2021 July Climbing update

Pretty amazing that shortly after I posted September 2020 climbing update last October, the climbing gyms were all closed due to COVID-19, and remained closed until May 2021. That's 7 full months of no indoor climbing, during which time I pretty much lost all my climbing strengths. The first time I went back into the gym in May, even a level 5 route felt hard to pull on. My legs struggle to make what felt like big steps up the wall. It took about 1 month of regular indoor climbing to feel like I am close to my strength levels last year. So here's the update, almost 1 year later.

I actually had several chances to go climb outdoors in March and April, 2021.  My route reading sucked, so some 3s and 4s actually felt hard. Since my bf and I had no strength, we struggled on some 6-'s (5b's) routes, and left a quickdraw on a wall. Currently we are still climbing max 5bs outside. I hope before the end of this summer season, I can climb more 5c's and maybe try 1 or 2 6a's outside.

Shoe update: Mythos (size 38) are best for outdoor climbing. I don't know why, I am unable to use my slightly downturned Scarpa Vapors (size 39.5) outdoors. They hurt my feet and don't help with outdoor climbing. Same with my new La Sportiva Katanas. I bought a pair of Katanas because they are more flat than the Vapors, so I assumed they would be more comfy than my Vapors. I was wrong. I think I sized them too small (size 38). They tension my feet so that the toes and heels REALLY hurt, and I can't use them outside. Surprisingly, I am now able to use my Finale outside. Finale (size 38.5) has a flat sole, are sized pretty tight also kinda hurt, but there isn't a real foot tension system in this model and the soles are softer than Katana (maybe because they are broken in). I find the friction on the wall to be really good, so it's the right stiffness for me for easy outdoor slab climbs. Indoors, I am able to use the Katana on boulder walls for as long as I can stand the pain. So the performance is there; I'm just waiting for the toebox to mold to my feet. The Vapors feel pretty good indoors now. They are my perfect sending shoes for hard routes (7-s/6A+s).

Indoor climbing update: So now (7-s/6A+s) are my limits in terms of strength. I have gained some weight during corona lockdown (up to 68.9kg). So climbing has felt really hard. I am currently at around 66.3kg, hoping to go down to 65kg, which will be quite difficult for me. Currently, I don't climb too many hard routes per sessions, so I don't get bunion pains during climbing, which is a big blessing. Mentally, I feel more confidence now when I climb above a quickdraw clip. I often feel quite secure on my feet on the wall. My upper body strength are on their way back (getting stronger), and that makes me feel quite good. My hand skin can be a limiting factor for indoor climbing. 

Bouldering: the other day, I went to a new gym to take advantage of their 15 class deal and to try bouldering. I could climb a lot of the boulders up to 5c/6a. I feel like I can struggle longer on boulders now, which makes bouldering more fun than before, when I felt tired so quickly that I couldn't really try a hard boulder multiple times. 

I'm at a point where I don't feel like I will make much progress on harder grades. I just need to focus on moving better on the level that I am: shift weight better, breath better, stay calm on routes, stand up from pistol squats, assisted pull ups, handstands, push ups; lose 1-2 kg more.

It's funny that my bf likes to buy fancy (read: expensive) climbing shoes but doesn't climb much harder than I do. He wears them for his psychology (to "feel more secure" on harder routes). He laughs at me for still using my not so comfy/performance-based shoes (read: Taratulace [size 39... way too big], Finale). The thing is, for the easy warm up routes, I have seen people climb them with approach shoes or even runners. I shouldn't need to waste rubber on expensive climbing shoes to climb those routes. I try to save my "fancy shoes" on routes that do benefit from downturned, tensioned climbing shoes that cost more. I'm happy that I can tolerate the discomfort of my more basic shoes now. It means my feet are on their way to getting stronger. The advanced shoes definitely hurt the feet in a different manner. The bf is torturing his feet on easy routes where foot torture do not help improve his climbing, but he has a different philosophy than me I guess. I only want to submit my feet to expensive torture if they truly help me stand on tiny ledges or push harder on a foothold for those truly difficult, advanced routes. I will climbing a route even my shoes don't feel secure, as long as my feet don't slip off the footholds.  The bf needs too-tight shoes to feel secure. He will move up only if he feels extremely secure with his footholds and handholds. That's totally not necessary for a foothold to keep your body on the wall. Just move up and use insecure holds as intermediate holds. My limiting factor is mainly strength and power. His limiting factor is his need to feel totally secure.

