Rest length between Max hang/Min edge

Anybody have an educated idea of the effects of taking a much longer rest than is instructed in the various max hang or minimum edge protocols? Due to the long rests between hangs it is hard for me to set aside enough time to get this workout in on a regular basis. However if I go about my normal daily activities and grab a hang whenever I happen to pass the hangboard, I think I'd get more of these sessions in.

To my knowledge, if you lessen the rest your gains will be more in the realm of strength endurance, not pure strength. The long rest is critical to allowing your neurological system and, I assume, intermuscular energy to reset. This information comes from the many questions I have asked my trainer, so someone with a degree probably knows more.

I would be worried about injury if I grabbed a max hang whenever I happened to pass the hangboard. Properly warming up and staying warm are crucial to not hurting yourself.

What is your rest time?
A hangboard session shouldn't be more than 20 min.

For repeater sessions, as follows.
7 sec hang with 3 sec between = 1 rep
6 reps in a row = 1 set (1 min)
rest for 3 min and repeat.
5 sets = 20 min.

5 easy sets should include
Hold 1 – Large jug
Hold 2 – Small edge
Hold 3 – Large edge
Hold 4 – Medium edge
Hold 5 – Sloper

If all you do is one set every time you hang you will see gains.

Jumping on a hangboard just to do max hangs is not the best approach, unless you are already warmed up.

Are you doing a max hang (i.e with a lot of weight) or close to your 1 RM?

In some sports there is a concept knowing as grease the groove (see strongfirst.com, Pavel, etc, lots of articles pull up with a google search) where you repeat certain movements frequently throughout the day, but in applying this you are not not doing these near your 1 RM.   Probably more like 50%.  

Steve Bechtel has proposed a program he calls Integrated Strength, where you combine hangs with weights, which is a more efficient use of time.  Check out his site at climbstrong.com. 

Another vote for keeping the fingers ready. Honestly if I took longer than 5 minutes between hangs my recruitment wouldn't be there to make the max hang, if you can jump on the board after more than 10 minutes and pull the same edge/weight off you haven't really found your "max" hang.

Personally I just use 3 minutes between hangs and take that time to do mobility work and other recruitment for the climbing I'll do after I finish the hangs. For a limit boulder session earlier this week that was:

Half crimp
Lacrosse ball on thoracic spine and trap
half crimp
lacrosse ball on glutes
half crimp
roll out arch of foot and calf
3 drag
one rep romanian dealift at 60lbs, then another rep at 80lbs
3 drag
one rep dragon flag negative then shoulder swings
3 drag
scapular pull for a few reps with +35-50lbs

3-5 minute rest and then proceed to wonder on what planet Ben Moon's V4-6 benchmark problems are not V7. 

Lopez' minimum edge protocol as I understand it takes 31 minutes to do two sets. If you do 4 sets then it would take 57 minutes. And that is 1 minute of hang time per set, so the rest of the time you have to find something else to do, ie stretch or core if you are going to allow a complete rest of your hang muscles. I am not talking about shortening my rest time, but lengthening. Some rests might be the instructed 3 minutes. Some could be 30 minutes. I wouldn't ever be leaving my warmed up state, due to the nature of the other stuff I was wanting to do. 

Dont know specifically but Eric  Hörst has a few great podcasts on the subject:
https://trainingforclimbing.com/podcast-31-hangboard-training-guidelines/
https://trainingforclimbing.com/podcast-21-energy-system-training-part-1/

And Eva Lopez
http://www.powercompanyclimbing.com/blog/2019/1/10/episode-118-the-best-hangboard-protocol-with-eva-lopez

Ryan Pfleger wrote: Lopez' minimum edge protocol as I understand it takes 31 minutes to do two sets. If you do 4 sets then it would take 57 minutes. And that is 1 minute of hang time per set, so the rest of the time you have to find something else to do, ie stretch or core if you are going to allow a complete rest of your hang muscles. I am not talking about shortening my rest time, but lengthening. Some rests might be the instructed 3 minutes. Some could be 30 minutes. I wouldn't ever be leaving my warmed up state, due to the nature of the other stuff I was wanting to do. 

Somethings funny on the math there. A set is only 25-30 seconds to chalk up and do the hang, then three minutes of rest. So lets say 210 seconds per rep. You're doing 3-5 reps per grip depending on what part of a phase you're in, so 6 to 10 hangs total (half crimp and open).

That's 21 minutes for 3 reps and 35 minutes total at the end of your progression.

Another thing you can is offset the cycles for each grip, so you'd be doing 3 sets of half crimp at the period you're doing 5 sets of open hangs and vice versa. I don't personally find that worthwhile. 

Maybe because I was getting her protocol off a different site which says to rest 5 minutes between sets? According to Lopez' site 1 set is 5 hangs with 3-5 minute rest between reps.  5x12=60 seconds of hanging per set. 5x180=900 seconds of resting per set, including the 3 minute rest between sets, except the last set which would be 720 seconds. (960x4)-180=3840. 3840sec/60=61 minutes for a 4 set workout. 

