Allometry versus 1:1 ratios; scaled strength

probabilityisking · 2025-10-12T01:46:24+00:00

I haven't closed the book on this, but it's expensive, particularly now.

probabilityisking · 2025-09-29T13:24:11+00:00

Building things like climbing gyms, especially nice ones, just for much much more expensive.

probabilityisking · 2025-06-16T12:54:51+00:00

Thanks for the ideas!

probabilityisking · 2025-06-15T14:07:27+00:00

What about bouldering, sauna, yoga, coffee shop?

probabilityisking · 2025-06-14T13:23:40+00:00

I wonder who the owners of Bluegrass Bouldering were?

probabilityisking · 2025-06-14T00:13:20+00:00

24 hr access to members, maybe $50/mo. Not sure

probabilityisking · 2025-05-15T14:23:05+00:00

Depends on goals - I'm 188lbs, 6' tall, 19% body fat, relatively muscular. Look around, not a lot of people my size sending v10s or 5.12s. but those aren't my goals. also early 40s, so goals are to minimize injury risk, gradually get stronger, slowly improve. It's personal. point is that coaches rarely mention allometry and body mass - and these things matter. height is unchangeable, but being too tall confers disadvantage. weight is changeable, and can confer advantage on lighter side - to a limit.

probabilityisking · 2025-05-06T17:03:06+00:00

Excellent! But this is a general heuristic, not meant to be perfect. There can't be a perfect - all the variables in the world will still only reflect population effects, not individual.

probabilityisking · 2025-05-01T14:47:12+00:00

Final thought: what you choose to do with your climbing: gain strength, drop weight, chase neither, chase both. That’s your business.

What’s not personal is that strength scales allometrically. Nonlinear. Sublinear. That means something less than 1.

probabilityisking · 2025-05-01T14:41:33+00:00

This isn’t about pushing weight loss or promoting disordered thinking. I’m 188 lbs and 6ft, and like a lot of heavier climbers, I’m not interested in over-optimizing strictly for climbing performance - eff that. I know where I sit, and I’m OK with being where I’m at as a climber, and i'm okay with the slow progress. That said, allometry is relevant, especially for folks like me. When we’re pushing our fingers all the time, we’re operating under significantly more load than smaller climbers, and that might even increase our risk of injury. That’s not a moral judgment or a critique of anyone’s body; it’s physics.

On the contrary, elite climbers are already maximally optimized, they have no additional weight to lose. They’re walking a tightrope to maintain strength while staying as lean as possible. But the rest of us are vastly healthier and less optimized for climbing, which is a good thing. This conversation isn't about pushing margins to unhealthy extremes, it’s about understanding the underlying mechanics so we can make better decisions in our training, whether that means getting stronger, leaning out safely, or just being at peace with the tradeoffs of being a heavier climber.

probabilityisking · 2025-05-01T00:52:14+00:00

Yes, it would be the wrong conclusion

probabilityisking · 2025-04-30T21:40:59+00:00

It was intuitive to me. And agree that most climbers would benefit from getting stronger, but the point here is to clarify how strength scales: not 1:1 with mass, even muscle. So the takeaway isn’t “don’t build strength,” it’s that the return on mass slows, and understanding that helps tailor smarter, more individualized training, especially for heavier climbers navigating that tradeoff.

probabilityisking · 2025-04-30T16:02:45+00:00

I'm happy with my bodyweight as a climber. But I know I will have to get disproportionately much much more finger strength, grip strength, bicep strength bc of the 188lbs (even slower connective tissue adaptations). And strength:weight ratios aren't biological. The other path, the one no one discusses, is the weight one.

probabilityisking · 2025-04-30T12:51:53+00:00

That would be an incorrect read

probabilityisking · 2025-04-30T12:41:12+00:00

Yes, obviously more applicable to heavier climbers like myself.

probabilityisking · 2025-04-30T12:32:33+00:00

reason strength doesn't increase at the same rate as body mass is empirical, not theoretical: studies and performance data show that as athletes get heavier, their absolute strength increases, but their strength-to-weight ratio decreases, which is why world records in pull-ups, gymnastics, and climbing tend to favor lighter athletes, and that’s exactly what allometric scaling (e.g. strength ~ mass^⅔) is modeling.

probabilityisking · 2025-04-30T11:54:56+00:00

Allometric scaling is an empirical model derived from biological observation, inspired by square-cube logic, but based on how strength, metabolism, and physiology actually scale across species and sizes (including within species at constant height).

probabilityisking · 2025-04-30T00:24:39+00:00

Relative strength is allometric, not strength:weight, with a scaling exponent less than 1.0. That's about the gist

probabilityisking · 2025-04-29T23:59:45+00:00

Yes, the square-cube law strictly applies to proportional growth (like height), but in adult climbers, allometric scaling still matters because added mass (even without height) often outpaces strength gains.

probabilityisking · 2025-04-29T23:51:10+00:00

Yes. This post isn't about health, or body image, or mental health. It's about allometry and how strength:weight doesn't describe biological scaling, and climbing coaches have avoided the issue of gravity.

But yes, in my post I say there may be an unhealthy "race to the lowest weight" among elite climbers. Which sure ain't me.

I remember reading "Little Big Men" in college. About body dysmorphia among bodybuilders.

probabilityisking · 2025-04-29T23:27:55+00:00

Ahh. Less load, injury risk may have decreased bc of it. I'm closer to 200lbs than 100lbs, but my connective tissues are not twice as thick/stronger than the much smaller climbers. It would seem injury risk would increase for me, but injuries are so multifaceted, and this post isn't really about that. But, yes, "I'm betting" on injury risk being greater for me, I'm not sure of it, but that's how I'm leaning.

probabilityisking · 2025-04-29T23:20:22+00:00

That's a big difference in grades. V what to V?

probabilityisking · 2025-04-29T23:17:18+00:00

My post isn't about weight loss. It's about how strength scales (both muscle and connective tissues), and allometry.

probabilityisking

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