C8 Tuesday, May 28, 2013
FITNESS & WELL-BEING
Living on the
ledge Veteran climber Conway Leung leads a mountaineering team up Ma On Shan, also known as Horse Saddle Mountain. Climbing is becoming increasingly popular in Hong Kong, which offers some good locations for enthusiasts of the sport.
Rock climbing is catching on as Hong Kong’s rugged terrain entices more visitors and locals to rise to the challenge, says Elizabeth Choi
O
n any given Saturday, hundreds of people will mill around Central in search of the perfect brunch spot. But for the avid outdoor climber, Central’s largest boulders offer a far different type of pursuit. The top of Central Crags scrapes the sky at 316 metres, providing the type of view even the most luxurious rooftop bar would struggle to emulate. Once up there, every iconic building that has graced a Hong Kong postcard is in sight. But the greatest reward of the view is knowing you didn’t get to see it by using a lift. “Although it’s unlikely to ever become a mainstream climbing destination, Hong Kong offers probably the second best climbing destination in Asia, after Krabi. Few places can match Hong Kong in terms of the sheer diversity of good quality climbs available a short distance from each other,” writes Stuart Millis, author of Hong Kong Bouldering. These days, however, it seems more and more are
becoming privy to Millis’ observations on Hong Kong’s enticing topography. The first instances of climbing in Hong Kong can be traced back to 1956 when the British Army was based at Kai Tak airport. “They saw Lion’s Rock [in Kowloon] and they wanted to climb it,” says Conway Leung, who has been climbing since 1977 and is president of China Hong Kong Mountaineering and Climbing Union (CHKMCU). “Once they climbed it, they learned the rock well. They sketched pictures of it and mapped out its routes by difficulty.” These images would
It’s a dangerous sport. You must take precautions, like learning how to fall properly RACHEL LAM, CLIMBER
PLAY LIKE A PRO
says Nikolai Ng, a 19-year-old become part of Hong Kong’s sponsored climber who is widely earliest climbing guide. sought by outdoor skills training Until 1967, locals did not companies to lead programmes really climb. But the Hong Kong and design courses. “Many riots of that year led the schools are building climbing government to decide that walls and many even have climbing might be an effective climbing teams.” way of diverting youthful energy With the inclusion of sports away from rioting. So the Social climbing in the 2020 Olympics, Welfare Department decided CHKMCU believes to introduce it at summer that interest in camps led by the British climbing will Army, Leung explains. continue to “The youths didn’t persist. It have army training, recently but were interested in army life, so the British Army taught sports like rock The height, in metres, of climbing,” Leung Central Crags, which gives says. climbers a great view of CHKMCU was local landmarks established in 1984 to unify a growing number of groups looking to organise their own climbs. Today it operates as a government-subsidised entity that provides Hong Kong’s official certification for climbing sanctioned walls. Hong Kong climbers are largely expats and visitors, but cultural events such as the Cheung Chau Bun Festival, and increased government backing of outdoor sports has led to a bigger interest in climbing among locals. Rock climbing at Shek O. “You can tell by the schools,”
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proposed two indoor and outdoor climbing walls be included in the HK$19 billion Kai Tak Stadium project. The Leisure and Culture Services Department has built at least six climbing facilities in five different areas of Hong Kong, and newly opened private gyms already see several dozen members climbing on any given weeknight. The two-year-old Da Verm Climbing Club in Sai Ying Pun receives an average of 40 members each weeknight. San Po Kong’s Just Climb,
which opened last May, has nearly 60 climbers every night. Most climb outdoors as well, says Nick Chan, an instructor at Just Climb. The indoor gym provides a place to practice after work in the week. Learning to climb is an accessible sport, since most indoor and outdoor facilities offer beginner courses with basic equipment available for rent. It’s important to take proper instruction, experts say. “I would strongly discourage learning from your friends,” Rachel Lam, a member of Da Verm, says. “Once you get into it, you realise that it is a dangerous sport. Things such as learning how to fall properly, and many other precautions, should be learned before attempting to climb.” Common injuries, like strained tendons or pulled leg and back muscles, can occur when climbers haven’t properly warmed up or have acquired bad habits. The initial awkwardness of clinging to a wall on all fours (or worse, falling off the wall) can be off-putting to new climbers. The key is to stick with it after the introductory course. It’s also important to maintain the right attitude. “Climbing is an all-body
sport,” says Patrick Li, an instructor at Da Verm. “It improves your posture and your sense of balance, and it also strengthens your back, leg and forearm muscles.” But negative thinking alone can greatly affect your climbing experience, and many climbers acknowledge the sport is as much mental as it is physical. "In the beginning, it isn’t easy to climb,” says Danny Ho, founder of Just Climb. “You will fall. That is inevitable. But how do you change your attitude to make yourself stronger? What do you do once you fall? That is what climbing is about.” Ultimately, there is much more to climbing than muscle strength or better balance, says Ng, a former Da Verm instructor. “Climbing is not only a sport – it’s a lifestyle,” he says. “When you climb, you have to think. You use strategy to figure out how to go up the rock. You have to be smart about the decisions you are making.” Unlike other sports, the risk of death is very real at advanced levels of outdoor climbing. “But everyone helps you. You have your friends, you meet people when you climb and they help you. You have a community,” Ng says. life@scmp.com
BOXING
................................................ Lam Chih Bing life@scmp.com
Boxing ring is my gem, says jeweller
WOOD CHOP EXERCISE With Lam Chih Bing, Asian Tour professional Many golfers dream of having a “perfect” swing. Constant practice at the driving range helps – but in this new era of golf, many top players are now concentrating on their fitness to gain that extra edge. One of the most common mistakes by amateur golfers is that their lower body tends to move during the swing. This causes the golfer to lose balance, distance and also accuracy. To remedy this, I do the “wood chop” exercise on a cable machine at the gym. Step 1: Keep your legs apart and your hands straight. Remember that the lower body must not move during the exercise. Step 2: From a low angle, shift your upper body strength to the mid-core and finish off at a high angle. Notice how similar it is to a golf swing? Step 3: It doesn’t matter if you are right- or left-handed; you must repeat the sequence on both sides. Benefits: Most golfers move their hips when they swing so this exercise keeps the hips and pelvis stable as you rotate during the swing. Suggested reps: Three sets, with 10 repetitions per side.
