Mental benefits of rock climbing once a week reddit I would increase slowly though to avoid injury and give yourself time to adapt. 11s and above) along with lead climbing I saw significantly more progress in 2-3 months. But I also believe (and have had coaches tell me so during a group coaching session) that my technique on lower grades is pretty solid. He lost 20lbs and was in much better CV shape when on hikes/approaches even though rock climbing isn't really cardio. Rock climbing is good for your mental health: 3 research papers that explore the benefits on patients with depression and anxiety You can now tell your parents that spending your time hanging off a cliff is good for you and there is evidence to prove it. I want to be able to go multiple times a week but my forearms are usually the muscles that takes a few days to recover. You aren't going to get good at it, but you will become more familiar with the exercise and possibly gain some miniscule immeasurable health benefit. But I am myself going to sauna just once a week. If you can only go climbing once per week, can you at least do some strength training (pull-ups, hangboarding …) and stretching at home? Outside of the benefits to climbing you will reap huge benefits in many many other ways from doing compound lifts like improving stabilizer muscles, increasing bone density which will help you from getting injured on a fall, strengthening your core and countless other benefits. This is a place to share success, support each other, ask questions, and learn. Here are the 17 benefits of an indoor climbing gym. I have a feeling that improving all of these things could be very helpful in mountaineering, especially in higher mountains. I'd prefer to see a V2/5. Full-Body Workout One of the first health benefits of rock climbing is the full-body workout that it offers. it may be worth your time to do some background reading on it's known effects, generally, and decide if your seeing any of those benefits in your climbing and then try cycling it a few times to see what I don’t/didn’t have great body or finger strength. A bit of easy stuff a bit of weakness training Once I work up my endurance from winter hiatus, I ride about 150-170mi a week. I gained 4kg when I started taking it. After a year, I was able to project 5. I'm heavy, but tend to look like someone 40 pounds lighter, so between the fear of heights and the weight, it makes for an interesting challenge and I like the spent feeling at the end. I miss what it does for my mental health, not to say the benefits it has on my body. My knuckles have gotten pretty burly, though. The sport builds emotional resilience by teaching fear management and goal achievement. 5 climber who gets out for 40 years once a week into nature then a V10, 5. I'd suggest throwing money at a guide service to learn how to be outside safely once a season. Initially my climbing ability dropped a little with the added weight but I got it back up without losing the weight. As a fitness regime, I feel like rock climbing doesn't make me lose weight or get ripped. Ive been climbing 2-3 times a week and if I cant make it to the rock gym at least 2x a week, I'll do a full body workout for about 2-3 hours at home. Going through the Rock Climber's Training Manual now that I've reached the 1 year mark and want to start taking my training… So I have been climbing for close 6 months once a week and started going twice a week. IF is an 18+ community because the practice is not medically recommended to/for children. 11+ on TR. After a month of this, I plan to hangboard once a week and kilterboard once a week. Social aspects develop trust, communication skills, and supportive community connections. 20 minutes of calisthenics and 20 minutes cardio a day will do wonders. For me, that is rock climbing and jiujitsu. very very strong. Mar 17, 2023 · Bouldering may be defined as a ‘solo’ form of rock climbing as you don’t need a partner to belay you on a route, but that doesn’t make it any less social. The great thing is, technique can be developed very quickly. Personally, I lose strength climbing once a week, maintain at 2, and don’t see progress unless I climb 3-5x a week. I’m currently reading “Spark” by John Ratey, and it’s eye-opening how exercise impacts our mental health. If you want to be the best at climbing you can be, you pretty much have to climb as often as you walk. I try to do two 20-25mi rides during the week and 1-2 longer rides on the weekend. Leading is balls achingly scary, but my falls are more meaningful with regards to breaking my fear. The only difference is that I’m not hangboarding once a week anymore. Block 3: Weeks 8 through 13. When I lift, I do A: bench/row/squat B: press/weighted chins/deadlift. That’s celebrity culture for you, but I felt like most posts were making fun of celebrity culture, not new climbers. When I was tracking, I’d say I was usually bw 1700 and 2000 cals a day as well. So to answer your question: weight loss will impact your climbing dramatically!. I think rock climbing helped me notice some lack of my balance, weak legs, or even foot placement. Posted by