Lattice Training Log Part 14: Week 4 of Cycle 3. Changes for meso 2.
This was the week of Nov 7, the fourth week of cycle 3.
Another de-load week has come and gone.
Sending Session Video
I had another sending session today, and decided to record it (partially to have a video of my climbing to compare to later, and partially for the PT I’m consulting about my neck/back twinges.)
- I start my session with 2 minutes of rowing and then a 10 minute off-the-wall warmup, mostly focusing on my spine and lower body. The video starts after that.
- Next is feet-on traverses, then some drills. I’m focusing mostly on feeling tension in my feet as I do various moves.
- After that I do V1-V4 warmup climbs, doing each climb on both sides.
- Then I do my max iso pulls, to get some finger recruitment. I hold the weight because I’m right on the border of being able to lift off, and I’ve found that it helps me pull even harder when I hold some weight.
- at 6:17 I start my actual sending session. First up is HEY HAY V6. I got super close to doing it last week, and this week it went on the first go.
- 6:48 - 8:08 I am trying to repeat Punch Pinch V6. It took me a few goes to find the tension on the crux, and I finally got it.
- starting at 8:08 I tried to repeat Rose Thorn V7. I got it in sections, but didn’t get it today.
I didn’t feel as connected through my feet and core as last week, and you can see me cutting feet on Punch Pinch and Rose Thorn (previously I managed both without even a hint of cutting).
I am comforted by the new send (HEY HAY), so I don’t think last week was a complete fluke. I think this could be fatigue from training, de-load week tweakiness, or possibly just the distraction of having the video recording.
Changes for next cycle
My coach Billy took the feedback I provided last week, and programmed the next 12 weeks of my training. Here’s what’s coming:
Fingers
Since I didn’t see any major changes in my finger strength over the past 3 months, and managed to injure myself, we’re going to take a different approach. I will be doing density hangs for the first 2 cycles, to help my injury finish healing, and to get lots of practice in the half-crimp position, to hopefully make it feel more comfortable.
After that, I’m going to do a very precise max-hang protocol. I will pre-test my max hang, and then do a progression of prescribed percentages of my max over the following weeks, followed by a post-test.
Billy explained this as being sort of an experiment. We might find out that I actually get considerably stronger, and that means that I was messing up my training during these first 3 months somehow. Or we might find that my finger strength doesn’t change much, in which case I’m possibly at a point of diminishing returns with my finger strength.
I’ll be doing these 2x per week, so overall I expect this will occupy ~40min / week
Board Climbing
I am going to continue working on the tension board weekly, but with a slight change. For the first cycle, I will focus on volume at flash level or slightly above (up to 3 tries or so). In later cycles, I’ll go back to max-effort sessions.
I will also be doing an “efficiency” session, where I focus on repeating and polishing my movement on difficult boulders. I think I’ll start with the V5s, 6s and the 7 that I’ve sent so far, and expand from there. The goal here will be to really finesse the technique and make these feel as effortless as possible. I imagine I’ll be spending a lot of time working on finding foot tension, avoiding overgripping / overpowering the holds, and working on perfect placements of my feet and hands to avoid adjustments.
I’ll be spending 30 minutes on each of these, for a total of 1 hour a week total.
Billy also programmed the “pin hands” and “pin feet” drills on alternating weeks, which will probably take 15-20 minutes per week (though I’ll do them during my warmup, so they won’t necessarily increase the total amount of time I spend at the gym).
Power Endurance
I’m swapping the boulder triplets for what Lattice calls “Progressive AnCap”. I think this is essentially the same, except for the boulders and the rests are even shorter (6 moves w/ 30sec rest between). I’ll probably continue doing these on the tension board, and choose powerful sections of boulders I’m already doing for my triplets. I’ll maybe have to sub out some easier problems to accommodate the shorter rest though.
Towards the end of the 12 weeks, I’ll switch to boulder doubles, to continue working on this at a different intensity.
Overall this should take me about 45 minutes per week.
Boulder Circuit
This will stay pretty much the same - an hour of overhanging bouldering per week - though at the end of this 12-week period my plan swaps the last 20-30 minutes for footless bouldering to try and work on power specifically.
Conditioning
I will continue working on pulling strength, with a bigger focus on 1-arms and explosive pull ups. I’ll also be working on bent-over rows and fly’s for some core stability and strength in pulling towards the body rather than just overhead. Overall this will probably be 20 mins each, for about an hour per week.
I’ll continue working on core with a more focused front lever progression, which will probably take up another 20 minutes per week.
Flexibility
I’ll continue doing my daily mobility sessions.
The plan swaps my flexibility sessions for a slightly different version that focuses on developing strength at extension - weighted good mornings, cossack squats, pancake stretch and horse stance. Overall this is probably a 30min session.
Optional
Billy set up several sessions I can optionally do every week.
1-hand climbing, eliminates and open/twisting warmups. These are to replace my boulder play, and are things that I can do as an extended warmup to try and put myself into some more unfamiliar situations and expand my movement vocabulary. These would be ~20 minutes each, and I’ll do 2 a week during my warmup if I have time.
shoulder presses. This would be antagonist work, for about 20 minutes per week.
core. An additional endurance-focused floor routine that I can do at home.
I’m feeling motivated to get started on the coming 12 weeks of training.
By my count, I have a bit over 5 hours of training per week, spanning 3 training days. Assuming a bit of transition time and a 30 minute warmup per day, that’s probably around 7 hours of training, which I think I can definitely manage. On top of that, some of the stuff I can do at home which will also help. I really think this will make a huge difference for my motivation, and I’m also hoping that the reduced load will feel better on my body (and maybe I’ll actually be able to make more rapid gains).
I’ve never done density hangs consistently, and it honestly feels like something that my fingers desperately need. They’ve been creaky and stiff for years now, and it will be good to get them feeling solid before going for the short max-hang intervention. I’m also really excited for the experiment to see how easily finger gains will come.
The board volume sessions will be really fun, I think that will help me feel more confident. I think between this, the efficiency sessions, and the technique drills, I’ll have an opportunity to build a lot more confidence with that style of climbing.
I think Billy is sneakily setting up a peak phase towards the end of this 12-week cycle, judging by the increased focus on explosiveness, high intensity and lower volume sessions. I’m curious to see how that will feel since I’ve never done anything like that before.
So there’s a lot to look forward to!