How important are specific edge sizes on a hangboard?

Hello! Looking to purchase my first hangboard. I'm torn between the Lattice Triple Rung and the Metolius Prime Rib. The only thing keeping me from pulling the trigger on the Metolius (which is half the price) is the strange size of its edges (38mm, 23mm, and 15mm) as opposed to the seemingly more "universal" sizes of the Lattice board - 45mm, 20mm, and 10mm. Will the efficacy of my training be at all effected by this? Seems like maybe it's only important if I want detailed metric analyses of my performance through a Lattice-esque program or app? 

For context, I just had a kid and I'm hoping to stay strong and maybe even break my V7 plateau with scaled back gym time.

Any other weight in on these two boards would be appreciated!

I have the Prime Rib and have shortish fingers so the 23mm is actually more than a pad for the index and pinky. It's rounded at the back so you can't easily put a spacer in either.

If you have at least average man-hands it's probably not a problem though.

Austin Donisan wrote:

I have the Prime Rib and have shortish fingers so the 23mm is actually more than a pad for the index and pinky. It's rounded at the back so you can't easily put a spacer in either.

If you have at least average man-hands it's probably not a problem though.

I have pretty long fingers. How do you feel about the rungs being on the same plane, rather than protruding progressively more as you go up in size (hope this wording makes sense lol)

I think that's how basically all wooden hangboards are so I've never really thought about it. Since there's only 2 training rungs and your palm is comfortably below the bottom so I don't think it's an issue.

Just listening to a podcast with Dr. Tyler Nelson.  He says that the 20mm edge is too narrow for many people and leads to finger injuries on heavy weighted hangs because the joint is not supported.  As he says, there is no scientific reason that everyone uses 20mm, they just do. He recommends 30 mm if your joint is not on the edge with the 20mm.  

I trained on a prime rib for most of last year.  The edge size is close enough to anything you would want and the radius’ are comfortable for me to both crimp and drag on.  It’s also affordable so if you want a smaller edge just take some sandpaper to the middle or outside edges and make it a jug/23/whatever/15, or carve the top into uneven edges.  No rules.  For me the 23 is wide enough that the edge isn’t on any of my finger pad creases and the 15 is short enough that it misses them the other way so I haven’t bothered.  

Thanks for everyone's input! I'll probably just grab the Prime Rib.

EDIT: Changed my mind last minute and ordered the Lattice board.

Ward Smith wrote:

Just listening to a podcast with Dr. Tyler Nelson.  He says that the 20mm edge is too narrow for many people and leads to finger injuries on heavy weighted hangs because the joint is not supported.  As he says, there is no scientific reason that everyone uses 20mm, they just do. He recommends 30 mm if your joint is not on the edge with the 20mm.  

Which podcast was he on when speaking about this?

Connor Varney wrote:

Which podcast was he on when speaking about this?

The Testpiece.  I’ve listen to him on several others (Nugget, Struggle) but this is pretty recent and the first time I’ve heard him talk about this. 

I wouldn't listen to Tyler he's trained a small fraction of the people Lattice has and often says stuff that isn't backed up by ant data. Every climber I know that has used him for rehab has had bad results.

I have a Tension Grindstone MKII and like the edge radius a lot. That's what makes a hangboard comfortable and there's tons of edge sizes that you can easily shim with popsicle sticks and double sided tape if you want to customize the edge size.

Another factor is how much you might use a hangboard at home vs a gym. I like that my gyms have the same hangboard and very few have anything but Tension or Beastmaker. I personally don't need the pockets on a Beastmaker.

"How important are specific edge sizes on a hangboard?" Not that important. Its about training different crimp positions and supplementing your climbing training. 10mm vs 9mm doesn't matter. 

Karl Walters wrote:

I wouldn't listen to Tyler he's trained a small fraction of the people Lattice has and often says stuff that isn't backed up by ant data. Every climber I know that has used him for rehab has had bad results.

He's also just a chiropractor and not an actual medical doctor, so the "Dr." title is a farce. I'd recommend looking into the origins of chiropracty for anyone who thinks it's legitimate medicine.

I don't care what someone's title is when they have a demonstrated and documented track record of changing their paradigms and recommendations as soon as the new flash-in-the-pan thing arrives especially when they claim they have "data" to back up claims and they actually don't. Tyler has a history of extremely bold claims he often walks back on or abandons, which gives me little confidence in his methods. I have used him for rehab twice and had to approach other specialists. I complied 100% as did those I know who used him. In fact, I haven't met a single climber that didn't have to see an alternate specialist after.

Regardless of that and to the topic of this thread, pick some edges, incrementally load them over time its not really that difficult.