u/dnohunter - 19 votes and 10 comments People engage in IF to reap the many benefits to health, fitness, and mental clarity. It depends on your starting point. One of my friends didn't exercise at all and started rock climbing in the gym. If you play around with frequency VS intensity, you can add hours at a lower intensity, and slowly add intensity over time. If you begin to rock climb even a few times a week, you’ll In college i was climbing 4-5 times a week. If you're trying to get stronger, I think climbing 2/3 days a week with 2-3 days rest in between is probably the best way to get stronger at a steady pace. You will need to develop technique in order to push yourself and thus see physical results. So, I changed up my stimulus last year, cut my climbing way back (from 3-4x a week to only once a week outdoors when dry) and started working out and hangboarding. There are 168 hours in the work week, if you are working 60-70 hours per week that still leaves you with 98 hours, factor in sleep if you wanna get a full 8 hours and you're left with around 42 hours in your week for errands, chores, etc. Climbing promotes mindfulness through complete presence and body awareness. However, rock climbing very much makes me want to lose weight and get ripped. I find it difficult to go more then twice a week unless i make my sessions way shorter (45 mins instead of around 90-120 mins). Most importantly though is basic lifestyle choices. Does it have benefits, or I must go more? In Rock climbing the main muscle is your forearms, your grip, literally useless to a triathlete and possibly slightly detrimental, I do rock climbing myself but i'm not deluding myself into thinking it'll help any of the 3 disciple, I do it because it's fun and my XC coach would probably get pissed if he heard i was spending my recovery day in I’m a bit late, but I have a phobia of heights. An average week out of season is 2 days on a board, 1 day in the gym. I got over it by top roping only as long as was necessary to learn to lead climb (once a week for 8 weeks) and now I only lead climb or boulder. I didn't work out at all other than rock climbing once a week. Yes! I mainly only rock climb and have seen an incredible increase of flexibility and strength. As long as I got my electrolytes I was fine energy wise but that was so important. My goal right now is to focus on V5 projects with fingerstrength being the main thing I optomize. I also like the problem solving and obviously the health benefits. I’ve been climbing for a few years, and have been lucky enough to travel and learn all over the western half of the country at some amazing destinations. I grew up in gymnastics and switched to climbing at 16 after an injury. I enjoy climbing because I'm afraid of heights, and it gets me out of the house. I saw good results going once a week but when I shifted to twice a week and doing more challenging climbs (5. com Dec 15, 2024 · I do do this about once a week and on warm ups. 23 votes, 24 comments. Simply put, exercise is good for your mental health because it does good things to your brain. Is this a good plan? Mental health benefits should be your goal. Long runs are about an hour and 40 mins so I try to eat a lot those days. During this phase, do only 1 or 2 sets of strength exercises a week to maintain former progress. This subreddit is for practitioners, students, and others interested in adventure therapy (AT)… My schedule is pretty erratic because I travel lots for work, but typically 3-4 days per week climbing. Make sure you are climbing all sorts of different types of climbs and your strength will be very well balanced. I see some intersections between rock climbing and mountaineering. After your first 6-week block, take a week off from strength training. 158 subscribers in the adventuretherapy community. Take a lesson- it's worth it! I cross train with weight lifting 3-4x per week as I am very focused on climbing and climbing performance and I have to lift weights in order to continue to climb and progress at the level I want. I was climbing 3x every week (3 hour sessions), now I have to cut down to 2 sessions a week for family reasons (currently climbing around font 6b outside, 6a+ and a couple of 6bs on the moonboard benchmarks). 4hrs 5 days a week. 10a level (adirondack grade 5. £13. With bouldering you can work on problems that really test your technique, flow, foot placement, tactics, grip strengthm, etc etc etc. Of course, experience and climbing several times a week has something to do with that but I think the weight loss has a considerable effect on it as well. You just have to be consistent with it. You'll be a better climber, be healthier, and more injury resistant. 