climb the world

[JVJVJV]

18 Oct 22

didn't send a single lead route. shouldn't eat 20 minutes before climbing - usually eat once a day, so morning climb sessions are odd unless i wake up earlier. focus on better sleep, focus on the climb, focus on smoking less, focus on working harder.

some progress on my current project.

[JVJVJV]

19 Oct 22

Hangboarding:

7-53: 3x3, 14 mm edge, half crimp +20 lbs,+5 lbs from last session

Max hangs:

16 mm, open grip: 25.3 seconds, -2 mm edge, + 1 sec from last session

12 mm, half crimp: 15.8 seconds +10 lbs, + 3.3 sec

20 mm open grip: 20 seconds

3FD on 18 & 24 mm: could barely hold for a few seconds, WTF.

[JVJVJV]

20 Oct 22

Decent bouldering session - didn't get that pink v6 yet, but got a simple light comp-style problem. Vid soon.

[JVJVJV]

21 Oct 22

OHP 3x6
Lunges
Weighted pullups 3x3: + 55 lbs
Weighted 45 chins 2x3: + 65 lbs
Plate flies, hyperbench stretching

getting stronger slowly ..

Bouldering endurance work:
Got 10 feet up on an overhung, juggy boulder, practiced hanging there while shaking out arms/legs to build enough endurance to rest on overhangs and smash through on lead routes. Did 4 sets as long as I could, didn't time any of them but from the song that was playing, it sounded like I was there for ~100 seconds.

Prefer these to planks! Hope I get some carryover to climbs.

[JVJVJV]

22 Oct 22

I'm spending today stretching and using my VR set. will send a(t least one) 5.12 top rope tomorrow and a 5.11 lead.

Thoughts. I was just listening to two of my favorite athletes - John Danaher and Dave Macleod, talk about the idea of “mental training” or “training“ resilience. Both of them seem to believe that it’s much more valuable to put effort in improving physical capacity - with greater physical capacity stems physical confidence which begets all necessary mental confidence. Especially enjoyed John’s bit on breaking down the illusion of competition - the theatrics, the cheering, etc. At the end of the day, what you do on competition day is no different than what you train for every single day. So, if I ever want to compete, I need to remember that I’ll simply be doing what I do every single session, which is climb.

And yeah, comp style vs traditional style boulders, etc. And there is something magic about a group of climbers all cheering you on through the crux which is distinct from combat sports. An illusion nonetheless.

When I'm up on that wall, I can never forget why I'm there in the first place.

[JVJVJV]

22 Oct 22

Danaher's fighters train 20 times a week. Hell, the fighters I know practice 6-10x a week. Why am I not trying as hard?

I've only stuck this move once or twice. I want to flash it every time I walk in that gym until it goes down.

[JVJVJV]

23 Oct 22

Lead, didn't send the 5.12, got a 5.11 slab though, backstepped on the orange 5.11 I tried last time and took a yuck fall, did a baby boulder.

[JVJVJV]

24 Oct 22

Bench 3x5
RDL 2x8
Plate flies 1x5: 25, 2x5: 30, 1x10: 20
Cable pancakes, reverse squats

Pullups + 55 : 1x3
45° Chinups + 65: 1x3
+ 55: 1x3
+ 45: 15

Wrist curls

[JVJVJV]

25 Oct 22

Morning bouldering session. Felt very sloppy; need to do better with my diet. Bulking is really difficult with climbing, especially since lower bodyweight = better strength:bodyweight ratio, but earlier on in the year I kept repeating to myself I had to eat more to push through routes on lead and harder boulders... maybe I was wrong and need to reassess. Maybe I bulk until I have 14 inch arms and killer weighted pullups, but I've never been able to really cleanly bulk. Climbing's actually been the first time I felt like I slowly and cleanly put on lean mass. Still can't be too neurotic about it - I was 12% by dexa scan a few months ago, and will probably fluctuate 12-15%. I should focus more on sucking less at climbing.

[JVJVJV]

26 Oct 22

Hella stretching. Shoulders get surprisingly sore after a few E+ rounds on beat saber lol. Climbing in Atlanta tomorrow. We'll save the fingerboard for next Monday to get 10ish days of rest instead .

[JVJVJV]

30 Oct 22

We are vibing at the ATL airport rn.