September climbing progress

So there were days when I felt really weak (couldn't complete a 6+/7- properly). There were days I felt really strong. I completed a 6+/7- with bad handholds (slopers and small jugs) and the footholds were not directly under the handholds. It was the first time in quite awhile that I felt my hands could grip hard even when a pump happens and I couldn't arrive at good handholds / resting spots for quite a few moves. The day after this my left wrist was hurting a bit when I exerted force on the left hand. I have not had this happen before. I'm hoping it will go away in a few days.

Overall, it seems like my strength goes up and down on different days. I keep thinking if I lose some weight then I would climb better, but I am really bad at losing weight. It almost never happens. The alternative is to get stronger... I have a better chance improving my core, back, arm and hand strength. I also have a lot of room to improve for footwork. 

I feel like my currently achievable goals are to climb better... get better at flagging, improve strength slightly, improve my climbing techniques. I hope to also be less scared and dare to try more moves high up on the wall. I guess I will keep climbing 6Bs / 7s for all of next year. I don't expect to gain a lot more strength soon.

The good news of recent climbing are that the limiting factors are usually back and finger tiring out, or general depletion of overall energy. My hand skin and my feet don't seem to cause so much pain that limit my climbing lately. I hope my feet continue to get stronger and that my bunions do not worsen.

Last few weeks of outdoor climbing

 Recently I have been climbing outdoors to take advantage of the last few weeks of good weather. Moves are more diverse outside; the foot holds are sometimes smeary on slabs; the rock face could be wet and muddy. The wind, insects, caterpillars, etc. makes it all more difficult than climbing inside.

So I have fallen twice outside already. I don't know why I have a blind trust that my feet will hold a smear as I go upwards using not so great handholds. I think I have a blind trust on the reported grades -- a 5? For sure I must be able to place my foot on a slab and it won't slip! I am excited about holding some weird positions while clipping. Feels like I am gaining experience and progressing, and I feel strong enough to do some tricky moves.

The bf is really having more trouble with climbing outside. He does not trust his feet at all, and he hates falling even more. He needs to psyche himself before he would do the moves on 3s and 4s with bad/no footholds. We only dare to climb 5- (4cs). I'm hoping to tackle more 5b's and 5c's, or even 6a's, but P is not ready for it.  

I feel this year I will just learn to manage my bunion pains on the rock walls. I won't be climbing 6a's or 6a+s outside at all. Hopefully if my feet are good for the lower grades, they will be good for the higher grades too. A big issue with outdoor climbing is endurance -- holding a move while figuring out what to do next. Now I am at a point where I will cheat and grab the quickdraw if I don't know what part of the wall to grab next. I just need to be strong enough to be able to try a few things, re-position my feet and body in order to get to the next hold, try things half way and be able to reverse into the former position. I am also learning to not be scared of creepy crawlers. They seem pretty harmless compared to falling and getting scratched/cut by rock. Wasps are still annoying/scary though.

End of August climbing progress update

There were days where I couldn't get through 7-s without hanging. I have gained about 1-2kg of weight, and I can feel it in my climbing (7s feel way too hard for my hands now). I also realized that sometimes the climbing shoes hurt my feet because I didn't put my shoes on properly (the toe box needs to be wiggled until my toes don't feel squished). If I don't wear my shoes properly, my feet hurt and I can't climb so well.

Anyways, recently the Scarpa Vapors have been feeling better than they used to, probably because I have broken in the resoles, and because Instincts have a fit that feel even harder on the feet. I am sad that my Tarantulace now feels too large and not supportive enough for my toes. They are fine for very easy routes, where I can place a large portion of my foot on the footholds. They are also fine for routes with smaller footholds, but after awhile, the base of the big toes start to hurt due to lack of shoe support. I guess I will wear them only when my Mythos eventually get resoled. I still haven't decided which rubber I will resole my shoes with.

I haven't done overhang for awhile, and boy, I either felt totally freaked out, or super tired on these routes. Usually I feel especially low energy after eating something, or in the evenings. I'm not sure if I will ever improve this aspect. 

