How Diet Impacts Performance in Rock Climbers: A Pilot Study

This observational, cross-sectional, pilot study was conducted to establish a nutritional profile among experienced climbers, both non-elite and elite, and to evaluate factors that influence time to exhaustion while climbing to volitional failure. Elite (n = 10) and non-elite (n = 5) climbers, aged 18–45 years participated in the following: (1) nutritional analysis - 3-day food record and 24-hour dietary recall were analyzed using Food Processor and compared to government daily recommended intake; (2) climbing trial - after completing a climbing-related questionnaire and measuring anthropometric characteristics and hand grip strength, participants climbed a moderately difficult pre-set indoor route continuously until reaching volitional exhaustion. The major findings were significant differences for total climbing time between non-elite and elite climbers (t(13) = –2.6, p = 0.02). Additionally, protein intake from 24 hour recall (n = 15, rS = –0.53, p = 0.04) and total % water intake (n = 15, rS = –0.60, p = 0.02) were negatively correlated with climbing time. These results indicate that a longer climbing time to exhaustion is related to self-reported climbing ability. In contrast, the negative association between protein intake and climbing time, suggest that carbohydrate intake may play a more important role in climbing performance than protein intake. In addition the negative association between total % water and climbing suggest that the more hydrated a person is going into a climb, the longer they can sustain a climb. This research was supported by Grant Award BUCSR-Y3–010 from the Bastyr University Center for Student Research.