[muscle arm emoji]

[tellitslant]

I am doing the December posting meme! You can still assign me topics/questions here.

Dec 9: Is there any kind of exercise or sport that you have never tried but would like to? for hobbitbabe

ahhhh there are a BUNCH, honestly! Here are the ones that are most regularly on my mind:

Rock climbing (indoor)
I genuinely don't know if I will ever really do this. I am actually quite scared of heights - like, wobbly-on-a-stepladder levels of scared of heights. So I don't know if even the relatively low walls of indoor rock climbing places would be possible for me! The places that harness you in... maybe. But EEK. But it looks cool? But eek! I also haven't tried this yet because I don't think I have the upper body strength for it - or rather, I probably did when the pandemic started and need to regain it. There is actually a climbing place only a few blocks away from me and I am tempted... but I really need to make some more gym buddy friends I can talk into coming with me.

Stand-up paddleboarding
I remember years and years ago seeing people paddling around Brighton Pier and just being captivated, but it took a long time for me to figure out what the sport was called! This is just... expensive and the equipment is cumbersome. It's not like I can just walk a board down to the lake and plop in. There is a place out in the east end that does classes and I might try it out one summer weekend, though. I feel like there are a lot of hot muggy summer days here where escaping to the middle of the lake would be a great idea.

Rowing
So the indoor rowing gym I was going to (god I miss it) had a lot of instructors and members who participated in actual on-the-water rowing, which is honestly what attracted me to the indoor version. And having loved the indoor version and being not too bad at it, I want to try on the water even more! I didn't this summer due to surgery, but again, maybe next summer? I believe the local club has a queer group. Again, though, I'm not sure how accessible this is as a hobby for which I don't want to actually buy a boat of my own, you know? But I would love to try it.

Boxing classes and barre classes were on this list but have since been tried and VEHEMENTLY discarded. (I am still kind of interested in boxing TRAINING but I don't actually want to FIGHT soooo... nah.)

There are also a few things like parkour and Olympic weightlifting that... look cool but I am just never going to be the person who can do them. So those are not on this list. :P

Thanks for asking :D

Comments

[gabolange]

Rock climbing, the one true love of my exercise life. (Which I haven't done in ten years because injury.) But that aside, I went into climbing as someone with a massive fear of heights, and it genuinely helped me conquer it.

Also the other thing - I have never had much upper body strength, and the cool thing about rock climbing is it's really more about solving a puzzle with your body than pulling yourself up on things. So everyone experiences it differently because height / weight / strength distribution is different -- but also a thing that shouldn't be a barrier.

[holdouttrout]

Stand-up paddleboarding is really fun! The last time I went I didn't actually... stand up. But still! I don't own a board myself, but they make decent inflatable ones that are at least marginally more manageable.

I did a class to start out and the instructor told me that people got upset when they fell into the water. I'm like... "This is a thing on the water that requires balance and of course you might fall into the water???" and he just sighed and nodded.

[hobbitbabe]

That is a cool list! My sister took me to a climbing wall around my 50th birthday. It was not as hard as I had pictured - as your other commenter said, it wasn't like I had to haul myself up with my hands but more like I kept having to figure out where to put my feet. I got further up than small nibling, but we were both pretty chuffed. The staff member was belaying or whatever it is called when someone is on the other end of the pulley - and the part where they pay out the rope and I just bounced down was fun.