Making climbing in the gym more fun

[Eric]

What do you do to ward off the boredom (if you get bored) in the gym? My favorite (i mean the only thing i know) is Add On.

For those who don't know Add On, you need at least 2 people and you take turns getting on the wall and moving through, say, 2 holds. Hop off the wall and let another person do the same 2 holds you did and then Add On 2 more. then the next person, until your forearms are screaming and someone can't complete the entire route.

Does anyone know any more 'games' in the gym to make things make more interesting? How about anything you can do solo?

Eric

[skinsk]

Like add on, if you've been to a Korean gym, you know stick. No Korean necessary: you point to a hold and the boulderer must move there next. Switch when the person falls, but try to make it just easy enough . . .

Sometimes when I am not motivated I "force" myself to do 100 more moves. Various restrictions can be: must traverse entire gym, no using the same hold more than once, must move at least 3 holds away each time, etc. Didn't make 100? You have to add 5 more moves each time you step on the ground.

[Eric]

I'll probably use your "force yourself" technique this winter given that I will be climbing mostly by myself. thanks for the suggestion. :)

[grande]

this isn't very fun but here is a way to really learn how to work your feet and it can be used in add on.

1 foot

you can only use one foot hold at a time and see how far you can get with one foot hold.

excellent drill

[skinsk]

Eric,

You only have to do 50 moves if you use one foot.

SK

[Eric]

You only have to do 50 moves if you use one foot.
:lol:

[shanja]

Like add on, but in reverse. In a climbing gym where you have a good wall and not too many people this works well, forcing you to be creative in problem solving. Groups of 2 to 4 work best but solo is possible too I guess. Start with a full wall of holds and each person after traversing nominates 1 or 2 holds that can no longer be used. These can be marked with tape etc for easier reference. At first this allows some easy warm up routes where there is lots of choice, but soon participants need to start thinking hard about what to remove without making it impossible for themselves. As holds get fewer some people fail and drop out, leaving the "winner" as the last dude/ dudette climbing!
Another game that can be done is a vertical version of the board game "Twister", where a spinning needle dictates which foot or hand can be moved, and to which coloured hold (if you gym hasn't got different coloured holds, or too many colours present on a given wall section, you can use small bits of duct-tape randomly distributed to mark it out). The circle is divided into quarters, one each for each appendage (L-foot, R-foot, L-hand, R-hand) and each quarter sub divided into 2-4 colour indicating sections. A pin holds the needle in the centre and you give it a goodly flick to spin it...can be whipped up outta paper etc at home in 5 mins.
Good luck!