Supersetting RockProdigy hangboard routine with other strength exercises?

I am going to do a hangboard cycle soon is essentially the beginner prescription from RCTM. The rest intervals are long enough that (3 min), in principle, I think I could do some other activity during them without too greatly compromising the quality of the hangboard workout itself. I was thinking something like squats or deadlifts.

My motivation for considering this is expediency. It makes sense in the broader context of my training / conditioning goals to have both of these workouts take place on the same day, and supersetting them would be nice from a time-savings / efficiency standpoint. I'll be doing this in the area of my gym where the hangboards (with pulleys) are colocated with the other workout equipment.

This makes sense to me on paper, and I haven't tried it yet. One concern I have is that it may be difficult to summon the necessary intensity to be doing the hangboarding "right" (e.g. having it be hard enough).

Has anyone else experimented with doing something else during their hangboard rest intervals? Did you feel like you were able to execute well on both exercises?

I have done core workouts in rest intervals before, however, I dont weight train for climbing

For me I find that 3 minutes is actually not that long between sets. I spend the time recording the information on the set just completed, brushing holds and adjusting weights as necessary. Also it takes me about 30 seconds to get prepared and focused to execute the following set.

I save the weight lifting for a different day, as I typically need to focus and generate maximum arousal for heavy deadlift and squat sets of 3-5 reps, I think I would be seriously rushed trying to squeeze it between hang boarding sets.

As you progress with hang boarding you may want to incorporate plyometric components in combination with the hangs and evolve it into a complex workout, but I do not recommend this until after three to four hangboard phases have been completed. Steve Maisch details complex training on his website.

i think this will be a bad idea for several reasons. first, 3 minutes is going to be a tight window to deal with adjusting all the HB weights, etc, and trying to squeeze in some other exercise. second, if you are doing the HB workouts you are focusing on building the strength in your fingers - squeezing in the other exercises will likely dilute these efforts.

Between swapping weights, brushing holds, shaking out, chalking up, and the occasional skipping a song on my playlist, I don't have time to do anything else. Full focus and full psyche for the task at hand.

slim wrote:i think this will be a bad idea for several reasons. first, 3 minutes is going to be a tight window to deal with adjusting all the HB weights, etc, and trying to squeeze in some other exercise. second, if you are doing the HB workouts you are focusing on building the strength in your fingers - squeezing in the other exercises will likely dilute these efforts.

Seriously, 3 minutes is barely enough time to record your results, adjust weights, shake out from the previous set, and chalk up for the next hold. There is absolutely no way that you would want to try and squeeze something else in those short breaks. On top of it, the beginner hangboard session isn't even that long, so just do your other weight training after you're done with your hangboard workout.

Thanks for the thoughts. The comments around arousal level / focus make sense. And yes, it wasn't gonna be a huge time-saver.

Another point is that during the HB phase, there are two entire days between HB workouts. This is generally where I get my core work, cardio, and recuperation (yoga, rice bucket, etc.) in. I never saw a reason to try squeeze additional workouts in during rest intervals because I know I have two days ahead of me of not climbing.

jaredj wrote: I'll be doing this in the area of my gym where the hangboards (with pulleys) are colocated with the other workout equipment

Others have hit the main points, but there is another. From the quote above I take it you are doing this in a commercial climbing gym. If you move away from the board, even for a minute, there is a non-trivial chance that some clown will jump on the board and start doing pullups on the hangboard jugs and screw up your rest timing.

I did two cycles in my gym when I'd moved and had not finished my training room in the new house. I had the above scenario happen more than once, despite having 3 pullup bars and a set of rings 10' away and despite me having literally just unclipped the stack of plates from my harness, left it directly under the board and walked 5' away to grab more plates.

I think you should experiment...

Will S wrote: Others have hit the main points, but there is another. From the quote above I take it you are doing this in a commercial climbing gym. If you move away from the board, even for a minute, there is a non-trivial chance that some clown will jump on the board and start doing pullups on the hangboard jugs and screw up your rest timing. I did two cycles in my gym when I'd moved and had not finished my training room in the new house. I had the above scenario happen more than once, despite having 3 pullup bars and a set of rings 10' away and despite me having literally just unclipped the stack of plates from my harness, left it directly under the board and walked 5' away to grab more plates.

yep. i don't understand why people insist on doing pull ups on the hang boards. They are not pull up boards. They are for hanging... as the name clearly implies. Pull up boards aren't a thing.

Also, totally agree that you should focus on hangboarding while hangboarding. I've toyed with core circuits during rests, but found it too distracting and not beneficial. Just do it after the hang session is complete. My two cents.