hallo!

[niqaeli]

Hey! Mostly this is just an introduction of myself. I only recently got interested in climbing, but it looks like a lot of fun. I'm an ex-gymnast who's spent approximately a decade finishing up puberty, sitting on her duff, and also dealing with some mild/moderate mobility impairment/joint pain disability. So climbing is sort of fascinating to me, since it seems to accommodate my various WTF issues fairly well!

But, intro aside, I did also write up a rather, um, blathering account of my first climbing experience, should anyone be interested in that. :D

At some point, I may also try to write up an actual list of the variations of conditioning exercises that don't require equipment that I know from my years of yore as a gymnast. I sense that I desperately need to work on my arms and core strength! My core is woooooefully out of shape.

Comments

[nanila]

Welcome, welcome! I'm also an ex-gymnast (a very mediocre one). I remember when I first started climbing, I was excited because being bendy was almost as helpful as being strong.

I, for one, would be most interested in your list of conditioning exercises. Please post it here?

[niqaeli]

I was middlingly mediocre! (American here; I was training at Level 6 , when I quit, but I never competed at that level.) I never got my ariel consistently (I had the height! I could not stop brushing my hand against the ground), nor was I near getting my giants on bars. But it's amazing how much even mediocre gymnastics will change you long-term, physically and mentally. :)

And, I will! I imagine you probably will recognise many of them! Mostly I remember the core/stomach exercises, less so arms and legs.

[nanila]

American here as well, though been in Britain for a chunk of my life that is becoming significant. I never got beyond Level 5. I could never trust my body much on floor or vault, but I loved bars and beam, which possibly explains why I like climbing, because there is time to think and consider and balance. It's a body-puzzle.

BTW, had a look at your journal. I like you! Subscribed. :)

[niqaeli]

Vault always terrified me. Always! I never stopped being afraid, no matter how many times I made myself do it anyway. It was probably good for me to face the fear, but that meant I never liked it. I wasn't great at them, but I loved bars a lot! And balance beam. The only thing I really liked about floor was the actual tumbling and rolls. (And I liked those better when I did them up on beam.)

Also, welcome! :)

[rydra_wong]

Hi and welcome! Yay blathering, and I second the enthusiasm for the list of conditioning exercises.

[niqaeli]

I don't know that they'll be new, necessarily! But I guess it doesn't hurt to pull them together. :)

[jest]

Welcome! I would love to hear about your conditioning exercises. I'm always hoping someone will put me on to something that's not in my repertoire. *g*

[niqaeli]

I don't know if I have anything not in your repetoire but I do have some favourites! :)

[emperor]

Welcome! I have yet to figure out why, with all that white chalk, I always end up with black stuff under my nails...

[niqaeli]

Hands and feet are surprisingly dirty, it turns out! *g*

[originalkitsune]

Welcome! I would love to see the exercises. What's so hilarious is that climbers all oooh and ahh over being able to do a front lever but my gymnast friends say a front lever is really not that special. I think a front lever is crazy hard.

[niqaeli]

From what I recall of men's gymnastics, it's not... but from the perspective of normal people, it totally is! (I was always far and away weakest in my upper body strength... it took me a lot longer to get my kip on bars than some of my younger, stronger teammates; I had to acquire clean form before I could do them, whereas they could power through them with poorer form but better strength.)

[rydra_wong]

I believe it's mandatory for all climbing/gymnastics discussions to have a link to this photo at some point, so here it is:

John Gill performs a one-arm front lever

Gill's mentioned in a recent interview that he once did a one-arm front lever on one finger, though there isn't a photo of that.

His website has some interesting sections on the history of climbing and gymnastics.