Straightforward Ways To Increase Finger Strength

by pat

Posted on 2022-07-25

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Why train finger strength?

Finger strength is a key factor when climbing, especially as you get into the higher grades. In this post we will discuss different strategies you can employ to increase finger strength. To keep things very simple I will present two routines: beginner and advanced. Select as required to your skill level.

Beginner Routine

I would recommend unweighted two arm fingerboard hangs on a 18 millimetre edge for novices who are new to training, combined with limit bouldering. It goes without saying a thorough warmup prior to a hang board session is mandatory. Start with 10 second hangs and as you increase weight added over the course of weeks drop hang times to 5 seconds. If you are training pure strength as a pose to power endurance remember fatigue is the enemy in strength training so plenty of rest is fine, around two minutes between hangs when executing max hangs. Hangboard at least twice a week to see real benefits and two bouldering sessions - one session being limit boulder - a week as well as the hang board sessions is ideal as well.

Advanced Routine 

For more advanced climbers I would recommend one arm hangs combined with limit bouldering, once again two sessions a week for hang boarding combined with two sessions of limit boulder. Perform these on an 18mm edge as well. For this routine I recommend 3 1 arm straight hangs each side, for 5 seconds. It’s important to keep the shoulder engaged throughout the hang and hang with the fingers in the half crimp position. Rest for 2 minutes between hangs. You will generally be performing these at maximum capacity. If you cannot do a pure 1 arm you can off load some weight by using a pulley system, such as passing a rope through a carabiner and attaching one end to yourself and weight to the other end. Record the amount you offload. You will over time, this reduce this to nothing and you will be able to hang 1 arm unaided. At the other end of the spectrum if you can comfortably hang one armed begin to add weight. Reducing the size of the edge is not recommended due to the risk of a catastrophic finger injury.

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