Boost Your Climbing Performance with These Hangboard Exercises
As you progress in your climbing journey, building finger strength and grip endurance becomes critical for advancing to harder routes and bouldering problems. While climbing regularly helps improve overall strength and technique, targeted training with a hangboard allows you to specifically focus on developing the muscles and tendons in your fingers and forearms. Hangboard exercises are an essential part of any climber’s routine and can significantly boost your climbing performance by improving your ability to handle small holds, increase grip endurance, and prevent injury.
In this article, we’ll explore several key hangboard exercises that will take your climbing to the next level.
Why Hangboard Training is Important
Climbing places a unique demand on your fingers and forearms, especially as you tackle more challenging climbs that involve small crimps, slopers, and dynamic movements. Hangboarding allows you to isolate these muscles and progressively train them to handle increasing loads. Unlike general strength training, hangboard exercises are highly specific to the demands of climbing, making them one of the most efficient ways to build the grip strength needed for challenging climbs.
Some of the key benefits of hangboard training include:
Targeted Strength Building: Focus on specific hand grips, such as edges, slopers, and pockets.
Increased Grip Endurance: Sustain your grip on difficult holds for longer periods.
Improved Finger Strength: Hold smaller and more difficult holds with ease.
Injury Prevention: Strengthening your fingers and forearms reduces the risk of injury by improving tendon resilience.
Measurable Progress: Track and adjust your training routine easily to ensure consistent improvements.
When to Start Hangboarding
If you’re new to climbing, it’s essential to build a foundation of finger strength through regular climbing before starting hangboard exercises. Beginners should climb for at least 6 months to a year before incorporating hangboard training to avoid injury. If you can comfortably climb V2 boulders or 5.10 routes and have a solid base of finger strength, you can safely introduce hangboard workouts into your training.
Essential Hangboard Exercises to Boost Climbing Performance
Below are several effective hangboard exercises designed to target finger strength, grip endurance, and overall performance. These exercises can be tailored to your climbing goals, whether you’re focusing on power for bouldering or endurance for long sport climbs.
- Dead Hangs
Dead hangs are the most fundamental hangboard exercise and form the basis of any finger strength training routine. They involve simply hanging from a hold without any dynamic movement, which helps you build static grip strength and develop tendon resilience. Dead hangs are a great way to safely begin hangboard training and can be adapted to various difficulty levels by using different holds or adding weight.
How to perform dead hangs:
Select a hold that’s appropriate for your level. Beginners can use jugs or large edges, while advanced climbers may opt for small edges or slopers.
Grip the hold with your fingers while engaging your shoulders to avoid excessive strain on your elbows and arms.
Hang with straight arms for 7-10 seconds. Avoid swinging or moving, and focus on maintaining tension in your fingers.
Rest for 2-3 minutes between sets.
Perform 4-6 sets.
Why it works:
Dead hangs build static strength, helping you hold onto holds longer during climbs. As you progress, you can increase difficulty by using smaller holds or adding weight to your body.
- Repeaters
Repeaters are an excellent exercise for building both strength and endurance. This hangboard drill involves short intervals of hanging followed by short periods of rest. By repeating this pattern multiple times, you mimic the repetitive gripping and releasing action of climbing, which helps improve endurance and strength over longer climbs.
How to perform repeaters:
Select a moderately challenging hold, such as a medium-sized edge or sloper.
Hang for 7 seconds, then rest for 3 seconds (this is one repeater).
Perform 5-7 repeaters in one set.
Rest for 2-3 minutes between sets, and aim for 4-5 sets total.
Why it works:
Repeaters improve endurance in your forearms and fingers, which is crucial for maintaining grip strength during long or sustained climbs. The short rest intervals simulate real climbing conditions, where you have brief moments of recovery between holds.
- Max Hangs
Max hangs are designed to develop maximum finger strength by using the smallest holds you can manage or by adding weight to your body. This exercise is ideal for building raw grip strength, allowing you to hold onto smaller, more difficult holds during climbing.
