The Love for Climbing of "Andrew Khaw"

by Katherine Grace Lipa October 26, 2021

Hello, who are you and what sports/fitness routine do you play?

My name is Andrew Khaw.

My sports are Rock climbing, Ninja Warrior, and Baseball
My Accomplishments are: Making onto Australian Ninja Warrior, Winning my very first Rock climbing competition (climbed over 250 climbs)
I watched Ninja warrior with my family each year and trained for it, ultimately being given the opportunity to compete in it.
I decided to compete in my first Rock climbing competition without any expectations and I ended up having a blast and taking out the gold medal - which was awesome. Would definitely recommend it to anyone.
Baseball was the first-ever sport that I played and still love to this day! It has helped me with my life when I needed a bit of a reset.

How do you get ready to train for your sport/how do you train?

Warm-up

Training for me usually starts with a resistance band warm-up. Pretty much a big rubber band that I use to warm up my shoulders and fingers.
After that, I just let my legs loose too. Usually, leg swings do the job
Climbing Training always starts with a warm-up, then either hang boarding which is pretty much hanging off, and doing pull-ups on a wooden board that is held on it. This pretty much strengthens my fingers and keeps them healthy for when I start climbing on real rock or hard climbs in the gym.
I usually train climbing about 3-4 times a week, either at home or at the Climbing gym.
Training usually consists of a couple of easy warm-up climbs, then I would either jump on some hard lead climbs (pretty much clipping my own rope into clips to stay safe) or boulders (which is about 5m high wall, which you climb up and jump down from)
After about 3-4 hours of climbing, I usually stretch and then roll my body out

Equipment

I usually have my partner with me when I try so we have our harnesses, rope, carabiners, quickdraws, chalk, climbing shoes, and belay device.

Since I train so much, training intensity varies, so some days I have good days and I just give it everything, and some days I’m sore, tired, and drained so it’s a bit of a slow day.

After a workout/game, how do you recover your body? What do you do to get your body in shape? What type of diet do you eat?

Recovery

Recovery is super important to me! My body goes through a lot of training and I need the right recovery tools. After any hard training session, I usually use cocoons with my elbows or knees depending on what I have done or what is sore.
I also use a massage gun to help increase the blood flow in my sore muscles which also helps with recovery. (plus it also feels pretty good to just massage anyways)
The last piece of recovery I use is a power dot which sends electric shocks to your muscles to help with blood flow and muscle soreness. It also has a couple of different modes such as active recovery, massage, and pain relief. So it is super helpful.

Diet

I don’t really do much for my diet, to be honest. I think I eat pretty healthy, but I can’t help the occasional cheat meal. I usually have 3 Wheatbix in the morning which keeps me going for lunch and most of my meals especially lunch and dinner contain rice with protein.

How do you prevent injuries when you’re training? What type of stretches do you normally do? What’s your routine looking like?

Well for me, I had to experience the injury to learn how to prevent injury. When I started climbing, I had a lot of strains in my arms and fingers, but I learned how to protect myself from those injuries. So, usually, I stretch my forearms and shoulders properly before a training session with the resistant band. With the band, I can strengthen my rotator cuffs and fingers by just extending my fingers or shoulder with the band.

Recovery is also a massive aspect of my life that helps me prevent injury. If I forget to do any bit of my recovery my body won’t perform at 100% and I know it.

If there is someone wanting to get to your level, what type of advice would you give them?

I would say just have fun with it first. As soon as you stop having fun with it, it makes it twice as hard to improve.
Don’t always listen to what everyone says
Listen to your body
Always warm-up and cool down after your session
Remember hard work pays off. I always wanted to compete on Australian Ninja Warrior and I just trained my ass off for it and I got there

How do you structure your day now? What projects are you busy with?

Well, at the moment I’m studying to become a police officer. So that takes up most of my day now. I just train and climb after class now which is fine. I also work at a pretty cool climbing gym, I run fitness classes and coach there.

How has your journey on social media been? Future plans?

Well, social media wasn’t always a big thing for me. I just had it to keep in the loop with schoolmates. After my first climbing competition, my following on Instagram grew a fair amount and that is what got me excited. After that it just kept growing and growing, especially after Australian Ninja Warrior.

Future plans

Well for now future plans would be to keep everyone updated on my climbing adventures.
Also would love to keep building my Instagram
I am hoping to get a sponsor for my climbing journey

Knowing what you know now, what do you wish you could tell yourself 10 years ago?

Life does get better. You will get bigger. You will get stronger. Focus on yourself. Ignore those bullies at school.

How can our audience find you online?

My instagram is @and031

Link to Andrew Khaw's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/and031/?hl=en

Andrew Khaw's sports are Rock Climbing, Ninja Warrior, and Baseball. His accomplishments are making it to Australian Ninja Warrior and winning his very first rock climbing competition.

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