10 Bouldering Tips

If you're a beginner at rock climbing (also called bouldering), hare are 10 bouldering tips that you should know. It's pretty natural for you to have a pretty good idea of what's involved when bouldering, but you are also going to need to know the complete basics, and get them right. Below are ten bouldering tips that will be useful to you as a rock climber.

1. Know your grip. When holding the bolder during a rock climb, don't over grip it. If you do, your arms will wear out to quickly. Tightening the grip to hard will make your body tense, in turn affecting your smoothness while you climb.
2. Make sure your balance is right. This tip is one of the most important ones. Make sure that your center of balance is on your body mass. Your center of gravity id what should be in the region of your belly. Don't mix these two up.
3. Stay close to the rock. You need to be as close to the rock as you possibly can. Make sure that your balance is in the proper order with your arms and feet, not tilting to the right or left. Not being close to the rock will affect your center of gravity, making your bouldering experience harder.
4. Plan your route. Don't over do yourself if you are a beginner at bouldering. Make sure you know how far and long you are supposed to be climbing. Trying to climb beyond your level could cause you injury.
5. Warm up before you climb. Bouldering uses a lot of strength muscles. You need to warm up your muscles before you start so that they are lose and ready you go. You don't want to start and end up with a muscle cramp or tension in the middle of your climb.
6. Use a crash pad. A crash pad is used to break the climber's fall. When bouldering, the climber isn't ropes up and has to put the body in a certain position when falling. since there is not rope, consider using a crash pad for your safety for if you fall.
7. Take a break. Since your muscles use a lot of strength when bouldering, it's best to take a break after a while. You should give your body at least 24 hours to rebuild your strength back up before bouldering again.
8. Buy chalk. Use chalk to keep a good grip when bouldering. This will help keep your hands from sweating, and also reduce your risk of falling. Chalk is very beneficial for any type of climber.
9. Make sure you always have a good spotter around, along with a crash pad. It will help prevent injury if you fall by having your spotter catch you. These are the two most important pieces of safety equipment needed in bouldering.Without these, you'll be risking your life every time you climb.
10. Get climbing shoes but don't jump a wall with them. Remember that climbing shoes don't have the same padding as sneakers. So if you jump down from the wall, you're likely going to hurt yourself. Do yourself a favor and don't jump unless you want your heal to be in screaming pain for weeks.