I have been a huge gymnastics fan for many years. From college, to the Olympics. There are few sports that can match its power and beauty, and even fewer can surpass it. One sport that can match it is rock climbing. Yes, rock climbing.
I've often wondered, how would a gymnast do at rock climbing? Well, then I meet Anandae. Anandae is ripped. She's got muscle's in places most people don't have places! So, I asked her if she was a gymnast, and she said she was for 17yrs or something, so a long time. But when her school cancelled the gymnastics program, she started pole vaulting and got a scholarship for that. ...And she was quite good at that, breaking many records.
About 6 months ago, as her pole vaulting career was winding down, she was on the hunt for a new sport, tried rock climbing and it looks like she found her next sport! In this post, i will attempt to explain how the attributes of a gymnast help in rock climbing. Please keep in mind that I am a fan, not an athlete or a coach, so please, if I am wrong on something, just laugh it off!
Before she started climbing. she did a little stretching and warming up, which at times, looked more like a gymnastics podium training session than stretching!
Strength and power. Gymnast have it. Rock climbers have it. Think climbing upside down is hard. Unless your spiderman, it is hard. Your grip has got to be strong and your core is working overtime! All your muscles are tense and you also still have to be looking and thinking about your next move.
Flexibility. All gymnast have it. All rock climbers want it. All the great rock climbers do, and Anandae mast definitely has it. Rock climber need to not only have flexibility in their shoulders, wrists, hips, ankles, but also in their fingers!
Endurance. By the end of a gymnast floor routine, they are exhausted. That's why the great gymnast have their most impressive pass last! Not necessarily their hardest, but last pass the harder they make it, with the fewest deductions, the more impressive, because they are tired! The above photo, It has taken Anandae so much energy to get to that point during the route, that the next move is super tough,...and Anandae is the only climber, that afternoon, I saw, to complete it!
Body control. When a gymnast is flipping and twisting in the air, they need to know what their body position in the air is and how to correct it so they don't land on their head or side, and so they can land square on the beam. Rock climber need to know how to angle their hips or shoulders or feet, so they can reach certain hand hold or foot holds.
And lastly, (I'm sure there are more, but for this post, there's not.) repetition. A gymnast goes over their skills and routines over, and over again. No matter how many times they fall, they get, do it again, then again. Though pain, broken toes, fingers, cuts, rips, bruises, torn tendons and other painful things, they just keep going! Rock climber also known repetition and pain. They fall off the wall hundreds of times and just get back on it!
After she was finished climbing, she went up stairs to cool down, and that lead to these shots! Remember, she just got done climbing hard for over an hour!
So, In closing, I'd just like to say that Anandae has all the tools to make it as far as she wants to go in the Rock climbing world and I would also say that she has the drive and determination to go all the way to a national championship! (Or whatever the competition is where they crown the best in the country?) I wish her all the best and hope to continue to photograph her "climb" to the top!Thank you Anandae for allowing me to photograph your climbing day!
Awesome shots!
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