than say a month ago but otherwise I'm the same climber.

When you say flashed, do you mean you've never tried those routes before?

I'm told that small increases in finger strength are the best one can hope for. Even the guys who espouse finger boarding recommend it only for advanced trainees.

Way easier to get stronger at pulling power, core strength, jug/bar dead hang strength, etc

Day flash I guess? Half were new routes and half I've done before. I should be doing the rotation to hammer in perfect technique instead I'm rushing through as if it's a cardio workout. Was a little annoyed with myself.

I will say I did finally send a V3 I missed like 10x over the last two sessions. The last move gave me trouble but I determined it was because I was getting to it inefficiently.

I made sure to take the first 7-8 moves slowly/precisely and it saved me a lot of energy. The finish was on this awful volume instead of a hold and I nailed it.

Exercise 149

Press 5x115

SS1 3 sets
Press 10x85
Chins 5xBW+25

SS2 3 sets
Arnold press
BB rows

SS3 3 sets
Cable side raises
Lat pulldowns

SS4 3 sets
Rear delt cable flys
DB shrugs

No WIM today, completely wiped out. Elbows screaming at me costantly.

24min run 2.75 miles - slept in and thus dealt with 90 degree Texas heat. Not fun.

Exercise 150

Bouldering 2 hours

Sent 3 different V4 graded problems. Two I had never done before. Nearly flashed both but got them each on 2nd try. Did a bunch of other V3ish grades. My fingers are getting stronger for sure, just need to keep working on it.

Went to the system board and tried a 20 move problem they set up on nice holds. It's a bit of a traverse and I suck at moving my feet laterally so a good one to work on for sure. Never sent it in one continuous go but did figure out each move. Did a bunch of dead hangs after on different holds and even the campus board

Have to say this is the first time I've went into your log here and see you're mostly climbing.

I indoor climbed regularly for about a year - that ended almost 5 years ago now when I started going to the gym.

I always considered something flashed if you never tried it and never saw someone send it - or at least make it to the crux.

That is called onsighting.

Flashing is merely your first attempt. Day flash would be your first attempt that day. I'm merely using the term to show I'm accomplishing what I set out to do on the those days which is concentrate, use good form, and not mess up on a large volume of lower graded problems.

Ive been able to balance the gym and climbing but I can see it getting tougher as I get better at climbing. I'm pretty beat up today after a day on tougher routes (for me).

Onsighting is climbing the route in one try without watching anyone else or getting any beta

Flashing involves getting beta ahead of time and climbing the route your first time

Redpointing would be climbing the route on your first attempt of the day after previously working on it

Climbing a route for the 2nd or nth time, even in one attempt, would be "climbing", not flashing

-My friend Greg

heh. I never got serious about the lingo it was all of actually less than a year indoor. I generically defaulted to 'flashing' - but now that you say those terms things are coming back to me.


For me I stopped climbing because I was spending every weeknight out of the house and with pets that wasn't the best and I made a decision what was more important to me at the time so climbing got the axe.

Exercise 151

SS1
DL 4x5x235
Chins 4x4xBW+35

First time DL'ing in 3 weeks took it easy.

SS2 3 sets
BB rows 8x155
DB RDLs
DB shrugs

SS2 3 sets
Rear delt cable flys
Leg curls
BTN shrugs

SS3 3 sets
Rear delt machine
DB curls

SS4 3 sets
DB concentration curls
Shoulder retractions (first part of face pull)