Rock Climbing

[Craig Murray]

Anyone into rock climbing? I would think JJ practitioners would have a lot of success climbing. In my experiencing climbing is about flexibility, balance, strength, and most importantly the conservation of energy. Sounds a lot like the requisites for JJ to me. There is also an important and fundamental aspect in climbing where you must keep your emotions under control. When you are clinging to some really small holds 80 ft in the air, it can be scary. To properly manage that situation you have to calm yourself, relax, and be patient and focused on what you're doing. You have to allow the fear to motivate you, but not overwhelm you. That sounds a lot like martial arts competition to me.

Anyway it just struck me as similar, and I suspect JJ students may be more likely than the average population to be climbers.

[gregarius]

Wow! What are the odds I'd stumble onto the Nibiru forum and find this question first!

I've been climbing for 14 years, rolling for 3(ish). Here's my take...

Climbing is a great way to cross train for BJJ - not the other way around. Unfortunately, "rock climbing" can mean a lot of shit, just like "grappling." I'd say if you wanted to try it out, stick to Bouldering - it is the 'nogi' version, favoring athleticism and strength over a strong mental game. In time you may find that you personally are led to other styles, like Sport or Traditional climbing - but Bouldering is an extremely low-impact way to train, especially when done indoors.

Hard boulder 'problems' (as an individual climb is called) is like a dance - you have to master the individual moves and then put them together and perform the peice as a whole, if it is beyond your ability. The mental control comes into play in BJJ because you need to execute a sweep/submission/etc perfectly, using the right techniques in the right order while maintaining control.

Is it a good way to cross train? Absolutely. Is it fun? Hell yeah! Is it going to help you as much as rolling? Nope, nope and a thousand more nopes. If your heart is in BJJ t

[gregarius]

(cont) is in BJJ then that is what you should focus on as climbing will only take away from it, although a short stint may give you some strength or balance benefits.

if you are down to climb in So Cal (or any moon heads!) hit me up, I'm psyched to introduce cool peeps to my other passion.

Greg

[Jack Hanley]

At our gym in Salt Lake City, it seems like there is a decent overlap between climbers and grapplers. In fact, we had 2 or 3 climbers at our open mat on Sunday.

[singer]

I come from a climbing background as well, about 20 years. Gregarious hit the nail on the head: Climbing will help your BJJ, but not vice versa, and "rock climbing" is a term probably broader in scope than "martial arts".

Bouldering is indeed the easiest way to get into climbing (only shoes and a chalk bag) and will teach you a lot about movement, balance, and you'll develop wicked finger and lock-off strength. In my opinion, soloing easy and moderate off-widths and chimneys would be the kind of climbing that translates best to BJJ. This is my selling line to climbers , "Imagine soloing a 5.11 off width that was dripping wet and fighting back!" , is the normal response. I've managed to drag several of my climbing friends in to grapple and they mostly liked it they just weren't willing to sacrifice and climbing time (or risk injury) to get better at it. I was working on Alex Honnold a few weeks ago but his skepticism was 8/10.

Overall, climbing is still a better sport overall but the actual movement/technique in BJJ is more fun. Minus points for BJJ: indoors, no real suffering (forced bivis, hypothermia, total exhaustion miles from the road, etc.), sometimes douchebag/meathead heavy, can't do it alone.

I've said this before, but the best thing you can do to improve your climbing, other than climbing, is slacklining. I believe slacklining would help in BJJ a lot, too; I got a few guys to try briefly and they saw the magic.

Climbing indoors is like doing jiu jitsu with a mannequin. Skip it if you can.

[Josh Passini]

I grew up climbing but running the Chi-town moon has kept me from doing just about anything but jiu jitsu. I found it hugely beneficial while I was wrestling so it make sense for jj as well.

[Kyle Spalla]

Rock climbing will give you a grip strength that will make second guess wanting to masterbate every time.

[Greg W]

I was avid climber for more than 10 years and did BJJ in the gi most of that time as well. My Gi gripping strength and core was very, very good. But, it did seem my injury time was much greater back then, maybe just smarter now. Singer makes a good point about slack lining. One of my climbing/BJJ partners was great at slack lining and his knee on belly was sooo good. I remember a few times I gave up simply because he rode KOB so long and strong I couldn't take it anymore. Sadly, I made climbing my lively hood, now I am out of the business and haven't climbed in 4 years. Maybe again some day.

Love the 5.11 offwidth reference Singer. Except, when your 40 feet above your last crappy cam placement and you can't get another piece to fit, you can just "tap out" and go get a drink.

[Mario Lopez Alvarez]

I hear boulering with a harness really makes your boulering better for MMA

[singer]

One of my climbing/BJJ partners was great at slack lining and his knee on belly was sooo good. I remember a few times I gave up simply because he rode KOB so long and strong I couldn't take it anymore. Sadly, I made climbing my lively hood, now I am out of the business and haven't climbed in 4 years. Maybe again some day.

Yeah, I like to go double KOB and just balance on top of guys. Because I'm pretty light it fakes them into rolling toward me and straight into what I call a falling darce. Like you, as you know, after climbing as a livelihood I've barely done any in 10 years or so. But, I've always been an off-the-couch climber anyway so my one climb a year tends to be on El Cap or Baffin.

Hope we can get out together sometime!