How Many Calories do You Burn Rock Climbing

How many calories do you burn rock climbing? Rock climbing is a great sport to use all the muscles in your body. If you climb the mountains at least once, it will be an excellent full-fledged workout, depending on the level of the route. You are most likely to be surprised at how well rock climbing burns calories. More than you believe! The main question is: how many calories are burned during rock climbing?

I want to note that many people believe that rock climbing and bouldering are excellent options for burning calories and maintaining excellent physical shape. Because rock climbing makes you constantly move and gives you a caloric burn, which is a big plus because you are using a very large number of different muscle groups and lose weight.

Let’s dive into this article. We can understand how many calories there are and which types of activity burn a lot of calories and which ones burn few. So, depending on gender, physical condition, and initial weight, rock climbing can burn a completely different number of calories for each person individually.

The average person burns Approximately 430 calories to 700 calories per hour during traditional rock climbing. In addition to burning serious calories, rock climbing can give you a great opportunity to become even stronger, strengthen blood vessels, and increase muscle mass.

How many calories do you burn rock climbing? What is a сalorie?

How many calories do I need? To live, we need energy, and energy enters our body with food and drinks. Calorie comes from the Latin word “calor”, which means heat. The body stores energy and then consumes or burns this energy. There are two types of calories: small and large.

The amount of heat required to raise one gram of water from 14.5 degrees Celsius to 15.5 degrees Celsius is known as a tiny calorie (calorie gram). A “large calorie” is a type of dietary calorie equal to 1,000 “small calories.”

These calories are listed on the packaging of the goods we buy.

You can use a basal metabolic rate (BSM) to measure how many calories you need.

How can I count calories

In order to count calories, you need a special formula. To begin with, we need to understand how many calories are spent in an hour of rock climbing. Unfortunately, there is no clear and precise answer to this question. An Internet search gives you the answer that, in an hour, you can burn from 500 to 900 calories.

And I think that these are very serious indicators. But we burn these calories only when actively climbing.

And what else

What other factors can affect calorie burning while rock climbing? In fact, a lot more depends on your weight. To maintain more weight, you need more energy. If you have heavy equipment, this fact will cause your body to burn more calories.

Calorie intake

A middle-aged woman on average should consume about 2,000 calories per day and a middle-aged man should consume at least 2,500 calories per day. If you consume about 1000-1500 calories, this will lead to a mass deficit. Simply put, you will start losing weight.

Any food has a standard number of calories. Carbohydrates and proteins have about 4 calories per gram. Fats have about 9 calories per gram.

The best diet is one that includes food consisting of carbohydrates, fat, and protein. Avocado, scelery, spinach, quinoa, corn, dried fruit, leafy greens, and nuts are the best choice. Because they are full of vitamins and fiber and have max benefits or nutrition.

What about calorie deficit

If you want to lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit. You need to eat less than usual. The more calories you consume and don’t burn, the greater your weight. If you consume fewer calories than you burn, then your weight will be lower.

Your diet and activity level help you achieve your goals quickly if you want to reduce your weight. Focus on smaller portions of fruits and vegetables, proteins, and whole grains. You can also use various apps to count calories and track your activity levels on your phone. It’s very convenient to lose weight with these apps.

The calculation of the number of calories I burn

our age, weight, gender, level of physical activity, and body composition all have an impact on how much fat you burn. There is a specific formula. To calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), using the Harris-Benedict formula, you need:

Basal Metabolic Rate

For men:

BMR = 66 + (6.2 x weight) + (12.7 x height) – (6.76 x age)

For women:

BMR = 655.1 + (4.35 x weight) + (4.7 x height) – (4.7 x age)

Weight is in pounds, and height is in inches.

Then choose your Activity Level Number (ALN), depending on your amount of physical activity:

• 1.2 – no physical activity
• 1.37 – 1-3 days a week
• 1.55 – 3-5 days a week
• 1.725 – 6-7 days a week
• 1.9 – extra active

Your daily average calories burned = BMR x ALN

MET

This is the energy that your body spends during rest. Any of your activities can be measured by this indicator. An activity with a MET value of 1 corresponds to a person at rest. An activity with a MET of 5 will burn calories 5 times as fast. 

Take the value of the MET activity and multiply it by your weight in kilos to get how many calories you burn during a certain activity for an hour.

It turns out that the higher the MET value, the more calories you can burn. Also, this formula uses the amount of oxygen used by muscles per minute per kilogram of body weight. This is 3.5 ml. To calculate the amount of oxygen your muscles use per minute, multiply 3.5 by your body weight.

Formula 

Total Calories burned in 1 minute = (3.5 x MET x bodyweight in kg)/200

Rock сlimbing is a great fitness exercise

This is probably the best way to exercise and burn a lot of calories. This sport is very dynamic. Rock climbing involves both aerobic and anaerobic activity, so it is quite difficult to accurately determine the number of calories burned.

