Climbing and Nutrition

brandon — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:09:08 +0000

Recently I began learning more about nutrition and the essential role it plays not only in general health but in physical fitness as well. Fortunately, I have for a long time been a fan of eating healthy, such as eating organic foods, eating a ton of vegetables and fruits every day, etc. But as I learned more, I realized that I needed to learn what my body needs in order to stay fit, and most importantly in order to be a strong climber. When coupled with a solid training program, eating properly can help you make significant performance gains.

First, it is important to eat the proper balance of carbs, fats, and protein. Here’s a quick formula to help you figure it out! This is based on Eric Horsts description from Training For Climbing.

Determine Your Caloric Need:

Multiply your weight by the following number, based on your metabolism:

Low metabolism – multiply by 12
Medium metabolism – multiply by 15
High metabolism – multiply by 18

Now add 150 calories for each activity of low intensity exercise you do each day ( such as walking, etc). Then add 600 calories per each hour of high intensity exercise (running, climbing, etc). Let’s say you do 30 minutes of walking and 45 minutes of running. That would be 75 calories for low intensity and 450 calories for high intensity.

Determine Your Carb, Fat, and Protein Requirements

Specifically for a climber, here is the breakdown of your needs, based on your caloric needs.

Carbs

65% of your calories should come from carbs. There are 4 calories in 1 carb.

Protein

15% of your calories should come from Protein. There are 4 calories in 1 gram of protein.

Fats

20% of your calories should come from Fat. There are 9 calories in 1 gram of fat.

So by making these calculations, and beginning to monitor what you eat, you will notice significant gains in your climbing ability, as long as you are training alongside of having a strict nutritional program!