What Are Your other Hobbies When You Cant Climb?

I have whiplash and a shoulder injury that Im currently in PT for, and I can’t climb (consistently) until beginning of april. The odd day out to do easy trad was cleared by my PT but no cranking on my max grades for a while. 

Climbing has been my main source of physical activity for almost two years, and I feel a bit lost without it. I don’t live near high elevation, so I cant really hike. Ive started running occasionally but also have a bad knee so thats also limited. I do yoga occasionally but its not my favorite thing in the world. Nothing compares to climbing, but what are your substitutes for when you cant climb?

Mountain Project gods please give me something active to do with my time besides schoolwork and scrolling MP. TYIA.

Stop scrolling and start trolling.

Mr. Clark offers some sound advice.

In case that doesn’t suit your fancy:

- Learn an instrument. Guitar is my choice so I can be the cliche camp fire guy singing wonderwall.
- Gardening. That’s a huge time sink. You’ll spend so much time growing one tomato you’ll wonder if you were really that committed to climbing in the first place.
- House projects. If you’re a home owner, you shouldn’t really have time to actually climb if you’re doing it right.
- Build your technique base by climbing ALL of the 5.9s and lower at your home crag. Slab is the shoulders best friend. Ideally, look for the 5.9+ routes. They are usually friendly.
- Learn to Develop. I’m not talking about routes. Buy a large property and parcel it out for much profit.
- Draw comics. Preferably featuring Tradiban saving a freesoloist.
- Write poetry. To send or not to send? Is that the only question we care about? 

- Make clothing out of old climbing gear. I have seen belts, bracelets, and necklaces but no bikinis or speedos. I think there’s a market gap there.  

There is much more to life than climbing. I haven’t found that thing yet, but I hear about it all the time.

All the trolling aside, wishing you a speedy and healthy recovery Mary! 

Drink beer, get high, tie flies

Mary Elizabeth Beckwith wrote:

Mountain Project gods please give me something active to do with my time besides schoolwork and scrolling MP. NTYIA.

Added a missing word to better fit the thread so far

I think you need to examine what about climbing you love, I know some like acrobatics and silks and probably one of the better ways to train. For me I like the suffering and the battle and the pain that’s why I ran in college and try hard in climbing now.

If you are really craving and live near anything that is climbable you can always develop. At the very least it makes you better at doing silly shit on a rope or best case it motivates you to train hard and do pt.

Or troll but at this point mp trolls itself.

I injured my knee and couldn't do much of anything for week one. Now I can walk a bit and TR. I've been focusing on other hobbies instead of climbing and skiing. For me, that means video games, sewing, pinball, and captivating TV (The Last of Us is fantastic). You'll have to find some of your own. For anyone out there, I highly recommend getting some non-athletic hobbies so you aren't bored out of your skull if you ever get injured.

chess is fun and similar to climbing in that you can get smoked by an 11 year old who’s only been doing it for a year

Hiking, backpacking, cc skiing, mountain biking, paddling, traditional archery, reading, and sketching. 

T O'Neill wrote:

. Ideally, look for the 5.9+ routes. They are usually friendly.

You are a bad man

Volunteering. 

snowboarding/splitboard touring. Definitely not a friendly sport towards injuries though. I've lost count of the concussions and constant tweaks/pulled muscles you get when you crash -- which you need to do to get better. That said, nothing compares to sending a sick run with style, or surfy powder days. 

You can also progress much faster in skiing/snowboarding than you can in climbing if you're already cardio-fit and have decent-enough lower body strength. It's way more technique/reflex/muscle-memory based rather than specific strength/muscular endurance. As long as you put the days in, you can start sending double-blacks and variable backcountry runs pretty quickly. 

Train for climbing? Find exercises you can do that will help you return strong. Cardio on a stationary bike or elliptical. Pinch blocks and other grip/finger strength tools (but maybe not hangboarding) I bet there’s a lot of abs/core conditioning you could do in your current state. Dive into learning more about nutrition that benefits physical activity. When I blew up my ankle and couldn’t climb for two months i dive into these things, got stronger, learned a lot, and found ways to improve my diet that have benefited my climbing, and life in general. I found that if I was working out, and working on my diet in the interest of improving my climbing it kept me motivated to keep doing these things, and they did help me return strong.

Other thought… what were you into before you found climbing? Maybe resurrect a precious hobby?

Hookers and blow always come to mind.

My other big activity has been kayaking, specifically whitewater kayaking. In fact I put climbing on the back burner for years I had so much fun kayaking.

If there’s no whitewater near you (or you’re not into learning how to do that safely), even kayak touring might be fun and/or a good work out. Paddling a kayak works your core, upper back, arms, grip, etc. But all at a fairly low intensity and with smooth fluid movements. Might be good for delicate joints (but ask your doctor first of course).

Stand-up paddleboarding might also be worth looking into, although you’re more likely to fall in until you get good at it. Could be brisk this time of year depending on where you are…

bear jew wrote:

Smoke weed every day 

What if she has a dog?

bear jew wrote:

Smoke weed every day 

My man.

highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion wrote:

What if she has a dog?

Bury them deeper

Having had hobbies in the past (before I started climbing) that I can circle back to is quite a nice thing when injured. I used to play bass guitar, recently took over the position of singer in my band, and being a huge nerd who loves reading SciFi and RPG stuff helps too. 

Aid climbing. Surprisingly fun, you still get to sling gear into rock and you will likely end up being a better trad climber for it.

Princess Puppy Lovr wrote:

I think you need to examine what about climbing you love, I know some like acrobatics and silks and probably one of the better ways to train. For me I like the suffering and the battle and the pain that’s why I ran in college and try hard in climbing now.

If you are really craving and live near anything that is climbable you can always develop. At the very least it makes you better at doing silly shit on a rope or best case it motivates you to train hard and do pt.

Or troll but at this point mp trolls itself.

They have a messed up shoulder and whiplash…