climbing+training+fun

I haven’t updated this blog in a very long time.  The last year has been incredibly busy but I have started to get back in some semblance of climbing shape.  I’ve been putting in the time at the gym and now it is time to start structuring it.  Currently I climb in the mornings and evenings on Tues and Thurs and on the weekends both days.  I ran into Rich the other day and ended getting sucked into a campus workout, and I was reminded that I’m not completely weak.  I’m working on putting together some good trip plans that should help orient my training.  I’ve been climbing long enough now that if I don’t have a specific project or trip that I am getting ready for it is hard for me to stay focused on fully on track.  Expect to see more frequent posts here over the next few months!  Cheers!

Well the official word has been handed down by my sports doctors.  Apparently I have tendonosis in my bicep and my thumb and will need to get physical therapy for both fo them.  Sadly I won’t be able to climb or do pullups etc… for a good six months at least.  The unfortunately thing is that I took a few months off late last year for this exactly same injury and I wasn’t able to make reasonable progress on it.  I am planning on coming up with some sort of training plan but it will look vastly different from anything I had in mind before.  Obviously there won’t be any climbing and most likely it will emphasize aerobic and yoga more than anything else.  This blog seems like it will be turning into a “road to recovery” journal rather than a training fo climbing blog.  Le sigh…

Training over the last few days has been a little spotty.  My bicep has been acting up again so I am taking it easy in terms of structured training for my arms.  I have been doing some bouldering and keeping up with my core exercises.  I was also able to finish off two V8s during Saturdays climbing session.  Thankfully on Monday I am going to be seeing the doctor which should hopefully bring me closer to having my current injuries taken care of.  Earlier today I was climbing over in Berkeley and got re-amped to do some campus board workouts.  There was a group of traveling climbers who were able to pull down really hard, almost flashing V10 etc… who had been spending some time on the finger and campus board.  The sooner I can get back to that the better!

A good day of climbing, about three hours worth.  I also did most of my upper body workout and did some hang boarding.  My finger strenght is down and am I am going to be working towarding being able to do campus training over the next two weeks.  It feels good to be getting stronger.  The main things which I need to focus on over the next few weeks in terms of movement is footwork.  Tomorrow is a aerobic day along with a possible core workout.

Tonight I climbed with Cap as well as with Josie a little bit for her first time at the gym.  I ended up flashing most of the V6s and V5s that I got on and worked on a v8 and a v9 toward the middle of my bouldering session making good progress on both of them.

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to climb a V10 by the end of the year, so I figured I might as well get started early with it all.  The basic plan is to eat healthy, train on a regular schedule following a fixed plan.  Today I made some calls to get my left bicep checked out as well as my left thumb as they have been bothering me for quite a while.  I went in for PT about two months ago, but those results didn’t go so well.  Hopefully seeing a sports medicine specialist will prove to be more fruitful.  The thumb situation prevents me from pinching holds in any real way, so I have been getting strong with open handed climbing.

About a year ago Mike Doyle wrote an article for Rock and Ice which focused on training for bouldering which I have been focusing on over the last week.  This follows the standard periodical scheme that you find in most all developed training programs.  The first three weeks are strength, then on to power, then power endurance.  This week has mostly been the following:

A medium length bouldering session (2-3 hours) followed by.

• close grip pullups
• wide grip pullups
• lat pulldowns
• dips
• pushups
• front levers
• bicep curls
• finger board dead hangs
• back ups
• situps
• superman core workout
• timed core workout (7-8mins x 3)

On my off days I am making sure that I do some sort of aerobic workout.  Right now that tends to be either running or the elliptical or stair stepper, depending on what is available.

Right now I’m feeling optimistic and hoping to keep this momentum for a little while.  The results of my doctor’s visit will hopefully be favorable so that I don’t get derailed early in the season.  Here we go! 

Brad

Welcome to my new training blog!  This blog will be used to keep track of my climbing and fitness progress over the next few months.  Hopefully this provides some use to other people, but mainly this site is being created as a place to keep track of my progress in climbing over the next while.