Rock Climbing

There isn’t a person on earth who doesn’t have some kind of fear, but for some people, what scares them can noticibly hamper their quality of life.

Chances are you know someone who suffers from some kind of particular fear or phobia. Diving in further, the odds are pretty good that person you know probably has a mild or severe case of acrophobia, aka a fear of heights.

And that’s OK. But if they are willing to try conquering the fear, rock climbing might be a good opportunity for them.

According to PsychologistAnywhereAnytime.com, acrophobia usually stems from the natural fear of falling and being injured. In most cases, a person develops the fear from some traumatic experience with heights or high levels.

Nonetheless, many people live with the fear yet wish they could over come it.  And that’s where rock climbing can help.

Starting to rock climb at Life Time Fitness could help anyone conquer a fear of heights. With a controlled environment and quality rock climbing equipment, Life Time Fitness members can attack their fear head-on by pushing themselves to climb one of 52 indoor rock walls.

However, they don’t need to invest in all the equipment for rock climbing and realize it doesn’t help with the fear or isn’t a fun activity for them. At Life Time Fitness, rock wall supervisors will provide any member with a club harness and pair of climbing shoes so they can give it a shot.

Within their first visit, any heights-fearing member can try to grab their first hold after a short orientation of the club’s wall and how to use its autobelay system. Shortly, those members will have the chance to confront the fear, thanks to a harness and belay system that will keep them from falling quickly if they don't reach the top of the wall.

Before they know it, any member could be conquering their fear and gaining a new hobby in the process, simply by having the courage to climb a Life Time Fitness rock wall.

But let’s face facts. Rock climbing isn’t a proven method for curing a fear of heights, but it could help.

All over the Internet there are stories of people using rock climbing to overcome their acrophobia. Who says that story can’t be about you or someone you know?

After climbing a Life Time Fitness rock wall, some novice climbers may think its time to invest a little more in this activity.

Second to climbing shoes, a new climber will probably look to invest in a personal harness for the numerous ascents they plan to make. But purchasing a new harness can be a pretty daunting task with such little climbing knowledge at hand.

That’s why novice climbers should make sure they talk with experienced climbers about harnesses so they find the right one, said Brian Barth, rock wall supervisor for Life Time Fitness in Overland Park, KS.

To start, a novice needs to find the right place to purchase a harness. Barth said most climbing equipment stores are owned by individual entrepreneurs, but there are some large name retailers. Barth said a novice should talk to an experienced climber — or maybe a Life Time Fitness rock wall supervisor — to find out one of the better places to go.

When in doubt, Barth said, go to the retailers who specialize in climbing and most likely participate themselves because they’ll have the best knowledge about the harnesses.

Before going to the store, Barth said, a climber should also wear the same type of clothing they usually wear when climbing to guarantee a better fit.

“For a climbing harness, after safety, comfort is key,” Barth said. “You will be falling/hanging in this thing so it should be comfortable."

Barth said retail harnesses have wider waist & leg loops to distribute weight over a larger surface area to make falling and hanging more comfortable. He said a novice should try on many different harnesses to get a feel for them.

Most places that sell harnesses, Barth said, should also have a rope from which climbers can hang from to test a harness.

“You wouldn't buy shoes without walking in them a bit, so why buy a harness in which you haven't hung?” Barth said.

Different climbing harnesses also have different features to accommodate the different types of climbing, which could also make the harnesses vary in price, Barth said.

Below are some harness features Barth thinks climbers should be aware of:

Buckles: Life Time Fitness supplies harnesses that have auto-locking buckles. They allow easy entry and exit from the harness. They can also be loosened and tightened between climbs without much effort.

Other harnesses have manual double-back buckles that require more attention when first used. When used incorrectly, they have been the cause of many climbing accidents. No matter the buckle type, climbers should always double-check the buckles before every climb.

