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I was at the boulder gym last Sunday, and the Sunday before that, and before that, not at all for eight months. Because bouldering is cursed. Every time I start making progress, something happens, and I cannot do it for months, or years, and start all over again with better and better technique and knowledge but no strength or balance or courage.
What happens? Well, the usual. Torn ligaments, chemotherapy, worldwide pandemic, and last summer, fragging my shoulder (rotator cuff tear and frozen shoulder) caused (or triggered) by slow and steady swimming of all things.
Anyway, ligaments healed, chemo ended, pandemic calmed down, and the shoulder, after 3 months, finally got treated and since mid-November last year I am working to get movement and strength back. Pain-free would be nice, too, but seems to have reached a plateau where I can get through the day OK but the nights are bad.
So I'm back to the boulder gym, at last. (Not to swimming, though. I'm scared.) It's close by, and large: Even if I can do only the easiest routes right now, I can still keep myself occupied for at least an hour with a variety very easy routes. And as the knowledge is still there, in my head and also in my body, progress is visible.
Also, gravity is the most unbiased of critics. You finish that route, you did it right. You fall, you didn't. I find that simpleness very un-stressful. (And very, very different from singing, where I never know if I'm doing it right!)
I am also working with a personal trainer, to get my strength back up without doing anything stupid. It's expensive, but effective.
And I feel a bit silly, because I'm in my mid-fifties and probably too old for this shit. But that's something I cannot change, so I'll just ignore it.
What happens? Well, the usual. Torn ligaments, chemotherapy, worldwide pandemic, and last summer, fragging my shoulder (rotator cuff tear and frozen shoulder) caused (or triggered) by slow and steady swimming of all things.
Anyway, ligaments healed, chemo ended, pandemic calmed down, and the shoulder, after 3 months, finally got treated and since mid-November last year I am working to get movement and strength back. Pain-free would be nice, too, but seems to have reached a plateau where I can get through the day OK but the nights are bad.
So I'm back to the boulder gym, at last. (Not to swimming, though. I'm scared.) It's close by, and large: Even if I can do only the easiest routes right now, I can still keep myself occupied for at least an hour with a variety very easy routes. And as the knowledge is still there, in my head and also in my body, progress is visible.
Also, gravity is the most unbiased of critics. You finish that route, you did it right. You fall, you didn't. I find that simpleness very un-stressful. (And very, very different from singing, where I never know if I'm doing it right!)
I am also working with a personal trainer, to get my strength back up without doing anything stupid. It's expensive, but effective.
And I feel a bit silly, because I'm in my mid-fifties and probably too old for this shit. But that's something I cannot change, so I'll just ignore it.