UKC

Just curious, but what would you reckon the average weight is of most male climbers these days - 12-14st?

In reply to Durban:

well i am under weight at 11 stone then! bring on the cakes and pies.

In reply to ashleylist:

16 stone but im a bad and inexperienced climber, aint got he arms to match the belly

In reply to Durban:


you might want to attafched a grade range to that. - I would say most male climbers who climb hard (lets say in the 7's sport and above) would average about 11st. (obviously some more and some less for the pedant and 'I'm nots' out there)

In reply to Durban:

Just by looking around the climbing walls in London... route climbers: average weight 12.5st, average grade f6b. Boulderers seem to be thinner in general.

In reply to Wingman@work:

I climb 7's and wiegh over 14 stone, then again I am 6' 4"

In reply to Wingman@work: I'd agree that most good climbers are lighter and probably smaller than the average so 11 stone ish sounds about right.

In reply to Wingman@work: Fair point. Let's assume, dare I say it, "average" grades - Severe to HVS

In reply to Flatlander:

yeah but you use some weird chicken suit levitation technique

In reply to Wingman@work: I'm 10st 9lbs, but John Dunne is 25 stone and climbs way harder than me (and most)

In reply to Al Evans: 25st? I assume you meant 15st?

In reply to Al Evans:

is he really that lardy? foook me thats heavy

In reply to mark1984: Sounds like he's half a stone lighter than me then.Fat B8stard!!!!

In reply to graeme jackson: youre 25.5 stne

In reply to mark1984: Thought we'd come back down to 15 st earlier. And JD isn't really fat - just big (saw him in edinburgh a couple of years ago)

In reply to Durban: I think I must be well outside the norm then. Ok I'm only about 5'6'' tall, but last time I checked I only was only just clearing the 9st mark, and I've got quite a few climbing friends of similar build.

Would 12-14st not seem somewhat heavy for a fairly active sector of society, especially one where weight can play a significant part, even if the average height is about 6'?

In reply to Liam M:

im 12.5st and 6'1" - i climb fairly well on good days

In reply to Durban: Probably more like thirteen stone. Big body but skinny legs.

In reply to Liam M:

for a stated "healthy" BMI for a 6-1 er its a weight of about 14 stone 196 pounds.

I've tried for a long time but cant gte down that far so for big boned types like me I add on bout 10 lbs and settle for 206lbs

In reply to mark1984: Mind you, I probably show how the correlation doesn't guarantee anything - I'm really quite light and am a crap climber.

In reply to Al Evans:

How tall are you Al?

Davie

In reply to mark1984:

stevie haston did an article in on the edge about this. he was 11st and climbing nails problems however stamina and strength let him down. then he focused on strength and with it came weight however he found himself climbing stronger - at this point his strongest. bearing in mind he is only 5'9" or something at this point he was weighing 12stone odd. now he still climbs very hard and is about 14stone - so i dont know. his arms are bigger than my legs

In reply to I am the God of Strathyre: Thats a very personal question, ok 5ft 8 in, why?

In reply to Durban:

i'm about 20st, but it's all muscle of course...

In reply to Durban: well i way in at about 9.5 stone and im 6 foot 2! so im just an all round lanky git, but it has its perks i can reach holds u guys have to abseil down to!

In reply to Liam M:

depends on build, partly, not just body composition. in other words, you could be as you put it 'fairly heavy' but have a 86% lean mass, which is fine, even for climbing. You'll always be heavier than most of your climbing peers if you have this build.

Oh, and I read somewhere that a male adult can healthily weigh 7lbs for each additional inch in height.

In reply to danyul101:

why reach when you can dyno

In reply to mark1984: why dyno when you can jus do a crazy jump and hope for the best like me! mr short at 5"8 8 stone 10

In reply to AlXN:

I am 190 cm (6'3" - although I was 6'4" in 1992!)

I was 86kg at christmas but through running and cycling three times a week I am now 79kg (about 12.5 stone). I watch what I eat - and it looks like ice cream and beer so no special dieting!

I have just sent a 7b on my ninth attempt on the route.

out of interest, I had a BodyStat test last week and my fat composition was 9.6%. Anywhere under 10% is considered good apparently.

In reply to Durban: Your BMI does not take muscle mass into account. I am 5'11'' and 14 stone, train 6 days a week, including free weights rowing, running and some sprint training. I find that I can climb a lot harder ice and mixed than some of my mates who are climbing mid E grades. I think its down to your body composition and power to weight ratio, and obviously on rock the heavier you are the more strain on your fingers.

