A reality for climbers is that our sport that revolves around our strength-to-weight ratio.  As a result, climbers who are looking to maximize their performance are not only concerned with increasing their finger strength or endurance, but also with losing weight.

However, while the idea that being as lean and light as possible will increase performance is an unavoidable reality for our sport, obsession with weight loss and diet can often lead to unhealthy habits and performance sabotage.  To help you approach the issue of losing weight for climbing in a healthy and productive way, here’s an article by Brian Rigby of Climbing Nutrition that outlines the basics principles behind losing weight for climbing and focuses on debunking some of the most common misconceptions about dieting and weight lose.

“The right question to ask, therefore, isn’t “Is this diet effective?”, but rather “Will this diet be effective for me?” This is the big part of the picture that so many diet fanatics miss. While low-carb zealots are busy sparring with high-carb crusaders, both are missing the fact that both diets have worked for some people and failed for many times more; Paleo and vegan diets have both created nearly equally numbers of success stories and failures. The difference isn’t within the diets themselves, but within the person following the diet—some people are better suited to the rules of one diet than another!” – Brian Rigby

In this first article of a series, Rigby does not give you specific tips about how to most effectively lose weight.  Instead, he lays out basic principles that anyone considering trying to lose weight needs to keep in mind.  The topics he discusses are:

1. Do You Need to Lose Weight At All?
2. All Weight Loss Happens Through Caloric Restriction
3. There Is No Such Thing as the “Perfect” Weight Loss Diet
4. All Diets Require Change
5. There Is No Weight Loss Supplement That Is Truly Effective

Click through bellow to read the full article.  If you are thinking about trying to lose weight to increase your climbing performance this article is a good place to start.  If you are looking for additional information about diet and nutrition check out our Nutrition Guide by Aicacia Young.

Click Here: Climbing Nutrition – Introduction to Losing Weight for Climbing

(photo courtesy of climbingnutrition.com)

Other Articles You Might Like:

• 5 Tips to Lose Weight for Climbing
• Weight Management for Climbers
• How to Lose Weight for Climbing
• How Do Nutrition Needs Differ Between Types of Climbing?