Climb trees to live better longer.

The body undergoes years of abuse equitable to years of life, generally speaking. Lifting heavy, continuous exertion, crashing into the planet repeatedly all takes its toll. As you age proprioceptic integrity lessens.

All this is to say. Maybe the shoulders don’t handle the pull ups or the monkey bars very well anymore. Pullups are a great back & arm exercise, but when the shoulders start getting banged up sometimes they have to take a back seat to something else. 

Climbing is one of the most primal movements we have. Not too far above crawling, walking, swimming, etc. Climbing in the gym is not only fun, but it’s a great way to train back, arms, core, & grip. If you have a rock wall, well that’s just awesome. Some gyms have a rope climbing area. Honestly I’ve only seen these on the internet, but I’m sure they’re out there.

In the garage, the roof is generally too low for an effective rope climbing area, so I go afield. I’m fortunate enough to live in an area that affords me some opportunity to hit the trails, & while I’m hitting said trails, I look for fun things to do, which equates to opportunities to further exert my physical attributes. Around here, we have rocks, mountains & trees to climb on & I try to take advantage of all three.

Climbing trees allows you to use all of those gripping and pulling muscles, without any energy spent on skill work. No worries about proper body alignment or space of grip on the bar or ‘am I using my lats’, just climbing. Just fun. I guarantee, spend 20 min. climbing a tree or trees & you’ll feel better without that feeling of total muscular exhaustion. You’ve exercised. You’ve done a back workout, total body workout, arm training, without overtaxing your nervous system or punishing shoulders that may no longer appreciate the deadhang of pullups.

You’ve had some fun, you’ve used those proprioceptors to know where you are in space (an ability often lost as one ages) & you’ve destressed your brain from the stress of day to day life. If you’re not climbing a tree in your 50’s, by 60 you won’t be able to. If you can’t climb a tree, it won’t be long before you can’t climb a ladder, then a set of stairs. If you don’t use it, it will be lost.