Thread: Indoor Rock Climbing/Bouldering

Haha...I'm quite good in the excuse department as well! It's part of the fun!

i tried this one time at a Newman Outfitters ( if i remember right ) , a female friend of mine (later my wife / exwife ..lol) at the time wanted to look for a winter coat .. we saw someone climbing the rock wall and i opened my mouth and said that cant be that hard !! well the lady working the wall said bet you cant do it , i said probably not but after some name calling to me by my female friend i was more then eager to prove them both wrong ... well i made it to the top !!!! being that my friend barely new me that well and the lady at the wall had no clue that i climbed trees for 7 years and been through classes to be a tree climbing instructor ..lol.. but i will admit that i went up the easy side and still struggled , climbing anything on a regular basis you find you have muscles that you never lnew you had ... that was 12years ago and 30 pounds lighter ...lol

Originally Posted by gcbryan

And the addiction begins

I just back from the climbing gym tonight as well. Most of us are probably given most of the lessons to be learned on our first trip to the gym but it takes awhile before it really sinks in.

Going by the picture you posted I'd say you at least now understand why keeping the arms straight on an overhang is important If the overhang is great enough...you can't do otherwise!

That's usually when the "lesson" sinks in...when we have no choice but it use it.

The hips in thing helps to keep your center of gravity closer to the wall but in some cases it also lets you reach about an inch higher up with the appropriate arm.

Using your arms too much rather than the legs works itself out eventually as well. Once you reach the degree of difficulty that you can muscle your way up you won't be able to progress further until you develop better technique...thus eventually it corrects itself

Together with the "hipswing" you can practise with really stiff arms, imagine you can't bend both of your arms, only move with your shoulders, you will experience the power of the pec-muscles and the reach in combination with the shoulder stretch, don't know if it's clear...
For example, you hold with your left arm, keep the arm stiff, pull with you left pec , your thorax will move, the reach with the right arm become larger, this together with a strech of the right shoulder and see how far you can go with a stiff right arm, should be pretty far!

Originally Posted by Fikira

Together with the "hipswing" you can practise with really stiff arms, imagine you can't bend both of your arms, only move with your shoulders, you will experience the power of the pec-muscles and the reach in combination with the shoulder stretch, don't know if it's clear...
For example, you hold with your left arm, keep the arm stiff, pull with you left pec , your thorax will move, the reach with the right arm become larger, this together with a strech of the right shoulder and see how far you can go with a stiff right arm, should be pretty far!

Oh, actually that makes good sense!

Another Saturday spent indoor bouldering with my son; what an excellent day! The last time I went (two weeks ago) I tried a particular problem over and over again and just couldn't get it. Today I got it second attempt and then did it three times in a row. I ended up doing it maybe ten times. It was only an easy problem, but I really like it and it's good to repeat it. I think I'll use this one as a warm up each time I go. I bought a chalk bag and chalk this week and some new climbing shoes (Red Chilli) for my son's 22nd birthday tomorrow.

I absolutely love this sport. My hands are absolutely wrecked, more skin off and strained tendons in my fingers; but my grip strength is already improving. This really is a total body workout!

PS, the problem is the one with the symbols of the squares in the squares.

It's very addicting isn't it!

I just got back from the gym tonight as well. My back up shoes are now wearing out (main ones already worn out) so I'm have to buy more soon.

It's fun a have (as we call it) a "project" to work on. A route that you can't quite do that you will work on the next time at the gym.

Wrecked fingers...that means you're getting good At first it seems to be the forearms and by the time it's your fingers you are getting better

Yeah, it is addictive, I almost feel like I could drive down there and do it again; but my body won't let me. I've heard the word 'project' and also 'problem', I like both terms. A 'project' sounds more fun

Next week I'll be trying another project where you start off hanging from the ceiling. My son was trying it today and I actually got a part of it he couldn't. I'm a lot shorter than him (I'm 5' 7" he's 6' 3") so he's got a good reach. I'm finding a 'reach' with your feet is also important, so you can sort of jam yourself in horizontally. I worked out today I need to know when to stop. I've been working out since I was about 16, and spent ten years in the army so I'm not new to exercise, but this is much more 'explosive' than a normal gym workout. It really works tendon strength, as well as flexiblity.

I also am finding my ability to believe in myself is improving. The other week I'd hang there thinking "I can't do THAT", this week I just went for it more; and found I could!

What time is it there in Seattle???

Hey, Gcbryan, BTW, I just Googled climbing gyms in Seattle; you've got some really nice gyms there! Ours is a little tacky. Which one do you go to?

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

Hey, Gcbryan, BTW, I just Googled climbing gyms in Seattle; you've got some really nice gyms there! Ours is a little tacky. Which one do you go to?

It's about midnight. I go to Vertical World-Seattle "The oldest climbing gym in the U.S." That's what they say anyway. The building that it's in now is a new one for them however.

I think a "problem" is more a bouldering term to figure out a specific move and "project" is used more in climbing to mean the whole route.

That's my take on it anyway!

Just "going for it" is certainly part of climbing It doesn't take long to figure out that "going for it" usually works out better than just hanging there thinking about it for too long

Oh, right, looks like a cool place. 'Stone Gardens' looks really cool! I think maybe I should start using the term 'project' but it seems maybe the terms are interchangeable? Anyway, wish I had the sorts of gyms you guys do over there!!