There are professional climbers who are 'heavy'.

Finger strength, overall strength, flexibility, coordination, balance, and technique all play a massive role as well.

I don't know why the bodybuilders I've climbed with seem to be worse than overweight/obese people I've seen climbing for their first time, but I've had this observation as well.

Because body-building is an art form, not a form of exercise. I have worked in physical jobs that require overhead lifting (for example) and, regularly, scrawny-looking guys have to help out their body-building cow-orkers, who just haven't developed the ancillary muscles that provide control and balance, because that loses "definition" (or whatever the term is).

>There are professional climbers who are 'heavy'.

Who? The heaviest I can honestly think of would be Chris Scharma, Magnus Midtbo, Jimmy Webb and maybe Jan Hojer, but all of them would be considered pretty skinny by normal standards. Scharma and Webb are probably around 6' 160-170 lbs, Jan is around 175 I think but he's 6'3", and Magnus is 5'8" and 158 lbs or so but has incredibly strong fingers.

Climbing is a strength to weight sport, so being heavier will almost always be worse than being lighter no matter what. It's why you don't see as many tall professional climbers as you would expect.

I put heavy in quotes, perhaps I should have put professional in quotes too.

Here is a larger climber who is sponsored by a lot of climbing companies: https://www.instagram.com/drewclimbswalls/?hl=en I'm not sure the extent to which he might be considered a professional, but having multiple sponsorships suggests it's semi-professional for him.

He's not pushing the limits of the sport, but he's promoting a more inclusive attitude. Climbing for a lot of people is about having fun, and very few people will send the hardest climbs, but you can be professional without being elite.

Frederic Nicole: 180 lbs

Klem Loskot: 190 lbs

John Gill: 200 lbs

However, None of these guys are performing at a top level today, none of them have sent V16 or higher. Gill is the father of bouldering in America, and was setting standards from the 50s-70s, and claims the hardest problem he has done was about v10, at a time when no one else was anywhere near that good. Bouldering was a lonely pursuit in those days. He was able to hold one-arm levers and do one-pinky pull-ups.

Gill was also plagued by tendon pathologies in his elbows throughout his career, and those issues are more common amongst heavier climbers. Don't let that stop you from trying climbing if you're heavier, amongst mortals it's not such a big deal.

I have never rock-climbed, only briefly messed about enough to know it's not happening despite my pull-ups peaking with +50kg added weight.

The "not happening" was that my weight distribution feels like it was ripping me off the wall. I just can't get much percentage of my bodyweight supported by my toes because my big back, ass and quads are going in another direction. Turns into an upper body exercise and one-arm pull-ups on a sheer face aren't happening.

If you feel like your weight distribution is ripping you off the wall the problem is learning how to manage your own weight distribution skillfully. Your big ass and back is a benefit here; these will maintain your core tension necessary to keep position. You were probably ass out instead of hips against the wall, which unbalanced you.

It's most likely just climbing technique, keeping with it for a few more months would have yielded pretty good results I think.

While not a pro, the fat old climber is far from the typical body type. https://explorersweb.com/fat-old-climber-gordon-robb/

Strong people that start climbing tend to use their upper body strength to get up the wall, fat people don't have that option and naturally fall into using technique and their leg strength to get up the wall.

Some of these guys can do pullups all day, but they only train within a strict range of motion and they aren't necessarily any good at doing anything outside of that range.

When I started climbing I could do 3 pullups, and now I can do 18 in a set. I don't train pull-ups, just climbing.

For good climbing, I'd have thought you need to be able to do muscle-ups (pullups that end with you balanced over the bar, pushing down to support yourself).

For some styles of climbing powerful muscle-up type dynamic movements are an effective way of solving a problem.

Climbing is adaptive, and usually there is more than one way to solve a problem, and one is encouraged to use their body any way they can to get through a section. Many elite climbers have distinctive trademark styles and are instantly tecognizeable just by how they move.

Jan Hoyer is an outlier who posesses both a freakish abundance of power and span. He trained the muscle up to outrageous extremes.

Jan is the only climber to ever throw a 1-9 on the campus board. He performs many outrageous stupid climber tricks throughout this 8 minute video;

https://youtu.be/Ho_rzpQGrq8

That's probably a level beyond where the majority of people who frequent the climbing gym get to. Even pro climbers might not be able to do any muscle ups.

Here's Alex Honnold talking about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDUeh8nyLT0&t=490s

He demonstrates he can only do 5 pullups (though it's possible he was being modest).

Thanks - my preconceptions about climbing are corrected! (A little.)

Climbing is less about upper body muscle and more about body positioning and squats, actually. Your legs have more muscles than your arms, and being super buff limits necessary flexibility to perform maneuvers like swinging your foot up on a perch and pulling up with your leg, often more effective than the same maneuver with an arm.

Climbing is also about core strength. I started bouldering much more regularly about a year ago, and was amazed by how much my trail running improved without any special effort.

At a beginner level, maybe. As you get past beginner levels, you need strength… especially upper body strength.

Rock climbing is especially upper body strength intensive. It’s why the guys have ripped upper bodies and tiny legs.

The main "trick" to climbing is to use good technique and not muscle your way through. Even fat people can climb.

The fat old climber is some inspiration. https://explorersweb.com/fat-old-climber-gordon-robb/

There is a pot-belly 35 year old at my bouldering gym that is better at overhangs than most of the people there, including myself.