Legloops: The types of climbing a climber plans to do will determine whether adjustable leg loops on a harness are necessary or not. Cold weather climbing requires more bulky clothes. So if a climber plans to climb outside in all weather conditions, then adjustable leg loops are a good idea. Non-adjustable, however, have two fewer buckles to worry about.

Padding: Beginner harnesses will have enough padding to keep a novice more comfortable in a fall and allow for hanging a bit more. However, more padding means a heavier harness.

Gender-specific harnesses: Over the past decade, harnesses specifically designed for women have come onto the market. These are designed with the different hip proportions for women in mind. However, a lot of women still climb in gender-neutral harnesses.

Purchase packages: Some companies will sell harness packages that may include a belay device, locking carabiner, chalk bag and sometimes shoes. These packages can save a novice a few bucks in the long run.

With all the options, Barth said, it is imperative that a novice obtains all of the information before purchasing a harness. And they should also learn how to use it properly, he said.

“With any piece of climbing gear, read the instructions that come with them as well as having someone show you how to use it,” Barth said.

“Your life depends on this gear. You should know how to use it correctly or the results can be catastrophic.”

Kids climb trees and fences so maybe it's a shoe-in that they would want to tackle a rock wall.

But why?

“I think it’s the sheer size of (the rock wall),” said Brian Barth, a rock wall supervisor for Life Time Fitness in Overland Park, Kan. “They come in and realize ‘This thing is big and I can conquer it.”

At the rock wall in Overland Park, Barth suspects over 50 percent of the climbers using the wall are children, and for many, it doesn’t take much to get them addicted.

“Once a kid has a flavor, gets to the top even once or realizes he or she can get to the top, all of a sudden it's a whole new ballgame,” Barth said.

“And then they become extremely interested. They beg their parents to come back in over, over and over again.”

Although the rock wall can be a fun and challenging for all, Barth said children tend to have a few advantages over adults with climbing.

“Compared to a lot of adults, (kids) don’t have the preconception in their minds that they can’t do it,” Barth said.

“You have an adult that comes in and says 'I’m not strong enough.' Whereas a kid, who has some experience climbing some trees or whatever, gets in there and says ‘I can do this’ or ‘I want to do this.’”

Also, comparing the size and strength ratio between kids and adults, Barth said, “kids are super strong plus they have a high endurance level.”

“Put those things together and they just immediately flourish,” Barth said.

For some children with gymnastic or martial arts in their backgrounds, Barth said, climbing instructors can see some pretty advanced climbing moves because those kids know what their bodies can do.

With other children, Barth said, they tend to make small improvements by breaking down climbing obstacles “into smaller pieces rather than the big chunks.”

But just because they are kids, doesn’t mean every one is fearless on the wall, Barth said.

“It all depends on the kid,” Barth said. “For every kid that comes in that is fearless, you have another that gets 3 feet off the ground and wants to come back down and never wants to try rock climbing again.”

For those who can get past 3 feet, Barth said, climbing can prevent them from developing a fear of heights.

“I would definitely say an early acclimation to height situations would definitely make a kid or most individuals a little more comfortable just because they are around it,” Barth said.

However, if a child does enjoy climbing the wall, that doesn’t mean they’ll always stick with it. Sometimes, Barth said, the ones who stick with it the longest are the children who watched their older siblings climb before they were old enough to scale the wall themselves.

‘These days, kids have so much going on,” Barth said. “But if they do catch the bug, and it’s a sport they enjoy doing, I can definitely see them sticking with it longer.”

At Overland Park, Barth said he sees some children regularly who started climbing when the club’s wall first opened.

Yet no matter how many children flock to the wall, Barth said adults should still feel welcome to join in on the fun.

“The rock wall isn’t just for kids,” Barth said. “Parents can have a really good time climbing with their kids.”

I met one of the nicest families while at Thursday’s Big 16 Mountain Strategy Climb event in Minnesota.

