IS ROCK CLIMBING A GOOD FORM OF EXERCISE?

The most paramount tool in climbing is the shoes with the best support or only shoes with the best support. Rock climbing engages one physically and provides a full-body workout to give top shape as well as prime fitness situation; therefore, a good sport that you can involve yourself in for physical fitness. It is a challenging sport that tests one’s physical and mental stamina. It will also aid in working out one’s stress.

 Rock climbing will also test the body and mind’s fortitude, responsiveness, balance, and strength. Climbing exercise can take place indoors, which is on a rock climbing wall or outdoor. Successful climbing requires the right mindset and proper climbing tools, which include the right footwear (the best shoes for support), gear, and appropriate rock climbing tactics. Rock climbing is known to be one of the best body workouts you can take part in as it comes with multiple benefits. 

Benefits of rock climbing.

Climbing provides one with cardio and builds its strength in a workout.

Whether the climbing is practiced indoors or outdoors, it will offer a good workout, as it enables one to build their stamina, reinforce their muscles hence improve their heart rate to work cardio. A climb requires strength to pull themselves on the rope by use of their arms. Climbing will also test one's core body muscles as well as legs to enable one to find the required balance while climbing.

Rock climbing aids in muscle strengthening 

Climbing facilitates the building of the following body muscles: 

• Calves
• Lats
• Abs
• Biceps
• Delts
• Obliques
• Traps
• quads

When a climber strengthens their grip, they work for their forearms, therefore giving more strength to every major muscle group during rock climbing exercise. Rock climbing also helps lower the level of one's BMI and aid in reducing body fat.

Climbing improves flexibility.

Climbing requires one to spring to reach the footholds and handholds as they climb; this makes them raise the range of motion, a factor which enhances body flexibility and adaptability. A climber is advised to stretch several times a week to increase their circulation and flexibility. 

Rock climbing reduces stress.

Climbing facilitates the rising of norepinephrine levels in the body, a factor that works well in discharging stress. Engaging in climbing exercise will also help you build a sense of exhilaration, a situation which is achieved when the levels of norepinephrine increase. Outdoor climbers enjoy the extra boost of energy, which they get from the sun's rays that emit vitamin D, which works well in doing away with stress.

Increases mental strength.

Rock climbing exercise entails navigating routes, which puts the climber's brain at work as they attempt to solve problems, thus developing problem-solving skills. They are also required to practice excellent hand-eye synchronization to determine the right reach on the rock’s face. Climbing will facilitate testing of the climber's mental endurance and the route calculation since the skills needed in climbing aids one judge the right reach, strength, and abilities required to advance to the next climbing level.

Climbing helps one overcome fear. 

Heights and falling are some of the biggest fears in life. Since the two are what one has to work for hand on hand in rock climbing, it will mean that you are likely to challenge these fears by taking part in climbing. This helps build one's confidence and self-esteem, which are essential attributes in one's life. 

It is a way of warding off chronic illnesses.

The exercise involved in rock climbing is crucial in deterring chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and high cholesterol levels, to name a few. Research has shown that cardiovascular exercise that creates endurance, as well as strengthening muscles, can prevent chronic diseases. Rock climbing has all these physical benefits, thus standing out as an undertaking which can help one avoid the risk of developing such conditions. 

Rock climbing aids in burning calories. 

Rock climbing is a quite tasking undertaking making it a calorie-burning sport. It is estimated that a person involved in climbing exercise can burn 330 to 498 calories within a period of thirty minutes, depending on their body weight. According to studies by Harvard health reports, a person with a weight of 125 pounds can burn 330 calories while one weighing 155 pounds can do away with 409 calories. Those weighing 185 pounds will burn up to 498 calories. 

Rock climbing exercise gives one a fantastic experience. 

Whether you are conducting indoor or outdoor climbing, getting to the summit comes with a state of euphoria. It gives one that feeling of being an achiever and a conqueror for a fact one feels like they are on top of the world. Getting to the top of a mountain is fun; the cool climate, the bird's eye view, among other experiences while there, makes you feel special. Since the climbing process gives an adrenaline rush to the climbers upon getting to the summit, they get filled with a sense of pride as well as accomplishment upon having gone through all the hard work involved for one to get there. 

It gives one a sense of victory. 

 Climbing to the summit is not just any other performance; it gives the climber some special kind of satisfaction. For instance, busting out in your comfort zone, having it in mind that you made it, you challenged yourself, the thought of overcoming your fears as well as physical limitations and that you enhanced your mental abilities gives one some kind of special feeling. To many, the climb is not just a win but a special kind of victory. The tasking undertaking involved in climbing leaves one ready to undertake the next challenge.

