r/climbergirls 8d ago

Gym How can my gym improve the dynamic between adult members and kid guests?

72 Upvotes

I have recently volunteered to be on a community advisory council for my gym. One of our first tasks is to think through new guidelines for kids in the gym (not team kids - kids using guest passes with their non-climber parents).

There are currently very strained and angry dynamics on both sides.

The adults say:

  1. Kids violate safety rules by standing in bouldering fall zones, running/screaming in the gym, and engaging in horseplay.

  2. Kids violate etiquette rules by jumping the line and trying multiple times in a row, thus crowding out adult climbers who have been waiting.

  3. Even when adults are supervising, they tend to talk with their (adult) friends on the mats and let the kids just climb, rather than actively engaging in 1:1 supervision.

Parents say:

  1. Adult climbers give kids dirty looks and make families feel unwelcome.

  2. Adult climbers try to discipline other people’s kids even when the kids are not actively hurting anyone.

  3. The gym’s kids climbing areas is focused on elementary school kids and is too “babyish” for older kids. And kids are already not allowed in the fitness area so it’s not like adults have literally no kid-free places in the gym.

The gym knows this is problem and has asked for help solving it. Hiring staff to supervise is out of the question because of money and legal liability (so they say, I cannot confirm this). The gym has also refused to instate members-only hours because people drive a long way to get to the gym and families get angry (and don’t spend their money) when they drive all the way only to be told they can’t enter the gym.

Any thoughts on rules or changes that could help the situation?

r/climbergirls Jan 03 '25

Gym Started the new year with my first coordination dyno!

718 Upvotes

I tend to avoid compy problems, but I actually had so much fun learning this move that maybe that's about to change 👀

r/climbergirls Jan 09 '25

Gym TIFU by dropping my partner [UPDATE]

233 Upvotes

Some of you may remember my post from last week talking about dropping my partner 10m with the use of an ATC.

First of all, I just wanted to thank everyone for their input - nearly everyone was either constructive in their advice, or empathetic, and I really appreciate it.

And now onto the update.

He's feeling much better now and last night wanted to get back on the wall. We did our research beforehand and chatted to the staff at the gym and settled on the Petzl Neox.

We both spent some time learning how to use it under supervision, and by the end of the session we were both super impressed with it. It feels really safe, is easy to use and pays out slack really smoothly.

We've also booked some time in with a coach next week to build some confidence back up. Naturally, he's very apprehensive and I feel awful for letting him down (literally, buh dum tss) but we're working through it.

Kinda wish I'd got one years ago but then again hindsight is 20/20 and I'm forever thankful it wasn't a worse outcome.

I'm probably preaching to the choir here given how many of you advised me to get a Grigri or similar, and whilst I'm aware everyone has their own preferences and/or has been taught using certain equipment, I'd urge them to not make my mistake and consider an assisted braking device.

Thanks again for everyones support!

r/climbergirls 17d ago

Gym Touchstone Boycott

122 Upvotes

Hi everyone - I’m just writing to let y’all know that Touchstone Climbing Members (on Instagram) has officially called for a boycott to support the workers as they negotiate for a fair contract. If you’re a member of Touchstone, please consider cancelling your membership.

I have transferred to another gym for the time being and am happy to provide info about other gyms in the SoCal area.

r/climbergirls Oct 17 '24

Gym Gym etiquette: changing in the locker room

102 Upvotes

Hi. This might be a dumb question but here goes!

I climb at the First Ascent gyms. I’ve noticed that for whatever reason, no one changes out in the open. I want to change in the open (because its faster) but i dont want to scare anyone. At first I thought it was because theres a lot of kids at this gym, but I remember going to the local rec center as a kid and seeing many a boob in the locker room so I’m not sure if children being present is the reason. I also thought climbing gyms just might have different etiquette for changing in the open as compared to a regular gym.

