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Post by chemicalclimber on Oct 12, 2015 4:35:44 GMT -7
Hello everyone!
Yesterday I turned 30. Today I'm starting my real bouldering journey.
Been climbing a couple of days per week since I started in january. (Long history of competitive sports).
In this log I will be posting my daily training towards my goal of being able to compete in the competitions at my local gyms without looking like a total idiot.
Currently I stand at 202cm (6foot6inches) and about 96kg (212lbs).
I primarily climb at 'Nørrebros Klatreklub' in Copenhagen but occasionally I visit 'Copenhagen Boulders' or 'Blocs & Walls' as well.
Currently I'm doing very well on the yellow routes and I can do the odd blue route (mostly due to my length). I'm a very physical climber utilizing my size and have pretty poor skills. Hopefully over the course of the next year it will change.
Grading at my gym (approx Font grading):
Green < Yellow < Blue < Red < Black < White
Feel free to give me any advice or just follow along on my journey! I'll try to add some photos, videos and other cool content as I go.
See you on the wall!
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Post by jessebruni on Oct 12, 2015 5:47:41 GMT -7
Don't be too disappointed in yourself if you don't consider yourself to be a "crusher" after a year. My definition of "crushing" changes every time I breakthrough a new plateau.
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Post by chemicalclimber on Oct 12, 2015 9:03:50 GMT -7
Jesse: Thanks for replying to my log! I definitely won't be a crusher after a year, it's more a means of having a goal to develop my climbing ability as much as I can within 52 weeks without injuring myself. We'll see what happens! Day 1: Just got home from NKK after a 2 hour session. I actually had my eye set on completing every single yellow problem (17 yellow problems total) in the gym but this proved to be a lot harder than expected. The gym is separated into two sections and since I climbed every yellow problem on section 1 last week, I decided to start from the back because I knew I could do all of section 1. Section 2 holds 11 yellow routes. I managed to send 9 of them. I had great problems with a sitting start on a route called 'Mr M', I never actually managed to start the route. I did cheat and managed to finish the route minus the start. The other route I failed on was 'Mr C', a very balancy route at first and then it ends up in a dynamic movement on two bad/small holds. Once I get better I'll nail this one, it's not as impossible as Mr M. I took some pictures of the routes and I'll see if I can upload them here so you can get an idea. Mr M and Mr C
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Post by chemicalclimber on Oct 13, 2015 4:11:15 GMT -7
This morning I spent a little time determining what kind of weights I'll be using for my Pavel Tsatsouline 'Enter The Kettlebell' ladders. I'll be going body weight chin ups, 20kg kettle bell presses and 32kg bulgarian split squats.
Ladders:
KB Press (heavy) 3 x 1,2,3 @ 20kg
BSS (medium) 3 x 1,2 @ 32kg
Chin ups (light) 3 x 1
I know it doesn't look like much, but it ramps up pretty fast until it peaks 4ish weeks from now and cycles back down.
Followed by 90 minutes of pick up basketball, we only lost one game so I was playing literally non stop.
Tomorrow I'll go bouldering again.
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Post by chemicalclimber on Oct 14, 2015 12:46:50 GMT -7
Just returned from a 2 hour bouldering session at the gym.
Managed to send two blue problems and a new yellow route. Failed a lot of routes today but was able to send one little project I had tried over a few weeks. Felt great and I look forward to sending it next time I see it! Started eyeing a new little project that should be doable within some weeks.
Tomorrow I'll be doing some lifting and maybe friday will be some more climbing!
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Post by jetjackson on Oct 15, 2015 9:33:23 GMT -7
What are the color grading equivalents in font or hueco grading terms?
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Post by chemicalclimber on Oct 15, 2015 11:24:11 GMT -7
Hi JJ, I'm actually not entirely sure because the system is a bit flawed (I think).
According to one of the master routesetters at the gym it should be something like:
Color / Font grading / US grading Green / Out of category / VB Yellow / 4 to 4+ / V0- to V0 Blue / 5 to 5+ / V0+ to V1 Red / 6a to 6c+ / V2 to V5 Black / 7a to 7c+ / V6 to V10 White / 8a to 8c+ / V11 to V15
But I consistently come across problems on reddit or youtube that are like V3-4 that look easier than the 'V0' I'm climbing. Maybe I'm just not very good at assessing my own ability or there is something wrong with the grading at my gym.
