Rock climbing can help you get stronger in a relatively short amount of time. It builds strength in your core, gives you strong abs, builds your back and arms, and is an overall great workout.
Many people think that climbing only really involves your back and your forearms, and while those muscles do play a large role in climbing, they are not the only muscles that are used.
Other muscles that are used and strengthened in climbing are:
- Legs
- Chest
- Triceps
- Shoulders
In addition to just building muscle and strengthening the body, climbing is also a great mental challenge. Whether it's getting over your fear of heights, or solving the puzzle which is the route, climbing really does involve a lot of mental power to help you finish the routes.
In bouldering, you must understand the route and how to climb it, often times as efficiently as possible, a task which isn't always as easy as it sounds, as there can be many different ways to climb it.
Also, climbing is a very social and accepting sport, an aspect that I personally was very surprised at as I have not encountered this before. While bouldering, you will probably always find someone to climb with and work on a problem with, which really helps both of you improve and progress in the sport.
Yes, climbing shoes can get wet. In fact, many people wash them to clean them, some even put them in washing machines too (I have never tried it, there is quite a bit of debate on the washing machine approach).
Also, while climbing, even if it's not really noticed, people sweat in their shoes, especially in the summer and when climbing outdoors. It's very common to take off climbing shoes to find out that the insides of yours shoes are pretty wet.
Everyone has a different limit when it comes to exercising, including climbing.
When I started, I climbed about 4 times a week for about 4-5 hours each session. At that time, I didn't feel that it was too much since much of that time was spent also resting and planning, looking back now though, I realize that it was way too much, to the point where I injured myself without even knowing it.
Knowing what I know now, if I were a beginner climber, I would climb just 3 times a week, and just for 2-3 hours. I would work on learning how to climb, and building up my strength, fingers, and all the muscles that were not used to climbing and to the different positions and strains it puts on your body.
Climbing shoes normally do not shrink, they actually stretch and get looser.
The amount at which they stretch depends on the material the shoe is made of, and of course, on how often the shoe is used. If climbing shoes are rarely used, or used not frequently, they will take much longer to actually stretch.
The material the climbing shoes are made of plays an important role in how much the shoes actually stretch. Leather shoes tend to stretch quite a bit, which is part of the reason why many climbers buy shoes that are smaller than their actual climbing shoe size, since they know that after some time, the shoes will stretch and will be a good fit.
Climbing shoes that are synthetic and not leather tend to either not stretch at all, or stretch very little. I have quite a few pairs of non-leather climbing shoes, and I cannot say that I have noticed any stretching in the shoes, and I climb 3-4 times a week. They still feel as tight as the day I bought them, just used.