Aerodynamics

I've just been flicking through some old fluent magazines left on my desk and came across these:




I think modelling car aerodynamics would be much more exciting than solute transport...A job with Aston, now that wouldn't be a bad thing.

Sweaty Works

Today should have been Chest, Shoulders, Tri's and Core's (my big session) but I couldn't face going to the gym. Instead I opted for joining Nat at the works.
My forearms were very sore from the previous day (you can tell you've had a little while off if you get sore forearms). Down the works I warmed up then did the new orange circuit on the training board and had a bit of a chat/rest before getting stuck in to some of the problems on the comp wall. Yellow jugs, green holds with big moves etc. One quick go on the red saw me fairly high but I don't have enough in me to do the last 3rd, my fingers were aching too so I left it at just the one go. Tried the black and quickly found out that my arms and core are both fairly weak. Green up the steep bit: went well but I couldn't bring myself to pull for the last move and instead wussed out. Didn't really do a lot after that apart from follow Nat about and try problem 5 on the yellow circuit, all that managed to do was separate my crimping nail.
I think I'll be sore tomorrow and after two back days its definitely time for some chest. My efforts in the gym are obviously paying off, Saltbeef commented as did James Blay (who unfortunately got a kicking in town last night and was a bit worse for wear)...
The works is getting hot, not long left before it will be dire in there, Time for the fans? maybe time for the foundry!

My various injuries felt ok ish throughout today, my back seems a bit tight now and some things still make my hand ache but both of those things are improving. I've been trying to figure out how long it'll be until i'm strong again but really I haven't a clue what "strong" or on form is, without the constant that is the 50 deg board I'm a bit lost.

Tor Bound

The weather forecast was good for Saturday so Nat and I had already planned to get up at a decent hour and go for a wander over near Rubicon. I decided that it would be nice to check out WCJ, on crossing the bridge at Rubicon there were a few people on Kudos wall and a few other on Salar (it looked like Debbie Rock Attrocity as i'm sure it was her dog). When we arrived at the Cornice I was pretty shocked, i've never been to it this early in the season and it was in full view from the railway abutment. Walking right near the river the usual jungle of nettles and stuff hadn't yet grown and the water was pretty darn close to the path. The actual rock wasn't as wet as I expected, left of the Weakling was dry, so that's Yorkshire 8b (8a? 7c+ probably) and Zippys offerings from a few years ago. The rest of the crag wasn't in a bad state either, there was no seepage from the upper roof, the middle section was seeping quite a lot still, just below the height of the cleft on Brachiation, another month and maybe just maybe it'll be in conditions (I don't know why I care i've spent far too long down there for the two summers prior to my injury).
After this we walked back to Rubicon and had a bit of a wander about. Bumped into Cubitt while watching someone unnecessarily polish up Salar because lets face it if you can't climb the starting groove you shouldn't be on it, then Ned and Varian over at Kudos, Dan was trying something that looked hideous and proved that his hands didn't sweat when I commented about the heat.
Nat and I then got back into the car (which I got to thrash around the peak for the first time) and headed over to the Tor so she could play on the traverse and Boot Boys start (my recommendation).
The crag was empty apart from Bentley who always looks dismayingly strong. I warmed up on the traverse as Nat played about on it a bit, it didn't take her long to do it. Next up pinches wall, she didn't participate. I then failed on A Little Extra jump start due to my right leg no longer being able to jump which was slightly frustrating as I like this problem, I'll just have to pull harder on my left arm. Next up I stuck Nat on BB start, she did well but failed on the last move. I'm not too surprised there I forgot quite how powerful it was.
I've tried powerband about twice in the past, I don't like it but thats probably because I can't do it so today I thought I'd put in a bit of effort (stupid idea after this long off?), anyway I put in a few good links, one from ignoring the sit start to the last move however I didn't work out the last move, left foot on pillar? just monster down? After this I forgot to rest and climbed until I was making little or no progress. I got a bit moody until I realised that I was expecting too much. I packed up and had a quick play on Bens roof (not expecting much), I climbed from the start through the crux then stepped off, my fingers obviously aren't in bad shape.
The car is now clicking as it cools off downstairs.
All in all a great day and amazing to be out climbing with my missus in the sun.

