Hangboarding

Ok so its been quite a while since ive been on here and spoken about climbing, training, trips or other climbing related activities. However my laptop broke a week after I moved away to Denman and I don’t have any internet. The main reason however is probably just because climbing has been difficult for the last few months as all ive had to train on is a lonely hangboard and weekend Sydney trips are now a 6 hours driving day.

However I guess that makes this blogs topic quite easy to decide apon – Hangboards!!

Now apon hearing the word hangboard most people would immediately think of something boring and pointless. Well im here to rebuff that claim and explain why I think those people are just being lazy.

Now before we get to carried away im not claiming to have found a way to make hangboarding fun or interesting, because that just not the case. However there are ways to make them a little more appealing.

Disclaimer – I should write the usual disclaimer that comes with hangboarding and that it is not a good idea to use hangboards unless your body has been used to stressing its tendons, ligaments and pulleys i.e you have been climbing for probably around a year. Also a good gradual warm up is paramount!

Now im not here to give you complete hangboard routines or tell you which is better and why because if you have never used a hangboard before they will ALL work and give you GREAT results if you stick with it. Also a quick search on the internet and you will discover loads of different routines and workouts invented and set out by people who know a lot more about climbing than me, and it is their routines that I also use, with slight modifications to suit my own needs.

*Metolius Hangboard – A great beginners board

*Moon Hangboard – One for the more experienced

Ok a few tips…

An important step for my hangboard sessions is to not keep them overly structured. Of course it is important to have an idea of what you want to do, but don’t set a time of when everything has to start/finish and how many reps of each you do. Just push yourself and your body will know when its done. Often too much structure and trying to do the last rep will lead to a tendon injury which could leave you out for months.

It sounds simple but playing some good motivating music during sessions is always a sure thing to get you keen. Also if your feeling unmotivated I usually watch a short climbing video which usually gets me psyched to get stronger.

Also with any sort of training set yourself a goal. I.e I want to be able to hang of this edge for this long and STICK TO IT! I know soo many people that always try hangboarding and give up just before they are about to benefit from its gains, you cant expect results immediately, but the longer it takes to gain the results, the more beneficial they will be.

I mean it seems so logical, you rock climb with your fingers – so make your fingers strong.