Advice on weak hand grip strength

Hi all,

I hope I'm posting this in the right place. I'm in week 2 of climbing at a local rock gym so I'm very new. I've tried to research grip strength as much as I can and found that over doing it can be very bad for new climbers but this is my situation.

I've been working with my hand for 8 years in the steel industry. I'm a lefty. My grip strength in my dominant hand is good. It could be better of course, but it's good enough for now. My right hand however, is not nearly as strong. I've been spending my time on the bouldering walls at the gym which are mostly overhung. My issue is that within a short amount of time, the grip is my right hand is not strong enough to keep me on the wall long enough to transition holds with my left. I'm actually compensating a lot with the left to stay on the wall and rushing transitions. The result is that at the end of the night, my left forearm got a great workout, and the right feels like it got much less of one.

Tonight I tried doing some dead hangs before leaving the gym and putting more of my body weight to the right hand to see if I could get a little more out of those muscles. It seemed to work to some degree. I've also tried adapting at work and using my right more to see if that would help. But I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions on how to get my right hand grip strength up besides those ideas, because it feels very limiting at the moment. I'm not looking to get super strong grips straight away, just to even things out a little.

Just keep climbing. You are 2 weeks in.

I can tell you (as a relatively new climber as well, going on 2 years) that the best thing to do would be to just climb as much as you can, on everything (within reason) you can. Even the "easy" routes (5.7, 5.8) will help. Just start racking up mileage on those and get outside as much as you can. Before you know it your hands will be more "even."

Definitely try harder stuff too, but avoid the tweaky routes like strenuous 2 finger pockets or super hard crimpers as those are the fast track to pulley injuries.

I was told by a very seasoned climbing veteran that the hangboards etc should not be used until you've been climbing at least 5 years as the tendons in your fingers take a long time to develop. Muscles are easy to work out, the tendons take much longer and require great care to stay healthy.

I can climb 11c moves and work 12a moves and I have not ever "trained" (hang boards and the like). Just get out there and climb and enjoy it.

Hope this helps...

Climb on!

Mathias, listen to Stevie Davis. While I didn't do fingerboard training or anything, I still ended up with a finger injury after less than half a year of climbing. I overclimbed and was starting to break into the 11s too soon. My advice is to build up a very strong base on easier routes before moving up to harder stuff. Make it so you can onsight 5.9s like a boss before trying many 5.10s and then do the same with 5.10s before moving on to 5.11s.

Also, I remember starting out well. It seems like grip strength will suck for a while, but it gets better rapidly. Just climb, and try to take as little as possible. Hopefully you have access to walls of a decent height, because I think that will also help your endurance by making it as high up as possible before needing a take.

Read the book "Training For Climbing" by Eric Horst, if you are gung-ho about maximizing grip strength without getting injured.

In addition to what has been said below, REST! Whenever your tendons feel sore, rest at least 24 hours past the time at which you no longer feel sore. This additional rest time is needed for overtraining avoidance and super compensation.

Be aware that you muscles get stronger much quicker than your tendons, so give your tendons time to get strong or you risk an injury.

Thanks for the advice guys. I appreciate it.

I actually haven't been feeling any soreness in my tendons at all. Not even much in my forearms the way I feel soreness in the rest of my body a day or two after working out (climbing or otherwise) which makes me wonder if maybe those muscles just don't get that same feeling in general. I am resting every other day just to be on the safe side, but I guess two weeks is really a short time to expect to see much improvement. I'll just keep climbing what I can until I can't hold on any more.

Thanks again!

in addition to what everyone said, i'd add that you should think about trying as hard as possible not to compensate with your left hand, and to keep using your right hand to hold onto the wall whenever you can, even if it means falling. if you encounter a move that makes you fall because your right hand feels too weak, rest a couple of minutes and then just try that move again. if you stick with it and keep trying to use the right hand, i think it will start to even out with the left pretty quickly, and much quicker than if you keep climbing in a compensatory way with your left hand and try to supplementally strengthen the right outside of climbing

Dan Austin wrote:in addition to what everyone said, i'd add that you should think about trying as hard as possible not to compensate with your left hand, and to keep using your right hand to hold onto the wall whenever you can, even if it means falling. if you encounter a move that makes you fall because your right hand feels too weak, rest a couple of minutes and then just try that move again. if you stick with it and keep trying to use the right hand, i think it will start to even out with the left pretty quickly, and much quicker than if you keep climbing in a compensatory way with your left hand and try to supplementally strengthen the right outside of climbing

Thanks Dan, that's a good thought. I'll make a conscious effort to do that.

It kind of sounds like you have the strength in your right hand, but not the stamina. Is that correct? Like everyone says, keep climbing, but you could add supplemental grip training- it doesn't have to be tweaky. If you have an adjustable dumbbell set you could do heavy farmer's walks. I also made a grip trainer by drilling a hole in a chunk of 2x4 and running a chain through it. Put a weight on the chain and try to grip the 2x4 with one hand for as long as possible- pinching from above with 10kg on the chain I can hold it for 30 seconds. As long as you don't actually go to failure and drop it, there should be zero potential for injury here.

