I see . Didn ' t know there were different ones . I guess I had misunderstood that there was only one scheme in existence and it was run by the government . Little did I know . I suppose one can find the scheme of their choice and ask their employer to enrol in it . It might depend on the employer whether they want to or not . <| sep |> I would love some help getting better . Mind if I add you on Discord ? <| sep |> Army medic greater than corpsmen <| sep |> I believe there is a laceup version of the Evolv Elektra . I wore the velcro version as my first climbing shoes and loved them I still recommend them to new climbers . Dunno about the Tarantulaces , but really the fit is what matters most loads of climbers have the same shoes ! You can strengthen your wrists by doing exercises with a resistance band ! But like others have said , time on the wall is gonna be the best way to get stronger in general in your first year of climbing . Maybe you can have a more experienced climber at your gym examine your belaying technique ? I generally prefer to be belayed with a gri gri , but it ' s still important that you learn good belaying technique , and the best way to do that may be by using an ATC . I learned on a gri gri first , and it wasn ' t until I began using an ATC as well that I really understood how the gri gri worked . Understanding the system is important when you begin calculating safety risks outside , and like uvulpixon said , using an ATC correctly will help you cement good habits , which you can then carry over to belaying with a gri gri or other autolocking device .