Blog : Movement
Indoor Rock Climbing
An important part of your health journey is movement, and the way you travel along your path to wellness is as individual as you are. There are many ways to get and stay active. Try some new fitness options until you find one or more that you enjoy.
One way to get exercise is through rock climbing. You don’t need to scale a treacherous peak, as several indoor rock-climbing gyms can be found in the metro Atlanta area.
The gyms have guides on staff to help climbers get tethered correctly. They also teach and share advice on how to get up and down the rock wall.
David Toone has enjoyed indoor rock climbing since 2020 when his son Ethan got him into it. “It was something we could do together,” David said. Now, his daughter Elise joins him at the rock wall.
He explained that rock climbing is a micro-burst of activity, an intense workout for a short period of time. “I can swing by after work and do it for 15 minutes to half an hour. It’s quick and efficient.”
Indoor rock climbing increases balance and heart health, and it strengthens and rehabilitates muscles. David noted that the exercise involves a lot of stretching.
“Muscles and tendons get stretched and that can allow tendons and joints to reset,” he said. “It improves hand strength, too.”
Indoor rock climbing can also help with overcoming a fear of heights, David noted. “And it’s good for body awareness. You get good at it by being technical, not from strength. You build your strength.”
The rock wall is also a good activity for kids. According to David, rock climbing helps children build stronger muscle and tendon groups that will stay strong throughout their lives.
He suggests that anyone willing should give indoor rock climbing a try. “It’s not just for smaller, more muscular people. It’s a power to weight ratio activity,” he said.
But he stressed that it’s also a slow start activity.
“If you’re willing to keep coming back, you’ll eventually go higher and higher. I recommend this for anyone who is too stubborn to give up,” David said.
He added that he likes the fact that he’s doing and enjoying something that he’ll never be good at.
“It’s good for my humility,” David stated. “Another thing I like is that climbers don’t seem at all ‘judge-y’ and are very supportive of all levels and abilities. I’m proof of that!”
Area Rock Climbing Gyms
Escalade Rock Climbing — Peachtree City
The Overlook — Atlanta West End
Stone Summit — Doraville
Newnan’s LINC
Many who visit our clinic ask for ways to strengthen their health and wellness. Some are looking to lose weight, some looking to get more active, and some looking to relieve stress.
Walking and getting out in nature have been found to have a very positive impact on physical and mental health. So, we're exploring all the different local walking trails one by one and letting you know about them. This month, we're in Newnan looking at a newer trail.
How many steps a day?
One question I ran into as while walking more and one that I’m sure you came to is: how much movement do I need to do daily? It’s common to hear 10,000 steps a day, but the conclusion that I found is as simple and complex as just saying more.
This all depends on where you’re in your health journey, but take the average number of steps you walk in a day and increase it. For example, if you walk 3,000 steps a day work on a goal of 4,500 steps a day. As your body gets used to that increase, you’ll find it possible to take even more steps or to increase the speed. Saying 10,000 steps is a nice number for people to give (along with other phrases like, “drink 8 glasses of water.”), but giving people the standard advice doesn’t really work because there isn’t a standard person. One person’s first marathon could simply be walking to the mailbox and back. So, figure out where you’re at in your process, decide where you want to be, and work on a plan to get there. Everyone at Red Earth will be here to help you along that journey.
Exploring Brown’s Mill
Last month, I covered Line Creek in Peachtree City. This month, I’m going to talk about the trails Samhain and I used while getting into a walking schedule-Brown’s Mill Battlefield in Newnan, GA.
Walking Line Creek
In the clinic, there are three components to restoring your body’s ability to heal: acupuncture, herbs, and lifestyle. Two of these components- Acupuncture and Herbs- are available to everybody and discussed regularly. The third component, except for nutrition, has been left to the side, out of the larger discussion. However, it’s super important and filled with so many fascinating nuances that it’s high time to bring it into the conversation.
Lifestyle is the portion that you can control and has a great effect on the success of the other two. It’s not just about nutrition, it’s about movement, managing stress, and balancing your life.
A regular component of the newsletter has been about recipes, and those are not going away, but I want to introduce a second component: movement with my special guest Samhain (Sow-en).
5 Tips to Relieve Stress and Anxiety
Happy Holidays!
For many the holidays are a happy time where they look forward to reuniting with family and friends, but for some, it brings on a sense of anxiety and depression. Presents to wrap, meals to prepare, trying to keep crazy Aunt JoJo from stirring up too much trouble, and the list goes on. For some it’s just too much and they can easily become overwhelmed.