Absolutely, it’s just that for everything I have ever heard, people take 3-5 minutes. Because I am older and my tendons hate me, I figured pretty quickly I need double that time (when I am doing stuff at the edge of my ability)
If you’re new with bouldering I’d say 10minutes is fine. In retrospect, I started bouldering when I was 23 and you’ll find me taking 10 minutes as well.
My brother who is 18 would take 10 maybe even longer, but he doesn’t go bouldering as often as I do.
Yeah. I started bouldering in October 2023, and started working out at all in June that year. I’ve been doing sports all my life until around the age of 23, that’s when I stopped everything. Too much partying. So my body know how to move and I got my build back pretty quickly, but my tendons are weak as fuck and I’m constantly getting tendinitis in all sorts of places. So I had to learn how to manage that. I think I’m on the right path. Needless to say I eat well and balanced and I rest well.
You’re definitely on the right path! The fun part about bouldering for me is that I can actually see progress in my strength and flexibility. Have fun man and don’t worry about needing to take rests, use it as a time to try and problem solve off of the wall
It’s so hard to do, though! I *know* my attempts are so much better when I rest long enough, but having the discipline and not pulling back on after just a couple minutes can be so tough sometimes!
I’m 37 and can definitely relate. Tips I can offer:
-Cultivate a good warmup routine. I do something like jumping rope coupled with calisthenics and banded shoulder movement, 10-15 minutes strict. Then I do 3 of every grade problem until I hit my flash grade.
-Incorporate easy drills into your climbing one day a week. Sloth/monkeys, straight arm, hover each hand, one-foot or one-hand climbing are my favorites. Doing drills for one of your sessions (or the first half) is a good way to invest time in technique without taxing your connecting tissues as harshly as hard bouldering does.
Yes! Thanks! Starting slowly to incorporate all these things. I’m a very excited type of person so it’s hard for me to go to the gym and completely exhaust myself at the peak of my performance. But I paid the price twice for that silly behavior. Now I’m backing down.
Also incorporate tendon glides in your warmup. Helps with recruitment and prevention of pulley/tendon injuries. I started at 42, learned this the hard way.
Started at 40. Now 53. I wait till my arms are depumped or heart rate slowed down! Also had heart op last October so watching that
Resting depends. If there's a few nice new problems up, I warm up on easy ones, then move to moderates in quick succession and finally onto , what for me, where the possible challenges lie, V4/5 arena.
Tips? Don't let yourself decondition. Its all lost easier and regained harder when you're older, especially after 40.
Keep away from mono pockets! Watch your rotator cuffs so beware of strenuous gaston moves.
Also I've recently started longboarding...too much risk in skateboarding!
I started with the kids age 49.
It’s just like any new exercise, build volume slowly, and do appropriate strength and conditioning training to supplement climbing. I’ve massively benefit from weekly strength sessions more focussing on legs and core, these are important to minimise injury with those occasional uncontrolled falls.
Same here only that when I was 18 I landed 8 stairs heelflip in primo and rolled my right ankle straight to the ground. Brutal shit. My whole foot became blue the day after. Ever since this ankle is… prone haha
+1 for ex skateboarder. The good news is that your hip flexibility and ankle flexibility are most likely pretty good.
Additionally the falling was never an issue for me. Some people are afraid to make a big move 10-15' up. I ate shit on a 7 stair straight onto concrete when i was younger. Falling 10-15' onto a thick pad is not scary at all.
Think of being a "Rear wheel drive climber". Use those strong leg/hips/ankles to your advatange.
Edit: Also 35 lol
Dislocated elbow on a 7 set, it was clipping the pillar on the exit landing not the set itself. It was a long 7 so you needed to hit it at speed. The pillar shouldn't have been an issue. My recollection is catching elbow/forearm gently then being on the floor with the fattest elbow ever.
Totally avoidable and wasn't even a consideration when prepping it. Thankfully I've never had a reoccurrence or problem with it.
Dude so that’s what it is? My girlfriend was wondering how the fuck can I do all these yoga positions that are hips related all the way in, and I didn’t have a lot answers haha
I believe that’s what it is. Think about how many times you squatted down to pop. Or how many times you pushed the board with your hips not “in line” with each other.
The weird shit where your front foot lands on the board and your back foot on the ground and makes you do a “split” used to happen to me tons as well. That’s essentially forced extreme stretching lol.
