Climb 2009 - The good, the bad and the ugly

The Good
- Numerous climbing trips overseas including 2 trips to Yangshuo
- Onsighted my first 7a and subsequently my first 7b
- Completed 14 7s this year. This has got to be a record for me!

The Bad
- Nasty pulley injury which took me out of the game for a while
- No 7c this year. Wheres my 7c?

The Ugly
- LS in Yangshuo
- Got terrorized by Osmosis 7c. I need some Beta!

Putrajaya

A photo of the climbing wall. You can also see Assad lying down, taking a nap.

Another awesome climbing trip in KL. 2 days of Camp 5, 1 day of Nyamuk and 1 day of Putrajaya with no rest day. Manage to complete (surprisingly quite easily) my long term debt Pear 7a. Woohoo!!! I also got completely destroyed by Osmosis 7c on the very same day. i really need next level fingerstrength in order to do 7cs. Time to start training again!

After hearing so much about Putrajaya, i decided to pay a visit to the coveted biggest gym in South East Asia? Anyway Putra is way BIG and totally built for World Cup competitions. It has a huge empty space in the middle for the audience, long overhanging rock face and a nice holding area with a small bouldering wall for the competitors. It also has a nice bouldering area and 2 speed climbing walls. The walls have more than enough routes to keep anyone busy for quite some time. I will definitely go back to finish my project!

Buy 1 Get 1

You buy one, you get one! You don't get two! You get one. This is how i do business

Just some SF4 combos

Spider Jay at Rock On 2009

Looks like Spiderman visited Singapore for Rock On finals this year. Awesome fall by Jay and awesome shot by Ben. AIR TIME!!!

Time to Start Training Again!

Today i saw a brand new hangboard in the NUS gym. Looks awesome with its perfect slopers, edges and pockets. I got a feeling that this is a sign for me to start training again. I LOVE FINGER TRAINING!!!

I am going BACK TO YANGSHUO!

Inside a madcatz

Finally Climbing Again.......

Yes i am finally climbing again! Be sure to stay around for more updates of my upcoming trip(s).

I Want You To Show Me

Sharma Break

I am currently in the midst of a climbing break now. I realise that it is pretty tough to climb through a pulley injury. Hopefully taking a long break will hasten the recovery process. i have read many literatures that mentioned using ice water, cold water or even warm water to speed up the recovery process. i tried a few different remedies here and there, none of them felt especially effective. Perhaps it is better if i leave it alone and focus on other aspects of my life.

I remember my very first post in this blog is about me coming out of a finger injury (as well) and starting afresh again. That post gives me strength as it lets me know that i can surpass my previous high even after a bad injury.

El Muerte

5 Principles of a Successful Training Program (in no order of merit)

Principle 1: Buy an exercise book and start tracking
Tracking progress instills discipline and keeps you focus.

Principle 2: Strength then Power
Think of strength as how big your muscles are and think of power as how well you use your muscles. So make them big and use them efficiently.

Principle 3: Be patient with your tendons
Tendons take a long time to get stronger (especially for me!), so be patient and train your tendons slowly and progressively.

Principle 4: Follow this sequence -> Get stronger, hone old techniques & learn new techniques, train to apply them consecutively (for 30-40m), repeat
I think it is true, some techniques require a certain amount of strength or power before you can practice them.

Principle 5: Tackle muscle imbalances quickly
Watch out for muscle imbalances and remediate them quickly. You don't want imbalances to limit your progress.

Just my 2 cents worth. Hope it works for all of you.

POP!!!

The sound that no climber likes to hear while climbing especially if it is coming from his or her own finger(s). I heard a loud one last Wednesday coming from my right ring finger. That's right, the unthinkable happened, i popped my A2 pulley. My 12 weeks, almost highly successful strength training program came to an abrupt end. Despite the injury, i still feel that the program is highly effective which is why i am going to share it with all of you in my next post. In the meantime i am going to cook up a 10-week, (hopefully) highly successful rehabilitation program. Cheers!

