1. Hangboard Training: Building fingers of steel
Hangboard training is one of the best ways to build finger strength for rock climbing. It efficiently
targets the tendons and muscles used for gripping, resulting in quick improvements in climbing ability.
I go through periods of heavy hangboard training a few times a year, and each time I see great results in
my bouldering ability. If you really want to beef up your hand strength a dedicated hangboard regiment
can help out a lot.
Best of all, you can hangboard anywhere. It allows you to easily train when you don’t have access to a
gym or outdoor climbing. This is great during winter months, or when you are too busy to get a long
climbing session in. Just hang a board at your house and do a session on it whenever you have ten or
twenty minutes free. Doing this with consistency will show great results!
Which Hangboard Do I Use?
There are a lot of hangboards on the market. Metolius is one of the bigger brands and they provide
boards in a bunch of sizes and styles. Other brands have their own take on the hangboard design, but
they’re all pretty much the same. All you need is a board that provides several different grip types:
crimps, pockets, and slopers of different sizes. Some boards provide a superfluous amount of holds that
just makes the board larger and more expensive than necessary. Find a board with a couple holds of
each type and you’ll be fine! After that it’s just personal preference on style and design. Something like
this will work fine and doesn’t cost too much.
Warming Up and Precautions
Hangboarding can be hard on your tendons since you are putting so much weight and stress on your
fingers. Because of this, it is important to warm up before training to prevent finger injuries. I learned
this lesson the hard way when I popped a tendon in my ring finger a few months ago. I was hanging on
a crimp with one hand without warming up much and my finger just gave out. It wasn’t terrible, but
still took a few weeks to recover. Now I am careful to always warm up and watch the stress on my
fingers.
Warming up doesn’t take long, you just want to get good blood flow going through your hands. Some
easy aerobic activity like jumping jacks, push ups, or jogging work great. I like doing some easy
traversing to get warm, but that’s not always possible if I’m not in the gym
Lastly, make sure to train smart on the hangboard. Over training can cause injuries, make sure to allow
enough time for your fingers to recover between workouts. Don’t train if a tendon or joint is hurting
you, it’ll cause more problems in the long run. Listen to your body and respect its limits - train hard but
don’t hurt yourself!
Hangboard Workouts
There are many hangboard training plans out there. Every climbing instructor has their own theories
and regiments for what they think works best. But it all comes down to repeated hangs on different

2. holds, with rest in between. It’s a good idea to use a variety of holds and finger positions in a workout
to get the best range of strength. I like to follow these Metolius workout plans for a short but intense
training session. It really gets the forearms burning!
A basic workout could be something like this:
• 20 second hang on large edge
• 20 second hang on medium edge
• 25 second hang on slopers
• 15 second hang on pockets
• 25 second hang on large edge
• 20 second hang on slopers
• 15 second hang on small edge
• 8 pull ups on jugs
• 15 second hang on medium edge
• Hang on slopers until failure
For endurance training you can extend your holds as long as you can. Try for hangs of 30 seconds to a
minute on easier holds. This is great for building staying power on the wall. It will still help your
strength, but to a lesser extent.
For strength training you want more stress on your fingers but for shorter amounts of time. The weight
should be enough so that you can only hang about 5 to 10 seconds before falling. You can accomplish
this by doing one arm hangs or by wearing something like a weight belt. Rest a lot between sets so that
you are at full power for each hang. This will increase finger strength and power quickly.
Following these plans a few times a week will greatly improve your strength. Even if you only do a few
sets a day, over time you will notice growth! That’s the great thing about having a hangboard in your
house, you can do a little bit every time you walk by it. So train hard, and train smart, and you’ll see
improvement in no time!