Inside Taipei 101 Climber Alex Honnold's Home Gym And Daily Climbing Routine

Alex Honnold is going viral after his free solo ascent of one of the world's tallest buildings, Taipei 101, was live streamed on Netflix. While many are hailing Honnold's daredevilry, many might not know that he was the subject of the Oscar winning documentary Free Solo, in which he scaled the over 3000 ft (914 m) El Capitan, in Yosemite National Park in California, without any safety gear of harnesses, much like he climbed Taipei 101 (1,667 ft or 500m).

Also read: Keep Your Pets Safe This Valentine’s Day By Skipping These Flowers

To be Honnold requires much more than conquering the fear of death. In his interviews, the sports icon has mentioned how he stimulates each climb and each move he would make while scaling heights before he does them in real life, without safety fall back options. For Honnold, performing free solo climbs is about making a climbing sequence, memorising it and then repeating it like muscle memory so that there's no room for error.

Also read: 7 Types Of Bags Every Woman Should Have In Her Wardrobe

Honnold's fitness levels are also unquestionable. In viral moments from his ascent of the world's 11th tallest building Taipei 101, he was seen hanging near the top, hands free. Unperturbed by live commentary, those watching him scale the building and weather conditions, Honnold waved and smiled for cameras and even ed selfies.

Like Honnold, his home gym is also unique. He practices climbing at home on especially designed surfaces with climbing holds. A regulator can even change the angles of the surfaces to mirror tricky real-life scenarios that Honnold encounters. Not fitness machines or fancy gym equipment, Honnold has literally created uneven and rocky surfaces inside his home to practice free soloing. Honnold also performs hand strengthening routine in his bespoke home climbing gym.  

For warm up, Honnold plays ping pong. He has a spray wall and a jun's wall that Honnold says "his kid uses for climbing practice". This is where Honnold begins his climb before moving onto the adjustable boards, which are meant for simulating both vertical and steep climbs. There is also a campus board installed in the home gym which one climbs without using their feet. There's also hang boards to "dangle from" using fingers. Honnold also performs a lot of grip exercises and builds forearm strength with weight training.