When I first started tracking my climbing holds rankings, everything felt like chaos. My fingers would give out halfway through bouldering routes, and I’d see my stats drop every dang session. That sucked. So last month I decided to test the most common “hold ranking saving” tricks people swear by.
First Attempt: Just Screenshot It
I thought it’d be easy – just snap pics of my ranking numbers. Opened my climbing app, waited for the leaderboard to load, held my phone steady… and pressed the screenshot button. Big mistake. Two days later, my grip improved and the ranking jumped. Excited, I tried comparing screenshots. Problem? The timestamps were tiny and blurry, and different days looked identical on my messy camera roll. Couldn’t tell which number was recent. Useless.
Second Attempt: Pen & Paper
Grabbed my kid’s notebook and a leaky pen. Wrote the date, my gym location, and tried scribbling numbers while chalk dust covered the page. Seemed solid at first. But then I forgot the notebook one day. Next session, I stuffed it in my pocket… and spilled coffee on it walking home. Three weeks of soggy numbers. Couldn’t read anything. Total waste of time and paper.
Third Attempt: Spreadsheet Surprise
Okay, got serious. Made a spreadsheet on my phone while resting between climbs. Columns for date, grade, specific holds, even added a “how tired” scale. Typing with sweaty fingers? Glitchy. Accidentally deleted half the rows when my hand slipped. Tried using cloud backup stuff but got confused when different devices showed conflicting versions. Plus, updating stats mid-workout killed my rhythm.
What Actually Stuck
Got tired of losing data, so I kept it dead simple:
- One dedicated notes app: Only for climbing stats. No distractions.
- Voice memos: Jab the record button, yell numbers mid-climb. “Route 7B! Felt solid! Skin hurts!” Transcribe later.
- Weekly sticky note on my fridge: Raw numbers in big marker. Can’t ignore it when grabbing breakfast.
- Monthly photo dump to a “CLIMB ONLY” album. No screenshots – just clear snaps of the fridge sticky every Sunday night.
Here’s the kicker: None of the fancy methods lasted. Simple + impossible-to-miss? That saved my progress. Six weeks later, my grip endurance stats haven’t tanked once. I actually see the slow climb. Feels good not chasing pointless tech fixes anymore.
