AUTHOR=Draga Paweł , Rokowski Robert , Sutor Alexander , Pandurevic Dominik , Michailov Michail Lubomirov 

TITLE=Importance of shoulder girdle and finger flexor muscle endurance in advanced male climbers

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Sports and Active Living

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sports-and-active-living/articles/10.3389/fspor.2024.1410636

DOI=10.3389/fspor.2024.1410636

ISSN=2624-9367

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Aim</title><p>This study aimed to: (a) assess the relationships between climbing performance and finger and shoulder girdle muscle endurance; and (b) provide evidence on the validity of the specialized exercise tests used for the purpose.</p></sec><sec><title>Materials and methods</title><p>28 male sport climbers (climbing ability 23 ± 2.43 IRCRA scale) performed four tests muscle failure, including two-finger hang tests (using 2.5 and 4 cm holds) and two variants of pull-up exercises (classical pull-ups and a combination of dynamic and isometric actions – the so-called Edlinger). Climbing performance and test results were subjected to correlation, taxonomic and regression analysis.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The correlations between the results from all tests and climbing performance were notably strong (<inline-formula><mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="IM1"><mml:mi>r</mml:mi></mml:math></inline-formula> between 0.54 and 0.61) and statistically significant (<inline-formula><mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="IM2"><mml:mi>p</mml:mi><mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.05</mml:mn></mml:math></inline-formula>). The taxonomic analysis indicated that the two variants of each test type reflect two different latent variables 2.5 cm and 4 cm finger hang durations were highly correlated (<inline-formula><mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="IM3"><mml:mi>r</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.76</mml:mn><mml:mo>,</mml:mo><mml:mi>p</mml:mi><mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.01</mml:mn></mml:math></inline-formula>). A similar correlation was found between the results from the pull-up tests (<inline-formula><mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="IM4"><mml:mi>r</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.72</mml:mn><mml:mo>,</mml:mo><mml:mi>p</mml:mi><mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.01</mml:mn></mml:math></inline-formula>). Thus, the finger hang and pull-up test results were determined to a high extent (43% and 49%, respectively) by factors that cannot be assessed when only one test of each type is used. The regression model of the two-finger tests allowed individual endurance profiles to be assessed.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>The muscular endurance of the elbow flexors and shoulder girdle muscles predicts climbing performance within the specific sport level studied to a comparable degree as finger flexor endurance.The use of two variants of a test intended to assess one physical ability provided important details on a climber’s fitness.</p></sec>