Accomplishing one's climbing objectives puts one in a situation whereby they want to challenge other aspects of their lives. It will not be surprising to find somebody who has undertaken a climbing challenge successfully going back and achieving some missions they had failed to accomplish in the past.

How to Clean Climbing Shoes. 

Keeping your shoes clean and well cared for is the main secret behind their longevity. Shoes should be well dried after being cleaned by hanging them to air dry; when drying the shoes, ensure that you do not store them in confined spaces. One should also ensure that they take off their shoes while on their climbing sessions to give them enough room to dry out. Upon drying your shoes, ensure that they are deodorized to prevent them from developing stench. Spray deodorizers are recommended for climbing shoes but not powder.

Warm water and mild soap are the best materials for use when washing climbing shoes. A soft brush is suitable to clean the climbing footwear on both the inside and outside. After cleaning the shoes, make sure that you clean them properly; the drying should be done away from direct sunlight to avoid damaging them. While drying your climbing shoes, you should ensure that they are stuffed with a newspaper, which helps in hastening the drying process and helps maintain the shape of the shoes.

Climbing footwear made of leather material is likely to stretch if not well dried, unlike synthetic materials. Leather shoes are also expected to produce odors than the shoes made of synthetic materials. Therefore these types of footwear need to be cleaned from time to time to ensure that stench does not develop from them. A rock climber can wear socks while climbing though it is not advisable since one's feet are likely to slip or slide while in the shoe. Many climbers purchase the kind of climbing footwear, which fits their feet tightly, making it unsuitable to wear them together with socks.

How to Dry Shoes Effectively After Washing Them.

Wearing wet shoes is not only dangerous for one can easily slip on them, but it also has some health concerns. Wet shoes are likely to cause foul smell and infection, among other effects that affect both the shoes and the wearer's feet.

For a climber to enjoy the maximum comfort from their footwear, they will have no option but to ensure that their shoes obtain maximum drying to secure them and the feet. Before one wears their climbing shoes, they should ensure that they are not only dry from outside but also that they are dry from the inner side. Several methods can be put in use to ensure that your shoes are dried within the shortest time possible and dry them as required from both their inner side and outer side, thus ensuring that the climber remains stable and comfortable all through. These drying methods include:

Wrapping Your Footwear in Newspaper.

This method is cheap, easy, and useful as it does not require specialist tools nor expert. It only requires several pieces of old newspapers that can easily be available right from the home compound. The method is suitable for use with any kind of shoes irrespective of the materials making them; if your shoes are made of leather material, synthetic, or canvas, you do not have to worry about using this method to dry them. The only type of footwear that is not suitable to dry on this method are white shoes as the ink from the newspaper will move on the shoes' surfaces and stain them. Therefore one is advised to use white pieces of paper or towels when drying white shoes.

The process involved in this method consists of removing the shoe insoles and putting them aside to air dry separately; this is done to fasten drying. The insoles can be dried by leaving them to air dry away from direct sunlight to avoid damaging them. They can also be dried by putting them in front of a fan. Drying the insoles is an important undertaking as you will prevent them from developing mold. 

The newspapers should be crumbled to form a ball-like structure, which should then be squeezed into the shoes to go as far as possible. The ball-like structures made from the crumbled newspapers should be carefully wedged into the shoes' corners being dried. The papers should be fitted into the shoe up to a point whereby you cannot fit any more crumpled newspapers. This is meant to ensure that the papers absorb any available moisture content in the shoes.

When you are done with the inner part of the shoes, you are now left with the outer part. This should be taken care of by wrapping old newspapers as well around the shoes. To attain this, one is required to wrap around two to three pieces, which should be wrapped tightly. Upon achieving this, you have to use some elastic bands around the shoes so as to hold the pieces of paper against the surfaces of the shoes to ensure that the shoes dry out properly. This method requires one to change the crumpled newspapers within a time span of between two to three hours as they are likely to get dump within that period. 

Hanging the Shoes on a Fan. 

This method works for those who have a large box fan. What you require to effect this process is having a hunger wire and some wire cutters. The wire hangers should be cut into two sections of around six inches each. The cut sections should be bend to form an S-shaped structure. The wire hooks should be hanged on the front of the box fan. The smaller side of the curve should serve as the fastening point. The fastening side should be put on the fan while ensuring that the larger hook pokes out. To create enough space for your shoes, ensure that you leave three or four inches between your wire hooks. The shoes should be hanged on the hooks such that the insides face the fan blades. They should be hanged in a way that there is a free flow of air to penetrate inside each shoe. For the safety of both your shoes and the fan, make sure that the shoelaces are out of the way as they can fall in the fan get tangled up in the blades, causing damage to both the fan the shoes. This method is most suitable for lightweight shoes.