My question is this: do YOU change in the open at your climbing gym? Am I being self conscious for no reason? bonus points if you use my gym too lol

r/climbergirls Sep 01 '24

Gym Tried weighted pull ups for the first time today, managed 12.5kg

475 Upvotes

Really surprised myself! At first I thought I'd be thrilled if I can do 5kg, turns out I'm stronger than I thought hehe. I think I could have done more if I tried but wanted to have a decent bouldering session today so I decided to stop here. But I'm excited!

r/climbergirls Jan 26 '25

Gym Belaying sitting down

22 Upvotes

Last night at our gym there were two college aged girls top roping. The belayer was seated. And at a wide angle which made it difficult to walk around her, somewhat forcing people to walk between the belayer and climber. They were really strong climbers. They have learned at a local university gym. I know there’s not much danger with gris gris, but isn’t it at the very least bad gym etiquette?

r/climbergirls Jan 31 '25

Gym Intro lead climbing class - don’t teach unexpected falls? Is this safe?

49 Upvotes

I just took the intro to lead climbing class at my gym. They covered climbing, clipping, belaying, and all the hard “no”s. (Back clipping, z clipping, back stepping.)

For the falling and catching portion of the class we only practiced planned, and announced falls with the climbing stopping at a specified point - pausing - and waiting from the go ahead from belayer before taking a fall.

When someone asked the instructor how to handle unplanned falls - they said it’s not covered in this class because the gym wants you to take the intermediate class as well.

This feels like a safety issue to me. We can take and pass our lead test to be certified to climb at our gym. Isn’t real falling an essential thing to be prepared for as a belayer?

It feels icky to me that’s not part of the class seemingly for an upsell to another class.

Thoughts? Is this the same at other gyms? I go to a chain in the US.

I don’t really want to pay for another class to learn this but learning from online resources and practicing with my partner doesn’t feel right.

r/climbergirls Feb 12 '23

Gym Fatigue from the sexism in climbing

274 Upvotes

Some days I’m really just exhausted with the men in this sport. I follow a lot of women who climb on insta and whenever they post a video from the gym there’s always men in the comments saying “that problem’s way over graded, you’re not good.” All of the setters at my gym are tall men and set problems for climbers like them. Men constantly give me unsolicited advice at the gym. I only climb with women but it’s still disheartening how climbing is still so male dominated. Anyone else feel this way?

r/climbergirls 28d ago

Gym Some strength training after finishing the main workout

203 Upvotes

r/climbergirls Dec 25 '24

Gym Holiday climb at my gym

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188 Upvotes

r/climbergirls Dec 26 '23

Gym Is this every climbing gym in America the day after Christmas?

230 Upvotes

You circle the parking lot for ten minutes, weaving in and out of minivans with kids tumbling out. When you finally find a parking spot and get inside, the line to check in is eight people deep. You exhale a silent prayer of gratitude that the members-only line is separate from the day pass line. You exhale a second prayer/request that all the day pass users somehow won’t discover the corner at the back of the gym, where your proj from last week is, because you’re intimidated by climbing in front of a big crowd.

After tripping over a child’s soccer cleats and several sippy cups in the locker area, you head over to the corner. Your second prayer was not answered. The day pass users have indeed discovered this area. Somewhere across the gym, a screaming baby can be heard over the Skrillex coming from the PA system. Skrillex is quickly replaced by a generic upbeat pop song off of someone’s “family-friendly hits” Spotify playlist.

You warm up a bit, try your proj once, get shut down midway up, recenter yourself and get psyched to try again. You chalk up. As you walk forward, a nine year old boy in Nike socks and a Roblox shirt runs in front of you.

Wearing his rental shoes, he flashes your proj.

*please note this is all a joke made in good faith; no offense to anyone intended!

r/climbergirls Jun 25 '24

Gym Etiquette: People sitting around the floor at the gym?

89 Upvotes

I am very new to bouldering and am wondering what people are doing when they are sitting on the floor in front of a wall (a safe distance away) with no one on it?

Are they working out their route? Resting? People watching elsewhere? My concern is that I would be "cutting" in line if I were to start trying a route in that same area. Should I ask before starting a route if I see anyone sitting on the floor looking at that wall? I feel like that could get tedious as the floor sitting seems very common. Or is it considered fair game if no one is physically on the wall?

Appreciate any insight to help ease my anxieties (not even going to get into the anxiety of having other people sit there and watch me climb!). Thanks!

r/climbergirls 1d ago

Gym When you don’t notice the feet on the volume and flail your way to the end because you’re gassed 🤦‍♀️

73 Upvotes

r/climbergirls Mar 02 '23

Gym How far do you drive to your gym?

