Intro to Hangboard, my story

So I've wanted to start hangboarding, and I've always found the whole thing very intimidating. Threads like this: Frequency Challenge and others seem way over my head, as a beginner. But I am usually lucky to climb twice a week and wanted to be able to train more. I am writing this thread as a "talking out loud"/ reaching out to beginners who may be in my position.

I installed my So Ill - Iron Palm board about two weeks ago, but then have had two finger injuries (flesh) since. Finally I did my first session this morning. I was worried about motivation, especially since I ended up having to hang my board in a darker nook/ hallway than I originally intended.

Off the bat I knew I would need a little structure, so a quick google search turned up: Online Interval Stopwatch Timer Then I followed a Climbing article and decided to do 15sec hangs, 1min rests, 4 reps of those, 5min rest, and 4 sets total. I added 22secs to the beginning to hit play on the music and get my hands on the holds, so my intervals go:
22s
15s
60s
15s
60s
15s
60s
15s
300s

Each set is about a 9min session, leaving my total workout around 40 mins.

I was able to hang my tablet on the opposite side of my door frame, therefor I had a clear view of my stopwatch, and I also put youtube on split screen for some extra distraction. Very happy with this setup.

As for the So Ill board, it seems great for where I am strength-wise. Starting out I found the top shelf (aka jugs!) strenuous. Then I went to the second from top tier and hit failure at 12s, 8s, 9s, 6s. I went back to the top again. Then I finished on the open palm slopers. That was very difficult for me to get the 15s. (If it means anything to anyone, I'm basically a 5.10 climber with my lead head holding me much farther behind) Seems like I'll have plenty of room to progress on this board!

Lastly a few questions. I seem to be having pain (soreness what ever you want to call it) more in my right shoulder. I am wondering if this could be A) my strong side overcompensating/ taking more of the work load B) a weakness or C) I am wondering if my board could be slightly off level and if the right side is (would be lower) causing pain because of this for any reason???

I am wondering where to go next. Train every other day, every third day, or twice a day??? Guess I'll see where I take it...

Advice, questions, comments, suggestions welcomed, thanks! Oh yeah, and I have that mellow burn in my forearms right now, mmmmmm success!

If you're serious about hangboarding, it would behoove you to install a pulley system for adding and subtracting weight to the body. Hangboarding without one is essentially like going to a weight room that only has one super-heavy dumbbell. Yes, you could get stronger using it, but it's inefficient and you'll probably end up hurting yourself.

Pain in your shoulder could be an indication of poor hanging technique. For example, if you're not engaging your shoulders and are hanging all of your weight on your shoulder joints, then this is bad.

If you're having problems hitting your times, install a pulley system as Mark suggests. You can take weight off and really track your progress. You can also start adding weight to holds that feel too easy.

It seems to me like you are resting way to long between each hang. It seems like you are trying to do repeaters, but a 1 min rest is just too much. Most repeater programs that you see are 7 second hang followed by 3 second rest, or a 10 second hang followed by a 5 second rest. The main reason for this is to be more specific to what it is like when actually climbing. When climbing you generally only get a few seconds of "rest" between each hand movement so your training will translate better to strength on the rock if you do it this way. Another advantage of this is that it makes your workout take a lot less time. Since you are doing 4 hangs at 15 seconds each, you could keep the volume the same by doing six hangs of 10 seconds each with 5 seconds of rest between each one and it would make each set only take a 1:30 instead of 5 minutes and would be much more specific to climbing.

I also second the suggestion to get a pulley system installed. There are really only two ways to be able to progress with hangboarding, you either decrease the hold size between each hang, but would need something like the Eva Lopez progression hangboard to do that, or you increase the weight by adding weights to yourself. The problem with adding weights to yourself is that your own body weight is probably too much weight to begin with, so to both be more specific to the grades of routes that you are climbing, and to avoid injury, it is much more beneficial to remove weight via a pulley system and gradually remove less weight over time as you progress.