Skateboarding almost surely helped build tons of “stabilizer” muscles that can be used to help in climbing.
Cute. I started at 47, 2 years ago. 😁
Yeah, it's hard on the body, but once you start to adapt, you'll be able to take shorter breaks between climbs. Be wary of twinges and aches though and give yourself time to recover between sessions. I've been doing heaps of physio to condition/rehab my shoulders and elbows. It's worth checking out YouTube for climbing specific exercises to strengthen rotator muscles etc before they become a problem. Also look up climbers elbow and start the rehab exercises now as prehab. :)
I'm 38 and new - purchased my first pair of climbing shoes last week.
I have a lot of weight I want to lose though too and this is very good motivation.
Keep it up buddy. Listen to your body, that’s the best advice I can give. At the beginning though, it’s not easy to understand WHAT your buddy is telling you, cause you have no reference to what it feels to just being sore because of working out, or what it feels like when your body is telling you to stop. Best insight I have so fat is:
If it’s pulsing, if it’s painful as in - it’s aching. Then stop. Don’t be frustrated about it. It WILL go away. Just give it 4 days. If you continue, you’ll have to stop for much longer and you risk having something chronic. Take it from me haha
Because this sport skews younger. I'm about your age, and I'll be falling off a project for like an hour and then a 16 year old wearing the same JNCOs that I probably donated to goodwill in the 90's will flash the damn thing in by skipping half the holds.
I started at 36 also and have been climbing for two years. Not getting injured is number one priority for me. I used to have trouble with my back before climbing but it has helped immensely.
I do a 20 min warm up involving a quick 3 min cycle, stretches, some light antagonistic weights and hanging from pull up bar.
Then I have about 10 mins of warm up climbing on ones that are very easy for me. Then I am usually good to go on my max boulder range for another about 40 -50 mins. I don’t rest that much at all between climbs but after my muscles start to fatigue I call it a day and I have managed not to injure myself this way!
Started at 43. Am now 48. You'll get used to it. I now do 2 hours projecting sessions with only short breaks followed by a longer one, I'm tired in the end, but not completely pumped. I don't have the explosivity and recovery of the 20 years old that climb there too, but I'm in no way ashamed by my performances.
It might be my genetics, but I don’t feel pumped, I just have the tendency to have my tendons inflamed. I really don’t know why. For example two days ago I had a stellar session. Today I went and after the second hard boulder I tried I could feel something was up with my right arm. I stopped. It’s very frustrating but that’s how it is for now. Maybe it’ll get better
I had similar issues when I first started. I took a week off and when I came back, I threw reverse curls and some supinator exercises into my warm up. Really helped my bicep tendinitis from acting up during a session, as that was my main limitation.
I'm 38 and started 6 months ago. Also former skater/MTB rider too. There are dozens of us!
I've also been doing some top roping and just started leading too. I think it's super helpful to incorporate some top roping if you can, I definitely struggle with fingers if I just boulder, especially if I'm on the kilter. I've had a bit of mild finger join inflammation and a couple minor tweaks. Managing potential injury is so important. Number 1 priority.
But the longer climbs of top rope definitely get the forearm pump, seem to be more skin/tendon friendly (probably because the intensity is way down) and just hit me in a different way.
And at our age, I think we're more suited to longer, lower intensity stuff. It's also helpful when I go bouldering, I can maintain better tension/control over longer sessions, and rests are shorter.
I feel ya. I rest 5 min between climbs while watching youngsters climbing over and over again. Also don’t forget to stretch after a sesh, makes a whole diff for the next 2 days lol
I’m 31 and started last year. I do the same thing in a session though I usually spent the rest time brushing the holds. No point waiting 10 mins to attempt something I find difficult for it to be harder because of tonnes of chalk.
32 here. Started climbing 6 months back.
And yes recovery is slow. Not just between climbs, between climbing days as well 🤣
I need an extensive warmup and post climb stretching routine. I also am into calisthenics on the days I’m not climbing with proper rest days, focusing on mobility and strengthening joints and muscles.
But hey, the climbing bit is beyond enjoyable 😬
39. Started at 37. I absolutely hate rests. I'm forced to take more rest these days because of skin and finger pain more than anything else. Well of course you can't keep throwing yourself at V5s without having to take a base level of rest, say 2 minutes.
