Week 1: tackled fear of falling (and then got sick)
I started off 2022 by tackling my fear of falling. On January 1st I tried a few exercises, and found that tightening my chalk bag right below my belly button helps me focus on my breathing as I climb. That in turn gives me the feeling of being in control as I climb, which lowers pump, increases power when I needed, and allowed me to completely focus on climbing and being in the moment. I never had a feeling that euphoric from lead climbing before! So happy I found a way to overcome my fear of falling (which turned out to be a fear of losing control).
I managed to do 1 hangboard routine: 7/53. I did 3 reps of 7 hangs with an added 20kg in an open crimp position, followed by 53 seconds of rest. I repeated this once after 3 minutes of rest. Then I did the whole thing again but with a half crimp position and no added weight (my half crimp is MUCH weaker than my open hand strength).
The day after this I got tested positive for corona... I do my best in terms of social distancing but it's crazy how contagious Omicron is (very happy that I didn't infect anyone else). Although I only felt some minor flu symptoms, I decided not to train for 2 days and focus on recovering. After this I was stuck in quarantine for 5 more days, which I decided to spend solely on ARC training on my campusboard. Moving your hands up and down the rungs with your feet on the ground is incredibly boring, but I did manage to do it for an hour every day so I'm sure it helped me build some capacity in my forearms!
Benchmarks:
- 2 weeks ago I could pull 47,5kg with my right and 46kg with my left hand on a 20mm edge (used a crane scale for this). Now it's 43kg for the right and 40kg for the left hand. This is quite a big difference, but can be explained due to my circumstances so I'm not worried yet.
- On January 6th 2022 I could climb up, down then up again on the easiest route at Spaarnwoude before I felt pump. I'll be trying to increase my capacity over the next few months so hopefully I will be able to climb up and down more often before feeling any pump.
- My stats in terms of training hours: 
- How I was feeling this period: one day of overtraining in the beginning, followed by feeling bad due to corona, followed by recovering
Adjustment to training plan:
I will change my regular workout routine for the kettlebells for climbers plan (12 weeks in total) that I got from power company climbing. I hope this will give me a solid base!
Also I've noticed an ache in my finger for a week now, turns out it's a lumbrical - so I'm going to take try and avoid positions that are hard on the lumbrical muscles! Hopefully it will heal with 2 weeks of massage, mobilisation and eventually some strength exercises.
So my training plan will now look like this:
- Monday: General fitness
- Tuesday: Bouldering (High)
- Wednesday: General fitness & Climbing specific training
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: General fitness & Climbing (High)
- Saturday: Climbing (Low)
- Sunday: Bouldering (Low)
General fitness (90 minutes): this includes hip specific exercises (strength & balance training) as well as cardio on the crosstrainer, recovery training on the hangboard and the kettlebells for climbers workout (twice a week).
High / Low training (120 minutes): I will either be pushing myself to gain strength, power and the ability to apply skills at my limit, or stay well below my limit and climb for the flow, to recover, and to build capacity.
Climbing specific training (60 minutes): every 2 weeks I will cycle between the hangboard for finger strength and the campusboard for power and contact strength. This cycle I will do the 7/53 hangboard routine.
Weekends: I will try and climb on real rock any chance I get! In which case I will climb close to my limit on Fridays and Sundays, and climb far below my limit on Saturdays to build capacity.