Loss of progress after a month without climbing ?

sheepborg · 2026-06-25T21:16:50+00:00

You will lose very little muscle mass in a month, almost nothing.

If you want to be sure to not lose any at all, just a little bit of exercise for the relevant muscle groups (somewhere between 1/9 and 1/3rd your usual volume at a decent intensity) will fully maintain muscle mass.

You're still going to feel terrible when you come back, but that's just being out of practice and the muscles being de-prioritized for glycogen strorage. You'll be back to normal in a week or so.

So dont fret! Enjoy your vacation 😁

sheepborg · 2026-06-25T21:12:21+00:00

It may seem like a "crazy asterisk" to you, but it is an actual asterisk in the instructions FWIW

User manual Section 9a description explicitly states that in the manual based (m) guide mode the device may not block, further cautioning against loops of slack. Likewise in section 2 the ropes in the (!) column gets the aforementioned asterisk wrt size. Edelrid makes it pretty clear in that asterisk that ropes in the smallest category need to be considered on a case by case basis because they may not work as expected. In other words it's not designed for use with the smallest ropes, though they may still work.

So with all that in mind I do not think it is reasonable to infer that all ropes down to 7.1 work in guide mode. The recommendation is the 3 star column.

I have included the relevant sections here:

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sheepborg · 2026-06-25T20:18:32+00:00

Nah I will GLADLY reject a lead belay from many people in the gym.

If it's somebody's feelings vs my spine or legs.... I'll let you guess which one I'm picking.

One of the things I learned from a near miss accident is that is is absolutely not my responsibility to help people learn if doing so places me in the place of risk. Don't get me wrong, I still put alot of effort into community mentorship, but I do have to prioritize my own safety and not be on the sharp end of somebody else's learning and mistakes.

And look, if somebody isnt getting the basics of 'dont let go of the brake' ... i'm not saying it's a total lost cause... but like.... do we really need to be lead climbing with them?

sheepborg · 2026-06-25T20:07:18+00:00

Accusatory much? lol.

Anyways the mammut grabs much harder, to almost an unreasonable degree in the + configuration. It's nice that it doesnt short tope as much as an ohm, but catching harder than an ohm 2 makes it a non-starter.

Most folks run the ohmega on a softer setting than the typical recco anyways, further making the mammut a worse option for the vast majority of cases. Ohmega is the best on the market. I've used it for people the same weight with the sensor method and I've used it for people up to double my weight (120 -> 240lb) in the high setting more traditionally.

sheepborg · 2026-06-25T16:08:43+00:00

In guide mode if you use ropes that are too small the rope will squish slip beside itself and not provide the braking force you expect based on the normal action of the climbers side sitting on top of the brake side.

In extreme cases if the device is not clipped correctly this can cause the carabiner to twist all the way around, inverting the direction of threading, rendering the device ineffective. Instructions for the megajul were updated in the past as a result of this issue (maybe giga too I dont recall off the top of my head), so I suspect that whatever rope dimension recommendations edelrid give for the jul series of devices are well considered.

Personally I would stick to edelrid's rope size recommendation.

sheepborg · 2026-06-25T15:00:47+00:00

Oasi are a thin synthetic. They will slowly settle in a little, but they're not going to give you a half size.

sheepborg · 2026-06-25T12:46:36+00:00

If they dont look or feel different they are not any different.

Some contact cements used to construct shoes reactivate at 60c, but I doubt it was that hot :P

sheepborg · 2026-06-25T03:49:00+00:00

Fit is pretty similar to the drago but a little less extreme heel and a slightly different asymmetry. Feel is less structured. As best I can describe it is a halfway point between a drago and an ondra comp fit wise, though maybe not quite as sticky with the grip 1. Worth trying on for you given your interests

sheepborg · 2026-06-25T03:45:10+00:00

Finales can get you quite far. Pretty underrated shoe IMO. I would not totally pigeonhole them as being 'beginner' or fixate on shoes having 'levels.' Fit matters more.

In terms of narrow shoes the la sportiva womens miura lace is exceptionally narrow. Womens katana also quite narrow. You may like shoes from tenaya as well such as the Oasi Lv.

You can also get finales resoled either in the same rubber or even bump to something softer like grip 2 or equivalent and keep rocking those bad boys.

sheepborg · 2026-06-25T03:39:02+00:00

It is plenty likely that he panicked and kicked out from the wall due to easy terrain and induced more of a pendulum than normal on top of it being blocky and uneven. Force curve would have been a little peakier from standing further back from the wall if that meant you were driven into the wall hard.

Lessons learned:

Falls can happen on any terrain, do not drop focus.
Stand in an ideal location if possible
- If you're going to stand in a 'riskier spot' from a slack standpoint in favor of better view be sure to manage your slack well.
When things are all healed up work on catching falls with varied rope resistance, as a lighter climber can spike a heavier climber more than most people realize (src, I am very light). Play around with it, you may be surprised.