You are drying Your Hoes by use of a Dryer. 

This method is only suitable for the shoes that are dryer safe; these kinds of shoes come with a label indicating that they are dryer safe. When you have an assurance that the shoes are safe on the drier, they can go ahead and have the shoes worked on by the dryer; before the shoes are inserted in the dryer, the laces should be loosened to attain a length of 6 inches on both sides of each shoe. The shoes with no laces are not recommended to be dried through this method as they could easily damage the dryer or get damaged themselves. 

The use of their laces should tie the shoes together. The tying knot should be firm but not so tight that one will not struggle to undo it when they are through with the drying process. This is followed by holding your shoes in place against the inside of the dryers. While doing this, you should make sure that the laces and their knot stick out over the top of the dryer. Your shoes should remain held suspended in the middle and that they don't slip out of place. The boots could easily damage the dryer if they get loose; therefore, one should be careful while performing it when the shoes are well suspended at the right place; the dryer needs to be set onto a low heat on the left to run a complete cycle. This will be enough to dry the shoes to the level they ought to be. One is advised to dry their shoes alone and not be incorporated with clothes.

Drying Shoes by Use of Rice. 

Though this might sound unusual, it is one of the easiest and simplest methods that can be used to dry the shoes. This method requires one to put rice inside the boots. It is recommended that you use a container with enough capacity to hold the two pairs of shoes; the box should also have a lid that closes the container securely and tightly. Their sides should place the shoes on top of them then pressed such that they are partly buried in the dry rice. This is followed by sealing the lid tightly, then leaving it for two to three hours for the dry rice to suck all the moisture content from the wet shoes. 

How to Deodorize Shoes 

It is quite disgusting to realize that your shoes are smelly, however much the little the smell might be. This usually happens in areas associated with hot weather, as such areas are associated with a lot of sweating, which is intensified by activities like sporting. The sweat that emanates from the feet builds a warm and wet environment inside the shoes, leading to foul-smelling bacteria. There reaches a point where whereby the smell from the shoes becomes unbearable, thus the need to do something about it. Despite there being many remedies meant to make your shoes smell better provided worldwide, one will still want to know which will work best for their shoes. Here are some of the best deodorizers in the market made to do away with a bad smell in the shoes. 

I am using Dryer Sheets to Get Rid of Bad Smell from the Shores. 

This is done by the use of fabric softener dryer sheets, which are suitable for working out any kind of smell from shoes. This process is achieved by one placing a fresh dryer fabric softener sheet in the smelly shoes and leaving them overnight to do away with the unwanted smell. These deodorizers can as well be used to get rid of odors in the areas where the smelly shoes are stored. This component can also serve well in doing away with unpleasant smells from the gym bag, which one uses to carry their smelly shoes. 

I am using alcohol.

 Alcohol is another excellent deodorizer, as well as a natural disinfectant. These features make it a suitable component to be used on both doing away with bad smell and killing the bacteria that cause unpleasant odors from the shoes. This deodorizer works through being poured on the worst affected parts of the shoes to kill the bacteria causing the bad smell. When shoes have been subjected to this, they should be allowed enough time to dry before one puts them on.

Baby Powder for Smelly Feet.    

This deodorizer will not help in doing away with already smelly shoes, but it serves as a preventive measure. It is suitable for the people who experience sweating of their feet occasionally as it will aid keep their feet dry as well as sweet free to minimize the smell. It is used by rubbing it on the shoes before they are put on to minimize sweating. One rub a day will be enough to ensure that your shoes will not experience any smelling issues. You should understand that the baby powder will not help you in any way if your feet are already smelly, so such a case can only be solved by applying the right measure to deal with it before you can think of using baby powder on your shoes.

Cat Litter for Shoe Odor.  

This is one of the best deodorizers to use as it perfect for dealing with bad odors in the shoes. When using this deodorizer, all that you need is to low a thin layer of it into the bottom of your shoes and leave it to work on them overnight. 

Freeze your shoes   

Though not a deodorizer, freezing your shoes will give good results as well, as it will help you kill all the bacteria causing a bad smell on your shoes. This method can be applied if one has used several deodorizers without getting the required results. This method involves putting the shoes in a piece of a plastic bag that is sealable, then insert them in the freezer. They should be left in the freezer overnight as this will ensure that the cold penetrates them properly to kill any bacterial, causing a bad smell on the feet. When the shoes come out of the freezer, they should be given time to defrost before they are put on again.

Machine Washing. 

A machine washer can be used to deal with smelly shoes, which can be washed by it. Most of the shoes which can be worked on through this process are canvas- sneakers. They are run in the washer to deal with dirt and bad smell at the same time.