Etiquette

At the crag or down the wall there is certainly good and bad etiquette, taking your turn to get on problems, not leaving your rope in a route all day so that other people can have a crack (even if it has taken over your life for the last few weeks, months or in some case years). Brushing off excess chalk, tick marks, litter etc. Its annoying when people don't do these things although that's (reasonably) rare in climbing.
The same kind of etiquette exists in the gym, you ask if your unsure whether someones finished with something, you don't monopolize equipment (i.e. smith machines) for sets and sets and sets.
The gym is busy at the minute, its sunny outside so everybody thinks their biceps need to be bigger for the summer. Today was my chest, shoulders and core session and one women was obviously hell bent on being a pain in the arse. Firstly she was using a bench, the dead-lift bar, a cable stack and a pull down machine, with her various accessories draped over each to ensure she could use whatever whenever, now this p*ssed me off a little bit as I had to sit for a fair length of time for a free bench. (This wasn't helped when a bench became free. Some old guy sat on it, I asked whether or not he was using it and he said that "Yes, that womens using the machine I want so i'm having a sit down").
When I finally got a bench I was doing incline presses with (reasonably) heavy dumbbells. Halfway through my second set, same wench decided that she'd use the back of my bench for her feet as she did dips between her bench and my own. Now on the second set my stabilizer muscle's, (especially my triceps) are tired and the smooth arc the dumbbell followed in the first set is a bit wobbly. This wasn't aided by the fact that the bench had a nice rocking motion due to dipping bird. Now this IS bad behavior, at least have the decency to ask first and if you're not even going to do that then do your dips between my sets.
This annoyed me more than a little bit, its not as if she's new. She's thinner than well....me. by a mile and has run her femininity away over the years. I'd have said something if she hadn't of then left.
Maybe I'm just a grouch.

Full Bill of Health

Buses confused me so this morning was inevitably very confusing. Firstly locating the correct bus stop then locating the direction I wanted to go in and then finding the right bus. Tricky but I managed it.
I'm always impressed by the Northern General, you don't seem to spend ages waiting about like most places.
Sat down, young doctor came in and asked me a lot of questions about my hand so I pointed out (politely) that it was my back that was the issue (this time) as she managed to spill all of my previous x-rays all over the floor (there are a lot in that file now!). Ah. No x-rays from the Hallamshire (faulty towers seemed to be what they were calling it). She disappeared and Royston appeared a few minutes later, he's a right character but seems nice enough to me. As I was a student and wasn't in a rush (he did ask) he took full advantage of my x-ray (that he'd found) as a teaching case.
I won't repeat everything, basically one of my vertebrae has been squished at the front. It's therefore no longer rectangular ish its definitely a trapezoid. Alignment is good and its stable, i.e. I'm not incontinent and can still walk! He then proceeded to explain about two different spinal models, two column and three column models that both showed that my back isn't going to drop to bits. On the bad side of things he said that I WILL experience pain with it and he can't really say for how long however it is extremely unlikely that I can cause damage. Beer was recommended as a good solution.
I surprised myself whilst being examined when asked to touch my toes: I actually managed. You hear that Vicky, Zips and everyone else who took the p*ss so much!!!

A little bit of everything...

I've got my appointment tomorrow, not really sure what to expect I half feel like i'm wasting their time but then again I was getting back pain and something showed up on an X-ray, I guess if its nothing I'll get told that tomorrow and then i'll be happy. I'm hoping thats what will happen anyway, its been over two months now since the accident bones heal within that kind of time frame.
Work is slow and boring, I've got a lot of literature to sift through which isn't what I enjoy. I'm not good at it. On a (slightly geeky) note I checked the stats on my modeling machine, 10 GB of RAM, 4 2 duo core processors, no wonder its quick.
I went down the works with Nat (as requested) at the weekend and was pleasantly surprised at how she had improved. There's a blue problem opposite the pull-up bar, sloper, sloper, jug, sloper top. Most people just squeeze or reach but she couldn't do that and the session before had worked out a very Brad Pit esque heel sequence which wasn't quite working however all of the things she was doing to get her heel up etc. showed really good technique and that she is starting to improve in that way rather than just the beginner "Oh sh*t I should have had my other foot on that" mistakes.
We need to book a holiday soon, climbing is out so somewhere nice and hot. It'll be hard to beat the Maldives trip we took a year or so ago both in experience and price (we couldn't book until my frame came off, this made for a great last minute deal). Haven't a clue where to go, somewhere nice and not to many people, then maybe, just maybe I'll be able to get to the Frankenjura near the end of our summer, or alternatively just tag along wherever Ricky ends up going. It's been far too long since I went on a trip with him...Good times.
The gym is going well, god knows if I've actually managed to put any muscle on but I'm definitely stronger. I know this because I'm lifting, pressing and pulling heavier weights.
I read a worrying statistic the other day, if you can bench 15% more (or less) than you can pull (e.g. a maximum weight pull-up) then you're at the highest possible risk of sustaining a shoulder injury. Not really rocket science is it, just look at all the climbers with damaged shoulders.
Well I can nearly bench my measly bodyweight and can do a power pull with that weight added!!! I'm scr*wed.

Conviction

Just heard from my Dad who popped into court today that the fool who caused our accident was convicted of driving with excess alcohol and received a 16 month driving ban plus a fine for fees.
Supposedly he handled himself very well, came over sincere and remorseful and had even written a speech that he offered to read out, however the magistrate decided to keep it between themselves. Whether or not this was a ploy to have his punishment reduced we'll never know, with his Son being in such a state after the incident I would like to think that it was 100% genuine.
I accompanied Nat to the works tonight and mucked about on some of the easier problems in my trainers, good news is my hand felt a lot better. For some strange reason my upper back didn't. I've also got an appointment at next weeks fracture clinic.