How to perform max hangs:
Choose the smallest edge or crimp you can hang from for 7-10 seconds.
If the holds are too easy, add weight using a weight vest or hang weights from your harness.
Hang for 7-10 seconds, resting 3-5 minutes between sets.
Perform 3-5 sets.
Why it works:
Max hangs focus on building maximum strength in your fingers, which is particularly useful for advanced climbers who need to grip small edges or tiny crimps. Over time, you’ll notice significant gains in your ability to hold difficult holds for longer periods.
- Tension Hangs
Tension hangs work on both finger strength and overall body tension. In climbing, body tension is essential for maintaining control, particularly on overhangs or slabby routes where balance is critical. This exercise forces you to engage your entire body while hanging, helping you develop better control and stability.
How to perform tension hangs:
Grip a large hold like a jug or a comfortable edge.
While hanging, engage your core, glutes, and legs to create full-body tension.
Hold for 10-15 seconds, focusing on keeping your body tight and avoiding any swinging.
Rest for 2-3 minutes between sets.
Perform 3-4 sets.
Why it works:
Tension hangs teach you how to engage your entire body while climbing, which is critical for maintaining balance and control, especially on difficult or technical routes. This exercise also strengthens your core and improves overall climbing technique.
- One-Arm Hangs
One-arm hangs are an advanced hangboard exercise that builds incredible finger strength and body control. By reducing the number of contact points, this exercise forces your fingers to work harder while improving your overall body tension and stability.
How to perform one-arm hangs:
Grip a hold with one hand while keeping your shoulders engaged.
Keep your other arm either by your side or use it to help balance yourself by lightly touching the board.
Hang for as long as you can (aim for 5-7 seconds initially), then rest for 3-5 minutes.
Perform 3-4 sets on each arm.
Why it works:
One-arm hangs are excellent for building finger strength and balance, allowing you to tackle dynamic and powerful moves on challenging routes.
Structuring Your Hangboard Routine
The key to hangboard training is consistency and gradual progression. Depending on your level and climbing goals, you should aim to hangboard 2-3 times per week, allowing adequate recovery time between sessions to avoid overtraining or injury.
Beginner Hangboard Routine (2x per week):
Warm-up: 10 minutes of light cardio, followed by finger stretches and easy climbing.
Dead Hangs: 4-5 sets of 7-10 second hangs with 2-3 minutes of rest between sets.
Repeaters: 3-4 sets of 5-7 repeaters (7 seconds on, 3 seconds off), resting 2 minutes between sets.
Cool-down: Stretch your fingers and forearms.
Advanced Hangboard Routine (2-3x per week):
Warm-up: Same as above.
Max Hangs: 5 sets of 7-second hangs with added weight or smaller holds, resting 3-5 minutes between sets.
Repeaters: 6 sets of 7 repeaters, resting 2 minutes between sets.
Tension Hangs: 3-4 sets of 10-15 second tension hangs on large holds.
Cool-down: As above.
Safety Tips for Hangboarding
While hangboarding is incredibly effective for building strength, it’s also easy to overtrain or injure yourself if not done properly. Follow these safety tips:
Warm up: Always warm up your fingers and forearms before starting your hangboard session.
Progress gradually: Start with easier holds and gradually progress to smaller holds or adding weight.
Rest and recovery: Your tendons need time to adapt, so allow 48 hours between sessions.
Listen to your body: Stop if you feel pain in your fingers, tendons, or joints to avoid injury.
Conclusion
Incorporating hangboard exercises into your climbing routine is one of the most effective ways to boost your performance. By focusing on exercises like dead hangs, repeaters, max hangs, tension hangs, and one-arm hangs, you can develop finger strength, grip endurance, and overall body control that will translate directly to your climbing. With consistency, smart progression, and a focus on injury prevention, you’ll see noticeable improvements in your climbing ability over time.