Do You Get Muscles From Climbing
Climbing isn’t just a hobby, it’s also used as a form of training. And because of this, individuals want to know how it impacts their muscles and frame. Well, look no further, here’s a fantastic summary of what you can expect in terms of muscle size and strength.
Climbing won’t give you “big” muscles. This isn’t to say it won’t develop existing fibres; but, in terms of slabs of meat on your arms, it’s a straight no-no. This is because there’s no isolation or progressive overload in climbing; so, your muscles aren’t given the opportunity to undertake hypertrophy.
How many bodybuilders have you seen at the top of a crag? We don’t imagine it’s a lot – if any. This isn’t because they’re scared of heights, it’s because climbing doesn’t match their training preferences. Remember, we’re talking about a chunky, thick muscular frame.
But, what if you don’t want this? Many climbers don’t want to look like a bodybuilder; but instead, want to put on a few extra pounds of muscle. Well, in this case, climbing does suit your needs… Let’s explore this in more detail.
Do You Get Big Arms From Climbing
One of the biggest misconceptions is that climbing gives you huge biceps, triceps, and shoulders. Many assume since it’s an upper-body-dominated sport, you’re almost guaranteed rocks for arms. Sorry, it isn’t true… Here’s what actually happens.
Since climbing is an intense sport that uses relative strength, your arms become more toned and defined – but they won’t have substantial growth. Even climbing champions have long, thin arms; it’s rare to see short, bulky arms.
The reason for this is that climbing doesn’t demand a massive amount of strength in your arms. You must be able to pull your body weight – that’s it. And in fact, most of us gain this strength when we are kids!
Embed from Getty ImagesCheck out this image of some of the current climbing champions. While their arms aren’t skinny, we wouldn’t describe them as big. It’s fair to say, they’re average size, but the main difference is that their arms are extremely toned and well-defined.
As long as you can pull your body weight, you need almost-to-no additional strength training. Which, unfortunately, gives your arms no opportunity to put on size. Instead, you’ll focus on muscle endurance, to improve climbing stamina, so your arms don’t feel fatigued halfway through a climb.
Climbers see this as a major benefit as the smaller your muscles, the lighter you are. Not only does this make you more explosive, but it also helps to reserve energy during a climb. This makes them both faster and more powerful during competitions.
But, if you use climbing as a form of exercise, and aren’t fussed about performance, you may have other views. In this case, we recommend incorporating other forms of training, such as weights or calisthenics, to have better success in growing your arms.
The Silent Winners
There are two exceptions to the above: your forearms and fingers.
If you want to increase the size of your fingers or forearms, climbing is your best friend. It’s one of the only activities where you can develop such a substantial amount of muscle mass, in such a tiny part of your body.
The reason they have to be so strong is they’re the ones predominantly responsible for holding your body weight. In fact, there will be times when the only muscle stopping you from falling to the ground, is a minuscule fiber in your pinky!
This is why people say: “You can see how good of a climber they are by the size of their fingers and forearms”. If you take a look at some rock climber’s hands, they look like sausages on a plate! It’s no surprise climbers have one of the best grip strengths in the world.
Will Climbing Give You A Wider Back
It’s understandable to be disappointed from the lack of arm development climbing has to offer. But, what it lacks in arm gains, it makes up for in the back.
Climbing is one of the best sports to develop a V-shape back – a broad upper body and pinched waist. This is because your lats are engaged throughout the whole climb, as they’re responsible for pulling yourself up from holding a rock.
The more dynamic of a climber you are (how much you swing and jump), the wider your back will be. This is because dynamic climbers are more explosive, which forces muscle fibers in the lats to be bigger and stronger.
This is why shorter climbers tend to have wider backs than taller ones. Since they struggle to reach in-between the rocks, they must jump between them and fully extend their arms. On the other hand, taller climbers can effortlessly grip rocks meters apart; so, are a lot more static in their climb.
Putting climbing style aside, your weight also plays a huge role in determining how wide your back becomes from climbing. The heavier you are, the larger the resistance will be as you try to pull yourself up. This conditions your lats to be stronger; so, they grow bigger and wider.
