Mo' Hangboardin'

Lessee here... today was HB #7; and we changed 'er up today.

Did get #6 in on 2/25, and it was pretty much utterly stale. Can't say I've made no progress this go 'round, but it's been smallish. And I've been for several workouts wrestling with a tweaky right flexor tendon--especially on the two-finger hangs--and that's been demotivating.

So today i changed the program up. Have been doing the Anderson bros' intermediate program, and that's worked fine. But when i think about the rep/set stacks compared with, say, any other breed of strength training, it seems it's designed more like an endurance/hypertrophy program, and really never touches on the power end of strength. Seven and six rep sets respectively are high for pushing strength. There is a more advance program in their book--which i'm pretty sure adds in a third set of 5 reps for several grips. But i couldn't get hold of my book due to the plague befalling my book-getter. So, Necessity being as she is the mother of Invention, and i finding myself in need, nuked the thing and invented. And frankly, it ain't a bad program.

Went from 8 grips to 7. Tossed out the pinches as i was making zero progress on those. Also nixed the F3,4 pocket due to the buzzy tendon (although i'd consider adding it back in). Replaced those with an F3,4,5 pocket (that's in addition to the F2,3,4 pocket) and the tiny tips crimp, which is basically a sharp, shallow depression in the Trango board.

Took each grip (excepting the warmup jug hang) to 3 reps, but in the spirit of more standard strength-to-power pyramid dropped each set by 2 reps instead of one; and sticking to their generic rule of thumb increased weight between sets by 20lbs instead of 10 to correspond to the 2 rep drop. So i end up with 3 sets of each grip with 7, 5, and 3 reps respectively, increasing by (about) 20lbs between sets.

Ended up being an excellent workout, and i felt (once again) like i was fighting for the reps instead of just either enduring them or failing miserably. Nice feeling. We'll see if gains are indeed there to be gotten. And i'm curious to see if i can heal between workouts. Li'l early to say, but i have a feeling it'd make a great combo to start the season with the higher rep workout, and about halfway through switch to this lower rep scheme.

Was pretty wildly guessing on weights seeing as it was a beta run; but didn't miss by much on most of the grips. I'll record the workout (which i've not been doing recently) for future reference, and so i have the template recorded.

WUJ: -15

Large Open:
1: +15. No fail.
2: +35. Last sec last rep. Felt 'bout right.
3: +50: Last 2 secs last rep. Obviously, not a 20lb incr. I agonized a bit over where to fit this in the program, but it makes a pretty low-risk-of-injury warmup for the following grips, so i left it first. Weight's prolly about right as it seriously affects the other grips. Could go up though.

Small Crimp: (Again, the shallow depression on the Trango board)
1: -40: Nope. Got 2 of 7 well. Way too fat for this. Probably need to start -60 or 65.
2: -45: Better. Got 3. This might've felt right if set 1 were lighter.
3: -35: Got 1 solid. This is the money set of this workout, so i need to lighten the prior sets to make me hurt properly on this one.

F 2,3,4 Pocket: (Same as last workouts--used the 3 finger scalloped pocket)
1: -20: Really not bad. Felt pretty easy.
2: BW: That got real on the last rep. Failed last 3 secs.
3: +20: No fail! Increase eh.

Slopa':
1: +10: Last 2 secs last rep. Typical. Seems like failure on these is more dependent on time than weight. I think i finally grease off.
2: +30: Hard last rep. Came unglued last sec or so.
3: +50: No fail!

F 3,4,5: (Again used the same scalloped pocket)
1: -40: No fail. 'Bout right maybe.
2: -20: Yeah. Ow. Last sec last rep. Hard.
3: BW: Oh man! Got 1 1/2 ok. Then big fail.

SemiClosed Crimp: (Small rail, F3 to outside dimple)
1: -40: Failed last 2. Prolly need to go down to -50.
2: -25: Again last 2 failed. Ugh.
3: -10: Got one rep solid. That's about right. This grip is very much an analogue of--well, really all the other grips--but especially the Small Crimp. Sticking it at the end was a nice finisher and brought the burn, but i need to expect my weights to go down from previous workouts.

Really this worked out very happily. No injuries, and i actually felt like i worked strength instead of just endurance.

Then i got in a 30min run. That went pretty well for being outta shape.

