Hey Jow Forums. My local indoor rockclimbing gym recently had a deal for unlimited climbing for 30 days for $40. I'm going to go there tomorrow and buy it. I want to know what's the best way to tackle this, I am currently skinny, but also very unfit - I want to go as many times I can a week without hurting myself. Is there any at-home training I can do to prevent this, specific stretching, or other advice I should know before tomorrow?
Rock climbing tips?
>I want to go as many times I can a week without hurting myself
>I am currently skinny, but also very unfit
So... once or twice a week?
You won't have the grip strength to do it more often, trust me, this shit will tire you out.
>Is there any at-home training I can do to prevent this, specific stretching, or other advice I should know before tomorrow?
Training or stretches one day before you go? One day? Are you literally retarded?
You will probably be fine, as long as you don't do something stupid.
Thanks for the advice, I don't intend on doing anything stupid, worst thing is probably over-working myself.
As a beginner, volume is key. Don't fingerboard, don't campus board, don't try routes you can't stick the first hold on.
Just focus on climbing a lot of low-grade routes, paying attention to your technique, particularly foot placement and how you actually hold the holds.
Use your feet as much as possible. If u try to use upper for every hold you will tire out so quick. Youll find some weird ways to use your feet.
this, nice trips
Pretty much what this guy said. Just start off with rotating the easy ones. Pull ups can help, and I found push ups help fight off tendonitis when you start climbing a lot.
You will get to a point where you want to keep climbing, but your body won't be able to. Mix Honey with BCAAs or Gatorade to keep your glycogen stores up. Use your legs and toes. Buy liquid chalk.
How much do you guys climb? I've been going about 3 weeks so far and am only up to a 5.9 route at the indoor place I climb. I went thursday and yesterday, yesterday did two 5.8s then a 5.9 that I failed on before, failed again a bit higher this time before my arms/hands just gave out. Seemed hard to use my feet on this route compared to easier ones so I was just fucked about 3/4s of the way up. After that my arms/elbows really hurt and I couldn't do anymore. But that was only like 45min-1hr and I wish I could climb more.
Do you take longish breaks inbetween climbs?
Also really struggling to find a climbing buddy to belay me instead of the staff it sucks because the feeling of straining yourself on a route you find tough feels great
Not OP, but is liquid chalk really that good? I always wanted to try it out, but it seemed too weird for me.
Try to boulder if you can. Don't project, just spend as much time climbing on the wall as you can bear. Work antagonist muscles when you're finished climbing. Chest, shoulders, triceps, do some core work too. Don't bother campusing. When you're climbing use your legs as much as you can. straight legs on the wall are for beginners, get your feet up as high as you can. Speaking of which, squats might be a good way to train as well. Also look into getting a climbing salve and keep your callouses trimmed down.
I climb 3x a week because of school and work. I climb v3 and top rope at 5.11a but mostly do 5.10c and b.
>How much do you climb
I've been climbing every saturday for the past year. Started at 5.7's and 5.8's. My "working sets" are 5.10's and low 5.11's.
>After that my arms/elbows really hurt and I couldn't do anymore. But that was only like 45min-1hr and I wish I could climb more.
Keep practicing and your forearms and hands will adapt just like any other exercise. You should expect to get tendinitis the first few weeks. I also climb for a few hours with a partner, go out to eat, and then come back for a few more hours. Be sure to pace yourself.
>Also really struggling to find a climbing buddy to belay me instead of the staff
Join your local climbing Facebook group and ask there. It's a good way to meet people. Alternatively, you can ask if you can work in when you see two people climbing.
Put it on as a first layer. As it begins to fade, add regular chalk. It's good shit. It's essentially hand sanitizer impregnated with chalk
3x a week is similar to what I wanted to start doing but unfortunately it gets super packed on the 3rd day that would fit into my schedule. Supposedly you can boulder on the bouldering section and up to 20ft on the actual wall during off-hours as long as you did the belay certification where I am (which I've done) but I haven't asked staff, so might call the gym today and ask if they know. I don't really find bouldering as fun yet because I suck at it and have only tried a V1 a couple times.
Are you supposed to back track back down bouldering routes? I mean yeah I could just fall down easily and fine but as far as 'correct' way to finish the routes.
There used to be a group at my college for climbing but their page is years out of date since they last met. Have tried finding other groups but it's a small college town with a big wall at the rec center. Seemingly absolutely no public groups at all it sucks
When I competed at university I climbed four to five days a week and bouldered v8 / sport 7c
Your arms, forearms and tendons will adapt in time, just keep racking up the miles on the wall. I guarantee your foot placement can be hugely improved which will reduce the strain on anything else. Remember to train antagonists - I massively neglected this and had a severe imbalance as a result.
Will try, thanks! I always had a problem with falling down, because losing grip.
Depends on the climbing gym, some have some fat holds near the finish to let yourself down at a lower height. If you're doing v1 you should absolutely be climbing down the route you came up. It's a good way to train and more time on the wall.
Keep bouldering if you can, bouldering is akin to sprinting whereas top rope is sorta like endurance running so to speak. If you're bouldering game is solid at like v3 you could probably on sight send a 5.10c, maybe even a soft 5.11a.
Is indoor climbing fun? I mean like fun for even normies for example?
Yeah I plan to keep it up though unsure if I can go when staff isn't working and gym won't pick up their dumb ass phones.
What about gear? Just like with regular lifting I am a sperg that doesn't want to show up like some poser with my tacticool chalk bag but it gets tough since I haven't been using chalk so far.
I also rent shoes there that fit pretty nice at 2$ a pair but I'm thinking about getting my own if I can find out where they sell them in town. Or I could tough it out and wait until I leave for the summer to somewhere where they probably actually do sell shoes and equipment
If you're top roping too, you definitely need a chalk bag. Just buy whatever is cheap. Bouldering you don't really need it while on the wall unless you are on a crazy long route or you get sweaty hands.
as for shoes, the sooner you buy them the more you'll save on throwing away money on rentals. Definitely try then on before you buy, they should fit really snug and given they will be your first you probably won't need anything too agressive. I have la sportiva finale, they work well and pretty neutral.
try to team up with chicks so you can check their asses when you act as a counter weight for them
BE FUCKING CAREFUL. dont go mad on your first go, and dont just muscle yourself up. its easier to muscle u pat first but you will fuck up your tendons as tehy are not adapted yet even if muscles are strong from gym. They warned me of this when i went.
Then i managed to get tendonosis in both my elbows because i still over did it and muscled up. Now i havent been able to deadlift or do any grip work in he gym for over 6 months. tendons take at least 500 days to recover.