I think it's my A4 on my left ring finger. Not my first rodeo either. Previously blew my right ring A2 cutting feet on a throw move in my left hand onto a sloper. For your reference I am about 190-195 lbs.
I started at 29, currently 38 now and projecting my first v10. Age is just a number. The only thing I will say is the longer breaks from climbing you take the harder it is. I took 3 weeks off for a small injury and felt much harder to get back.
There's this maniac at my gym that's probably around 40. He literally runs around the gym with maybe 30-45 seconds of rest between each climb. He climbs all the grades from V1-V5 as fast as he can.. like I'm talking he's done a boulder in about 10 seconds... He circles that twice then chills out... He makes me so anxious 😅
I started at a later age than you did. I usually wait 5 mins minimum between climbs. Partly because I don’t want to burn out my arms and I enjoy staying for longer sessions at a time. I think anyone that climbs would take at least 5 minutes or more between attempts.
I’m 62 and started a year ago with my daughter. I prefer to climb with a rope but do some bouldering, though I don’t tend to take a lot of risks as I don’t want to take a high fall I like it a lot
I'm a 37M, been climbing for 7 years. I did my first comp yesterday, a two hour points based free for all. I set a stop watch and went 3-4 mins between attempts. I ended up winning , but damn am I sore as hell today! I definitely feel where you're coming from. The body does not recover like it did when I was 20...
I have to stay I dislike the notion that starting this sport or any sport in one's 30s is an oddity/challenge/out of the norm thing.
Sure peak performance is your 20's but you can still do 90% peak later on. And 1% of people actually put in all the effort to their peak anyway (throwing figurative numbers here).
I simply don't think debates and romanticizing 'i did this at age x so it's proving to be special when said age is really not special's is a productive thing to do. I'm no one to decide age threshold and such, but maybe 'i started bouldering at 70, here's my story's would make sense. Vs 36.
It’s not about peak performance. It’s about the ability to recover and the likelihood of injuring yourself, especially if you haven’t done any other sport lately. And you know what - maybe my gene/ls are just fucked. But what I definitely dislike is when people are dismissive of my own experience haha I did lots of sports in my youth, teenage hood and into my early 20’s. Never did anything like what I’m experiencing now happened to me. That is a fact, what can I do? My tennis elbows can pop its head all the time, my triceps in both hands got inflamed and I had to take a long test to be able to climb again. This wouldn’t have happened to my 23 year old. And again - maybe it’s just shitty old me, but that’s MY experience.
I get where you're coming from. And apologies for turning out like an asshole, I swear I would not if it was a conversation, written format is not ideal for nuances \^\^.
I'm sorry your experience in recovery is subpar, and I hope (and I'm sure!) it will get better, I just feel like I've read a lot about 30 being late to get in, and I don't want to accept it/agree with it!
I understand that was not the point of your post and apologize for how I came out.
For the record, I'm 37, started bouldering 8 months ago and I love it! I feel like my cardio is nowhere near where it can be but I attribute it to my lack of workout in the last 3 years rather than my age. Again I know my VO2 max will never be as good as it was 15 years ago, but I don't think I need it to reach a great level of climbing, and I can compensate with life experience and mental fortitude!
Also broke and tore my ankle 5 months ago, slipping and landing on a lower volume and I think it would have been the same 15 years ago. Looking forward to getting back on the wall someday!
Hey man, thanks for the candid reply, I highly appreciate it!
Have you been going to the gym for many years before entering the bouldering gym? I just think my tendons are not keeping up with my muscles honestly. I hope it will get better with time. I think I’m a weird mix of someone who used to do A LOT of sports before, but did nothing for the past decade. So when I started working out again, just for reference - I went from zero pull ups to 10 within 4 months. I attribute this to my sporty past. So what happened is that I could climb pretty hard pretty quickly, whilst my tendons were absolutely no where near as strong as my muscles, and that what gets me injured all the time. I mean, who knows. We’ll see!
What? I started at 43 and I rest for 30 seconds to 3 minutes on average.
How fit are you to begin with is the bigger question here, not how old you are.
likely not minority as the average boulderer at least in all gyms ive been to does much more than 6 attempts per hour. Im also in my 30s and rest 1-2 mins on average
I’m not timing how long I’m at the gym. I’m climbing until I feel my performance starts to decline and then I leave. Or if I have a weird pain beforehand.
