Heart Rate Response, Duration, Grip Strength, and Anthropometric Characteristics in Recreational Indoor Rock Climbers

Smetanka, RG, Armenta, RF, Nessler, JA, and Newcomer, SC. Heart rate response, duration, grip strength, and anthropometric characteristics in recreational indoor rock climbers. J Strength Cond Res 36(3): 832-837, 2022-Despite the growing popularity of recreational indoor rock climbing, there is a lack of research on cardiovascular responses to rock climbing. In addition, although the importance of body composition and grip strength has been established in elite climbers, their effect on recreational climbing is unknown. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to characterize the physiological and anthropometric characteristics of indoor climbers engaging in climbing at a recreational or noncompetitive setting. We hypothesized that heart rates and climbing durations would meet the standards set by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for eliciting health benefits and that grip strength would decrease over the course of a typical climbing session. One hundred twenty-one male and female adult recreational climbers participated in this study. Following informed consent, subjects were instrumented with a heart rate monitor (Polar V800) which recorded heart rate and duration. Preclimb and postclimb grip strength were evaluated using a hand grip dynamometer and used to calculate fatigue. Subjects were 30.9 ± 8.3 years old and had participated in climbing for 5.6 ± 6.5 years. The average heart rate during climbing sessions was 122.3 ± 14.5 b·min-1, and session duration was 90.6 ± 31.3 minutes. Mean grip strength was 49.9 ± 11.2 kg, whereas the strength to mass ratio was 0.71 ± 0.14, and fatigue was 13.1 ± 11.6%. Results from the current study suggest that recreational indoor climbing elicits exercise heart rates and durations that are consistent with the CDC and ACSM's recommendations for cardiovascular health. Grip strength data suggested that forearm muscle fatigue may limit climbing durations.