
If your impression of climbing is young men with defined muscles grunting their way up dime thin ledges, you are misled. Climbing is for everyone; young, old, male, female, fit and not so fit, beginner and advanced. Climbing is extremely adaptable to a wide range of people. Top rope gyms are becoming ubiquitous and offer safe and fun ways to enjoy activity. Injury from falls is near zero with top rope set ups. Here are 6 compelling reasons why climbing may just be the perfect activity for you.
Total Body Workout
Climbing is one of the best full body workouts you can find. Many people associate climbing with upper body strength, which is true, but it can offer a wide range of fitness benefits including total body strength, lower body power, flexibility, and cardiovascular improvements. It can offer comraderie, balance and coordination, mental health benefits, its safe, and low impact. Read on to learn why climbing may just be the perfect activity for everyone.
Consider these highlights:
Cardiorespiratory benefits: Participation to indoor rock climbing increased cardiorespiratory fitness and muscular endurance (1).
VO2 Max: The experimental group did top-rope climbing training 60 minutes a day, three days a week for 8 weeks and were not involved in any other formal physical activity programs. Training intensity was set at 70% of maximal heart rate. There was a significant difference between pre and post-tests in percent body fat, VO2max, muscle strength and endurance (2).
Trunk strength and flexibility:Significant improvements were found in maximal isometric strength of the back extensor, abs, showing comprehensive improvement in trunk strength and greater trunk mobility after a 10-week climbing program involving teens (3).
Men and women had significantly increase maximal isometric strength of trunk flexors/extensors, trunk mobility (flexibility), and handgrip strength after 8 wk of indoor climbing training (4).
Upper body strength: Increase grip strength and improved upper body endurance were identified after 8 weeks of climbing (5).
Lower Limb Strength and Power: Rock climbing significantly improved performance in lower limb strength in pedaling, vertical jump and number of squats performed (6).
Body Composition: According to one study, climbing utilized a similar amount of energy as running an 8- to 11-minute mile. A 155-pound climber would burn between 8- 10 calories per minute, or around 600 per hour (7).
College females saw reductions in waist girth and body fat %, as well as improvements in the upper body strength and endurance, lower body power and core strength in a four- week climbing program (8).
Camaraderie
Due to the nature of needing a partner to belay, people at climbing gyms are open to interacting and its easy to find climbing partners and new friends at the gym. People encourage each other as they climb and cheer you on though the challenging moves. There is a sense of comradery and community at most local climbing gyms.
If you bring your own friend, you do not need to be at the same fitness or climbing level to enjoy this activity together. Climbing allows partners to choose routes suited their skill level. It is done in an interval format as you trade belays back and forth. I see all combinations of people climbing together including retired parents with adult kids, grandparents and grandchildren, beginners with experts. It is incredibly inclusive and friendly to beginners. The social aspect of working out with friends can be a powerful motivator to stay consistent.
Balance and Coordination
Due to the nature of recognizing moves, planning body position, and the precision required to move a hand or foot efficiently to a hold, there is significant gains in body awareness, proprioception, and motor control. A study looking at neurocognitive function of sport climbers’ compared to non-climbers found that climbers had faster recognition and differentiation of tactile input and better spatial perception, tactile perception, and movement memory (9).
Low Impact
Rock climbing is the low impact activity. It does not pound your joints like running and jumping activates. As with any sport, overuse injuries can develop but injury rates are much less then in may sports. Indoor wall climbers had overuse injuries at a rate of 0.2 injuries per 1000 hours. This is much lower than many sport including bouldering which had injury rates of 1.47- 1.66 injuries per 1000 hours of climbing (10).
Remarkably, characteristics such as sex, age, weight, height, or BMI did not significantly impact the overall number or severity of injuries across climbing disciplines (11) .
If you are just getting into climbing, a top rope gym is a good place to start.
Mental Health
Multiple studies (12, 13, 14) suggest that climbing can help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety. Ample literature exists to show that exercise in general improves mental health. Exercise that reaches a minimum of 60% Heart Rate max shows the best results for increasing production of neurotransmitters often depleted in the brains of depressed people. Rock climbing therapy was found to be equally effective as Cognitaive Berhavioral Therapy in treating mild depression (14). Climbing therapy is used in conjuction with other treatments to improve mental health disabilities (15).
In addition, climbing often requires a high level of focus on the present moment, analyzing holds, body positioning, and problem solving which can promote a state of mindfulness similar to meditation (16). In addition to increasing mindfulness it has been effective in reducing anxiety (17, 18).