50 per visit means I only have to go once a week to get my money's worth. See full list on time. So when I’m climbing some rock or Boulder route in the gym and doing crazy moves it just feels like a super natural way to maneuver my body. 5 sets of 2-4 reps/set. With the routes being so short, the wall, and its boulder problems are shared between climbers. Unless I've missed something, it hasn't been studied in climbing specifically, but otherwise it's one of the most studied supplements ever. You don’t need much more than body-weight squats, planks, push-ups on knees, maybe some very light weights. Get a hangboard for home training, it will do wonders for your grip (forearm) strength. Ok honestly, not to say there isn’t gate keeping in the climbing community, but personally I just think it’s ridiculous to see multiple articles published because someone went indoor rock climbing once. Once a week is great for upkeeping overall fitness. Once i was regularly climbing at a 5. Then it evolved into fueling my fitness and weight loss journey. And then even after we evolved into more modern humans people were still likely climbing (or at least scrambling) all the damn time. I didn't the first week and felt very fatigued easily. I lift weight and if somebody would ask how much results he will get from lifting once a week, i would say not much. You will find the same health benefits from running once per week as you would salsa dancing once per week or rock climbing once per week. In fact, I find bouldering to be the most social form of rock climbing. Strength train two-three times per week. I like to have at least three days between sessions since I'm newer, though they're around 1 hr each. Something you might not know is that exercise increases the volume of brain structures that are instrumental in maintaining mental health. Sport climbing does alot more for your power endurance (ability to pull many moves without much rest), but theres also a mental aspect to it, because when you're leading you have to periodically stop, hold with 1 hand, clip the draw, and then continue climbing, all of which adds difficulty to the climb (not to mention the falling aspect - fear Add a basic, home-based body-weight workout to round out your overall fitness program, and you should be good. Thats the way your body is supposed to work. Then pick one day at the tail end of the week, for limit boulder and the weekends for whatever you'd like! Power endurance is just a fantastic tool for fitness, filling out your body and getting into better climber shape. Try to incorporate board climbing once a week (in a controlled manner, not just "repeat until you die") and try to climb about 2-3 Times a week. 14 with an eating disorder who only crushes the latest Moon/Kilter board. Reply reply People seem think of exercise more in terms of physical health and not mental health. Realistically, you can get 12 hours of climbing/training a week by climbing for 4hrs 3 days a week or 3hrs 4 days a week or even 2. I plan to go back to hangboarding, and this will be done twice a week. On the plus side, you'll be very well rested for hard / limit boulder sessions. Then take a week with reduced load, then for the next 3 weeks focus on endurance and technique drills from “Rock Climbing Technique: The Practical Guide to Movement Mastery” and 4x4s twice a week. The con would be climbing less could mean you'll naturally struggle maintaining general fitness/stamina over time. Shouldn’t take more than 1/2 an Personally anything that gets you out of your head. Eh I think you're overselling the safety a tad bit - many of my climber friends have sustained not life altering but none the less serious ligament damage in their ankles as they fall off the rock face and land badly against the rock if they're lead climbing. All the closest friends i’ve made have been through climbing and I am in way better shape than ever The best workout routine for rock climbing is rock climbing a lot, but I know what you mean about schedule getting in the way. Each set should be around 80% intensity, so the load here is your 3-rep max per day. I've even had staff members at my gym comment on my weight loss and my rapid improvement in my climbing. When the weather gets good typically 2 days outside, 1 on the board, 1 in a gym. After spending two years of climbing and doing consistent weighted pull ups I'm at a point where my climbing improvements have seemed to plateau and I think it's due to my weight. I also do 1 strength training session (bench press, biceps curls, deadlifts, overhead press, barbell squats, planks hangboarding …) per week or two if I miss a climbing session. If you want to actually improve at climbing Once a week is barely enough. Had a 2 hour session last year and quickly realised that 2 hours would be far better spent in a bouldering gym than a climbing wall. Over the last year I sent 4 V9s and have done all moves in large links on a couple V10s so the goal is well within sight. It’s possibly the best decision I’ve made so far in life given that I’ve climbed probably 2-3 times a week for the past 11 years, and don’t ever plan on stopping. Physical exercise increases the level of endorphins and enkephalins in the brain, but you likely already knew that. Throw in some stretching and mobility work for good measure too. Feb 16, 2025 · Rock climbing enhances cognitive skills through problem-solving and spatial awareness. It won't pump you up necessarily, but will keep your muscle groups working well together. I see, then that changes a few things! I would say that maws once a week with dedicated power endurance days is the move. But I know others who are different. I agree I dont think it helps climbing and crimping much, but for something like a weighted pullup regimine over 6 months I think it helps. Initially, I started running for the physical benefits, but lately, I’ve noticed the mental perks are equally, if not more, rewarding. 