Climbing's rise to fitness stardom
The past 18 months have seen the popularity of climbing soar to new heights. With users of indoor bouldering centres in the UK growing by as much as 20 percent each year, and the ever-broadening range of vertical training equipment, our love for climbing is set to keep on growing.
So, what’s the appeal? Essentially, climbing has no barriers. No matter how old or how fit, anyone can give it a try. You don’t need to have had lessons or sport huge biceps to get started, or compete with anyone else. You challenge yourself to develop technique and skill at your own pace. Vertical movement encourages people to find their inner youth and return to one of life’s fundamental and most rewarding activities.
Climbing engages a wide range of muscle groups, offering users an adventurous way to improve their muscular and core strength, flexibility and cardiovascular endurance. It leaves you feeling truly exhilarated and rejuvenated. “Midlifers”, are having great fun stepping out of their comfort zone, as they find themselves in superb shape, both physically and mentally. Children and teenagers are finding that climbing offers a huge boost in confidence and self-esteem.
At CYC we can get you reaching for the skies with our fantastic range of compact, vertical fitness pieces from Brewer Fitness, Training Wall® and StairMaster®. Brewer Fitness equipment offers the ultimate cross-training activity for complete body sculpting, core-strength and weight loss. Training Wall® is the ingenious, space-saving functional training wall system and StairMaster® StepMill the unrivalled, iconic revolving staircase with thrilling, motivational visuals.
Based on 25 years of design and research into the rotating climbing wall, the Brewer Fitness freestanding Treadwall® and Laddermill® Ascender offer revolutionary, full-body climbing workouts for strength, balance, and cardio training. For fun, and serious training, The Treadwall® has earned itself a reputation for ingenuity and legendary durability. Automatic adjustment ensures intensity is matched perfectly to the users’ ability, allowing them to find their most comfortable angle and rise to the challenge.
Training Wall® coordinates and balances the upper and lower limbs simultaneously, whilst stabilising the trunk’s muscles, to maintain correct alignment throughout exercising. Core stability helps to increase performance and prevent possible injury. Training Wall® allows the entire body and mind to work in harmony with complete postural control, making it ideal for all-round fitness and rehabilitation.
The Training Wall® Peg Board provides an exciting challenge for climbing with sticks to give a strong physical workout to the muscles in the arms, shoulders, forearms, hands, upper body and core. Unlike rock climbing, there are no pre-set points of contact on a pegboard. It therefore, allows much more freedom of movement, and can help to develop back muscles that are not addressed by traditional pull-ups and rock climbing.
With the StairMaster®, climbing stairs has never been so much fun. It provides a workout that burns more calories at a lower impact rate and lower speed than most other exercises, and is one of the current queens of HIIT. The StairMaster® raises the heart rate almost immediately, even when set at the lowest level, and makes the user work hard without being hard on the user. The stepping motion keeps the foot flat and secure whilst climbing, and uses nearly every leg muscle. Calves, hamstrings, quadriceps and glutes are trained by lots of repetitions, which have been proven to build lean muscle and burn fat. Core muscles are engaged by stabilising balance, and endurance is improved by increasing speed and resistance.
As climbing is such an engaging and sociable activity, it is certainly worth considering how you might incorporate vertical fitness options into your gym. Contact us here at CYC for our expert advice and inspiration to suit your space and budget.
Sharon Young
Marketing Manager
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