Happy New Year everyone!!! In today's post, I'll be talking about something that I've always wanted to do and try out- Rock climbing! My experience with this intense adrenaline junkie sport is next to nothing; but because it's a new year, I wanted to try something entirely new and see if I would like it :) For starters, rock climbing is an intense indoor/outdoor activity that tests the limits of both your physical and your mental thresholds... making it one of the most exhilarating and challenging sports there is! Rock climbing started out as unique skill for people that wanted to scale the faces of mountains or rocks, and by the early 1980's the sport had become a global sensation. There are many types of rock climbing that you could try; from bouldering to competitive sport climbing, traditional rock climbing, ice climbing and solo climbing. Bouldering is what it appears to sound like- scaling a rock of relatively low heights without ropes- but usually having mats at the bottom to break the fall if a climber bails. The sport aspect of rock climbing requires the person to scale a rock wall or rock face- following the path which is laid out for you by previous climbers. These paths allow the climber to clip into the face of the wall/rock, so that they will be safe on the wall and so that the climber may receive assistance if they are in trouble. Solo rock climbing is performed by more experienced climbers who take on the challenge of scaling a rock or mountain by themselves- bringing all the necessary equipment with them as they climb. The traditional rock climbing approach is for climbers that climb up unmarked routes of the face of the rock. Ice climbing is completely different from normal rock climbing- involving the climber to scale up frozen waterfalls or rock faces. Tomorrow as part of my New Years resolution for trying new things, I'm going to go rock climbing at an indoor rock wall, and learn the tricks to mastering the sport. I think I will enjoy the sport a lot because it involves the use of both the upper and lower body, back, abdominal, and leg muscles- This will improve my overall strength stability, grip strength, core strength, arm strength, while also improving my flexibility and drive for the sport. One thing that I enjoy about rock climbing is that it's like a puzzle- each wall and location is different, and you have to use your mind more than anything to get you through the event. Rock climbing involves not only your mind but your body also. If you have a strong mind and a weak body, you might know where to go, but you lack the strength, power and endurance to make it all the way up the wall; and if you are all strength and no mind, you'll have the endurance, but will make mistakes and get stuck if you don't know what you're doing. So each climber needs the perfect blend of mind and strength in order to become an extraordinary climber. This is called synergy- where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. With synergy, each climber can push themselves harder each climb because their mind and body are working together as one, and can achieve so much more if they are working as compliments to the other. Benefits from the sport include; greater concentration, determination, drive, problem solving, strategy, and sensation seeking. Over time a climber will become better and better with these skills, making them push themselves harder and further on indoor and outdoor climbs. Climbing is great for making friends and having a community of support- you can grow off others who are better at climbing than you, and they can teach you the techniques and tricks for mastering the sport. Other benefits of rock climbing include- helping people with depression. Studies have shown that being active and with a community of people that support you and your climbing can help to put a stop to feelings of depression and it can cause an increase in self-esteem, self-control and physical well-being.
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AuthorHi, I'm Josh Stoeltzing. I am a Freshman at BYU Provo, I participate in track and field, soccer, ultimate Frisbee, I play the piano, I'm LDS, and I love to explore the world and learn about new things. Archives
October 2016
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