“Oh, climbing is too hard for me, I could never do that”, “I bet climbing takes alot of arm strength”, “I’m too overweight to climb.”  Working at a climbing gym, I hear these words all the time. My personal favorite is “I’ve got to get in shape BEFORE I rock climb.” 

In short, none of these things are true. These common misconceptions are created by a lack of understanding of rock climbing and encouraged by sensational media. Climbing is about using your legs to push you up the wall and using your arms for balance. When you see someone doing pull-ups on a climbing wall, they are either doing it wrong or doing some kind of specialized training that is unlikely to improve their climbing. If you use your legs to walk around, you have the strength it takes to rock climb!

The truth is anyone who can climb a flight of stairs can climb to the top of our wall. Our goal is to make sure everyone experiences success at Edgeworks. Give us an hour of your time and your confidence will be soaring – you’ll be shocked by what you achieve and by how engaged you are – mentally, physically and emotionally – while climbing. Even if you are afraid of heights, we’ve got a wall for you!

We’ve had every age between 3 and 83 climbing in our gym and every weight between 20 pounds and 350 pounds. We’ve had people who haven’t done anything “active” in 30 years get to the top of a route first try. We’ve had kids on our climbing team who had been told their whole life that they were uncoordinated (because they weren’t good at ball sports) compete at national climbing competitions.

By the way, on the opposite end of the spectrum, we have some routes that are hard enough that only a few people in Washington can climb them. 

That’s what makes climbing so great. Everyone can seek their own challenge that matches their current ability. Parents can have fun climbing with their kids, instead of being stuck on the sidelines watching. That’s why some of our members have been climbing for over 40 years!

At Edgeworks, we help people of any ability develop skills for a lifetime of fitness and recreation through climbing.

So next time you see that bank commercial with the couple standing on a cliff at dizzying heights or Tom Cruise dangling from an overhang with no ropes by one finger, remember, that’s NOT what we do here. Our goals are focused on fun, education and community building. Then we sneak in some exercise so you don’t notice that it’s a workout until the next day!

Yoga, acrobatics, and thai massage are all elements of Acro Yoga. 

4-Class Series – $20 per person
March 22, 29, April 5, 19 – 5:00 pm-6:15 pm
(No class Saturday, April 12th)

Instructor: Patrick Good

ACRO YOGA
A practice that blends elements of yoga, acrobatics and thai massage. You will learn to balance someone else’s body on your feet – called “basing” – to be balanced by someone else – called “flying” – and to spot. This practice plays with elements of control and letting go gracefully in coordination with someone else. You do not need to bring a partner, or have any prior experience, but do bring a light heart, clean clothes and come with a willingness to trust and be trusted.

Cost is only $20 per person for the full 4-class series! (That’s only $5 per class!)

Sign up NOW!

Please note: This workshop series meets 4 Saturdays over 5 weeks.

Climb Better with Metabolic Training

by: Marissa Lyons

The term “metabolic training” is thrown around quite a bit in the fitness industry but what does it mean, how does it work, and what does it have to do with climbing?  In simplest terms, metabolic training or conditioning refers to exercise methods that will improve or enhance the body’s two main energy systems: aerobic and anaerobic. Use of different work-to-rest ratios during training can call upon these energy systems and cause specific adaptations to improve performance; climbing is a sport that requires use of all three metabolic systems.

Most often when a trainer refers to metabolic training they are referring to high-intensity intervals which target the anaerobic system. While climbing in itself is an effective anaerobic workout it is sometimes difficult to climb routes hard enough, due to technique barriers, to fully challenge your metabolic system and improve your strength and power. Further, the harder and more powerful the route the more often your anaerobic system is needed. Therefore, it is necessary to train your anaerobic system in order to improve your climbing.

Not only is metabolic training important for performance goals, but high-intensity interval training is also the most effective way to burn calories and stay slim. Exercise physiologists have discovered that the traditional long sustained cardio workout only improves the aerobic system while a medium to high-intensity anaerobic workout improves overall metabolism and continues to work long after you leave the gym; often burning extra calories up to two days post workout. By adding full-body interval training to your schedule you will slim down, increase power and endurance. So next time you are thinking of going for a jog, tryout one of our strength classes or ClimbFit workouts instead.

Bring balance and strength to your weekend with our Saturday morning and NEW Sunday evening yoga classes.

Fitness classes are FREE for Edgeworks members and included with Day Pass purchase. Space may be limited so be sure to check-in early for your class.

This new class was recently added to the Monday evening, 7:10 pm, time slot of our Fitness Schedule but if you’re at all like me, you’ve asked yourself, “What exactly is the Strength class all about?”

Stated best by Marissa, our Strength fitness instructor, this class is a cross between Pilates and Bootcamp. The classes are constructed of 20 minutes of mobility exercises, focused on stretching and core strengthening, followed by 30 minutes of high intensity intervals using anything from free weights to kettlebells to weighted balls.

It’s a great class for developing core strength and increasing metabolism, plus it’s only 50 minutes!  Give it try – Monday evenings from 7:10 – 8:00 pm.

This Friday, December 6th 7:00pm-8:30pm, check out

YOGA FOR CLIMBERS with Amy Petty, E-RYT (sign-up here)

Enhance your climbing with yoga! Yoga brings balance to climbing and promotes strength, flexibility and focus.

In this workshop we will target specific applications of yoga for climbers:

• create fluid movement and transitions
• practice balance through shifting our weight into one legged balance poses
• develop awareness in feet, legs, wrists and hands
• strengthen and stabilize our core,
• work flexibility throughout the whole body
• utilize strategies to develop antagonist muscles to relieve strain in overused muscles in climbing such as the trapezius
• learn breath and meditation techniques to focus and calm the mind

“Perfection in an asana is achieved when the effort to perform it becomes effortless” (The Yoga Sutras, Patanjali, as translated my B.K.S. Iyengar). Experience how yoga can help to translate this quality to your climbing.

Starting October 1st, 2013 we will be rolling out a new fall fitness schedule.

We are adding back in your old rainy weather favorite… Cycling!!! This class is just under an hour of upbeat funky music mixes, lost of sweat, and is great for any level of fitness. Come and take an indoor cycling class with Partick on Mondays at 6:00 pm.

Looking for a great metabolic boosting workout? Marissa will be teaching a new class designed around the concept of small group personal training. Her class Meta-Training is on Fridays at 6:00 pm. Swing by and see what some fun progressions and regressions can do for your strength and metabolism.

Lastly is our new morning class. We are trying out a new class and a new time slot. Our CORE-30 class is a half an hour (30 minutes) of fun core exercises for those looking to work hard and challenge themselves. This fast paced class will get you moving and feeling your core for days to come. This class is not recommended if you have any injuries or movement restrictions.

Check out our schedule here to see what classes are when and what works with your schedule.

Don’t forget. We also offer Personal Training and Private Pilates sessions available for those of you looking to go farther with your fitness and health. Give us a call to schedule a meeting or first session today!

This coming weeks ClimbFit workout is extra special! Not only are you going for time, but you are also going for a high score on your boulder routes. (V0 = .5pts, V1= 1pt, V2=2pts etc.) We will throw this workout in every couple months so you can measure your progress. Good Luck!

#38

Suggested warm-up: climb 3 easy routes focusing on quiet feet

• 10 plank to T – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2a6fhPZv9I
• Climb 10 bouldering routes (-1RPG to -4RPG)
• 10 Squat Jumps
• Climb 10 bouldering routes (-1RPG to -4RPG)

Record your routes on the back of your time card and total at the end.

Suggested cool-down: Drink Water and Stretch

(Time to beat is 37 min)