Listen up parents. Just because we have little ones to raise and care for now, doesn’t mean that we should push aside our own health and wellbeing. In fact, it’s much more beneficial to our family and kids if we take a break from parenthood- even if it’s just for a few hours a week – to focus on our own physical and mental health.

Recently, the Parenthood team came across a sport that not only is beneficial for your body, but for your mind as well- Bouldering!

Intrigued and keen to know more about this sport, we spoke to Chang Zhao Hong , Co-founder & Managing Director of BUMP Bouldering who gave us an insight into what bouldering is all about.

What is Bouldering?

In simple terms, Bouldering is rock climbing stripped down to its raw essentials. That means leaving behind ropes and harnesses, using only climbing shoes and a bag of chalk over safety mats. The challenge is to climb short but tricky bouldering “problems” (a route, or sequence of moves) using balance, technique, strength, and your brain.

DID YOU KNOW?
Sport climbing was supposed to make its debut in the Olympics in Tokyo 2020 featuring three disciplines: Speed, Bouldering and Lead. At the Games, each climber will compete in all three disciplines, and the final rankings will be determined by multiplying the placement in each discipline, with the athletes achieving the lowest scores winning medals.

You don’t really need much experience or expensive gears to give bouldering a try, making it highly accessible to anyone who wants to give it a go. With the average walls being 4-5 meters high, the climbs are high enough to be exciting, but not too high that it becomes intimidating.

“It’s mainly about problem solving and technique,” says Zhao.

Benefits of Bouldering

Bouldering may look simple due to its short walls and short climb duration, but it actually provides a full body workout.

“When you climb a boulder “problem”, you’ll take about 10 seconds to a minute per climb. Each climb is intense, takes a lot of focus, body coordination, understanding of the body balance and problem solving,” says Zhao.

Some of the benefits that bouldering provides include:

Calms the Mind– Provides a burst of calmness, reflection and focus as soon as you face the wall and leaves all stress and troubles for the day out of the door.

Improves Strength– Without any use of equipment, bouldering puts your major muscles to work, activates the core and works both the upper and lower body through a full range of movement.

Boosts Focus and Concentration- Even though it’s a short climb,bouldering is all about problem solving- planning your next move, making the right decisions all while moving your body to the right positions.

Great for Forearms/ Grip Strength– Alot of us are constantly working and typing on our laptops or phones, making our forearms weak and grip strength pretty bad too. Bouldering helps strengthen them and may help prevent issues like carpal tunnel syndrome and forearm cramping.

Fun and Social Experience– Most people take part in sessions with a group of like-minded people, where you can watch each other, help each other out with tips and tricks, or simply by encouraging and supporting each other to solve that “problem”.

Who is Bouldering for?

Bouldering is for everyone- all shapes and sizes. At Bump Bouldering you’ll have to be 8 years old and above (unless your child is a very experienced climber) and a guardian has to climb together.

About BUMP Bouldering

BUMP Bouldering was founded by 4 ardent climbers in the Asian climbing scene, aiming to provide a high quality climbing experience and to be the first premium indoor bouldering, fitness and lifestyle experience of climbing in Malaysia. While focusing on quality and comfort, BUMP Bouldering is designed to be a place where you can hang out the whole day. They have a cafe where you can work from, a gym and a yoga room for full body and mind workout as well.

“It’s a unique environment that makes bouldering very popular around the world. From, London, New York, Berlin, a lot of the mega bouldering centres capitalises on this unique energy that is not available in a lot of sports.” says Zhao.

Unlike rope climbing, it’s easy to start bouldering. All you need is a good pair of climbing shoes and wear what you normally wear to the gym. You don’t need a lot of experience or any other gears either, which makes it easy and accessible to everyone.

For more information on BUMP Bouldering, head on to website www.bumpbouldering.com.