![\"Rock](\"https:\/\/cdn-life.dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/10053426\/Rock-Climbing-3-Ways-to-Climb-Your-Way-Fit.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Admit it: Sometimes you want an upper body workout that skips the pull-ups, push-ups and rows. And that’s OK \u2014 especially when there are 16-foot boulders and 45-foot rock walls to climb! The Cliffs at LIC<\/a>, New York’s new 30,000-square-foot rock climbing gym, offers more than one way to sweat it out, including a dedicated fitness facility equipped with battling ropes, kettlebells<\/a>, suspension trainers and more. Add in slacklining, tight rope walking and state-of-the-art cardio machines, and we\u2019re talking heaven for fitness fiends.<\/p>\n But even if you skip all the extras and head straight for the rock wall, you\u2019re guaranteed a cardiovascular workout you\u2019ll be feeling for days. In fact, rock climbing can burn anywhere from 500 to 900<\/a> calories per hour, provided climbers keep rest to a minimum between routes. Research suggests<\/a> rock climbing can also build strength, power and bring aerobic and anaerobic fitness levels to new heights. To get the most burn for your buck, we talked to senior rock climbing instructor Eli Strauss to break down the various forms of climbing, and which workout might be best for you.<\/p>\n Level:<\/b> Beginner to advanced No rock climbing partner? No problem. If you\u2019re heading to the rocks on a whim, bouldering, moving laterally across routes close to the ground without ropes or a harness, is the easiest way to get climbing. Plus, you\u2019ll get a serious workout \u2014 fast \u2014 similar to high-intensity sprints or intervals, Strauss says. \u201cWith bouldering you’re not going as far as you do when you\u2019re rope climbing, but each individual move is much more intense,\u201d Strauss says. Because it\u2019s just you up there, the small, explosive movements needed to propel you from one hold to the next require the body to move and adapt in ways it\u2019s not used to.<\/p>\n While beginners work mostly the arms, back and shoulders, bouldering at steeper inclines recruits the core and leg muscles to keep climbers\u2019 bodies close to the rock. Strauss recommends starting with V0-grade<\/a> climbs (which are far from \u201czero\u201d exertion!), and slowly working your way up from there. Bouldering routes, more commonly referred to as \u201cproblems<\/a>,\u201d will also challenge your mind just as much as your grip strength.<\/p>\n Level:<\/b> Beginner to advanced Sometimes you just need to go the distance, and scaling 50-foot routes will take your climbs from fun run to marathon<\/a> status (or at least<\/i> get you moving in that direction). After all, rock climbers aren\u2019t just adventurers, they\u2019re endurance athletes, too. Rope climbing, which requires a partner on the ground belaying, is all about conditioning and building stamina, \u201cmuch like long-distance running,\u201d Strauss says. \u201cEach individual move is relatively easier, but if you go for distance it can really add up.\u201d So while a short, 20-foot route might help you improve technique, that cardiovascular workout likely won\u2019t kick in until you start climbing greater distances without rest.<\/p>\n Similar to bouldering, when you\u2019re just starting out, rope climbing isn\u2019t typically a full-body workout. \u201cBeginners can expect to feel it most in the upper body, particularly in the forearms, which they\u2019re not used to working,\u201d Strauss says. \u201cClimbers first have to develop the muscles just to stay on the wall.\u201d But as you graduate from basic ladder-like climbs to steeper routes with smaller holds, expect a full-body workout that will build long, lean muscle while increasing heart rate and maximal aerobic capacity (VO2 max).<\/p>\n Level:<\/b> Advanced Maybe you\u2019re a Ninja Warrior in training, or maybe you\u2019re just trying to take your climbing to the next level. Regardless, campus boarding<\/a>, or campusing, means climbing without <\/i>the use of your feet as a way of building upper-body power and serious grip strength. The boards, which hang flat on a wall or at an incline, are equipped with a variety of rungs, which climbers ascend, descend or move across using only their hands. Some parkour<\/a> or rock climbing gyms will have them as training tools (like The Cliffs\u2019 campus board pictured above), but more often than not, climbers will create their own<\/a>. \u201cA lot of people think this is a pretty masochistic sport \u2014 and they\u2019re not wrong,\u201d Strauss admits.<\/p>\n Campusing and other more advanced forms of climbing require a high level of strength, skill and technique even just to get started, and listening to your body is a must. Just as important as it is challenge yourself, it\u2019s necessary to know when to back off.<\/p>\n \u201cRock climbing is a sport that nobody is good at when they start,\u201d Strauss says. \u201cBut that\u2019s the fun of it: setting goals, and pushing yourself to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n To learn more about The Cliffs at LIC, visit <\/i>thecliffsclimbing.com\/lic<\/i><\/a> and follow them on <\/i>Facebook<\/i><\/a>. And for listings of indoor rock climbing gyms across the country, <\/i>head here<\/i><\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tired of the same old upper-body workout? We headed to The Cliffs at LIC to test our strength, at New York\u2019s newest rock climbing gym. Read on to see which type of climbing is the best workout for you. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,24,6,14],"tags":[288,289,56,83,141,281,341,349,100],"class_list":["post-19824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardio","category-exercise","category-fitness","category-strength-training","tag-cardio","tag-exercise","tag-group-fitness","tag-resistance-training","tag-sports","tag-strength-training","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2sports-medicine","tag-workout"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Bouldering](\"https:\/\/cdn-life.dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/10053430\/Boulering-The-Cliffs_2.jpg\")
1. The Sprint Workout: Bouldering<\/h3>\n
\nTargets: <\/b>Arms, back<\/a>, chest, shoulders, fingers\/hands and core<\/p>\n![\"Rock](\"https:\/\/cdn-life.dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/10053427\/Cliffs_Climbing_J_2.jpg\")
2. The Endurance Workout: Rope Climbing<\/h3>\n
\nTargets: <\/b>Arms, back, shoulders<\/p>\n![\"Campus](\"https:\/\/cdn-life.dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/10053431\/Campus-Board.jpg\" "\\"Campus")
3. The Strength Workout: Campusing<\/h3>\n
\nTargets: <\/b>Arms, fingers\/hands<\/p>\n