This summer, I was fortunate enough to have free access to a gym that was only a few short blocks away. Though this gym did not even compare to the wonderful Kenyon Athletic Center in size and scope, it did boast one element that the KAC currently lacks: a rock-climbing wall. Although I had climbed once or twice before, it had been a while. Luckily, I was blessed with no apparent fear of heights, so when I entered my new gym and set my sights on the wall, I knew that I wanted to scale it. By the end of my summer, I was climbing about three times a week. I had developed calluses on the palms of my hands, and I felt like I was permanently covered in chalk. I had even learned how to belay, meaning that I held full responsibility for the safety of a climber attached to my rope. And, I loved every minute of it. If you are interested in trying climbing, I wholeheartedly encourage you to try it, even if there are very few venues close to campus. I don’t think this summer would have been the same if I hadn’t discovered climbing, and below I have listed just a few reasons why I love it so much.
1. Climbing is actually a very tough workout.
I try to work out at the KAC as much as I can, and I consider myself to be a relatively strong person. But, climbing helped me train muscles that I didn’t even know that I had, and I was able to train muscles that are difficult to me to target during my normal workouts throughout the school year. The muscles on my wrists and upper back were always sore after a particularly challenging climb. The muscles in my thighs, which I try to train regularly, would also be constantly burning. Seriously, at first I thought that climbing would be entirely an upper-body workout; I never realized how much leg strength is also needed to scale the wall.
2. It’s not just strength training.
I am far from the world’s most flexible person. But climbing pushed what flexibility I do have to the limit. When the next closest foot hold you have is by your hip, there’s nothing you can do but stretch and hope for the best. Climbing also trains balance; some holds are no bigger than a pebble, yet climbers have to hold their entire body weight on them.
3. It allows you to set attainable goals for yourself, and each goal is completely individual.
At my gym, and I assume most other gyms, the different routes on the wall were marked off by pieces of colorful tape. Blue tape marked the easiest routes, red marked the hardest ones, and the colors in between followed that pattern. By the end of the summer, I had graduated from the blue and green levels and could successfully climb almost every yellow route. But for me, my goals extended beyond simply moving up the color wheel. Maybe one day I wanted to finish a particular route without pausing in the middle to catch my breath or re-chalk my hands. Maybe one day I wanted to finish a specific number of routes in a specific amount of time. Accomplishing those sorts of goals felt even more significant to me than graduating from blue to green or green to yellow, because they were goals that I set specifically for myself.
4. That being said, it is not necessary to climb to the top every single time.
If I have learned anything from climbing, it’s that I will rarely ever be successful on the first try. It was perfectly okay for me to be halfway up the wall and realize that the route I am attempting is just too difficult for my skill level at that moment, or that I simply do not have enough strength left to finish the climb. I just had to say the word, and I would be let down. Of course, I would always be encouraged to try again. But sometimes, I would decide to wait a couple more days to try that challenging route again, equipped with a few more days worth of skill and strength.
5. Climbing gave me a wonderful and supportive community for the summer.
Over the summer, I became very friendly with the rock wall’s employees, many of whom were my age or even younger. Climbing forced us to bond; it’s hard not to become friends with someone who is literally holding your safety in their hands. When we were off the wall, we talked about college and pop culture. Though I absolutely loved my internship this summer, it was a bit tiring being known as “the young one”, who was constantly surrounded by people who were older than me. Because the climbing wall was full of college-aged kids, I felt a lot more relaxed during my time there.
There is absolutely nothing like reaching the top of a rock wall. I encourage any and all thrill-seekers (and even those of you who might be afraid of heights) to attempt climbing. It can be one of the most physically trying things you will do, but it will be worth it.
Image credits: zozi.com, shop.frictionlabs.com, funfix.com