A friend for every climber

I made a new friend last year. We met in the back corner of my local gym. The first few times we met I walked away from our interaction feeling weak, deflated and mildly embarrassed, but the more time we spent together the more positive the outcomes of our interactions became...My friend helped me identify my weaknesses and provided me with the tools I needed to overcome these. My friend's name, I hear you ask...

...The Hangboard!

The first time I touched the hangboard in my local gym I had been climbing for about eight weeks and I had no idea what I was doing. I had seen others completing countless pull-ups, seemingly without effort and so I thought I would start there. I grabbed the jugs at the top and pulled upwards with ALL my might. My rapidly reddening face was the only evidence of my exertion, from behind my activity would have more closely resembled a squirmy dead hang than a pull up. After a few more tries I turned my back and walked away - friends we had not become!

The week after I injured my knee I once again turned to the hangboard, this time in an attempt to maintain some semblance of climbing conditioning while I was sidelined. I wasn't strong, but I was stronger than the time before. This time I could manage one pull up if I started with my arms slightly bent, a pull up from a dead hang, however, was still out of my grasp. Assisted pull ups were the flavor of the day, more of a lift from Claudia below than an upward pull from me, nevertheless eventually my muscles began to understand what I was asking them to do and slowly they came to the party.

Not long after I was at the gym 2-3 times a week becoming better acquainted with my new friend. I had identified my weaknesses, of these there were many, I decided to prioritize my pinch and my core strength and wrote programs to work these. In an unexpectedly short period of time my pinch was strong and I could complete eight pull ups on a large pinch. Feeling confident in my pinch strength I decided to move onto the next weakness, crimp strength, whist maintaining my core exercises - That's the brilliant thing about a hangboard routine, it can be continuously adapted to suit your desired training outcomes and level of strength.

Once I was back climbing again, I was surprised by the impact that these hangboard sessions had on the way that I climbed. There are many ways that we can train, but it is unusual that one, solitary, training system translates so effectively into improved performance. The extent of which was made clear to me one day at Morialta when my foot (my only foot in use at this time) began to feel unstable and I instinctively moved my hand from a jug to a pinch for added security. In a few short months I had transformed my greatest weakness into a strength. Similarly, while climbing with one leg, one must overcome a barn-door effect every time the arm on the same side as the unused leg is moved. Prior to beginning my hangboard routines there was absolutely no chance that I would have been able to overcome this barn-door, but because of the impact that my hangboard sessions had on my core strength I now found it quite easy to move my right arm with my right leg hanging, even on overhung routes.

I cannot speak highly enough of the benefits of hangboard training for climbers at any level. Obviously, as with any other training regime, the trick is not to over do it and listen to your body. Below is one of the programs that I completed each week. Have a go, modify it to suit you...who knows that 'bad' hold you always avoid on your project might become a rest in the future...

Go HARD!!!!

Fancy a hang?
- no rest between exercises separated by a '/'
- 60sec rest between dot points until you can do the entire routine without missing/failing any exercises, then reduce rests to 45s, 30s, 15s and then complete without any rests
- 10 crunches and 3 push ups per exercise missed/not performed correctly at the conclusion of the session
- exercises marked with a '*' do not involve the hangboard and are instead completed on the floor

Please be sure to adapt this routine to suit your current level of strength. The "small edge" refers to the smallest edge that you can hold with an open hand; if you need to use a closed crimp to hold the edge, then the edge is too small for you at the moment, use the next smallest one and slowly decrease the edge size as you get stronger. 

• 60s chair hang on jug
• 3 pull ups on good sloper / 45s chair hang on big edge
• 3 pull ups on medium edge / 2x60 plank* (15s rest between)
• 15s chair hang on two finger pocket/20s dead hang on bad sloper
• 3 pull ups on three finger pocket/15s L hang on jugs
• 10 slow controlled straight leg raises on jugs/15s dead hang on medium edge
• 10s dead hang on small edge/30s chair hang on jugs
• 3 chin ups on jugs/10 slow controlled straight leg raises on jugs
• Lock of (10s each: full up, 90deg, 45deg, 5deg) on jugs
• 50 cruches* (no rests)
• 2 x 10 push ups* (30s rest between)
• 3 chin ups on jugs/2x45s V sits* (15s rest between)
• 45s chair hang on big edge/20s dead hang on two finger pocket
• 8s lock offs on jugs (full up, 90deg, 45deg, dead hang)
• 30s left side plank*/30s right side plank*/30s plank*/10 push ups*
• 3 pull ups on large edge/15s dead hang on good sloper
• 15s lock off on jugs 90deg only/30s dead hang on large edge
• 8s lock offs on jugs (full up, 90deg, 45deg, dead hang)
• 2x10 push ups* (30s rest between sets)
• 2x15 v-sit to crunch (feet not to touch ground during)* (30s rest between sets)
• 100crunches* (no rests)

If you have any questions feel free to ask :)