Rock climbing can be done in a variety of styles or disciplines. The basic types include bouldering on natural rock, indoor climbing, free rock climbing, traditional rock climbing, solo climbing, aid climbing, ice climbing, and alpine climbing. And while these disciplines are different from one another, they are similar in that each requires an ample measure of technique, balance, flexibility, power, and endurance.
On a good day, rock climbing can seem almost effortless. You literally feel the rock and move over it with a graceful ease. When you’re in that zone, you adapt to whatever the rock offers and instinctively reposition your body with each maneuver. You feel light, strong, and focused as you climb. But then there are those not-so-good days where you feel heavy and slow. All too often you’re out of position as you climb. And on those days, you’re fighting the rock more than feeling it.
So how do you get more good days, and what determines whether you have a good climb or a forgettable one? Elite rock climbers will tell you that nutrition and hydration are important factors. And as with most sports, there are two ends of the spectrum when it comes to rock climbers. At one end is the recreational enthusiast who has maybe one or two training sessions a week, often on a rock wall. Anchoring the other end are elite competitive climbers. They can train for upwards of 25 hours a week, not only doing strength, speed, and technique work, often on a rock wall, but also training in the gym for strength, flexibility, and endurance. No matter where you are on that rock climbing continuum, you can benefit from an overall healthy training diet and a solid sports nutrition fueling and hydration plan for climbing.
Training Nutrition
To keep up with the demands of training, to achieve a suitable body weight for your type of climbing, and for good overall health, you’ll benefit from eating a diet that is largely based on healthy and nutrient-rich carbohydrate sources such as whole grain cereals and breads along with fresh fruits and vegetables. Add to that base 2–3 servings of low-fat or nonfat dairy products and moderate amounts of protein from sources such as nuts, beans, poultry, fish, and lean meats. Don’t go overboard on calorie-laden fat sources, but when you do consume fats, select healthier sources like those from cold-water fish such as salmon, and plant sources such as vegetable oils, nuts, and avocados. This kind of overall diet serves as a strong foundation for rock climbing and any training you do.
Sports Nutrition Basics for Rock Climbing
Whether you are at the elite competitor level, training seriously for many hours a day, or you’re more of a weekend climber, there are three key sports nutrition principles that applied correctly will help maximize the gains from your training and make you a better climber:
- Hydration — Dehydration works against you when rock climbing. It makes you tired and undermines your concentration, both of which can spell disaster. Unfortunately, dehydration happens easily, due to sweating, when climbing indoors or when you are on natural rock. Contracting muscles produce the force that you need in order to maneuver when climbing, but your muscles produce internal heat in the process. That heat must be dissipated quickly to avoid overheating, and sweating serves that purpose. But sweating also causes you to lose the very same fluids and the electrolyte sodium that you need in order to remain hydrated. It doesn’t take a lot of sweating for you to become dehydrated and for your performance to suffer. In fact, dehydration negatively impacts your climbing performance or workouts when you lose just 2% of your body weight due to fluid loss. For a 150-lb (68-kg) rock climber, that’s 3 lbs (1.4 kg). Indoors on a climbing wall, or outside in the baking sun, you can easily have fluid losses that exceed the 2% threshold. Compounding the problem is the fact that you can’t rely on thirst to be your guide when you are climbing or training, because it often doesn’t kick in until well after you’re dehydrated and already suffering the consequences. Fortunately, dehydration can be avoided by adhering to a disciplined hydration plan before, during, and after training and climbing.
- Fueling — Hours of rock climbing will deplete your muscle fuel stores. The same is true if you are putting in hours at a time in training. Your carbohydrate fuel reserves in particular are in short supply — and when you run out, your performance suffers. Therefore, it’s important to start climbs and workouts with carbohydrate fuel reserves replenished. And for longer climbs and training sessions, it’s important to refuel regularly with carbs during the activity in order to extend your endurance and prevent fatigue.
