You can be strong, fit and experienced in the gym. Then you get on a climbing wall and discover that strength is only part of the equation.
Strong in the Gym. Stuck on the Wall.
You can deadlift twice your body weight. Run a respectable 10K. Knock out pull-ups without much trouble.
Then you try climbing.
A few moves in, your forearms are burning, your feet keep slipping, and someone half your size makes the same route look effortless.
What gives?
Climbing challenges something that conventional training doesn't always prepare you for: the ability to combine strength, balance, coordination and decision-making while your body is under load.
And sometimes, the difference between completing a climb and falling off has very little to do with how strong you are.
Climbing Is a Physical Puzzle
In indoor climbing, the coloured holds on a wall define a route, or problem, that you have to solve using your hands and feet.
In bouldering, these problems are typically shorter and climbed without a rope, with padded flooring beneath the wall. Other disciplines, such as sport climbing, involve taller routes and rope protection.
But reaching the top isn't simply a matter of pulling yourself upwards.
Every move requires a decision.
Which hold should you reach for next? Where should you place your foot? Can you shift your weight rather than rely on your arms? Is there a more efficient way to position your body?
Two people can approach the same problem differently, and the person with greater absolute strength won't necessarily find the more efficient solution.
Climbing rewards your ability to use strength intelligently, not just your ability to produce it.
Your Feet Do More Work Than You Think
One of the first things climbing teaches you is how much energy you waste when you try to do everything with your arms.
Beginners often grip holds harder than necessary and pull themselves towards the wall. The result is familiar: forearms that fatigue long before the rest of the body.
More experienced climbers learn to use their feet to support and reposition their body, keeping their centre of mass close to the wall and reducing unnecessary strain on their upper body.
This is where climbing becomes an exercise in movement efficiency.
A small change in foot placement can make a difficult reach feel manageable. Shifting your hips can change the direction of force through your hands. Sometimes the solution is to stop pulling harder and find a better position.
The strongest move isn't always the one that requires the most strength.
What Does Climbing Actually Train?
Climbing places demands on several physical qualities at once.
Your fingers and forearms must generate and sustain force through holds of different shapes and sizes. Your shoulders and back help control pulling movements and body position. Your trunk transfers force as you reach, rotate and move between footholds.
But the challenge isn't simply muscular.
Unlike a conventional exercise, where the movement pattern is largely predetermined, a climbing route continually changes the demands placed on your body.
You may need to hold an awkward position, generate force through one leg, coordinate a dynamic reach or pause long enough to work out your next move.
A systematic review of therapeutic climbing research found evidence of improvements in physical outcomes such as strength, motor control and movement ability in specific patient populations. These findings are promising, although they shouldn't be interpreted as proof that recreational climbing produces the same benefits for every healthy athlete.
For someone who already lifts or runs, climbing offers something different: a physical challenge where the movement itself is constantly changing.
The Mental Side Is Part of the Sport
There's a reason climbers spend so much time looking at a wall before attempting it.
They're reading the route.
They might visualise a sequence, attempt it, fall, reconsider their approach and try again. A move that initially seems impossible can become achievable after changing something as small as the angle of a foot or the direction of a reach.
This makes climbing unusually engaging. You're not simply repeating a movement until you've completed a prescribed number of repetitions.
You're trying to solve a problem with your body.
A 2024 systematic review examining 83 studies on the psychology of climbing identified connections between climbing performance and factors including decision-making, confidence, spatial perception and the experience of flow, while noting limitations in the existing research.
The appeal is easy to understand.
You're concentrating on the next hold, not how many minutes are left in your workout.
The One Thing You Shouldn't Rush
Climbing can feel approachable because the basic objective is simple: get from the starting holds to the top.
But your muscles may adapt to the sport faster than the smaller structures in your hands and fingers can tolerate increasing loads.
Finger and shoulder injuries are important considerations in climbing, particularly as athletes progress towards more demanding holds and movements. A systematic review of overuse injuries in adult climbers identified higher climbing intensity, crimp gripping and previous injury among factors associated with increased injury risk.
That makes progression important.
Start with manageable routes. Learn how to use your feet. Give your fingers time to adapt rather than treating every session as a test of grip strength.
Climbing rewards patience as much as effort.
And that's part of what makes progress satisfying: a route that seemed impossible a few weeks ago can eventually become one you move through with confidence.
From Finding a Sport to Building a Community
For Shaiv Gandhi, climbing began in Berlin in 2021.
What started as trying a new sport quickly became something he wanted to do three or four times a week. But whenever he returned to Mumbai, he felt the absence of the kind of climbing spaces and community he had experienced abroad.
Over the following years, Shaiv visited climbing gyms across more than ten countries, learning from the spaces he encountered before returning to Mumbai to build The Indian Bouldering Company (TIBC).
Located in Fort, TIBC brings indoor bouldering, functional training and community spaces together under one roof. Its climbing walls offer different styles of movement and difficulty, creating room for both experienced climbers and people stepping onto a wall for the first time.
But Shaiv's story isn't simply about opening a climbing gym.
It's about finding an activity that changed how he wanted to spend his time, then creating a space where other people could discover it for themselves.
That connection between movement, curiosity and community is what makes his story a natural fit for TEGO.
Watch our Everyday Athlete story with Shaiv Gandhi to discover how climbing became more than just a sport for him.
References
1. Draper N, et al. (2024). The psychology of rock climbing: A systematic review. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. Read the review .
2. Gassner L, et al. (2023). The therapeutic effects of climbing: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PM&R. Read the review .
3. Risk factors and injury prevention strategies for overuse injuries in adult climbers: a systematic review. (2023).Frontiers in Sports and Active Living. Read the review .
4. The Indian Bouldering Company. Shaiv's story and the origins of TIBC .
