Should overweight people ever climb?

If your goal in going to the climbing gym is to get stronger, have fun, and / or hang out, then go for it!

However, if you want to optimize your use of workout time to lose weight, you're probably better off choosing a more aerobic sport. Climbing is primarily about strength and technique rather than maintaining an elevated heart rate. Sport climbing involves long breaks to belay, while bouldering generally involves long rests between short spurts of effort.

If you do want an aerobic climbing workout, your best bet is outdoors. Find a nice long juggy boulder traverse and go back and forth on it. Or a V1 that you can do laps on -- do it 20 or 30 times in a row without a break. Most gyms have long traverses for the same purpose, but you have to go when the gym is nearly empty to use them without getting in the way of other problems.

It's much easier to get an aerobic workout and burn a large amount of calories if you choose a sport like trail running, rowing, water polo, or zumba.

And, by the way, I have known overweight climbers, some who seemed to be under the impression they're going to lose weight by climbing a couple of routes every few weeks. I'm afraid it doesn't work like that.

posted about 7 years ago

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foobarbecue‭

21 reputation 0 3 2 0

It's called the "mountain climber's weight loss program": eat everything you want, and climb two mountains a week.

Serious rock climbers aren't fat because they can't eat enough to get fat. Climbing a mountain, or spending a day bouncing up and down a cliff, can easily burn 10,000 calories. No matter how much you eat, your digestive system can't process food fast enough to replace that.

posted about 7 years ago

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Mark‭

146 reputation 2 28 15 0

While I am not brave enough to call John Dunne fat, Climbing Magazine did. So there is at least one objectively fat climber that could send 5.14. That man can float up some seriously hard stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WO3KNHCZsA

posted about 7 years ago

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StrongBad‭

499 reputation 26 120 57 0

I'm fat, and I climb.

Now to be fair I climb indoors and not up the side of a mountain, but some of the problems I face would tend to be the same. Also I climb for fun. It's a much better workout than a treadmill. But I am by no means a serious climber.

1. Safety gear is harder to find. I am a big dude, not just fat (though I am that too). Finding size 16 climbing shoes is tough. Finding a properly fitting harness is tough. Etc.

2. I think it's harder to do overhangs and roof climbs, there are people at the gym that can climb overhangs and "ceiling faces" (not sure what to call those) with what seems like little effort. For me, once the overhang is past a certain point, getting enough friction with my feet seems impossible. I don't even know where to start with climbing on the roof.

3. I have to be very careful of weight ratings. Some gear (a lot actually) is only rated for smaller people. You have to be really aware of that and not just assume that the gear is OK to use for you because everyone else uses it.

4. You have to warn your belayer. It's really easy for them to belay correctly if they know, but the gym I go to requires that belayers use the floor mounts so a good pulley system is in place. If they get lazy though and decide to just use the top mounts, well I imagine it would look a lot like the old Saturday morning cartoons.

5. You have to deal with a lot of funny looks, I get them all the time from people that haven't seen me climb yet. Going to a new gym is also a lot of extra work. Usually I end up having to convince the safety crew that I do know what I am doing.

6. This is perhaps more with being generally big than fat (taller than most). But I find that when people move the holds, they place them a bit too close together. And that when I place holds (you're allowed to move them in the gym I go to, to change the difficulty) I place them too far apart. People have complained, as have I. There seems to be a war between tall people and short people over hold placement. Funny thing, if the gym places them, they're fine. I suspect that we climbers just don't know how to place them correctly.

posted about 7 years ago

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coteyr‭

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It is probably harder for overweight people to climb (as are many other activities for them), but it is not impossible. I don’t see the shlightest reason why they shouldn’t do it.

Successful climbing on an experienced level comes from training and fitness, and - contrary to common believe - fitness is not the opposite of ‘fatness’. You can be fit and fat at the same time, it is just harder. The reason is that you get fit by exercising and being active, and you get fat from overeating, and it is absolutely possible to exercise, be very active, and overeat at the same time.

N.B.: I have personal experience, I spent thirty years of my life with 60 kg (130 pounds) overweight, and I did many years of mountain climbing (difficulty about like El Capitan), thousand mile bicycle tours, and many other strenuous outdoor activities. It is quite doubtful that I am the only such person in the world.

posted about 7 years ago

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Aganju‭

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I see no reason why not.

I have no idea whether climbing is an optimal way to loose wight or not but an form or exercise which you enjoy and actually do is definitely better than one you don't.

Equally what you don't want to do is try too hard and injure yourself. Having said that climbing a fairly easy route if probably a lot more fun than running a few km.

You might even find that after a few months and losing a few pounds you have better technique than gym bunnies who just drag themselves up with their arms.

posted about 7 years ago

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Chris Johns‭

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I haven't climbed for a long time - not since uni. Our climbing club was famous for its training though, so people from other clubs often joined us for the workout, and a fair number continued to actually doing some climbing. Having belayed a few people much heavier than me (rugby players!), my main caveat is that your belayer needs to be cautious about your relative weights.

This isn't an issue if belaying from above - in that case the belayer is clipped in, and all is good. Belaying from below though, whether that's with a top-rope or seconding, they need to be aware that if you come off, they're going to be heading up at speed! With a climber significantly heavier than yourself, it's best to treat it similarly to belaying from above. Find something behind you to put a sling round, clip the sling to your belay device (not to the back of your harness!), and you're safe. It doesn't need the same security that belaying from above does, because it's only there to catch the difference in weights, but it's still pretty important.