- Recovery — Rock climbing and training sessions not only cause you to lose fluids and sodium due to sweating, and tap your carbohydrate fuel reserves, they also cause damage to muscle fibers and challenge your muscles to adapt to the workload. Recovery is the process of rehydrating, replenishing your depleted carbohydrate muscle fuel stores, and repairing and building muscle tissue after climbs and workouts. You are ready to begin recovery as soon as you finish your activity, but the catch is that the process doesn’t begin in earnest until you provide the nutritional components.
Putting the Basics into Practice
Match your fuel and hydration plan to the challenge
Many rock climbers prefer climbing on an empty stomach because they feel lighter, quicker, and more comfortable as they stretch, contort, and maneuver during the climb. And that’s usually fine for single climbs that are often too short to seriously put a dent in your muscle fuel stores or leave you dehydrated.
But what about when you are climbing or training for a few hours at a time, or even longer? In these situations, fueling and hydration require more attention. You can achieve that light feeling and a comfortable stomach, without compromising your muscle fuel stores or hydration, by doing the following:
- Limit the amount of fiber in your diet the day before your climb. To do that, temporarily swap those high-fiber foods for easier-to-digest carb-based alternatives such as white bread and canned fruit. Carb-based foods will still fuel your muscles, but they’ll pass through your digestive system faster.
- The morning of a climb or training session, eat a carb-based meal on the lighter side and drink 14–20 fl oz (400–600 ml) of water or sports drink about 2–4 hours before the action begins. The goal is to start your session fueled and hydrated but comfortable. So choose familiar, easy-to-digest, carbohydrate-based foods and beverages and avoid slow-to-digest, fatty and high-fiber foods during this meal. Also, experiment during practice climbs and training sessions to find the right foods and beverages and the timing of intake that work best for you.
- If a meal before a climb or workout isn’t realistic, consume an easy-to-digest, carb-based snack 30–60 minutes prior to the start. Good options include PowerBar® Endurance sports drink, PowerBar® Performance Energy bars, PowerBar® Energy Bites, PowerBar® Fruit Smoothie Energy bars, PowerBar® Energy Gel, PowerBar® Energy Blasts gel filled chews, canned or fresh fruit, rolls, bagels, light sandwiches, a fruit smoothie, and a meal replacement drink.
- When waiting between climbs, and during longer climbs and workouts, take the opportunity to rehydrate and refuel. Sipping water or a sports drink every 10–15 minutes is recommended. Also, make sure that you have access to one or more of those previously mentioned carb-based snacks for when you need to refuel. For longer climbs and training sessions, consuming 30–60 grams of carbs every hour is recommended in order to keep up your energy level and concentration. Smaller amounts consumed every 20–30 minutes will keep you feeling comfortable.
Speed recovery when needed
The longer your climb or workout, and the sooner you plan to climb or train again, the more important a rapid recovery will be. Recovery is important because it’s where you make the gains from your training session and prepare for your next climb. As mentioned earlier, your body is ready to start the recovery process just as soon as your activity ends, but you need to provide the nutritional components:
- Carbohydrates — If you are eating a carb-based training diet, you will usually replenish your carbohydrate muscle fuel stores within about 24 hours after a climb or workout. But if you plan to climb or train again sooner than that, you’ll need to speed recovery. To speed the reloading of carbohydrate muscle fuel stores, consume about 0.5 gram of carbohydrates per lb (1.1 grams per kg) body weight within 30 minutes of finishing your activity. You can repeat this within 2 hours or transition to your usual carbohydrate-based snacks and meals. For a 150-lb (68-kg) climber, that equates to about 75 grams of carbohydrates immediately after riding and then again 2 hours later. You can also rapidly refuel by consuming smaller amounts of carbohydrates more frequently if that leaves you feeling more comfortable.
- Protein — Muscle tissue repair and building is another important facet of recovery. Muscle tissue is made up of protein, and protein is made up of building blocks known as amino acids. When you consume protein foods, the protein is digested and broken down into its component amino acids. These amino acids are then absorbed and repackaged into the proteins that your body needs, including those required to repair and build muscle tissue. Consuming 15–25 grams of protein within an hour of finishing your activity will provide the amino acid building blocks needed for the repair and building of muscle tissue.
