l was thinking of doing rock climbing with some friends who have done it for a while and l wanted to know if its hard for people like me who ar not very strong and what sort fitness benefit it has if done regularly?

Mostly it is legs and not arms. Unless you go on negative angles.

This said. what you need is trust and confidence. Like in any other activity, learn to walk before trying to run.

If you're a beginner one thing you do not need to worry about is falling. You will have a rope above you all the way nothing bad can happen really, unless you're friends are incompetent. You wo not really feel much benefit within two months of doing some intense workouts on certain muscles. So you should just get your friends to stick up some easy enought routes and try to enjoy it.

It is difficult at first, but most catch on to the different techniques very quickly.

It is a really good activity for fitness especially if you are doing a lot of indoor routes in a short time (winter) and hiking in to climbing areas carrying all that gear (summer).

Give it a try - you will probably like it.

Good Luck

It is not hard at all if u have overall good balance & not afraid of hights. Nevertheless, in order to be able to climb for extended periods of time, u do need to be condition ur muscles. The muscles that u will mostly be using in the beginning r forearm (grip) & the legs. Not everyone has strong forearms so its really hard to climb for more than 30 minutes.

As u progress, u build resistance & start working ur back as u go into negative angles.

As far as conditioning, it is not the best sport out there. Obviously it is better than sitting on ur coach eating chips but l dont believe it can be considered a complete work out because of its nature.

Its tons of fun & a great way to test ur mental strength. Give it a try & enjoy!!!

l have to say it:
Rock climbing is soooo YUPPIE!