Listen into a great discussion I had with Dr Nigel Callender an ex competitive climber and climbing coach about the “elephant in the room” in competitive climbing.
Discussion of Low Energy Availability and RED-S
As a gravitational sport, being a light-weight climber confers a performance advantage. However, being alert to low energy availability and the clinical consequences of RED-S on health and performance is important for climbers. With climbing being included the next Olympics, then hopefully this will raise awareness of being alert to athletes at risk of low energy availability and RED-S.
Insights from Dr Nigel Callender, sports scientist turned medical doctor (anaesthetics/critical care trainee) an active researcher, largely into the exercise physiology aspects of climbing and ex-competitor, having represented Ireland at international level and been British bouldering champion before shoulder injuries ended that. Sport climbing is included in the 2020 Tokyo summer games in its three competitive disciplines; bouldering, lead climbing and speed climbing. Each sub-discipline has a slightly different athlete profile and physiological demands, but all are obviously under the heading of gravity dependent sports. Current participation figures put yearly indoor climbing participation at around the one million mark in the UK and it is said to be one of the fastest growing sports worldwide. The sport is being recognised as a great way to improve overall health and fitness, with recent papers citing it as a useful rehab activity for many physical and mental health conditions and also as a health promotion tool.
Although climbing has been a formal competitive sport in some sense since the late 80’s, it still lacks much in the way of formal training and medical guidelines. Being a gravity dependent sport, strength to weight ratio is important, however Dr Callender and his colleagues are seeing a high incidence of restrictive eating patterns at all levels of the sport and a lack of awareness around the performance impairments and health risks associated with a significant or prolonged negative energy balance in some athletes.
The Outdoor Athlete Podcast is a bit of a winter project that came about to establish a gold-standard resource, driven by credible experts in their relevant fields, as an attempt to provide high-quality and evidence-based information amongst the confusing advice that is now the internet. It’s free and always will be and it was inspired by the BJSM Podcasts though broadly aiming at ‘Outdoor Athletes’ e.g. Climbers, Fell/Trail runners, Mountain bikers and anyone happy to listen.
For more information on climbing in the UK, including competition climbing see http://www.thebmc.co.uk
Dr Nicky Keay 