Climb A Grade Harder Week 3: Settling In

This week was my favorite so far. My body finally accepted that we were going through this new program and I felt like I started to perform like I expected myself to. I was able to get back to climbing V3s and 5.10a without fatiguing as quickly and had a few extra minutes at the end to start projecting a V4! Couldn't be more excited about that! I can definitely feel my body getting tighter......my biceps are actually tight in a few shirts which thrills me and I can see a major difference in my abs. Even though I'm a trainer, sometimes you need an outisde influence to push you to see the holes in your game. There's a big difference between doing what you want/like to do and what you need to do to get better and stronger. I am looking forward to the rest of the program, even though I might have peeked ahead and know that I'm going to get my ass kicked.......I still can't wait to do it. I like that I am enjoying the journey on this athletic path and not so focused on the end result that I forget to have fun. What an exciting adventure!

Climb A Grade Harder: Re-Week 2 - Building Baseline

This week I decided to switch things up a little to try to fit my schedule better! I felt that my bouldering was slightly hindered the first week because of all the forearm work in between the 2 climbing days (not complaining, I totally needed it, but I also want to perform without immediate fatigue). After route climbing and working out Tuesday I also felt like I should split that up because I felt too rushed during the climbing portion. So here's my modified schedule:

Monday: cardio and strength

Tuesday: route climbing

Wednesday: climbing assistance exercises

Thursday: bouldering

Friday: climbing assistance exercises

It's a little confusing, if you aren't doing the program yourself, just ignore all that.....

For routes this week I was able to get 3 sets of route doubles: Llamas On Mars - 5.9, Momo - 5.9+, New 5.10b

For boulders this week I was able to get 3 sets of contrasting hard/easy bouldering routes: V2/V0, V2/V1, V2/V1

I definitely felt less fatigued bouldering this week so I'm hoping the modified schedule is the way to go! You have to make things work for you to get results you want! Did I mention I'd like to be able to see my abs again? That's another goal after doing all the core work in this program! Time to rest up for week 3! Later! 

Climb A Grade Harder: Week 2 - The Ick

Week 2.....ugh.....week 2! Sinus infection turned bronchitis destroyed this entire week! Back at it next week!

Climb A Grade Harder Program: Week 1 - The Baseline

I started the Climb A Grade Harder Program a few weeks ago and decided that I would blog my progress weekly as I go through it and kind of give some insight as to how I feel it's going and of course, at the end to see if I actually climb a grade harder!  

For those of you who don't know me, I have been an athlete in various sports my whole life, most recently retiring from MMA in 2011 following a 5 anchor labrum repair to my shoulder. To say I was hesitant to start a shoulder focused sport, even 4 years later, would be an understatement! I was terrified of retearing my shoulder and imagined it in many horrific ways but, at some point you have to believe in your training and learn to trust your body again. 

I started climbing in June 2015 and was at the very beginner of beginner levels. Being a high level athlete most of my life, that itself was pretty hard to accept but it also lit a fire inside me that I'd been dying to find since leaving fighting. I competed in my first competition in October and although I finished dead last it was well worth it for the experience!  

Now enough about me, onto the program.......I decided to do an overall focus, splitting between route climbing and bouldering since I'm kind of new to this and really just want to improve overall as opposed to focusing strictly on bouldering.

Week 1 was super simple, do your top 4 route climbs and top 6 boulders to establish a baseline......

I ended up getting 3 x 5.10a / 1 x 5.10b or a starting average of 5.10a for routes AND 4 x V2 / 2 x V3 or a starting average of V2 for Bouldering. 

My goals for this 9 week program are maybe higher than they should be but why not reach for the moon and see what happens! For route climbing I'd like to increase to a 5.10c steadily and be able to project 5.10d. For bouldering, I feel pretty good at V3 for projecting right now so I'd like to steadily get V4s and be able to start projecting V5s! 

So there you have it, week 1 in a box, much more to come......