Just had your first climb and woke up feeling like a truck hit you? 🥴 Welcome to the club! From mysterious new muscle soreness to those fragrant climbing shoes, every beginner faces these annoying little things. Here is your survival guide to mastering the discomfort and focusing on the fun.
The Ugly Truth: The Annoying Little Things Every New Climber Deals With
The day after your very first climbing or bouldering session is one you probably won’t forget. You wake up, try to roll out of bed… and suddenly discover muscles you didn’t even know existed.
Welcome to climbing.
It’s not just your muscles that need to adjust your whole body has to get used to the unique strain of the sport. And yes, that comes with a handful of classic beginner discomforts: calluses, bruised shins, sore fingers, and climbing shoes that somehow start to smell after just three sessions.
It’s all completely normal. The best thing you can do is accept that this is part of the learning curve. However, there are ways to make those early weeks a lot more comfortable.
Here is the survival guide for the struggles every beginner faces.
1. The Morning-After Muscle Soreness
If you’ve heard people say, “Climbing makes you super strong,” they’re right but that strength doesn’t appear overnight. Especially in the beginning, your body is working overtime.
Climbing demands effort from almost everything: arms, legs, back, core, and especially your forearms. Until your body gets used to that specific load, muscle soreness is unavoidable.
What helps (from experience):
- Don’t skip the rest day: If you are really sore, your muscles are rebuilding. Give them 48 hours.
- Active recovery: Light stretching or a gentle walk helps flush out lactic acid better than sitting on the couch.
- Hydrate: Simple, but it speeds up recovery significantly.
Pro Tip: If you want to build strength off the wall to support your climbing, check out thesePowerful Bouldering Tips.
2. Calluses, Flappers, and Raw Skin
This is a rite of passage. After a few sessions, you’ll notice rough patches forming on your hands and occasionally painful little tears known as “flappers.” Hot weather, rough holds (especially big “jugs”), and certain types of holds can make your skin feel incredibly sensitive.
The good news? Your skin toughens up quickly. Eventually, the holds feel less painful simply because your calluses act as natural armor.
How to manage your hands:
- Moisturize: Climbing-specific balms (like ClimbOn) are great, but any heavy-duty hand cream works. Apply it after climbing, never before.
- File them down: This is counter-intuitive, but if your calluses get too big, they catch on holds and rip off. Use sandpaper or a skin file to keep them flat.
- Tape it up: If you get a flapper, trim the loose skin with small scissors and tape it so you can keep climbing (or take a few days off to heal).
Pro Tip: Your skin care routine goes hand-in-hand with your chalk choice. Learn more about theDifferent Types of Climbing Chalkand how they affect your skin.
3. The “No Jewelry” Rule & Hair Safety
It sounds like a small thing, but it’s non-negotiable. Rings, necklaces, and dangling earrings can all get caught on holds.
Trust me, you do not want your ring snagging while you fall off a move (Google “degloving” if you have a strong stomach—or just take my word for it).
The Safety Checklist:
- Rings off: Always. No exceptions.
- Hair up: Long hair should be tied back, not just for vision, but because hair can get caught in belay devices. That is exactly as painful as it sounds.
- Use the lockers: Most gyms have them; don’t risk losing your valuables or hurting yourself.
4. The Smelly Shoe Problem
If you’ve ever stood in a crowded bouldering gym, you already know: climbing shoes smell. They just do. They are tight, your feet sweat nervously, and the rubber doesn’t breathe at all.
How to keep the funk under control:
- Air them out: Clip your shoes to the outside of your bag on the way home. Never leave them stuffed in the bottom of your backpack overnight.
- Deodorizers: Use “Boot Bananas” or charcoal inserts to absorb moisture between sessions.
- Washing: You can wash them, but be careful. Use cold water and mild soap, and scrub by hand. Never put them in the dryer or use hot water, or the glue will melt and your shoes will fall apart.
Pro Tip: Taking care of your shoes makes them last longer! We have a complete guide onHow to Know When to Replace Your Bouldering Shoes.
Accepting the Process
Maybe the most important lesson of all: your body will adapt.
The discomforts fade, your skin gets stronger, your technique improves, and you learn how to take care of your gear. Before long, you’ll look back at those early weeks the bruises, the flappers, the sore forearms and think: “Yeah… that was worth it.”