................................................ Rachel Jacqueline life@scmp.com
Using the cable machine, start pulling from a low angle.
Finish at a high angle without moving the arms or hips.
Repeat the exercise on both the left and right side.
Tricia Yap always had a passion for fashion and jewellery. So friends and family were shocked when she took up white-collar boxing two years ago. But with three fights under her belt, an obsession with martial arts and a new career as a personal trainer, today it’s Yap who’s surprised. “Things I never dreamed of being able to do I accomplished in just six months,” she says. Her success began with a victorious debut match at the Hedge Fund Fight Night in October 2011 – the first woman to do so at the event. In the six months leading up to the fight, she endured a gruelling regime of training twice a day, six days a week, at Jab boxing studios in Central, subsisting on a strict diet to lose eight kilograms. Realising what hard work and determination could achieve, 30-year-old Yap didn’t stop. With her new confidence, the IT project manager began studying to be a personal trainer. Complementing her boxing skills, she took up Brazilian jiujitsu (a form of martial arts) with the goal of one day fighting in a mixed martial arts match.
“Anything is possible and attainable if you throw out the excuses, put in the hard work and never lose faith,” she says. Throwing caution to the wind, she left her job at PricewaterhouseCoopers two months ago to pursue her passion for fitness. She is now an inspiration for other women as a personal trainer with femaleonly outdoor fitness company, Bikini Fit. But she hasn’t abandoned her feminine side. A talented jewellery maker, Yap has also launched her own bespoke jewellery line, Bejewelled. “Just because I put headgear on and box doesn’t mean I can’t dress up,” she says. “I still love things that look pretty and sparkle.” For this dynamo, it’s a hunger to learn and a drive for self-improvement that gets her up in the morning. “You learn one thing and then there’s still more to learn, you never stop.” What’s harder, life on the corporate ladder or in the boxing ring? They’re both hard, but realistically you can’t have one without the other. If you’re an amateur white-collar boxer you’ve got to have the professional career, otherwise
you have to become a pro to box. But I find amateur boxing gives me a discipline to do whatever I want to do, while still working. What made you want to leave the rat race? It wasn’t so much a desire to get out of corporate life – it was a desire to do something different. Instead of reading up on technology, I was reading up on how I could get strong, good sports nutrition, anatomy and fitness. When you find yourself thinking long, hard and often, “Surely there is something else other than this”, I think it’s time to re-evaluate what you’re doing. What it is about boxing that has sparked so much change? I’ve finally found a sport I love, where you learn something new every day. You never sit down and think: “Ah that’s it, I’ve learned everything.” You can get the technique right and then there’s that one angle or degree that you didn’t change. There are
so many elements: the moves, the defence, playing smart, knowing when to strike and when not to strike. I love the discipline. While I’m not trying to bring down other, more social sports, there’s no such thing as social sparring. When you’re in the ring, for two to three minutes there is nowhere to hide.
once a month. Generally, a treat day has constituted a run in the morning and eating whatever I want during the day. It’s heaven.
Why the decision to become a personal trainer? So much of my new found confidence was as a result of not just training hard, but also learning to believe in myself – and that came from support You’re disciplined in sport and from my coaches. I was inspired all the facets of your life. How to be like them – someone who do you let your hair down? has a passion for helping others Sleep. I never seem to get and is an inspiration. It was not enough, so I sleep when I can. I an easy or also let myself have a treat day immediate decision, as it Tricia Yap in action. meant starting Photo: May Tse over, but now my only regret is that I did not follow my dreams earlier. Do you feel you’re now the person you were always meant to be? Yes, definitely. I believe I haven’t really lived for over 30 years, until now.