Correlation of forearm strength and sport climbing performance

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine whether forearm muscle strength correlates with sport climbing performance. Three different movements of the forearm musculature in 25 recreational climbers (performance on sight (os) style mean F7a+, range 6b+ - 7c; red point (rp) style 7b+, range 7a - 8b+) were examined. A special isokinetic device was built to investigate eccentric and concentric isokinetic maximum strength of wrist (wr) flexion, proximal interphalangeal joint (pi) flexion of the middle- and ringfinger and a rolling in a bar movement involving both interphalangeal joints and the metacarpophalangeal joint (ro) of all fingers. There was no correlation between absolute maximum strength and climbing performance. Relative strength (strength/body weight) of all three exercises however correlated significantly with climbing difficulty of rp and os style, except pi flexion and os style. Correlation coefficient was highest between rp and concentric wr flexion. Among forearm musculature concentric wrist flexion was the best predictor for sport climbing performance.