UKC

Hey everyone,

I made the decision to get back in to climbing again a month or so ago after reconnecting with all my old climbing friends at my old mans funeral.  Reminiscing on all the old stories, looking through all my old mans pictures (all 75,000 of them from the 1960s up until 2023)

I've taken the plunge and refreshed my gear, new harness, boots etc and have started going to my local wall twice a week.

I'm carrying a lot of extra weight compared to the last time I climbed regularly and I have to admit my arms and fingers are struggling lol I'm hoping ill start to see some improvements the more I continue to go.

I have tried to get back in to it once before but found myself getting frustrated at my lack of ability and progress (in comparison to the level I was at before) and I'm interested in peoples thoughts and ideas on keeping motivated when the inevitable eventually happens and my motivation drops.

 

I always find a good way to motivate myself to train, or go to the gym or walk is to not think about the effort that you have to go to get up and go, but think about how good you’ll feel walking out.

Climbing walls are brutal places, even when you are fit. The good news is that the weather must improve soon - can you get out onto low grade real rock - maybe a day trip to the Peak? That should do the trick!   -  Good luck and persevere

Im coming back after a 5 year break, I've never been a brilliant climber but at 53 I feel like giving some proper  focus and attention before I get too old for improvement is a big motivation.

I have started bouldering (never did much before) as a way of getting stronger and I try to notice tiny improvements as a way of staying motivated. I find it easier to notice progression with bouldering - trying harder grades until they are doable and getting stronger in the process.

I'm trying to train rather than just climb as it gives measurable improvements - increased reps, weight's, times etc.

I'm doing thing I always thought were only for harder climbers - fingerboards, campus boards (feet on!) and circuit boards. The circuit board is a revelation - I started off not bring able to do 2 or three moves on the easy problems but quickly got so that I could link moves then complete the problem. Then I started trying harder stuff.

Get some training ideas - YouTube is great and there's loads of stuff online. It doesn't have to be fancy, just more focused than 'just climbing'. I find having an intention when I get to the wall inspiring, seeing progress as a result is also inspiring.

I've identified the areas of weakness in my climbing and intentionally work at them including technique workshops at the wall.  One of the advantages of being older is having a disposable income to chuck money at a problem - pay for coaching, get lattice training gubbins, whatever inspires you and helps !

I should also say that I do go to the wall or outside to 'just climb' and have fun with friends as well. It's also a good way of testing my training, seeing if it translates to feeling stronger, moving better etc on real rock. 

I wouldn't worry to much. Your starting at the bottom again so large gains can be made fairly easily. Focus on enjoying yourself, climb with people you enjoy the company of and try not to compare yourself to others around you or who you were 20 years ago. You'll see improvement soon.

I found that round about 50 I got a lot heavier (tbf, went from very light to average as got coeliac diagnosis) and had to change climbing style, getting much better on my feet. This also helped by lockdown yoga so hips got more mobile. Wonder if that might be a focus? My other thing was to start projecting local sports routes, never really done that before, and got into 2 new grades in the last 5 yrs. 

Am a lot more wary about hurting fingers or shoulders if not warmed up, I think nit having time out of ckimbing due to injury might be a biggie in my late 50s.

I’m still pretty average tho, and could get lots better on trad if I did more mileage.

Thanks everyone for your comments,
I'm really enjoying at the moment, the social aspect of it is great (one of the best things about climbing in my opinion) hardest thing at the moment is not physically being able to do it more.

My arms and forearms are taking an absolute beating, I'm needing at least 2-3 days between sessions at the moment for me to be any use.  I'm starting to lose weight which is a good sign and I've had a few nice moments getting a couple of V3s ticked off that i really shouldn't have had any hope of getting up.  

I'm trying not to get carried away and am mainly focussing on building up my stamina and strength to cope with dragging my fat arse up the wall lol.  Doing lots of reps on the auto belay on easy stuff and pushing myself a little trying something a little more difficult each session.

