Today marks Day 1 of logging my climbing workouts for all of 2018. This idea was inspired by the fact that I’ve largely plateaued in the last half year in my bouldering around V4s and V5s. I can flash V3s and the bulk of V4s, but there is a noticeable drop-off in my success in attempting to flash V5s.
There are a number of reasons behind this plateau, from a broken toe a few months ago that took longer than normal to recover from to inconsistency in hitting the climbing gym.
I became a First Ascent member around February 2016 and went 49 times. Last year, I logged 87 sessions, a 78% increase.
Now entering my third year as a climber, I want to achieve the three goals by the end of the year.
My 2018 Climbing Goals
- Send my first V7
- Climb 100 times indoors (whether at First Ascent Avondale, Uptown, or Humboldt Park, Block 37 or BKB) to average ~2X/week.
- Plan for two outdoor trips (I’ve done this for the past two years).
The purpose of this site is to show fellow climber enthusiasts that consistency matters if you want to become a better climber. I’ll be logging my climbing sessions as I work towards my #1 goal, offer reflections on my personal climbing journey, and advice for newbies looking to improve quickly.
The Process
This year, I’ll track the following: my warmup routine, my actual climbs (marked by sends or failures), and my cool down routine.
The way my system will work is every V0 send is worth 0.5 points, V1 is 1 point, V2 is 2 points, etc. Every failure, regardless of grade, is worth a single point.
My goal with each climbing workout is to send at least 10 routes successfully. Then at the end of every workout, I’ll total my points. I have no idea what I’ll do with my points quite yet, but I’ll use this sort of personal grading system to challenge myself in each of my workouts.
My Workout
Here’s the recap of my first workout of 2018 at First Ascent Uptown:
| Warmup | 10 pull-ups | |
| Training | ||
| Grade | Outcome | Points |
| V0 | ✓ | 0.5 |
| V1 | 0 | |
| V2 | ✓✓✓ | 6 |
| V3 | ✓✓✓ | 9 |
| V4 | ✓✓ | 8 |
| V5 | ××✓ | 7 |
| TOTAL | 30.5 | |
| Cooldown | 15 pull-ups 10 pull-ups 25 pushups |
|
| Recap | 10 sends, 2 failures |
Year-to-Date (YTD)
- 10 sends
- 2 failures
- 35 pull-ups
- 25 pushups
Overall, I felt okay about this workout — I definitely didn’t climb as hard as I could, but it was good to get back in the climbing gym after the holidays. For my next climb, I’ll be looking to push on trying more V4s and V5s.
