blokfit

Just to take some moment in seclusion and take our bodies strength to the limit. That's what me and three of my friends decided to do on a cold but yet sunny day in the beautiful city of Gdansk. The activity we engaged ourselves into is called bouldering and it was definetly worth the time and the effort.

Why bouldering?

First of all the word bouldering comes from the word boulder which indicates small fractions of rocks which in this form of rock climbing you have a wall covered with this pieces of rocks ranging from small sizes to much bigger ones. One big differance compered to classical rock climbing is that in bouldering there are no safety ropes attached to the climber which I must say kicks in a little bit more adrenaline to it. The only safety tool you have is the 25 cm high matress on the floor, enough to make you feel safe to let go of your grip and go for a free fall. 

I can underline a beautiful analogy  that comes to my mind about ''letting go of your grip'' and a possible way to handle our busy daily lifes. As someone who tries to cultivate his spirituality I often think and remind myself to literally stand back, let go of my grips to any material or particular emotions and surrender wholly to the Creator, God. For me this is a good daily practice to do because there's nothing better than to constanly remind ourselves that there is something bigger than us, watching over us and loving us just the way we are and so what great things can happen when we commit ourselves to God and let him take place in our lives, and in our hearts..

Where to go for bouldering ?

In Gdansk there is a nice spot near to Wrzeszcz train station area where you can practice this activity. lt is easy to find and has a coulorful sign, Blokfit, on the outside of the building. As you walk inside it gives you a welcoming atmosphere with a cozy sitting area that will almost make you forget about the climbing

As one of the main advantages of studying in Poland, student price is a very common thing to have so when you pay at the cashier just issue your student card and you will have the reduced price which is 20 zl and additional 4 zl if you need a pair of climbing shoes. Even though I have never stayed longer than two hours in this place, for this price you can stay as long as you want and go crazy on the wall

It really is a great way to have all of your muscles working at the same time because in order to stay up there and get a good grip you need every ounce of strenght that your body has to offer. It also makes you feel conscious of the weight you carry around every day, which is none other than your body's weight.

How does it work?

You have many rocks or boulders with different colors and every colour indicates a level of difficulty, the yellow boulders being for beginers and the white ones being for the advanced climbers, while having many intermediate levels in-between. The aim here is to go up, touch the last rock and possibly come back down using only rocks of the same color that you initially chose. No one is going to die if you find it difficult and you step on a rock of a different color than the one you chose, but I rekon the boulder fanatics will give you a suspicious look ;)

A great thing to do is go with the yellow boulders and get a good warm up and then gradually increase the difficulty by choosing the next color. By far the most challenging one is the orange rocks in this picture.

I managed to do it not only once but twice but my fellow climbers couldn't get to the top but nevertheless it was great fun.

Final notes

Expect to have some memories after a day spent bouldering like blisters on the palm of your hand for the first-timers, soar muscle depending on your physical activity and the incredible need to go back again and probably pay for a monthly pass because you just can't get enough of it.

I will leave you with an interesting quote that I found on a mat at the bouldering arena 

It's kind of true right... think about it !

Cheers everyone. Thankyou for reading.