Rock Climbing July 20, 2019
Rock Climbing
My colleague and I went to Rock Climbing at Hub Climbing in Mississauga. The overall experience was excellent. The staff were knowledgable and helpful with the autobelay orientation.
I did not know of autobelay machines before, and I always thought that you had to have a spotter while climbing. But with the autobelay machines, it makes rock climbing so much easier and faster; all that you have to do is clip onto the machine and climb.
The great feature of the auto belay machines is when you fall or reach the end of your climb, you have to let go, and the machine will “catch you” and slowly lower you down. However, despite my fascination with the autobelay machines, I had to overcome my fear of “letting go” because it is very unnatural to let go of the object that you are holding onto. There is a powerful instinct to hold on.
Muscles
My forearms and hand muscles (the muscles in the palm area) were getting active and stiff because of the tight grip required while climbing. This discovery interests me because there are no typical “Gym” exercises that work these muscles. There are forearm curls, but they do not involve the muscles in the fingers and palms as much as rock climbing grip strength.
Rocking Climbing Annoyances
When I was lowering down or falling from the wall, on the first 1 or 2 seconds after letting go, I had some chafing along both sides of my stomach, so it was painful, and it became unbearable after a while. I don’t know if it was because the harness became loose over time or too tight, or if the harness was of poor quality or did not meet my needs. So I may look into purchases a quality harness in the future before I go again.