I highly recommend picking up a copy of the rock climbers training manual by the Anderson brothers if you want to get serious about progressing in this sport.

I was actually working on a review of the Rock Climber's Training Manual. It has really worked for me! Check it out:

Traing Manual Review

Thanks for all the help, right off the bat! I am trying to not throw myself into this too hard, if its not something I am going to keep up. So buying a book and installing a pulley, and having to throw my harness on every time seems a little much right now. If I successfully get into a good training routine, I will certainly seek those other routes.

And my next session I'll try the more fast-paced workout aka Xsec hang, .5Xsec rest. Actually excited about that because I was worried the 40-min workout was going to be too cumbersome to integrate into my routine.

And after revisiting that climbing article I think I need to analyze my form. I was told to enact all shoulder and bicep muscles, aka not just a skeletal hang. (and was doing that) But the illustration in that article shows a more pronounced elbow-out posture. I am going to look at that and see if it affects my body's reception to training.

And jake sounds like your advocating a lot more volume? Too expand your suggestion, sounds like:

Top Tier - 3 Knuckle Crimp
10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest
1min rest
10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest
1min rest
10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest
5min rest

Second Tier - 2 Knuckle Crimp
10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest
1min rest
10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest
1min rest
10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest
5min rest

etc. etc. & so forth
So actually I would have 9 hangs pet 'set' on each hold

To be clear, I don't use the pulley and harness system from the book. It's not all focused around that. It is a broad training book and goes into campus boards, hang boards, wright training, etc.

Tom Sherman wrote:Thanks for all the help, right off the bat! I am trying to not throw myself into this too hard, if its not something I am going to keep up. So buying a book and installing a pulley, and having to throw my harness on every time seems a little much right now. If I successfully get into a good training routine, I will certainly seek those other routes. And my next session I'll try the more fast-paced workout aka Xsec hang, .5Xsec rest. Actually excited about that because I was worried the 40-min workout was going to be too cumbersome to integrate into my routine. And after revisiting that climbing article I think I need to analyze my form. I was told to enact all shoulder and bicep muscles, aka not just a skeletal hang. (and was doing that) But the illustration in that article shows a more pronounced elbow-out posture. I am going to look at that and see if it affects my body's reception to training.

Not to rain on your parade or anything, but if you want to see progression and have the hangboarding make any kind of a difference in your climbing, you kind of have to throw yourself into it hard. To promote muscle growth you have to stress the muscles beyond their normal threshold which requires that you be a bit disciplined and go about it the right way. If you just hangboard hap-hazardly it'll probably be more of a waste of time than anything.

Tom Sherman wrote:. And jake sounds like your advocating a lot more volume? Too expand your suggestion, sounds like: Top Tier - 3 Knuckle Crimp 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest 1min rest 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest 1min rest 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest 5min rest Second Tier - 2 Knuckle Crimp 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest 1min rest 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest 1min rest 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest, 10sec hang, 5sec rest 5min rest etc. etc. & so forth So actually I would have 9 hangs pet 'set' on each hold

Jake's suggestion is a good one for a more advanced climber. In your case, it would probably work just fine to do a single set of 4 to 6 reps for each hold that you want to train. As you get more used to hangboarding and stronger it would be good to bump it up to 2 sets, and eventually 3 sets, but at your level, it's probably not necessary.

kennoyce wrote: Not to rain on your parade or anything, but if you want to see progression and have the hangboarding make any kind of a difference in your climbing, you kind of have to throw yourself into it hard. To promote muscle growth you have to stress the muscles beyond their normal threshold which requires that you be a bit disciplined and go about it the right way. If you just hangboard hap-hazardly it'll probably be more of a waste of time than anything.

This. If you don't hit it hard and do it in a way that will produce results, it will be really hard to motivate yourself to do it again.

