Benefits of climbing for kids.

The benefits of climbing can be summed up into 3 main areas; Physical, Mental and Social.

Physical benefits-

• Lean, endurance muscles,core muscles
• Low impact aerobic workout
• Cardiovascular system
• Hands and fingers
• Forearms and upper arms
• Shoulders,neck,upper back

Rock Climbing is one of the best total body workouts available. It’s a unique sport in that boys and girls are equally capable. A common misconception is that climbing requires an already strong upper body. This idea often discourages girls from participating. An effective climber is one who understands that much of climbing is related to technique, balance and leg strength.

The motion of climbing works every part of you. From your fingers and forearms as you grip the rock or climbing hold, your abs and core as you lift your legs into position then your whole body as you propel yourself up with your legs and pull up with on your arms.

Climbing develops lean, endurance muscles (the same muscles used by marathon runners). It strengthens core muscles better than exercise routines designed to focus on that particular region. The core stabilizes the body, and leads to a stronger, less injury prone body. Climbing strengthens your hands and forearms, biceps, shoulders, neck, traps, upper back, lats, lower back, abs, gluts, thighs and calves. Your entire body, including cardiovascular systems, benefits from climbing.

Climbing complements and boosts performance in other sports too. Climbing assists by further developing the primary muscles needed for the sport, as well as the secondary muscles which benefit it, but which are not adequately developed in the practice of it. Just a few examples of sports climbing will help with:

• Racket or bat sports like Tennis, squash or cricket-Hand strength for holding onto the bat. arms for mean smash. Agility.
• Soccer-Builds upper body and core. Agility 
• Running and Cycling-Build upper body, flexibility. 

Humans learn to climb before we even walk, pulling ourselves up to get a higher view (or Mom’s special ornament on the table). Our natural human instinct is to climb anything we can hold onto. That is, until it’s scolded out of us. This instinct ought to be heartily encouraged, instead of discouraged. The outlet of a climbing wall will benefit the kids in so many ways. Kids don’t think about boring things like learning & exercising. They want to have FUN and release energy. In a controlled environment they'll learn how to productively channel their youthful energy.

Mental Benefits:

• Decision making
• Visualization
• Problem solving
• Goal Setting
• Planning
• Concentration
• Determination
• Self confidence 
• Stress relief
• Sense of Achievement 
• Spatial awareness
• Motor Skills

Each climbing route is like a puzzle, which takes patience and planning, forcing the climber to make decisions as one gets to a spot and strategizes where to go from there. Climbing requires for you to make spot decisions as you go, commit and follow through. Your ability to assess a problem, look for a solution, and then execute a plan is required. Beginners typically decide their route hold by hold, not looking ahead to see the larger picture in front of them. Soon one begins to visualize a route before grabbing the first hold. With practice, the climber is able to see the entire route in his mind, building his problem solving and planning abilities.

Goal setting is a natural development in climbing. If you are familiar with a climbing wall you would be aware that it contains several hand and footholds called grips creating a route for your climb. Each route has a difficulty rating usually attributed to the size of the holds and the complexity of the path. Once you've accomplished a route that’s your highest grade level, the bar is automatically raised. You’ll set your sights on the next grade up, or that epic route you previously peeled on. Sometimes you’ll need to work that route for some time before finally sticking it. The practice of keeping track of those projects and fitness goals helps goal setting become a habit.
Having a plan is only the first step though. Once a strategy has been determined, it must be implemented to be successful. This is another benefit of  climbing. You develop the concentration and determination to follow through with your plan.

As you can see, the skills developed in Rock Climbing lend themselves to all areas of life. Nearly everything worth achieving in life requires drive, planning and execution.

Social Benefits:

• Belonging to a community
• Networking and friendship 
• Communication and listening skills
• Leadership skills and character building
• Trust

Although the practice of Rock Climbing is essentially you vs. yourself, it can still be regarded as a team sport, because you’re never alone (or shouldn't be). You’ll either be climbing with a group of friends, school mates, colleagues or family. Learning to put your trust in the person holding your rope fosters relationships pretty quickly. Bouldering is shorter climbing without a rope, but still requires a spotter to guide the climber to the landing mat safely.

The different roles one plays when climbing, build character and leadership skills. Every climber will get the chance to be the student and learn from others, then the teacher sharing that knowledge. One minute they’ll be the climber being supported by others encouragement or advice, then they’ll turn around and be the belayer or part of the encouraging group. The climbing community is one where every achievement is celebrated.

Communication between the climber and belayer is paramount to climbing safely. The safety system consists of a series of commands or statements and recognition statements, used to inform each other of one’s status in relation to the rope and climb.(Eg. Climber to Belayer: “Slack” for more rope when climbing up, “Take” to pull rope tight and hold.) . Speaking clearly and listening attentively come naturally when your life depends on it. 

Friendship has got to be one of the best, yet unexpected advantages of becoming part of the rock climbing community. You personally count some of the people you will climb climb with, from the school clubs, mountains, backyard climbing walls and indoor climbing gyms, as truly great friends.