Rock Climbing & The Human Body Does it matter what your body make up is in regard to your ability to rock climb?
Do certain body types have an advantage to others?
There was a really cool study recently by Duke University’s Elaine Kozma of Duke Evolutionary Anthropology on how much energy rock climbers spend while climbing and whether changes in body proportions or speed made any difference. Her findings were really interesting and potentially surprising.
The study “assessed the effects of velocity, route difficulty and anatomical variation on the energetic cost of climbing within humans. Furthermore, twelve experienced rock climbers climbed on an indoor wall over a range of difficulty levels and velocities, with energy expenditure measured via respirometry.”
What were the findings?
Apparently, according to this study at least, bigger, taller climbers with longer limbs climb more efficiently, right? Nope, the study showed that size does not tell us anything about efficiency. In fact, climbers are more efficient the faster they climb, moreover, speed over size. In conclusion, the total energy expenditure of a climber is less the faster you move.
Rock Climbing & The Human Body
Check out the study here: https://lnkd.in/dKi75b_J
Check out this cool video about it: https://lnkd
