Rock Climbing Training

Season 01

Workouts 025->026 ~~ FEB/04

Base Fitness Phase – Week 5

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Similar to Sponebob... I've never seen High School Musical, thus I have no jokes...

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Hip-hop-happy February, everyone! It has been a couple of long, cough-filled, rain soaked weeks -- and I wont lie that it was difficult to get through. Jackets, umbrellas, boots, and towels. Stowing and drying -- carrying so much extra stuff. Everything's wet. All the time. It never stops.

But we got there!...

We got there....

Bit of #foodphotography of our vegan burgers from The Very Good Butchers -- fullscreen if you click

A fun beer filled weekend with @jkms, @caitycat, @somebuttstuff and @flaversham is officially history. We got a bit of climbing in this weekend, but skipped Friday because we just didn't have the energy. Oh well though -- we've finished with the base fitness phase, and we're excited to get into some strength next week!

February 2018 - Season 1

Click for fullscreen version

NEW CALENDAAAAAAAR!

Alright, alright, alright lets bring on the hangboa--wait what's that now?

Ohhhh ferfucksake we've still got another week!?

I completely believed that I had finished the Base Fitness / ARC training phase. I thought there were only 4 weeks, but I guess there's 5. This is... not cool. Here I was, excited to switch up the routine, but no dice. Oh well. I guess I can talk about what we did the last couple days:

• DAY 25 (Friday):
  • We were supposed to get some lead climbing done.
  • We went home from work early, didn't get any climbing in, and decided that Day 25 would be tomorrow instead.
• The REAL DAY 25 (Saturday):
  • We were supposed to get some lead climbing done -- about 10 pithces.
  • That didn't exactly happen, because we went to the gym with our house-guest and favorite brother, @jkms -- but he doesn't lead belay, so we just got some top-rope time in.
  • We probably did get about 10 climbs each in though. I think it's funny how sore his arms will be tomorrow, because he doesn't climb often.
• DAY 26 (Sunday -- AKA Today):
  • An optional OAE day.
  • We have a 4-person rotating squash mini-tournament today, and it was great. Really got the heart going, got a nice sweat on, and whacked some balls. Fuckin' BIGTIME.

Not gonna lie -- I've definitely noticed an improvement in my grip strength over the last four weeks. It's all starting to come back to me, and not a moment too soon. I managed to work my way up some pretty fun 5.11c~5.11d routes without too much trouble yesterday -- and it all felt pretty smooth. My balance was on point. My feet were going exactly where I needed them. My fingers felt good. My shoulders felt strong. My breathing was as clear as it could be considering I feel not so great.

While it's a bit disappointing that there's actually another 3-day session of ARC training -- it HAS been paying off, and more couldn't hurt. And if I want to get the most out of the upcoming strength phase, it'll be best to start out on a strong note after I kick the last of this cold.

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Today, In my space that I reserve down here for cool climbing stuff, I'm going to share a short (for a documentary) video about free-climbing (note that free-climbing is when you climbing with ropes still, but without the use of aid-gear such as daily chains or the like. Hands on rock) The Nose on El Capitan. This particular ascent is by Jorg Verhoeven.

Super inspiring feat -- and I would love to try doing a little bit of big-wall climbing one day. Massive exposure on a vertical expedition like this. There are a couple multi-pitch routes that I have my eye on, and a couple beautiful places in the rockies near Canmore that I want to train for -- and I've heard there's some incredible big-wall climbing happening in Powell River right now -- but I'm getting ahead of myself.

For now, enjoy a short summary of the very impressive free-ascent of The Nose, by Jorg Vehoeven:

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Be well, stay safe, and I'll see you on the sharp side (once it dries out around here).

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Previous CRUSHENING posts:

• Days 22-24
• Days 19~21
• Day 18

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The Query!

I'm trying to figure out how the best way to get people active and involved in the climbing community on here. Paying for upvotes is super tedious, and there must be a better way to get the people goin'!

There's all sorts of contests on here -- some I'm considering incorporating something of that sort to these posts. Let me know what you think. It could be something like "whoever shares the coolest ( or funniest / scariest / gnarliest ) climbing related story ( or picture / video / poem / meme) gets 0.25 SBD (or more / less / half of post SBD)". Let me know what you think would be cool. We could mix it up and do climbing inspired art or something? I like to draw. Maybe we'll do something like that? LETS TALK.

Please vote and resteem generously. There's some amazing places on the island that I would like to share.

I try to respond to all questions and comments that I get, so make some noise! If you have any questions about some of the climbing jargon / lingo I used, just ask, and I'll break it down. I might even make it a feature in my next post, in which case I'll give you some credit, and maybe even some kind of reward... unknown at this time -- nobody has asked any questions... Yet!!