Sport climbing performance determinants and functional testing methods: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND

Sport climbing is becoming incredibly popular both in the general population and among athletes. No consensus exists regarding evidence-based sport-specific performance evaluation; therefore, this systematic review was aimed at analyzing determinants of sport climbing performance and evaluation methods by comparing climbers of different levels.

METHODS

PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched up to December 20,2022. Studies providing the self-reported climbing ability associated with different functional outcomes in groups of climbers of contiguous performance levels were eligible.

RESULTS

74 studies were finally included. Various methods have been proposed to evaluate determinants of sport climbing performance. Climbing-specific assessments were able to discriminate climbers of different levels when compared to general functional tests. Test validity resulted high for climbing-specific cardiorespiratory endurance as well as muscular-strength, -endurance, and -power; similarly, reliability was good except for cardiorespiratory endurance. Climbing-specific flexibility assessment resulted in high reliability but moderate validity, whereas balance showed low validity. Considerable conflicting evidence was found regarding anthropometric characteristics.

CONCLUSION

The present analysis identified cardiorespiratory endurance as well as muscular-strength, -endurance, and -power as determinants of sport climbing performance. In contrast, balance, flexibility, and anthropometric characteristics seem to count less. This review also proposes an evidence-based Functional Sport Climbing test battery for assessing performance determinants, which includes tests that have been identified to be valid, reliable, and feasible. While athletes and coaches should rely on evidence-based and standardized evaluation methods, researchers may design specific large-scale trials as a resource for providing additional, homogenous, and comparable data to improve scientific evidence and professionalism in this popular sport discipline.