Bouldering: Short for climbing without a rope on bouldering walls that have thick mats on the floor. It’s a great way to start off with as long as you follow a few simple rules that will make your first bouldering sessions so much more enjoyable.
Warm Up Your Fingers First
Before you start climbing on the walls, do 5 minutes of finger warm ups (open and shut your hands, rotate your wrists, and do some light stretching of your forearms). Your fingers take a lot longer to warm up than the rest of your body, so it is easy to get to the wall and start climbing, only to pick up a strain a few climbs down the line.
Read the Problem Before You Climb
Take a step back from the wall and follow the entire route. Look for where your feet will go and work out a body position for each part of the climb. Taking a cool thirty seconds to study a problem from the ground can make it much easier when you go to climb it.
How to Fall on the Mats
Bend your knees when you land and roll slightly with your body, rather than landing on stiff arms. Practice stepping off from low holds to get used to it before you try it on a harder move.
Pace Yourself Through the Session
Finger tendons are far more prone to fatigue than you may expect, and are likely to be the first to go after a long session of bouldering. For this reason it is advised to attempt a few harder problems, have a rest for 2-3 minutes and then return to them. Most new climbers will find that they have a better session if they restrict it to 90 minutes rather than trying to cram in as many attempts as possible over the course of 3 hours.
Track What You Are Climbing
Write down the routes you tried to climb, and the ones you managed to complete. This will help you when you search for example search for “Bouldering Near Me” and go to a new climbing wall. This record will help you compare your climbing abilities to those of others at the new climbing wall, and keep you motivated with visible climbing progress.
Short sessions of climbing on a regular basis will take you further than trying to do a few really long sessions every now and again.
