Recap

Too busy to post here's a recap of what's happened since I returned from sunny Florida.

BKB: Kenway and I have been getting on ropes more, typically at the beginning of the session, then bouldering at the end. We need to practice more on ropes. as we have no endurance.

E has decided to try and come regularly. She was there on Friday and yesterday. She is climbing better than about a year and a half ago when she stopped.

Yesterday K, Marco, E, and I went. I thought everyone was climbing well. Marco and E both did a difficult V1 that they worked on for a long time. E sent her first V2 since starting to come again. Marco was showing clear signs of improved technique. Kenway and I did a fun V5 in the alcove. Kenway played with the zebra V4 on the beast that I tried when I came last Friday. I did a fun V4 that was all friction but it took me forever to do the first move for which I am not flexible enough. Everyone did a lot more than that, but that's what I remember.

Second pitch of Limelight

Gunks: Went on Sunday with K. Super cold and windy, worst than a few weeks ago (http://www.themonkeyclub.org/2013/03/march-madness.html). We setup on Limelight, I had forgotten that I had done it before. I lead the first pitch (5.6) and felt sketched out and uncomfortable. Then Kenway lead the second pitch (5.7) which I thought was hard to even second. Looking back and realizing I had lead both pitches surprises me (http://www.themonkeyclub.org/2009/09/climbers-log.html), I guess I am in much worst shape than I used to be. It was so cold we then decided to do short single pitches. I setup to lead CC Route but backed down before the traverse under the roof. Kenway went for it and slipped past the roof and fell on an old piton. Doing so he grabbed the rope and burnt his hand, but nothing that couldn't be solved with tape. I went back and finished the thing. We then TRed BB Route. Really fun climb.

Under the roof of BB Route

A bit depressing to see I am regressing. Its also clear that after all these years of climbing height still gets to me, I don't really trust the pro, and I am afraid of falling. This leads me to overgrip and get mentally exhausted. i guess the upside is that we have climbed more this year and in the past 2 years at that same point in time: practice makes perfect!

Coles: Did a few exercises this morning, really quick session. Trying to get back in a rhythm.

15 inclined situps (+30 - dumbbell on chest).
Bench presses 5x5: 135, 140, 145, 150, 155(F).
15 inclined situps (+25).
Standing straight, raise arm straight all the way to shoulder level, palms facing out, 5x5 (weight per dumbbell): 20, 25, 20, 15, 15.
15 inclined situps (+15).

Highway to Hell

Warmup: 10 court lengths doing various things (jogging, lunges, etc).


15 inclined situps (+20 dumbbell on chest).
Bench presses 5x5: 135, 135, 155, 155, 145.
15 inclined situps (+15 dumbbell on chest).
Low bar squats 3x5: 135, 130, 155 (F 3).
15 inclined situps (+10 dumbbell on chest).
One knee and one hand on a bench, the foot of the other leg on the floor, start with arm straight (perpendicular to the ground) and lift the weight until elbow is at 90 degrees, 5x5 on each arm: 45, 55, 65, 70, 75.
15 leg lifts.

The music at Coles seemed appropriate, AC/DC's "highway to hell" was playing when I started and the Ramones "I want to be sedated" played at the end... Only the second set of the bench press felt stable. I fell forward on the 3rd rep of the 3rd set of squats (which was not even heavy) and decided not to go for two more sets.

Lats week U skipped because the gym was opening too late. Now I will be away for a week. Not a very consistent schedule...

Late

Bench presses 5x5: 135, 155, 165, 155, 145.
Squats 5x5, highbar: 135, 155, 165, 175F, 155.
pullups: 5 wide grip, 5 wide grip, 20 narrow grip.

Woke up late (alarm clock malfunction). Ran over to Coles to meet up with Marco and Ragan. Witnessed Ragan's first ever unassisted pullup (in fact she did 5, including some towel pullups).

Hey ho, lets go

Jess and I went to BKB last night. Met Emily, lawyer Will, and some other of their friends. Worked on the new problems in the front. Went something like V1, V2, V3+, V3, V4, V5, V4, V5. Worked some stuff I couldn't do. Felt tired quickly, my tendons started to hurt, and so jess and I headed for a beer and poutine.

This morning I made my way to Coles for a quick session.

Warmup: 14 court lengths doing various things (jogging, lunges, etc).


