This past Monday, I changed up my routine and went rock climbing after work. I usually go home, cook myself a steak and broccoli dinner, and sit and watch one episode of my current kdrama. Lately, I had been feeling so low in energy and motivation after work that I needed to re-energize myself. I wanted to stay motivated after work so I could work on my hobbies. So when I left work Monday, instead of going home, I headed straight for the rock climbing gym.
Indoor rock climbing 101
If you’ve never heard of rock climbing as a sport, fantastic! I love doing a little teaching whenever I get the chance. As the name of the sport implies, you’re climbing rocks. It’s also an Olympic sport! There’s indoor and outdoor rock climbing. We’ll talk about indoor here.
In indoor rock climbing, you’re not climbing actual rocks, but you’re climbing up walls with different types of holds screwed into the wall. I won’t get too much in what kind of climbing you can do at the gym but I will mention the three most popular types of climbing: top rope, lead climbing, and bouldering.
Top rope is when you climb a wall with a rope; the rope is anchored up top or at the highest point of the wall. The rope is to catch you in case you slip off the wall.
Lead climbing involves climbing up a wall with a rope as well, but unlike top rope, the rope isn’t anchored at the top, You attach the rope to the wall as you ascend the wall.
Bouldering doesn’t involve a rope. When you boulder, you are climbing a shorter wall.
Felt pumped and stayed motivated
On my way to the gym, I felt quite excited. I looked forward to rock climbing. It got my energy up. I ended up bouldering and top roping for a solid 1.5 hrs. My forearms were pumped.
When I left the gym, I was feeling motivated to work on my other hobbies and tasks I had given myself for the rest of the evening. There was little mental resistance when I thought about what I wanted to do. How I was in that moment was pretty different than my usual self on my previous Mondays; it was at least drastic enough to share about it in this blog post and commit to exercising more after work 🙂
To stay motivated, exercise by…
If you have a job like me where you’re sitting for a long time, I highly recommend doing some exercise after you get off work. It is a key strategy for staying motivated after work. Exercising will get your heart rate up and give you a good boost of energy, which can help you stay motivated to work on your hobbies or interests after work.
To be completely honest, I’ve struggled a lot with exercising after work, which is why I started working out in the morning; however, what will make exercising after work easier is if you exercise by doing something you enjoy. For me, that’s rock climbing, volleyball, or dancing. Doing something you enjoy is powerful motivation for exercising. If you feel like you’re forcing yourself to go exercise, that won’t help you feel any more motivated to do stuff after work.
