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Eric
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Joined: 01 Dec 2003
Posts: 2486
Location: California |
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Today I did the 32 foot climbing wall at the rec center near our house. It is $5 for an hour but after 30 minutes I was too tired to continue.
It took me a minute to get used to the setup. In the rock climbing class I took a person spots you such that when you fall you only drop a foot or two. However the climbing wall at the rec center uses a manless cable system such that when you fall you gradually go all the way down to the floor.
Not having climbing shoes turned out to be ok. Even the guys working there climbed it in plain tennis shoes. I chose line #1 (Easy) for my first climb and everything went well. I rested for about one minute after the first climb. For my second climb I chose line #2 and fell shortly after. The guy working there told me line #2 is easier if you stay on the right so I tried it again and made it up. The only thing that was tricky was that another person was doing line #1 so I had to make sure I didn't go too far to the right. After doing line #2 I was pretty tired so I got some water and rested for awhile. After the rest I did line #2 again. Next one of the guys working there showed me how to do line #3. His strategy is to grab part of the wall where there is no grip. He explained that line #3 is harder than it looks because many of the grips are turned upside down. By this time my wrists were pretty worn out and they felt a lot weaker than when I started. I tried line #3 and got between 1/3 and 1/2 way up where you grip the wall because of a spot where there is no grip. I was able to grab the wall fine but I couldn't get past this spot so I pushed back and went down to the floor.
After resting and talking with the guys I did line #1 again before leaving.
It was great exercise and I plan on doing it again soon. One of my goals is to get in shape such that I can do 10 climbs within an hour. Another goal is to do line #3. I'm not sure which will come first, 10 climbs in an hour or line #3...
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| Sun Nov 12, 2006 10:22 pm |
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Sreename
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Joined: 15 Apr 2005
Posts: 1642
Location: Netherlands |
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Wallclimbing is nice,
Try to get as much energy as you van from your legs tho.
I see you write alot about your wrist being tired, whiles alot of energy must come from the legs and then fingers.
I am sure the locals can give u some pointers on that one...
Have fun on your next climb!
Sreen 
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| Sun Nov 12, 2006 11:52 pm |
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DeadPeopleAllOver
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| Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:54 am |
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chip magnet
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Most people I've seen do rock climbing and such are pretty ripped so it is definetly physically demanding. Even if it is just wall climbing it must be pretty hard. I wouldn't be able to do it.
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| Mon Nov 13, 2006 2:01 pm |
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Eric
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Joined: 01 Dec 2003
Posts: 2486
Location: California |
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Most people I've seen do rock climbing and such are pretty ripped so it is definetly physically demanding. Even if it is just wall climbing it must be pretty hard. I wouldn't be able to do it. |
It is true that most gymnastic enthusiasts and climbers are strong but I don't think you have to be "ripped" in order to do well. Many excellent climbers are women who aren't exactly body builders. The thing is you have to be strong in the wrists, fingers and legs relative to your body weight. Also, flexibility is very, very important.
I visited the climbing wall again today and things went very well. Kenji asked me if I had questions and I said no, telling him I had tried it out on another visit recently. I started out with line #1 and it was a nice warm up. Line #2 went well too. I talked to Kenji about line #3 before trying it. He said to put both hands on the non-grip spot on the wall before moving on. He then got up there and showed me how to do it. As I climbed line #3 I noticed that putting both hands in the sweet spot under the ledge did make a big difference. I was able to get past the hard part and then make it to the top. Near the top there were not many grips near the bell so I'm not sure how a short person would do it.
After doing line #3 my wrists were shot so I did lines 1 and 2 the rest of my session. On my 9th climb my wrist gave out and I fell. At that point I knew my body was telling me to stop so I did.
There were several things that made this climb better than my first visit:
1. I used my legs more.
2. My nerves were calm.
3. My technique was more efficient in that I climbed quickly and conserved energy.
Hopefully I'll continue to improve and reach my goal of 10 climbs next session...
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| Thu Nov 16, 2006 12:02 am |
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Sreename
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Joined: 15 Apr 2005
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Location: Netherlands |
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Nice going Eric,
Glad to hear you are doing well.
Hope you make your goal, keep us informed!
Sreen
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| Thu Nov 16, 2006 9:41 am |
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SleepWalkers
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| Thu Nov 16, 2006 5:35 pm |
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Eric
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Joined: 01 Dec 2003
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Location: California |
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I did the climbing wall again on Saturday the 18th and things went well. As usual I warmed up with lines 1 and 2. Line 3 was tough like last time but I was able to do it. Next I did lines 1 and 2 again before attempting line 3 again. This time my wrists were tired and I fell twice. The good news is that I still had enough energy to do lines 1 and 2 some more. In fact I did 11 successful climbs during the hour.