Solution 69

Climbing Shoes for Sale. Cheap Cheap!!!

Left: La Sportiva Mantis, size Euro 38.5 SOLD!!!!!!
Right: La Sportiva Venom, size Euro 37.5 SOLD AS WELL!!!!!!

Hardly used because they are too small for me, willing to let go at a very very low price. Cheap Cheap!!!

John Bachar: 1957 - 2009

From WestCoastBouldering.com

It’s being reported that legendary climber John Bachar died today, falling during a free solo of Dike Wall.

A few users on Supertopo.com’s forums confirm it. Friend of West Coast Bouldering, jleicht, just got a text from a guide friend of his in Bishop who confirmed the fatality.

Double Dragon (Punch)

Cyan Route @ Camp 5

Edited using Windows Movie Maker and Vista Snipping Tool. Painful process!

(Not so) Useful Tip

Want to strengthen your non master hand? Try this: Brush your teeth with that hand

Muscular balance is key to preventing injuries.

Negative Ape Index is GOOD?????

Jens gave a few reasons why Adam Ondra is such a good climber, one of it is as follows:

"Short arms - Adam is 181 cm but he has a negative ape-index that makes it easier for him to bend his arms"

Hmmm, let's agree to disagree.....

How Top Ryu Players Fight

I was analyzing how the best Ryu players play Ryu. My subjects are namely Daigo (the legend) and Poongko (Best in Korea)

Daigo
Fireball intensive, doesnt seem to care who his opponent is, he just fires away. With good spacing, he uses his fireball to pin his opponent down. Very old school. Likes to use Forward + MP. In the middle of the match, he will go into "Slamming mode" where he will turn nasty and slam the opponent like nobody's business.

Poongko
Focus Attack (FA) intensive, he likes to use FA to begin his offensive. Very often this will confuse his opponent because FA if well timed opens up many options to him.
Doesnt use Forward + MP a whole lot. Think he rather slam the opponent.

Reference: http://www.streetfighterdojo.com/sf4/tournament/street_fighter_4_world_championship_2009.html

Been working my madcatz pretty hard the past week. I wonder if i am ready to challenge/compete......

Nice Route

I would say a nice route is a route that challenges all 3 aspects of climbing performance: Physical Ability, Technique and Mental (balls). Have you met such a route lately?

Time to get Serious......

MUST SEE!!!! Especially for SF4 Fans!

Zangrief connects Spinning Tornado with ULTRA!!! Amazing!!!

http://i39.tinypic.com/102rp15.gif

Mike Doyle's Strength Training Program

Today i have the time & pleasure to do Mike Doyle's strength training program (minus the hangboard) found in the latest issue of Rock and ice. Basically i did 2 sets of the following exercises:

1) Bicep Curl
2) Reverse Curl
3) Narrow grip pull up
4) Lats pull downs
5) Weighted wide-grip pull up
6) Internal Rotations
7) Tricep pushdowns
8) Tricep Pull over
9) Close grip push ups
10) side lateral raises
11) upright row

Many things ran through my mind during this session:
1) Sequence: I am not sure whether to do 2 sets of bicep curls followed by 2 sets of reverse curl and so on or finish all the exercises before going to the next set. In the end i did the former.
2) Rest time: The training plan says that i should only rest for a minute between sets. It didn't mention anything about the amount of rest required between exercises. So i rested 1 min between sets and 5 mins between exercises.
3) Resistance: Mike says "on each training day you should fail at the end of the 2nd set. If you do not fail, do extra reps until you do". i tried my best to burn myself out on the 2nd set of each exercise. In the end i was totally pumped out by the time i do my 3rd exercise. Somehow i think i misunderstood something......

In conclusion, there are still a couple of rough edges in this training plan. Customize it such that it will work for you. Though I am not a big fan of training climbing in a weights gym, the concepts presented are sound and you can try incorporating them into your training if strength training is your priority now.