Mathias wrote: My issue is that within a short amount of time, the grip is my right hand is not strong enough to keep me on the wall long enough to transition holds with my left. I'm actually compensating a lot with the left to stay on the wall and rushing transitions. The result is that at the end of the night, my left forearm got a great workout, and the right feels like it got much less of one.

Oh, heh. You're getting pumped is all. You have a lot of right forearm endurance and very little in your left. It's good to be eager two weeks in but as someone already said...just climb for now. It will even out pretty quickly as endurance comes in short order and climbs don't generally favor one arm over the other.

The best way to climb harder is to work on your footwork. You can climb real hard without a lot of hand strength if your foot work is solid. "Climb with your feet" is the best advice I've ever received in my short time as a climber. That said all the advice above is solid and should be heeded. Tendon issues suck and take forever to heal.

^1

Concentrate your efforts around improving footwork. Strength will come (and go) eventually. Footwork is the key to kingdom.

Thanks to all those with additional input!

I actually took a short break after I did the dead hangs post climbing early this week, as I noticed some soreness towards the elbows (nothing major but I rested anyway). To those who mentioned footwork, I have been working on that too and I did so even more so today actually. I noticed a dramatic difference in how my grip is effected simply be getting my feet in the right place. I've seen that holds I'm starting to lose are saved by a slight change in placement of feet and how I use my legs, and therefore a change in center of mass.

I had a little reality check on Thursday when I went to the climbing gym and started on a route that was too difficult on one of the bouldering walls. I positioned the mats poorly, lost my grip, stepped back as I fell (all of 1') and rolled my ankle on the edge of the mat. Then I packed up and went home pretty bummed and spent the following day taking it easy. Lesson learned. It's still swollen put not sore (no pain killers) and honestly one of the least severe ankle injuries I've ever had, which is lucky!

So today I stuck to easier routes and worked on technique more. I kept my feet on the wall, watched my center of mass, kept my arms straight as much as possible, and watched my foot work in an effort to only transition to the next hold when my balance was working in my favor (instead of muscling through transitions). I paced myself and took some time out between routes, to think, shake out and stretch, and managed to leave just as fatigued but after being there for 3 hours instead of 1 and a half like I have previously. As an overall percentage, I was probably climbing less, but my total time climbing was significantly more and probably better spent. I guess some things can be rushed, but progressing as a climber doesn't seem (at least for me) to be one of them.

And to those who've mentioned a lack of stamina in my right hand/arm, you are correct. Though there is a difference in strength, it is more a case of stamina. I've been looking at ways to improve that with low impact training to help increase that simply using the frame of my back deck and some, but not necessarily all) of my body weight. I'm also avoiding any kind of crimping, using all or most of my finger surface area. That way I don't feel like I'm straining any part of my musculoskeletal structure too much but getting the desired workout to supplement my time actually climbing (I can't go to the gym every day).

I thought those who've posted might be interested in an update at the end of week three of my gym climbing.

My grip strength and stamina has improved pretty dramatically. The difference between the left and the right is now noticeably less and rather than simply not being able to hold on to grips after a short time but not feeling much in the way or muscle soreness the next day (typical to working out) I'm finding that most of my body has that soreness now. I can only conclude that my grip strength has caught up to what the rest of my body is doing. I've been trying to concentrate on improving my overall technique and not favoring the use of my left hand like I had been doing. I'm now finding routes that I couldn't do before are doable now. I've been climbing 'til I can't hold on any more, then taking a break and finishing up with some easier routes. I've also been working the easy traverses to help with the grip stamina. Then I take at least a day of rest if not two between sessions. I've now gotten to the point (last two sessions this week) where my finger joints are sore so now I'm going to follow this advice quite strictly:

Karl Henize wrote:In addition to what has been said below, REST! Whenever your tendons feel sore, rest at least 24 hours past the time at which you no longer feel sore. This additional rest time is needed for overtraining avoidance and super compensation.

I was honestly skeptical that just climbing would have such an effect on strength so quickly, but it has. Thanks for all the information everyone.

Be careful, I have been climbing for 5 years now and I ruptured both flexors last Saturday. I think my problem was I didn't warm up that day and went straight to a 11a, I was pushing myself to find other routes on the wall also. Climbing is about having fun, not just bumping up numbers. Sometimes that's easy to forget.

start jerkin' it with your right hand instead of your left

FlyHigh, I've noticed that hunger to chase the grades and I've been trying to curb that impulse. But a reminder never hurts, so thanks.

Or you could try one of my grip mugs!!

Climber mug

climber cup

I hope those holds are a little juggier than they look, otherwise you're gonna have to change your ad to "Internet Special! Every $20 mug comes with $1,000 of free dry cleaning!"