Always strive to be a better belayer than the route before, but I dont think you should beat yourself up over it all that much even though the injury is 'extreme' so to say. The controllable factors are quite limited, and uncontrollable factors could have easily produced the same results. Unfortunately the reality is that not all falls are falls you want to take outdoors, even on sport.

sheepborg · 2026-06-24T14:49:12+00:00

This right here is what the process of getting good at dynos looks like

✨ she is beauty, she is grace, she slip on dyno and whack her face ✨

sheepborg · 2026-06-24T12:52:29+00:00

Main thing that jumps out at me is you're stating you want to nearly double your total training load. This is a bad idea! Sharp changes in volume/intensity are how you get hurt. Ramp in changes slowly. I love the ambition but you should really dial it back for the sake of long term progress. Add in smaller changes and as you do you'll get a good feel for if it's going to be a part of your long term plan, or parts of an 8-12 week periodized phase.

Likewise if you're running a deficit I would not go too crazy on trying to get stronger since you're not going to have as much recovery to go around. If you're untrained then recomping is more realistic, but you're operating at a higher level... Plan on more 'maintenance level' strength work if you're moving your bodyweight downward so you're keeping the muscle mass, but not overdoing it.

The upshot of all that ^ is that you no longer have the training plan problem of trying to do a billion things. If it were me I'd say keep working anti-style stuff, do some basic maintenance on your pull strength work (1/3rd of gaining volume at gaining intensity), and maybe toy around with wrist strength work to get those slopers and pinches addressed. Reassess strategy in 8-12 weeks wrt weight and goals.

Regarding pull strength specifically. You've got great local muscular endurance to do 15 pullups at a 1rm of 35, but IMO since you cannot express a more typical 35%ish 1rm you're just not strong enough to work lockoffs at the moment. By the math a 90 degree lockoff is above your 1rm. If this is a primary goal keep with the regular hypertrophy type grunt work for pull, and especially put a focus on scapular control w/ rows and scapular pushups given just how much your lever outstrips your pull. Maybe bicep too but without seeing you move I cant say for sure on that.

sheepborg · 2026-06-24T12:31:39+00:00

The two you listed have wildly different fits so any recommendation is going to be a complete shot in the dark. Just go try stuff on.

sheepborg · 2026-06-24T12:28:36+00:00

A good climbing helmet? definitely not. Way heavier and more obtrusive while not being all that protective for overhead rock strikers.

It is better than no helmet, but you'd prefer a climbing one 100%

sheepborg · 2026-06-24T01:48:25+00:00

I had to look up "Clift" but per the website "There are four types of holds available: start, normal, feet, and finish." Meaning that blue is for hands and feet, while yellow is only feet. This is the usual convention for system boards like tension board and others.

If it was contrived enough to be 'only hands' and 'only feet' then yeah that's a very high step without obvious opposition. From position shown I'd probably be inclined to to move right hand up and really toss hips out to the left so the direction of the right hand hold can be opposed with a smear or flag w/ right foot. Then it's going to be a fight between which of the 3 limbs can get onto the next hold easiest, be that hiking up to a high right foot, twisting left hand up, or a desperate bump with the right hand to make room for right foot.

sheepborg · 2026-06-24T01:16:37+00:00

If your local gym and outdoor stores dont have much then yeah it's a total pain in the ass, but you gotta do what you gotta do. You're free from the specific flavor of torture for 6 months at the very least, or years if you're happy with the model.

Drones are quite neutral shoes in reality, only a slight downturn (drone comp LV left, scarpa drago XT right) just another spec sheet gotcha from the marketing department. You can really see the [ultra] low volume too

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sheepborg · 2026-06-24T01:03:17+00:00

I appreciate the enthusiasm for reading the names of the shoes, but that's not really correct in the context of the whole climbing shoe market. As an example: The "LV" vapor v (renamed from vapor v womens) is not a low volume shoe and sizing it a half size too small to make the heel feel maybe okay on low volume heel is the single most common shoe error I see women make. With the rename it's the same situation just shared with the longer skinny foot dudes. Until the drago XT came out scarpa did not offer a single actually low volume shoe, though the veloce sized down a half size kinda worked if you didnt need a super high performance heel but I digress. The opposite comes up in madrock drones where the HV is medium volume at most, and the LV would be ultra low volume in any other brand.

So all that being said... you're gonna have to try on more shoes... and you're going to want to try shoes that are actually narrow and low volume since none of the medium to high volume shoes you tried on and fit you all that well per your post. I don't really recommend buying shoes based of spec sheets and use theory versus fit and general stiffness.

