So I entered this thing with good intentions...

But I have been super busy with the last year of uni.
Dissertation/IEP/final project is coming on well. In the process of writing up more of the background research now (like tonight).

Most recently, I have been punting about inside trying to feel motivated for plastic.
My car is currently dead (until the mechanic says otherwise) and so I have basically written off rock until it is fixed. I have also started working again, which is great for feeling a little tired and alright for earning enough money to pay for the car repair.

I also got a copy of this from the legend that is Dave Macleod, along with his other book 9/10 climbers make the same mistakes. So far, the latter has given me a boost in confidence to trust what I think and feel I need to do, as well as feel more motivated to get on with it.

Hopefully when I get through the first half of the latter, I will be able to better plan my training and recovery behaviour to climb harder while avoiding injury. Of what I have read so far, this book is like gold dust. It is well informed, researched and specifically applies to climbers training/ mentality. Who knows, maybe it will help get me where I want to go. No doubt it won't slow me down. Get yourself a copy at his website: http://davemacleod.blogspot.co.uk/ and pick up a copy of 9/10 too while you are there!

I had a good session today, following Ians training session. Ian is a local climber who trains every session, 6 days a week. He has total faith in the regime he has been prescribed by his coach, and it definitely seems to work for him. He is much stronger than me in a lot of ways, and a session with him has shown up a massive gulf in my climbing/physiology. It turns out (to no ones surprise at all), that I have no latts, or core, or bicep, or tricep. Basically, I am dead weak. I get by on twisting and crimping and dynamically swinging myself around all over the place. That stuff is wicked! but it means if I find something which requires some grunt i.e. yarding across jugs on overhangs, I suck. Big time. I can't do 5 wide pullups without yelling for some assistance. My shoulders are so unstable, I can't do 5 pushups on the rings without resorting to the knees. I can't do an ice-cream maker on the rings.

TO NO-ONES SURPRISE, I AM A WEAK SPORT CLIMBER 

I haven't been bouldering in ages (outdoors), and as such I can't call my self one of those either.

So here is a weakness I need to address. Also, big sloping holds in roofs, and foot jams are also massive weaknesses. I do often wonder if the pain I get from my shoes is stopping my from performing the good footwork I would like to think I usually characterise. 

I think there is a whole cocktail of stuff here that I can and should start to address as my first port of call for improving before the next sport season really starts:

• Core
• Latts
• Shoulder Stability
• Certain elements of footwork
• whole hand/open hand strength - very much linked to tricep weakness

Exercises I need to start taking on 

Core workouts

Antagonists 

Stability Exercises

Whole hand / one arm / weighted large hold  pullup style exercises

Which relates to:

Planks

Situps

Dishes

Pushups (normal)

Pushups (rings)

IYTs (rings)

Inverted Front Levers (rings)

Foothold Kickups (woody)

One Arm Dead Hangs (beast maker)

Repeaters (beast maker)

Sloper Based Repeaters (beast maker)

Wide Pullups (somewhere around the wall)

Recruitment lockoff/pullup (largest campus rungs - weighted lockoff to failure followed by pull ups* 10)

5*5s at high intensity with rest (anpow)

4*4s at mid intensity with minimal rest (ancap)
Projecting on the woody for finger strength, working the core and lower body for body tension
It is also important that I remember just to climb and project stuff. 

I will let you know what I decide, if I remember and get time.

Now that we have all calmed down about the new year...

That Caldwell guy is absolutely fierce!
His exploits up on the Dawn Wall with Jorgeson are the stuff of legend, and I can only dream of climbing up at those unfathomable heights. I wonder if David Lama will make the second ascent with someone like Honnold...

Back in the slightly less spectacular peak district, it is time to start thinking about how to continue.
With last years surprising events, it is hard to decide if I should continue as I was or take a new direction.

I need the mileage of loads of easy climbing to help me excel through harder stuff later on, or do I? Do I follow the path that others have taken, and forge ahead with the harder projects? Even some of the people I know who have found success from forging ahead through harder obstacles, are starting to show signs of fatigue and subtle injury.

Yesterday there was a comp at the local bouldering wall. I scored a respectable 218 (out of 300, including the impossible problems that no one completed). For a weak sport climber that isn't too bad. It isn't far off what the junior Team GB competitors were scoring, and considering they have have all been climbing far longer and with more support...

I have been thinking once more about development, as I continue through the crucial stage of my body's adaptation to climbing. I figure there must be about another year and a half (at least) before this adaptation really slows (assuming the process is as exponential decay). As such, it will be good to make this time count, by developing the correct muscle structure. Do I focus on bouldering i.e. fast twitch? Or sport climbing i.e. slow-twitch (for all intents and purposes). I suppose it is all about the ratio. Peak sport climbing is often like bouldering on a rope, so I guess in that respect we are lucky. It is just the fine line between pushing hard and pushing too hard.

I am figuring I want to aim for a ratio of 65/35 fast/slow fibres. This means routes like 'that was the river' (7b+). A few hard moves, followed by consistent pumpy ground. The more I think about it, the more cheedale cornice becomes a favoured concept for a training venue. A wide variety of thuggy and technical test pieces at the harder end of the spectrum. Plus bouldering that never got developed. Maybe that will be an opportunity to put my name into the peak climbing scene. The tor is great, but I am not fussed for the scene down there at the moment. Plus across the river from the cornice is dogs dinner, with the infamous traverse to work on.

I also want to achieve an 8a, and ideally by my birthday. I am currently trying to decide between Powerplant, Big Apple, Little Plum, The Sissy and Raindogs. My bail-out option for a quick tick will be the right hand finish of O-zone. If I don't manage this by June, then it wont be the end of the world, but it would be nice to tick into the 8s before I go away after finishing Uni. Where I will go, I have not decided yet, but I am heavily leaning towards Flatanger in Norway.


So there is the first post of the year waffle.

• I still have no idea what I am capable of, the journey has only just begun
• I want to climb 8a before june
• I want to focus on projects and training that will get me a 65/35 ratio of fast twitch slow twitch muscle fibres (so a similar ration of long to hard will be aimed at)
• I need to fine a vector between pushing my limits and easy mileage to stick to
• I need to spend plenty of time training on the woody and local comp problems
• I need to sort out my diet (again), and run a little more (for fitness)
• I need to use my time effectively, as this may well be the hardest time in my life to train for these goals (final year of uni)
• I need to find a suitable graduate job
• I need to figure out how to get my fellow IOA membership together
• I need to finish my project
• I need to get my FPGA development stuff together 
• I need to fingerboard when I can't climb due to time
• I need to stay motivated