I tried an 7/7+ the other day. I was able to do moves, with shallow handholds, tiny footholds, and uncomfortable/unstable moves. I felt like I could use these holds and do the moves individually, but I was uncomfortable doing that many hard moves in a row. My hands and my feet get tired after one hard pull while pushing hard on a small foothold. The hands and feet (and mental psyche) want a break after every single move. I guess I just need to do the route over and over again until the holds feel less intense and that I get used to doing these moves.

At this point, I don't really expect to get much better at climbing. I have always have trouble losing weight, so unless I can manage to lose like 3-5 kg, I don't think I can improve a grade. My small wish is just to be able to maintain the current level of climbing. The current grades feel relatively challenging and I have fun doing them. So I will keep doing the 7-s forever, while occasionally trying some 7s and 7/7+s.

August climbing update

I'm looking at my July climbing progress article . I feel like that after doing several routes that were quite fear inducing. Recently I feel less fear when I am on new 7-/7 (6b) routes.  I even did an outdoor 5c route where I actually fell because a handhold I grabbed came off. At the time I thought I was too close to the ground and would hit the ground for sure, but luckily my belay partner caught me so I was totally fine.

For August, I haven't been able to pull harder, but I recognize I would be able to do a 6b route better if I could sustain hard pulls for several moves. So what I am lacking is power endurance. I also recognize that if I had (sustained) stronger finger strength then I would be able to master this grade. I also need much better footwork, because there are some tricky parts where I felt like my feet and hip placement have not been ideal. For lower grades I could just compensate by hanging onto the handholds stronger; but for this grade and higher, the handholds are not nearly as good, so the feet better be more solid and balanced to hold my body weights.

- My core also needs to be stronger. I had less of a body tension issue this month, but maybe I just didn't go on a route that put me in really odd position.

- Regarding fear about being out of balance (at 6b, this will probably change when I climb a higher level): 

•  Less of a problem unless I am very tired. So I am more used to certain positions now. They used to feel imbalanced, now I know my body can still hold the position without falling off. 

- Fear of heights: less of a problem this month

- Fear of falling: having actually fell outside, it's less scary for now.

- This month I started grabbing the quickdraw when I felt like I was not going to hold a position stable. This was a no-no for me before, and now I seem to just care less. I don't know if this is a good or bad development.

I hope by the end of the year I would be more comfortable lead climbing 6b's. Specifically, I hope to improve my power endurance, my footwork, and my core strength. I think losing some weight (3-4kg) would help a lot too.

July climbing progress

Although I don't feel I am getting much stronger, I feel more comfortable on hard routes now (7- /7s). My muscle endurance have improved. I can calm down and try a few different things, whereas previously if I encountered a route where I didn't know how to approach the next move, I would panic and pause for hanging right away.

Climbing is all about fighting discomfort/fear. The list of fears include:

- Discomfort about feeling out of balanced 

• I feel I'm not in control

- Discomfort about lack of body tension 

• Lots of core strength and stabilization muscles needed to hold oneself in mid air in odd positions 

- Discomfort of such strong exertion on the hands, shoulders, and back normally not experienced in every day life 

• Some days I am not even able to exert as much power as needed to do a move. Other days when I can, I feel powerful, amazed, ecstatic, gratified, and unsure how long I can maintain it. I still don't know where power is generated. Is it from the mind, or is it this Qi/energy flow, which theoretically originates from the abdomen and from the breaths

- Fear of heights

• I would try the next hard move if I were close to the ground, but not so far up the wall, or on an overhang route

- Fear for the next daunting next move 

• a dyno, Gaston, tiny crimp, unsure where to place one foot after the move, etc

- Fear of falling

• Uncertain if I can catch the next hand hold and keep myself on the wall
• Uncertain if I am strong enough to stick the next move
• Uncertain even if I succeed in the move, if I have the endurance to hang on for some seconds
• Uncertain if my foot would slip when I try to push myself up to grab the next hand hold

- Fear of letting go of a hand to clip the rope

• Again, need to learn to have body balance/body control/trust the feet won't slip/fingers are strong enough etc.

A lot of times I pre-rest in anticipation that my hand won't be able to hang on for long enough for me to clip a quick draw, but usually, when I just hang on and fight, I am able to hang on despite tired hands and slow clipping. It's all a matter of getting used to the stimulus and the environment.

