I went to a rock climbing gym for the first time on saturday and just wanted to say thats its a great forearm and grip workout. After about 4 hours of it my grip just gave out and I couldnt do it anymore. I was just wondering if anyone here does rock climbing for a forearm/grip exercise or just does it for fun. You guys should definately try it out sometime alot of fun and a great workout.
N. Robinson
I used to do alot of rockclimbing. When you’re new to it alot of things hurt…but after a while you stop trying to muscle yourself up the rock and you use more technique. I never got to be like some of the guys I climbed with though, they seemed to just float up the rock.
It was alot of fun for me while i did it, I got more than a few scares, but it was all good.
[quote]N. Robinson wrote:
I went to a rock climbing gym for the first time on saturday and just wanted to say thats its a great forearm and grip workout. After about 4 hours of it my grip just gave out and I couldnt do it anymore. I was just wondering if anyone here does rock climbing for a forearm/grip exercise or just does it for fun. You guys should definately try it out sometime alot of fun and a great workout.
N. Robinson[/quote]
Dude, you could climb for 4 hours on your first time? That’s awesome. Seriously.
Climbing walls are a great place for eye candy, too. I used to take my son to a kids climbing class at 5pm. One night we went at about 7pm just to climb on our own and the place was crawling with babes. I wanted to sit on this one bench and pretend to be messing with my equipment so I could watch this one girls ass go up the wall, but my son was making that impossible. Maybe next time.
[quote]on edge wrote:
N. Robinson wrote:
I went to a rock climbing gym for the first time on saturday and just wanted to say thats its a great forearm and grip workout. After about 4 hours of it my grip just gave out and I couldnt do it anymore. I was just wondering if anyone here does rock climbing for a forearm/grip exercise or just does it for fun. You guys should definately try it out sometime alot of fun and a great workout.
N. Robinson
Dude, you could climb for 4 hours on your first time? That’s awesome. Seriously.[/quote]
Thanks alot my forearms still hurt from saturday, like I said above I was totally drained after my last climb and only made it half way up a very easy one. I also wanted to add that bouldering is my favorite part of the rock climbing. It takes alot of you.
Thanks again man,
N. Robinson
[quote]N. Robinson wrote:
on edge wrote:
N. Robinson wrote:
I went to a rock climbing gym for the first time on saturday and just wanted to say thats its a great forearm and grip workout. After about 4 hours of it my grip just gave out and I couldnt do it anymore. I was just wondering if anyone here does rock climbing for a forearm/grip exercise or just does it for fun. You guys should definately try it out sometime alot of fun and a great workout.
N. Robinson
Dude, you could climb for 4 hours on your first time? That’s awesome. Seriously.
Thanks alot my forearms still hurt from saturday, like I said above I was totally drained after my last climb and only made it half way up a very easy one. I also wanted to add that bouldering is my favorite part of the rock climbing. It takes alot of you.
Thanks again man,
N. Robinson
[/quote]
I agree about bouldering. Thats all I do, I don’t mess with ropes and shit.
[quote]on edge wrote:
N. Robinson wrote:
on edge wrote:
N. Robinson wrote:
I went to a rock climbing gym for the first time on saturday and just wanted to say thats its a great forearm and grip workout. After about 4 hours of it my grip just gave out and I couldnt do it anymore. I was just wondering if anyone here does rock climbing for a forearm/grip exercise or just does it for fun. You guys should definately try it out sometime alot of fun and a great workout.
N. Robinson
Dude, you could climb for 4 hours on your first time? That’s awesome. Seriously.
Thanks alot my forearms still hurt from saturday, like I said above I was totally drained after my last climb and only made it half way up a very easy one. I also wanted to add that bouldering is my favorite part of the rock climbing. It takes alot of you.
Thanks again man,
N. Robinson
I agree about bouldering. Thats all I do, I don’t mess with ropes and shit.
[/quote]
I started climbing in Krabi Thailand last November. My grips sucks, but so does my technique. I was climbing with an ex wrestler/ultimate fighter who started climbing/bouldering purely for grip training…now he just climbs.
Goto Krabi and deep water solo…awesome.
I do indoor bouldering a couple of times a week. Your grip does get stronger with time, but the biggest improvements come from awareness of your body and learning technique. I make a policy of completing a problem at least 3 times before I move onto another one, to make sure I have the moves down.
To me, the best part is working on a problem for a couple hours and then finally getting it – a clear indication that it’s not all about strength.
[quote]N. Robinson wrote:
I went to a rock climbing gym for the first time on saturday and just wanted to say thats its a great forearm and grip workout. After about 4 hours of it my grip just gave out and I couldnt do it anymore. I was just wondering if anyone here does rock climbing for a forearm/grip exercise or just does it for fun. You guys should definately try it out sometime alot of fun and a great workout.
N. Robinson[/quote]
I rock climb for fun.
And the reason why your grip gave out was because you were using poor technique. Learn to use your legs more, so that you don’t blow out your forearms so fast.
yeah I climb. definitely a good forearm workout.
as lifters we have a tendency to overuse upper body strength in our climbs, which makes it even harder on the hands, but ideally you’d want to use your legs more. but if you’re short, that upper body strength comes in handy.
If you want to hit your forearms, go over to the bouldering area and use a finger board. Your finger tendon strength takes a while to develop. And use the finger board to build your grip strength.
