Periodization & Hangboard loss between cycles

A specific question for those of you who do a hangboard based hypertrophy phase in your periodized cycle:

When you return to the hangboard phase in a new cycle, how much of the prior gains have you typically lost?

For example, I just finished my hangboard phase yesterday which consisted of 12 workouts, spaced to occur on every third day (i.e. two days rest between sessions). I overlapped one MaxR campus workout between 11 and 12. During the phase, I increased the weight used on most grips 35-40lbs from the beginning weight.

Now I expect about 11 or 12 weeks combined of maxR, PE, peak, and rest before I hit the hangboard phase again. Since I don't want to "waste" a session trying to get dialed in on the right weight to start with, what's a good guideline for a starting point. Let's say my last workout on a first joint edge in the prior phase was +50lb 5x10, just reaching failure on the last rep. Am I going to start the next phase at +25, +35, less?

A great question.

I understand your desire to not "waste" a session, but my general advice would be that you will be much better off in the long run if you use a very conservative approach at the beginning of each phase. If you start with too much weight, you are constantly failing to achieve your goals; its de-motivating, and can result in injury. If you start with too little, you will complete every set, the risk of injury is reduced, and you feel good about your accomplishments. You can quickly dial up the resistance in a gradual fashion, that makes you feel like you're constantly improving between each workout.

Any, to be more specific, here is how I determine the resistance for my first workout. I will go through my hangboard logs from the previous 3-4 seasons, and particularly look at how much the resistance changed between the first 2-3 workouts. The reason I go back several seasons, is that hangboarding is more difficulat at different times of year. When its cold out, you can do a lot more weight, because the friction is better. If you did your first cycle in December, the data you recorded will not correlate well to what you can do in June.

Anyway, I look at what my goals were for the first session, then I compare it what I actually did. Then I compare that to what I did in the 2nd and 3rd workouts. If I upped the resistance significantly between workouts 1&2, and I managed to complete all or most of the exercises in workout #2, then obviously workout 1 was not challenging enough, so I will base next season's workout #1 goals on what I did in workout #2.

On the other hand, if I was barely able to do workout #1 last time, I will repeat the same resistances again.

So anyway, the resistance for workout #1 next time around should not have much to do with what you did on your LAST workout last season. It should be based on what you did in the first 2-3 workouts last season. There shouldn;t be a huge jump. Overall, if you are improving 10lbs on each exercise each season, you're doing good. Some grips will improve more, some less. In other words, your basically starting over from scratch each season, except that maybe you are 5-10lbs stronger than you were at the beginning of last season. If you take this advice, you will find that you will be able to ratchet up the resistance pretty consistently each workout, and you will surpass your previous best efforts from last season (but it won;t happen until near the end of the hypertrophy phase).

Hangboard - Smangboard - just keep doing those 12oz curls Will!

I have a related question: how would you structure a hangboard workout for hypertrophy versus recruitment.

In a periodized workout schedule run by my local gym, we used HIT workouts for hypertrophy and, I thought, a combination of hangboard and bouldering for recruitment.

I'm sure you can do either with a hangboard but would be interested in opinions on how to tailor the routine for each.

Thanks for the detailed reply Mono.

Hopefully some more folks will chime in with their experience.

Peter, I don't look to the hangboard at all for recruitment. In recruitment you are trying to get the most fibers firing at the same time and the best way to do that seems to be dynamic movments where you have to latch a hold with everything you've got all at once to stay on...hence campus board training.

I've never attempted to train power on a hangboard. However, I would check out Taylor Roy's workout.

This looks to me like an intense power workout, and I know he is very strong.

So here we are 3.5 years later, and my experience has worked out almost exactly how Monomaniac suggested it would/should.

I have started each new phase with workout #3 from the prior phase and it has been about the pefect starting point. This is based on a ~4mo cycle length, and does end up with a PB on each exercise about 10lb better than the prior cycle.

The only problem I'm having now is a dilemma of whether to continue adding weight or switch to one-armed hangs and take some weight off. I'm adding over 2/3 bodyweight to some exercises and 50% bodyweight on the smallest 4-finger edge holds on my boards. It feels like it's starting to introduce bicep/lat/shoulder stregth limitations with that much added weight and harder to maintain good form (slightly bent arms), but I'm a little leery of one-arm hangs for form reasons as well...angle of loading of the wrists/shoulder/pecs etc.

Do tell... what is your training regimen?