15 inclined situps (+10 - dumbbell on chest).
Bench presses 5x5: 135, 145, 155, 145, 135.
15 inclined situps (+10).
Standing straight, raise arm straight all the way to shoulder level, palms facing out, 5x5: 30, 40, 50, 40, 40.
15 inclined situps (+10).
Towel pullups (both strands together) - goal 5x5: 5, 5, 2F
15 inclined situps (+10).

Its a nice day to start again...

Warmup: 14 court lengths doing various things (jogging, lunges, etc).


15 inclined situps.
Bench presses 5x5: 135, 145, 150, 145, 135.
15 leg lifts.
Squats 5x5, lowbar-highbar alternation on each set: 135, 150, 145, 145, 145.
15 inclined situps.
Towel pullups (both strands together) 5x5.
After each set, 2x11 arm assisted pullup, assisted by the other hand: first 1 finger of the other hand on the bar, second hand on the wrist, then moved my hand lower at each set until the 5th where it was behind my elbow.
15 leg lifts.

When I sat on the bench for the presses, White Wedding started playing and I thought this was good omen for a great workout: NOT. Everything felt hard. Last week I could delude myself thing I was taking it easy, this week made it clear, I just couldn't push any harder.

To make maters worst, on my second squat set, I had 55 pounds on one side and 50 on the other. Not realizing this (until it was done), I started thinking I must be even weaker than I am since I was feeling so out of balance...

I should have known this would not be great when the lunges felt so hard on warmup...

Nice to see you again

Back to the gym after about one and a half year, let's hope I can get back into a regular training pattern.

I have been hearing Kenway, Ragan, and Marco mention how they all meet on Mondays... no one. I think they are making these training sessions up.

I took it slow as I was afraid of dropping the bar on the floor, or in my face, but it went relatively well. Clearly, I am very far from what I was doing when I stopped.

Warmup: court jogs.

Deadlifts 5x5: 135 (x5).
15 inclined situps.
Benchpress 5x5: 135, 140, 145, 135, 135.
15 on the machine that hold your legs at 45 and you lower your trunk to the ground.
Squats 5x5, highbar-lowbar alternation on each set: 125, 135, 145, 135, 125.
Towel pullups (both strands together) 5x5.

Hot and bothered

Short bouldering session at Coles tonight, didn't have quite enough time to lift so thought I'd revisit the bouldering wall for the first time in a long while. Ridiculously hot, though.

2x Green
3x Pink
2x Orange
3x White

10 steep-wall lock-offs (5 sec hold, 1 lock-off each arm per rep)

Didn't work through the complete sequence on any of the whites. Felt strong early but grip strength faded quickly.

Two in one

Yesterday went climbing to Coles. Did about 4 or 5 climbs. The hardest one I finished was a white (V3ish), but I couldn't do any of the reds. My level is definitely decreasing.

Today went to Coles to row. Took it easy, medium resistance for about 6500 meters over 40 minutes.

I have a large bruise appearing on my arm. I suspect this means I banged the ice in my fall but did not realize it.

Hit the gym with Daniel and Alistair. I did:

Benhpress (5x5): 110, 145, 150, 155, 160
Deadlift (4x5): 145, 185, 210, 235, 245
Bounce ball above head on wall (5x30) alternating 8 and 6 pounds ball
Box jumps (3x15) at about 1.5 feet.

Alistair, Daniel and I went yesterday. Here's what we did.

Benchpress (5x5)
- DM: 110, 115, 120, 125, 130
- AW: 110, 115, 120, 125 (4F), 130 (3F)
- GF: 150, 155, 155, 160, 165 (5F)

Deadlift
- DM: 135 (7), 145 (4), 155 (2), 175 (1), 195 (1), 205 (1), 215 (1)
- AW: 135 (7), 155 (4), 190 (2), 215 (1), 240 (1), 255 (1), 275 (1)
- GF: 135 (7), 155 (4), 190 (2), 215 (1), 240 (1), 255 (1)

Shoulderpress (2x20)
- DM: 45, 50
- AW: 40, 45
- GF: 45, 55 (20F)

Weighted Incline Situps (2x20): +35

Tabata squats

Shoulderpress still sucked. Feeling very stiff everywhere today. I think that in 2011 I should add some stretching at least once a week.

Went to Coles with Daniel, Matan, Alistair, and Tomasz. Didn't have my sheet so I am not sure I did the right weights and I can't remember exactly what I did, but it was approximately this.