Having seen several types of deodorizers that can be used to take care of one's smelly shoes, it will also be essential to see various kinds of footwear used for climbing purposes and which the above deodorizers can be used on.

Best Climbing Shoes in the Market Today. 

As said earlier, one will need the best supportive shoes so as to attain their objectives as long as climbing is concerned. Any form of climbing, indoors, outdoors, jamming, smearing, edging, or even bouldering will not go smooth unless the climber has the best support shoe. Here are some of the best climbing shoes in the market currently:

La Sportive TarantuLace.

This Pair is made to accomplish outdoor climbing activities. The shoe was invented in 1928 to be used by those intending to engage themselves in climbing undertakings. It is known to be one of the best climbing shoes that can comfortably beat highly-rated routes on. It is believed to have been used by great climbers such as Anna Vollenwyder. 

Its make entails 1.8mm laspoFlex at their midsole as well as 5mm FriXion RS at their soles, making the Pair stand out to be extremely durable and stable. They are designed to produce a relatively tight fit on the climber’s feet. They come up with a type of lacing system which is efficient to use as it is modified to give a quick-pull lacing climbing harness to give the climber’s feet excellent fit.

The uppers of this Pair are made of synthetic leather, which is well aerated to give the wearer's feet a conducive environment. Their outsoles have an aggressive heel rand made of rubber, making the shoes produce the best grip with different kinds of climbing surfaces. 

Evolv Defy. 

These types of footwear are known to be one of high performance when it comes to climbing. They are a suitable type for use by beginners, whether taking part in indoor or outdoor climbing activities. Their make is asymmetrical, while their uppers are made with synthetic Synthratek that is well aerated to facilitate breathability. The lining of this Pair is made from a nylon material to give the shoes the required level of comfort needed for any climbing shoes. 

 They are designed to produce a soft and secure fit, a factor which makes them comfier. They are given a touch of an anti-microbial mesh material, which aids in eliminating any kind of bacterial which could find its way on the shoes taking care of any form of odor emanating from them. They are known for their exceptional traction with different kinds of climbing surfaces, a factor which has been enhanced by the Pair having been constructed with VTR rand as well as 4.2mm TRAX rubber outsoles, which is designed to produce an excellent grip. 

La Sportiva TC Pro. 

These shoes are designed to suit the craving males to take their climbing spree to the next level. They are known for their durability, support, breathability, and high level of stability. They are made with an unlined sole, which comes with a PU foam, as well as Sentex with an Airmesh tongue. The uppers of this Pair are highly breathable, for they are made of Vibram rubber rands. The rubber materials making this Pair makes them durable and highly comfortable; thus, the best footwear to use on climbing big walls, face climbing and crack climbing. They have an excellent grip making them the best kind of footwear for intermediate and beginner climbers. They are also lightweight, which makes them even more comfortable as their wearers will not have to worry about excess weight on their feet, therefore, minimizing any chances of fatigue arising as the climber engages in the tasking climbing exercise.

Butora Acro Wide Fit. 

These shoes are well suited to take climbs on share rock-faced climbs. The manufacturer of these footwear had wide feet in mind; therefore, they are perfect for wide feet. They are recommended to be used by the people who participate in steeper sport climbing routes and the ones who like a boulder. They are designed to produce a snug fit for the wearer, making them more comfortable and stable. The material making this Pair makes them durable; thus, one is sure that they will not go back to the market any time soon upon purchasing Acro Wide Fit. Their outsoles are designed to produce superb traction with various surfaces, a factor that builds more stability for the climber. Their uppers are made of breathable materials to ensure proper aeration; thus, the wearer's feet will remain cool and dry all through, which makes this Pair even more comfortable. 

They are modified to have a large sticky rubber toe patch, enabling the toe to hook securely in all climbing situations, including the most technical areas. They also have a high-tensioned heel rand that offers the climber the needed power in the toe to enable them to acquire the much-required grip for the best edging.

Conclusion.

Rock climbing is one of the most fantastic sport; it gives adequate exercise to every part of the body; therefore, it should be embraced. Though some people might take climbing for fun, it helps people remain fit and healthy. Shoes are the greatest weapon in climbing; thus, one should choose the footwear to use during climbing wisely as it will determine the amount of success they will attain. A climber should not select their climbing shoes guided by the color, the company making it, but they should be driven by the key features which make a given shoe best for their use to attain their objective.

You could be ready to begin your climbing undertaking anytime but wondering where to start from, definitely simply because you lack climbing shoes. May be this might be caused by a lack of knowledge about the right supplier of such kind of footwear. In case you fall into this category, then worry no more. Freaky Shoe Company, an online platform for shoes, got you covered; for any queries concerning footwear, reach them through their website: freakyshoes.com.