In that phase it's essentially the RockProdigy basic hangboard workout.

I recommend transitioning to smaller holds as you get stronger, but you always need to keep it in context with what your climbing goals are. One arm hangs are impractical and unrealistic IMO, so you should rule those out right away. I question the value of training any grip that you can hang one arm anyway, as I can't see such a hold ever being a limiter, or at least a priority for training. What kind of climbing do you want to be able to do? Most people (whether they admit or not) climb on routes that are barely past vertical, and not too steep, and these routes allow you to put a lot of weight on your feet, so your hand are typically on fairly small holds. Unfortunately, most hang boards have holds that are too big because most manufacturers have no clue how a HB should be used. The HIT strips are a perfect example of this...the holds are way to big.

My focus is mostly off-vert to slightly beyond vert gear routes on granite and sandstone.

Any idea where I can pick up sets of symmetrical/matching small holds?
Everything seems to be either too big if it's intended for "systems" boards, or asymmetrical if it's "regular" holds.

I feel your pain. Mono turned me on to some good crimps from entre pris a while back, but they are sharp!

They're called "super tweaks" and can be found here:

epusa.com/store/handholds.html

They aren't symmetric, but I found two that matched "enough" and make about a quarter to third-pad crimp...perfect for training for granite climbing. These are a little too sharp, IMO, though, so I will alternate them with other crimps that are softer.

These sets from E-Grips look pretty good for hangboard training:

e-grips.com/pure/

If you find a good set, let us know!

The eGrips two-texture Pure crimps are really small, symmetrical and comfy.

Those do look good, and I think Mono has some of those also, come to think of it. I just ordered some...I love impulse shopping!

Ya, this pic should give you a pretty good idea of what I think of commercial hangboards.

Anyway, the olive drab holds are from the e-grips set ("2-Tex Pure Crimps"). I now have two sets, so the crimps match. I use a pair of the rightmost hold now. I would not recommend using this hold for hangboarding. The injury risk is substantial. That said, I use it.

Monomaniac wrote: The injury risk is substantial.

Are you closed crimping it?

We have some of those dual-tex crimps in the gym I use, mostly the tops are straight and the ones that are slightly curved are symmetrical. Nice holds for sure.

But like Mono said, you'll need to buy two sets to have a truly "matching pair" because each hold in the set has a slight difference in amount of incut or slope (i.e. front-to-back angle of the edge) and/or width of the edge and distance from the bolt-hole to the edge.

Did session #8 of the current HB phase yesterday. I moved about 6mo ago and can't hang my boards in this house, so have been using the gym for the last two cycles using a combo of a couple of boards (Nicros modular thing, Metolius woodgrips, and the smallest campus rung) - and it sucks, badly. No temp control, folks who feel the need to do pullups on hangboard jugs instead of the numerous pullup bars located 4' away, jumping in while I'm mid-break between sets, etc.

Still getting stronger, that's all that really matters.

Will S wrote:We have some of those dual-tex crimps in the gym I use, mostly the tops are straight and the ones that are slightly curved are symmetrical. Nice holds for sure. But like Mono said, you'll need to buy two sets to have a truly "matching pair" because each hold in the set has a slight difference in amount of incut or slope (i.e. front-to-back angle of the edge) and/or width of the edge and distance from the bolt-hole to the edge.

You can also call them and get a "set" of identical holds.

grayhghost wrote: You can also call them and get a "set" of identical holds.

Doh! I wish I'd done that rather than spending $100 on two full sets...oh well, the excess holds will find a loving home on my woody.

Will S wrote: I moved about 6mo ago and can't hang my boards in this house, so have been using the gym for the last two cycles using a combo of a couple of boards (Nicros modular thing, Metolius woodgrips, and the smallest campus rung) - and it sucks, badly. No temp control, folks who feel the need to do pullups on hangboard jugs instead of the numerous pullup bars located 4' away, jumping in while I'm mid-break between sets, etc.

That sucks, I feel for you. Can you build a free-standing hangboard mount?

another option might be to build a frame that you can screw into the ceiling rafters overhead. then put some plywood on the frame. this would allow you to put it somewhere that gives you some room to operate. that's how i set it up in my basement. then later, all you would have to do is fill in the screw holes in the ceiling and touch up with paint.

great thread with a lot of usefull info. i like the idea of going down to smaller holds. you get to a point where you are putting a lot of weight on your harness (pain in the ass), but trying to hang one handed is hard to control rotation.