Weight categories in sport climbing

The difference is that in all other sports (I can think of), weight classes exists because more weight is an advantage. In which way that difference matters, I do not know. Would we then see the opposite of people trying to *gain* weight before weighing in? I have no opinion, my interest in competitive climbing is about -42.

one more thing: weight categories mostly or only exist in fight or martial arts, and not in playing  sports. climbing is more fight, not a play, and WEIGHT CRITICALLY MATTERS!  sportclimbing is even NOT IN TOP 30 LIST of world popular sports, and its a SHAME!   remaining a sport (as raising difficulty bar is a goal and sense of it) for Buchenwald-thin dolls, climbing will remain long off it's place, which must be in world top 10 all 100000000% !

I think a lower level BMI is better. Like they do in ski-jumping, say like 17 or something..  Think most climbers could fit that without to much problems. And if you like the anarky of the thing you can still do outdoorclimbing.. And there should maybe be a difference in men and girl since men can go lower in fat% without the health problems..  say 17 for men, and 18 for girls? Like I cant play basketball becouls im a angry, footstomping midget..  But i would not like height categories in the sport so i could play..  like many sport favor a spes. body type.. 

It is like the same thing as saying that we should have length categories in fotball or basketball etc. The rule could be that the average length should be below 180 cm :)

The thing is, if you are fat, get thin! Change your alimentary habits, lifestyle, start doing aerobic activities (such as runnig or playing basketball, soccer, etc once a week)... but primarily, for me: close the mouth: learn to eat, eat less, and eat better. You'll start feeling weightless after training so much years fat and then becoming a thin person. Better than just climbing (or competing) against other heavy climbers. This discussion could lead to grading routes according to your weight. A route is 7b+ if you are 80kg and 7a if you are 70 or less. It makes no sense at all. 

dear friends, also mr Rodrigo,and Robert etc 1984-03-27 Height 189 cm Weight about 83 kg Started climbing 2003 Occupation Student if not wrong u weren't able to climb harder than 7b. you know, its quite easy to make a comparison chart of aver weight, and average grade climbed by a person registered at 8a.nu. i bet those over 80 kg will have average 6b-6c-7a, and 70 kgs will boast 7c-8a's, and <70 will happen to be happy owners of some 8b's and more. dont u just find it lets say....embarassing for ALL people. im not saying changing grades, i believe weight categories may be enough. or there can be other solution?PS your fingertip surface is always same, irrespective of if u are 50 kgs or 90, but friction allows to stay on fo example some slopy holds only thin guys, whereas 80+ will just slide down according to phisics law, no matter how strong they are. so if thre are rules that climbing gives equal opportunities to ALL, i hereby prove it DOES NOT))))

Really terrible idea. I don't understand the thinking behind it. Weight will differ for a number of reasons. Fat  - Top athletes should loose fat to improve there performance. So it makes no sense to introduce weight categories for that Muscle - Muscle weighs more than fat so should have more of an influence. Some climbs require more power than others so more muscle mass. So this is dependent again on how the climber trains and what type of climbing they specialise in. Size  - Obviously the taller/bigger you are the more you weigh. If you have a bigger arms span its generally helpful etc. But you could be lighter then a shorter person who has more muscle mass. So a heavier shorter person could be better on powerful routes/problems but the lighter but taller person would be better on reachy routes/problems. But also a heavier tall person might not be able to do some endurance route.  It makes no sense to split it into weight categories because weight comes down to muscle mass and fat both an athlete can control and height which can have advantages for both short and tall.  If you was going to split it up height makes much more sense but still not that much.

height does NOT favor much, and big height is a DISADVANTAGE. open your eyes and see that most successful climbers are rarely tall. and NEVER heavy. let ramonet and rustam compete in one category, and mike tyson in his own league. you know what every man wants? Victory, he wants to beat, and be best. ramonet will always beat Tyson. in climbing competitions, of course. the system practically does not give any chance to bigger people

John Gill, John Dunne, John Long..... and those are just the Johns.

the only thing that could make sense is height categories..  like your example i would guess has about the same BMI as me..  that puts you in the 7b-7c range (from mean)..  the top dudes go a lot lower in mass..  like who would want to see a comp. of fat climbers?  like most top guys are short..  thats becouls of height/weight retio.. if you are fat and want to climb hard you have to loose weight..  its a part of the sport.. like there are short baskeball players, but its harder to be good..  like in climbing.. its easyer to be short..  but ondra is 180? soo..  you can still be awsome and ¨tall¨..   

First of all, I don't climb 8a yet because I haven't had a trainer, proper gym(aka: didn't know how to train), enough "home" crags or routes, especially on the first 5 years. And also because I didn't know, for so long, that I could actually do it. I am having some progress on the late years. I felt like "hey, he isn't an elite climber, he climbs only 7b at maximum, his opinion is not valid"! Of course being 1,90m high with 70 kilos like Dave graham or Chris sharma) is better, but let's say... As you said, If I reached 70 kilos, I would boost up 8a's easily. But maybe that's too much effort. Maybe creating weight categories would be easier? I just don't understand where the DISADVANTAGE fits in this discussion. Climbing should be funny, And sometimes I have more fun redpointing a 6c+ very beautiful than onsighting 7a. Sometimes I don't onsight 6b and my short (and thin) friends do, sometimes it's the oposite. It's just meant to be fun :) (They say: DAMN TALL GUY! Then when they climb I reply: DAMN Thin guy!). I would say it's better be fat and tall, because we can get thin, and what about those who are short? Can't get taller! lol =DD(But yes, Dave macleod says that it's better being short because of that weight/strength ratio, but it isn't an excuse!)