But, There’s One Problem
Climbing is arguably too good for building a wider back, as a matter of fact it can actually introduce problems.
Climbing dominantly uses pull motions, but rarely requires any push movements. This leaves many major muscle groups unworked and unconditioned. For example, you can complete a whole climb without having to contract your chest once.
Because of this, lots of climbers have muscle imbalances. More specifically, a super wide back, but an underdeveloped chest. So, it’s imperative you supplement your climbing with a push workout, such as bench press or push-ups.
Does Climbing Build Your Legs
While climbing appears to only use your upper body, a lot of the driving force you need comes from the legs.
To progress up a wall/mountain, you need power from your legs, specifically your gluteals, hamstrings, and quadriceps. Because of this, climbing is a fantastic sport to engage your legs; but, it will improve muscle endurance, not necessarily their size or strength.
To build thunder thighs, you need to overload your legs with a huge amount of added resistance. But, this doesn’t occur in climbing. In fact, it’s the complete opposite since you try to travel as light as possible.
So, when you break down the biomechanics of climbing, it’s essentially the same as repeatedly performing bodyweight squats. Yes, you may use a deeper squat during harder parts of the climb, but at no point will you have a 220lb squat bar over your shoulders!
And put simply, your body weight alone isn’t enough resistance to build tree trunks for legs. In fact, it’s likely they will stay the same size. What it does instead is improve your muscle endurance. This means your legs won’t feel fatigued or become shaky if you climb over a long period.
The Exception
There is one muscle group in your legs with the potential to increase size, and they’re your calves.
If you climb on walls that have small holds that barely stick out the wall, you spend the majority of the climb on your tiptoes. Climbers that enjoy such walls engage their calves through the whole duration; so, they naturally become stronger and bigger.
If we break the movement down again, it’s practically the same as calf raises. Which if you’ve tried, are one of the most demanding exercises you can do. And, unlike your quads, gluteals, and hamstrings, they do create enough resistance to increase calf size and strength – even if it’s only your body weight.
The reason we call it “the exception”, is you must do climbs where you’re forced on your tiptoes. If you do V2 climbs consisting mostly of jug holds, you can do the whole wall flat-footed – in which case, have no benefit to your calves.
Will Climbing Give You A Sixpack
With our years of experience, one of the most wanted-to-know questions, but people are too scared to ask, is whether or not climbing gives you a six-pack. Here’s the truth:
Your core plays a significant role during a climb – it stabilizes every step you take, making sure you remain balanced and in control. Because of this, it’s constantly under tension, so yes, you will see muscle gain in your core, which can show as a six-pack.
We use the word ‘can’ with intent. There are plenty of excellent climbers without a six-pack, as well as a handful of rubbish climbers with one. There’s no consistency. In fact, a six-pack tells you nothing about how someone climbs; instead, it tells you how they diet.
Six-packs are only visible if you have low-fat levels. Climbers arguably have the strongest abdominals in any sport; but, if there is a layer of fat covering your six-pack it means nothing. You wouldn’t even know it’s there. It goes back to this saying:
“A six-pack isn’t made in the gym, it’s made in the kitchen.”
But wait, there’s more…
In this instance, climbing kills two birds with one rock (pardon the pun). All types of climbing, particularly bouldering, are intense so you burn lots of calories and reduce fat stores. As a result, you don’t only engage your abs during the climb, but also burn fat making it the perfect formula for a six-pack.
Before You Go…
To conclude this article, we want to wrap it up with an imperative consideration. This is an area that many get confused so pay attention!
In climbing, muscle is seen as the enemy because it’s heavy, chunky, and ‘weighs you down.’ Now this is true to an extent, for example, you shouldn’t have vigorous weight training sessions or work towards a bodybuilder physique. But equally, you shouldn’t be skin and bones.
Unlike weight training, the muscle you gain from climbing won’t weigh you down. This is because it improves your relative strength – making you more powerful, but keeping your weight constant. In this sense, it makes you a better climber and makes you ‘feel’ lighter.
So, don’t fear gaining muscle from climbing, instead embrace it. After all, it will help you.
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