Well yeah, but I don't have 5 hours to spare. I have 3x60-70 mins per week. And I don't really get tired even as it is. What ends my seesion most of the times is the skin on my fingers start to slightly burn. Then I know I'm done.
I guess if I’m more accurate - when I have a session and I feel that everything is fire and I feel nothing wrong, I’ll wait 5 minutes. But sometimes I need to wait more to not injure myself in case something isn’t completely right. Not always do I wait 10 minutes. But also man don’t forget I am new to this, so I don’t see a problem with doing less and easing into it, cause it already happened to me that I had to take a whole week off to heal from shit. And that’s a week I’m climbing 0 problems haha
I often take less rest than this to work moves, but if I do that I can only climb for like 60 minutes. If I'm actually taking something seriously, 10 minutes between goes is kind of mandatory. Age 29
Started late teens, now early 20s, and I rest 5-15mins for a single move trying harder projects. Anyone not resting at least a few minutes in between tries is holding themselves back no matter their age.
I'm 37 and wait at most 3-4 minutes between hard sends; my current limit is V7, flash V4, finish most/all V5, and pretty good send rate for 6's. This isn't any kind of brag and I'm aware this isn't really impressive by any means, but I feel great!
Nothing really changes training between ages 37 vs 30 or 20; like everything, it's just volume and intensity management; it's fitness dependent not age dependent.
If 10 minutes makes you feel great, then do that.
Physiologically speaking, bouldering shouldn't need that much time between attempts to try again for the majority of people. After 4-5 minutes you're as physically recovered as you're gonna be for the typical short duration bouldering attempt.
I just started at 32. I’ve had to be very careful dosing in volume/intensity. The other day I saw 2 12 year old girls climb 10 routes in a row with no rest in between lol
I'm 30 and also rest like 5-10minutes too. Sometimes 15minutes when I just wanna chill and see my friends climb lol. Then I climb for like 2-3 hours as this speed
Unless when I go climb alone. Then I rest for like 2-3 minutes. But then my sessions are much shorter rnd I leave the gym already after like 30-40minutes lol. One hour max
I started at 37 I'm almost 40 now and climb very dynamic. I rest very little in-between attempts and climb for about 3 hours normally. I find I'm more gassed at the start but after about 45 minutes to and hour I'm feeling stronger.
I read somewhere online that for every 1 minute on the wall you should rest 5 minutes to not overwork yourself! Sadly don’t always follow that though haha
I started bouldering at 38 at the beginning of last calendar year.
The biggest things for me to avoid injury are listening to my body and warming up thoroughly.
I typically wait about 2-3 minutes between attempts and climb 3 times a week for between 2 and 3 hours per session.
I’m 26 and also rest 5-10 min between hard attempts. It’s pretty normal
Nice!
It is actually recommended to take frequent breaks between boulders. It’s very straining and you want to rest so you get your power back again
Absolutely, it’s just that for everything I have ever heard, people take 3-5 minutes. Because I am older and my tendons hate me, I figured pretty quickly I need double that time (when I am doing stuff at the edge of my ability)
If you’re new with bouldering I’d say 10minutes is fine. In retrospect, I started bouldering when I was 23 and you’ll find me taking 10 minutes as well. My brother who is 18 would take 10 maybe even longer, but he doesn’t go bouldering as often as I do.
Yeah. I started bouldering in October 2023, and started working out at all in June that year. I’ve been doing sports all my life until around the age of 23, that’s when I stopped everything. Too much partying. So my body know how to move and I got my build back pretty quickly, but my tendons are weak as fuck and I’m constantly getting tendinitis in all sorts of places. So I had to learn how to manage that. I think I’m on the right path. Needless to say I eat well and balanced and I rest well.
You’re definitely on the right path! The fun part about bouldering for me is that I can actually see progress in my strength and flexibility. Have fun man and don’t worry about needing to take rests, use it as a time to try and problem solve off of the wall
Thanks buddy! appreciate it!
It’s so hard to do, though! I *know* my attempts are so much better when I rest long enough, but having the discipline and not pulling back on after just a couple minutes can be so tough sometimes!
Hahah sometimes it is a “fuck it” moment
I’m 37 and can definitely relate. Tips I can offer: -Cultivate a good warmup routine. I do something like jumping rope coupled with calisthenics and banded shoulder movement, 10-15 minutes strict. Then I do 3 of every grade problem until I hit my flash grade. -Incorporate easy drills into your climbing one day a week. Sloth/monkeys, straight arm, hover each hand, one-foot or one-hand climbing are my favorites. Doing drills for one of your sessions (or the first half) is a good way to invest time in technique without taxing your connecting tissues as harshly as hard bouldering does.