Just to offer a counterpoint to the "you must go hard" and "you must use the Rock Prodigy program" chorus*: read Steve Bechtel's take on hangboarding. He's a very successful trainer and climber and gives you an alternative approach: climbstrong.com/articles/20…. He's also discussed it in threads here if you search a bit.

I also think it's smart to take a few weeks and try some stuff to figure out how to hang, what works for you, what to not do, etc. No need to dive into the deep end on your first go.

(*)To be clear, I think the Rock Prodigy method is a good one, and obviously works for lots of people. I also think it's easy to get caught up thinking it's the only way to go, which it ain't.

Tom, you probably couldn't maintain the hangs because you were listening to three days grace ;)

Zac.St.Jules wrote:Tom, you probably couldn't maintain the hangs because you were listening to three days grace ;)

you Canadian fuck...

Climbing friend,

I do agree your hangs are too long. There is no need to hang for more than 8-10 seconds. You must be doing the sets of repeaters of several reps of 5-12 seconds on, 5 seconds off.

If you are doing single hangs, which some believe most best for maximum crushing grip of iron fist strength, and not a set of repeaters, you would reduce the size of the hold or add weight, so that you can only hold the hold for 5-10 seconds, then rest for a minute or two between each hang.

If your shoulder is hurting, you must back off, improve your form, and/or address any imbalance and weakness issues. The writers of the climbing rocks all say that the climber they suffer from over-tightened internal rotators such as chest pecks and bulging veiny lats for impressing your special lady friend. This would be causing poor posture of the shoulders rolling forwards, leading to poor movements more susceptible to injury most unpleasant, worsened by slouching at your desk while you make meager living depress about your time on the climbing rocks and success with member of opposite sex.

You must stretch these internal rotator constantly, for serious every day or two, and strengthen the external rotator constantly in order to erect yourself properly. You must do this for serious like every day or two, with the dedication of a buddhist monk. May I suggest, climbing friend, that you do the wall slides every day or almost every day, and use a dumb bell for the external rotations.

Do the external rotations lying on your STOMACH on side of couch or something, arm straight out from torso to side, then rotate shoulder so your hand comes up above your head into position similar to when you grasp the climbing rocks. This better than standing and using resistance band or lying on side with dumbbell because hand is above head, more realistic to when you make bold flash on climbing rocks.

youtube.com/watch?v=SoC1P-A…

You think this idea most good? Myah?

climbing friend,

as discussed in previous thread if you do the search, you also may maintain longer hang and more power for flash, if you maintain the half-erection during hang board session.

climbing friend,

finally, your "lead head" will only be better by leading, and taking hundreds of safe falls each year both intentionally and by your accident falling off during hard flash.

please go forth and make bold flash

If you want to keep it really simple and effective, I'd do this (and I did basically this, for several years and got massively stronger):

1. Pick 4-6 grips/holds.
2. Do a set of hangs on each of those 4-6 holds.
3. Each set is five repetitions of 10 second hangs with 5 seconds rest between
4. Take 2-3 minutes rest between each set.
5. Do that workout every third day, for 8-10 workouts.
6. Take a couple months away from the board, then repeat the cycle.

Have the weight for each set so that you are almost failing on the last rep of each set. Ideally you will not push to failure, but in reality as you add weight from workout to workout you will sometimes fail to hit the 10 seconds on some reps. Know that each cycle when you return to the board, you will have lost much of the gains from the prior cycle, but should have a higher starting point. In those early years, I was routinely starting each new cycle at the weight from workout #3 of the prior cycle, and more often that not that was the perfect starting weight for me.

I only began adding complexity when my gains started to plateau, and that took five years or more of 3-4 cycles per year.

I don't use fancy timers. A $5 analog wall clock with a loud second hand is propped in front of me. That allows me to slightly vary rest times, so if I need to chalk and it takes 6 seconds, I still get the hanging time right and the whole thing doesn't get off-kilter, and if I need 2:30 of rest between sets because I need to both change the weights and brush holds, or just need the extra :30 to ensure I'm recovered enough for a quality set, no problem with the timing being off.

