Alta Climbing & Fitness requires the use of nearly every muscle in the body. While the biceps, triceps and forearms get the most attention, climbing also targets muscles in the legs, hips, calves and abdomen.
And, unlike standard gym workouts, climbing boosts aerobic fitness as well as strength and endurance. It can even help you lose weight.
When you clip into a hold on the wall, you engage a myriad of muscles from your fingertips to your elbows. These muscle groups work together to hold you up, keep your body aligned and allow you to move quickly over the wall. In addition, climbing is one of the few exercises that calls upon and improves a wide range of lower-body and core muscles.
In order to climb well, you need to have good grip strength, as the majority of the movement in climbing occurs with the fingers. However, merely performing a few sets of heavy squats and pull-ups is unlikely to give you the grip strength needed to complete that hard weekend redpoint. Instead, it is important to focus on a specific, climbing-specific strength training program a few times per week.
Several studies have found that improving finger flexor strength correlates with rock climbing performance. In fact, a study that trained national and international competitive boulderers three times per week with a finger-grip training program resulted in 8% improvement in maximum slope crimp grip strength at post-test. The researchers suggested that incorporating intermittent finger-grip training using alternating contractions (with 7 s of contraction and 3 s of rest) was more effective than continuous contraction.
Studies also suggest that improving peak force output can affect climbing performance. Increased peak force can reduce the shape of the power curve and lead to a greater net impulse on the wall, which is a determinant of climber performance. Other factors, including anthropometric characteristics, metabolic stress responses to training and the ability to recover from intense RT sessions, also influence climbing performance. The latter is related to the frequency and intensity of RT, as well as the duration of each session and the amount of time spent recovering between sessions.
Coordination
Climbing requires a high degree of coordination. The more coordinated you are, the more efficiently you move, enabling you to climb longer and harder. To develop climbing coordination, you must train both your muscles and your senses. The best way to do this is through a combination of warm-up exercises, balance drills, hand-eye coordination training, core strength training, and mental training.
Adaptive movement is an important component of skilled coordination, as it allows the body to make adjustments on the fly to meet changing environmental conditions. This movement is characterized by minimization of prolonged pauses, optimization of spatial-temporal features pertaining to body-to-wall coordination, the climb trajectory, and hand-to-hold surface contact, and a reduction in exploratory behavior. Adaptive movement enables climbers to navigate problems that are rated below their ability level and to maintain the energy and motivation to continue climbing.
Another aspect of coordination that can be improved through practice is the use of imagery to guide a movement. The ability to visualize a movement in your mind is called ideomotor action, and better climbers tend to engage their ideomotor action more frequently. This is because better climbers are able to anticipate the movement needed and visualize it in their mind before engaging it physically.
To develop climbing coordination, incorporate Pilates and dance into your cross-training routine. These movements strengthen the core, enhance body awareness and proprioception, and improve rhythm and fluidity of movement. In addition, incorporating circuit training into your conditioning regimen enhances muscle endurance and mental resilience, both of which are crucial to completing complex climbing moves. Lastly, ensure you are getting adequate rest and recovery in order to support your coordination development. Sleep allows your body to repair tissue, consolidate memories, and optimize coordination-related neural pathways.
Balance
Balance is a key component to total physical fitness. It encompasses the body’s ability to distribute weight in a way that allows for stability and precision during dynamic movements. This skill is especially important in climbing, as it enables climbers to navigate vertical terrain with finesse and control.
For beginners, climbing can feel like a completely arm-focused sport, but the truth is that it’s a highly three-dimensional activity. Climbers must always be aware of where their center of gravity is in relation to footholds and handholds, and how they can shift their weight around to maintain equilibrium on the wall. This awareness enables climbers to anticipate shifts in the terrain and make the most of any available holds.
In addition, balance is a key element to footwork precision, which is critical for navigating both smooth and technical rock surfaces. For example, edging—the technique of using the edges of your feet on footholds—requires balance to manage friction and ensure stable footing. Likewise, the art of “smearing,” in which climbers move across a rock surface without any gripping points, requires both precise foot placement and balanced movement to overcome challenges.
As a result, it’s easy for beginner climbers to overdevelop their pulling muscles (biceps and back) at the expense of their pushing muscles (chest and triceps). By incorporating balance drills into their practice routines, beginning climbers can help balance these imbalances and improve their overall performance. To do this, it’s important to incorporate supplementary exercises that work the muscles that aren’t being used as much when you’re climbing, such as push-ups, pull-ups, and lunges. These workouts will also strengthen the core, which is essential for balance and support during dynamic climbing movements.
Flexibility
Flexibility is the ability of your joints and muscles to move through a full range of motion without any discomfort. It is a crucial factor in muscle movement because it allows your muscles to change length as they move through their range of motion, increasing the variability in the way that your muscles contract. Flexibility can be improved by stretching or by other types of flexibility-enhancing exercises such as yoga, tai chi or pilates.
When climbing, you’re often required to put your feet on small hand holds that aren’t very big or far apart, requiring a lot of rotational flexibility in the legs. For bouldering this rotational flexibility can help you to bring your body closer to the wall and create more power in your moves. For competition climbing, a lot of the route setting requires the climber to position their legs on footholds that are positioned over substantial distances and therefore require both passive flexibility (standing in the resting position) and active flexibility (moving the leg over long distances).
Climbing is not the best exercise for building muscle mass or cardiovascular fitness but it is great for improving balance, endurance and flexibility. It also provides low-impact aerobic training and is an effective form of stress relief. Climbing is a social activity and the people you climb with will become your friends and support network.
Although falling can be intimidating the first few times you climb, it’s very important to learn how to fall safely so that you don’t hurt yourself or anyone else. The fear of falling will fade with time and you’ll be more willing to try new strategies and take risks on the wall.
Mental Stimulation
Climbing isn’t just a physical exercise; it also challenges the mind. Navigating routes requires strategic thinking, problem-solving skills and intense concentration. The mental stimulation provided by climbing enhances cognitive function and improves focus, both on and off the wall.
The process of overcoming fear and challenging oneself translates into resilience in life. Whether it’s a new climb, or a difficult goal at work, the sense of accomplishment that comes with conquering obstacles fosters confidence and self-esteem. Climbing is also a great way to release stress and anxiety in a safe, controlled environment. The gratification of completing a climb and seeing clear progress over time fuels motivation. Lastly, the camaraderie of the climbing community promotes social support and well-being.