A friend has a completely different approach to climbing. She talks a lot about goals, but she progresses extremely slowly. She is very lean (which is a good body type for climbing), but seems unable to build muscles. I suspects she needs to 1) climb harder, 3) work on horizontal traverses and body weight transfer footwork 3) eat more protein/fat, 4) lift some weights, 5) perhaps some body weight exercises like sit ups, leg lifts and push ups.  Not everyone is willing to put in that much efforts though. I personally get very antsy about not making any kind of progress, but maybe other people just want to have fun and not do supplemental work out just to improve in climbing.  

I hope there isn't another lockdown for us. I'm really hoping to become comfortable with lead climbing 7s by the end of 2020. Right now I can only top rope a few 7s, and I never feel fully comfortable on the routes. If there is indeed another lockdown, I will push myself do to more fingerboard hanging, elastic theraband exercises, and core strengthening exercises.

Climbing progress: I can still crimp!

Right now we can only go climb about once a week or less. 6+/7- routes were feeling difficult. However, as I was ready about to accept that I can only climb at this level for awhile, I found a 7 route with handholds and footholds set pretty close together (no big moves required), with very small handhold and footholds. I put on my Scarpa Vapor and gave it a shot. Turns out I still can stand on tiny footholds and hold on to relatively small handholds! The sad side: shoes hurt my feet quite a lot. So it's the shoe pain that limits my climbing right now.

I'm getting old: my body permanently feels somewhat sore now, even if I only go climbing once a week. I try to do some push ups at home. It's not my arms that are limiting, but my body, which has trouble holding the spine straight. The hypermobility is still there, even though I feel much less flexible than I used to when I practiced yoga regularly. My shoulders are not super happy when I do too many push ups. I feel like I need to do more high planks, since that seems to be quite challenging for me. I wonder if I will just permanently feel sore and discomfort in the body. 

Back to climbing after 2 months of quarantine

Every time I take a break from climbing, the body does not get the specific arm-pulling / lower back holding up legs / legs in lunge position / feet balancing on toes while I clip a rope to a quickdraw - type training. So when I get back to the wall, everything feels hard again. Pulling feels difficult; balancing on the wall feels unfamiliar; legs are shaky; the height / the wind raise the heart rate; calves can cramp up; the hips tweak in funny ways as I attempt to high step at a funny angle; a low level climb feels insecure; the hand skin start to hurt after a few short climbs. I don't yet get to climb at a level that gives me huge forearm burns, but my toes, the skin on my hands, my lower back all tell me "enough" after 4-5 beginner level routes.

During the quarantine, I have tried to do some hang boarding. They don't really help with the lower level climbs that don't require so much finger strengths. I have improved in my push ups and handstands against the walls, but my shoulders don't love this much heavy usage, so I have to take it easy.

I had the same approach as when I was young that I wanted to move up the grade difficulties. However, it's looking more and more like I will be climbing 6s/7s (6a's/6b's) 5.10 ranges forever due to this aging body. Maybe I need to change my approach to the sport, and focus on other things instead like breathing, smoothness of movements, and foot placement. I should stop worrying about grades and just focus on the joy of being on a climbing wall, enjoying the movement, being in balance, breathing smoothly, and conquer the fear of falling (secured with a rope of course).

Back to climbing after 3 weeks vacation

Like last winter, I took 3 weeks vacation from climbing. However, this time, in November and December, I got quite sick for a week or so twice (cold and winter stomach flu), so my climbing pre-vacation was not so regular either. Last time I was completely shocked how much strength and endurance I lost. This time I was mentally expecting it.

First post-vacation bouldering warm up initially felt like my arms were in shock about having to hold the body weight. It took awhile for the "shock" to go away. I can't quite tell if the shock was in the arms or in the head. The fingers weren't quite sure if they could hold the weight, but obviously they could. I did 5 rope climbs -- 1 red 5+ (5a), 1 green 6+ (6a), 1 black chimney 7- (6a+) that I have done before, 1 hard white 6 (should be a 6+/6a), and 1 hard white/blue dot 6 (5c) to end, where I was too scared to try the last move because I couldn't stand stretched out on one leg to reach the last hold.  The lower level climbs felt quite fun because they were at my limits. They required me to reach out, stretch, put my body in uncomfortable positions, but did not require more strength than what my body is currently capable of. I am hoping by the end of February I would be able to climb multiple 7s (6bs) and to work on short 7+/6b+s again. 