- Fluids and sodium — Rock climbing and training can lead to heavy fluid and sodium losses due to sweating. If feasible, weigh yourself before and after your activity in order to gauge your net loss of fluids. Replace this fluid by gradually drinking 16–24 fl oz (475–700 ml) of water, sports drink, or recovery beverage for every 1 lb (0.45 kg) of weight lost. Consume sodium sources such as crackers or pretzels along with your fluids, as rehydration will be more effective when sodium is included with the fluid and food that you consume as you recover. If your loss of fluids consistently exceeds 2% of your body weight, to avoid dehydration try to increase your fluid intake a bit when climbing or training.
- Options to kick-start recovery — PowerBar® Recovery beverage is a convenient option for jump-starting the recovery process. Just pour PowerBar Recovery beverage powder into your sports bottle, add water, and shake. This will provide the carbs, protein, sodium, and fluids that you need in order to start reloading, repairing, and rehydrating. Drink a thirst-quenching 16-fl oz (480-ml) serving of PowerBar Recovery beverage and get on the road to rapid recovery. See the following table for other options that you can mix and match in order to promote a rapid recovery:
Plan ahead
Rock climbers invariably travel to different locations to climb or compete. Your need to hydrate and fuel doesn’t change just because the venue is different, but you might not be able to find what you need on the road or at your destination. So plan ahead and pack what you need. Bring an ice chest if warranted, or stuff your backpack or travel bag with the foods, beverages, and sports nutrition products that you know work for you from all the testing you’ve done in training and during prior climbs. And if bringing your own supply isn’t feasible logistically, call ahead and inquire about what is available locally at your destination.
Increase your power-to-weight ratio
The more time that you put into rock climbing, the more you’re likely to appreciate the concept of power-to-weight ratio — or how much power you are able to generate for the weight you are hauling up a rock. The best climbers tend to have good strength and less body fat. A low body fat level enables more power to be generated for every lb of body weight that you’re carrying. With your realizing this fact, weight loss might be a worthwhile goal in order to help you reach your potential as a climber. But there are a few tricks to facilitate effective weight loss, and some traps to avoid:
- If you want to drop a few lbs, trim your energy intake by about 500 calories a day. So if you normally consume 3,000 calories daily, cut back to 2,500. This will lead to a safe and sustainable weight loss of about 1 lb (0.45 kg) per week.
- Losing weight will decrease your body fat level, but it can also cause you to lose muscle — your power source. Minimize the loss of muscle by doing strength training exercises that work the large muscle groups in your body, especially the ones you rely on for rock climbing.
- Avoid the extremes of severely cutting calories while training in overdrive. This combination — too few calories and too much high-intensity exercise — will zap your immune system and leave you prone to getting sick more frequently.
- The ideal time to drop a few lbs is during the off-season, when you aren’t training hard or competing.
PowerBar® — your sports nutrition resource for rock climbing
Be at your best when training and climbing by being prepared nutritionally before you start your activity, by knowing what to rehydrate and refuel with and when while training and climbing, and by doing what’s needed afterwards to promote a full recovery. PowerBar sports nutrition products and tools can help you meet your hydration, fueling, and recovery needs. For more information on these sports nutrition products and performance tools, go to PowerBar.com.
References:
1. American College of Sports Medicine; American Dietetic Association; Dietitians of Canada. Joint Position Statement: Nutrition and Athletic Performance. American College of Sports Medicine, American Dietetic Association, and Dietitians of Canada. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2009; 41:
709–731.
2. American College of Sports Medicine, Sawka MN, Burke LM, Eichner ER, Maughan RJ, Montain SJ, Stachenfeld NS. American College of Sports Medicine Position Stand. Exercise and Fluid Replacement. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2007; 39: 377–390.
3. http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/factsheets/sports/sport_climbing.
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