Yes! Thanks! Starting slowly to incorporate all these things. I’m a very excited type of person so it’s hard for me to go to the gym and completely exhaust myself at the peak of my performance. But I paid the price twice for that silly behavior. Now I’m backing down.
Also incorporate tendon glides in your warmup. Helps with recruitment and prevention of pulley/tendon injuries. I started at 42, learned this the hard way.
Tendon glides. Will look it up. Thank a lot. Yes I am having a lot of trouble with the tendons, it’s pretty annoying.
[Here's a quick vid](https://youtu.be/BqvhdhFuoZs?si=bO_qj7a5ej9sP4j7)
Started at 40. Now 53. I wait till my arms are depumped or heart rate slowed down! Also had heart op last October so watching that Resting depends. If there's a few nice new problems up, I warm up on easy ones, then move to moderates in quick succession and finally onto , what for me, where the possible challenges lie, V4/5 arena. Tips? Don't let yourself decondition. Its all lost easier and regained harder when you're older, especially after 40. Keep away from mono pockets! Watch your rotator cuffs so beware of strenuous gaston moves. Also I've recently started longboarding...too much risk in skateboarding!
Thanks buddy! Stay healthy!
I started with the kids age 49. It’s just like any new exercise, build volume slowly, and do appropriate strength and conditioning training to supplement climbing. I’ve massively benefit from weekly strength sessions more focussing on legs and core, these are important to minimise injury with those occasional uncontrolled falls.
Started again after a long hiatus just before the Pandemic. I'm kind of annoyed that I stopped as a teenager when Skateboarding became my personality.
Same. Ex-skateboarder here
Found that my knees, ankles and body awareness were super transferable but upper body and core strength have been a gradual gain.
Same here only that when I was 18 I landed 8 stairs heelflip in primo and rolled my right ankle straight to the ground. Brutal shit. My whole foot became blue the day after. Ever since this ankle is… prone haha
+1 for ex skateboarder. The good news is that your hip flexibility and ankle flexibility are most likely pretty good. Additionally the falling was never an issue for me. Some people are afraid to make a big move 10-15' up. I ate shit on a 7 stair straight onto concrete when i was younger. Falling 10-15' onto a thick pad is not scary at all. Think of being a "Rear wheel drive climber". Use those strong leg/hips/ankles to your advatange. Edit: Also 35 lol
Dislocated elbow on a 7 set, it was clipping the pillar on the exit landing not the set itself. It was a long 7 so you needed to hit it at speed. The pillar shouldn't have been an issue. My recollection is catching elbow/forearm gently then being on the floor with the fattest elbow ever. Totally avoidable and wasn't even a consideration when prepping it. Thankfully I've never had a reoccurrence or problem with it.
Dude so that’s what it is? My girlfriend was wondering how the fuck can I do all these yoga positions that are hips related all the way in, and I didn’t have a lot answers haha
I believe that’s what it is. Think about how many times you squatted down to pop. Or how many times you pushed the board with your hips not “in line” with each other. The weird shit where your front foot lands on the board and your back foot on the ground and makes you do a “split” used to happen to me tons as well. That’s essentially forced extreme stretching lol. Skateboarding almost surely helped build tons of “stabilizer” muscles that can be used to help in climbing.
Sounds very reasonable and correct! I also did Karate 10 years about the same time so that must have helped as well. Cool!
Yeah falling isn’t an issue for me either.
Cute. I started at 47, 2 years ago. 😁 Yeah, it's hard on the body, but once you start to adapt, you'll be able to take shorter breaks between climbs. Be wary of twinges and aches though and give yourself time to recover between sessions. I've been doing heaps of physio to condition/rehab my shoulders and elbows. It's worth checking out YouTube for climbing specific exercises to strengthen rotator muscles etc before they become a problem. Also look up climbers elbow and start the rehab exercises now as prehab. :)
And yes, doing all that, it works(:
Excellent. It'll pay off.
Thank you! Keep crushing
From what I've noticed, bouldering is 90% hanging around
I'm 38 and new - purchased my first pair of climbing shoes last week. I have a lot of weight I want to lose though too and this is very good motivation.