27 Oct 22

Bouldering session at a new gym, didn't get any cool sends but almost nailed tough boulder. Two move crux: awkward heel hook pogo and a long dyno. Made the pogo, didn't stick the dyno although was super close. With better sleep and diet the day before, I would've. Need to work harder. Will post videos soon when I get back home. Did some OHP/lunges after climbing, and on saturday after eating a huge steak and a sundae with my group, I did some chins and deadhangs.. also the pullup stations at the marriott there had rock holds (little jugs) for hanging on lol

[JVJVJV]

31 Oct 22

AM session:

Dips: 1x10, 3x5 + 45 lbs
RDL 2x8~ 225
Reverse squats, cable pancakes
Weighted Pullups: 1x4, 1x3 + 45 lbs, 2x3 + 55 lbs
Weighted chins: 1x3: + 70 lbs, 1x3 + 55 lbs, 1x4: + 45 lbs
pullups amrap (17 i think?)
immediately chins amrap (10~? tired)

Haven't done dips since college - although even back then when I was much weaker I could do + 55 for 8 ish reps and I was probably 15-20 lbs heavier, so I want x2 bodyweight dips soon. x2 bodyweight pullup is a longterm goal.

PM:

Hangboard session:

14 mm half crimp 7-53 repeaters: 3x3 +25 lbs, +5 from last session

16 mm open grip max hang: 19.7 seconds
Open 14: 19.9 seconds

12 mm half crimp + 10 lbs: 14.1 seconds

10 mm half crimp: 5 seconds

Yeah, I need to train open grip and 3FD more. There is something seriously wrong with my strength in those grips.
I sometimes eat 4.5k cals and am super bloated the next day and weigh an extra 7 lbs from bloat though, so I'm happy my 12 mm weighted hang was still comparable. I bet next session will feel great - it was basically an extra +5 bw hang day


Plate flies 3x6: 30 lbs (some cheating)
Nordic curls: 2x6, 1x10

1 Nov 22

Top rope/boulder session, 1 arm hangs, deadhangs

2 Nov 22

Rest, foam roll. Need to roll more

[JVJVJV]

3 Nov 22

Bouldered at a different gym, worked on step-up dyno and a difficult slab. Vid soon.

4 Nov 22

Bouldered in Newark. Every problem in that gym had a comp vibe which was pretty cool. Wish our gym did that more. There were two really cool dynos I wish I had the energy to try on vid, but was exhausted from the drive/no food that day/climbing night prior/sleep prior. Cool to just vibe and not limit test. Also, I deadhanged at the end of this session - 90 seconds. Last time was ~60. Want it up to 5-10 minutes?

[JVJVJV]

7 Nov 22

Super light work.. maybe some stretching and some wrist curls i think?

8 Nov 22

AM:
Weighted dips 3x5: + 50 lbs
Weighted pullups 5x3: + 55 lbs (last rep on some sets was a bit reachy)
Cable squats, pancakes, light forearm curls

might've already mentioned this but I want 2x bodyweight pullups and 2.5x bodyweight dips at some point down the road.

PM:
Hangboard sesh.

7-53 repeaters 3x3: 14 mm, half crimp, + 30 lbs (+5 from last session)
Open grip 14 mm max hangs: 17.5 seconds, 26 seconds
12 mm crimp + 10 lbs max hang: 12 seconds

I think the repeaters are getting heavy enough that it's affecting my max hang time that was previously on an upward trend - probably can remodulate some volume/intensity and maybe just do that max hanging later in the week.

Campused a few boulders, did some shoulder flies with 30 lbs (kinda cheating, I should drop back to 25 and go for high reps), a set of nordics but my ink was a bit scraped from campusing so I only did 1 set of nordics.

Also in a weird spot with dips... at my commercial gym, the handles are declined, so it feels like I'm not going that low, but I think I'm in parallel to the plane of my arms? not sure. any thgouhts? And I really need to stretch my right bicep before doing these, otherwise I can feel its tightness during dips and thats hella no bueno

[JVJVJV]

Haven't posted here in a while! Didn't track workouts meticulously enough to remember them all here since the website went down a week ago I believe, but it's good to be back!

I did end up doing another hangboard session where I did 7-53 repeaters with + 35 lbs, and towards the last set I was failing at ~5 seconds. I'll repeat + 35 lbs next hang session. Besides that, I've been getting a lot of V4-V6 after a few attempts, which I'm super happy about. Becoming more comfortable with the rock, trusting in my ability more. Dope.

20 Nov 22

Top roped a 5.11+, 5.11-, 75% a 5.12 and some moves on a 5.13- lol. Also got this super cool V5 after the top rope session. There's a V6 nearby that I can do next time I climb, and a V8 I want to send (green boulder in vid below).

