Great Exercise: Rock Climbing and Weight Loss

Great Exercise: Rock Climbing and Weight Loss

Rock climbing has become a popular sport today, not only in the outdoor version but also in the rock climbing gyms that have cropped up all over the world. These rock climbing gyms allow people to participate in climbing rock climbing walls that are designed in various amounts of difficulty so that people can practice their different hand and foot holds. The gyms provide safety precautions while climbing so that people are always with a partner to ensure that they are belayed in case they happen to fall. That way, they are lowered safely to the ground instead of falling and hurting themselves. Rock climbing has been beneficial for weight loss in some people. However, rock climbing is not the best method for weight loss for many people who are extremely overweight since it requires a lot of strength in comparison to their weight.

Training and Equipment

Rock climbing for weight loss requires that people develop some arm and leg strength in order to hold their body weight up while climbing. The hands and the feet also have to develop a lot of strength because they are the only things holding people to the side of the walls, perched on the little ledges. Rock climbing for weight loss does develop a lot of strength in the body, since the person is continually holding their entire body weight on a couple of limbs at a time without any break. However, unlike weight lifting where it is easy to take breaks and to get bored of the repetitious nature of lifting, rock climbing for weight loss allows people to have fun while getting their workout.

At the beginning of rock climbing for weight loss, people will probably only be able to do the smaller walls where the person does not have to go very far to get to the top of the climb. These walls are designed for beginners who do not have great skills developed yet. They have larger hand and foot holds to use and the reaches are not as far or difficult. As the person gets more skilled when rock climbing for weight loss, he will be able to do the more difficult walls. There are some higher walls that still have easier hand and foot holds to allow the endurance to be built up before going to the more advanced walls. People may notice when rock climbing for weight loss that their clothing is fitting better but their weight has not really dropped significantly. This is usually because the person is burning fat but is gaining a lot of muscle, which weighs more than fat, thus reducing weight loss but toning the body.

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