Physiological and Psychological Effects of the Indoor Rock Climbing as an Adventure Based Program

Abstract

Physiological and psychological effects, which the indoor rock climbing exerted on subjects comprised of 15 persons (11 males and 4 females, with an average age of 21.6) who had had no climbing experience, was examined and the following results were obtained.
1) The average heart rate was - in the order of trial: 130.5, 131.8, and 138.1 beats per minute, respectively. The heart rate for females was always higher by 10-15 than males.
2) The average heart rate for males amounted to the value 10 times of the RPE at the time of finishing. For females, however, the value 10 times of the RPE was larger than the average heart rate, which implies that this exercise was a big burden for them.
3) The regions of fatigue right after the climbing were the hand, the forearm, and the upper arm. Compared to the ‘pump-up’ condition of forearms, more fatigue and pain were felt in “the fingers, palms and the surface of hands”.
4) Subjects which are experienced can be classified into the following categories:“pleasure”, “a new awareness of the body ”, “an anxiety”, “pursuing a rational climbing movement”, “an impression on the climbing activity itself”, “a feeling of accomplishment”, “projection onto the life”, “a sense of ease”, “eagerness for the skill-up in climbing”, “a sense of unity”, “self-absorption”, and “a sense of envy towards others”.
Based on the findings mentioned above, we propose the following points for effective instruction and assistance. Climbing assignment must be fit to each individual. In our experiment, we gave the assignment with the same degree of difficulty, but we found the difference in the degree of burden, which the climbing gives to males and females, was more than we had imagined. It is advised to give the assignment according to the degree of difficulty; for example, what is appropriate for each individual, after a deep consideration over each person's physical characteristics. When the trainee has no experience in climbing, more consideration should be given to the palms than in the ‘pump-up’ condition of forearms. Lastly, effectiveness of climbing as a subject of adventure based program was reconfirmed, since the climbing includes in itself the effect of encouraging the self-observation. In the training, only the superficial “pleasure” should not be pursued.