A few weeks ago I finished up the 12-week lattice light training plan. What follows is an enthusiastic endorsement of the plan and the training app that lattice provides, along with some reflections on where I’m at with climbing. My motivation for signing up was pretty simple. I knew we were heading into lockdown. I have a good fingerboard setup at home, I thought that in order to make the most of the enforced home time I should get some structured guidance on how to use my home board. ... (more)

Last year I hit on the best way to set climbing goals (this was after many years of failing to hit my goals). The best way to do it was to set very short term goals, not ones for the end of the year, but rather quarter by quarter, and modify and update those goals as I went. In addition, I found that focussing not on outcomes, but on process, also helped a lot. ... (more)

I wrote a large post at the start of this year reviewing my climbing goals over previous years, and laying out my goals for 2014. A key modification for me in 2014 is changing to a strategy where I set goals quarterly, rather than yearly. Let’s review Q1. Goals for q1 2014 try at least 12 routes of 6c or harder I managed to try exactly 12 routes of 6c in the last 12 weeks, and my last try yielded success. ... (more)

For the last couple of years I have done an end of year review of my climbing over the previous year, and set myself some goals for the coming year. Rather than doing exactly the same thing this time, I thought it would be good to look back at several of these reviews over the past couple of years, look at the data on my climbing, and see if I could discover any insights. ... (more)

I was bouldering yesterday. At my local block - a lump of granite embedded in the middle of shore ditch park. I’ve been climbing on this block pretty much since the week it was put in place. Yesterday I saw that a hold I’d never noticed had been chalked up. It’s a great hold, at about shoulder height. It fits that pads of two and a half fingers, and in spite of being quite small, it feels pretty positive. ... (more)

212 climbing review. OK, time to review the year. I wrote out some goals at the start of last year. Goals for 2012 were remain injury free (not done) significantly reduce the amount of alcohol that I consume (done) fall off at least 10 routes of 6c or harder/month (not done) redpoint 7a, but don’t stop trying harder things (not done) get three campus board sessions or power hand sessions into my training per month (done) My training diary from 2011 looked like: ... (more)

Well, it’s been almost a week since I got back from Fontainbleau. It was, as usual, a magical trip. Were took advantage of the row of bank holidays to get in a nice long spell in the forest without having to take too much time off work. I’d been training like a fair old bastard in order to get fit for Marie Rose, but in the end a couple of injuries stopped me going near the route, which was a pity. ... (more)

I’m about to head to Fontainbleau for another short climbing trip. I’ve been going there since 2003, this will be my 10th anniversary of going to font. The first time I went there I brought a lot of expectations with me. I was climbing pretty well and I fully expected that I should be able to run up problems of about font 6a. I think I fell off of that first 3a 6 times before I got it. ... (more)

So this morning I had a scan with a consultant and he has diagnosed me with Dupuytren’s Contracture. I’ve been a climber since the summer of 1990, nearly 22 years now. It’s been amazing, I’ve gotten into some pretty special situations, and I’ve gotten pretty fit. There is some evidence that there is a higher incedence of Dupuytren’s Contracture amongst climbers. There is a great write up about a climbers experience of this condition on ukclimbing. ... (more)

Well, it’s been a while since I wrote up my climbing goals for 2010, and I totally missed doing this for last year, so as we ease our way into 2012 it’s high time that I do the same again. The key goals for 2010 were: redpoint fr 7a boulder V5 trad E1 some trips to do some trad climbing Well, since then I achieved the following: onsight 6c+ indoors redpoint 6c outside boulder V4 a few HVS’s So, not quite breaking through to where I wanted to be, but there is a feeling of definite progress. ... (more)

I’s a beautiful morning in New York, the sun is shining, and the snow blankets central park. Yeserday the rain and mist made it feel like a bit of a shit-house, but today it’s a fantastic day. I brought my climbing boots on this trip just in case I might find a few hours to squeeze in an attempt on the polish traverse on rat rock, and this morning I had my chance to get up and see what state the rock was in. ... (more)

Looking back at my goals for 2009, I've not done very well, however my current level of fitness is pretty good, so I think 2010 is going to be a good year. The main factors in holding back my climbing in 2009 were taking a few months off to get married and not being able to rent a car. Getting married was absolutely worth it, and the level of organisation and stability I have in my life now due to being married will only help in the long run. ... (more)

Saturday 17thMile end, decided to try power endurance training, picked a 6a to work on. 7 leads, and at the end I was still finding it really easy, which means it was too easy. 6a+ next time. I had a 4 1/2 min rest between leads. Also did some nice bouldering.Sunday 18th ran 12.2 km 80.5 min did this one http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2498524Monday 19th did some chin ups as a warm up and then 3 sets of semi-dead hangs, lasted ... (more)

Back in January I set myself some goals for my climbing in 2008. The results at the end of the year were mixed, which means that I succeeded with some of my goals and patently failed with others. The was: * Onsight Grit E2 * Redpoint f6c+ * 10 weekende+ trips in UK * 5 red problems in a day in font * 80 kg weight * build climbing wall ... (more)

I find that having a cool trip planned every now and again is key forkeeping me motivated. I've been doing a lot of job and country hopping overthe past 10 years, and this has had a signifigant detrimental impact on theamount of climbing that I could do, but hey, I'm doing a job that I love,and those are the rolls we choose to take. One thing that has kept me motivated to get of my arse and actually try abit harder when I am down in the gym is having a few cool trips planned inthe year. ... (more)

A good friend of mine has just hit the 8a mark in climbing. Dave is a greatclimber, and a really nice guy, but what really blew me away is that hisfiancee Caroline led 7b on her first sports climbing trip. One thing know about both of them is that they do a lot of running,something like 10 - 15 miles evrey morning. If this isn't motivation for me to pick up running then I don't know whatis. ... (more)

I just got back from a wedding and bier festival thing in Munich. I've been tracking my weight on and off for the past year and a half with the ultimate goal of getting back to my climbing fit weight of about 80kgs. From the graph below you can see the spike that was caused by the extertions at the wedding! (OK, in the vox rendering you can't really see the spike on the right hand side of the graph, but if you are bothered then click through and you'll see the original graph. ... (more)