"The gym guy taught me to do this. I know it's bullshit but I can't stop."

First, they had enough rope to not use the 7MM cord, single carabiner, unstable clove hitch. The 7MM is slack on one side. With 3 strands of the 11MM and 2 of the 7MM in the carabiner, 3 holding weight, 2 not, make side loading a high risk.