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Post by chemicalclimber on Oct 16, 2015 4:32:08 GMT -7
Started the morning by doing my ladders KB press 3 x 1 @ 20kg Chin ups 3 x 1,2 @ BW BSS 3 x 1,2,3 @ 32kg Wasn't really feeling it, but I had made plans to go climb with two of my old roommates. They were late, as always and I was feeling depleted and sluggish. Probably due to the early rendezvous. Although feeling a bit down, I was pretty cocky. I climb more than the two others and usually I also climb better. Today though, I got rekt. Failed many, many times on the blue route that I had my very first ascent of on wednesday. Tobias nailed it, leaving me behind in a puddle of misery. Having my ego bruised like that, we decided to take it a step down and do some yellows but by now, my arms were getting tired and my fingers couldn't hold on to anything. I managed to fail on a number of yellows that I usually send no problem. Oh well, if not for anything else, I'm sure my hands got a little stronger today. Monday I'll go out with the boys again. Now it's back to writing my thesis. It's due very soon. Here is a shameless plug of the research I've been working on. TL;DR. We've found a way in which to deactivate resident cells that usually promote cancer and metastasis.
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Post by jetjackson on Oct 16, 2015 8:34:50 GMT -7
You should read the Rock Climbers training manual, I think there is some info in there about specialization and periodization in training that you could benefit from.
Thesis sounds cool. My old flat mate in Australia was doing research on breast cancer and how it metastises, she is at Oxford now.
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Post by chemicalclimber on Oct 16, 2015 11:35:47 GMT -7
JJ: I'm definitely going to take a look at it once I hand in this thesis. For now I'll just get my climbing in and some words in the thesis. Do you know if there's a section on core strength? I often feel like it's my midsection (and of course my fingers, for now) holding me back, not being able to get in some of the more 'peculiar' positions sometimes required on the wall.
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Post by chemicalclimber on Oct 18, 2015 8:17:25 GMT -7
Went out and played some rec league basketball today. We won by 20 but unfortunately I dislocated my pinky on the left hand. Not the worst finger to bust, but any hand injury sucks really. What a filthy casual-climber I am. Tomorrow I'll go seakayaking in the morning, that's always a brilliant start to the work week and later in the afternoon I have a date with my two former roommates at the wall. I guess I'll just climb some easy ones and focus on my technique in order to not bust my finger any further.
Today I also received news that my deadline for the thesis is now set in stone for October 31st. Wish me luck.
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Post by rob on Oct 18, 2015 23:17:08 GMT -7
JJ: I'm definitely going to take a look at it once I hand in this thesis. For now I'll just get my climbing in and some words in the thesis. Do you know if there's a section on core strength? I often feel like it's my midsection (and of course my fingers, for now) holding me back, not being able to get in some of the more 'peculiar' positions sometimes required on the wall. There is a whole chapter on strength training packed with useful info. Its mainly focused on finger strength but there is some core stuff in there too. Mainly its just extremely informative about strength training in general which allows you to make better training decisions. Good luck with the progress and sorry to hear about the pinky, I've done the same playing basketball and football (soccer).
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Post by sorvad on Oct 19, 2015 11:07:10 GMT -7
I've climbed half a year last fall in NKK, before that I climbed in Copenhagen boulders and now I climb in CB again. I thought the grading in NKK was flawed as well and I found it difficult to improve on their routes and with their facilities. If you plateau sometime you might benefit by changing to B&W or CB. Just my 2 cent Good luck with your project.
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Post by chemicalclimber on Oct 20, 2015 14:04:32 GMT -7
JJ: I'm definitely going to take a look at it once I hand in this thesis. For now I'll just get my climbing in and some words in the thesis. Do you know if there's a section on core strength? I often feel like it's my midsection (and of course my fingers, for now) holding me back, not being able to get in some of the more 'peculiar' positions sometimes required on the wall. There is a whole chapter on strength training packed with useful info. Its mainly focused on finger strength but there is some core stuff in there too. Mainly its just extremely informative about strength training in general which allows you to make better training decisions. Good luck with the progress and sorry to hear about the pinky, I've done the same playing basketball and football (soccer). Hey Rob, thanks for the advice! Do you think it's applicable for a climber who isn't 100% dedicated to climbing? I mean, I like to play basketball twice a week and I also go kayaking 1-2 times per week. Does it make sense to get the book if I don't have enough time to dedicate all my training time to hangboarding, campusboard, etc etc.? Also, unfortunately it's pretty expensive. Tried to look it up on amazon and it's like 200$ for used copies there.
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Post by chemicalclimber on Oct 20, 2015 14:07:31 GMT -7
I've climbed half a year last fall in NKK, before that I climbed in Copenhagen boulders and now I climb in CB again. I thought the grading in NKK was flawed as well and I found it difficult to improve on their routes and with their facilities. If you plateau sometime you might benefit by changing to B&W or CB. Just my 2 cent Good luck with your project. Sorvad, I've been climbing all sorts of places. I've climbed the university of copenhagen indoor and outdoor walls, a wall on a church in Sydhavnen, copenhagen boulders, B&W and both the roped wall and the bouldering wall at NKK. I like the diversity of trying different sites, but I signed up at NKK because it's extremely cheap and close to both my job and my apartment (and that is where my friends go). I do have a '10-turskort' for both CB and B&W at the moment. It is not unlikely that I will sign up at CB at some point as well, if my time and economy allows it.
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