Climbing the walls on your way outdoors

Rock climbing isn’t just for the outdoors. Many people learn and train in indoor climbing gyms, which are opening across the country. Now there’s an instructional book for the indoors crowd: “Gym Climbing: Maximizing Your Indoor Experience” (The Mountaineers Books, 2005).

“Gym Climbing: Maximizing Your Indoor Experience”: Many people try rock climbing for the first time in indoor gyms. It’s cheaper, relatively safer and there are usually people there who can help show you the basics.

Author Matt Burbach has been a climbing instructor and is the editor of Urban Climber magazine. “Gym Climbing” is a comprehensive handbook covering equipment, different types of climbing, movement techniques and exercises tailored to climbing. Novice climbers don’t always realize that the sport is an intense, full-body workout. “You have to use your legs, but core strength is also important to maintain your body position,” Burbach says. “Similar to tai chi or yoga, you put your body in very different positions.” And, unlike being on machines such as treadmills or elliptical trainers, there’s no monotonous repetition. “You’re moving in different positions constantly,” he says. “It’s also an incredible mental challenge because you have to focus on the task at hand.”

Price: $19.95, available at bookstores and at www.mountaineersbooks.org.

-- Jeannine Stein