Joy in the suffering, Sports Climbing

The Ja’s Climbing Gym is an indoor climbing gym with an artificial wall that is 3.8 meters high. The best of rock climbers in Korea, Kim Ja-ha, Kim Ja-bi and Kim Ja-in (if the “Ja” in all three names didn’t give it away, they are siblings), opened this gym on Garosugil in 2013. Kim Ja-in finished the 2015 season as the number one climber in the world for lead climbing, bouldering and speed climbing. Kim Ja-ha is the coach and Ja-bi represents Korea as a climber at international competitions and is also a trainer at The Ja’s. There’s no room for boredom at The Ja’s, especially when you are surrounded by other young people and hear hip-hop flowing out of the speakers. Once every two months, they change the bouldering course, and they have a competition (or more like a party) amongst all the gym members. The Ja’s is currently giving one-day rock climbing lessons. It’s 40,000 won for five people, which makes it less than 10,000 won per person. You can also opt to take a lesson on your own. 

“I don’t think I can do it!” That was probably what I said the most as I learned how to climb. Honestly, the only workout I usually get is the walk from the bus stop to my house after work. Mastering the three-point position was not bad at all. But I really struggled with the course with 14 holds. I couldn’t get past holds #4 and #5, and I would fall to the ground. Kim Ja-ha told me this was the easiest course in the gym and continued to encourage and assure me that I could do it. Unfortunately, my shaking hands and arms could no longer sustain my body weight. I tried to grip and hold on with all my might, but when I glanced over at the clock, I couldn’t even stay on one hold for five minutes. It actually felt like more than 30 minutes! I looked up a muscle that has never felt sore until this day, and I found that it was the brachioradialis (the forearm muscle). I couldn’t complete the one-day session, but it was enough to experience the fun of sports climbing. It’s a good place for you to get your mind off other things and concentrate only on climbing; not to mention you will feel your muscles burn from the workout. That’s why I said, “I’ll be back after I get stronger!” as I left The Ja’s. The New Year is when you make resolutions and challenge yourself to do something new. It’s the perfect time to head to a gym. I recommend you try sports climbing for an intense workout. I know I’m definitely going back.

If weight training focuses on building muscle, climbing emphasizes how to climb well. When you look at people who are good at climbing, they’re not big and bulky, but they have a lot of smaller muscles that are well defined. You don’t pull yourself up with your arm strength, but push your body with your feet. In order to move along a slanted wall, you need to keep your feet pressed up against it. That means you need core muscles, essentially meaning a full body workout. Many women hate getting bulky, but since climbing helps tone the smaller muscles and not the big ones, it’s better for if you really want to be toned.