Home hangboard questions

-- how do you warm up for a hangboard routine if you don't have a home wall? would squeezing a tennis ball and then doing a few sets of jug hangs be enough?

-- since the warm-up is kinda short, does it make sense to ease into the holds, e.g. start with same grip but bigger size?

-- how do you determine how much weight to add or remove for given hold?

-- does it make sense to make shorter workouts but more frequently? maybe break different grips by day?

I've been climbing for 4 years, but I am new to hang boarding. (My girlfriend won it at a comp, so I figured, what the hell?) I started researching around the web and found reliable endorsements from people like Andrew Bisharat saying its the most climbing specific exercise he knows of, besides climbing.

I'm curious to read other peoples answers, but I have an answer to number 1, based on my research and my 10 days of experience:

For a warm-up, I do a 5 minute cardio warm-up video on YouTube. It's stupid, but it gets my heart rate up. Then I do a few sets of 3 pull ups and 10 second hangs from jugs, breaking them up with lots of shoulder and wrist rotations. I also play with thera-putty for a few minutes, just to warm up the fingers. This has been working so far.

I'm also taking it really slow. Alpine rock season is right around the corner, and I'm not taking any chances of blowing a pulley or tendon on a frickin hang board.

I'm no expert, but I do have plenty of experience hang boarding and am crazy enough to enjoy it.

1. To warm up just make sure you cycle through every hold you plan on training later on. I built my hangboard over a closet and have a kick plate of little foot jibs on the inside wall. It allows me to warm up well. It's not fun, but it is crucial to do this for at least 15 minutes.

2. I always like to do a warm up jug first, but then do one of my hardest holds at the start of the hangboard routine.

3. The advice I was given (what is written in the Rock Prodigy Book) is that you should result in failure at the end of your last rep. For example, if you hang for 10 seconds 6 times, you should just be able to hold on til that last rep. It is a guessing game. If you are brand new to climbing, I recommend you ease into this. Do less sets or add weight before you go to smaller crimps.

4. I don't have any experience with that. I like to have 6-7 grips and work them every week so I can really see improvement. The only problem with your suggestion is that all finger positions are still taxing the same forearm muscles. It's not the same as weight training where you can do legs on Monday and arms on Tuesday and be ok. A semi-crimp or an open hand is still using similar muscles.

Good luck. Definitely recommend the Rock Prodigy book if you are serious about training.

I generally warm up by noodling around on the board (easier holds) in between doing chores or reading a page or two of a book for a while. Then I move on to some hangs with the grips I'm going to train using less weight and longer hold times. Then I do a few reps at about the weight I'm going to train before starting my official routine. It's pretty ad hoc, but I know my body well enough to judge when I'm ready to start.

Also, I use Steve Bechtel's basic routine. Much simpler and lower impact than the Rock Prodigy method, and I trust Bechtel to know what he's talking about.

Now, if only I could keep up with my schedule/get to the gym/go climbing more than once every few months...

Lanky wrote: Also, I use Steve Bechtel's basic routine. Much simpler and lower impact than the Rock Prodigy method

Very interesting article. A few questions if you don't mind
-- Assume 15 sec rest, is it 10 min total, so short?
-- How often do you do it? Do you do it on the climbing days?
-- Do you use the same-size holds for each grip through the program?
-- Is it more of a max effort thing, so smaller holds are better?

Lanky wrote:I use Steve Bechtel's basic routine.

That article gives three basically different methods -- one of them (which I hadn't heard of before) endorsed by Bechtel. Nice to see the variety of options.

Interesting that Bechtel calls his "ladders" protocol a method for training "strength" -- contrasting with the Anderson "repeaters" protocol which he says trains "hypertrophy".

But in the Anderson & Anderson book, they say their method trains "strength", and disavow the idea that the isometric "repeaters" are focused on HYPertrophy.

My theory is that a healthy athlete's body can build muscles+tendons and strength well in reponse to a wide variety of different training-stimulus protocols - (especially if the athlete also does some actual climbing). Often it helps if the climber believes in their chosen protocol.

Ken

P.S. and don't forget what Adam Ondra said in the recent interview -- something like ... I never found fingerboard training to be very effective.

Don't forget that Ondra is a freak and has always done a high volume of climbing, so he probably didn't need to "train" until he was already kicking ass. His advice is probably meaningless at best and counterproductive at worst for the average climber.

SXL, Bechtel was in a thread on here talking about his protocol a while back. This is it. That thread should answer several of your questions. I use different holds for each grip, rest about 30 seconds between reps, and keep the effort in the mid range. That's what Bechtel advocates in that article and the post linked above. Ideally I'd do it 2-3 times per week if I'm not climbing. Less if I can get climbing sessions in.

Not warm up related, but get digit trainer on your phone, it's awesome.

Second. Stretching and massaging your fingers and forearms goes a long way in addition to what everyone else has said.