All of these workouts will see gains, I think it's more of a personal preference, and how your body responds to the workout. I'm more attracted to the hangboard workout thoery that Dave MacLeod uses. You can search for it on YouTube, the title is "How to Hangboard". The basis is that you should feel recovered and 100% fresh before attempting your next max hang/min edge. Side note: he doesn't believe in attempting to get endurance gains out of your hangboarding, with the caveat of 'unless it's your only option'. Manny the Monkey's routine is also well thought out.

I like to think that the more your body gets used to a particular stress, the less results you'll see, or at least that's what it feels like with my training. I mix up my on/off days, and work outs weekly and feel like I haven't plateaued in a while. I feel a little stronger every time I get out.

Ryan Pfleger wrote: Maybe because I was getting her protocol off a different site which says to rest 5 minutes between sets? According to Lopez' site 1 set is 5 hangs with 3-5 minute rest between reps.  5x12=60 seconds of hanging per set. 5x180=900 seconds of resting per set, including the 3 minute rest between sets, except the last set which would be 720 seconds. (960x4)-180=3840. 3840sec/60=61 minutes for a 4 set workout. 

There is a lot of weird math in this thread:

Max Hangs: 7 second hang plus 3 minutes rest. That's 187 seconds.
3 reps would be 561 seconds
561 seconds is roughly 9 minutes and 20 seconds.
5 reps would be 15 minutes and 30 seconds.

There is no second three minute rest as you describe. It's not 7 seconds of hang time and then a 3 minutes rest for 1 set with another 3 minutes between sets. It's hang, 3 minute rest, hang, 3 minute rest, etc., etc. 

Also, for repeaters, the standard is 6 grip types, 6 reps per set, 7 second hang, 3 seconds rest. 3 sets on each grip. 2 minutes between sets. This is much longer obviously:

42 seconds of hanging, and 18 seconds of resting per set = 60 seconds.
18 sets = 18 minutes of activity
2 minutes rest between each set: 36 minutes of rest
Entire workout would be 54 minutes.

Something that's worked really well for me is combining the two. I do Eva's workout first since it's not too taxing and obviously doesn't train endurance at all.

I just go all out on 3-5 max hangs and that takes anywhere from 10-15 minutes. I then rest 10 minutes. I then do a set of repeaters. All in the Hangboard workout takes roughly 90 minutes.

I also do warm up by doing some easy bouldering for 15-20 minutes prior to the hangboard workout. So I guess the whole workout takes closer to 2 hours. But I also realized that before I had any kind of structured training, I would spend 2 hours at the gym anyways, at least 50% of it though was screwing around talking to people, deciding which route to climb, etc. Having a structured plan has really helped.

If you're strapped for time and feel like your endurance is pretty good, you could probably just do the Eva Lopez protocol with a warm up and be in and out in an hour. 

TheBirdman Friedman wrote:

There is a lot of weird math in this thread:

Nah. You are just looking at a different protocol than I am. Eva Lopez max added weight protocol calls for 10 second hangs. Her minimum edge depth protocol calls for 12 seconds hangs. Where do you get 7? 

I do 10 second reps (1 rep per set) with 3-4 minutes off between sets. I do a couple on the big edge of the Beastmaker 2000 to warm up then move to the small edge. I add weight in 5 pound increments. When I get to a weight where I can't do 10 seconds, I'll try again with the same weight on the next set. I end up doing between 15-20 sets, so 45 min-1 hour total. In between sets I do rehab, general stretching, or non-arm intensive work outs like abs and legs. I think a good rule of thumb is you should feel rested but not cooled down.

Ryan Pfleger wrote:

Nah. You are just looking at a different protocol than I am. Eva Lopez max added weight protocol calls for 10 second hangs. Her minimum edge depth protocol calls for 12 seconds hangs. Where do you get 7? 

Eva's advanced protocol calls for 7 seconds.

Regardless, it seems like the confusion is around the rest period. You described hanging for 10 seconds, resting for 3 minutes is one set. And then another 3 minutes between sets. So essentially, 10 seconds of hanging and 6 minutes of rest. My understanding is it is hang, rest 3 minutes, hang, rest 3 minutes, etc. 

I think I understand the confusion. It's not related to the length of hang, your max hang time can be either 7 seconds, 10 seconds, or 5 seconds, or whatever. The issue is that Ryan is interpreting a set to be 5 hangs each, which you will then repeat for multiple sets. This is not correct; each hang is considered a set. So in a five set workout you will actually only perform 5 total hangs.

hifno wrote: I think I understand the confusion. It's not related to the length of hang, your max hang time can be either 7 seconds, 10 seconds, or 5 seconds, or whatever. The issue is that Ryan is interpreting a set to be 5 hangs each, which you will then repeat for multiple sets. This is not correct; each hang is considered a set. So in a five set workout you will actually only perform 5 total hangs.

Ahhh. There it is! I had initially come to Eva Lopez' protocol through Eric Horst' site and he calls for several "sets" of the 5 hangs with different grips, so even when looking at Eva's blog I was unconsciously adding 5 sets to this. Thanks for setting me straight.