My son was with me on this visit and he had a nice time. He wasn't able to climb all the way up line 1 but he showed potential and did not seem to be scared. He tried 1, 2 and 3 but he didn't get more than about 10 feet up on any one of them.
The people working there were really nice. The first time we went the wall was being rented out because of a birthday so they gave us a free pass and told us to return in a few hours.
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| Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:54 am |
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Maverick
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it looks easy but i doubt it is
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| Sat Nov 25, 2006 9:22 am |
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Eric
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Joined: 01 Dec 2003
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Location: California |
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it looks easy but i doubt it is |
Like many things it is hard at first. But I'm starting to get used to it now...
I've had 2 trips to the climbing wall since my last post. The first time was about a week ago and I did 13 climbs including 2 climbs on line #3. During that trip my son had a successful day as well. He made it to a blue grip higher up than any grips he's reached in the past.
We went climbing again yesterday and it was great for my son but not so great for me. My first problem was that I didn't have a sweatshirt so when I took off my jacket my arms were cold. The next problem was that we went right at 4pm on a Wednesday which is a busy time. There were lines for climbs 1 and 2 so I only did 1 warm up on 2 before moving onto 3. On 3 I banged my arm kind of hard on the first climb. I did one more climb on 3 and then a bunch on 2. Not doing 1 really made a difference as my arms got super sore. My son made it 2 grips past the blue grip he reached from the previous trip. He is now at a point with line 1 where he's done the most difficult parts (the part near the top is easy).
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| Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:31 pm |
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Sreename
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Joined: 15 Apr 2005
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Location: Netherlands |
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Sad too hear,
Hope next time youll have a good run again then!
Sreen
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| Fri Dec 01, 2006 1:42 am |
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Eric
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Location: California |
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Yesterday my son and I took another trip to the climbing wall. I did pretty well making 9 climbs in all, 2 of them on the difficult line 3 path. I'm getting better on the line 3 path in that I no longer rely on the brick wall to "cheat" with my feet. One issue I did have was a lot of soreness in my elbows and forearms after about 5 or 6 climbs. But the day was not about me, it was about my son. He was able to make it to the top of the 32 foot wall and I was very proud. I knew he "could" do it but was not sure whether or not he would. In other words I knew he had the physical ability to make the climb but like many things in life more than half the battle is mental. Fortunately there was an older kid there who really helped encourage him and motivate him to get to the top.
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| Mon Dec 04, 2006 12:17 am |
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Sreename
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Joined: 15 Apr 2005
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Location: Netherlands |
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Cool man!
It's nice to see yourself and others grow like that 
Nice to hear people still helping eachother 
Sreen
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| Mon Dec 04, 2006 5:11 am |
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IanKendall
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Joined: 16 Apr 2004
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Location: Edinburgh, Scotland |
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I used to climb a lot in school (_many_ years ago), going to a local wall twice a week for the best part of five years, and rocks when the Scottish weather allowed. When I left school twenty years ago I was 70Kg with 5.9% fat, so at 6'4" I was very lean and comparitively powerful - a good climbing combination. For warmups I would do one arm overhand pullups...
I could never get climbing shoes to fit (I'm a UK12/US14) so I always climbed in trainers. It certainly helps your fitness, but you get fit to climb, don't climb to get fit! We used a two person belay system, I've not seen the descender rigs over here.
Interestingly, I went back to the wall several years ago with a friend. The instructor asked us if we'd been there before, and when I told him he just walked away...
I'd like to go back, but time and abject lack of fitness doesn't work for me these days.
Take care, Ian
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| Mon Dec 04, 2006 6:04 am |
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Eric
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Location: California |
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| Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:25 am |
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200 Motels
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That looks like a lot of fun. I think there's going to be a wall in the rec center that is being built here.
Usually us parlor game folk aren't too athletic, however, we do like a good challenge.
That climb looked effortless.
Also, nice shirt.
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| Sat Jan 06, 2007 8:08 am |
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TheEMan
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| Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:20 am |
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ogot
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Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Posts: 106
Location: Philippines |
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Woah looks really tiring!
Great job on the really fast progress! We have a wall climbing area in one of the malls about half an hour's drive away from our house, but I usually just play billiards with my sister instead of getting all sweaty during weekends.. (I get sweaty enough during weekdays XD)
And nice shirt btw 
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| Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:41 pm |
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