I’ve spent the past five months rock climbing, specifically bouldering. The main motivation was to build upper body strength, after a lifetime of no meaningful upper body gains, in preparation for lifting a baby and baby supplies. Climbing has always intrigued me, but in the past I refrained from committing for the sake of protecting my fingers for music or potentially surgery. But now, why not!

I joined City Climb Gym, 1.2 miles north of my New Haven apartment, and ran to climb there 3–5 times per week. It’s a good but humble gym, frequented by members of the Yale Climbing Team and a posse of middle schoolers in a training program. Meanwhile there was me, a solo lanky Asian dude in running garb, doing laps on the easy problems, memorizing holds, getting a feel for balancing on the wall, and strengthening my fingers.

The physical transformation was measurable. My laptop fingerprint scanner has been thwarted by thickening callouses. Rapidly, I packed on five pounds of muscle, particularly in my forearms so much so that I had to resize my wristwatch bracelet. My wedding ring is no longer dangerously loose… The skill progression is measurable too. I started in February struggling on V2s. Nowadays, I can flash some V4s and send favorable V5s, and I have the stamina to last for 50+ bouldering routes. 

Mostly, though, it’s just been fun! I just like climbing. It’s a sport that naturally intrigues me, more so than running, swimming, judo or anything else I’ve dabbled in. I’ve been out real bouldering just once, back in 2014 during a short stint when I peaked far below my current progression. I’m hoping I’ll find the opportunity to boulder out in the wild again soon.