I went bouldering the next day, and could boulder up to 6a's. I did not have my full power back, but was able to play with some attempts on the less strengths/more tricky-technical boulders. My limiting factor when I first start bouldering was hand skin. Then it became my arm strength/core strength. Now it's back to skin again. My hand skin and my achy toes prevent me from climbing further before my core/back/arms are exhausted. Hoping to toughen up my skins again so I could train my muscles further.

Glad to feel I have some techniques/endurance under my belt now. I'm hoping by June I could be working on 6b+s indoor and 6a/6a+s outdoor. By the end of the year I hope to be able to do multiple 6b+ routes and 6b boulders. I hope I can do 5 pull ups consecutively. I hope my bunions do not worsen.

Things to work on:

- Core
- Finger strength
- Pull ups
- Overhangs
- Footwork
- Flow
- Body tension
- Power
- Pistol squats
- Pinch power/endurance
- Lock offs
- Handstands
- Cardio

Bouldering progress

This is my first time bouldering after awhile. My back and shoulders are still a bit sore from climbing last weekend. The last time I wrote about bouldering was 4 months ago. Time flies! 

I'm not climbing much harder routes than 4 months ago. The difference is that back then, every boulder felt "weird". They required my body to twist into unfamiliar angles and bear weight in ways that were very different from my previous gym. Now my body feels more comfortable on boulders of the same levels. I am more used to the styles of boulders at this gym, even though I don't come to this bouldering gym so often. I still don't love slopers (big bumps that require the friction of an open hand to stay on), but I am getting to the point where I trust that they will hold me. My body has gotten stronger. It has learned that some standing positions, while feeling uncomfortable, will hold when I make my next move. I am actually strong enough to try a few boulders at the next level (blue ones at this gym). They require new body positions where my feet slip off again. I have no doubt though I will eventually figure out a way to place my feet such that they do not slip off of the footholds.  

A new friend climbed with us during this session. He has a very different style of climbing. His feet slips all over the place. He compensates with his incredible upper body strength. So basically at every position his hands and upper body are bearing his weight. On good foot holds his feet his feet/legs will bear some weight, but on less good, angled foot holds the legs are not really engaged. This is how a lot of guys climb initially, because many of them have the strength to do 10+ chin ups/pull ups before they even started climbing. I see that for boulders with good handholds, they have no problem doing chin ups all the way up to the top. However, on boulder problems (at the V1-V3 / 5-6b levels)  where the handholds are small crimps, they run into some troubles. At first I thought it's not a good way to climb, but after observing quite a few guys climbing this way, I realized that there are enough boulder problems in the gym that are upper-body strength-oriented that they don't reeeeally need to be great with footwork if they just avoid the routes with small crimps. It's the same that I basically cannot do any bouldering problems with moves that require more upper body strength and core strength than I currently possess. Sometimes I can do some intermediate moves to get me to the top, but sometimes I just gotta wait until I get stronger. 

I didn't think I would get to a stage where I really enjoy bouldering, but here I am. Enjoying means I can get through boulder problems that are just at the limits of my abilities. If a boulder is too easy, it is boring. If it is too hard and way beyond my abilities, it's frustrating and pointless to try them. The best boulder problems are the ones where I can make progress after several tries, I can practice the moves, try different things (toes at different angles), hands holding the handhold in different ways, etc, and get better at doing them. The leg, core and arm muscles feel like they are exerting at a strenuous level that they can handle (ie. The Goldilocks zone). It feels very rewarding.

Most importantly, my bunions didn't hurt during this session, which is amazing. Which means I should probably spend this period to boulder more and cut back on sport climbing. My hips, knees and toes click a lot after climbing sessions, suggesting that changes are happening to connective tissues lines (muscles, fascia, bones, tendons, ligaments, all that fun stuff).  I'm really hoping my body learns to move in a way that does not put excessive pressure on the big toe base joints. Oh yeah, I also learned that beginner shoes are fine for my level of climbing. I do not need advanced climbing shoes (which hurt my feet) to send V3-V4 problems. 

Back in the climbing gym

So I rested a whole week before I went back to the climbing gym. The feet were hurting the entire week. I felt tired every day. It's not very efficient to strain oneself for 1.5 weeks of adventurous holidays and then take an entire week to recover, but I guess I was just falling back into my usual laziness. The trip showed me that my body could adapt to a more active lifestyle should I choose to adopt it.

