My two biggest benefits from climbing

Physical and mental

A friend reached out today to get a climbing routing happening again. At one point, I was climbing 3–4+ days every week. For several years it was a major part of my personal growth. Business and life ramped up, and for the past couple years I’ve been slacking hard.

Fresh on my mind from the conversation, I decided to “put on paper” so to speak my best reasons to stick to the new commitment. If these sound good to you, join me!

Physical — awesome stretches

I believe hanging off a wall is exactly what my body needs to counter all the pitchforking, wheelbarrowing, and bending over handlebars pedaling heavy backpacks full of food all over. I recently wrote a post about taking to using an inversion table to alleviate upper back pain. It’s a wonderful device, and it does help my back, though I didn’t need to hang upside down when I was regularly hanging from a rock wall.

Mental — a form of meditation

Climbing is magic for clearing my mind, it must be a primitive thing. When you’re holding on for your life by your fingertips, you’re not thinking about laundry, the emails you’re backed up on, what someone said to you or what you’re going to say back. The only thing your lizard brain is able to focus on is not falling to a painful death.