Is Bouldering a Good Workout? (Benefits & Tips)

Bouldering is great for helping sculpt a rock-hard physique. Like rock-climbing, bouldering requires climbing different routes but requires significantly less equipment. Whereas rock-climbing requires ropes, carabiners, and harnesses, boulderers need only a great pair of rock-climbing shoes. So, by comparison, it’s much easier to get started on bouldering than rock-climbing.

Bouldering is a high intensity exercise that targets most major muscle groups of the body. It is especially good at strengthening the arms, shoulders, and back, but also requires good leg and core strength. In fact, bouldering uses the same muscles groups used in weightlifting. Additional benefits of bouldering include helping improve balance, increase body awareness, and encourage mental fortitude.

There are many benefits associated with bouldering regularly. Let’s explore some of these benefits below!

Is Bouldering Good for Weight Loss?

Absolutely. 

Unlike steady state cardio like jogging, bouldering is performed in short bursts of intense effort. Climbers start at the base of the wall and attempt to complete a route of approximately 15 feet. Climbing and holding your body in place on the wall both require significant effort. This will increase your heart rate.

As with other exercise, it’s while your heart rate is accelerated that your body starts burning fat. Bouldering builds strength and muscle as well as burning fat. Your weight loss from bouldering may be slower than other methods since muscle growth is occurring simultaneously.

Is Bouldering Good Cardio?

Bouldering is good cardio, but it may not be the best cardio you can do.

Let’s break it down. 

Cardio is loosely defined as aerobic exercise that increases your heart rate and breathing. By this definition, bouldering is good cardio because it accomplishes this. Also, by this definition, just about any strength-building exercise, including lifting, qualifies as cardio. But that’s not how we usually define cardio.

More commonly, we consider cardio activities like jogging, running, biking, or swimming. We think of cardio as a sustained effort that you can do seamlessly for a lengthy duration. In this regard, bouldering is much more like lifting weights than it is like running. You’d have to be in peak physical shape to boulder uninterrupted for a long time. More likely, you’ll boulder for a few short minutes at a time and take generous rests in between.

Bouldering is exhausting. You can get cardio benefits from bouldering, but there are other more effective methods.

Is Bouldering Better than the Gym?

In many ways, bouldering is better than the gym.

1. It’s effective strength training– Regular bouldering targets the same muscle groups as used in weightlifting.
2. It’s more mentally engaging– Instead of completing sets in front of the mirror, you get to challenge yourself to climb a route. Executing a route requires planning ahead, making bouldering a puzzle of sorts. This provides much more mental stimulation than simply standing around and lifting weights.
3. It’s a full-body workout– Bouldering targets everything all at once, making your time more efficient.
4. It’s more social– Bouldering really lends itself to socializing by comparison. You can go as a group and take turns on more challenging routes, offering tips and feedback to one another in between tries. Intermediate and advanced bouldering makes this feedback even more valuable, as routes get trickier to tackle.

Can I Get Ripped from Bouldering?

Regular bouldering and an ability to complete advanced routes will assist in getting that illustrious beach body. The fastest way to realize results is to combine many great methods into one comprehensive plan. 

Use these tips to help supplement your bouldering with other healthy activities.

1. Burn fat– Bouldering assists in fat burning, but standard cardio is recommended too. Try incorporating HIIT training on days you don’t climb. Also work in “active recovery” days where you jog at a steady pace.
2. Build lean muscle– Bouldering will immensely assist in lean muscle growth. Other ways to supplement include calisthenics, push-ups, pull-ups, and weightlifting.
3. Eat right– None of your training matters if your diet needs an overhaul. Eat plenty of lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, and some simple carbohydrates. Healthy fats found in fatty fish, olive oil, avocados, and nuts are recommended too.

Is Bouldering a Good Full-Body Workout?

Bouldering is a great full-body workout.

It provides the best aspects of many different types of exercise in one convenient activity.

• You will challenge your heart and lungs to climb routes, similar to jogging and running.
• Like weightlifting, you will challenge your bodyweight up the wall.
• Finally, much like gymnastics and yoga, you will need to manage your bodyweight distribution and have good balance.

And as with any exercise, you will need to disregard the voice in your head that tells you it’s too hard.

