The Great Gym Dilemma

So far, it’s looking like a great winter to be unemployed. If you don’t have a job, you could have climbed outside almost every day so since the beginning of December. With highs in the upper 30’s and low 40’s, conditions have been perfect at the south facing crags, and new routes keep going in as people continue to enjoy the climbing season that wont end.

But most of us DO have jobs, and so we head indoors to train and hopefully get stronger and better for the coming spring. On a recent trip back to DC for the holidays, we visited a local gym, where we found the ratings, especially in the lower grades, to be quite stiff. I’ve been playing this game long enough now that whenever I visit a new cliff (or new gym), I always start well below my limit to get a feel for the rock (or the route setting). The grades in this particular gym felt two to three letter grades off, and it got me wondering what the majority of folks prefer when the climb indoors, grades that tend towards the soft side, or those on the stiff/sandbagged side.

I conducted a highly scientific and non-biased survey of several friends as we lounged around the base of a sunny cliff this past weekend, and found a couple opinions on the matter. The overwhelming sentiment was that, given a choice between the two, they preferred grades on the softer side. You go to the gym to get a workout, to train, and to generally have fun. You can get beat down by sandbagged grades outside almost any time you want. And besides, they argued, is there really anything wrong with padding your ego a little by having some success inside?

On the other hand, they felt that if the grades were too soft, it could promote over confidence and folks would go outside with a false sense of what they were capable of. While I see the point, I think most realize how different the two mediums are, and just because you climb 12b inside, regardless of how soft or stiff the grade is, doesn’t mean you can  come anywhere near that level on real rock. Of course, it doesn’t really matter, because if your gym has stiff or sandbagged grades, you’ll adjust your routine accordingly, and maybe when you do go outside, things will indeed feel “easy.”

So what do you prefer, oh esteemed readers? Grades so soft the routes are melting off the wall, or sandbags so big they could keep the Mississippi from overflowing?