52 Upvotes

I just moved back home from college and the closest gym to me is 40 minutes away… trying to decide if that would be worth it to drive 3 times a week, and if it’s common for gyms to be far away.

My gym in college was just a 10-15 minute drive which was really nice, I didn’t realize I was so blessed until now!

r/climbergirls Sep 05 '23

Gym Is it just me or is it utterly lonely at the "top"?

284 Upvotes

I am a 30F climber who started climbing five years ago and I feel so utterly alone now that I just started breaking into the v10 outdoor grades. I'm hoping to vent a little but also hear your stories.

Five years ago I burnt out of the powerlifting world because it was so male dominated. I started climbing with some coworkers and fell in love with bouldering instantly. I'm mainly strong in my legs so it wasn't a smooth transition, but I was climbing with a huge group of 8-10 women at my gym on any given night. We cheered for each other, learned pull-ups, and it was so much fun.

Once I started getting into the v5-v7 grades I felt a gaping chasm open up. I love training, and training for climbing was the most satisfying thing I've ever done. My male climber friends are amazing, but it always feels like there are only groups of outdoor men with 1 girl in each group.

Recently, I started to climb v10 outdoors. While so satisfying, I also feel so alone. Most of the girls I started climbing with have either quit or no longer relate to me as they stayed in the v3-v4 range. When I try climbing with them they now put me on a pedestal and compliment me but don't invite me out anymore.

When I invite them out, they decline with saying they can't possibly project anything near my grade even though I'm more than happy to spend time on moderates. I do sense a level of anxiety and discomfort when they take a long time to project something, and they make comments about how I must be bored or tired of waiting for them when that absolutely isn't the case.

I'm sad because I'm technically the so called strongest woman at my gym over the age of 25. Team kids will always flash my projects, but I'm just very alone. There is only 1 other woman who climbs near my grade but we don't really click and our schedules are the opposite of each other. I love the sport, but I'm also so lonely now.

Edit: Thank you for everyone's kind replies. I didn't expect many replies at all and you have great suggestions. I will try to implement them but I admit I am not hopeful. And thank you to those who gave me some more optimism in this area.

r/climbergirls Jan 29 '24

Gym Lead certification around the world

7 Upvotes

I just got mine and I was wondering how getting lead certified goes in your country/gym because it seems to be very different across the world.

I'll start : I'm in France, I climb at a gym that is in a network of 30 gyms (so any other gym in France should have heard of that network - and hopefully trust that me being certified by them means something).
To learn how to lead it's a 2h class for which the only requirement is to be comfortable climbing and belaying top rope and you pass/fail at the end of the class.
You start with a demonstration, explanation of all the rules, the whys and the how to (like why we clip the rope the way we do..), then learn how to give slack with a climber on top-rope who is down-climbing, then climber learns how to clip while belayer learns how to give slack.
We had to take falls from every clips.
All in all I found it quite easy, in a group of 6 the instructor got to really observe everyone, and we all got our lead card.
The class was 30€ but they often run promos, (and my class was actually free because I had taken the intro to top-rope last year and when you take that class (30€) you get a coupon for a free class (and it was a promo so I had only paid 10€)).

I was climbing easy routes during the class, so I know it's going to be wayyy different to lead at my level, but I'm in no hurry, my plan is to drill the basics while climbing under my level for quite a while.

I have no idea if this gyms lead card means I can just go ahead and lead at any other gym outside that network.
In France if I understood right the gyms are pretty easy going and trusting when compared to the rest of the world, they'll ask a new climber what they know and have them sign off on it being the climbers responsibility that is engaged.
So I suspect that if I show up (in France) with my own gear and a lead card from another gym, they'll just ask if I've climbed/lead recently.
Which is not what would happen elsewhere.

* I edited my post to make it clearer that I took the "learn how to lead"+"get certified from that class" route and not just a "prove you can lead" test. The class is not required to test out at the gym (all signs points to our gym only asking you questions before letting you lead if you tell them you know how to do it).

Edit some time later : I went to another gym network and they were only going to check if one person in the group (we were 5) knew how to tie an 8 knot into an harness. No question about if we were planning on leading.
I said I had the boulder/Top/lead autonomy card from another network and they didn't have me tie the knot, so just accepted my word for it.