10) i was very strong. Bouldering and a few times a week lifting heavy weights after a bouldering session will get you far. After warming up, find a load you can complete for Been climbing at least 5X a week for 4 years now. Oh btw climbing is overwhelmingly “pull” muscles so by Personally £55 seems like a great deal for how often I go and is fairly similar to the price OP is being charged. I've been climbing for about 3 years but have been taking it seriously since last September. May 8, 2023 · Block 2: Week 7. Climbing is as much mental and skill based as it is physical. It’s good advice and I will keep it in mind. Dec 14, 2023 · 17 Amazing Benefits of An Indoor Climbing Gym. Then increase the intensity. Yes! Jul 29, 2021 · The results, published in the International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience, showed a marked decrease in symptoms. I’ve started going rock climbing once a week and omg I’m always freaking hungry now. I could see myself moving up to three times a week with shorter sessions (~30 min). Hi All! I used to be a member of this sub but I left after Covid and a bad relationship that kept me out of the gym (and off rock) for almost 2 1/2 years now. It's just that he was going from virtually zero exercise to 3h in the climbing gym most nights. I have seen a lot of people come through my gym that started out really out of shape, get really stoked about climbing (because it is a really fun way to work out) and the physical and mental transformation in just 6 months of climbing 3x/week for them has been really remarkable. Do that once per week with your twice per week swims and it’ll really make a difference. I learned to build anchors in Joshua Tree, set up my first top rope in Red Rock, learned to lead on sport in Tucson, and really got to push myself in Boulder, Moab, Smith Rock, etc. People engage in IF to reap the many benefits to health, fitness, and mental clarity. Full-body workouts are often hard to come by, even in regular gyms. I go twice a week. To that end, I am more motivated to eat a little better, do some cardio and yoga, and do strength training than I would otherwise be. My personal experience from when I started climbing was that I would lift weights three days per week (2 heavy and 1 light day), and I would climb only once per week. I'm in a similar situation and was actually about to make a similar post. If a person wants a social life they will make the time for it. I probably could have gone 3-4km but didn't bother. I saw studies where 7 times a week was much more beneficial than 4 times a week. Then go pick up something heavy once or twice a week. That really depends on the person. 1. You might want do some trial and error to figure out what works best for you. This made me think about mountaineering in general. I was in alright shape. Combining scientific research with over a decade of first-hand immersion in the climbing community, here are six mental health benefits of rock climbing. I'm not pushing harder grades currently though, mostly climbing to maintain my mental health (climbing out a pit of depression :D) edit: re-read OP's post. Exercise—climbing included—boosts mood-related chemicals in our brain like dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, helping to lift our spirits. I don't see why you couldn't at least maintain, if not improve, climbing 2 days a week if you structure your sessions and use your time in the gym well. Yep, I've been climbing for 2 years now and for the last few months I've been dm fasting two days a week, and training max power on these, and I've definitely become wayyyy stronger, now being able to do 7a - 7b+ boulders in a few tries. I have imrpoved drastically in my climbing but I still have a little bit of fat at the base of my stomach. With rock climbing all you can think about is the problem and not falling, with jiujitsu you don't have time to think about anything else other than the person in front of you trying to put you to sleep. I started getting more serious about riding at first to train for an event called RAGBRAI. Sedentary desk job for the most part. It's nice to go once a week with a climbing buddy and once a week on your own. Diet and good sleep go a long way. If you really enjoy climbing then use it as something to train for. Feb 24, 2025 · Emerging evidence indicates rock climbing can lower anxiety, foster mindfulness, decrease depression, and boost cognition. I'm realizing that I REALLY miss climbing. I didn't attempt running since I just thought I didn't have the energy after work and all. Well, if you focus on easy trad you are going to be better doing easy trad routes not overhanging boulders. kksv nwlvg cgys tovpyf smjbd yowgmg ltkg kxsxy cszjyw krph xvvu sgjl ecbtflt xmf trbq