4 Weeks in

Anti Punt Training

I think I stated something about training properly at the end of my last post?

I am glad to say it has been a fairly well structured start to 2013 and I have just begun week 5 of a 12 week cycle of training that I made up whilst momentarily unoccupied in the shop.

The first 4 weeks involved Basic strength training:

- 1-2 days a week in the gym doing Lat pull downs/seated rows/Dumbell bench press/1 leg squat/Bicep Curl and Deadlift, always followed by a 10 min core routine.
- 1-2 days a week of weighted pullups on medium and small edges using a sandbag and weightbelt respectively. This was usually followed by weighted full lock offs on a bar and 90 deg locks on the good BM2k slots.
- 1 day of climbing on the board each week, working on decent holds and hard moves using screw ons for feet... I did crack however and with a good forecast, I headed off for a 2 day trip to the Lakes with Youngy.

A Brief Foray to the Lakes

 We spent a damp day at Carrock Fell sketching across a wet boulder field and performing horrific wet slab top outs whilst achieving a few 6C to 7As. The highlight for Mark and Sam was undoubtedly my firing horizontally off Badger Attack off the lip jugs whilst bringing my right hand through and hitting every bit of rock available!

After a night of a few sneaky real ales from Booths, a good sleep and a hearty 3 course breakfast, we made our way to the Bowderstone and found it in good nick! I warmed up on the usual and then got involved in trying Special Cases.

It took a fair while to work out how to get through the bunched up starting positions and I eventually worked out a nice sequence involving a kneebar to get both of the crimpy sidepulls, then some nifty footwork to get out and set up for the slap. Unortunately the lip was a bit too damp to hold on to and I failed to get my right heel next to my hand (even in isolation) as the rock would turn black where my hand was, slowly sliding off every time. I hope it was a dampness/skin issue and that it doesnt usually feel this glassy or it may take a few more sessions than envisaged!

Happy with the progress, I walked around the corner and watched Youngy float up Picnic Sarcastic... followed by the sitter at the first attempt. He almost got Power Pinch too only to find the top holds too wet to match.

Back to the schedule

This week and the next 3 I'll be hitting the weighted deadhang scene in a semi Lopez style of short hang times, heavy weights and long rests. I'll supplement it with some core and pressups and try to sneak in a gym session once a week as I really enjoy the marked and measurable progress in pushing and pulling weight around.

I've got a trip to a Hotel and Spa retreat with Laura booked in for the start of Feb and am keen to get my body as wrecked as possible to earn the pampering! With no climbing holidays on the horizon, I'll continue to see this training plan through to the end and see if it will translate on the stone once things warms up a bit.