My First Bouldering Class

[rachelmanija]

I used to rock climb a bit. I enjoyed it but did not care for messing around with ropes, and also tend to stick better to activities I can do solo.

Yesterday I took a bouldering class at a local climbing gym that rejoices in the name of The Cliffs of Id.

Speaking of excellent names, not to mention a canny sense of their clientele, it had the Huitlacoche Taco Truck parked in the parking lot.

I was in a class with two girls of about 10-12 who just flew up the routes, plus the mom of one of them who had an easier time than me as she had a longer reach. For a while I thought the other girl was also her daughter, while the mom thought she was mine; we eventually discovered that she was a very self-possessed person who had come on her own. I used to climb and scramble a lot at that age, alone and on local easy low cliffs and crags. I could really see the advantage of being extremely flexible, extremely light, and apparently composed almost entirely of muscle.

I made it up one V0 and fell off the next two tries, the second time because it was a different route that I struggled with and the third time on the same route as the first and because my muscles completely gave out halfway up. So this is exactly what I was looking for: something extremely strenuous that I can actually max out my strength on without (too much, hopefully) risk of back injury or repetitive strain, self-directed, something I can do by myself, engrossing, absorbing, and not prohibitively expensive or prohibitively far away.

Also hopefully I will get better at it with practice. I had thought I was pretty physically fit in the sense of "can lift a fair amount of weight, can do very strenuous hikes, etc" but I nearly fell over after completing that one climb. (And today I feel like I got hit by a truck.)

I invite anyone who'd like to geek out in comments with any advice, helpful links, personal experiences, etc. I'd be particularly interested in tips on avoiding joint injuries, which I am extremely prone to no matter how careful I am with form. At the moment my knees, ankles, wrists, and elbows are the problem areas but I have had past trouble with pretty much every joint in my body.

Comments

Re: I will be spamming these comments as I think of stuff

[rachelmanija]

Thanks, this is great!

Falling isn't the thing I'm worried about with my back. The things that tend to cause problems involve
very fast rotational movements (the kind of hip snap that's central to a lot of martial arts, unfortunately; I don't think this would come up in climbing at all) and heavy lifting. I do lift weights anyway but I have to be careful. However, I've never had back trouble from the sort of bodyweight type of lifting climbing involves.

Anyway, I'm hoping my back won't be an issue. I suspect that my elbows will, so I will be studying that pdf. Also my wrists have always been a weak point. There's a fair amount of stuff I'm strong enough to do otherwise but it's too hard on my wrists, like standard pushups. I was hoping bread kneading might help a bit with that.

Re: I will be spamming these comments as I think of stuff

[rydra_wong]

The things that tend to cause problems involvevery fast rotational movements (the kind of hip snap that's central to a lot of martial arts, unfortunately; I don't think this would come up in climbing at all)

Yeah, you should be fairly safe in that respect.

I suspect that my elbows will, so I will be studying that pdf.

It also provides a good excuse to have a sledgehammer lying about one's living room.

I was hoping bread kneading might help a bit with that.

Good call (I'm trying to teach myself to stir batter etc. ambidextrously, so my left wrist can share in any benefits going!). Rice buckets are also great.

Also, a Powerball might be worth a try, for general wrist rehab/prehab?

Re: I will be spamming these comments as I think of stuff

[rydra_wong]

Shoulders are a common problem area; lots of climbers develop a hunch with the shoulders rolled forwards and inwards, which is unfortunately also the posture you get if you spend a lot of time using a computer, and it can be a set-up for injuries.

So, look for some nice shoulder-opening stretches to do after climbing.