footlocking is definately one of the best workouts and can be done in your home tree, some of the boys used 2 use a rope bag full of weight to get the strength up
, as for at the rock climbing gym, Its usually cheap to hire gear from the club. Your arborist gear is definately no good for this and works on a completey different principle(would be nice if you could tho). Arborist harnesses are purely 'work positioning harnesses' which means they are designed for a fall of no more than 1.5-3 metres, which isnt much and arnt rated for recreation. Also its prity hard to climb a wall in a harness with a seat lol. Also the rope we used is semi or static line which means it has noor very little stretch and so is dangerous for falling great heights as apposed to 'dynamic' rope used in rock climbing which absorbs energy in the fall.... hope this helps.