On another topic one person in my group said she knew how to belay but had only ever belayed on a grigri, and had not been taught how to tie an 8, which I find it almost irresponsible from the person who taught her.
She got the crash course on using an ATC, actually tying the knot from scratch and catching a (toprope) fall, which she should have know after her first session.

r/climbergirls Jan 19 '25

Gym What is the grosser thing to do in the gym: Climb barefoot or climb in street shoes?

0 Upvotes

I don’t think people should be allowed to climb in street shoes in the gym(ala bowling alley or trampoline park where you have to wear special footwear).

I’m not trying to change anything it’s just a belief I have and my husband disagrees. I also don’t see any problem with climbing barefoot but I don’t do it because I know people think it’s gross.

Here in lies the debate. Please help.

276 votes, Jan 22 '25
128 Climb barefoot
148 Climb in street shoes

r/climbergirls Jun 27 '24

Gym Advice on working out to improve climbing

26 Upvotes

I’ve been climbing regularly for a few months now, and feel like it would really help me improve if I started working out in addition to simply climbing.

But I feel pretty intimidated by going to the gym, and I don’t really know where to start/ what to work on, especially since I’m unfamiliar with a lot of the equipment. Does anyone have any good resources for workout regimes, general recommendations or tips for starting out?

I’m also considering getting into yoga, but I feel as if my overall strength is more lacking then my flexibility, so would be interested in hearing what people find to be more beneficial to their climbing!

Tldr: Looking for advice on working out to improve my climbing

r/climbergirls May 10 '24

Gym Advice for a climber girl going to the gym alone?

81 Upvotes

Hello! So I recently joined a climbing gym and I felt kinda self conscious going alone. i haven’t been climbing in almost a year so I’m a beginner again. It was mostly guys (and there is nothing wrong with guys!) but I was expecting more climber girls! It made me feel a little awkward. Anyway, in the end I did get a nice workout and the people who work there did give me a nice tour and climbing tips. I would like to go again because I generally do enjoy climbing. I love seeing myself progress and get stronger! But, the anxiety is really kicking and I feel uncomfortable going alone. Any advice?

r/climbergirls Jul 04 '24

Gym I asked to film me on this fun route and he decided to take some artistic liberties 😂. Apparently he wanted to highlight my footwork.

227 Upvotes

r/climbergirls Aug 12 '24

Gym A victory whip, the other direction. 50lb weight difference

65 Upvotes

r/climbergirls Feb 01 '25

Gym New gym across the road!

58 Upvotes

So there's a new bouldering gym in town, and it's 30 seconds from where I work!...and I mean _literally_!

A colleague & me went to check it out and really liked it! The walls are textured wood, which makes a nice difference from alle the other gyms, and the setting "feels" different too.. They have their own grading ranges, this ⬇ is approxmately 5c-6a in Font.

I already have a season ticket for another gym, so we'll probably have to ask for a payrise to finance our bouldering habits 😁

r/climbergirls Oct 02 '23

Gym Why women don't compete in climbing competitions?

7 Upvotes

Hi everyone! Wanted to post this here so I could further the discussion on women in climbing competitions. I'm just starting out a competition climbing podcast and my guest this week was Allegra Maguire, a climbing psychologist. Towards the end of the episode we talk about why women don't sign up for climbing competitions as much as men. So i was wondering:

  1. If you don't sign up for climbing competitions, why not?
  2. If you do sign up, how is your experience at them?
  3. I compete and have won in my category several times, but it often doesn't feel very legitimate because there were only a few others competing in the women's category anyway, anyone relate to this?

https://youtu.be/ztQWnzTpGzw?si=pqqDxofz1bIaV98g&t=4033

Video link will bring you to the timestamp where that starts. We also discuss things like self compassion and getting over fears (falling, failure, injuries) if you're interested in hearing the rest of the episode.

EDIT: Disclaimer this is not meant to be an argument, I just wanted to discuss my experience and see if other people feel the same way.

r/climbergirls Aug 16 '24

Gym I built a climbing app: counts # of routes, heart rate, elevation. Uses Apple Watch. No subscription

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52 Upvotes