After going out on Tues I didn't feel completely worked. As I was on the way to the Foundry, Ned called offering for me to join them in an hour on the beastly board. I haven't previously had the chance to train on the board. One time I was meant to be training and Natalie decided to take all of my boots etc. to the wall with her. Instead I watched and the board looked like it would spank me. Not only have I NOT trained on steep stuff for quite some time, lots of the holds looked pockety or even worse, drags. Back on track...
I warmed up at the Foundry briefly with Dr Pinch (sorry Ed I forgot to extend the invite) before stomping up to Crookes for my first beastly session. Tony, Ned and Dan were all there when I arrived and I warmed up by pulling on the frame a few times before getting stuck in. Warm-ups went fine and the next few problems were the same. I don't really know what to say as I don't know the names of the problems I tried and the grades are all on a different weird scale, what I DO know is that I was climbing well. I felt strong given my lack of board training but I was channel surfing. Lots of things were tried, some good efforts, some good flash efforts etc. but then I moved on to the next problem. This carried on until I felt tired.
Session two (Cellar):
I've never bothered with deadhangs. My fingers aren't what you'd call weak and its never really entered my head until recently when I noticed the grave imbalance between my fully crimped position and open handed. I've tried to address this a few times but I've managed to injure myself severely and since then it was never really high up on my to do list. However, I am still keen to sort this out.
I saw Dan and Neds fingerboard about 8 months ago I guess, and was instantly impressed. Being wooden its kind to the skin and the pocketed design forces crimp meisters like myself to hold things differently. Who better then to give me my first deadhanging masterclass then than the makers of this board?
The house of power probably contains the highest density of fingerboards i've ever seen. They're all in there as well as an array of discarded boards, system tiles, pinching bars, pulleys and door knobs screwed into the ceiling joists.
Dan and I chatted a lot and as he did his session. During this we worked out what I could do, what I couldn't and more importantly what I NEED to train.
Open i'm dreadfully weak.
Slopers I'm ok on.
Mid two I'm ok on.
Back two and front two I'm cr*p on.
Mono's are ok on my middle finger but nowhere else.
Lastly, my fully crimped is overly strong.
So much so that I managed to do a one armer on the smallest crimps on the board.
In true beastmaker style I thought I'd take the p*ss and do a breakdown of my hand:
The problem is I'm not so good with "the Gimp 2.0" and you can barely read the percentages. (5% 15% 20% 25% 35%)
I couldn't get my hand to stay crimped without engaging my thumb which is strange and leads me to believe that it contributes a lot.
Anyway, this isn't a particularly good blog post. I'm just glad I didn't get completely spanked and I'm looking forward to my next board session.
If the above means nothing to you visit:
http://www.beastmaker.co.uk/
and use:
http://www.beastmaker.co.uk/grips.JPG
2 comments:
Hey, no worries bud. I was feeling like a sack of spuds and climbed like one, so maybe it was for the best!
I have already declined an offer on the Beastly board twice (logistical issues you understand), but perhaps a trip to Crookes for the fingerboard masterclass would be wise when the products are shipped out?
Gonna hit my awful metolius slim gym tonight. Joy!
This is something I've also worked out for myself recently. I am beyond woeful on slopers, but not too bad open hand (!?).
Does Arnold suggest some pec fly's for a lanky scrawn? It needs to be worked on FAST!
Good effort on one armer on smallest crimp. Like to see a video of this beastly feat!!!
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