How to log your boulders during a session, not on paper afterwards
Log each boulder in the rest after you try it, while you still remember it: the grade, sent or attempt, and the wall angle. That's a few seconds per boulder, and it's more accurate than a list rebuilt on the way home, where the boulders you didn't send are the first thing you forget. If your app can't log during a workout, keep one line per boulder in your phone's notes, like "6C (V5), attempt, overhang", and copy the lines into your log straight after the session. Skip the easy warm-up boulders.
In Blok Sessions, Pro's guided timer logs each boulder's grade, sent or attempt and wall angle without leaving the timer.
Start with the free six-week strength plan: a file for the app and seven short emails on how to run it.
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Why logging afterwards goes wrong
On a session of 20 boulders, you’ll remember the sends. You’ll remember the one you almost flashed. What goes missing is the three 7A (V6) attempts on the overhang that never got past the second move, and those are the ones that tell you what to train.
A log written afterwards makes your send rate look better than it is and your weak spots look smaller than they are. After a month it’s a record of your good days.
What to write down for each boulder
Three things, in this order:
- Grade. Font first if your gym uses it, like 6C (V5).
- Sent or attempt. Not how many tries, just whether it went.
- Wall angle. Slab, vertical, overhang or roof is plenty.
That’s the whole entry. If you add notes, keep them to a few words, like “heel hook” or “pinch”. Anything longer and you’ll stop logging by week two.
What the log is for
- A grade pyramid. How many boulders you send at each grade. A pyramid with a wide base and a narrow top is normal. One with nothing at the grade just below your hardest send means you’re jumping to your limit without the mileage under it.
- Send rate by angle. If you send most of what you try on vertical walls and hardly anything on the overhang, that’s your next training block.
- Climbed versus topped. A session with lots of attempts and few sends isn’t a bad session. On a limit day it’s the point.
None of those work if the attempts aren’t in the log.
Fitting it into the session
- Limit boulders: log after each boulder, during the long rest. On something like limit boulder rotation you have plenty of time.
- 4x4s: you climb the same 4 boulders over and over, so log them once, after the first go, and mark the ones you couldn’t finish by the end. See 4x4.
- Projecting: one line when you move on from the boulder, not after every try.
Keep the phone somewhere you can reach from the mat without walking across the gym.
Free and Pro in Blok Sessions
Logging from the timer is part of Pro. The guided timer runs your exercise, and between attempts you add a boulder’s grade, sent or attempt, and wall angle without leaving it. Pro is €2.99 a month, €14.99 a year or €24.99 once.
Without Pro you log the session afterwards in the free logbook, with its boulders and top grade. The trends are free either way: grade history, grade pyramid, boulders climbed versus topped and send rate by wall angle. If you log after the session, use the notes trick from the top of this page so the attempts make it in.
Questions
Can I log boulders in Blok Sessions without Pro?
Yes. Logging from the timer is Pro, but without it you log the session when you're done, in the free logbook, with its boulders and top grade. Trends, like your grade pyramid and send rate by wall angle, are free too.
Do I log every attempt or every boulder?
One line per boulder, marked sent or not. That's enough for a grade pyramid and a send rate. Counting every attempt is extra detail most people stop keeping after a week.
Should I log my warm-up boulders?
Not the very easy ones. Twenty boulders four grades below your limit flatten your pyramid and hide what you actually tried. Log from the point where a boulder could go wrong.
Doesn't logging break my focus on a hard boulder?
Log in the rest, not between moves. On limit boulders you're resting 3 minutes or more anyway, and a few seconds of typing is a better use of it than scrolling.
Font or V-scale?
Log in whatever your gym grades in, and stick to it. Switching scales halfway through a year makes the numbers hard to compare.