Obviously, if you want to climb hard routes or boulders, then having strong fingers is important. It’s no secret that the most effective way to increase finger strength is through hangboarding/fingerboarding. However, with all the different programs out there (i.e. repeaters vs. max-weight dead hangs) this is where things can seem to get a bit more complicated. Ultimately though, as long as what you are doing on a hangboard is safe and doesn’t lead to injury, then any time spent on the fingerboard is time well spent.
To further illustrate this point, here’s an article from The Power Company blog by Nathan Drolet in which he describes the difficulty he has had in the past sticking with fingerboarding programs and how by making his program as simple as possible he was able to finally stick to it and make some serious finger strength gains in the process.
“I had tried hangboarding in the past. In fact, through trial and error, I managed to develop a fairly consistent system for it. I would read about a new training method, think to myself, “this time, I’ll stick with it,” and then immediately start dreaming of all the boulders and routes I would dismantle with my new-found finger strength. I’d draw up a grid in the back of a notebook for recording the program. Six weeks later…I would take that journal out of my gym bag because I hadn’t actually used it for four weeks.” – Nathan Drolet
To make himself stick to a hangboard program and address his underlying lack of finger strength, Nate’s solution was simply to make his program too easy to fail. In other words, the program Nate eventually came up with and was able to stick to was about as low commitment and easy follow as possible: two ten second hangs on the smallest edge he could effectively hang with 4 minutes rest in between. Nate would then do this every time he was in the gym (3-4 times a week) once he was fully warmed up.
While this program may seem too easy, that was exactly the point. As Nate admits, other more comprehensive fingerboarding programs (which he lists in the article) would probably produce even larger finger strength gains, but only if you actually do them. Nate’s main point is that actually sticking to your program is more important than the specific protocol you use. In other words, find a program you like, but will actually do and then stick to it. You will see finger strength gains.
To read more about how Nate made fingerboarding work for him, check out the complete article by clicking through below.
Click Here: Fingerboarding – Too Easy to Fail
(photo courtesy of powercompanyclimbing.com)
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