Benchpress (5x4): 160, 165, 170, 175 (3F)

Shoulderpress (5x5): 85, 85, 75, 75, 75

Backsquat (2x20): 120, 145

Deadlift: 135 (7), 155 (4), 175 (2), 185 (1), 205 (1), 235 (1), 245 (1), 255 (1)

Burpees tabata.

David and I went to Coles to push some weights. Here's what we did:

Benchpress
- DC: 110 (5), 110 (5), 115 (4F), 115 (4F), 110 (4F)
- GF: 70 (10), 115 (5), 145 (2), 165 (1), 185 (1), 195 (1), 200 (F)

Backsquat (2x20)
- DC: 120, 145
- GF: 120, 145

Shoulderpress (5x5)
- DC: 70, 70, 70 (4F), 75 (4F), 70 (3F)
- GF: 90, 90, 95, 95, 100 (3F)

Deadlift
- DC: 135 (7), 145 (4), 160 (2), 185 (1), 205 (1), 215 (1), 225 (1)
- GF: 135 (7), 145 (4), 170 (2), 190 (1), 215 (1), 225 (1), 235 (1)

Next time I'll decrease the weight on the shoulderpresses as my form is terrible.

Endurance

Went to Coles with Daniel and David. Here's what we did.

Benchpress
- DC: 55 (10), 90 (5), 115 (2), 135 (1), 145 (F), 140 (F), 135 (F)
- DM: 55 (10), 90 (5), 115 (2), 135 (1), 145 (1), 150 (1), 155 (F)
- GF: 65 (10), 115 (5), 145 (2), 160 (1), 180 (1), 190 (1), 195 (1)

Deadlift
- DC: 135 (7), 140 (4), 155 (2), 175 (1), 195 (1), 205 (1), 215 (1)
- DM: 135 (7), 140 (4), 155 (2), 175 (1), 195 (1), 205 (1)
- GF: 135 (7), 145 (4), 160 (2), 180 (1), 200 (1), 210 (1), 225 (1)

Backsquat (2x20)
- DM: 100, 115
- DC: 100, 115
- GF: 115, 140

Shoulderpress (5x5)
- DM: 80, 85, 85 (4F), 90 (4F), 85 (4F)
- DC: 65, 70, 75 (4F), 75 (4F), 70 (4F)
- GF: 90, 90, 95, 95, 100

Medicine ball bounce on the wall above the head: 3x30

We are introducing some endurance training. Today it was on the back squat. We did it at 50% and 60% or our estimated max. This was surprisingly difficult.

I have managed to improve my bench press which felt good. My deadlift has also improved but that's just a statement about how little weight I typically lift.

Small increments

Daniel, Matan, David and I went o the gym today. I lost track of the others, but here's my stuff.

Deadlift (5x4): 155, 165, 175, 185, 195

Backsquat: 80 (10), 135 (5), 170 (2), 190 (1), 215 (1), 225 (1), 230 (1)

Shoulderpress: (4x4): 75, 85, 95, 100

Bechpress: 65 (10), 115 (5), 140 (2), 160 (1), 180 (1), 190 (1), 195 (F)

Tabata bicycles

Max deadlift is not pretty: left knee curves inward. Shoulderpress at max I tend to arch my back.

Two days one post

Yesterday Jess, Kenway and I went to BKB where we met Dan, a Coles climber from a few years back. We worked the new problems in the front: V0, V2, V2, V3, V3+, V4, V4, V5, V5. The last V5 we couldn't do. The previous one Kenway almost finished, but he just ran out of juice. Good session.

Today, Dan and I went to Coles. We did:

Bench Press
- DM: 55 (10), 90 (5), 115 (2), 130 (1), 145 (1), 150 (1), 155 (F), 155 (F)
- GF: 65 (10), 110 (5), 140 (2), 160 (1), 175 (1), 185 (1), 190 (1)

Back Squat
- DM: 60 (10), 100 (5), 125 (2), 140 (1), 155 (1), 165 (1), 170 (1), 175 (1)
- GF: 75 (10), 125 (5), 160 (2), 180 (1), 200 (1), 210 (1), 215 (1), 225 (1)

Shoulder Press (4 x 3)
- DM: 60, 70, 80, 90
- GF: 75, 85, 95, 100

Deadlift (4 x 4): 155, 165, 175, 185

Pullups
- DM: 5
- GF: 15

We keep making incremental progress on everything.

