|
|
Post by tedwelser on May 31, 2016 21:23:24 GMT -7
I was reasonably happy with the results, I flashed 3 V3's, sent about 10 V2's mostly flashes, and got a V4 on the third try. There were a couple of V5 problems I started to project, but given the nature of the problems, the humidity, and the lingering finger issue, I decided to pull back and jump on a vast range of problems instead. Nice sends to you too! The topout on pantyshield is intense and tricky! I totally agree about your observation on the importance of the strength and power stages-- and this is especially true for bouldering. I am currently on a vacation / trip that will have some sporadic climbing, but is basically a rest phase for me until I can get back home. My plan is to do a mini season this summer that focuses on HB and limit bouldering while training, and simply having fun when I get to go outdoors. It would be cool to meet up when you come to the Red, lets be in touch in November and I will try to be down then if my schedule can work. |
|
|
|
Post by jivemiguel on Jun 2, 2016 11:13:31 GMT -7
Nice work at HP Jet! In my experience HP is graded quite stiff and you were in far from ideal weather. Conditions would have been awful, but did you on the Millipede boulder at all? I think that is one of the coolest looking boulders in the south east. I have tried Bumboy probably 30 times and it spits me out every single time!
|
|
|
|
Post by jetjackson on Jun 2, 2016 13:26:23 GMT -7
Thanks, yeah I jumped on Bumboy - how can one resist that formation, it could be the only one like it in the world. I was actually inspired to check out HP40 after reading the bit on it in the RCTM on page 278 and how it talked about seeking out your weaknesses. Interestingly, it's listed in RCTM as a V5, whereas in the guide and mostly online it is regarded as a V3. After being at Hueco Tanks, apparently also regarded as stiff, I felt the grades at HP40 were pretty in line, if not stiffer than Hueco, but I guess it's also about strengths. Someone who spends all their time at HP40 and dominates slopers and compression probs could go to Hueco and struggle. vimeo.com/169145863 - Here I am just slipping off it every which way. I've since watched beta online, and it seems that some people do a dynamic move right to the top, others work the right of the crack. www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtEBGTdv7j9ZKx3Di1DMzJOMieZamg5Sm - other HP40 sends on my YT channel. |
|
|
|
Post by tedwelser on Jul 7, 2016 19:37:50 GMT -7
I posted on this thread back in November explaining how well my first RCTM cycle went and describing a dinner bet I made with my friends that was to be concluded at the end of the year. Turns out we all failed to reach our goals by the end of the year, so no one had to buy anyone else dinner! I ended the year with my goal 50% complete, having done two of the 13a's I was supposed to do, and needing to do one more, plus a particular 13b. By the year's end I decided that the goal time had expired, there was no point in throwing myself at these routes over and over, and I had just gotten the RPTC for Christmas with the pulley kit and everything so I was psyched to start a new RCTM cycle. So instead of trying to finish my 2014 goal I did an RCTM cycle (bouldering cycle since our routes are basically all roped bouldering). Today is the start of my 4th week in the power phase and I'm pretty sure power is peaking, I went to my local crag yesterday on one of the first good weather days we've had all year with the intent of putting some work into that 13b I was supposed to send last year. I warmed up with an 11a, followed shortly by a 12a and after about 45 minutes of rest and waiting for my belayer to climb his warm up routes I headed over to get on the 13b project. I told my belayer that I was going to go bolt-to-bolt to relearn the beta, this route is a short roped boulder problem, only about 20 moves and can probably more accurately be described as a V8 boulder problem rather than a 13b sport route. I started up the problem feeling good, I clipped the first bolt 3 moves in and kept going because the first 3 moves are on jugs. After clipping the first bolt the crux begins, 7 moves of which 5 are pinches with the last move being a big iron-cross stab into a good slot on a 30 degree angle, you need to do that move before you get to clip your next bolt. I climbed all the way up to that last move and felt better than I ever had before and I figured "I'm already at the crux, I might as well give it a try", so I went for it. I've never stuck that move from the ground, but this time it happened, and what's more it felt easy. Previously doing that move in isolation was at my very limit, doing the 6 hard moves before