[JVJVJV]

21 Nov 22

Weighted dips: 3x5 + 60 lbs
Weighted pullups: 3x2.7: + 70 lbs. lowkey quarter repped the last two reps on the second and third sets, quarter repped the last on the first set. But that's a lot of pulling and I was happy with it.
Reverse squats, cable pancakes,
Patrick step ups 3x6: 135
Plate flies 3x8: 25 lbs
1x10 nordics, 2x6 +25 nordics
wrist tension, light calisthenics.

22 Nov 22

bad climbing day. i'll tell you about it tomorrow.

[JVJVJV]

23 Nov 22

Light climbing session, arms still hella sore. I did weighted pullups monday, heavy climbing yesterday, and tried a campus route today, so, yeah. Not sure what I was expecting.

Didn't have the best climbing session yesterday, but if I let one bad day dictate my goals and future directions, then I deserve to fail.

I've started doing some of Sondre Berg's wrist strengthening exercises. Big believer in training joints through large ranges of motion for injury prevention. I was able to do roughly 4x10 seconds of tuck planches. I'm starting to focus on calisthenics for strength training and carryover to climbing more. Some long term goals include planche, front lever, 1 arm pullup, baki pose, human flag, etc... but more on those later. Did some pistol squats, too.

Also, cool story - two ish(~?) months ago, my vertical was about 15 inches. Unless I'm hallucinating, right now it's about 26. A few more inches and I touch rim, 10~ more inches and I should be able to dunk. I'm confirming this on friday by seeing how far I can touch the hoop at my commercial gym. Those deep lunges, tibialis raises and poliquin/patrick step ups seem to be doing something.. hopefully they give me a bit of extra power to leap from climbing volumes. More on that soon, too. I'll revamp the first post so it's not something that looks like it was written by a 6 year old/someone on pluto (although it was all intentional to give off positive vibes lol).

[JVJVJV]

24 Nov 22

happy thanks giving ! heavy foam rolling, cleaning the house, and stretching today. would like a hard lead/boulder session tomorrow.

[JVJVJV]

25 Nov 22

I started the morning off with testing my vertical. It's increased by about a foot over the past few months. I never directly train it, so it actually really surprised me. I noticed this just a few nights ago when I found I could touch the 9 foot ceiling of my apartment with ease. That was not possible earlier this year. My ceiling has what I believe is called a "raised central inset"? Basically a portion of the ceiling that is higher than the rest of the ceiling. I can *almost* reach the top of the inset, and estimated my vertical to be 25-27 inches. Video below.

My hand goes a few inches on the backboard: I would guess 3 ish. The rim to bottom of backboard distance is 6 inches I believe, so a few more inches and I touch rim, and + 10 inches I should be able to dunk according to online dunk calculators.

OHP 2x10, 1x7
Plates flies 3x5
Deep split squats 2x10, 20 in each hand
Reverse squats 2x6
Cable pancakes 2x5
Weighted stack heel hooks 2x5
TRX bands 3x10 per foot

Forgot to do landmine oblique twists, will incorporate them soon.

[JVJVJV]

26 Nov 22

Pretty light climbing day. Did a lot of stretching/foam rolling, a boulder with a dyno that the grader described to me as V6~, and only 2.5 lead routes. I'm leading and hard bouldering tomorrow, and I would've kept going tonight but got a flapper on my right palm. It's for the best.

So, I did get that boulder pre-lead, but the skin gave out before I could get it again. There's a really important theme here - dynoing off volumes. It's something I might even do an entire video on to try and explain it to myself - sort of like a postgame chess analysis after you play in a tournament. It's a bit more effort, but I might not commit to it unless I record and make a video. Hell, might get some feedback from climbing youtube on it. Yeah, I should definitely do that.

[JVJVJV]

27 Nov 22

Top roped a few routes. Good progress on 2 5.12's - I can send both next time in there. Got a flapper last night, haven't dealt with this in a while. Portion of right palm was taped, and one route was extremely slopey but I made it one clip away from topping out, the other was crimpy/pockets but still had some slopers. Still, on that other one I was two moves from the top, so I'm feeling pretty good about it.

I'm a move or two away from sending this V6 in the vid below. Also want to project this green V8.

