Max Hangs
I was doing my usual max hang routine recently at the gym. Someone wandered over, pulled briefly onto one of the finger boards and then jumped off with a gasp. They walked away holding their hand in pain.
I am definitely a fan of using the finger board. I actually wrote a really well thought out post (in my opinion) about the benefits of max hangs and some of my learnings and observations but I accidentally deleted it whilst trying to add the iG video above. Absolutely gutted I walked away from my blogger aspirations for a while.
I tried hangboarding after I got a wrist injury. Collateral ligament sprain on both wrists. I couldn't climb as any sideways load sent shooting pain through my wrists. But I discovered that I could hang on my finger tips without any issue as long as my arms/wrists were 'straight'. So for about 6 weeks, whilst rehabbing my wrists, I hang boarded exclusively. Until that point I was of the opinion that my time was better spent climbing. Since then over the last 12-18 months I have had a number of climbing related injuries and the one constant during that time has been my ability to safely hang board in some form or other whilst recovering from injury and simultaneously maintaining if not improving my finger strength.
Intensity - First ever hang board session of my life I tested my strength by increasing the added weight until I failed to hold a 7 second two arm hang. Job done I went home and didn't think too much about it. A couple of days later I pulled on to warm up on some jugs and got cramps in both my forearms! I had no idea, but that first session completely destroyed my forearms. Clearly, hang boarding had exposed my forearms to a training stimulus and intensity that they had never seen before.
Frequency - so when I started I figured I would do 1 day on, 2 off. The protocol I used was a series of warm up hangs with increasing weight and then my target weight (of body weight plus 20kg) for 7-10 seconds x 4 with 4 minutes rest between hangs. First session went well, but the second session I couldn't make the full 10 seconds with the same weight. Third session I had to drop the extra weight from +20 kg to 12 kg just to make it through.
Stepping back I realized I wasn't close to recovering. Including my warm up reps we are only talking 60 seconds under tension every 3 days with no other supplemental climbing activity due to my wrist injury. My mind boggled at the necessary recovery time. So I spaced out my sessions and found 4 to 5 days rest to be the sweet spot. If I hang boarded every 5 or 6 days, I made gains every session. So in 60 seconds a week I was getting stronger.
Big Gains!- once I had dialed in my frequency I saw big gains fast. Every session I would add 1-2 kg of extra weight. Although eventually that did start to plateau. And when I finally was able to climb again I was cranking harder than ever.
Is it safe? - I see a lot of warnings about using hangboards but my experience is that it is significantly safer than 'just climbing'. If I could 'just climb' I would but my shit keeps breaking, all the time. Hang boarding provides a higher intensity training stimulus than hard bouldering without any of the associated pain/inflammation that I often get after a hard bouldering session. Note that I only hangboard after a rest day and I also do not climb the same day except for possibly some easy warm ups.
Long-Term Goals - I'm still playing with different protocols, trying to find what works best. I think that will continue to change as things develop. My original cycle I used open crimp, my strongest grip. I am now focusing on open 3 and half crimp as these are weaker grips. Could my recovery time be reducing as my training age increases? Should I spend more time doing repeaters? I have also been playing with one-arm hangs and integrating lock offs into the hangs to target my arms - possibly my biggest weakness of all. I will report back as things develop but my 80% target isn't that far off...
I am definitely a fan of using the finger board. I actually wrote a really well thought out post (in my opinion) about the benefits of max hangs and some of my learnings and observations but I accidentally deleted it whilst trying to add the iG video above. Absolutely gutted I walked away from my blogger aspirations for a while.
I tried hangboarding after I got a wrist injury. Collateral ligament sprain on both wrists. I couldn't climb as any sideways load sent shooting pain through my wrists. But I discovered that I could hang on my finger tips without any issue as long as my arms/wrists were 'straight'. So for about 6 weeks, whilst rehabbing my wrists, I hang boarded exclusively. Until that point I was of the opinion that my time was better spent climbing. Since then over the last 12-18 months I have had a number of climbing related injuries and the one constant during that time has been my ability to safely hang board in some form or other whilst recovering from injury and simultaneously maintaining if not improving my finger strength.
Intensity - First ever hang board session of my life I tested my strength by increasing the added weight until I failed to hold a 7 second two arm hang. Job done I went home and didn't think too much about it. A couple of days later I pulled on to warm up on some jugs and got cramps in both my forearms! I had no idea, but that first session completely destroyed my forearms. Clearly, hang boarding had exposed my forearms to a training stimulus and intensity that they had never seen before.
Frequency - so when I started I figured I would do 1 day on, 2 off. The protocol I used was a series of warm up hangs with increasing weight and then my target weight (of body weight plus 20kg) for 7-10 seconds x 4 with 4 minutes rest between hangs. First session went well, but the second session I couldn't make the full 10 seconds with the same weight. Third session I had to drop the extra weight from +20 kg to 12 kg just to make it through.
Stepping back I realized I wasn't close to recovering. Including my warm up reps we are only talking 60 seconds under tension every 3 days with no other supplemental climbing activity due to my wrist injury. My mind boggled at the necessary recovery time. So I spaced out my sessions and found 4 to 5 days rest to be the sweet spot. If I hang boarded every 5 or 6 days, I made gains every session. So in 60 seconds a week I was getting stronger.
Big Gains!- once I had dialed in my frequency I saw big gains fast. Every session I would add 1-2 kg of extra weight. Although eventually that did start to plateau. And when I finally was able to climb again I was cranking harder than ever.
Is it safe? - I see a lot of warnings about using hangboards but my experience is that it is significantly safer than 'just climbing'. If I could 'just climb' I would but my shit keeps breaking, all the time. Hang boarding provides a higher intensity training stimulus than hard bouldering without any of the associated pain/inflammation that I often get after a hard bouldering session. Note that I only hangboard after a rest day and I also do not climb the same day except for possibly some easy warm ups.
Long-Term Goals - I'm still playing with different protocols, trying to find what works best. I think that will continue to change as things develop. My original cycle I used open crimp, my strongest grip. I am now focusing on open 3 and half crimp as these are weaker grips. Could my recovery time be reducing as my training age increases? Should I spend more time doing repeaters? I have also been playing with one-arm hangs and integrating lock offs into the hangs to target my arms - possibly my biggest weakness of all. I will report back as things develop but my 80% target isn't that far off...
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