Last night i went to watch my daughter in indoor rock climbing in Calgary. She has been climbing here for the last 6-7 months. They have an amazing program for children. She trains for 2 hours twice a week. She is involved in the Junior climbing team. They also have excellent programs for beginners, and also programs for adults. No matter what age or fitness level you are at Rock Climbing is a great sport to try.

Last night the session started with all the kids warming up, they had to run the stairs 5 times (i believe it is 5 storey’s high) then they stretched. They were working on endurance so they split into pairs and each child got to climb non stop for 35 minutes, by the way they were climbing up and down!! What an awesome cardio workout.

They finished their session with some strength training, their instructor always makes this part fun, he always sets them different exercises to do weather it be pyramid push ups or a Tabatha style of push ups and sit ups. Our daughter always leaves with a smile on her face and eager for more.

I am amazed at my daughters strength and her body is in amazing condition. We have also noted that rock climbing also helps her in the following ways

• Improved Focus
• Coordination
• Confidence
• Increased Flexibility
• Problem Solving

If you are looking to get your child or even yourself into a new sport you should consider indoor rock climbing, you do not need any specialist equipment when you are 1st starting as all the climbing facilities have equipment available for hire.

In our case we started off at a much smaller wall and once we found that our daughter was falling in love with the sport, we explored our options.

There are a few other options available in Calgary, depending on where you are in the city. In our case we found The Crux to be the best fit.

I encourage you to give new sports a try.

The same goes with your strength and cardio training, dont get stuck in a rut, keep changing your routine most of all have FUN !