Hoping to get outside and do something in the summer when I'm hopefully a bit stronger

Really chuffed for you to have rediscovered the sport! I'm not sure that looking back at where you were climbing at in the past is the most productive thing. It doesn't actually move you forward.

It's easy to say, but try to focus on what is ahead and all the rapid improvements that you can make. You mentioned you've made some progress on body composition and that's amazing! Focusing on the result is a bit of a road to misery. The better you get, the less and less satisfaction you will have as that next grade or that harder climb get that much harder to attain (and that applies to everyone). Try to find the joy in the process and the results will come by themselves. This is quite a well discussed topic in sport psychology. A book called vertical mind:psychological approaches to optimal rock climbing speaks to it and it may be a starting point if you're interested.

Keep at it man, you´re doing everything right. I came back after a 15 year break and was appalled at how bad I was; it takes a couple of years, don´t push it too soon, your muscles get stronger quickly but the tendons need time to catch up. You´ll get there; great that you´re enjoying the social side, that´s what it´s all about anyway. I´m pushing 65 and climbing now just as well as I was at 35 (ok, I wasn´t brilliant then, but F7b is now realistic). Keep at it!

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll definitely give it a look.

I've always followed climbing and had the odd session every now and again over they years.  I've still got plenty of years ahead of me (hopefully) and have plenty of time to improve, I'm 43 and currently around 17 stone so i am hoping as i get stronger and lighter i might turn myself in to a climbing beast again lol

I'm a bit in the same situation, haven't climb anything for many years, only did some skiing. On a positive note : At 66 kilos I'm not overweight , my age is 62  . For me personally it helps to set some goals so I made a list of rock alpine climbs I want to do before I retire from climbing and sell all my gear. I got all the guide books from years ago and there is always the internet with info on loads of routes. I wish you all the best and safe climbing ! 

At 43 you're a mere youngster! Plenty of time to get lean and fit. I'm now really enjoying easier routes, the HS grade has some absolute classics. Avoiding injury had got to be a priority, so don't overdo things in your initial enthusiasm. Please keep us posted with your progress.

I'll echo Mark's point that at 43 you're a youngster!

You say that you'll climb outside once you're fitter/stronger/lighter. I know that for me it's best to get straight outside. For me, that's a way to get the enthusiasm going and all the rest can stem from that. There is great outdoor climbing to be had at any level. Just get on the lowest grade stuff if that's what suits you at this stage. 

Hope you have great fun with your climbing come-back!

Last time I was climbing well - for me! - was at age of 45 (leading E1 smoothly). Had a slight comeback at age of 49, leading things like Legacy very competently. Work then got in the way, so didn’t manage much more good climbing. Did a programme with Griff Rhys-Jones in Wasdale in 2006 (when I was 56) … Great Gable seemed to have ‘grown’ horrendously since I’d last been there! Had a return to Romsdal in Norway in 2009 climbing Bispen and most of way up Store Trolltind. Returned 2013 (now 63) and got to summit of Store Trolltind with my brother and a Norwegian guide. But by now my right hip was giving big problems (result of accident on Store Trolltind in 1969!) and no more serious climbing was done. Hip operation five years ago … still walk a lot, but much more slowly than I used to. But still in very good health, at age of 74 - in fact, better than ever since giving up all alcohol 15 months ago. Have no regrets about no longer climbing. Had a great 40 years of it, leaving many rich memories (plus photos). PS. My weight since my mid-teens has hardly ever varied from about 10 stone - went up to about 10¼ when I was very fit (muscle weight). Never put on the slightest bit of excess weight, so have been very lucky in that respect. Mind you, I put in the exercise, climbing 100s of 1000s of feet, and always ate sensibly.

I took up climbing for the first time at 54 and I'm not 57 and enjoying being challenged by some VS and HVS climbs outdoors. I climbed the Old Man of Hoy with some friends last year and the Old Man of Stoer with a guide. There are so many great adventures to have and being relatively weak means there are lots more classic climbs to be challenged on!