made that move nearly impossible, but yesterday I floated through it feeling lighter than I ever had before. I clipped the second bolt and decided, "Okay, I'm through the crux, from the ground. This has never happened before, there's no way I'm not going to try and send this thing now!" I climbed deliberately and punched out the remaining 10 moves (probably V5 on their own), and found myself at the top of my very first 13b, almost in disbelief, not only at the fact that 3 years after doing my first 13a I'd finally made it to the next level, but also amazed at how easy it felt! At this point I had only one more 13a left from my original 2014 goal. I'd been working it lightly all this year whenever I got a chance so I knew the beta. This route was the opposite of the previous one, a long (for our crag) roof traverse on slopers, jugs crimps and pockets, and a topout on a super technical dead vertical headwall with miniscule holds. The route breaks down to a 15 move 5.11d which is basically a one-move-wonder, to a not-so-good rest where you are totally horizontal, hanging off a roof jug with a single heel hook and your hands. From this point you launch into a non-stop V6 to the chains of which half is a powerful traverse, and the other half is a technical, balancey top out. I got to the top out on my first go, but my foot popped off as I was reaching for the final hold. I knew I had it in the bag so I rested up and sent second go of the day. I finished the day by getting on a 13b I'd never been on, and did all the moves but one. I'm confident I can send this new route, especially if I keep training. All this to say, the rock prodigy program has been paying off very well for me. When I started my first cycle in September 2014 I had done two 13a's. Today, nearing the end of my second cycle, I've done 5 more 13a's and my first 13b. I'm feeling stronger than I've ever felt before and I'm psyched to keep on pushing. I'm confident with this training it won't take another 3 years to get to the next level. He'res a photo of me on the 13b from November.  Can you re-upload the photo? I can't see it- sadly enough. Huge congrats on your progress! |
|
|
|
Post by jessebruni on Jul 8, 2016 15:33:42 GMT -7
Should work now, these image links seem to degrade over time for some reason. I can't see any of them.
|
|
|
|
Post by willblack on Jul 11, 2016 20:07:05 GMT -7
A year and a half ago in the fall, I had just had my third major tendon injury. I started following the Rock Prodigy hangboard plan as a means of rehab, which went really well, and I managed to recover and send my first 5.12 that spring. The following summer and fall got crazy with work and school, and I didn't have time to climb outside much, but I continued training and taking periodic breaks to climb. Over this past winter I managed to get out quite a bit more, and sent a couple of 5.12a's and two 12b's. This spring I started nursing school, continued my demanding job, and got married. With all the time spent planning my wedding, working, and studying, I barely had any time to get outside, but I made time to train hard in the mornings. A couple weeks before my wedding I had a rare chance to spend the morning climbing outside, and sent a new 12b at the local sport crag second go. After my wedding, my wife and I drove out to Colorado for our month and a half long climbing road trip. Aside from a couple fun easy trad routes, we exclusively sport climbed. We went to Shelf Road, Rifle, Maple, Lander, Ten Sleep, and Spearfish. I climbed probably 12 or so 5.12's on the trip, including 3 5.12c's. None of the routes I sent took more than four tries, with many of them being second try and one 12a onsight. I was initially really psyched to be climbing so much better than I had before, but I soon lost track of how many 5.12's I had sent, and expectations for myself rose. I think that the most powerful thing about the training I went through is that it shifted my perception of what is possible for my climbing. I've never been a naturally good climber, and have had to fight for every little improvement and every new grade, but on the trip I realized the value of taking the long view, being happy about progress, but also realizing that none of the routes I sent were hard. They certainly required a lot of effort, but in the grand scheme of things the routes I climbed on my trip were moderate at best. Writing that sounds self-deprecating, but to me it's inspiring. It's super motivating to see noticeable progression and also realize that there's still so much room for improvement in my climbing. Thanks Mike and Mark for condensing so many years of knowledge into such an accessible form. Here's to another year of hanging on small holds in my basement!
