Wall climbing, a sport popular in the ’90s, is making a big comeback all over the world.

Thanks to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games that finally gave recognition to the sport and to a whole generation of millennials constantly looking for something new to do, wall climbing found its second wind in the 21st century.

Take, for instance, the adventures of millennials Francesca Solis and Clarice Calolot. Both grabbed the chance to go wall climbing when they had a one-hour free time before their afternoon flight to Palawan. The girls just arrived in Manila from Davao that same morning, and were on their way to Palawan for the Asian Dragon Boat championship.

“It’s so addictive that I often lose sleep just thinking about ways to tackle a route that I couldn’t finish all the way to the top,” Calolot said.

To satiate their appetite for a quick adrenaline rush, they decided to drop by the latest and hottest wall climbing gym in town, Climb Central Manila at The Portal, Greenfields District, Mayflower St., Mandaluyong City (Tel. 7348883, www.climbcentral.ph).

Fully air-conditioned

A Singapore-based company, Climb Central Manila, opened this year. It is the second branch  in Asia (the first is in Singapore), and the largest so far in the Philippines with 49 lines in a fully air-conditioned 750-sq m  climbing area.

Climb Central, even with advanced walls (boulder and lead), is a beginner-friendly gym, so anyone, from ages 5 to 70, can climb.

“The goal is to grow the sport and share it with everyone else. We are targeting mainly beginners here, so we made the facility beginner-friendly. There’s an added layer of security compared to other gyms,” said Miguel del Rosario, Climb Central marketing manager.

Like many old-timers before him, Del Rosario, who has been climbing for 12 years now, started engaging in the sport at the “granddaddy” of them all, the Power Up Climbing Gym near University of the Philippines  Diliman. “That’s where I grew up,” he said, laughing.

He came into the sport when people were beginning to lose interest in it, in 2004, at the height of badminton’s popularity.

The wall climbing community is small, and the new fitness trends that came and went through the years simply overshadowed it, he said.

But now, with the inclusion of wall climbing for the first time at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, the world took notice, and the old-timers began to see new faces, many of them restless millennials constantly looking for the latest trends.

“They come here, try it out, are challenged by the routes, and come back for more,” Del Rosario said. This generation of millennials, apparently, is not one to shy away from challenges.

Solis, who started climbing only this year, is doing bouldering which has a greater degree of difficulty. Bouldering is not as high as top rope (traditional wall climbing normally done with a partner pulling the rope below) and lead climbing (for advanced climbers, a technique predominantly used in rock climbing where one hooks the rope). Bouldering is done without ropes, but there’s a mat below to catch your fall.

Certified

How one advances, Del Rosario said, depends on how much training one does. Lead climbing, for example, requires a Level 2 certificate. In the Philippines, he said, there are only three people certified to train in lead climbing.

Climb Central can train and certify climbers for lead climbing. Certificates come from Singapore.

“I think the reason the Singapore company decided to open its second gym here is because there is room for growth. They want to be at the forefront when wall climbing gets bigger,” he said.

Wall climbing, Del Rosario added, is also an excellent way to build strength and lose weight. He said he has seen people drop from 240 to 150 lbs just climbing walls, and people who could manage only a few feet at the start eventually climb  all the way to the top.

“The fact that you’re falling off the wall means there’s room to grow. You need to know how to climb a route the best and most efficient way possible, so it’s 50 percent mental,” Del Rosario said.

Movement-based

Wall climbing can be your main workout as well. Climbing is movement-based, so you use your whole body; they’re not isolated movements.

“It’s never about one muscle working alone because that’s how the body works—it’s a chain of muscles, and that’s what makes you move,” he said.

Climb Central changes the routes every three months, so nothing ever stays constant. There’s always a new route to try, a new move to learn, a new muscle to work out.

“It’s just different altogether. With dragon boat, we move as one well-oiled machine. Here, you become your worst enemy. You need to be mentally tough to overcome the challenges, and that’s why it’s so addictive,” Solis said.