7 Reasons Why Rock Climbing is Fun 

Here we bring you the most compelling reasons to choose climbing as your next passion.

Rock climbing builds your confidence

Unless your name is Bear Grylls, Ibrahimovic Zlatan, or someone with an equally tough pair, you’ve probably faced some challenges in your life that you never thought you could conquer. Challenges, such as this rock wall:

Rock climbing is a whole body workout

Rock climbing is an activity that engages nearly all major muscle groups in your body. And minor ones as well, such as flexor tendon annular pulleys, also known as “finger muscles”.

So forget signing up for gym class and learning how to use all those 101 machines. Rock climbing is simple enough and provides a whole body workout – you’ll be using your arms, shoulders, fingers, legs and even toes – without you having to think too much into it.

Rock climbing trains your focus

There’s a reason why bouldering routes are known as “problems”. Rock climbing is a great way to train your problem-solving skills and in particular, your focus. In rock climbing, there is no other goal other than to scale up the rocks in front of you in the quickest, most effective way possible. Feel tired? Fingers about to cramp? Hit the wall? Take a deep breath and focus your energies away from the fatigue. Try again.

Not only does rock climbing train you physically, but it also trains you mentally to overcome the challenges in front of you, and to get a foothold on things, so to speak.

Rock climbing helps you look great in pictures

Imagine yourself as the person on the overhang, taking a breather while the sun sets in the background. Now imagine if you had taken a photo on the same spot, but standing at the beach instead. See the difference?

A picture of your silhouette while on an overhang, rates among the top of all photos you could upload with #YOLO.

Aside from some obvious help from smartphone filters, one way to look that awesome is to, well, get your ass up on the overhang. Which would require some amount of training? Which is yet another good reason why you should climb more often?

Rock climbing gets you naturally high

Have you ever wondered what the view is like from the top? While Singapore has no shortage of skyscrapers, getting a good view while being close to nature is nearly impossible when the highest peak at the Bukit Timah nature reserve stands at a mere 163.63m.

For those keen on being one with nature, and who are fans of panoramic views, climbing to the top of cliffs in, for example, Krabi, offers you a chance of seeing the sights that would otherwise not be accessible for non-climbers.

Be warned though, these natural rock climbing faces are less controlled than the man-made high walls in Singapore and present their own set of problems. Be prepared to confront grass, weed, stones, and other debris in the course of your journey to greater heights.

For routes that require some amount of trekking, be careful not to trip.

Rock climbing is easy to pick up

There are fewer sports that are less complicated than rock climbing. There are, effectively, no other rules of the game other than to scale up the wall, using nothing but the stones present on the surface. Some routes or problems are easier than others but the basic rules are the same.

With a sport that is so easy to pick up, what are you waiting for?

By: Active SG

Images: Hu Chen & Анна Рыжков