A mom and dad brought their 6-year-old daughter, Ava, to the family’s first Big 16 rock climbing event. Ironically, it wasn’t the family’s first climbing adventure. In fact, the mother, Tonya, said she had been rock climbing outdoors since she was 9 years old, growing up in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Nonetheless, the family knew how to climb. Tonya and her husband, Ed, ascended multiple walls, ringing the bell at the top of each route. Each success earned them a playing card as part of the Mountain Climbing Strategy Game.

Ed said Tonya and Ava usually came to Life Time Fitness’ rock climbing wall once a week. Ed said rock climbing was a way for the whole family to be together and he was sure his two younger daughters would quickly join in the hobby.

In the midst of the climbing, as Tonya and Ed shared the belaying duties for their daughter and each other, a 23-year-old man named Ryan approached Tonya and asked how one learns to belay instead of using the automatic belay systems of the climbing wall.

Shortly after he asked, Tonya was showing Ryan the proper knots for belaying so he too could be allowed to belay for others. Tonya said he would have to execute the proper techniques to one of the club's climbing instructors before he could belay for others.

Ultimately, it was easy to see from Thursday’s event that rock climbing is about bonding with others— even if it’s with someone you don’t know and while scaling an artificial mountain.

Get ready for a spectacular hike. Rock climbing is an incredible sport offering a myriad of ways to improve fitness, expand intellect and build character. Since Life Time Fitness has the most indoor rock climbing walls in the U.S., there has never been a better time to get looped in to the wonder of the rock wall.

Rock climbing is considered vertical hiking—a sport open and available to everyone. If you haven’t been turned on to rock climbing by an enthusiastic climber in your life, you can be that person for someone else. The concern over being a novice is wiped away when you realize that climbing the rock wall just two feet off the ground equals rock climbing. After getting off the ground just two feet, the rest is simply developing comfort with the sport.

On your first climb you will note (as do most every newcomers to the sport do) that you lack strength. More particularly, you will think you lack strength. However, the moment this thought occurs is likely when you have come to a rest on the wall—when your momentum and movement have ceased and you’re resting, perhaps anticipating your next move. Think of it like this: Imagine walking up a flight of stairs and deciding to stop, mid-step, on one of the steps. If you stop mid-step, you are guaranteed to get tired in your inaction while your leg is suddenly required to carry all your body weight at once. Doing that would make anyone think they lack strength. It is the same in climbing. It is this thought, this idea of possibly lacking certain strength, that gets people back to the wall—gets them singularly focused on expanding their comfort level.

A Life Time Personal Trainer can help prepare you for rock climbing with exercise guidance on how to develop and maximize arm strength. Forearm curls are one of many lifts that complement the sport. Muscle development off the wall is key—and the muscles worked while climbing make this sport an all-around asset to any exercise regimen. Rock climbing strengthens the core and stimulates the mind.

This mental stimulation is often what compels new climbers to return to the wall time and time again. Rock climbing’s challenge to the body as well as the mind aids in breaking people out of their workout routine—setting them on a course of goal-making and benchmark progression.

Most exciting of all is what rock climbing is really all about. Some believe it is about getting to the top of the wall, to the ceiling. That is a fair assessment of the sport—yet underwhelming. Once you get to the ceiling there is no place else to go—no expectation on which to anticipate. Merit West, the Life Time Fitness Certified Off-Site Climbing Guide and Rock Wall Training Specialist reminds, “Getting to the top does not mean anything—it is about the hard parts of the climb—success is not defined in just one way.” Rock climbing is about getting past where you were stuck.

Rock climbing, then, is about decision-making. Climbing constantly puts yourself in positions where you have to make a choice, move through it and do so with 100% commitment to that choice. Working through decisions on the climb gives you the opportunity to listen to yourself, own your choices and see them through—a crucial life skill that, when applied to life off the rock wall, has potential for achieving great rewards.

This simple, yet powerful, tool of learning the skills of decision-making is available to everyone. From corporate team-building events to classes, Life Time makes it easy to make rock climbing your new sport and your fitness complement.