Cheddar News correspondent Shannon LaNier gets his hands dusty learning the finer points of indoor rock climbing, as part of a new series called Shannon Shapes Up. 

<div class="block">Cheddar News correspondent Shannon LaNier gets his hands dusty learning the finer points of indoor rock climbing, as part of a new series called Shannon Shapes Up.&nbsp;</div><div class="article-body-video" data-caption="" data-isLive="false" data-src="https://vod.chdrstatic.com/transcode/796646c1-28f2-4c4b-ad72-e10f90902779/796646c1-28f2-4c4b-ad72-e10f90902779.m3u8"></div>

Wake Up With Cheddar

How to Elevate Your Indoor Climbing Workout 

Hey, hey, good morning guys. You see this large wall right here where we are at? Central Rock Gym right here on the upper west side of New York City. I want to bring in Alan, the manager here because he's gonna give us some tips on how to climb a little bit better. Ok. So for first time climbers, Allen, what do we need to know about trying to get up this wall as far as trying to get up the wall? A couple of things we recommend number one is be precise with your feet. So you always wanna be on your actual toe. So you can use your leg muscles to push up the walls instead to pull up the walls. I see a lot of people do that and they're like, oh, my hands are so sore. I'm like, well, you were using your hands to clamp your legs to climb. That's right. So if you think of when you're climbing a ladder, you very rarely actually pull up the ladder with your arms, you're actually stepping up with your legs. So same thing applied to rock climbing. It just is a different angle and then in general, try and minimize how much you're using your upper arms. So we try and just focus on the legs, pivot by your shoulders, keep your arms straight. Nice to relax. Everybody relaxed legs do all the work and just kind of let your weight carry you up the wall. Ok. So all week we're doing Shannon shapes up segments. We're talking about getting in shape, working out and this is a workout because you are really working your legs and your arms throughout this, right? OK. So I'm gonna try to go up here and start this. But wait, where's my rope? Don't you guys tie us two ropes before we start climbing? Not here. So this is called bouldering ropes and harnesses here because you got a nice thick padding over here and I start, I start here. So, yeah, you got two start right over here. So you gonna put a right hand here, left hand here. Oh OK. Yeah. And then you're gonna make your way through. Make sure to touch to only the black uh with both hands and feet go sideways. Yeah, a little bit sideways. And because I don't have a rope, I just, how do I get down when you are ready to come down? You will just let go of your hands kind of push off the wall a little bit and try and land on your feet. Ok. So this, I'm still feeling it on my fingers. How do I take the pressure off of my finger, try and relax your body into it a little bit. So you still got your arms very, very bent. Try and bend your, bend your legs and straighten your arms out a little bit. And the more you relax your arms. There you go. And that puts more pressure on my leg. There you go. I see why you do this. OK. So how do I have to go? So you're gonna try and get to the big black rip. That is Mark. Finish. Yeah. Get both hands on it. This is a nice easy one to start. This is easy. Yeah, we're starting off, starting off like so two hands on it, then once you're ready, you're gonna hang your feet down. And when you ready three drop you, I felt like did I dismount? Ok. I would have bent a little bit more on your knees, cushion the impact a little bit. But that was a good, great dismount. And there's this roll thing you do is there is a thing. So when you're climbing, when you're falling from higher off the wall, we recommend that you roll onto your back to really push the impact. So it's not. So for your ankles. Ok? I think I'm gonna let you show us how that's done. So I don't mess it up and then I'll try that one. Ok? So not a problem. Ok. So you climb up and then yeah, So you climb up, so I'll start here just to make it quick. So I'm gonna get to this one and make it look so easy. And then when I'm ready to come down, I'm gonna hang straight down and roll on my back, my legs kind of come flying out. And most importantly, my hands do not touch the path. I'm not injuring my wrist or my elbows. Ok. Now, what does that do to roll instead of just down and landing? So if you listen to the sound it makes when I land, if I land hard on my feet, that's my impact. All of that force is gonna stays your ankles and your knees. But if I do a soft roll like this, you can hear there's not a lot of sound to it. So that means the force kind of just dissipates into the rest of my body. Right. I'm gonna work on my dismount roll while we go to commercial break and we come back. I'm gonna try one of these hard walls and I'm gonna get more tips from Alan about how to climb. It's a lot of fun and it's a lot of work. I feel it already. So, back to you guys.