{"id":326279,"date":"2025-12-04T02:50:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T02:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/326279\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T02:50:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T02:50:08","slug":"the-new-sexy-singles-scene-the-indoor-climbing-gym","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/326279\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Sexy Singles Scene? The Indoor Climbing Gym"},"content":{"rendered":"

After I became newly single<\/a>, I received a parade of well-meaning but ultimately generic pieces of advice. Only one actually caught my attention: If you want to meet someone, go to an indoor climbing gym.<\/p>\n

From my understanding, climbing was a niche, exclusive sport for people who chased adrenaline or had the grip strength required to casually dangle off walls. I had no idea it was an activity so open to the public\u2014let alone to someone so inexperienced and clueless like myself. But apparently, my lack of skill didn\u2019t matter. \u201cYou have to go,\u201d my friend insisted, as if this was common sense, a necessity to my well-being like buying groceries or lifting weights.<\/p>\n

Indoor climbing\u2014specifically bouldering, which doesn\u2019t involve ropes or harnesses and tends to be more accessible for normies like me\u2014isn\u2019t new, despite what TikTok might lead you to believe. What is new is who\u2019s showing up. \u201cIt very much used to be people who climbed regularly or the weirdos who worked there,\u201d Allan Andranikian, General Manager of Central Rock Gym Manhattan,<\/a> an indoor climbing gym with other locations across the US, tells me. \u201cClimbing was incredibly niche, and most people\u2019s experience with it was, \u2018Yeah, I do this at birthday parties.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Now? By 6 p.m. on a Friday, the gym I visited\u2014a bouldering-only indoor climbing facility in New York City\u2014looked less like a fitness center and more like a full-blown social scene. The space was alive, packed with bodies, chalk dust, and the thump of early-2000s club music. A handful of people scaled the walls, but the real action was happening on the mats. That\u2019s where groups of 20-somethings, dressed in baggy jeans and oversized tees, lounged, laughed, and chatted\u2014so comfortably, so close together, it hinged on intimate.<\/p>\n

Couples stood out even more clearly\u2014at least 50 people appeared to be either in established relationships or on what looked like first dates. Some exchanged quick kisses; others wrapped each other in warm hugs between attempts (tries up the wall) or sneaky waist grabs disguised as playful \u201cencouragement.\u201d None of this was happening in an over-the-top, showy, PDA way, though. It was just a natural expression of the gym\u2019s relaxed, communal energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like a playground. Maybe more like a zoo,\u201d one member tells me. \u201cEveryone\u2019s climbing, but we\u2019re actually mostly talking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Central<\/p>\n

The scene at Central Rock Climbing Gym\u2019s Chelsea, New York City, location.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Central Rock Gym<\/p>\n

Indoor climbing gyms originally began as safe spaces for climbers to train when outdoor weather conditions (rain, snow, or extreme temperatures) made it dangerous. The earliest credited artificial wall was built at the University of Leeds in 1964. Since then, the sport has evolved into a mainstream phenomenon\u2014and is projected to be a billion-dollar industry, thanks in part to \u201csport climbing\u201d making its official Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games, along with a growing cultural appetite for experience-driven and social fitness, Andranikian points out.<\/p>\n

To anyone watching from the outside, climbing might look solitary, which makes its transformation into a bustling social hotspot feel almost counterintuitive. In theory, it\u2019s just you alone on a wall covered in oddly shaped grips (technically called holds) that are designed to mimic the rocks and ledges of a real cliff, all of which are arranged into specific routes (problems) that guide you to the top. Getting up there becomes a test not just of strength, but of strategy: deciding which holds to grab onto, twisting into uncomfortable positions, even launching yourself into a one-handed leap to reach a faraway grip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After I became newly single, I received a parade of well-meaning but ultimately generic pieces of advice. Only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[64,63,26774,538,137,3637],"class_list":{"0":"post-326279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-dating","11":"tag-fitness","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-relationships"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}