Time to see if my push ups and hand grip strength training have any sort of positive improvement to my climbing ability! Put the money where my mouth is type of thing. I’ve spent months, plural, now working my way up from the 50 lbs to the 175 lbs, and I even attempted to squeeze the 200 lbs gripper (with some modest success even). I haven’t promoted myself up to doing the 200 every morning as I am still finding a lot of resistance from the 175. I’ll get there though! I can see it on the horizon. Will it translate to firmer holds on thinner lips, and more intense inclines? I don’t as of yet know.
Our chalk bags are loaded up, and my shoes and harness are ready to roll. Our kit bag sometimes doubles as our day trip bag, but I have made sure to put all climbing items back inside. That includes the two partial bottles of liquid chalk, and a single bottle of hand sanitizer. I have not needed a brush for the hand holds yet. Chalk is funny, you need enough to get a solid grip but too much removes your grip, and not enough lets you slip. When it builds up on certain holds you’re gonna fall, hence why the better climbers carry a brush to clean off overly chalked hand holds.
I am also hoping that my arms and quads will not feel like bricks come Wednesday morning, because while I have done a few seconds of dangling, I have not climbed much of anything, and so the potential to grip too tightly when it isn’t required is really high when I’m out of practice. No need to white knuckle every single second of your climb. I have been practicing my forearm stretches, so I will do what I can to mitigate that overzealous nonessential gripping. Gotta save some strength in the hands for the drive home! Ha.
In other news two of my brothers have birthdays today. Happy birthday! Hope you are faring well as you reach, and near fifty years of age. It’s not all that far off for me either — yikes! As a child I thought the age of forty was “old” and that has long since gone now. I can still ride roller coasters, so I’ll take that as a win. They both live a fair distance from here so I won’t be seeing them to celebrate. Will have to take my texts & gifs in my stead.
It’s Tuesday, so that means recycling day. Plus it’s a garbage week too so I’ll need to scour the house for junk that needs to go to the curb (preferably before they swing by). I will figure that out after school drop off. Plus I have paid work to do today, and more volunteer stuff so I’ll be pretty busy for most of the day. Take care out there. Ciao Bella!
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