Pushing the limit

David, Matan, Alistair, Daniel and I headed to Coles today. Given the size of the group we split in two, and thus I trained with Daniel. We did this:

Bench Press
- DM: 55 (10), 90 (5), 115 (2), 130 (1), 145 (1), 150 (1), 155 (F), 155 (F)
- GF: 65 (10), 110 (5), 135 (2), 155 (1), 170 (1), 180 (1), 185 (1), 190 (F)

Back Squat
- DM: 55 (10), 95 (5), 115 (2), 130 (1), 150 (1), 155 (1), 165 (1), 175 (F)
- GF: 70 (10), 120 (5), 150 (2), 170 (1), 190 (1), 200 (1), 210 (1)

Deadlift (4 x 3): 155, 165, 175, 185

Shoulder Press (3 x 3)
- DM: 70, 80, 90
- GF: 75, 85, 95

Mountain Climbers Tabata

Still working the Go Big routine for two of our exercises. I improved my personal best for BP and BS, and Daniel improved is BS. The mountain climbers, which we all did, were a real killer; leading some of the guys to only partially complete them.

... or go home

Daniel and I continued with what we had started last week. Today we did the following.

Benchpress
- DM: 55 (10), 90 (5), 115 (2), 130 (1), 145 (1), 150 (1) + 155 (F)
- GF: 65 (10), 110 (5), 135 (2), 155 (1), 170 (1), 180 (1) + 185 (F)

Deadlifts (3x3): 155, 165, 175

Shoulderpress (3x3)
- DM: 65, 70, 75 + 80 (3) + 85 (3)
- GF: 75, 85, 95

Backsquats
- DM: 55 (10), 90 (5), 115 (2), 130 (1), 145 (1), 150 (1) + 155 (2) + 155 (2)
- GF: 65 (10), 110 (5), 135 (2), 155 (1), 170 (1), 180 (1) + 185 (1) + 200 (1)

These were personal best for both Daniel and myself on the BP and BS. The fail at 185 on the BP was close, I need a finger on one side. Daniel added two sets on the SP which means the weights were too low. On the BS he added 2 at the end because he felt like he was not going deep enough.

Coles-BKB

The old Coles crew (+/- a few) went to BKB today. I did V1, V2, V3, V3+. V4, V4 and then I stopped sending stuff. I worked many V4s and V5s, but could not send anything. I almost finished the V5 with 3 consecutive pockets in the back section (the Beast) that I had been working in the past few weeks. This time I actually grabbed the rail, but just couldn't hold on: next time...

BTW I forgot to mention that on Saturday I bought myself a nice shiny new screw: a big 22 cm. This should make us feel more secure when we build an anchor on multi-pitch climb (Denver maybe...).

Go Big

Daniel and I went to Coles today with the intention of trying this workout from the last Outside magazine that went under the heading of Go Big. The plan is to determine your estimated max (EM) for an exercise. Then you do 10 reps at 35%, 5 reps at 55-60%, 2 reps at 70-75%, 1 rep at 85%, 1 rep at 95%, 1 rep at EM. If you get it try 1 up, if you don't try 1 down. We added a second up and down each.

We did this for the benchpress with an EM of 150 for Daniel and 175 for myself. Hence we lifted the following.
DM: 55, 85, 110, 130, 145, 150 (F), 145 (F), 140 (F).
GF: 60, 100, 125, 150, 165, 175, 180, 185 (F).

Deadlift (3x3): 135, 155, 175.

Wide Pullups
DM: 5, 5, 4
GF: 10, 7, 9

Rolling 45 pounds dumbbell to tip of finger and back up: 3x5.

1 Krista

Trying to get the deadlift back in the set of things we do, but I am trying not to get my back injured. The goal would be to reach 2 x body weight (i.e. 300 for Daniel and I).

Kristas are a good one to finish.

Note to self: don't stop

Skipped the gym last week, and today was painful! I went with Daniel and Alistair. I didn't keep track of what they did, but here's what I did.

Benchpress (4x5): 140, 150, 160, 170 (2F)
Squats: 115 (10x), 125 (10x), 135 (5x), 145 (5x)
Shoulderpress (with dumbells, 4x5): 35, 25, 25, 25 (in each hand).
Forward on a bench lift arm to 90 degrees then extend backword (4x5): 15 each time.

20 burpees.
20 Arianes.
20 plak walk-ups.

My back still hurts from 2 weeks ago which is why I tried lower weights.