Source:theclimbinggear.com

7 Fitness Health Benefits of Indoor Rock Climbing – 2021 Guide

Rock climbing is a mix of fitness workout and adrenaline when done in nature. This activity can also be done indoors if you adapt a wall at your home or in an indoor rock climbing center. It’s a high-intensity exercise, and you need to take lessons and start with easier tasks, even when you have a long experience with outdoor climbing.

Indoor climbing targets your core, arms, legs, glutes, and back, both the muscles and joints. It also improves your flexibility because you need to stretch so you can hold on the rock and make the next step. It’s a great aerobic activity, because it increases the heart rate, making your body stronger. It also has a competitive nature, but that shouldn’t stop you from climbing for fun. Indoor rock climbing can be considered as a sport and a whole body workout. Never mind if you do it indoors or outdoors, you should use proper equipment, so you can protect yourself from getting hurt. Yes, accidents can happen indoors too and you must use proper shoes, harness, and according to theclimbinggear.com, you should always take climbing chalk, especially if you have sweaty hands.

Source:youtube

Also, you need to be in great physical condition, because indoor climbing is not easier than the real one. It can be challenging and you need to maintain a good body posture, stay hydrated, and use climbing equipment because if your body is not ready, this activity can be pretty rough for you. But, if you do it longer, you will see a lot of fitness and health benefits in the future, including:

  1. Total body workout

Indoor (and outdoor) climbing targets the whole body, strengthening your muscles. When you pull, you are making your arms stronger. You need to keep your body in a full muscle contraction, so you can stabilize your posture and avoid accidents. Only if you activate the muscle system you will prevent your body from injuries during the session. Also, you must warm-up before, because you activate the whole body, not only the muscles. Take care to be fully stretched and warmed before you start climbing on the improvised rocks.

  1. This activity will make you feel good

Every physical activity, no matter how challenging and complicated is, will result in a better mood. When you accomplish some fitness goals, the adrenaline and endorphin boost your mood, making you feel good, even though you are tired and need to take a shower. Also, the euphoria and instant adrenaline boost will decrease the subjective feeling of pain. At the very end, you will be happy and tired, and of course, you will sleep great that night.

  1. You are increasing your body flexibility

When you are increasing the range of motion, you are helping your body to be more flexible, or to move freely with a lower risk of injuries, to be exact. You need to reach the handles so you can move up, keep your muscles active, and move in three directions (up, left, and right). Home or indoor climbing will improve your motor skills and your body will be able to move better. That improvement will be useful for your everyday activities, especially when you need to grab something and move it, or to carry your bags and suitcases when you travel.

  1. It’s 2-in-1 cardio and strengthening workout

As we already said above in this article, indoor rock climbing is a physical activity that targets your whole body and every muscle you have, including your heart. During a one-hour session, you may burn up to 900 calories, which only shows the cardio aspect of the activity. Muscles are responsible for keeping your body in a proper posture, and when you are strengthening them, you help your organs to work properly, leaving enough space between them, so they won’t affect each other.

  1. It’s a great choice if you want to lose weight

Knowing that rock climbing as an indoor activity can help you burn a lot of calories, which also means it will affect your body. You can expect that you will lose some weight if you choose to do it regularly, at least two times a week. When losing weight, you are helping your body to cope better with the high cholesterol and blood pressure, also making your immune response better and helping you to lower the risk of diabetes. When you are overweight, that may harm your knees, so you are protecting them. But, if you have injuries on your knees, bowel, and back, you should avoid rock climbing.

  1. It’s good for your mental health

Your mental condition is tightly related to fitness skills. When you have problems with your mental health, you don’t have strength for physical activities. But, rock climbing is an excellent choice because it improves your problem-solving approaches, planning, central and peripheral vision, your alertness, and makes your hand and eye coordination even better. Mental strength is very important because your physical power depends on it a lot. And, when you can’t do it outdoors, on a mountain or some nature wall, you can always choose indoor climbing to improve your mental strength and condition.

Source:bestactiviti.es
  1. A lot of benefits for your cognitive skills

Indoor rock climbing may look like every other activity that requires strength, motion coordination, and flexibility. But it also can boost your cognitive skills and make your brain work better. You won’t see that benefits within the first session, but as the time goes by, your brain will be able to process the information better and make better decisions following the conditions at the current moment. Also, you will reach a complete balance of your mind and body, which will later result in improved brain activity and lower levels of stress.

If you weren’t sure what type of activity to choose, we hope that this article assured you that indoor rock climbing is one of the best options for a complete mind and body balance and total muscle workout.