[JVJVJV]

AM Session

Dips 3x5: + 65 lbs
Pullups 5x2.7: + 70 lbs
Chins 1x6: + 45 lbs
Cable pancakes, reverse squats
Tibialis raises 3x40
Tuck planche 2 x 15 seconds

PM session

Hangboard 53-7 repeaters 3x3, 14 mm edge: + 35 lbs
Max hang 12 mm edge:
+ 25 lbs, 5.6 seconds
+ 20 lbs, 8.8 seconds

My half crimp is more of a quarter crimp. I do this really weird open grip/half crimp hybrid. When I tried to crimp perpendicular, ended up slipping. I guess not only my 3FD sucks lol

Patrick step ups 6x4: 135 lbs (I do 4 each leg then go for 8 reps total, rest and repeat. hard to balance since I'm standing on uneven bumper plates)
Plate flies 2x7: 30 lbs
Nordic curls: 1x6 bodyweight, 2x6 + 25 lbs

[JVJVJV]

29 Nov 22

Boulder session. Still stuck on that green V6, although doing marginally better on it (getting my right foot further across). Did a cool mini dyno, might video it just so I have more video footage to analyze of dynos. Worked on a hard V7 and its sister route.

In the video below, you'll see that when I go for the right crimp, my right foot slips off. I tried this a few more times while cueing myself to toe down hard and not let it slip - I'm able to contact either handhold with my right hand, but having difficulty connecting to the crimp. Being able to identify and correct that within one attempt felt very good. Technique can always be improved, sure, but strength may be a greater limiting factor here, which is great. I really like this boulder and will attempt it next time I'm in this gym.

[JVJVJV]

1 Dec 2022

ten months of climbing so far. meh top rope/boulder session this morning. worked on a few cool movement patterns, didn't finish the sloper v7.

[JVJVJV]

If this website goes down again, I might have to find a new website for this log ..

2 December 2022

OHP 3x8
Split squats, reverse squats, plate flies, reverse forearm curls

3 December 2022

Treadwall session.

Speed for all: moderate

Round 1: max overhang, 3 minutes, all holds
Round 2: max overhang, 2 minutes no orange holds
Route 3: max overhang, 2 minutes no red or orange holds (most positive)
Round 4: slab, all holds
Round 5: max overhang, 90 seconds, blue and green (least positive)

Reverse sled.

4 December 2022

It turns out that you can't do that ^ and climb very well the next day.

Got a 5.12, failed another 5.12, felt like crap while leading.

Went to boulder. At this point, I can either flash or get my gym's V5s within a few attempts, although on this one I was so burnt. I got my hand to the finish (top of wall) but slipped on the smooth concrete, and bashed my left elbow into a hold. Had to really roll it out for a while.

I've been going pretty hard for the past few weeks while eating maybe + 700-1000 calories. I am not a machine, and I've realized this is not the most consistent way to make progress. I would estimate I gained .8-1.2 pounds of fat and maybe .2-.3 grams of muscle. Pure speculation. This honestly just happened because I started making pizza again hahahahaha. Need to save that for once every few weeks, its just too calorie dense for me to fit into my diet regularly.

Max weight pullups seem to be useful, but I'm not sure how useful max weight dips/OHP/squat are going to carry over to climbing. Forcing me to seriously consider and reconsider how I spend valuable training volume.

5 December 2022

That tricep is at 60%~.

Weighted dips (deload) 3x4: + 45 lbs
Weighted pullups (deload) 3x4: + 45 lbs, chins 1x6 + 45
reverse squats, TRX bands, etc..

6 December 2022

Bailed on some lead routes, but hit a 5.11+ top rope after falling a few times. Endurance is the issue; I can climb through this grade fine I think (and I should be able to since its really just V2-V4 boulders).

A bit of bouldering too, but I got to a point of physical exhaustion today that I haven't in a while. Tomorrow will be nothing. No quick gym session, no climbing session, no jiu jitsu, nothing. Just chilling. MAYBE foam rolling.

There must be a way to rebuild my training volume .......

[bradwilkins]

9 Jan 22

Still alive and kicking - just working a lot more and not logging progress. Need to get back to hangboarding, here's my first indoor V7 (graded 6-8 we're calling it 7 to satisfy the monkey in the brain that cares about grades; but if anything, calling it a 7 will help me recognize a level of effort i had to overcome to complete this boulder and be used as a benchmark for gaging subjective difficulty of other climbs). Oh hell, that's a lot of words.



Difficult compression/gaston/tension moves on sloped holds on a slight overhang. climb on


I can't log into the JVJVJV account my browser won't sign me out of htis one lmao (sorry for multi) (is that still a thing?)

[FrancisSoyer]