Since leaving college, the first time I made exercise part of my routine was about 6-7 years ago, when I started CrossFit. I went 2-3 times a week for about 2 years. I liked it well enough. The daily workout wasn’t really my thing; maybe I didn’t train enough, but I didn’t seem to have the right combination of strength and endurance. But the first half of class was training with Olympic-style lifting, and I loved that. Now, I’m not a big guy, so I wasn’t on the top of the charts, even locally at the gym. But I could see progress on my lifting, in raw numbers. My developer brain loved that, and made me want to keep going to see how high the numbers could go.

After moving to Texas I found a decent gym, but the only class time that fit my schedule was first thing in the morning. After a few months I found out I don’t love early morning workouts and stopped going.

A little while later, I had a kid. Sleepless nights didn’t feel great for energy or motivation. It took me a long time for me to start any exercise again, and even then it wasn’t often. Then it was kid number 2 and more sleepless nights. This time, though, I made it a point to start working out earlier than I thought I was ready. I went to the gym at my office, went for a run when I could, and tried to stay active. This is when I found out that even without a full nights sleep, working out doesn’t make me tired - it makes me feel great!

About a year and a half ago, on a slow Friday afternoon at work, my boss asked me if I wanted to leave early and go to the climbing gym. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I didn’t feel like working so I said sure.

I didn’t really have any prior climbing experience. I was a Boy Scout and went up one or two short walls with lots of help, but that was about it. I enjoy skiing, but wouldn’t call myself any sort of adventure seeker. The main things I’ve got going for me are that I’ve got good strength for my size, and I’m basically a large child; I like to run, jump, and play. Sometimes it takes effort to let my kids go first on the playground.

Even the first session was fun, but it was a while before I came back. I did a few day passes here and there. After a month or two, I got a three month membership during a sale, and that’s when it really started.

Just like with lifting, climbing fit my brain perfectly. I could measure myself, and see progress. But now, instead of the same lift over and over, I could climb any number of different routes at a certain level. Every now and again, I could climb once at a harder level. Then a few more routes, and again. Now I just consider myself at that level, and it repeats. Currently, at the gym, I boulder around a v5-v6 grade, and lead around a 5.11 grade. Here’s a bit more info about climbing grades.

When I started I spent a lot of my time on ropes, though it took me a while before I got belay and lead certified. Somewhere around leading at a 5.10 level (gym grade, anyway), I started doing a bit more bouldering, and have slowly transitioned into preferring bouldering. I’ve always been more of a sprinter than endurance runner, so bouldering fits me pretty well. Last fall, I competed in a multi-week bouldering competition at the gym. It was very casual, and I missed the last week due to traveling, so I don’t know where I ended up. But I was climbing in the second level from the top and finishing almost all of the hardest problems. I plan on entering this year as well, in the hardest level.

I’ve only climbed outdoors a handful of times, but the people I climb with are trying to make it more of a habit. I haven’t done any bouldering outdoors yet. On lead, I think I’ve only sent a 5.9 as my max. I’ve done 1-2 5.10 routes with 1 take, a 5.11 with a few takes, and gone bolt to bolt on a 5.12. I’m looking to really increase my numbers outdoors this year.

At the gym, after you scan your membership card, there’s an iPad to enter your phone number to track points for discounts. To my knowledge I’ve entered my number every time I’ve gone. That means I’ve climbed at the gym 125 times. Roughly 15 times outside (it’s probably less than that), and I’m at 140. I’ll estimate an hour for each session. That’s truly wild to me to think about the progress I’ve made over that small amount of climbing. Now that I’m doing a bit of actual training to improve, and adding some outdoor climbs, I’m really excited to see how far I can push myself this year.