Climbing friend,

I am believing our climbing friend Will S, he have the crushing grip of iron fist.

Will S wrote:If you want to keep it really simple and effective, I'd do this (and I did basically this, for several years and got massively stronger): 1. Pick 4-6 grips/holds. 2. Do a set of hangs on each of those 4-6 holds. 3. Each set is five repetitions of 10 second hangs with 5 seconds rest between 4. Take 2-3 minutes rest between each set. 5. Do that workout every third day, for 8-10 workouts. 6. Take a couple months away from the board, then repeat the cycle. Have the weight for each set so that you are almost failing on the last rep of each set. Ideally you will not push to failure, but in reality as you add weight from workout to workout you will sometimes fail to hit the 10 seconds on some reps. Know that each cycle when you return to the board, you will have lost much of the gains from the prior cycle, but should have a higher starting point. In those early years, I was routinely starting each new cycle at the weight from workout #3 of the prior cycle, and more often that not that was the perfect starting weight for me. I only began adding complexity when my gains started to plateau, and that took five years or more of 3-4 cycles per year. I don't use fancy timers. A $5 analog wall clock with a loud second hand is propped in front of me. That allows me to slightly vary rest times, so if I need to chalk and it takes 6 seconds, I still get the hanging time right and the whole thing doesn't get off-kilter, and if I need 2:30 of rest between sets because I need to both change the weights and brush holds, or just need the extra :30 to ensure I'm recovered enough for a quality set, no problem with the timing being off.

Will - How much weight do you add each successful session? I typically add 5 pounds, so I am massively jealous of you starting at workout 3 (+10 lbs in my system) of the previous cycle. That's like 30-40 lbs of str gain a year! Otherwise, this is pretty identical to what I do.

When I hit high weights for a given grip (50-60 pounds) I'll usually swap out for something harder / relevant to a goal route / perceived weakness.

Ben, it varies from workout to workout, based on the previous one.

I tend to do 8 workouts in a HB cycle these days, because I was typically plateauing there anyway and 9 and 10 always felt hard on my shoulders. Out of those 8, I am probably adding 5lb on 5-6 of the sessions, and staying at the same weight on a couple. That really only applies to a normal edge hold for me. On pinches and tiny edges, the weight doesn't go up that much. I might be able to add 15lb over the cycle on those.

I have always structured my order of grips to have the hold using the heaviest added weight as my first set, the most dangerous feeling one (typically middle-ring combo) second, and the pinches last. My reasoning here is that I want the weight that challenges my shoulder girdle early so I'm not already fatigued and can keep good alignment and not be hanging off slack shoulders, and I want to be fresh when on something that feels like it has any injury potential.

The result of that order is that with the smaller holds and pinches last, and having usually added weight on the larger holds from the prior workout, I am somewhat fatigued by the time I get to them and can't add weight as often. Those holds are also more affected by subtle things like temp, humidity, and "liftoff" (trying to keep the weights from swinging you off the hold).

I have good training logs, but as I got stronger I switched the holds I used and the boards I used many times, so I might have tracked gains on the same hold/board for a couple years at most before switching. Since 2007 I've used five different boards. I tend to do 3 cycles per year, one in late Dec/early Jan, one in April or May, one in Aug. Two of those three are when conditions are worst for climbing outside. The other is a compromise and depends on where my spring goals are located.

So just throwing some my 2¢ around...

You guys told me do 10secs on, 5secs off etc.

I typed it into my interval timer as 7sec rests because I thought 5 seemed ridic. And in seven seconds I can't: take my hands off, shake them once, and get them back on the board. Let alone trying to chalk.

But literally, seeing the screen flash and telling myself to put my feet down, take hands off, lower them below my heart, quick shake, raise them back up and get them aligned where I want on the board. It's seven seconds strong and seems rushed. Are you guys advocating the 5 sec rests, timing yourself how I am or just eyeballin' a clock?