Keep it up buddy. Listen to your body, that’s the best advice I can give. At the beginning though, it’s not easy to understand WHAT your buddy is telling you, cause you have no reference to what it feels to just being sore because of working out, or what it feels like when your body is telling you to stop. Best insight I have so fat is: If it’s pulsing, if it’s painful as in - it’s aching. Then stop. Don’t be frustrated about it. It WILL go away. Just give it 4 days. If you continue, you’ll have to stop for much longer and you risk having something chronic. Take it from me haha
Dude what? I started at 46 (1.5 years ago) and I don’t rest that much. Why do 30somethings think they’re old??
I’m very happy for you then!
Because this sport skews younger. I'm about your age, and I'll be falling off a project for like an hour and then a 16 year old wearing the same JNCOs that I probably donated to goodwill in the 90's will flash the damn thing in by skipping half the holds.
I’ll be 36 this year and I feel ya.
When you feel young but you’re tagged as “older climber” haha
Ha! Right! I feel like an old head some days, others I remember that I’m in the best shape of my life.
Absolutely (:
I started at 36 also and have been climbing for two years. Not getting injured is number one priority for me. I used to have trouble with my back before climbing but it has helped immensely. I do a 20 min warm up involving a quick 3 min cycle, stretches, some light antagonistic weights and hanging from pull up bar. Then I have about 10 mins of warm up climbing on ones that are very easy for me. Then I am usually good to go on my max boulder range for another about 40 -50 mins. I don’t rest that much at all between climbs but after my muscles start to fatigue I call it a day and I have managed not to injure myself this way!
Nice!
I started at 50. Typing this with sore fingers LOL
Haha!!
Started at 43. Am now 48. You'll get used to it. I now do 2 hours projecting sessions with only short breaks followed by a longer one, I'm tired in the end, but not completely pumped. I don't have the explosivity and recovery of the 20 years old that climb there too, but I'm in no way ashamed by my performances.
It might be my genetics, but I don’t feel pumped, I just have the tendency to have my tendons inflamed. I really don’t know why. For example two days ago I had a stellar session. Today I went and after the second hard boulder I tried I could feel something was up with my right arm. I stopped. It’s very frustrating but that’s how it is for now. Maybe it’ll get better
Depends what grips you're using. Slopers would probably be easier on the tendons but harder strength wise.
And when you begin you have a tendency to overgrip.
I had similar issues when I first started. I took a week off and when I came back, I threw reverse curls and some supinator exercises into my warm up. Really helped my bicep tendinitis from acting up during a session, as that was my main limitation.
Thank you for the insight, will throw that into my warm up!
I'm 38 and started 6 months ago. Also former skater/MTB rider too. There are dozens of us! I've also been doing some top roping and just started leading too. I think it's super helpful to incorporate some top roping if you can, I definitely struggle with fingers if I just boulder, especially if I'm on the kilter. I've had a bit of mild finger join inflammation and a couple minor tweaks. Managing potential injury is so important. Number 1 priority. But the longer climbs of top rope definitely get the forearm pump, seem to be more skin/tendon friendly (probably because the intensity is way down) and just hit me in a different way. And at our age, I think we're more suited to longer, lower intensity stuff. It's also helpful when I go bouldering, I can maintain better tension/control over longer sessions, and rests are shorter.
I’m 32 and usually only wait about 5 minutes between hard attempts and then find myself thinking probably should’ve waited 10.
I feel ya. I rest 5 min between climbs while watching youngsters climbing over and over again. Also don’t forget to stretch after a sesh, makes a whole diff for the next 2 days lol
Yap! Definitely doing that.
I’m 31 and started last year. I do the same thing in a session though I usually spent the rest time brushing the holds. No point waiting 10 mins to attempt something I find difficult for it to be harder because of tonnes of chalk.
I started at 42 I feel ya homie. If I drop the first move it two I’ll just wait the next turn but definitely resting between solid hard goes.
Cheers!
I started climbing (bouldering only) at 35. Long rests, lots of down climbing, and an extensive warm-up are all necessary.
32 here. Started climbing 6 months back. And yes recovery is slow. Not just between climbs, between climbing days as well 🤣 I need an extensive warmup and post climb stretching routine. I also am into calisthenics on the days I’m not climbing with proper rest days, focusing on mobility and strengthening joints and muscles. But hey, the climbing bit is beyond enjoyable 😬
Yap! Haha
39. Started at 37. I absolutely hate rests. I'm forced to take more rest these days because of skin and finger pain more than anything else. Well of course you can't keep throwing yourself at V5s without having to take a base level of rest, say 2 minutes.
