Hangboard Frequency

I look at all the hangboard information herein and see that most people suggest 48 hours or so rest between sessions. I have been using my hangboard for a while and have been doing 3 sessions per day, hanging off of a 40 mm edge. I can't quite take all my weight off but almost. I hold for 10 seconds then wait 30 seconds . I repeat this for 5 hangs. I have not experienced any injuries or soreness. Probably, most people could hang off a 40 mm edge forever but, maybe it's because I am 79 years old, that I can't do more. I am a serious climber and get outdoors 3 times a week. I currently climb 5.10c sport but am looking to climb harder. I have noticed recently that, what is keeping me from climbing some harder routes with edges is, I can't hold onto the small edges and slopers with my fingers. I got back into serious climbing 2 months ago, the 2 years before that I was doing more mountain biking and only climbing one day a week. I took too many falls mountain biking cause my balance isn't what it used to be which makes it more dangerous than it already is so I am climbing more and mountain biking less (and at a slower pace) to reduce the potential for injury. My question is, what is your take on the intensity of my hangboard sessions? Maybe, because I'm old and withered up, the sessions don't cause fatigue, soreness or injuries because I'm not putting that much stress on my ligaments and tendons. 

I would look up anything that Bill Ramsey has put out on podcasts or in writing. He is probably the authority on training as you age. That said, not sure how many gains 79 yr olds can make, but I hope you post updates on this thread as inspo for being able to climb later in life

John Robinson wrote:

I look at all the hangboard information herein and see that most people suggest 48 hours or so rest between sessions. I have been using my hangboard for a while and have been doing 3 sessions per day, hanging off of a 40 mm edge. I can't quite take all my weight off but almost. I hold for 10 seconds then wait 30 seconds . I repeat this for 5 hangs. I have not experienced any injuries or soreness. Probably, most people could hang off a 40 mm edge forever but, maybe it's because I am 79 years old, that I can't do more. I am a serious climber and get outdoors 3 times a week. I currently climb 5.10c sport but am looking to climb harder. I have noticed recently that, what is keeping me from climbing some harder routes with edges is, I can't hold onto the small edges and slopers with my fingers. I got back into serious climbing 2 months ago, the 2 years before that I was doing more mountain biking and only climbing one day a week. I took too many falls mountain biking cause my balance isn't what it used to be which makes it more dangerous than it already is so I am climbing more and mountain biking less (and at a slower pace) to reduce the potential for injury. My question is, what is your take on the intensity of my hangboard sessions? Maybe, because I'm old and withered up, the sessions don't cause fatigue, soreness or injuries because I'm not putting that much stress on my ligaments and tendons. 

Johe, wonderful to read your post. 79, wow. I am 73 will be 74 in December. And also climbing hard. 11 B is about all I want to do. Don’t want to get injured, nothing to prove anymore!! I climb about twice a week outdoors, and once a week, indoor, and do two days of hard weight lifting. Stronger now than when I started at 65. In fact, even know if I wanted to increase my wei and reps at the gym I could get stronger. It is pretty amazing. The body. wants to be worked. And it will produce. But if you let it go, it will atrophy. I am also blessed with good genes good health and love climbing. Keep going my friend, it is so much Fun how can we give it up.

I ran an experiment last month with a force meter, and long story short it took about two rest days after an overloading workout for my output to return to baseline. In other words, if I trained hard Monday, I wouldn’t be able to produce and sustain that same high force until Thursday.

The overloading workouts were pretty high volume, though—more than 100 total seconds of maximal pulling per hand. (I did sets until my force dropped below a cutoff value.) It sounds like your volume is in that ballpark but at a lower relative intensity, so it might be ok even at your frequency.

The tricky thing with hanging, as opposed to pulling on a force meter, is that fatigue can be masked by displacement to soft tissue. You might hit the same numbers despite being fatigued, because reduced muscular output is made up for by shifting the load to tendons (and I guess titin, but I’m not an expert on the mechanism). I’d be very wary of that, since that’s basically asking for an injury over the long term, and at 79 you’re not going to recover as fast as a younger person.

One thing to note is that if this is your first time training this way, you’re going to improve rapidly at the beginning due to neural improvements. Those dwindle pretty rapidly. When they do, really, really don’t try to force progress. The mindset should be less of “forcing” than of “coaxing” adaptation.

One final thought is that because you’re not able to pull your weight off the ground, you’re actually doing something closer to what I did with the force meter than what most people do when hanging. This is inherently more about muscular recruitment than soft tissue adaptation, which I personally think is more useful, but is also certainly less stressful on the body. 

Mnt File wrote:

Sounds like you are doing sub-max high frequency hanging, which is super popular these days and works well for gaining force and durability . I got into it recovering from an injury. I have done a lot of reading, and if you are interested in the more studied system, here are a few tweaks to your program to optimize impact and tendon resiliency:

Hang less intensely, meaning don’t pull on the edge to your maximum ability every time, but go to between 30-50% of that. I go by feel, I can feel a stretch across my wrists, but not pulling so hard that I have sensation in my elbows or shoulders (they’re engaging, it just isn’t enough for me to feel the effort). You can also stand on a bathroom scale, pull once to your max, then back off to 50-70% of that. Another option is to stand on a scale, pull with one arm, and hang from two arms to that one arm limit. You don’t have to test it often. You’ll feel the benefit on the wall.

Add a set and reduce a session. Do your same system but go to 10 hangs instead of 5, and leave 6 hours in between them. You can make good gains hanging up to 10 minutes (total hang time not counting rests) with a 6 hour rest. Hanging sooner or longer isn’t shown to add benefit. Most of the 70+ people I know get up crazy early, so 3 sessions every 6 hours is reasonable, but two is fine.

This protocol has been super successful for a lot of folks, and it works quickly to make a difference in finger performance. It’s super different from the rest 48 hours and max hang with 3 mins rest between hangs protocol, but it is a bit more compatible with frequent outdoor climbing.

Every month or so, you can rest 48 hours and do a test to see if you’re max hang has changed (it probably will), and when you do that test follow those rest rules to get a true “max” reading (and not muddy the waters with fatigue).

Enjoy!

Hey - helpful rundown. Just to clarify, the aim is roughly 10min under tension for each of the 2 sets or total for the day? Is this roughly the protocol? 

10 sets x 10 reps; rep = 30s on x 30s rest @ 30%-40%