|
|
|
|
Post by tedwelser on Jul 14, 2016 8:57:32 GMT -7
A year and a half ago in the fall, I had just had my third major tendon injury. I started following the Rock Prodigy hangboard plan as a means of rehab, which went really well, and I managed to recover and send my first 5.12 that spring. The following summer and fall got crazy with work and school, and I didn't have time to climb outside much, but I continued training and taking periodic breaks to climb. Over this past winter I managed to get out quite a bit more, and sent a couple of 5.12a's and two 12b's. This spring I started nursing school, continued my demanding job, and got married. With all the time spent planning my wedding, working, and studying, I barely had any time to get outside, but I made time to train hard in the mornings. A couple weeks before my wedding I had a rare chance to spend the morning climbing outside, and sent a new 12b at the local sport crag second go. After my wedding, my wife and I drove out to Colorado for our month and a half long climbing road trip. Aside from a couple fun easy trad routes, we exclusively sport climbed. We went to Shelf Road, Rifle, Maple, Lander, Ten Sleep, and Spearfish. I climbed probably 12 or so 5.12's on the trip, including 3 5.12c's. None of the routes I sent took more than four tries, with many of them being second try and one 12a onsight. I was initially really psyched to be climbing so much better than I had before, but I soon lost track of how many 5.12's I had sent, and expectations for myself rose. I think that the most powerful thing about the training I went through is that it shifted my perception of what is possible for my climbing. I've never been a naturally good climber, and have had to fight for every little improvement and every new grade, but on the trip I realized the value of taking the long view, being happy about progress, but also realizing that none of the routes I sent were hard. They certainly required a lot of effort, but in the grand scheme of things the routes I climbed on my trip were moderate at best. Writing that sounds self-deprecating, but to me it's inspiring. It's super motivating to see noticeable progression and also realize that there's still so much room for improvement in my climbing. Thanks Mike and Mark for condensing so many years of knowledge into such an accessible form. Here's to another year of hanging on small holds in my basement! Big congratulations on your progress and especially on keeping true to your training through all of your momentous life events and schedule demands. It is really cook to hear how your training allowed you to enjoy that progress by bringing a new range of routes into what is reasonable to send in a couple of tries. It is true that expectations tend to rise after such progress, I suppose the key to happiness is to notice that and just slow that process a bit, so that your training fueled improvement can keep continue slowly and steadily just a bit beyond your expectations. Good luck with your future progress! |
|
|
|
Post by MarkAnderson on Jul 14, 2016 14:10:56 GMT -7
That's a really cool story. I particularly like the testimonial about hangboarding for rehab. I feel like at this point it's pretty well-accepted (by those with a clue) that hangboarding works for general improvements in finger strength, but hangboarding for rehab still seems to be relatively unknown or ignored. Great job and good luck going forward!
|
|
|
|
Post by willblack on Jul 14, 2016 15:53:07 GMT -7
Thanks y'all! Also, Ted your picture looks familiar. I think we actually met on my last day in Maple, my wife was working on Groundwork at Minimum Wall and I complimented the sweet old school spirit 'biners you put on your quickdraws.
|
|
troy
New Member
Posts: 8 
|
Post by troy on Jul 21, 2016 7:00:18 GMT -7
Updated 12/23/16:
When I started training in April this year, my hardest send to date was 11b. I'm extremely happy with my progress since starting my RCTM training, sending two 12b's and seven 12a's over the last five months. Psyched to start training again after the new year!
|
|
seano
New Member
Posts: 22
|
Post by seano on Aug 6, 2016 11:43:43 GMT -7
Quick Tl;dr version: I came back from some injuries by doing hangboard rehab and sent my hardest route! Also, I've seen slow but steady progress despite minimal adherence to the rock prodigy method.