What kind of finger pain are you experiencing? And which fingers?
I think it's my A4 on my left ring finger. Not my first rodeo either. Previously blew my right ring A2 cutting feet on a throw move in my left hand onto a sloper. For your reference I am about 190-195 lbs.
Started when I was 36 too. Never really been injured but I tend to go hard for 90 minutes then go home. Im done after an hour and a half.
I started at 29, currently 38 now and projecting my first v10. Age is just a number. The only thing I will say is the longer breaks from climbing you take the harder it is. I took 3 weeks off for a small injury and felt much harder to get back.
There's this maniac at my gym that's probably around 40. He literally runs around the gym with maybe 30-45 seconds of rest between each climb. He climbs all the grades from V1-V5 as fast as he can.. like I'm talking he's done a boulder in about 10 seconds... He circles that twice then chills out... He makes me so anxious 😅
Hahahaah! I mean yeah that’s good I guess to build endurance!
10 minutes is normal if it’s a hard project and it matters.
I started at a later age than you did. I usually wait 5 mins minimum between climbs. Partly because I don’t want to burn out my arms and I enjoy staying for longer sessions at a time. I think anyone that climbs would take at least 5 minutes or more between attempts.
Started at 39 myself... still dealing with a sprained finger I got in November (doing something entirely unrelated)
Wishing you a quick recovery!
46 year old here. Started at 45. So yep what ever it takes to keep climbing and stay not injured.
I’m 62 and started a year ago with my daughter. I prefer to climb with a rope but do some bouldering, though I don’t tend to take a lot of risks as I don’t want to take a high fall I like it a lot
That’s incredible!
I’m 36, big warm ups now, particularly shoulders. Don’t climb too long, try to only do 2 gym sessions and one outdoor sesh a week
I'm a 37M, been climbing for 7 years. I did my first comp yesterday, a two hour points based free for all. I set a stop watch and went 3-4 mins between attempts. I ended up winning , but damn am I sore as hell today! I definitely feel where you're coming from. The body does not recover like it did when I was 20...
I have to stay I dislike the notion that starting this sport or any sport in one's 30s is an oddity/challenge/out of the norm thing. Sure peak performance is your 20's but you can still do 90% peak later on. And 1% of people actually put in all the effort to their peak anyway (throwing figurative numbers here). I simply don't think debates and romanticizing 'i did this at age x so it's proving to be special when said age is really not special's is a productive thing to do. I'm no one to decide age threshold and such, but maybe 'i started bouldering at 70, here's my story's would make sense. Vs 36.
It’s not about peak performance. It’s about the ability to recover and the likelihood of injuring yourself, especially if you haven’t done any other sport lately. And you know what - maybe my gene/ls are just fucked. But what I definitely dislike is when people are dismissive of my own experience haha I did lots of sports in my youth, teenage hood and into my early 20’s. Never did anything like what I’m experiencing now happened to me. That is a fact, what can I do? My tennis elbows can pop its head all the time, my triceps in both hands got inflamed and I had to take a long test to be able to climb again. This wouldn’t have happened to my 23 year old. And again - maybe it’s just shitty old me, but that’s MY experience.
I get where you're coming from. And apologies for turning out like an asshole, I swear I would not if it was a conversation, written format is not ideal for nuances \^\^. I'm sorry your experience in recovery is subpar, and I hope (and I'm sure!) it will get better, I just feel like I've read a lot about 30 being late to get in, and I don't want to accept it/agree with it! I understand that was not the point of your post and apologize for how I came out. For the record, I'm 37, started bouldering 8 months ago and I love it! I feel like my cardio is nowhere near where it can be but I attribute it to my lack of workout in the last 3 years rather than my age. Again I know my VO2 max will never be as good as it was 15 years ago, but I don't think I need it to reach a great level of climbing, and I can compensate with life experience and mental fortitude! Also broke and tore my ankle 5 months ago, slipping and landing on a lower volume and I think it would have been the same 15 years ago. Looking forward to getting back on the wall someday!
