training

Being in shape and having a background in some kind of sport can be a benefit when starting to climb, but, it is not a requirement. Almost anyone, regardless of how fit there are and their weight, can climb.

While you climb, you will probably start to feel muscles that most refer to as "muscles they have never felt before and didn't know existed". This is because climbing utilizes muscles that most people usually do not use that often, at least not in the way climbing uses them. This is especially true for people who do not come from a fitness background of some kind.

Climbing in itself can help you get in shape, but getting in shape also depends on what you do outside the climbing gym or away from the rocks. It has to do with how you treat your body, how often you climb or exercise, if you stretch and work on preventing/treating injuries, and of course on your diet.

Depends on who you ask, for me, they count as both climbing and training.

I have a MoonBoard at my gym, and I usually prefer to climb on it rather than training on a hangboard. Though I do have at least 1 session a week for hangboarding and campus runs, I do prefer to climb on the MoonBoard because it's just more enjoyable compared to just hanging off of an edge. On a MoonBoard, you are also training crimps, and pinches, and you are also just climbing. Not to mention that you also train your core and back and other muscles while doing it, in comparison to hanging on a hangboard, where you train mostly your fingers, and just hang.

So for me, it is training, and it is also climbing, even though the climbing on it is very different from climbing on a regular climbing wall, but every so often you get a boulder route that is very similar to a MoonBoard problem, and if you climb regularly on a MoonBoard or other board wall, those routes will be much easier.

Squats are a great overall leg exercise. The exercise really hits the major muscles in your legs that can help with climbing.

You don't even really need to add any weight to this exercise. Depending on your goals, if you just want to improve your leg strength for dynamic movements in climbing, even squatting with body weight can be enough.

If you want to go that extra mile, you can do a jump squat.
A jump squat is when you do a regular squat, but as you rise up, instead of just standing up, you jump as high as you can. This can help give you that extra strength training to get better at those dynamic climbing moves where you have to jump and reach a far away hold.

Other than squats, calf raises is another great exercise. All you need to do is to find a step or an edge to stand on with your toes, and you just raise yourself as high as you can while staying on your toes, and then you just lower yourself until your heel touches the ground. The higher the surface you are standing on, the lower you will have to go to touch the ground, which means it will be harder to complete the exercise.
If you feel that it gets too easy, you can hold a dumbbell or any other weight in one of your hands for extra difficulty.

Rock climbing is a great full body workout, especially if you are a beginner, or you have never done it before.

Rock climbing heavily targets your back, arms, and core. In addition to these muscles, which are the most worked muscles while climbing, you will also use your feet, triceps, and occasionally, your chest for certain moves. Most likely all parts of your body will be used while climbing at times, it depends on the level of climbing, the difficulty of the route, and the route itself.

It's not uncommon for new climbers to be sore in places they have never been sore before. This is because climbing uses many smaller muscles that people normally do not use, even if they are coming from a history of other sports or weight training.

In addition to the smaller, mostly unused muscles, it also uses your main muscles in ways that you may normally not use. This is because in order to stay close to the wall, you have to sometimes put your body in positions that may be quite awkward to your muscles since they are positions your body just isn't used to, which means you will use your muscles to get in and out of those positions in ways they are not used to.

Training antagonist muscles is very important for proper muscle balance and to prevent injuries.

Push-ups are a great way to train the antagonist muscles. It targets your chest muscles, triceps, and shoulders. There are also many different variations of push-ups that can make them more challenging, difficult, and effective.

Here are some of the different push-up variations:

1. Close hands
2. Wide hands
3. Unbalanced hands (one hand up high, the other lower down), this puts more emphasis on different muscles for each arm
4. Leaning forward
5. Elevated feet
6. Handstand push-ups
7. Adding weights on your back

Climbing is mostly a pulling sport for your upper body. You will spend most of your time pulling with your arms, and pushing with your feet. But, there are times and certain moves in climbing that require you to push with your arms, such as when doing a mantle. This is where having strong triceps and chest muscles can be useful.