Published on: 2023-01-03
Written by Nathan Pulver
Since my last post on hangboarding I have been doing my best to hangboard at least once a week, although with the holiday season I have missed some sessions. I have been taking notes on each session that I did do and wanted to go over any trends and progress I have seen in my notes.
First two sessions
My first session (12/05/22) I noted that chalk did not really seem to help and that the 15mm edge just felt like nothing. I couldn’t weight it much, but it did feel like I was getting stronger as I did each set. I also noted that I had no idea what to do with my pinky. I searched a bit online to see what others with short pinky fingers did and it seemed the conclusion was to just ignore it for now and it will feel more natural as I practice. I also noted I wanted to focus on activating my shoulders more. My second session since my last post (12/09/22) I did not use any chalk nor have any warm up. This session was right when I woke up and it was mostly shit.
Last two sessions
After the second session that was shit I realized I needed to change something with how I approach my hangboarding.On 12/20/22 I did some shoulder strengthening exercises and some recruitment pulls on the 40mm edge I have. Additionally, I tried chalking up after my first rep felt slippery and it seemed to help a ton. This session made me realize I really need to warm up my upper body if I am going to do this. I got pretty sick over Christmas and was also not home so I missed a few sessions but finally got back to it today. I woke up this morning and did the same upper body warm up and a few recruitment pulls - just 2 to 3 per arm on the 40mm edge for a few seconds. During my first rep, I noted that the 15mm edge is starting to actually feel like a real edge and my pinky was getting more comfortable. I focused on keeping my shoulders activated and noticed an improvement in the amount of weight I can hang with that in mind.
Summary of what I learned
From these last 4 sessions I learned a few things
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I need to be warm before I begin the session or I will not be training anything and my session will be garbage. I really like doing some shoulder stretches into some face pulls and Mo Moneys (any Hooper’s Beta enjoyers?). I do 20 of each with a light resistance band, sometimes I also do side planks. From there I do 2-3 recruitment pulls per hand for a few seconds each. This is subject to change.
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Chalk up. Initially I thought it didn’t help but that was because I was not really trying hard due to not being warm.
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Take good notes. It’s important in finding out what makes your sessions worthwhile. Without my stupid notebook, I would have forgotten about each of these sessions and only had a vague recollection that I did them at all. I take a note after each set, but I am sure just one longer note at the end of your workout will be just as good.
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Be consistent with your schedule. Something that I missed in my last post was a specific day that I would do my hangboarding. This led me to kind of just do it whenever I remembered. I am now committing to hanging on Mondays and Fridays. Check me on this in my next update.
Impacts on climbing performance
Over the last month I have completed another V4 and did my first 5.11A. Before this, I had done a single V4 and my highest top rope grade was 5.10D. With that being said, I have also tried to not focus so much on grades in the last month and just on doing stuff that I find hard. This may be the main cause of me breaking some of my own PRs. Qualitatively speaking, I my fingers do feel stronger. Still my largest weakness is endurance. Even 5.9 climbs are hard for me to complete without rest. My current training to over come this is to just climb harder, but a proper plan may be necessary if I want to be able to flash anything.