Upping the Ante!

Two important shifts have started to happen in the last week. Armed with my flask of green tea the pounds are starting to shift. I've lost 4 of the buggers this week. Basically i have done this by yes eating less but mainly by cutting out the shit. 11.8 this morning, get in! Last two weeks i have eaten only salad during the week but at weekends have loaded up on some carbs so i have energy to climb. The other important thing that has been happening is that i've started deadhanging again. I was a keen disciple of the deadhang in uni, spending hours in my room hanging off a bit of wood. I knew it was great for finger strength, why i haven't doen it for years i do not know. So anyway i do 3 sessions on Pascals fingerboard in the week. I would reccomend this for anyone who wants quick improvements in their finger strength. So simple, it takes hardly any effort and yet it is one of the most effective climbing exercises! With the beastmaker boys churning out quality produce it is easy to work those fingers. My deadhang philosophy doesn't involve seperating your fingers though, i don't like to do this because to me it seems slightly injury potential. I prefer just to get a piece of wood with a rounded edge and make it small enough so you can hang it for no more than 10 seconds, any more and its too big. I then do ten sets of this. At the mill on friday i was curious to see how i'd feel, warming up on a pinchy 7a i wasn't feeling too good. Didn't feel any lighter yet and not too powerful. However on the other warm ups i noticed i was dragging holds i would normally pinch or crimp. This is pure deadhanging- amazing and i've only been doing it for 2 weeks. I then proceeded to crush most of my projects. Have been climbing there on my own which was hard at first but now i'm getting well into it. Also i started running again last week, again haven't doen this for years either. Obviously this is good for weight loss too but also it is good for routes. My legs were knackered for days after!. Simpson reckons you need to run about 3 times a week, i think i'll do it every 4 days. So i'm at the start of an interesting process, come back in a month and i'll let you know if its all been worth it.
Went down LPT before the Mill yesterday, was rammed. Pickles and Pascal on Melancholie, Pete and Smit and Tommy on Walking Mussel. I was overjoyed to find Pete the one man requipping machine Harrsion has re-equipped Parasite and Wild Undertatement and put a new belay in Youthanasia, what a fuckin leg. Tommy is having a whip round for the lad so please contribute. He won't stop til the crags finished and then theres talk of sorting the Diamond....
I've always dismissed Walking Mussel as being a nails shit boulder start, dirty middle and then a nasty crack. However its amazing what new bolts and a bit of chalk can do. I've always whinged about the fact that there is no decent 8b+s in N wales. Well there is. I got on it and it was mega, didn't do very well mind but i'm keen for another look sometime. It is apparent that the original line Moon's Seagulls Dilemma is actually the same grade as WM (boulder start font 7a). So you either go with the Carson grade for both or the Moon grade. Well we're going for the Carson grade as the middle section is a 6 move font 7c. Very cool moves and holds. Pete got maybe the 2nd ascent y day, great fighting on display!