New Year, New Skills!

Attack 2019 head on by starting something challenging like bouldering. Tracy Kiss and partner Freddy gave it a dry run for Muscle & Fitness

Dusting off my hands, tightening my special shoes and scraping my hair up into a ponytail, you could say that our bouldering date-night wasn’t quite what most would consider romantic. Yet working together as a team, motivating one another to achieve our goals and hitting personal bests is something that brings my boyfriend Freddy and I so much love and happiness; trying new fitness experiences and activities makes for the perfect together time in our opinion. Whilst I’ve never tried bouldering before, Freddy has been of his own accord with friends and absolutely loves it, so you could say he was the perfect person to show me the ropes - or not, as that’s the difference between bouldering and rock climbing! We spent a wonderful afternoon at VauxWall East, the newest bouldering gym in London where I discovered a new love for all things finger-gripping.

We attended VauxWall East in Lambeth, London, where a day pass costs about as much as a regular gym session and can be used across any of their three London sites, with another two venues excitingly set to open in early 2019, twenty-five years after the first venue opened in the Lake District.

We arrived in our gym wear along with bags of enthusiasm and the promise of a protein cookie for the champion after. Having no equipment of our own we hired the specialist bouldering shoes from the reception, with the on-site shop also stocking footwear, accessories, food and hand creams - after a couple of hours on the walls we soon realised the importance of a good moisturiser.