Tired and sore muscles abdomen-legs-po workout? Then today there's something for the arms for a change. I show you my bouldering technique and give you tips.
Bouldering has become a real trend sport in recent years. New halls are springing up everywhere. How exactly the movements in the vertical work and especially what they bring to your physical and mental fitness, I want to tell you now. Above all, the bouldering technique should not be underestimated.
Table of contents
What is "bouldering" anyway?
I'm certainly no pro, have been bouldering for about a year, but have seen and tried quite a bit. To give you an idea of what exactly this sport is all about, here's a brief (rather factual) overview:
In bouldering, you climb on a rock or a climbing wall (indoor) at jumping height. You are unsecured, i.e. without a rope. On average, the walls are not higher than 5 meters.
In the bouldering hall, there is always a thick mat underneath you so that you can land safely when jumping off or falling. In nature, of course, there are no mats lying around, you have to bring them yourself. There are the so-called "crash pads" that also fit in your car and that you can comfortably carry on the way to the rock.
Attention: never boulder without a mat, this can lead to really bad injuries!
Bouldering indoors and outdoors
As you may have already seen, there are two ways how, but especially WHERE you can boulder. Namely indoor and outdoor.
Since I'm mostly indoors, I'll tell you more about that: In the bouldering gym you always climb on screwed in Climbing holds.
The boulder walls usually look quite colorful and pretty. The Colors but of course also make sense and mark the different routes and Difficulty levels. In most bouldering halls there is an overview board which color stands for which difficulty level or it is marked directly on the wall. If you do not find such boards, just ask someone on site. Climbingmaxis are usually a very sociable people :)
My bouldering routine
I like to go bouldering after work for 1-3 hours. 3 hours sounds a lot, but the time often flies by and I'm not hanging on the wall the whole time :)
Warm up for the right technique
First, I put on my bouldering pants (don't have to be special, but shouldn't restrict your movement), a comfortable t-shirt, and my bouldering shoes. (I'll show you my personal bouldering starter kit below.) After that, I find some space on the mat and do some warm-up and stretching exercises. Here it's important to involve the whole body: starting with the shoulders, arm and wrist joints and ending with the individual fingers. Of course, I also warm up my hips, back and legs with light stretching exercises. When warming up, it is also important for me to mentally prepare myself for the next lesson(s). To do this, I take a few deep breaths and try to let go of my everyday life.
Off to the wall
And then it starts already! I rub my hands with a little "chalk" (climbing chalk) and I'm ready. At first I do not yet concentrate on individual routes.
I just start climbing, taking one grip after the other (the colors don't matter now) and try to warm up my body further with targeted stretching and pulling movements. Especially the fingers have to get used to the small rough grips every time.
So I climb around like a nimble little monkey for a few minutes. In order to warm up my upper arm muscles from all sides and to wake up my coordination in the whole body, I move along the wall in all directions. So not only up, but also to the left and right and down again, because for each direction you need different muscle groups.
Then I sit down on the mat and inspect the routes I want to do today. I either watch others master them or try to think through the individual movements in my head. This is quite pleasant, while my fingers can recover briefly from the warm-up :)
Let's go
But then it starts and I climb my first route. The starting grip is almost always marked. Most routes start with a so-called sitting start, where you still touch the mat with your butt and try to position the first holds and kicks from a sitting position.
Only then do you lift your body up and start climbing. At the beginning, I choose an easier route - one that I've done before, or (if I'm in a new hall) one that I think I can definitely do. I guess that's also part of the mental warm-up. Every route you complete boosts your self-confidence and awakens the tiger in you! The route is completed when you touch the "top grip" (i.e. the last grip of the route) with your hands.
After each route I do, I give myself and my muscles a few minutes of downtime. Since I rarely go bouldering alone, it is best to watch others experimenting during this time.
Many techniques in bouldering you learn just by watching. And it is simply part of it to motivate the others by shouting "you can do it" and when he or she has "pulled off" the route, of course a "fist-bumb" is also part of it as a reward - quasi the high-five among climbers :-P
In the course of my training session, I increase the difficulty of my chosen routes. For me, it is not necessarily the goal to make a route to the top grip, often I do a route only halfway, because a special move (i.e. reaching the next grip) particularly challenges me. Of course, it is most beautiful when you can climb such a route to the end! Sometimes it takes a few training sessions, a lot of experimenting, learning from others and countless repetitions until you manage a certain route.
Fitness for body & mind
I particularly like 2 things about bouldering. Namely the Combination from physical and mental Effort. On the one hand, countless muscles in my body are stressed. Especially the arms, of course, from the fingertips to the shoulders, but at the same time the rest of the body. Body tension and balance are necessary to perform each step precisely.
On the other hand - the Headwork. My gray cells are quite stressed there. From looking at a route and figuring out how I'm going to move from grip to grip, to full concentration when I make my way to the top. My focus is completely on the wall when bouldering. There is no time to think about other things.
For me one of the best exercises in the Here and now to be and to leave the everyday problems in front of the door. And of course there are also days where this is not so easy for me. But then I notice very quickly that even the easiest routes just don't want to succeed. Then I like to sit down in a quiet corner, take a few deep breaths and try to prepare and focus on my upcoming bouldering session.
Exercises for in between
I also like to incorporate other strengthening exercises during a bouldering session. Mostly when my arms are already a bit tired. Then a few crunches or squats are done, or I just plank a bit in front of me :)
Of course, I also try to strengthen my arm muscles. I do pull-ups (I like to experiment here - one-handed, narrow and wide pull-ups, overhand or underhand, etc.). Especially for boulderers, there is also the campus board for strength exercises, which is also specifically about building up strength in the fingers and wrists.
After the session
The end of a bouldering session almost always looks the same for me: I only stop when my fingers are burning, my biceps are pumping and I feel really exhausted :) But then I'm always looking forward to "being allowed" to take off my climbing shoes and wash the chalk from my reddened and chafed hands.
IMPORTANT: always wash the chalk off the shoes quite well with soap and a soft brush and then provide the hands with a good moisturizer. So the skin does not dry out and the roughened areas disappear quickly!
Then it's off home to the shower.
My conclusion
I love bouldering. :) Have I made you curious? Just try out the bouldering. I look forward to your experience reports :)
As a marketing and communications expert, Nina loves creative work. When climbing and bouldering, she can not only switch off, but also prove her strength and live out her passion
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