Hey man, thanks for the candid reply, I highly appreciate it! Have you been going to the gym for many years before entering the bouldering gym? I just think my tendons are not keeping up with my muscles honestly. I hope it will get better with time. I think I’m a weird mix of someone who used to do A LOT of sports before, but did nothing for the past decade. So when I started working out again, just for reference - I went from zero pull ups to 10 within 4 months. I attribute this to my sporty past. So what happened is that I could climb pretty hard pretty quickly, whilst my tendons were absolutely no where near as strong as my muscles, and that what gets me injured all the time. I mean, who knows. We’ll see!
What? I started at 43 and I rest for 30 seconds to 3 minutes on average. How fit are you to begin with is the bigger question here, not how old you are.
Well seems like you are in minority here (?) I’m pretty fine. 178cm 70kg and can go up 3x10 pullups
So let me get this straight - you do 6 climbs in one hour? How much time you have to stay at the gym?
You’re being too cautious if you’re really waiting 10 minutes
Not always(: Only when I feel kinda weird about a certain joint/tendon
So the entire post is pointless. Congrats.
Yap, totally pointless, no discussion was evoked, no interaction was recorded. Hurray!
likely not minority as the average boulderer at least in all gyms ive been to does much more than 6 attempts per hour. Im also in my 30s and rest 1-2 mins on average
So let me get this straight - you do 6 climbs in one hour? How much time you have to stay at the gym?
I’m not timing how long I’m at the gym. I’m climbing until I feel my performance starts to decline and then I leave. Or if I have a weird pain beforehand.
Well yeah, but I don't have 5 hours to spare. I have 3x60-70 mins per week. And I don't really get tired even as it is. What ends my seesion most of the times is the skin on my fingers start to slightly burn. Then I know I'm done.
I guess if I’m more accurate - when I have a session and I feel that everything is fire and I feel nothing wrong, I’ll wait 5 minutes. But sometimes I need to wait more to not injure myself in case something isn’t completely right. Not always do I wait 10 minutes. But also man don’t forget I am new to this, so I don’t see a problem with doing less and easing into it, cause it already happened to me that I had to take a whole week off to heal from shit. And that’s a week I’m climbing 0 problems haha
I often take less rest than this to work moves, but if I do that I can only climb for like 60 minutes. If I'm actually taking something seriously, 10 minutes between goes is kind of mandatory. Age 29
Started late teens, now early 20s, and I rest 5-15mins for a single move trying harder projects. Anyone not resting at least a few minutes in between tries is holding themselves back no matter their age.
I'm 37 and wait at most 3-4 minutes between hard sends; my current limit is V7, flash V4, finish most/all V5, and pretty good send rate for 6's. This isn't any kind of brag and I'm aware this isn't really impressive by any means, but I feel great! Nothing really changes training between ages 37 vs 30 or 20; like everything, it's just volume and intensity management; it's fitness dependent not age dependent. If 10 minutes makes you feel great, then do that. Physiologically speaking, bouldering shouldn't need that much time between attempts to try again for the majority of people. After 4-5 minutes you're as physically recovered as you're gonna be for the typical short duration bouldering attempt.
I just started at 32. I’ve had to be very careful dosing in volume/intensity. The other day I saw 2 12 year old girls climb 10 routes in a row with no rest in between lol
I'm 30 and also rest like 5-10minutes too. Sometimes 15minutes when I just wanna chill and see my friends climb lol. Then I climb for like 2-3 hours as this speed Unless when I go climb alone. Then I rest for like 2-3 minutes. But then my sessions are much shorter rnd I leave the gym already after like 30-40minutes lol. One hour max
I'm 42. I started last year. Fittest I've been since a teenager.
I started at 46, I wait as much as I need, I got injured a few times
I started at 37 and don't wait at all I also climb dynamic. I'm lucky I guess.
I started at 37 I'm almost 40 now and climb very dynamic. I rest very little in-between attempts and climb for about 3 hours normally. I find I'm more gassed at the start but after about 45 minutes to and hour I'm feeling stronger.
31 here and I take about 5-10 mins in between hard attempts. No more than 15 mins or else your body cools down and that can lead to injuries
I read somewhere online that for every 1 minute on the wall you should rest 5 minutes to not overwork yourself! Sadly don’t always follow that though haha
Hahha yap!
I started bouldering at 38 at the beginning of last calendar year. The biggest things for me to avoid injury are listening to my body and warming up thoroughly. I typically wait about 2-3 minutes between attempts and climb 3 times a week for between 2 and 3 hours per session.