Good day of it. :)

HB 5

It's been a slow week or so here. Got in HB #5 today. That was after a more or less 6 day hiatus. Did climb on Sunday, and it was actually a pretty spicy session. Working on something they're calling V6-7. I've got the moves on it, and just need to link. That's kinda invigorating.

Respecting the HB 5, it was pretty much a plateau session. Taped up a li'l high on the fingers and slipped some 'til i stripped the tape. Do have a tweaky right middle flexor, and that detracted a bit as well.

I really want to change up the HB workouts. Wanna try the advanced program from the training manual, but haven't been able to get hold of that yet. I also looked a program from Chris Parson...something or another... and that's intriguing also. I'm not sure my right biceps would tolerate that presently; but if i can ever get it to heal, it sounds like a hard program.

HBing through numma 4

Ummm...Le'see here: got through HB #4 on Thursday. It went actually really well; but i was definitely not healed from the prior sesh. As such, although i was slated for #5 today, i bumped it in favor of bouldering. Justin and i went for a workout today, and it ended up exceeding expectation. I've done entirely too much climbing since I've been here--i can say for sure. It's cold and snowy, and there's not much of a place to run, so i've basically been climbing .... frequently. Also i notice that i cannot heal fast enough from HB workouts to do so gainfully every 3 days. So today, instead of hitting the hangboard, i bouldered. Interestingly, it felt like a pretty great session, even though i didn't manage to finish a single problem. Worked what is probably a solid v6 extensively, and pretty much got all the moves worked out. That'd be a happy dance in the works. Gunna try to hangboard on Wed.

I want to move to the more advanced workout on the HB. I think that'd be more productive at this point. I also need to let my biceps heal. Haven't managed to heal that so far. And i need to work abs again.

Did manage to get a run in a coupla weeks ago. Soon it'll be mt bikin' weather. :)

Chest and a Run

Managed to get in for a chest workout today. Can't say it was a stellar workout, because I don't have really a chest to speak of; but it was a nice starting point. Think i got 10 x 135, 10 x 155, 5 x 175, 3 x 195, and then i basically failed with 215 on bench. Shoulders were really bothering me, but didn't give out. Then did a set of dips, and a set of light DB bench and a few sets of cable cross.

Then i went for a 20min run on the river trail. That was pretty great. Very great not being on a treadmill or in a building. Felt a bit like an old man, but it was great being out there.

Then i went to a superbowl party and ate my body weight in cheese products.

Meh. Ah well... it was a nice reset.

Season 8 (!!)

It has now been almost 4 months since my last post. It's a little alarming how often it has been 4 or 6 or so months since a last post. There are only so many 6 month stints in a person's life.

Ah well: I've done a lot of workouts in the meantime. I've moved to PNW, and have--if anything--been climbing too much. But I hadn't started an official season 'til quite recently. Over the last couple o' weeks I put in what'd amount to a lot of ARCing. I didn't exactly follow the workout prescription as I got in the longest day, and was walking the hairy edge of rupturing my right biceps. Arm bruised up, etc, and I took it sorta easy the next week. but I haven't laid off for any appreciable amount of time. Feel like I am slowly healing, notwithstanding...and quite by the grace of God.

I have been doing some iron workouts. Most recently (last coupla weeks) I've been working mostly on pushers. My shoulders have been hurting a lot recently, so i'm trying to rehab 'em. Seems to be helping. I did a hard workout--in fact a 5/5/5 workout on a 500 max-- on deads shortly after getting here; and that was horrible both on my shoulders and my right biceps. As such, I haven't been pulling weight for the last couple of weeks whilst trying to heal. I find (in my elderly age) that it's hard to keep up heavy back work and high volume climbing. And I default to the climbing.

With the snow here, I haven't been doing much cardio. Haven't yet been on my mt bike. Have done a few stationary bike sessions at the gym. That's fun very much like tapping myself on the head with a tennis racquet is fun: Good times for almost a minute. Funny, but I can't seem to get my heart rate up on those ergometers.

At any rate, I did HB#1 today. That was fun. I really like hangboarding. I couldn't weigh myself as I don't have a scale. But I really don't think I've lost any weight. Mercifully, they do have the Trango board set up here, and interestingly they don't have a pulley setup for it. So the hangboards are basically unused. I hadn't done a HB workout since about September of last year. But it doesn't seem I've lost any strength. In fact, it seemed like I made some gains on a few grips. Really good start for the season.

I get to go home next week, so that should be some very useful rest. Might get another HB workout in on tues, but if I don't that'll be just fine.