Your belayer may not have thought of this, because they're too used to catching similarly-sized gym rats. It's sensible for you to check this, just in case. It doesn't matter how strong they are or how good their technique is, gravity is gravity, and once their feet leave the ground it's Sir Isaac who decides the outcome.

posted about 7 years ago

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Graham‭

51 reputation 0 18 5 0

Should overweight people climb? If they want to, then yes of course they should.

I don't have any hard fact to back it up, but I do know a few climbers that are slightly overweight and have participated in guiding climbing days where some participants where seriously overweight (in some cases due to obvious medical reasons, in other cases I don't know why).

As climbing is vertical, there is an obvious disadvantage of the additional weight. This even applies to friends who do cycling and climbing: They usually complain that they need to lift those huge thighs up the wall. Also looking at pros like Adam Ondra (especially in his younger years) and at kids around 8-12 years, the incredible strength to weight ratio is apparent.

Now that all sounds like I am arguing against climbing when overweight - far from it. You need to adhere to the same principles any beginner or anyone on re-entry needs to: Listen to your body, don't pressure yourself or let anyone pressure you into doing anything you don't feel comfortable with. This is especially hard if you climbed a certain grade some years ago: You won't reach it immediately. Go at an easy level such that you enjoy climbing and start raising the level in a way you feel comfortable with or stay at the level you like, nothing wrong with that.

No matter if you are perfectly fine with your weight and just want to climb, or if you want to climb and lose some weight, climbing is a great activity to do it - don't let yourself be talked out of it by obviously badly informed peers.

Addendum (not directly relevant to the question):
As other answers and comments tend to go in a different direction, let me give a motivation for this answer, skip it if you don't care:
I know the OP does already do high-altitude mountaineering, so I considered this to be about rock-climbing in the narrower sense, not climbing as in every activity involving non-horizontal motion in the broader sense. Also the question is centered on social interactions, being negative about climbing while being overweight - that's what my answer addresses. The question does not mention any technical issues about climbing. There are technical/security related aspects to be considered, but there is nothing preventing you from climbing. This is nothing against other answer, it just provides my reasoning why I don't include such points, as brought up in comments, in this answer.

posted about 7 years ago

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imsodin‭

41 reputation 26 171 6 0

How fat is fat? Some people simply won't be able to because of weight issues, but beyond that: There's no reason not to if you can IMO. Take appropriate precautions, and generally approach it like you are a beginner (take it slow, build up tendon strength, make sure you aren't injuring yourself, and of course make sure your form is on point). Give it some time and you will be back to sending just like before :D

Anecdotally: I sometimes climb with a bigger guy (~6' & ~250-275 lbs), we have to be a bit more careful about me belaying him (I'm 5'8 / ~180 lb, so a ~75 lb / 40-50% weight difference). It definitely takes some getting used to - but it's pretty manageable overall - indoors on vertical routes I will often tie down to a ground anchor so that I don't get dragged up the wall, outdoors I generally do not - because rope drag + the routes we climb are generally not overhung.

posted about 7 years ago

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Nat Bowman‭

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Last spring I was in Italy climbing. There was a group from Switzerland, all a bit pudgy, and one guy with a beer belly led something like a 6c or 7a. Seriously frustrating.

Now obviously you should not jump into it without thought: your sinews and tendons have not yet adapted to your weight, and that takes several years. Muscles respond much faster to a workout, so climbing at the limits the muscles tell you will become injury-prone after a few months.

posted about 7 years ago

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System‭

2019 reputation 180 537 246 0

I had a friend who lost a significant amount of weight from bouldering and climbing. What was remarkable about his weight loss is that as he began to shed pounds, his climbing strength and abilities soared unbelievably. If you think about it, he had been weight training on the wall for a couple of years carrying all his extra mass up with him, so first of all he developed the strength he needed so he could climb as heavy as he was. Then after he started to lose weight, his strength to weight ratio began to increase, which resulted in transforming him into a stronger than average climber.

The only concern he had was taking a fall on belay. Whoever was belaying him usually went for a trip up the wall after he took a fall, so if he fell too close to the ground, then he was hitting bottom. The person on belay needs to be prepared to go for a lift in the event of a fall if they aren't heavier, or near the same weight as the climber.

When top-roping, some belayers anchor themselves to the floor to prevent lift-offs. I don't recommend anchoring the belayer to the ground if they're lighter than the climber, it actually puts more stress on the rope and gear after a fall. anchoring is of course unavoidable when multi pitching, in which case you want to anchor your belay directly to the wall on the bolts instead of your harness when sport climbing. When trad climbing, you may want to use an extra piece in the direction of pull in case of a fall.

posted about 7 years ago

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ShemSeger‭

1774 reputation 82 481 195 0

You could ask the similar question "Most runners I see aren't fat, so is it wrong to start running as a massive guy?"

Of course the good and really good climbers are most likely on the thinner side because of obvious and already denoted reasons. Besides that, as for runners, do the sport but don't start over-motivated. Often people who like to get 20kg off start running and a week later they can't walk anymore. For climbing, even as a skinny person, you shouldn't force it too much. Especially the tendons and ligaments won't get used to the 'new' heavy strain and injuries get likely.

I would suggest to do both: Some endurance sport (which will also help to get some kilos off) and climbing. Especially when you are eager to go climbing, so do it!

posted about 7 years ago

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Wills‭

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