Throughout my guiding work, many clients have asked me, “how many calories does rock climbing burn?” Often, I offer a facetious response along the lines of, “enough for pizza and beer after.” My response typically elicits a good laugh, but my clients and I are left curious. So, enough with the jokes– it’s time for science.
Most rock climbing research argues that you can burn upwards of 400 to 900 calories per hour. However, the total number of calories burned depends on the difficulty and duration of the workout, the type of climbing, and individual characteristics related to your basal metabolic rate (BMR).
Keep reading for more details about how many calories rock climbing burns.
How Many Calories Do You Burn While Rock Climbing?
How many calories you burn while rock climbing depends on the difficulty and duration of the workout and the type of climbing. In addition, personal stats like your BMR, which is roughly calculated based on your weight and height, will affect the calories you burn.
The difficulty and duration of a rock climbing workout are calculated and assigned a value, also known as the Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) value. Essentially, the higher the MET value, the harder the activity. Rock climbing has three general MET values.
| Estimated MET Value | Type of Rock Climbing |
| 8.0 | Extremely difficult rock climbing, like mountaineering |
| 7.5 | Difficult rock climbing like hard bouldering or sport climbing |
| 5.8 | Easy to moderately rock climbing like traversing or low-intensity trad climbing |
One way to estimate how many calories you burn while rock climbing is to multiply your weight in kilograms by the MET value. So if you weigh 84 pounds and go to the gym for a causal top roping session, you may burn upwards of 480 calories.
Another helpful way to estimate your caloric burn is to multiply the time by the average calories burned for the given activity. So, if rock climbing burns 750 calories per hour and you climb for two hours, then you burn roughly 1,500 calories.
Other ways to calculate how many calories you burn while rock climbing include using your heart rate to measure caloric burn or calculating your volume of oxygen (VO2) stats. These methods require more tools for data measurement but tend to offer more nuanced results.
Calculating Caloric Burn While Climbing is Imperfect
Ultimately, the methods for estimating how many calories rock climbing burns are imperfect and variable. And I am not a sports scientist. Therefore, the major takeaway is that how many calories climbing burns is different for everyone and depends on various factors like weight, height, difficulty, and duration.
Therefore, I recommend not getting too caught up with caloric burn. Instead, focus on achieving tangible goals like prolonging your time on the wall, upping your redpoint difficulty, losing weight, improving max hangs, or setting new personal bests in pushups, pull-ups, and other strength-related exercises.
How To Burn Calories While Rock Climbing: 3 Ways to Climb Stronger
One of my favorite things about rock climbing is that there is always something new to try and weaknesses to improve. Therefore, I can consistently challenge myself to avoid monotonous workouts and stale gym sessions.
Over the course of the year, my climbing regiments change a lot depending on what weaknesses I am targeting and how much climbing and guiding I am doing outside. But three of my favorite workouts that always help me realize gains and send my projects include– 4 x 4 bouldering, ARC training, and campus boarding.
Below I will briefly define and discuss the goals of each type of workout. However, intricate details related to the sports science of each workout and specific recommendations are beyond the scope of this article. Take stock of your current climbing fitness and perform more research to design a workout regimen that suits you.
The Power Endurance Workout: 4 x 4 Bouldering
In rock climbing, power endurance is the ability to execute powerful movements over an extended period without getting pumped. Power endurance is an essential ingredient for being able to climb sustained and overhung sport climbs and long boulder problems with a lot of moves.
One of the best ways to improve power endurance is by performing 4 x 4 boulders. A climber doing 4 x 4’s is equivalent to the track runner’s ability to continue sprinting and jumping hurdles with a consistent amount of power. 4 x 4’s train endurance while simultaneously improving your ability to pull and squeeze hard without getting tired.
Explaining 4 x 4’s is the easy part. Doing 4 x 4’s is much harder.
First, select four boulder problems that are well within your physical ability (boulder selection is key to your success, so don’t overdo it). Next, climb each boulder back-to-back with as little rest between efforts as possible. Just enough time for chalking up. Then, after completing all four boulders, rest for four minutes. After your rest, repeat the same set of boulders three more times.
In the end, you will have performed a total of four sets of four boulders, with each set separated by four minutes of resting. This may sound simple, but with the correct selection of difficulty for your ability, it should feel hard enough to challenge you but barely not make you fall.
The Endurance Workout: ARC Training While Rope Climbing
When you climb long routes using a rope, climbing becomes an endurance sport. You need a certain level of endurance not to get pumped before you reach the top. The best way to train endurance and burn calories is with ARC training.
ARC training stands for aerobic, respiration, and capillarity training. ARC training is the ideal way to build a base level of endurance on which all the rest of your strength compounds.
ARCing consists of climbing rock routes for extended periods, for example, climbing and downclimbing an auto belay for 30 minutes. The route should be well below your physical ability and not make you fall or hang on the rope. The goal is to get pumped and manage the pump without falling.
With ARC training, start small and simple. For example, if you climb 5.11, start with 10 minutes of climbing on a 5.10 with a 10-minute rest. Then progress into longer intervals on the wall with longer rests and more difficult climbs.
The Contact Strength Workout: Campusing
Campusing is an advanced high-intensity workout well known for burning calories and improving power and power endurance. But it’s most important for enhancing your contact strength.
Campusing occurs on a slightly overhanging campus board with flat edges of varying sizes. Campusing is when the climber performs explosive pull-up movements to ascend the board using only upper body and finger strength.
In other words, picture a ladder designed only for your fingertips where you cannot use your feet.
Because campus board training is an advanced training tool, it requires moderate strength even to get started. When starting out campusing, use the biggest rungs first, focus on technique, and keep your workouts simple and short.
I am a rock climbing guide & freelance writer. I enjoy combining the physicality of my work as a guide during the climbing season with the more cerebral and reflective practices of writing during the winter months. I am originally from California but currently reside in Albany, NY, with my partner and dog.