Is Rock Climbing Reasonably Concentric?

DrJ

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Seems to me that for the most part rock climbing is a concentric exercise - the muscles are shortening while contracting when you pull yourself up with your arms, or push yourself up with your legs. I'm just not sure about the "hanging there" part when you're planning a move; probably eccentric. Not sure if there really exists a purely concentric exercise. Thoughts?

Seems like for the shorter bouldering problems you can avoid hyperventilating, so seems like a plus.
 

barefooter

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Rock climbing is reasonably awesome, so **** it and go have fun! And yes, it does seem like a very beneficial form of exercise, especially bouldering with shorter bouts of high intensity. Plus the socialization and hot chicks.
 

Velve921

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Rock climbing is a blast and can involve little lactic acid. There will be longer time under tension in certain climbs but it's a playful activity, creative, and can get people out of the authoritarian mindset. When people Boulder they are playing....I like to auto belay and Boulder with my head phones on....then read in between my climbs sometimes .
 
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I think the "bouncing" could be eccentric.
 

dookie

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It probably is reasonably concentric, but I think it can still be too stressful. Especially if it involves any hiking up to the area where you are rock climbing. And especially if you are sick, then any exercise should probably be avoided.

Interestingly enough all female rock climbers I knew seemed very unhealthy, with masculine appearance, green protruding veins, etc. Maybe low progesterone ?. Though the males I know who rock climb seem healthy.
 

dand

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This is a very context dependent question. When one person moves they may be bracing/yielding/compensating causing an inflammatory response while another does same movement with no such response. Peat is a little off, imo, of his characterisation of eccentric. You can't have a concentric contraction without the antagonist eccentrically lengthening. What peat really means to say are bad is what I would term bracing so like co-contraction or a negative where you are resisting the load as opposed to pulling he load into position. You want to use gravity not resist it if that makes sense.

No activity is inherently stressful it is how it is performed that matters. Some activities do make it much more difficult to perform appropriately like distance running, but with the right intention and preparation even that can be done w minimal stress. My two cents
 
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Ray Peat doesn't like eccentric because the load is virtually super-maximal. When you are doing a concentric movement the antagonist won't go super-maximal... it won't even want to do much work at all, or you would have a hard time doing the movement in the first place, no? But yeah it seems that rock climbing involves a lot of "bouncing" up and down after you pull yourself up or jump sideways, and that would qualify as eccentric I guess.
 

Gl;itch.e

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Ray Peat doesn't like eccentric because the load is virtually super-maximal. When you are doing a concentric movement the antagonist won't go super-maximal... it won't even want to do much work at all, or you would have a hard time doing the movement, no? But yeah it seems that rock climbing involves a lot of "bouncing" up and down after you pull yourself up or jump sideways, and that would qualify as eccentric I guess.
IMO if you are healthy enough to be able to climb you are healthy enough to recover from it.
 
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IMO if you are healthy enough to be able to climb you are healthy enough to recover from it.

Well I mean, Ray Peat is just giving an opinion there. I doubt he would take someone who enjoys climbing and tell him, I think it's better that you stop this rather than continue. He would factor in all the context in that situation. And then again he doesn't tell people what to do anyway.
 

dand

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Yes! Agreed. I think we just have a difference in semantics. The degree to which the concentric is powerful is directly proportionate to the ability of the antagonist to lengthen eccentrically. I think Peat is characterising when movement is becoming inhibitory, i.e. Supramaximal. If you can't overcome the load to move appropriately then you will be compensating which is inherently stressful. I should dig into the common vocabulary to describe what I'm talking about and see if there's a better way to make the distinction
 

Velve921

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I've recently been doing animal locomotion to music...for all those looking into trying a new activity that is playful...check out some YouTube clips.
 

Gl;itch.e

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I've recently been doing animal locomotion to music...for all those looking into trying a new activity that is playful...check out some YouTube clips.
Check out Ido Portal if you haven't already
 

tara

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Short upward climbs using lots of different muscles with good rest in between - seems ideal to me.
Sometimes people overdo it - eg on dynamic moves - and injure tendons etc - not so ideal.
Obviously keeping it safe is really important.
Falling can be terminally bad for health.
Undereating in an attempt to improve power-to-weight ratio has metabolic risks.
 

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