How long do you climb, how intense is the training, what is the speed of activity, how many calories do you burn rock climbing, and, of course, the level of difficulty of the route?

Rock climbing is a sport where a person climbs mountains, peaks, or artificially made mountains inside buildings or outside. Not everyone will be able to complete the entire route without falling, especially those who first started doing this sport. First of all, learn rock climbing basics.

If it happens that you lose control and start to fall, you have protection. A harness is attached around your waist, to which a rope is attached. In order not to fall, you need to be strong and agile because the mountains have a rough surface and are very high, which also requires endurance to overcome the mountains and climb up without fear of falling.

There are several rock climbing disciplines, depending on your level of training. There are simple surfaces, and there are steep cliffs that are very difficult to climb.

Bouldering is a more energy-intensive sport that requires less equipment. This is very risky rock climbing without any protection and only with rubber shoes and chalk.

Important parameters

Time climbing

The duration of the intense full-body workout is the parameter that greatly affects the quality of the workout and the number of calories burned. The longer the duration of your climbing session, the higher your heart rate. I want you to note that on a more complex route, in an hour, rock climbing burns more calories than on a simple route in 3 hours.

Intensity and Speed

It’s no secret that the best calorie-burning exercises use different muscle groups and have high intensity with continuous movement. If you also wear extra weight in the form of a vest, this will further increase the intensity. Both intensity and speed can affect caloric burn.

Route Grade

Each route has its own level of difficulty. Climb a lower path steadily for 15-20 minutes to add cardio to your training. You should not feel pain or burning in your forearms. And it can burn calories when actively climbing.

If you still feel a burning sensation, it changes the workout from aerobic to anaerobic, and then you will get tired quickly. To do this, reduce the rest time to maintain your heart rate.

Types of rock climbing

Bouldering

Bouldering is also a great type of climbing session for burning calories and maintaining excellent physical activity. Bouldering requires you to constantly move.

This way, you train different muscle groups. And of course, you have a caloric burn.

For a good cardio workout, your body will burn 500–900 calories per hour. Take a stopwatch with you to track exactly how much time you spend in the air on bouldering routes. This will help you most accurately calculate how many rock climbing calories you burn.

Traditional rock climbing

This is the best sport that will help you stay in shape, gain more muscle and have a caloric burn. You will also need special traditional equipment that must be worn on a harness during the ascent. The more weight you carry, the more calories you burn.

Sport Climbing

Sport climbing is about a pre-planned route. You don’t need any equipment. Sport climbing is about continuous movement and strategy. It can be a hard workout! Here, you can also choose the level of difficulty for yourself and control the whole process.

Indoor

When i talk about indoor rope climbing, it is usually done on specially created artificial rocks for beginners. Thus, you can do rock climbing in any weather condition and at any time of the year. This is a very profitable event for those who do not want to stop there but want to constantly improve their skills. It is also more secure and burns many calories.

Outdoor

Outdoors, it is best to go rock climbing on those days when it is sunny and warm outside because it is very dangerous to go rock climbing in the rain. To successfully complete the path to the top, you need special equipment and basic training. This requires experience.

Equipment

Climbers wear specialized rubber climbing shoes that are smaller than regular shoes. You also need chalk to dry your hands so that they don’t sweat. This type of chalk is also used by powerlifters. A climbing wall is a place where a beginner learns under the supervision of experienced specialists or independently with insurance.

Carabiners are used together with a rope for anchoring, lowering, and connecting equipment. Belay devices can catch lower climbers and bring them down. Bolts are also used. The bolts are needed to hook the rope onto the rock. Spring-loaded camping devices are now used to provide protection. To protect against falling stones or collisions with stones, a specialized helmet is required.

Factors that influence the amount of calories

Here they are.

Age

The older you are, the fewer calories you burn. Perhaps this is due to the loss of muscle mass and age-related changes.

Sex

Men have a caloric burn by doing the full body workout. Women on average have a higher percentage of fat.

Amount of daily activity

Everything is simple here. The more you move and have climbing sessions, the more energy you burn. Even the simplest exercises for an average person give a caloric burn.

Body composition

Muscles are unique organs of the body. Muscles burn calories even when they are at rest.

Thus, the more muscles you have, the more energy you can burn even during rest.

Body size

Larger people burn more energy than smaller ones, even at rest.

Pregnancy and breastfeeding

Pregnant women or women who breastfeed burn much more calories than non-pregnant or non-breastfeeding women.

Weight

If you are carrying extra weight, the more effort it takes to climb and the more calories you burn.

The difficulty of the route

The harder the route, the more rock climbing calories you burn.

FAQ

Conclusion

This article gives you full information about how many calories do you burn rock climbing. As you see these climbing sessions help you lose weight, burn many calories, make your whole body healthy, and give you cardio exercise.

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