Why Climb?

I started climbing a couple months ago and have now integrated it into my lifestyle by purchasing membership and going to the climbing gym 2–3 times a week.

When asked what I enjoy about climbing, I have started to realize that the response has become more consistent and thought to share what those are in an effort to provide understanding around what makes this sport so meaningful to me.

Physical — Climbing is a full body workout. It involves your upper body, core, and legs. But unlike weight lifting or other traditional forms of working out, it engages them in different ways each time — based on the type of problem you are working on. You end up building muscle in an fresh and fun way each time.

Mental — Another aspect that is attractive is the problem solving aspect to it. As each problem is unique, a solution must be created by the climber based on their body, ability, and comfort level. It makes for a tangible challenges that provides quick feedback and immediate gratification from a sense of accomplishment for each problem solved.

Social — Finally, the reality of climbing is that more time is spent off the wall than actually climbing on the wall. As a result, the community and conversational aspect when resting is so foundational. Chatter easily flows on approach and tips on solving a problem and it easily branch out into chatting about other areas of life too.

This year was not actually the first time I have gone climbing as I have tried it in one-off situations over the past 5 years. But it clicked with me and stuck this time. Here are points that worked for me this time around:

People — Having a consistent group of people, of which there is one or two specifically interested in your climbing success, was very helpful in building comfort and confidence to begin a climbing journey. It’s possible to get into it individually but it was the friendships that worked for me.

Learning — Using time outside the gym to watch YouTube videos or read up on climbing techniques and it’s lifestyle created a sense of understanding and immersion to the activity I was exploring. It connected the dots in my head of the experience and made adapting it so much easier.

Commitment — Similar to other activities such as snowboarding or golf, the first couple of times are realistically not the greatest experiences. Lots of failure and mundane problems will be had. But given the quick feedback nature of climbing, once progress is being made, the enjoyment hits and quickly builds from there.

Ultimately, there are several applications of the above that can be applied elsewhere to life and are not unique to climbing specifically. That said, it does work for this situation and it’s been amazing to have a personal understanding of the sport. Hope to see you on the walls soon!