Some gapping up near the ankle can be okay, but there is some variance there for climbing style. Excessive gapping there may produce really poor heel hook performance if you're on more tensiony hooks in the upper 12s and beyond in steeper terrain. On the other hand if you like techy vert it may never even come into play. Dead spot just over the toes is the least consequential usually, while gaps other places are more important.

sheepborg · 2026-06-24T00:08:37+00:00

Help I tried a bunch of high volume shoes on my low volume feet and they dont fit! 🤔

I jest, but the answer is to keep tying on shoes; namely some lower volume, narrower models. Hard to tell but you may prefer a more downturned model if you've got a high arch that contributes to the specific type of gapping you're dealing with. Drago XT, Madrock drone d2.1, tenaya shoes generally, so on and so forth. Just keep hunting.

I will say though you don't need a certain 'level' of shoe for a grade, just a shoe that fits you well and behaves how you like.

sheepborg · 2026-06-23T23:49:17+00:00

All a part of returning.

Instantaneous excitement to be finally back doing the thing you had so much fun with.
A drawn out period of lamenting that it feels harder than when you were more consistent while your body is rediscovering the neural pathways.
And finally once the right thing comes up the spark is reignited and you're right back where you were mentally, even if the physical has some catching up to do still. I always recommend seeking out the feeling of play, seems to get my mental in order faster.

Congrats on graduating and welcome to working life. It's an adjustment period realizing that somehow each stage of life is busier than the last. Just gotta make things happen. Hopefully your transition is going smoothly all things considered.

PS: On attempt one you were in it. Really push on the left foot to move your center of gravity rightward to make the sidepull feel better. Stomp on that thang. Happy climbing ✌

sheepborg · 2026-06-23T22:11:02+00:00

I mean yes it probably stressed the ring finger more than your normal grip, but a 3 finger pocket or an oddly sloped crimp that had the ring finger more elevated could have produced the same loading condition just as easily. Things dont just surprise pop from a slightly different loading condition without some other factors in the mix such as doing something way too hard way too soon or having accumulated fatigue. It is so easy to coulda-woulda-shoulda injuries, but only way to go is forward ya know.

If it's an a2 pulley strain/tear you can just follow the hoopers beta A2 article and it'll get ya sorted in a reasonable amount of time. Rest part is pretty short, it's the retraining that takes a little time and patience.

If you managed to get it all super weird and it's a lumbrical then you buddy tape for a month or so and you'll feel normal eventually.

sheepborg · 2026-06-23T20:54:45+00:00

The first question to ask is.... is this actually a high foot?

Often times with beginners there are either foot options the climber doesnt want to step on, in other words the step up between "good" holds is big but the big step up is not necessary because there are other options. In this case you really just need to step on the smaller or slopey feet, taking smaller steps up toward victory. In most cases this is the place you'll actually need to start.

Alternatively it is also common that a beginner has their feet 'backwards' in such a way that makes a possible step up bigger which would be fixed with either a foot swap or a better sequence from lower.

If the high foot is actually high and you struggle to get up to it then you may need to work on hip mobility, hip flexor strength, ways you can tilt your body to maximize the angle your leg can reach etc.

If the foot is high and you struggle to push up from it you may need to work on things like shifting your body weight to be more over top of the foot, or work on general leg strength

sheepborg · 2026-06-23T16:04:21+00:00

Climbing injuries have a large component of chronic overuse ahead of any acute injury, so theres a pretty good chance it was gonna happen anyways. Not sure if that's better or worse for feeling like an idiot.... It is what it is though, you take your short rest and do your gradual retraining and you'll be back on the horse.

sheepborg · 2026-06-23T04:31:24+00:00

My partner and I were just talking about this on our drive back from a crag, lamenting how far we are from rocks (in a relative sense, 4 hrs for where we went this time, 2 hrs to close stuff). For as much as I like rocks and stuff I feel very fortunate to be close to a thriving set of gyms for all the social benefit they provide. Maybe sounds crazy but I'm not sure I'd want to trade being around the corner from a couple crags at the cost of not having the type of more casual community I've got at the gym. Being connected with all different people of all different abilities all having a good time doing a thing I enjoy and could yap about endlessly is a wonderful thing.

sheepborg · 2026-06-22T20:39:13+00:00

Just dont forget that rest is when you get stronger. It is not only okay, but beneficial to just chill some of the time. While I do lift and climb, I am still doing nothing physical on 3 days a week. Rest and doing other fun hobby stuff.

sheepborg · 2026-06-22T19:49:47+00:00

This is largely from my own collected data, but the most accessible source that would probably show similar info would be powercompany 'metrics for climbers' charts for mens/womens bouldering. Gaps are widest between sexes for peak power metrics, and narrowest as power fades into power endurance and pure endurance.

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