5 reasons climbing and yoga are match perfect

The grounding of yoga vs moving away from the ground in climbing, seems two opposing aims, but are they?

Which one am I describing when I say: strength, flexibility, mental strength, and balance? Yes, they clearly have their differences, I am yet to hear the Adam Ondra screams during meditation, but combining these two oppositions, I have found balance.

Climbing may be described as yoga, but on a wall. The high lunges, big stretches, holding positions, mindfulness, concentration and balance are key aspects of both. Letting go of everything in life, to be present and moving your body through different challenges are essential to yoga and climbing. So I have created yoga classes specifically to improve your climbing through these 5 benefits:

1. Flexibility

All us climbers have been in that frustrating position, where you lift your foot to reach a hold, and you can’t quite there. By stretching specific muscles in a controlled and safe place, you can find your reach extending, and your climbing grade increasing.

1. Injury Prevention

The worst feeling in climbing is improving and then having to stop due to an injury. Instead of reacting to injuries after they occur, yoga can help prevention through preparing your tendons and muscles for climbing intensity.

1. Strength

Key to both yoga and climbing is the pursuit to lift your own body weight. Holding unfamiliar postures can strengthen your wrists, core, arms and legs - all vital to ascending that wall.

1. Breath and Mind

Being present on the wall can help avoid those moments where we rush and fall off climbs. Yoga can help concentration, breathing and overcoming fears.

1. Balance

Where climbs remove strength and focus on your balance, these can be the biggest challenge. Yoga can improve your balance, so you use your legs more, and avoid those over pumped forearms.

More and more professional climbers are using yoga to access higher grades in their climbing. With social climbing and weekly yoga classes at U-Scale, this could be the perfect way to start or improve your climbing. If you’re a veteran climber or would like to try it for the first time, this is open to all. I hope to see you at one of our yoga classes soon!!

Namaste,

Jay

Many people may be held by social, mental or physical barriers from making the decision to participate in some activities or sports. They can feel unsure, lost or afraid, especially if the activities are new to them and require some social interactions. Rock climbing is that type of sport that not just involves other people but also puts a large responsibility and trust into someone else's skills and abilities. Sharing this experience, solving problems together, learning and celebrating success creates a special bond between climbing partners. Climbing is a very special type of sport, where physical, mental and tactical aspects focus on many social skills. We do create a special evening, where it doesn't really matter if you are beginner, novice or seasoned climber you can participate in the social climbing session supervised by a professional coach and instructor. You can meet people with similar attitudes and passions. 

Social climbing is available every Thursday 7-9PM at Slough Climbing Wall.

We have 6 automatic belay devices in Slough Climbing Wall. The automatic belay devices became more and more popular in indoor climbing centers. It's a great option, if you don't have a climbing partner. Most climbers love to use them, but some don't... Let's see why is that?

Some customers are confused about how the system works and what is the main difference between activities using only automatic belay devices, such as Clip&Climb and the more 'traditional' climbing systems, such as 'top rope'.

What's the difference between automatic belaying and more 'traditional' rope climbing?

The main difference is, that using automatic belay devices, we don't have the 'luxury' of a real climbing partner being in control of the rope. The machine's only job is to slow down the lowering speed to around 2 metres per second. Automatic belay devices are great tools, but they need some time to adapt to the mechanism and build climber's confidenceto use them properly.

The more 'traditional' climbing approach using climbing ropes, allows to fully control the speed of lowering as well as hold the falling climber at any point by the belayer who controls. Competent belayer or professional climbing instructor can help building climber's confidence easier and faster, by taking the climb in stages and allowing some rest during the ascent. We recommend this option for all novice and beginner climbers, regardless their age.

In conclusion the main difference is:

- automatic belay devices don't stop the falling climber.

- traditional belay devices can stop the falling climber at any point.

Indoor climbing walls become increasingly more popular. Customers of all ages are looking for more or less regular activities. At Slough Climbing Wall we are trying to create an offer suitable for everybody. From regular weekend kids' clubs and adults social climbing to fun after school open sessions. The difference is mainly in a way our customers book the supervised service. Most of them are just a few clicks away in the on-line booking system, some are closed and dedicated for members only, unavailable for on-line booking. We recommend starting your journey with open, non-commitment sessions, like: Weekend climbing for children (aged 7-13), private tuition, or after school sessions. After your first indoor climbing experience you may wish to start more regular activity. We are happy to support you in this. 

The concept of making rock climbing one of the GCSE sports in not new at all. There is a long history of this syllabus being available for pupils, teachers and schools. At the Slough Climbing Wall, we continuously provide technical support for the scheme and work regularly with schools and private clients to prepare them to this exam. There were multiple problems caused by recent pandemic and the access to many sport venues were limited, but we are happy to see that the interest in GCSE in rock climbing is now rising.

After learning the basic climbing skills, there is a time to try a hard project and for some of the young people, sport climbing becames their favourite regular one.