During the month of May I decided to focus a little on hangboarding to improve my finger strength, since climbing was out of the question due to the circuit breaker period here in Singapore.
I had never integrated hangboarding into my routine because given I’ve only been climbing for a year or so, I felt that simply climbing would yield greater benefits. However, the downtime offered by the circuit breaker felt like a great time to get started. I’ve always felt that my finger strength, while often not a limiting factor, to be rather sub-par; I couldn’t do a bodyweight deadhang on a 20mm edge.
I selected the 3-6-9 protocol by Steve Bechtel and modified the intensity to suit my current level. This is a fairly low-intensity protocol, focusing on lower weights (~70% of max) with higher volume. A quick summary of what the protocol looks like:
- Week 1: 3 sets of 3s, 6s, 9s hangs with an open hand, full crimp, and half crimp hand position (9 sets in total)
- Week 2: 4 sets of 3-6-9
- Week 3: 5 sets of 3-6-9
- Week 4: 3 sets of 3-6-9-12
Given this was my first time, I decided to bump down the intensity. Here’s the protocol I settled on:
- Week 1: 3 sets of 3-6-9, half crimp only
- Week 2: 4 sets of 3-6-9, half crimp only
- Week 3: 5 sets of 3-6-9, half crimp only
- Week 4: 6 sets of 3-6-9, half crimp only
On 2020-05-01, before I started, I benchmarked my finger strength. I did a 7 second max hang on a 20mm edge, and managed -6kg, or 88% bodyweight.
For my first cycle I did each set with -12.5kg, and kept this weight throughout. I did 9 sessions over 4 weeks. About 2 sessions per week, though I managed to fit in an extra one on week 3 because my fingers felt good.
On 2020-06-09, after finishing the cycle, I did the same benchmark and managed +2.5kg, or 104% bodyweight. A few days after, I did another 3 sets, and found that I could quite easily do it with -7.5kg (up from -12.5kg).
Granted, I’m sure much of these gains are neurophysiological recruitment gains, and progress will slow if I keep it up. Regardless I’m extremely satisfied with the progress made during that cycle. I can hang at bodyweight now!
However now that climbing gyms have reopened, I don’t see myself continuing to hangboard regularly. I don’t think finger strength is really a limiting factor in my climbing yet, and I wouldn’t want to take away climbing time to train finger strength specifically. Doing this routine for a month was definitely worthwhile though!