Earth Treks Climbing Gym Experience

This past week, I was invited to tag along to experience a Climbing Gym. This one was located in Rockville Maryland, so not too far from where I live. It was my first time doing an activity like this (technically, I did some rock climbing when i was like 10, but don't remember if I was as good as spider-man), so I was pretty confident I would embarrass myself. However, I totally ignored the fact that it was actually going to be a lot harder than I thought lol. I was told to start off at the intro level climbs as its a great way to warm up before getting some mad climbs in. When i managed to finish the first intro level climb, I was pretty confident i could do the next level with ease. The next level approached, and even though, I was able to surpass, it was noticeably different than the intro levels. However, when I tried for level 2 climbs, thats where things started to change.

I cant begin to describe how much of a fool I made myself look. I especially remember going for a level 2 climb where I had to put 2 fingers in a center hole and somehow grip like that. It was challenging and caused some pain in my hands, but then again I'm not surprised as this was my first time doing an activity like this. There were other climbs along the way that proved to be challenging but I knew that if I invested more time in this gym, I would be able to get through it one day. One thing I noticed is that even though climbing does consist of arms (obviously), most of the movement and strength should be coming from the legs. If you know where to place your feet as you climb, It can make things a lot easier. As a beginner it can be embarrassing falling down and not being able to complete a certain level climb, but there are always people willing to help and give great advice on how to surpass.

I felt even more comfortable as the person that I was with, kept on encouraging me even though I kept telling her that I looked like a fool. It was a great way to spend time after working on a project for work. It was even better as I got to spend it with a good friend.