I completely agree with what cletus says. I'm 43 years old today. Some things just feel uninteresting because I started doing them too young. Interestingly programming is not one of them, I have been doing it for 30 years. On the other hand, I have been rock climbing for 7 years and I'm better than ever [in case you care: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olEgfe4cYuU ]. It still feels pretty new to me. I know 25-year-olds who started climbing as kids, reached their potential and lost interest.
Everyone is different, every decade in a person's life is different. In my personal case, my work between 30 and 40 was far better than what I did between 20 and 30. I feel pretty inspired right now.
This type of post is the stuff that you want to say to yourself at every point in your life (you can only make the best of the present, after all). It doesn't really work as advice to others.
Way OT but let's do this. Note: climb V5/6 currently.
1. Yes that is bouldering, but bouldering is a subset of rock climbing, as is sport climbing.
2. Bouldering is frequently about balance and power, for some problems flexibility isn't as crucial. I climb in jeans outdoors, sometimes it's the best option as rock can quickly cut through lighter materials. My jeans are skinny and stretchy.
3. Climbing works your core, simply by climbing more and more.
4. Don't play the grades game, don't buy a hangboard. Go into a gym and have fun on the boulder. Don't try too hard and hurt your tendons, they take years to grow accustom to the stress induced by hard bouldering.
SF is very fascinated with Yosemite, but there are other areas that also push the sport. Obviously, the Europeans have done alot. Bouldering is itself a pretty hardcore activity, and one that has pioneered at times certain techniques that have had broader impact. Some of the best in also in the USA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hueco_Tanks
Where are you based? I picked up climbing in May 2012, and can offer you some advice based on what I've been through. Email's in my profile to continue the chat if you want.
Find your closest climbing gym and show up. I have very limited climbing experience, and only in gyms, but it's one of those things that it's just easier to show up.
Are programming/rock climbing overlapping interests everywhere or more so in the Bay Area? The problem solving aspect of climbing (particularly bouldering) always appealed to me, and I always see programmers at the climbing gym. But it seems like a disproportionately high number of programmer friends (compared to other friends) climb in SF.
Where I am (not SF) there's definitely a large showing of programmer/climbers at the local gym. I think a large part of it does have to with the problem solving aspect (hell, we call them problems even), but for me it has more to do with it fitting in with my life a lot more cleanly then any other sport does. I don't have to change into a uniform or put on a whole mess of gear or anything of that sort (when I'm going to the gym anyway). I just walk in, put on my shoes, and go. There's no inertia to climbing. There's not many sports that give this; "pumping iron" can but personally I enjoy climbing and solving problems to counting to thirty while sitting in a chair.
There's more to lifting than counting while sitting down! Strength training that has a focus on powerlifting and Olympic lifting are very different than the bodybuilding focus that tends to pervade most gyms. CrossFit is something to check out if you want more fun strength training.
I apologize, I was being dismissive. I wasn't trying to say that weightlifting/bodybuilding/etc lacked meaning or were inferior, just that the motivations are different, and for me personally the intrinsic motivation of them (this muscle needs to be worked out, then this one, etc...) doesn't work as well for me as the extrinsic motivation (I'm going to finish this problem today) of climbing.
That's my point, though. The mentality of "this muscle needs to be worked, then this one..." is a bodybuilder mentality. It's not shared by strength athletes in powerlifting, Olympic lifting, strong man, and the much newer CrossFit. When I lift, I focus on movements, not muscle groups. I focus on big, compound movements like squats, deadlifts or clean and press, not on specific muscles.
Basically, bodybuilding is concerned with aesthetics, while the strength sports are concerned with performance. When I train, my motivation comes from the challenge. Can I deadlift 405 for 5 reps? Can I hit a new personal record of 435? It's a question of raw capability: what are the limits of what I can do? When you get into high rep rangs with compound movements, it becomes an issue of anaerobic endurance: can I squat 235 for 20 reps, or will the pain and exhaustion be too much?
Waterloo, Ontario is a minor Canadian tech hub, and the climbing gym here is definitely full of programmers, mathematicians, physicists, and generally nerdy types.
This came up a few weeks ago when I was discussing a ray tracer with a classmate in the locker room and everybody else in the room had something to chip in. I wouldn't even expect that programmer-density on campus, never mind a gym 30 minutes away.
Here in Vancouver there is definitely a lot of programming types at the rock climbing gym and at the crags. Other professionals that seem to be attracted to it are Engineers (of all types), Geologists, and Environmental Sciences people.
At the Seattle Bouldering Project I estimate a quarter of all climbers are from Google, Amazon or MS.
Also a high proportion of resumés crossing my desk mention climbing.
Nice looking problem. Castle rock is one of my favorite spots in the states. Small, but by Fontainebleau-esque in style.
And hey, if you do ever make it out to Font itself, look me up. It's paradise for the 7a (V6) boulderer, and we've got a house here. It'd be cool to meet a fellow HN'r on the rocks.
Everyone is different, every decade in a person's life is different. In my personal case, my work between 30 and 40 was far better than what I did between 20 and 30. I feel pretty inspired right now.
This type of post is the stuff that you want to say to yourself at every point in your life (you can only make the best of the present, after all). It doesn't really work as advice to others.