Enjoy climbing, meet people, go out. If you stick at it, you'll get better and your phisique will follow! Congratulations for your non smoking commitment.
Ah. Hi Garry. You're bristol based?
Quote from: Adge on May 06, 2013, 09:12:00 amAh. Hi Garry. You're bristol based? Hi Adge, Thanks for all your replies. Yes I am based in Bristol. About halfway between Bristol and Bath. It's fair to say I'm absolutely loving the climbing, I'm a little nervous about doing it on real rocks though. Thank you very much for your offer of the pull up bar. If it's one that screws into place then I'd have to decline your kind offer. I'm preparing my house for sale and Mrs Grr would be unwilling to allow me to fix anything permanent to the house as we are about to start on viewings any day now. However if it's one of the ones that stays in place via leverage then I'd love it thank you.If you PM some details then I would happily meet you somewhere. I'm my own boss so whenever suits you will be great. BTW I am pretty forum savvy, been a daily poster on the Skoda forum Briskoda since 2008. Don't even drive one any more but still go in there every day and annoy them. Thanks also to the rest of you for your valuable responses. I'll find some time to do some dish-ing today, although the wife is off work today and it's sunny so may find other ways to burn calories and tone up In all seriousness, for me the biggest issues are... 1. Wrist strength, (Have always had thin wrists my entire life) 2. Grip strength. (Those bigger holds are easy enough but the fingertip ones are challenging)3. Core strength. ( I'm definitely not using my body to help me climb yet, at the momentit's the load I am heaving up with my arms. )4. Not using my legs enough. I think mostly my issues are technique based, but any extra training I can do at home in between climbs is all for the greater good. I will give dusting off my pushbike some thought as well.
Mostly its based on fear of caving my own head in on a rockafter falling off due to my lack of technique and ability. As I improve no doubt this fear will lessen and I will be looking to get out there and do it for real. I've seen some lovely spots on my travels down by the Portway that seem popular with the climbing set. But I feel my grip is such a weak area at the moment that I'm dead concerned it's going to get me deaded. Working at improving on the wall at TCA gives me a nice controlled environment to work on my weak areas before I take it outside. I'm heading down to TCA a bit later, my wifes youngest brother (11) wants to come along and he has a inset day today so he'll only be at home on his xbox if someone doesn't get him up and doing something. Don't know how much climbing I'll get done, he can be a bit of a handful.
For your wrist strength concern, get a bit of cord (parachute cord or something similar) and a round dowel (couple bucks at the hardware store). Drill a hole in the dowel and tie the length of cord through it, then tie a small weight to the other end. Hold the thing out in front of you and roll the cord up, then unroll it in controlled fashion. I had somewhat injury prone wrists for some time and this seemed to help with their strength/stability.
Thanks again for the helpful input guys. Thanks in particular to Adge who I met today in person. He showed me a number of lovely bouldering spots in and around the Avon gorge where I can really put myself to the test. The weather wasn't really ideal so we didn't get tons of climbing donebut I learned a few good areas to practice where it won't cost me a fiver to have a little climb. I must admit, it's a completely different experience doing it on real rocks. It's harder to figure out where your holds are when they aren't made of brightly coloured plastic. It certainly requires a lot more thought and planning. It was made less harrowing by being attached to a rope particularly as there was quite a tumble to the bottom where we were. Again, thanks so much for making my first try out on the rocks a fun experience. I'll have you over for a good feed soon to say thanks. I'm a good cook so you'll be welllooked after, and you can meet Mrs grr. Cheers mate, was a pleasure making your acquaintance.
Glad you enjoyed it, i did too. Happy to go again any time.Main thing is, you're now confident enough to go for sessions yourself anytime now. Most important, be aware of what's below you in the way of safe landings, and in the gorge be aware of what's going on above you. Stay in your comfort zone, take it easy, and enjoy it.Ps. The first perfect well hidden 6m bit overhanging wall we climbed on. Keep it to yourself. I think that's 4 of us use it now. I would hate for it to end up like gollums. If you visit that hole, you'll know what i mean.