So, after many years (yes... I'm a little slow and thick sometimes...) of my wife "suggesting" that I take up a regular sport... I might have finally found something that I like doing! My wife is convinced that if I don't do regular excercise now... then when I'm older, I will have dementia and she will be the active and mobile one of the two of us... and that she would need to look after my decrepit brain-blasted mind.... actually, I'm not really sure that that is a bad thing for me!
Anyway... she did get me with the dementia sort of thing... I like to think and read and learn... and so the thought of that becoming more difficult was enough to get me to start looking for something to do.
Now, in The Netherlands, we do do (he he...) a fair bit of walking and a pretty gratuitous amount of cycling as well. However, as I've gotten older... I'm less keen to be cycling and walking whilst someone is just pouring buckets of cold rain on your head. Sure, when you are younger... it doesn't matter so much... but there are only so many times that you want to show up with your pants and shoes completely drenched through... plus, now that I'm losing a bit of my hair, when my hair is wet it starts to look like I'm that creepy guy from the movie Con Air.
Now... in the past, swimming has been my go-to sport (well, when I was younger it was soccer and archery... but soccer here is pretty intense... and apparently archery doesn't count as a "real" sport according to my wife... however, it will be hyper useful when the zombie apocalypse hits us...). The thing about running and swimming (running I'm terrible at, swimming I'm okay at...) is that I just get bored... plus, the Dutch seem to have much laxer rules about what constitutes lane swimming... like the actual use of the lanes and directions... so, at times it can be more like a fight for survival... or a game of chicken (I'm small, so I swerve first!).
However, a month ago... I talked to a soprano who had taken up rock-climbing as her sport... and she was telling me about how she was going to take an adventure holiday climbing frozen waterfalls in Italy!... okay, I guess there are more interesting ways to plan your death... I prefer in my sleep in a warm bed... rather than frozen, sore and with about 10 long seconds to think about how much the ground is going to hurt when it hits you.
Anyway, she suggested that I might be interested in boudering... seeing as I would often love clambering and running along rocks in nature when I was younger. She said that it was pretty much the same thing... just minus the slippery water parts and the treacherous moss and that stable looking rock that turned out to be anything but....
Last week, my oldest child had a studiedag at school (the teachers are there for training or admin work... but no students). These days are the best, as they are not co-ordinated between schools... thus, it is the best time to go and visit galleries, museums, cinemas and other stuff... as there are no crowds of kids! I took my kid boudering! It was her first time, and she LOVED it!... she was pretty decent at it for her first go... although there were some of the higher ones where she freaked out a little and had to come back down... also the ones where she was more tilted backwards were a bit scary at first!
I really wanted to have a go... but I had to watch the toddler... but I thought... hmmm, I'm definitely coming back when I next have a free day!
... and this week, I managed to find an hour to come back and try! I have to say, it is pretty great! It's like a huge physical puzzle.... So, in the above picture... you see the various gradings of the paths that you can take... I started with red... but I found it too easy... so, after half an hour on those to warm up with.. I moved to blue...
... oh man, most of those I could do with a bit of balance and effort... it's really nice to have to figure out how to shift weight and balance to reach the next hand or foot hold! However, there was one path that kept defeating me! I would make it one stage from the top... but I couldn't get two hands on the last part (you need two hands for a couple of seconds to count it as complete). I could get one, but I couldn't make the last hand...
One of the instructors came and gave me some advice... and pointed out that I could use the gray protrusions and neutral (gray) rocks as well!... .PFFFFDFDFE!!!!!! I had been doing all the Blue routes WITHOUT those!.... no wonder some of them were pretty damn tricky! She also showed me how to do the path...
So, with this new knowledge in hand... (and after a coffee...)... I had another crack at it... and what do you know? The instructors obviously have some pretty decent skill and experience... and like any other master, they make things look pretty damn easy! I got to the same place at the top... tried to do what they did (pivot and turn around to grasp the last hand hold whilst keeping myself precariously balanced with a great deal of tension on some small and inclined stones...)... and ended up falling the 3 or 4 metres back to the ground!
LOL! After trying one more time... I figured that this was going to be something that I would have to try for next time! It is the last of the blues... so, I really wanted to complete this set.... but I didn't think it was going to happen this time!
This bouldering gives you a pretty heft workout on the arms and hands... a bit less so for the legs (for me at the moment... I think the ones where you are pretty much hanging upside down on your back might be different!)... yesterday I felt pretty okay... today, I'm sore as hell! Unfortunately, I have a rehearsal this evening... so, I hope most of the soreness passes... or I will be one very slow slow violinist.... but I'm sure everyone will have a good laugh at me... seeing as I'm usefully okay with fast stuff... I think it will be hilarious for other people to see me hobbled!
I think this could be my sport though! I love the challenge of figuring out how to progress through the path... after my first go, I think I'm hooked... I will have to time the exercise a bit better next time though... and perhaps give myself a day or two to recover some agility and strength in my hands... it's not quite so compatible with violin at the moment.. perhaps more so when I get better at it!