Climbing in a gym feels soooo different than climbing outside. My feet don't need to press down quite as hard as they do on the rocks. There are no wind currents blowing by, no birds flying over my head, no spiders or other large insects strolling past my hands, no geckos/lizards, no thorny bushes to rip open the skin on my hands, arms and legs, and in general a lot fewer unexpected encounters for my brain to process/worry about. There are only the handholds, the next moves, and the height to deal with. I felt so much more comfortable and grateful to be back in the gym after a week on the rocks. It's a very strange feeling given how much I enjoyed climbing outside, directly next to the gorgeous blue Mediterranean Sea. 

When started out I had no clue how to move my hands and feet to go up the wall. Now I'm at a stage where I know exactly what I should do -- usually: do a slight pull up with my arms, then move one foot to the next foot hold, which is a move initiated from the hip flexors. But my leg won't do what my brain tells it to do, either because I'm too tired, or that I don't believe my body can do this move, or that once the foot is in the air, it has trouble landing comfortably on the next foothold securely enough to take on some of my body weight, so my 2 hands and my other foot begin to feel my body weight more, and the brain begins to panic that I can't hold this position for much longer. So my brain knows the different things I can try: shift body positions slightly, try placing the foot in a different way or somewhere else, or place it where I wanted to place it, then move the other foot up quickly, then hands up quickly, until I get to somewhere with secure feet again so I am rest and calm down my nerves.

It's a bit like learning a dance move. Except on the ground, one can just rehearse the move, do it badly several time to get the gist of the general direction of where arms and legs and body are supposed to go, and then work on the details of the aesthetics. On the wall, panic sets in every time a move is not done well because the brain worries the body is not strong enough to pull off the move and one can fall off. Here we have the procedural-planning side of the brain who is proud to have figured out a procedure to go about the sport route, but the safety-check side of the brain is like "You might not be strong enough to execute the moves", and freezes the hip flexor so I cannot actually lift my leg. Even though I can probably override it, but I do feel sore, so I ask my belay partner to tighten the rope and I hang and rest, and then feel a little bad that I didn't try harder to complete the move.

When I was outside, the thought of falling and rubbing my body on the rock wall like pressing a chunk of cheese over a cheese grater was just too horrendous, so I definitely erred on the side of caution. Now that I am indoors again, the moves feel really different from the moves I did outside. So I wonder if indoor training is good enough for improving my climbing outside. My conclusion is that indoor mainly helps me get stronger overall so that I can eventually hang onto the wall longer and try several different moves, instead of having to hang and essentially skip the hard parts of a challenging route.

I'm looking forward to being able to move more smoothly on the wall and having fewer of these moments where my body is unable to execute a move due to internal fights between different parts of my brain. 

Climbing progress post

Normally, when I go climbing, I climb until my body is not able to do the big power moves any more. So my muscles are tired and I have to go on easier routes. I stop when even the easier routes start to feel tiring; the skin on my hands feel tender, and my toes are in pain.

Last weekend, I managed to climb until the hand skin and toes were in pain, but my muscles, tendons and bones felt like they could handle more. Specifically, with my big toes: the climbing shoes push the big toe towards the center of my foot, so my bunion (base of big toe) experiences too much pressure from my body weight. The proper technique is to push on the big toe to hoist myself up the wall and I couldn't really do it. The hand skin was from a bit too much bouldering before the sport climbing session started.

In general, this means my body has gotten stronger, since I can boulder more in the beginning. Just when I feel my body is ready for bigger power moves, my toes say no. I'm not exactly sure how to continue. If I just ignore it, I think my bunions will get worse (one is starting to develop on the left foot, which didn't have much of a bunion before).

I think I have to see a podiatrist who understands climbing for some advice before I dare to push harder. It's probably okay for me to climb at the level that I climb (~6a+/6b) and stop when my feet start hurting. It's just frustrating that my endurance is improving but my feet don't allow me to climb for longer or push the feet harder for propelling the body up the wall. That's how life is, I guess. I will probably stay at this level for the rest of the year. Will try to focus more on aspects other than foot pushing, such as body positioning, breathing, and stronger hands. I'm not too concerned about hand skin.. I have no gaping holes on my hand so far. The indoor holds are nowhere as bad as outdoor rocks, which I have yet to try this or last year. I really hope to be able to get to try outdoor climbing before the end of this year.

Reference for foot problems for climbers: http://thomasbondphysio.blogspot.com/2013/08/feet-and-rock-climbing.html