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disobey_gravityHi all! I've been meaning to make an intro post for about the last 2 weeks, but time got away from me. Anyhow, I recently completed a beginner rock climbing class at a local gym here in Chicago. (It was 3 sessions of about 2 hours each.) They have an outdoor wall & I had been passing by on the street for years, thinking how fun it looked. Can't believe how long it took me to finally check it out, but I'm glad I did.
One of the instructors told us when we finished the class, that if we want to continue with climbing, the important thing is to not let a bunch of time go by before we get back in there. Otherwise we'll forget stuff & it'll feel weird. So last weekend I went back & climbed again. I also ended up buying a pass for 10 visits and have been encouraging the others from my class to join me.
Realistically I don't think I'll be doing this more than once a week, since I'm currently training 5 days a week (strength and conditioning, Crossfit-style stuff). But I definitely want to keep on climbing & get better at it. I'm stoked to have found a new fun thing, and also excited to learn from you more experienced folks! Any words of wisdom and/or advice for the n00b would be much appreciated :)
Re: Hi and welcome!
Date: 2013-11-06 10:14 pm (UTC)Much much shorter height, so there's no endurance element -- it's purely about strength, power and technique (not necessarily in that order). As you noticed, you're almost never going to find a rest point in a bouldering problem; it's very, very anaerobic.
Think doing Tabata intervals versus marathon training: it's not that one is intrinsically more difficult or demanding than the other, but the former is going to wreck you in a much shorter time. *g* It's that sort of compressed intensity.
Also, when you're doing roped climbing, you'll usually be taking turns belaying, which means there are natural long breaks when you're not climbing yourself. With bouldering, you can keep throwing yourself at a problem again and again and again; often people will end up taking turns on a problem (and having lots of tea breaks), but the pattern is more one of lots of very short bursts of intense activity.
Obviously, you can boulder gently (e.g. doing lots of problems that are easy for you, maybe as a way to build endurance or just have a light day), or do roped climbing very intensely. But I did say "tends". *g*