With a multitude of climbing gyms all over the country offering modern, fun, accessible spaces to train, with all the facilities you could ever want or need (including good food and beer on tap), there’s no reason not to take up this interesting, fun and social sport.

What is bouldering?

Bouldering is basically climbing stripped down to its simplest form. No ropes, no fear of heights, no harnesses or quickdraws; just you and a wall no higher than 3m, protected by a crashmat.

What do you do? You use a mixture of technique, strength, and mental resolve to complete ‘boulder problems’. These problems are bolted safely into the walls by experienced route setters for you to solve. You solve them by climbing them! If you reach the top of the problem and can touch the final hold with both hands, you’ve completed the problem. All of the holds are different colored; each color represents a grade. The day you level up to a new color feels epic!

Whilst the problems are often only a few moves long, they prioritize power and technique. They can differ from a ladder-like problem with easily graspable jug-like holds, to a fiendishly difficult puzzle set across 3 walls of different angles. They’re designed to challenge you to use your strength, technique, balance, and most importantly your brain, to get you to the top.

With OneFit, you can go to Be Boulder in Amsterdam. Check out Bolder Neoliet if you’re in Rotterdam and Boulderhal de Campus or Walhalla if you’re in The Hague. Don’t forget Utrecht: Boulderhal Energiehaven welcomes you with open arms, just like Boulderhal Kunststof in Leiden. The flat, beautiful land of the Netherlands doesn’t offer much in terms of elevation or rock faces, but we’ve got bouldering gyms aplenty!

Arm strength

Before you’re put off by inevitable thoughts of:- “I don’t have any strength in my arms yet!”, let us quickly quash this thought; most of the strength needed to boulder comes from your legs and core to stabilize your body in between holds. It also comes from your fingers to grip those holds. You won’t feel how hard you’ve worked until the next morning. Holding that cup of coffee will be harder than you remembered. True story!

Do I need a kit?

All you really need is yourself, a pair of bouldering shoes and some chalk to keep your grip on the holds. Don’t have shoes? No worries; you can rent shoes at your local bouldering gym. They often sell chalk there, too. Once you’re hooked (and you will be), you can think about investing in your own pair of bouldering shoes. Decathlon and Bever are always good places to start; just make sure you ask the advice of a professional. Don’t go straight for the aggressively pointed La Sportivas- you’ll just hurt your feet!

Bouldering: the social sport

In a bouldering gym, you’ll regularly find several people working on one problem. Sitting in front of the wall, giving each other advice, chatting, and figuring out how to get to the top together. This makes bouldering a fantastic way to meet new people. Often you’ll get chatting with someone at the same level as you over a fiendishly unsolvable route and before you know it, you’ll have a boulder buddy.

It’s easy to see how addictive it is; you’re certainly not thinking about your work deadline, annoying housemate, or something witty you could have said in response to your colleague earlier when you’re halfway up a climbing wall. Your entire body and mind are focussed on solving that problem in the here and now. It is incredibly empowering.

What improvements will I see in my body once I start climbing?

First of all, your balance and core strength will improve. You’ll become more at home in your body. Standing on a chair to reach something at the back of your cupboard won’t result in wobbly legs anymore. Those quads, lower back, biceps, and shoulders will strengthen and your stomach will tighten up.

You don’t need to worry about being tall, pumped, or super strong. There is no ‘boulder body’. All you need to do is show up; physically and mentally. If you want to really step up your bouldering game, try pairing it with yoga. It will keep you strong, flexible, and balanced; ready to smash that boulder problem you and your team are so close to ticking off. Bouldering is about what your body can do, not what it looks like.

Wanna try it out? Find all our boulder halls in the app or on the website. Have fun!

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