Last Wednesday I started off my morning with a serious adrenaline rush thanks to Steep Rock Bouldering and Naked Juice.
When Naked Juice invited me to taste test their newest fruit and veggie smoothies while also partaking in some pre-work bouldering I certainly couldn’t say no. Bouldering is pretty similar to rock climbing, but the big difference is there’s no safety ropes or belaying system. In bouldering you stay a lot closer to the ground and cover more distance laterally.
Before climbing my instructor gave me a safety briefing and some basic rules of bouldering. It’s been a hot second since I’ve done any sort of rock climbing so I was a wee bit nervous and asked to start on one of the easier paths. I thought I was going to be a lot more scared once my feet left the ground considering the fact that there’s no harness or belaying system, but felt surprisingly at ease while I was climbing.
Most people’s instinct is to “muscle” their way through with their arm strength– myself included. The downside is that your arms are going to get tired way too fast if you rely on them. I was instructed to use my legs to hoist instead, and keep my arms straight as much as possible. Savor that arm strength!!
While climbing the goal is to follow a predetermined path and not stray from your path, so in the above picture I was following the black tape marks and only touched rocks associated with the black tape. Coming down it’s a free for all and you can touch any rock.
I had to trust my body, a lot. Any time I was worried about slipping or getting tired in the middle of a run I reminded myself “Kayla, you’re pretty strong” and entrusted that my body was indeed strong enough to not let me fall. There were no Kaylas injured in the making of this blog post.
Once my hands were tired from climbing I got to taste test the new flavors of Naked Juice.
My favorite was the chia sweet peach. I’m a sucker for all things peach and really liked the texture from the chia seeds.
Sadly, I had to head off to work afterwards and couldn’t spend all day climbing. I really want to go back to Steep Rock with Jeremy and some friends soon to try out the other pathways. It’s a surprisingly big facility so there’s still plenty more than I wasn’t able to explore– and far more difficult options.
I decided I’m a huge fan of adrenaline rushes before 8AM, gets the day started right! Can I request some 6AM flying trapeze classes this summer :)?
Question: have you ever gone bouldering?
What’s your favorite Naked Juice flavor?
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