No real progression.

Nothing from the Docs or Hospital, I've tried chasing it up but as I expected I haven't got very far, supposedly things like this get ranked in order of importance before you get an appointment, it currently hasn't even got that far. I thought my GP was being a bit optimistic expecting me to have heard back by them within 3 working days!
Last weekend was great, Friday night was the rising sun and curry house for Dense's birthday. Saturday was free (slightly suspect) burgers + watching a comp. The new format that the works decided upon meant that by the final everybody was absolutely trashed. Smitton won which was good, he deserved it and was climbing much better than the other two. The rightful winner came through in the girls although scary anorexic chick (supposedly the BMC won't let her compete in anything a.t.m. because of this [thats just gossip] ) wasn't too far behind. I must say her ascent of the red problem was one of the most disgusting pieces of climbing I've ever seen, no strength no power, sinew and bone narrowly scraping an ascent.

The gym is going well, i decided that my back hasn't caused me any problems whilst lifting so all I intend to do is avoid targeting my lower back. I've just decided on a routine, 2day split, push and pull, it doesn't mean I train each body part more but I can be a bit more specific.

Push - Chest, Shoulders, Tri's (+core):
Bench Press
Incline Dumbell Press
Shoulder Press
Behind the Neck Press
Tricep Split Pushdowns
Cable Crossover Laterals
Leg Raises
Crunches
Medicine Ball Twists
(potentially add cable crunches and reverse crunches as well at some point or maybe substitute them in)

Pull - Back, Biceps, Traps:
Lat Pull Down
Close Grip Pull Down
Cable Row
Bicep Curls
Upright Row
+swimming

They don't take that long to complete, the push session takes a bit longer but I can't really split my core otherwise it won't get any rest between sessions. The above for 6 weeks, 6 days on should keep me occupied, when I'm not doing that I'm working pretty hard which is good because as soon as I can climb I'm likely to neglect my work heavily.
Comments are more than welcome on the workouts, I'm not sure if I'm missing anything other than lower back and obviously the lower half of my body.

As always the blogosphere is expanding (and getting quite snazzy I might add), keith seems to have a new improved blog as does James. Even the Pear has had a makeover and is back up and running!

Sore Iron

My chest and triceps were suffering from a bad case of DOMS yesterday. My gym mission was therefore altered to be primarily about my back,biceps and shoulders:

Heavy Lat Pull Downs
Close Grip Pull Downs
Cable Row
Deadlift
Dumbell Curls
Cable Curls
Seated Dumbell Shoulder Press
Barbell Behind the Neck Press

Followed by a brief swim to really finish things off. I meant to do cable crunches but forgot.

My doctor called around 5.30 this afternoon with some more great news. I'd had a bit of early morning back pain and the same when dropping off at the works (from up high)..I went for an X-ray about a week ago and despite everyone wanting to x-ray my right tib (read past the 1st page for god's sake) after a little while it was finally done. The doc called tonight and told me that I've got a transverse fracture of one of my lower vertebrae, he's referred me to the fracture clinic once more and was pretty concerned about what sport I'd been getting up to (he doesn't want me to do anymore weights, or climbing) and that if i didn't have an appointment by Wednesday I was to call him. Yippee, another injury, just what I dreamed of. Thanks to Darlington Memorial Hospital for missing that (surely its harder to see now than it was two months ago?), I bet yesterdays dead lifting session was a really f*cking smart idea given the potential consequences of bad form on a lift. Jesus christ.

I'm thoroughly p*ssed off right now (if you can't tell that).

Rant over.

"Pumping Iron"

I had a really cr*p climbing session last week, probably the worst i've had for a long time. Looking back on it I really shouldn't have even tried, I was in a foul mood, tired and stressed however I ignored all of the above and headed to the works. After about an hour of climbing like a donkey and snapping at Nat I decided to call it quits, I've been getting quite a lot of pain in the center of my right hand and its no longer just a dull ache that I can put down to an achy break, its soft tissue and it's not good so once again climbing is on the back burner due to injury (which is pretty frustrating given last year).

At the weekend James, Nat and I headed to the cinema to see the Bank Job. Thoroughly enjoyed this and stayed up far too late afterwards playing Halo and then watching the Making of Pumping Iron with james. The next day I decided to watch the actual film, its pretty damn impressive, if you don't know it it follows bodybuilders both Amateurs and Pro's for a year leading up to Mr Universe/Olympia. Its a great film, in which Arnold comes across pretty well (a little arrogant as well) and was pretty good timing seeing as though i'm once again limited to a gym rather than climbing. I wasn't psyched but now i am. I just got back from my first session and i'm predicting soreness tomorrow.

Here are a few clips from Pumping Iron, I think most of its on youtube in a 9 part series thingy.
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5:


It seems Doylo's blog that I linked below has gone, I wonder if it got pulled by Blogger for being pure filth.