Climbing Gym Revelations
I had originally written this post before coronavirus took hold. It feels weird to be posting it now, two days after my climbing gym has closed for the safety of its members and employees. But the lessons I learned are just as relevant, and reading it now makes me even more excited for when I can get back at it! So here’s my tips, to hopefully help other beginners get a foothold in a new sport.
I just started climbing. Like - JUST started. Well, as far as rock climbing goes, anyway. If I had known what a resumé was at age seven, I would’ve made one that said “expert tree climber” right at the top.
I’m still so new at this sport that I definitely wouldn’t tell someone I’m a climber. I haven’t even gone outside on a real rock yet. I bought a membership to the local climbing gym in January, so I’ve been climbing on artificial walls indoors a couple times a week.
Climbing as a sport is experiencing a boom right now, and it’s not just because the documentary Free Solo win an Oscar in 2019 or the fact that climbing has been added to the lineup of competitions to be featured at the Olympics this year for the first time. Rock climbing has officially gone from fringe to mainstream. Which means I’m one of the folks who has hopped on the bandwagon.
Gyms are an easy way to introduce noobs like me to the sport, without having to drive very far or be exposed to the risks of climbing outdoors without any knowledge about proper techniques and gear. Indoor climbing is the perfect laboratory for trial and error, and also the perfect place to meet folks who can show me some outdoor routes when I feel ready to do so.
Starting a new activity means the learning curve is steep, but it also means you learn a lot in a short amount of time.
One of the questions that vexed me before stepping foot in the gym was what to wear. Do I want tight-fitting clothes to avoid catching on the holds, or loose-fitting clothes to allow freedom of movement? Turns out it’s kind of an anything-goes sort of environment, based on what I see fellow gym-goers wearing. It’s everything from sports bras and yoga pants to jeans and t-shirts. I have generally settled on synthetic capri-length tights and a not overly-baggy t-shirt as my go-to, but that may change when the weather warms.
My first day walking into the gym, I was intimidated, but giddy. I expected to be pretty good at climbing - I have long arms and legs and have been climbing on things since I was a kid. The colorful holds covering the angular surfaces inside the gym brought to mind a playground for adults built inside of a gumball machine.
I had to fill out a waiver, and then the person at the desk took me through the basics - how to put on a harness, where to put borrowed equipment when I was done, what the different parts of the gym were for (sport climbing, belaying, bouldering, etc.). As someone who has watched several climbing documentaries and has multiple friends who climb, I knew these terms well enough that I could nod along (but I Googled them later when I left the gym, just to be sure).
The two most important lessons of the first day were probably the two most obvious for folks who have climbed at a gym before. First, the different colors of the holds indicate different routes, and those colors are graded from easier to more difficult. At my gym, red was easiest, then yellow, then green. There are probably a dozen other colors on the wall, but I focused on the first three. No need to memorize the whole chart at this point.
The second lesson was stay off the mats unless you’re climbing. They’re called crash pads for a reason. People who are bouldering (climbing short routes without ropes) frequently fall. Don’t get in their way. Easy peasy.
Bouldering is the field with the lowest barrier to entry - no ropes and harnesses needed, just climbing shoes and a chalk bag (which you can borrow or rent from the gym if you don’t own). You “chalk up” before you hit a route to keep your sweaty hands from sliding off the holds, and then you approach the wall and try to figure out how to get to the top.
The rest of the lessons were on my own. And they came hard and fast.
Your hands will hurt when you leave the gym. After a couple months of semi-weekly climbing, I have calluses on my palms and am developing some on my fingers. It makes me feel strong and accomplished!
You have muscles in your fingers. This is obvious. But you use them in ways you don’t use them in any other endeavor when you climb, so it becomes really obvious.
Use your legs, and keep your arms straight as often as possible. Holding yourself up by keeping your arms bent is exhausting, and you’ll fall off the wall pretty quickly.
Find the time that suits your style as well as your schedule. My climbing gym is open until 10pm most days, so going in shortly before they close is my sweet spot. I don’t like going right after work because that’s when everyone goes.
You will get pumped! And in climbing, that doesn’t mean excited. It means you’ve overworked your forearm muscles, and now you’re a weakling with T-Rex arms. This will happen no matter what when you’re a beginner, but a good way to keep it from cutting your climbing short is to take breaks. Don’t keep getting up on the wall when you take a fall. Rest between attempts, watch other people climb for a bit, and recover - and you’ll get to climb longer and learn more.
Climbing is often compared to puzzles - people doing puzzles are looking for a missing piece, while climbers are trying to work out a problem. A problem is anything on a route that trips you up. When you get to a problem, you’ll probably have to make multiple attempts, view the wall from a different angle, watch others, and ask for help.
Climbing is a community sport. In that regard, it’s not at all like going to “the gym”. When you go to work out in a normal gym, you keep to yourself - you work out with your airpods in and you don’t make eye contact. In climbing, there’s a social aspect. People there are cheering you on and encouraging you to get that next hold. It’s easy to make friends in such an environment, even for introverts like me who hate the idea of making small talk with strangers.
There’s a whole world out there of things I still need to learn about climbing. I’m not yet seriously dedicated to it the way I am bicycling or whitewater kayaking. Right now it’s just a cool thing to do with my partner on weeknights that gets us out of the house and keeps us active. I haven’t read any books about climbing, or asked anyone about local routes to try out. I keep up with the sport through pop culture at the moment, and I’ve followed a few accounts on Instagram that support women and athletes of color. I’m a fangirl, basically.
If it never develops into anything more, I’ll be happy to be a gym rat, one of those weird folks that “real” climbers don’t understand, who climb artificial walls but never experience true climbing in the wilderness. Since I live right next to Red River Gorge (one of the top climbing destinations in the world), I feel like the likelihood of that is slim. And knowing myself, I know that if I dip my toe in, I’m already halfway to jumping in the deep end. But I’m in no rush. My free time is mostly spoken for at the moment with other endeavors, so I’m happy to watch this new hobby unfold without pushing it in any particular direction.
Likelihood of me climbing in the 2024 Olympics? Zero.
Likelihood of me being able to call myself a “climber” by the 2024 Olympics? Very high.