Longer version: A little over a year ago I finished a training cycle by doing my first 12a. I was psyched but also ready for something else. After moving to an area with great access to lots of moderate trad climbing I spent most of the summer and fall climbing 5.10 and low 11 trad routes and not training. I tried to train through the winter but it seemed like every time I hit the gym I hurt myself (tweaked a knee on a heel hook, broke a finger by hitting an off-route hold during a dyno). By spring I had recovered from those injuries and was starting to feel strong again when I popped a tendon while warming up (!) in the gym. I had a trip to Moab planned the following week and I tried to just climb through the injury, but the trip was basically a disaster for me climbing-wise. I came home and took two weeks off completely before hitting the hangboard for rehab. I started out with extremely light loads and progressed cautiously. My finger recovered fairly quickly and I started to add in some easy outdoor mileage before heading into a full blown training season. Now a few months later, I just sent a long, sustained 12b (some say 12b/c) and have done a stack of second tier routes too.
So my experience thus far is that I can do a training season once a year and get a letter grade out of it! It isn't rapid progress, but for someone who didn't start climbing until age 27 and is as far as you can get from an "OCD training junkie", it's pretty satisfying. I do think that I am starting to catch the bug a bit. I even have a training log on my computer instead of a bunch of random scraps of paper with workout notes on them. There could definitely be more progress in my future.
|
|
|
|
Post by tedwelser on Aug 6, 2016 19:38:26 GMT -7
Thanks y'all! Also, Ted your picture looks familiar. I think we actually met on my last day in Maple, my wife was working on Groundwork at Minimum Wall and I complimented the sweet old school spirit 'biners you put on your quickdraws. Hey Will- Glad to hear from you! Hope your travel and climbing went well. Did you head back up to Tensleep? Did you leave before the fires hit? General progress post: I made super progress this year on my HB training. Not only did I manage a summer HB season, but I made new PR's on all of my grips this summer and in spring as well. I had started with conservative weights on some grips in Winter, because it was my first season using the Forge, and using the full crimp grip to train.  |
|
|
|
Post by willblack on Aug 8, 2016 9:11:31 GMT -7
Ted,
It was amazing, we went back to Ten Sleep and also checked out Spearfish.
Great hangboard progress! I need to try to make a graph like this.
|
|
|
|
Post by Chris W on Oct 26, 2016 3:21:26 GMT -7
Old, Fat, Bald Man climbs 12a, on the road, in the rain, as a warm up with a helmet on! OK, so the old is relative (34 in January) and the fat isn't true (5'10" 153 pounds) but the rest is. I've continued to see improvements since starting the Rock Prodigy training in 2014. This fall, I completed my hardest moves on rope sending Welcome To The Bird, 12b/c (maybe) with a thin and powerful boulder problem for the first 3 bolts.
Last week, I traveled to my beloved New River Gorge with the goal of climbing a 12 on the road for the first time as well as climbing something steep and overhung, long standing weaknesses of mine. Psycho Wrangler 12a continues to elude capture, but after working the moves several days prior, I completed Starry 12a at the Third Buttress of Upper Meadow. It was the last day of the trip and pouring rain early in the AM when we hiked in, but the temperature finally dropped down into the 50's. My friend hung the draws on Starry, and I jumped on it intending to go bolt to bolt through the crux to warm up. Instead, I ended up at the crux feeling pretty good. I punched through the crux and threw for the mother of all jugs over the lip of the cliff and stuck it (wet) and let out a war cry that would have scared women and young children had they been present. The jug and the last couple of holds were sopping wet, but they were so big it didn't matter. That was my first 12a on the road and, finally, my first steep climb redpoint.
I've been training really hard and it feels good to reach these goals. My long term goal is to be able to show up at the crag (any crag) and climb 5.12anything in 1-3 goes. For the first time ever, my goal isn't just a pipe dream but is coming within reach.
|
|
|
|
Post by MarkAnderson on Oct 26, 2016 14:28:57 GMT -7
Awesome Chris! Something about the rain seems to help me in a weird way. I think it takes the pressure off since you figure you're lucky to be climbing at all.
|
|
