Exercise Update: My New Hobby!
It’s been a while since I’ve published much of anything on exercise, so I thought I would chime in with what I’ve been up to lately, exercise way. In what now seems to be a way of life for me, I’ve taken up a new hobby (which I seem to do every 2-4 years,) namely, rock climbing. Well, I should say indoor rock climbing. I’ve yet to venture outside, but I am planning on trying some outdoor bouldering this spring). I’ve been climbing at the very excellent Triangle Rock Club (TRC) in Morrisville, NC. Naturally, I’m a total newbie, but dang, I love it. Something about the combination of physical challenge and mental problem solving really keeps me interested. TRC is a pretty nice gym (I’ve been to a few now) which I think can be attributed to more than just its newness. In my book, the more important factor is the attitude of the owners and the people who climb there. I was really worried that I wouldn’t fit in or that the “experts” would be jerks, but TRC couldn’t be more opposite of that. I can’t tell you how many times someone who is way better than me has helped me solve a difficult move or shown me some new technique. And everyone just seems to be friendly and focused on having a good time climbing.
As for the exercise part, climbing is so much fun, you hardly notice you are actually getting a workout. And it’s not one of those lame push iron around or log hours on the dreadmill workouts, it’s involved and intense and very much requires you to be “present”, which I think is the FUNDAMENTAL key to exercise (one of these days, I’ll write why I think iPods are bad for workouts). I almost always leave feeling exhausted and great at the same time and I can definitely say it’s the strongest I’ve ever been in my upper body (which was never all that strong, since I’ve always focused on my legs and base for hockey.)
At any rate, I haven’t quite running or biking, I still love those, but for now I’m just enjoying climbing and focused on getting better while supplementing it with running and other things when desired.