Orange Route @ Camp 5

Poor technique + Lots of screaming + Amatuerish filming/editing = Comedy Central!

Behold! The Black Mamba!

What now? What's next?

It seems like i am hitting a wall here. After 3-5 camp 5 trips plus numerous attempts, i still couldnt overcome the black 7b. i think i need to change my training methods to cross this barrier. My only comfort is that i completed the orange 7a on the left. Very pumpy, good stuff!

So what's next? Unfortunately 3 weeks of light climbing while i do my annual ICT.

More Yangshuo Photos

Proud Sky 7a+, Moon Hill

Ta Ma De 6c, Twin Gate Mountain

Yangshuo Apr 2009

Singularity 7a+, Lei Pi Shan

Some Statistics
Number of days in China - 10 days
Number of days climbing - 6 days
Number of routes climbed - 21
Number of onsights/flashes - 15
Best Route (completed) - Proud Sky 7a+, Moonhill

Enough of numbers, some information
Accomodation - Double Moon Guest House (50Y per night for 2 pax)
How to get there - Airasia flies from KL LCCT to Guilin Airport. From Guilin Airport you can slowly make your way (either via bus or van) to Guilin town and then to Yangshuo
Food - Cheap! A filling breakfast will set you back 12Y and a nice dinner in a restaurant will set you back 30Y
Moving around Yangshuo Town - Walk
Moving to the crags - Hire a Van
Touring around Yangshuo - Hire a bicycle or bike. I recommend bike! Fun!
How to make friends there - Hang out in China Climb or Black Rock (I personally prefer Black Rock)

Nice place, I might go back.

DUSK

Behold, Dr Manhatten

Playing with Photoshop

313 is so successful they have to built a shopping complex for it

More information @ http://www.313somerset.com.sg/

Harold and Kumar goes to the White House

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20090408/twl-people-kal-penn-1be00ca.html

Combine grade 10c+

Chris is coming, are you?

More info at
http://www.bigupproductions.com/#/blog/552/

Thanks for coming. Next time we go somewhere with an older crowd

Steven Seagal as Dan

Spread the Word! Be there!

Step Up & Bounce Back

Resilience
- The positive capacity of people to cope with stress and catastrophe
- Also indicate a characteristic of resistance to future negative events

Resilient People
- Believe they can directly influence the events that occur in their lives and translate their beliefs into actions
- More likely to see change as an opportunity for growth rather than a stressor
- Able to derive meaning from failure
- Learned how to stop their anxiety and doubts from overwhelming them

Factors that promote resilience
- Optimism
- Ability to cope with stress
- holding the belief that there is something you can do to manage your feelings
- having social support
- use humour

Ways to Build Resilience
- Keep things in perspective
- Take decisive actions
- Help people and get help from people
- Anticipate and accept changes
- Nurture a +ve view of self
- Work towards goals
- Maintain a hopeful outlook
- Take care of yourself
- Learn from your experience
- Learn new things about yourself

Summary - Resilience involves
- Letting yourself experience strong emotions and also realizing when you may need to avoid experiencing them at times in order to continue functioning
- Stepping forward and taking action to deal with your problems and meet the demands of daily living, and also stepping back to rest and re-energize yourself
- Spending time with loved ones to gain support and encouragement
- Relying on others, and also relying on yourself

Funny Quote (Dun even try to rationalize it if you dun play SF)

"You can call me hadoken because i am DOWN + RIGHT + FIERCE"

DOSE: Yangshuo

The dates are firmed. I am heading up to Yangshuo from 27 Mar to 6 Apr. This essentially means that i have only 4 weeks left to train for the trip. Heres the plan

Wk1: Boulder x 2, PE x 1
Wk2: PE x 4
Wk3: PE x 3
Wk4: PE x 1 + REST!!!!