... as a bonus, my oldest daughter also loved it! She wants to go back and do things together... next time without her sister... so that we can just have some father and daughter time together just climbing coloured rocks on the walls!
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I've heard that this is becoming a popular sport that many old ones are taking up. I'm still happy with the walking and cycling for now..
Hey!!!! Who are you calling old!
Bouldering and climbing are where it's at! Hope you got into it!!
Ha... this was a blast from my STEEM past!
Yes, I'm still getting into it! I'm pretty impressed by some of the hard core guys... it will be a long time before I can do what they can!
My daughter tried this and she really enjoyed it. I myself is out of shape and not sure if I could make it halfway.
I'm pretty out of shape... but thankfully am pretty light... but i was really feeling the soreness for quite a few days afterwards!
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Archery is definitely a sport! It's one of the few I don't suck horribly at. :)
Rock climbing must be fun. Exhausting, but fun. Keep us updated!
Haha... yes, I thought that archery was definitely a sport!... but sadly, I couldn't convince my wife....
Good for you sir bengy! I think that is very impressive and the wife has to be thrilled too. I think it's a great workout!
It is a pretty decent workout on the arms and upper body! I was incredibly sore afterwards!
I bet sir bengy! Have you gone back?
Yes... it gets easier each time!
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Well, the rock climbing would definitely fit into the "real exercise" category, lol, and hopefully the wife agrees! It's obviously great exercise for the arms and legs.
Oh man... I was pretty damn sore for the next couple of days afterwards! However, I'm recovered enough to go again tomorrow! With my daughter!
Awesome! Isn't it great when we get the chance to do things with our daughters? So glad you got that going. Enjoy it while you can!
I've been to a rock climbing centre in Singapore, mainly because one of my business associates is an active extreme sports person.
Seeing how the entire place look like from above is amazing !!
Tough sport if you ask me
It's pretty interesting... it does keep the mind active at the same time, which is interesting for me... it's part physical, part puzzle!
Looks like a lot of fun. Probably not something I would try, but my daughter will love it 😁😁
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It's great fun... you should try it if you get a chance!
Would love to be a fly on the wall watching this @bengy! Oh yes when we were young it was easy, we never considered getting hurt, now you are older that comes so much more into play, doesn't it?
Well have quality time with your daughter whether you climb or become her supporter it should be great fun learning something new.
Thankfully, you can't really hurt yourself too much here... the mats on the ground a pretty thick! I guess you could twist an ankle or something... or fall pretty awkwardly... but mostly, it should be okay (knock wood....)!
Pretend you are a spider catching a fly, just keep going and have fun!
So funny! As an even older person, I can tell you that the exercise will also help your body stay agile and pain-reduced. Glad you found your sport.
Haha... yes, it should do those things... however, in the short term, it seems to just induce soreness!
That is a wonderful activity you can do with the entire family. And get exercise too. Whenever you start any new routine, you will have soreness for a few days until your muscles get use to being worked. But you have to keep at it. Good luck.
I'm ready to hit it up again tomorrow! Hopefully, the soreness will be less this time!
One would think that with your fingers always on strings or keys or whatever, that this kind of sport would be a natural for you with your strong fingers my friend.
A great effort here and nurture those aches in order to get them healed!
Blessings!
Oh! And next time let's see a photo of you in action on that wall.
Simple, just tell your daughter to take about 100 photos of you and pick the most macho looking one for the post Lol
No, violin fingers... it's not a strength sort of thing... more of an agility thing!
Anyway, I'm sure that my daughter would be much more interested in taking photos of me falling... or even better... the moment where you realise you are going to head towards the ground!
I can imagine the facials that she will get with her shots of her father Lol
Definitely much different than operating a musical instrument my friend.
But then again, very good for the body and the muscles.
Just don't break anything in your planned adventures Lol
Blessings!
Wow @ bengy! You will have so much fun with this, especially since your daughter is interested, it can be your thing you do together :) My daughter loved rock climbing and actually went on trips to climb real mountains, she had so much fun with it. What a great post today, I actually laughed out loud at some of your desciptions " creepy wet hair....oh my goodness" We'll look forward to more of your rock climbing adventures! Blessings!
We are going on a climbing date tomorrow! It's going to be fun to be able to do it together... the younger sister is in daycare, so some quality time together... falling!
HOW COOL ! love it
This is the most awesome sport! And for Netherlands, it is perfect for me to be indoors!
That's a fun sounding sport, good for you. And father-daughter time even better!
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It's going to be fun spending time on a shared sport! We have a date planned for tomorrow!
Sounds like you found a great sport, Bengy. Good to do a sport your daughter would like to participate also.
It's a good one... some combination of puzzling and sporting! Just up my alley... well, more puzzling and less sporting would be even better...
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Excellent
Excellent excellent