It's In the Fingers

Over the course of the years I've decided that, at least at my level, finger strength is the number one most important factor for improving climbing. I think we could argue that there are many climbing moves out there that must be done with high levels of pull-strength and power, but I think that if you have fingers capable of crushing everything you touch, that will be more beneficial in the long run than being able to do a one-armed pullup. Not that pulling isn't important, I just think that finger strength edges out everything else as what the top priority should be.

I've experimented with a few different approaches to training this all-important aspect of climbing. From heavy finger rolls to deadlift blocks to classic hangboarding (all sorts of routines here, from Rock Prodigy to the suggested Metolious workouts). Maybe one of these days I'll give an exhaustive recounting of everything I've tried and what I felt worked or didn't, and why.

Recently, however, I've been reading different articles and listening to interviews on the subject, and it seems to me that everyone agrees that finger strength is slow to develop and takes steady, consistent work for steady and consistent gains in finger strength.

With that being said, one person who's idea on hangboarding that I really like and am currently implementing is Steve Maisch. He's done some great research on all things climbing training, but he encourages doing between 15-25 minutes of finger work at the end of every training session. It maybe sounds like a recipe for injury in the fingers and shoulders, but I don't think it's really meant to have enough intensity for that. I think the idea is to walk away at the end of your workout with exhausted muscles that will continue neurological and muscular adaptation.

What I currently do is 4 total sets of (10 second hang x 3 second rest) with 2 minute rests between sets. Two sets are a half crimp (because isometric strength gains seem to translate to angles within 20 degrees of the angle that is trained) on an 18 mm edge and the other two hanging from a deep, two-finger pocket from my middle and ring fingers. Usually I haven't been able to hold my body weight for the last rep or so on each of the sets, so I'll put a toe on the ground to keep myself from falling while keeping the intensity high. So people may argue that this isn't quantifiable progress, but I'd say that it is sure as heck a lot less stressful and tedious as dealing with a pulley system to take weight off!

Anyway, it seems to be working well for me and my grip strength is steadily improving. I think my next step is just to work on hangboarding form so I don't end up screwing with any of my joints. Here's to getting that crushing finger strength!