[quote]TheBlade wrote:
yeah I climb. definitely a good forearm workout.
as lifters we have a tendency to overuse upper body strength in our climbs, which makes it even harder on the hands, but ideally you’d want to use your legs more. but if you’re short, that upper body strength comes in handy.[/quote]
You and tweaker or exactly right, I basically muscled my way up with my upper body the entire time not using much technique or lower body. One reason is because I want to get my grip stronger and my forearms stronger and later when I have the right grip and forearm strength I am planning on focusing on technique for the more advanced climbs.
Thanks for the replies,
N. Robinson
[quote]tweaker wrote:
If you want to hit your forearms, go over to the bouldering area and use a finger board. Your finger tendon strength takes a while to develop. And use the finger board to build your grip strength.[/quote]
I did try the finger board it was pretty tough. I agree that it would help the climbing. Thanks for the tip.
N. Robinson
man this… is just soo ironic b/c i just started climbing and i just bought a membership
next on my list is shoes so i can go with my dad’s friend that’s in Mexico right now, and sent me an email when i put in my application there and used him as a reference sayin i should come up and climb with in the summer
fuckin awesome
climbing is definitely a life changing experience
and yes easily a “spectator sport” i’m a wrestler as well and considered my grip to be superior to many
not to be cocky but rock climbing is definitly a way to humble one’s self
For outside stick to 5.10 shoes. The stealth rubber stuff sticks really good to the rocks. 5.10’s newer stealth rubber wears off a lot faster, so stick to the original stuff.
Don’t want to hijack, but i’m wondering to what degree can your weight hinder your success in rock climbing?
I mean, i so far haven’t seen a rock climber
as big as a random bodybuilder or a weightlifter.
I’m interested in this sport (climbing), haven’t tried it yet, will have to someday, but I’m quite tall, relatively big, and legs are my strongest bodypart.
Which I think goes against my view of what a climber should look like.
Climbing is awesome fun, i’ve been climbing for two years now and am still utter poop. If you watn to improve watch how the ladies climb, as they tend to have less strength they tend to have the techinque down. Also theres some amazing dvds out there which give you some great tips. The most obvious one is always have three points on the rock/wall.
On weight being an issue when climbing, it tends to hinder me quite abit as i weigh 110kg. So on overhangs it tends to be a bit tricky. People look and laugh at me and my mates climbing all the time, but we don’t give a shit. Bouldering is all i do, as i don’t tend to trust people with the rope weighing as much as i do. Climbing is great fun untill you do an overhang and the hold snaps off the wall, then its straight down to Earth with a bump. But then again it can be quite exciting.
laters
[quote]Hrastnik wrote:
Don’t want to hijack, but i’m wondering to what degree can your weight hinder your success in rock climbing?
I mean, i so far haven’t seen a rock climber
as big as a random bodybuilder or a weightlifter.
I’m interested in this sport (climbing), haven’t tried it yet, will have to someday, but I’m quite tall, relatively big, and legs are my strongest bodypart.
Which I think goes against my view of what a climber should look like.
[/quote]
Success is measured by how much fun you are having. Anyone can do it.
[quote]Hrastnik wrote:
Don’t want to hijack, but i’m wondering to what degree can your weight hinder your success in rock climbing?
I mean, i so far haven’t seen a rock climber
as big as a random bodybuilder or a weightlifter.
I’m interested in this sport (climbing), haven’t tried it yet, will have to someday, but I’m quite tall, relatively big, and legs are my strongest bodypart.
Which I think goes against my view of what a climber should look like.
[/quote]
I’ve been climbing, on and off, for over 10 years. When I started I probably weighed 175-180ish, fairly lean. I’m now 240, not so lean. At my best I was probably around 200 and climbing 5.11 consistently and 5.12 occasionally.
Haven’t really climbed in a year or so, but when I was doing it a lot, at my current weight, I found that the extra weight really killed my endurance. At 180-200 I could get to the crag or gym in the morning, and stay til dark, with only the occasional break.
At 240, I’ve only got a couple of hours before my grip is shot. And I do mean SHOT, like “holy crap, I can’t wrap my fingers around the steering wheel to drive home” shot.
Also, excess weight makes anything overhanging a lot harder. When you get past vertical your weight shifts away from the rock and hangs below your hands so you lose the support of your legs. It takes a lot of technique and abdominal strength to use your legs when you’re hanging upside down.
btw, funny timing for this thread. It’s finally starting to warm up in New England, almost 50 yesterday and in the 40s today, and just this morning I was thinking about how it’ll be good climbing weather soon.
I’ve climbed indoors and out for >30 years and agree with all the comments except one – be careful with the finger board. Finger boards are responsible for the highest injury incidence in gym climbing by far – lots of ruptured tendons, mostly because people try too much too soon. I’m happy to provide articles and stats if anyone cares, but just be careful.
Otherwise, climbing rocks (ba-dum-bum). Get some good shoes and expect your feet to hurt; if your feet move around in the shoes, they aren’t tight enough. Shoes for trad climbing tend to be more comfy than cragging shoes or whatever, so try on a lot until you find some you like. Also, invest heavily in chalk, particularly if you get sweaty hands.
Work traversals for grip work – you’ll have a shorter fall when you fail and still get a great workout with lots of problems to solve. Work the ropes on aggressive routes when you start getting cocky.
Just my opinions. Anyway, good luck.
SDSR/Cap’nSpackle