In reply to Durban:

5'10" 11 stone exactly could be half a stone lighter if I turned party pack into six pack

In reply to Durban:
John Dunne is 3 foot two and 16 stone but still the best climber ever born

In reply to Durban:
I am a girlie and so fat these days that even thinking about climbing gets me out of breath!!! Still if I think about it enough maybe I can think myself thinner!!

In reply to Durban:

5"7 I think and I weight about 12st7.

I'm a shit climber but I am fairly strong :-S

In reply to Durban: I don't bother to worry about it. I'm 5'10" 15 stone and climb E1 on a good day. i used to care more, weigh 12 stone and climb VS... as our yankee cousins say "go figure"

In reply to Liam M:

Oi! liam u b*gger, I'm 13 stone thankyou very much!
hows the summer goin anyhoo?

James

In reply to Durban:
waaaaa I am 5'6 and weigh 13 stone... trying really hard to loose it but the bugger just wont shift. I have been out riding most days of the hols (5 weeks so far) but only lost 1/2 a stone

In reply to Pauline:

Hey- I'll join the wahhh- a bit taller than you and a bit heavier.

Half a stone in 5 weeks isn't bad- about 2lb per week is apparently a good sustainable rate to lose at- or that's the info I got from mooching at the BMI chart website. Be encouraged.

I'm sure I'll climb better when I've shifted some- and make life more comfortable for my partners too!

Nikki

In reply to Durban:

WHAT! Thats massive, surely 11 stone max.

In reply to Al Evans: Perhaps, but for winter and alpine climbing it all goes a long way for extra power endurance - at least that's what I find.

In reply to Durban:

I understand that John Dunne can get to any weight you care to imagine but when preparing for hard routes, I believe he trains hard to get well below 14 stone.
I may be talking a load of tosh of course

In reply to Ricky: John is the best and only 25 st climber that ever lived.
Did you know that 'tubby' Austin used to wear 20 jumpers so that he would look really fat and people would be impressed.

Last time i checked i was 14 stone @ 5'9, but i'm probably abit more now... but i'd like to think that the excess weight is pure Kurdish Muscle... yeah right... :/

In reply to Al Evans:

Met Dave Macleod and Rich Simpson neither are big and at first impressions appear skinny. If you saw them in the street you'd probably not think anything of them, both utterly stacked though...

In reply to Durban:

I'm 6' 3" and currently 11st 12lbs. I've been as low as 11st 2lbs, but I find it hard to maintain. I'll be increasing the training and (carefully) dieting from now on, as the Grit comes into condition and the hard (for me!) projects beckon.

At the mo, I'm pretty solid around V5 / V6 6b (ish!).

HD.

In reply to Durban:

If people want to loose weight then go mountaineering for a month. Ive jus come back from france n im less than 10 stone now having gone out at about 10 n a half (im 5'9'' if people are comparing height with weight)

In reply to Somerset swede basher: I know what you mean. I spent just under three weeks climbing Aconcagua (round trip) and when I got home everyone thought that i was ill having lost so much weight. I lost just under a stone which in less than three weeks is not bad going I suppose!

In reply to Durban: John Dunne is 14.4 stone and 5.11 tall

I know this because he jumped on the scales at the MCC

In reply to Hardman: Yes, but John is a freak of nature! The power to weight ratio that he has is incredible.

In reply to Durban:
Probably, out of the guys I know. But then I know a lot of tall blokes. I reckon the little ones are probably only 10-11 stone.

In reply to Al Evans:

Hear hear.

In reply to DAVE381: I think anybody over 11 stone should be banned from the crags for fear that they will pull off holds that the rest of us could safely use.
I have briefly been over this weight, but I realised my responsibilities and did not climb during this period.

In reply to Durban: tosser

In reply to Hardman: I take it that that is that because you are heavier than the 12-14st category?

In reply to Durban: Sorry durban i ment Al Evans

In reply to Al Evans:

Good job climbers aren't elitsist and are such a tolerant bunch of people

In reply to Durban:

Have you seen John?

In reply to graeme jackson:

No he's fat, and fortunately he doesnt know what I look like

In reply to I am the God of Strathyre:

5'8"
Chris the Tall weighs 20 stone but he is 9ft tall

In reply to JLS: Arrrrrgghhhhhh, you didnt have to do that.