The Take Home Message
Climbing is a rare activity that checks all the boxes from total body workout to mental health. Gym climbing is not overly risky, nor it is only for fit young men; it is an activity for everyone. As you improve, you naturally graduate to more difficulty problems, creating a natural scaling effect to provide graded progression which is necessary to continue to make fitness gains. There is a unique sense of accomplishment every time you solve the problem and reach the top.
Throw out your stereo types about climbing! It is for you!
References
Mermier CM, Robergs RA, McMinn SM, Heyward VH. Energy expenditure and physiological responses during indoor rock climbing. Br J Sports Med. 1997 Sep;31(3):224-8.
Aras D, Akalan C. Sport climbing as a means to improve health-related physical fitness parameters. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2016 Nov;56(11):1304-1310. Epub 2015 Sep 1.
Muehlbauer T, Stuerchler M, Granacher U (2012). Effects of climbing on core strength and mobility in adults. Int J Sports Med, 33: 445- 451.
Heitkamp HC, Wörner C, Horstmann T. Klettertraining bei Jugendlichen: Erfolge für die wirbelsäulenstabilisierende Muskulatur [Sport climbing with adolescents: effect on spine stabilising muscle strength]. Sportverletz Sportschaden. 2005 Mar;19(1):28-32. German.
Siegel SR, Fryer SM. Rock Climbing for Promoting Physical Activity in Youth. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2015 Jul 22;11(3):243-251.
Li L, Ru A, Liao T, Zou S, Niu XH, Wang YT. Effects of Rock Climbing Exercise on Physical Fitness among College Students: A Review Article and Meta-analysis. Iran J Public Health. 2018 Oct;47(10):1440-1452.
Mermier CM, Robergs RA, McMinn SM, Heyward VH. Energy expenditure and physiological responses during indoor rock climbing. Br J Sports Med. 1997 Sep;31(3):224-8.
Mallari-Cuerdo, Marla, and Jeffrey C. Pagaduan. "Effect of four weeks of indoor rock climbing on anthropometric measurements, power and strength of female college students." Asia Life Sciences 22.2 (2013): 403-411.
Marczak M, Ginszt M, Gawda P, Berger M, Majcher P. Neurocognitive Functioning of Sport Climbers. J Hum Kinet. 2018 Dec 31;65:13-19.
Backe S., Ericson L., Janson S., Timpka T. Rock Climbing Injury Rates and Associated Risk Factors in a General Climbing Population. Scand. J. Med. Sci. Sports. 2009;19:850–856.
Kovářová M, Pyszko P, Kikalová K. Analyzing Injury Patterns in Climbing: A Comprehensive Study of Risk Factors. Sports (Basel). 2024 Feb 19;12(2):61.
Luttenberger K, Stelzer EM, Först S, Schopper M, Kornhuber J, Book S. Indoor rock climbing (bouldering) as a new treatment for depression: study design of a waitlist-controlled randomized group pilot study and the first results. BMC Psychiatry. 2015 Aug 25;15:201.
Karg N, Dorscht L, Kornhuber J, Luttenberger K. Bouldering psychotherapy is more effective in the treatment of depression than physical exercise alone: results of a multicentre randomised controlled intervention study. BMC Psychiatry. 2020 Mar 12;20(1):116.
Luttenberger K, Karg-Hefner N, Berking M, Kind L, Weiss M, Kornhuber J, Dorscht L. Bouldering psychotherapy is not inferior to cognitive behavioural therapy in the group treatment of depression: A randomized controlled trial. Br J Clin Psychol. 2022 Jun;61(2):465-493. doi: 10.1111/bjc.12347. Epub 2021 Nov 17.
Frühauf A, Heußner J, Niedermeier M, Kopp M. Expert Views on Therapeutic Climbing-A Multi-Perspective, Qualitative Study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Mar 29;18(7):3535.
Wheatley, K.A. Exploring the relationship between mindfulness and rock-climbing: a controlled study. Curr Psychol 42, 2680–2692 (2023).
Aylett, E., Small, N. & Bower, P. Exercise in the treatment of clinical anxiety in general practice – a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Health Serv Res 18, 559 (2018).
Aras, Dicle, and Alan W. Ewert. "The effects of eight weeks sport rock climbing training on anxiety." Acta Medica Mediterranea 32.1 (2016): 223-230.
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