If you're like me an dread the monotony of working out give climbing a try! Every climb is different which keeps the workout fresh and exciting and it works out every core muscle group.
Yes, I second this. Particularly bouldering if you're more interested in strength/smaller but more physically and cognitively demanding problems. I worked out through college and then dropped the gym for a while, bouldering indoors is much more stimulating than weightlifting, and it's a great casual activity with friends too.
Climbing reduces cortisol (stress hormone) by producing testosterone. I also think fear makes you forget about everything but the problem and grounds you in what matters in life (usually not work).
I can't say for sure, but having played other sports and also spent a lot of time climbing I don't think that I've experienced the same flavor of focus on the basketball court or in a flow-state while mountain biking.
I feel like there is a different and very high-quality kind of focus that comes from having to perform correctly or die.
I free climb. I don't "free solo", but I do "rope solo" where I am leading up with nobody but myself to manage the rope.
Most of the time the climbing I do is not really "perform or die", but I've been climbing a lot of easier stuff where there's no real way to protect anything... so I end up "running it out" and a failure would be deadly. So, like technical climbing moves with a 30M potential fall if I slip, but a fair degree of confidence that I won't slip.
That is a much different head space than, say the flow state I feel riding a mountain bike.
Nice. I've got a story about free climbing. The only time I did free climbing was as a teenager.
I climbed up a small 30ft vertical cliff edge, no ropes. You might survive that height onto grass but below was sharp rocks and crashing waves.
There were enough footholds and handholds most of the way but I was stretching to get them and at one point my left foot slipped and I was left hanging on the pressure of my right foot and right arm pressed diagonally against weak holds, left side of my body dangling. There wasn't enough grip on my hand to hang by my right arm and I wouldn't have been able to balance on my right foot so I needed both to stay perfectly put, the right hand side of my body like an extended piston jammed between two points, grip slipping. I let go with my right hand then pushed off the right foothold as much as I could on the loose foot grip, got a little air while swinging my left hand up to get the next hold. Grabbing the hold I quickly pulled up my feet get access to higher footholds, body scrunched up to use them they were so close to the new handholds. Then with my feet in position I pushed my body up to get access to two new handholds and was back in a stable position.
I made it to the top but in that moment when my foot slipped I felt my heart drop so suddenly I never felt more focused in my life on the actions I was going to take next.
Dumb move to start it I guess but I was a bored teenager and wanted to challenge myself. I'd climbed rocks and stuff on the coast but never actually scaled a cliff before that point. Never did it again, never got propper training to learn good technique. Shame really because I had an affinity with it.
To expand on the idea, I find that the actual "workout" part of climbing is not super effective... I mean, walking/ hiking is a workout too but by itself it's not going to bring about many physiological changes without a lot of additional targeted work. For context, I don't climb "hard"... I lead trad around 5.9+, sport around 11a/b, and was grunting up some WI4 this weekend as a newbie ice climber in Ouray-- I don't boulder outside of a gym if I can avoid it.
I think most people can climb 5.10 outside without changing a lot of fitness... the skills and techniques are so much more important than strength, assuming a basic level of fitness.
What I have found is that I'm a lot more likely to do actual working out when I have a project I'm trying to get strong enough to do.
Additionally, climbing keeps me doing approaches with a pack, and there is fitness that comes with that practice. Or I need to get up hella early, so it often prevents me from drinking. Or I have a reason to fast and keep my weight as low as possible without feeling like I'm jut being neurotic and picky about what I eat.
That is all to say, I've gotten a lot of stoke for working out from climbing, but the climbing itself hasn't been specifically great workout wise.
So maybe this is just a quibble, and not a disagreement; I certainly like to recommend that people get out and climb and it sure has gotten me around the issue of not wanting to exercise, even if I don't find it to be a great workout in itself.
But that quibble does change the character of the recommendation, I think: in general, I think that any hobby which benefits from high levels of fitness is a good thing that makes working out easier. Mountain biking, back country skiing, mountaineering, canyoneering... all of those are great and make getting into the gym feel like it has a much higher pay-off.
Another niche sport recommendation: unicycling! Good for core, a unique skill, insanely fun. Learning is a test of perseverance. If you're physically talented, advanced skills will keep you engaged. If you're merely able-bodied, you can still learn to ride. A surprising number of people take it up in their 50s and 60s.
Sometimes after a climb I’m exhausted not just physically but also from all the mental effort related to path planning. Ive noticed a similar "exhaustion" (perhaps in a diminished form) after skiing and snowboarding on tricky (for me) terrain.