Physically, this makes bouldering one of the best all-encompassing exercises you can engage in. Mentally, it has a significant edge over more traditional methods of exercise. Instead of running out the clock on a treadmill, you get to study a route and plan how to attack it. Bouldering becomes more than a workout, but a puzzle too.

Which Muscles Does Bouldering Work?

Bouldering works out just about any muscle group you can think of.

Bouldering builds upper body strength in the arms, shoulders, and back. You’ll regularly pull yourself higher to complete the route. Take away the rock wall and that equates to numerous assisted pull-ups while you boulder.

Gripping the handholds will significantly test your forearm strength. Don’t be surprised if your first few outings leave your forearms feeling like concrete.

Bouldering also requires regular use of your legs and core. You’ll need strong legs to hold a position on the wall, and to push higher when you reach. A strong core also helps stabilize the body while in precarious positions.

Since your whole body works in unison to climb, bouldering is an excellent full-body workout.

Benefits of Rock Climbing Once a Week

Because of the full-body nature of bouldering, doing it once a week can yield numerous benefits including improvements to:

• Balance
• Body awareness
• Core strength
• Grip strength
• Heart health
• Leg strength
• Lung capacity
• Mental grit
• Upper body strength

Bouldering requires great physical fitness and a problem-solving mind as well. For these reasons, you will enjoy various benefits that supplement a healthy lifestyle.

Rock Climbing Exercises at Home

Unless you build a rock wall at home, it may seem tough to get practice. There are more ways to practice your bouldering at home than you might realize.

1. Pull-ups– You’ll need more than just upper body strength, but it doesn’t hurt to have plenty of it! There are pull-up bars that mount easily to door frames. Better yet, try using the door frame and challenge your finger strength while doing pull-ups. Even better, buy a climbing board.
2. Grip strength– Hold a heavy book using a pinch grip. Try dead hangs from a pull up bar or climbing board. You can also buy a hand grip strengthener and use it whenever and wherever.
3. Planks– Do planks regularly at home or at the end of your gym workouts to improve core strength and stability.
4. One-legged stands and toe touches– Try alternating one-legged toe touches and one-legged stands. This will improve balance and strengthen our stability muscles.

Bouldering Tips

Bouldering is difficult for beginners. Here are some tips to get started or up your game:

1. Watch others first– Hang back and watch how the seasoned climbers move. See where they go and how they reach for the next hold. Take note of where their weight is distributed. Imitating how they move will help your body and mind figure out bouldering.
2. “Rainbow climb”– Routemakers will mark different paths with tape or color-coded handholds. To truly complete a route, you’re supposed to only use the holds designated for that route. Ignore this in the beginning, and “rainbow climb.” That means just grab and stand on whatever is nearby. Rainbow climbing will help you get comfortable with climbing without worrying about where you’re supposed to go next.
3. Don’t overgrip– Our instinct is to hold on for dear life. We pull our bodies close to the wall and decimate our grip strength in the process. Fight to break that instinct. Try dropping your weight to your legs and fully extend your arms while you’re idle. It takes some getting used to, but you will instantly improve once you master this simple skill.
4. Chalk up– Hands can get sweaty while climbing, making it harder to get a good grip. Avid climbers keep chalk within reach to use before or during a climb. Chalk up before a climb to maximize your grip.
5. Learn to fall– Part of what makes bouldering scary is the fear of falling. Try climbing a short distance and jumping off. Feel what the fall feels like. Then climb a bit and fall backwards. Get used to what it’s like to come off the wall, and it will seem less scary after some practice.

Bouldering Gear

Bouldering requires very little equipment compared to rock-climbing. Here are some of the essentials:

• Rock-climbing shoes– You could boulder in regular sneakers, but specialized rock-climbing shoes are much easier. Here is a great pair of rock-climbing shoes in Men’s and in Women’s.
• Chalk– We recommend blocks of chalk, as the bags of dust usually wind up everywhere. Here’s a great chalk block for climbing.
• Chalk bag– If you need to reapply chalk mid-climb, you’ll need to bring a chalk bag with you. Here’s a great chalk bag that works well and looks great!

Related Guides

• Is Rock Climbing a Good Workout?
• What to Wear to Rock Climbing Gym
• Is Running a Good Leg Workout?