I also need to remind myself 2 things DURING the trip:
1) NO PROJECTS
2) NO ALCOHOL

PUSHER

Announcing the Winners of Camp5 RockMasters Invitational

1st Place: Syed Muhammad Assad Bin Syed Abdul Rahmat Aljunied (Center)
He walk away with a 100RM CAMP5 Voucher proudly sponsored by PAUL!!!

2nd Place: Peter Pan Jia Sheng (Left)
He walk away with a 20SGD Tangs Voucher proudly sponsored by fingerstrength.blogspot.com

3rd Place: BenToh Beng Yi (Right)
He walk away with some MAD ROCK stickers proudly sponsored by Alvin

What an exciting 1-day turned 2-day event in CAMP5! On the first day, we saw the competitors face head to head with the Ultimate Route (9c but later downgraded to soft 7a). After 4 of the 7 competitors flash the Ultimate Route, we had to figure out a way to determine the winner. In the end we decided to climb the Ultimate Route AGAIN!! This time the fastest of the 4 will win the competition. When everything is said and done, Assad with his animalistic power endurance, took home the gold!

fingerstrength.blogspot.com would like to thank all the competitors for coming in and giving their best and most importantly having a good time. Sorry for the nasty cough though......

90s Flashback

Suddenly remembered this song when I woke up one morning. Classic.

Camp5 Rockmasters Invitational

Here are the details for the event:

Date and Time: 21 Feb 2009. Competition will start once all the competitors have warmed up.

Place: CAMP5 1 UTAMA

Entry Fees and Prizes: Registration is FREE but competitors need to pay for the normal 1 day visit pass. 1st Prize will be sponsored by Fingerstrength.blogspot.com

Format: Flash Competition, competitors are allowed to sit around and cheer on the climber and give him/her as much beta as possible. The competitors will draw lots to decide who will go first.

Special thanks to the Iranian Coach for setting the Ultimate Route (9c???)

Watch this space for updates!!!!

Simpsons

Competition Season is On

More details to come......

Everyone Looks Reasonably Happy =)

Wengster the Rockstar (Man in Red)

The Climbing Bus

The ABC-CLIMBING team came up with the ultimate solution to solve accomodation, transport and food issues for climbers who want to climb in Europe. The ABC climbing bus! Check it out! More information at http://abc-climbing.com

Climbing in Yishun

Yishun safra is currently selling 20 visits passes at 120+ bucks (for Safra members). The beauty of this is that there is no known expiry date for the passes. Do note that the passes only allow the climber to climb on the 15 metres wall.

DUSK

Camp 5 Expenditure

Please note that all costs are estimates and I am assuming 1SGD = RM2.37

Toll Charge To and Fro - RM136 or 57SGD
Petrol To and Fro - RM115 or 49SGD
Parking in 1 Utama - RM1 for first 6 hours and RM2 for each subsequent hr
Room with 3 beds in Sunway Inn - RM100 per night
10-day pass in Camp 5 - RM220
Total Cost to climb in CAMP 5 for 2 days per person (assuming a group of 3 and excluding food and drinks) - (136+115+12(parking)+200(2nights))/3 + 44(entry to camp5) = RM198.3 or 83.7SGD
Clocking 22 climbs in 2 days - Priceless

DUSK

More Photos......

Some photos from my Krabi Trip (pardon my poor formatting)

Weng on Society. Thanks for all the support man!

Russian sending Voodoo Doll

Nic on his last day. Missing me already

CS, never go full retard dude!

Assad and his animalistic strength on SFC

Krabi Trip Dec 2008

Well what can i say, this trip is full of ups and downs from clearing my old debts (and creating new ones) to puking until my lungs hurt. All in all, i think i got better since my previous Krabi trip 2 years ago. That said, i think i still got a LONGGGGG way to go before i can accomplish my ultimate objective which is to climb 8a.

Outstanding Debts i wish to clear: Sour Fish Curry and Pear
Next Stop: YangShuo
Training method: 4-3-2-1
Training principle: zero injury and NO MORE PUKING!!!
Resolution for 2009: NO PROJECTS!!!

DUSK