He was an avid mountain biker. She wasn’t.

She was an avid runner. He wasn’t.

They went to the gym together but would head in separate directions: He would lift weights, she would do yoga.

But after a friend introduced them to rock climbing a year ago, Justin and Candace Hang of Honolulu finally found an activity they could truly enjoy together. And they’re hooked.

"It’s learning to get your body to be able to do certain things," said Justin Hang about what keeps them coming back. "You want to get better at certain techniques. She’s better at flexibility, whereas I’m better at ‘throwing,’" or using the body’s momentum.

Several times a week for the past year, they’ve tackled the indoor, color-coded climbing courses at the Volcanic Rock Gym in Kakaako. And about once a month they head to Waimea Bay Beach Park to test their skills on real rocks. Technically it’s called "bouldering" because they don’t use ropes or harnesses.

The beauty of climbing is that they can climb at their own pace and still share the experience, said the Hangs, who have been married for 11 of the 19 years they’ve been together.

Justin Hang, 37, said climbing has given him a better overall workout than weightlifting, plus it improves flexibility and balance. When he scaled back his weightlifting in favor of climbing and cardio workouts, he slimmed down.

"You go in thinking it’s all upper-body work, but it really is a full-body workout," he said. "You use different muscles to climb. Your feet are very important, and the strength, position and angle of your legs — and lots of core."

The fun part is mastering or improving a technique, said the graphic designer and real estate photographer.

"It’s almost like a martial art where you’re learning to use your whole body to get from here to there," he said.

Fitness has always been important to Candace Hang, 34, who practices yoga and runs. But the Queen’s Medical Center nurse found climbing to be a good balance for those two activities.

Since she started she has felt herself getting stronger. She was never into lifting weights, but she’s getting muscle definition now.

"I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been," she said. "I have more muscles now than I’ve ever had, and that’s from an activity that I like to do."

Now when she travels, placing carry-on luggage into the overhead bin is a piece of cake, she said.

The most rewarding part is when you challenge yourself, she said.

For her that meant getting over her fear of climbing on overhangs.

"You have to kind of push yourself to try something you think you can’t do," she said. "It feels so great when you push yourself and you’re able to do it."

Expect calluses on your hands, the couple said, and an increase in finger strength, critical for gripping ledges.

Climbing is as much a mental as physical challenge: Figuring out how you’re going to get from here to there is a lot like solving a puzzle.

It’s not all work, though. There’s a social element, too, with others who climb.

"You just end up being friends with everyone who comes here," Justin Hang said. "You get to the top, and people you don’t know will cheer for you."

The real fun begins when they take their climbing skills outside. On a recent sunny weekday morning at Waimea Bay Beach Park, the Hangs studied an approximately 20-foot wall of rock below Kamehameha Highway. It was dusted with the chalk of previous climbers.

"Here this is pretty much just you and nature," said Justin Hang.

It was an opportunity to try out what they’d practiced at the gym.

Mostly a smooth, flat face, the rock wall still offered small handholds and cracks leading to a narrow corner ledge about 12 feet high. While it appeared easy to reach, the ledge was at an awkward angle for someone trying to get to it.

First, Candace Hang tackled it, then her husband, trying different routes. Each time, they made it a little farther up the wall before grip or muscles gave out, and they jumped down to the soft sand below.

They took turns, sometimes offering each other advice on where to put a foot or what to hold onto next.

The pair worked up a sweat beneath the sun. But neither of them reached the ledge.

Still, it was the fun way to spend the morning, followed by another activity the Hangs discovered they enjoy together: snorkeling.

ON THE NET:
» www.volcanicrockgym.com

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