Rock Climbing — SBPT — Serving Ballard and Fremont — Blog (2024)

Climbing season may be on hold as we begin the spring in our homes, but even with the gyms and crags closed down, that doesn’t mean you have to stop training for climbing. Here are some tips for training at home on a hangboard.

Hangboarding 101

A hangboard is the most effective way to train for climbing at home. If you don’t already have one, there are lots of different premade hangboards available online. Pick a hangboard that has a variety of edges and grips. You want the holds to be challenging. Ideally the hangboard has several holds that you can just barely hang onto with your full body weight, and there should also be some holds that you can’t quite hang onto without unweighting yourself with a pulley.

Basic Setup

Install the hangboard over a doorframe or somewhere that you can hang freely. Typically you will mount the hangboard on a plywood mounting board which you can screw directly into the studs over the door frame. You’ll also want to add two pulleys underneath the hangboard to subtract weight when you hang. A cheap crevasse rescue pulley works fine attached with a carabiner, and you can use eye bolts to attach the pulley/carabiner to the underside of the hangboard.

Basic Hangboard Technique: The Dead-Hang

The most basic type of hangboard training that uses your body weight is the dead-hang. With the dead-hang, you’re not trying to do a pull-up on the hangboard. You are simply trying to hang onto the hangboard for a short period of time. You should hang with engaged shoulder blades, meaning that there should be some room between your shoulders and your ears (don’t hang limp). Your elbows should be engaged too with the arm straight or slightly bent. Now pick an edge that is hard to hang on. Try to add weight to your harness or subtract weight through the pulleys so that you are near failure when you hang.

Hangboard Protocols

There are a few different dead hang protocols that most climbers use. The “max hang” protocol is the simplest. It involves adding the maximum weight or subtracting the minimum weight that you can tolerate for a 10 second hang. Hang for 10 seconds and then recover for 3 minutes. Repeat this for 6-10 sets on different edges and grips. Max hangs are good for building overall strength.

Another popular protocol uses “repeaters.” Begin by adding or subtracting weight to your harness so you are near failure at the end. With repeaters, you do a timed hang followed by a brief rest, and you repeat this for several repetitions. The most common repeater timing is a 7 second hang followed by a 3 second rest repeated 6 times (this will add up to a minute of hangs and rests). Take a 3 minute recovery after doing repeaters, and then complete several more sets on different holds/grips. Repeaters help build strength, but also challenge your endurance a little bit too.

Grips

As you hang you’ll want to train different grips (pictured below). The most important grips to train are the open handed grip and the half crimp. The open handed grip is the least stressful on your fingers. The half crimp is a little more stressful, so progress the load on this gradually. It is generally recommended to avoid training a full-crimp position, which is like the half-crimp position but the thumb wraps over the index finger. Also experiment with slopers, 3 finger grips, 2 finger grips, and 1 finger grips. Some hangboards allow you to train a pinch (not pictured) which is a grip that involves the thumb.

Other Training Ideas

Getting bored with dead-hangs? There are lots of other things you can train on a hangboard. Try training a pull-up, knee raises, straight leg raises, toes-to-bar, front levers, one arm dead hangs, and one arm pull-ups. As always you can add or subtract weight as needed.

Important Tips

It takes muscles a few months to start getting stronger, but it takes years for the tendons and connective tissues of your fingers to start adapting to training. It’s very important to be gradual the first year you hangboard to avoid overuse injuries. Be sure to keep a training log to track the weights you are using. You will begin to see improvements in your strength over time.

Also never forget to warm up before you hangboard. At home, you can spend 10 minutes doing sub-maximal hangs and pull-ups to get your fingers and shoulders warmed up.

Most importantly, keep your workouts fun so you stick with it. With consistent work you might find that you are a stronger climber when the crags and gyms open up again. Good luck!

-Scott McAmis, DPT, OCS, CMPT

References

Anderson ML, Anderson ML. The Rock Climber’s Training Manual: A Guide to Continuous Improvement. Boulder, CO: Fixed Pin Publishing; 2014.

Horst EJ. Training for Climbing: The Definitive Guide to Improving Your Climbing Performance. Guilford, CT: Falcon Guides; 2002

Pincus M. Comparing Hangboard Protocols. Training Beta Website.

https://www.trainingbeta.com/comparing-hangboard-protocols/. Published January 5th, 2018. Accessed April 17th, 2020.

Climbing season here in the Pacific Northwest is upon us and with that, more often than not, comes nagging climbing injuries. While traumatic injuries can occur from unexpected falls or hazardous rockfall, the majority of climbing injuries are related to overuse, with the shoulder joint being a common culprit. Common climbing injuries involving the shoulder include shoulder impingement syndrome, rotator cuff tendinopathy, rotator cuff tears, and labral tears. But can anything be done to prevent climbing injuries resulting from overuse? The short answer is yes, with a combination of strength, stability, and mobility exercises being ideal for reducing your risk of injury. Here are 5 therapeutic exercises to try:

1. The band-resisted wall crawl exercise helps to strengthen the rotator cuff, a group of muscles that help to stabilize the shoulder joint during overhead activity. Perform 3 sets of 5-10 repetitions every other day of the week.

2. The bird dog exercise helps to build stability of the shoulder joint complex, while also isometrically strengthening the rotator cuff, helping you better perform moves involving mantling. Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions every other day of the week.

3. The open book exercise helps to increase the mobility of the thoracic spine while also improving the flexibility of the pectoral muscles, helping to create a more efficient overhead reach. Perform 1 set of 10 repetitions each direction, up to 7 days per week.

4. The chest opener stretch, performed on a foam roll, helps improve posture by stretching out the pectoral muscles, which are chronically tight in rock climbers. Perform 1 set of a 3 minute hold, up to 7 days per week.

5. Thoracic spine mobilization over a foam roll is a great way to improve thoracic extension, helping with more efficient overhead reach in climbers. Perform 1 set of 60 seconds, up to 7 days per week.

With any and all of these exercises, the motion should be gentle and pain-free. Fight the temptation to do more than recommended, as you will not get better twice as fast if you do twice as many repetitions, sets, and/or days per week. It should be noted that not only will these exercises help reduce your risk of injury, but they will also give you a bump in performance, allowing you to climb more challenging routes for longer periods of time. The exercises should be performed for a minimum of 8 weeks in order to experience significant changes in strength, stability, and mobility. Climb on!

-Grant Hennington, DPT