The Hours: Rock Climbing Edition

Some of the Clocks at Upper Limits Depicting the Time in Climbing Areas

Managed to get myself out of bed and make it to Cindy's 9:30 a.m. yoga class in the park. It's pretty cool looking up at the sky and trees while getting your asansas on. Went to run errands after yoga then met up with Cindy, Kristen and Tim for climbing. Afterwards, as I headed to get food, I realized that we had spent four hours in the climbing gym. Now, it’s not unusual to clock two or three hours in the gym but we stretched things out today. I often sing a line from Culture Club’s Time (Clock of My Heart):

Because time won’t give me time…

But I didn’t mind spending that time in the gym because, frankly, it’s a relief not to be sitting down for a huge chunk of the day at work and we’ve all heard how damaging sitting can be even if you’re active.

Kristen About to Hoist Herself Over Bouldering Wall

Cindy & Kristen

I just finished watching Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. I liked it when one of the experts said that we’re not chasing animals anymore and we’re not running away from them – although we eat as if we are doing just that. So, yeah, even though we’re not chasing animals it felt good to chase a few climbing routes.

Plus, it was a fun climbing session. We watched fearless children climbing the walls and smiling as they did. We watched a couple position a SUV stroller on the climbing floor then later got a kick out of the stroller baby who happily waved all of his or her limbs. We worked together and cheered each other on.

Beats Per Minute

There's nothing quite as disappointing as getting ready to exercise and your MP3 player won't turn on even though the battery symbol is indicating that there should be enough juice for many songs to play.

There have been several articles published lately to verify that music does help you through your workout and, as long as it's music that you enjoy, the tempo doesn't matter.


Personally, I like up-tempo music when fatigue sets in and I'm trying to get over the workout hump.

Here are the beats per minute for some of my favorite "gut it out" songs.

125 BPM: Billie Jean, Michael Jackson

134 BPM: Easy Lover, Philip Bailey & Phil Collins

130 BPM: Flashlight, Parliament Funkadelic

119 BPM: I'm Every Woman, Chaka Khan

120 BPM: It's A New Day, will.i.am

124 BPM: Miss Me Blind, Culture Club

120 BPM: Now That We Found Love, Heavy D & The Boys

123 BPM: Please Don't Stop The Music, Rihanna

115 BPM: Say, Say, Say, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney

145 BPM: Sweet Dreams, Eurythmics

Of course, if the music does stop playing, I exercise unplugged...