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Campus board vs Moon board

Original Post
Mark E Dixon · · Possunt, nec posse videntur · Joined Nov 2007 · Points: 974

Curious if anybody has some thoughts on their relative merits.

I tend to hit a plateau pretty quickly on the campus board and have never really been convinced it helps my climbing. Although I do enjoy it.

I can finally get off the ground on the Moon board and was thinking about dropping  campusing for it.

Don't think I have enough recovery ability to do both.

Charlie S · · NV · Joined Aug 2007 · Points: 2,391

I've largely replaced campusing with a Moon Board, mostly for skin issues (the campus board consistently splits my skin).  They both train power, though the Moon Board I'd argue is more specific to climbing.  Be mindful of left-right balance and find problems which complement each side.

The campus board is great if you have a hard time just "letting go" during your climbing, and it's very easy to quantify progress.

In a perfect world, a mixture of both is probably a good idea.

David K · · The Road, Sometimes Chattan… · Joined Jan 2017 · Points: 423
Nivel Egres wrote:

I have not been on one for a while, but last I did, it felt like a perfect sport-specific power workout. Really wish we had one around here.

Rumor has it the new Steep Rock location will have a Moon Board. I'm not sure the validity of that rumor, but I've heard it from more than one person.

Peter Beal · · Boulder Colorado · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 1,825

The Moon Board is just a small woodie with okay holds. Nothing particularly magic about it. A campus board is a specific tool for a purpose. Consider them basically unrelated.

Ryan Palo · · Bend, oregon · Joined Aug 2006 · Points: 605

I'll 2nd Peter Beal on this one. The campus board serves a purpose: Max Rec. I really dont know of a better method for that. I will say the moonboard if used in a systematic manner is amazing. I've been careful to note each of the types of moves that have caused me issue while climbing on the MB. I take each of these and save them in a related list, targeting a specific weakness. For instance, I noticed that my left undercling is fairly weak vs my right. Confirmed that with weights later on. Then incorporated this into my training regime. 

John Bigroom · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2017 · Points: 0

I just started to do both. 

Campusing once or twice a week with biggest rails.

Very first I was campusing the 0-2 and 2-0 moves separately. Felt very very hard and Icould just slap the target rail. Second session and I could catch and match the moves. On third session the 0-2-0’s went pretty easy and I could done it five times on both sides. Fourth session and moves went with 5kg weight vest on! Whoa!

Well, I think all that progress was just first lessons how to coordinate my existing strength on campus. Now starts the real work I guess. 1-3-1 anyone?

I have been climbing on MB for awhile and 6B+s goes now pretty well and I could flash several already. The first 6C+ went a few weeks ago. I haven’t tryany of those original school hold problems yet. Feels still way too fingery.

Lets see if campusing help me to send Hard times 7A benchmark problem with in this year.

evan h · · Longmont, CO · Joined Oct 2012 · Points: 360

I use both. While the MB is obviously more sport specific, the throwy-ness and constant high feet and hand-foot matches are a little less specific than some standard gym problems. However, the movement style is generally highly powerful, and because the problems are nails hard, actually forces limit bouldering for me.

reboot · · . · Joined Jul 2006 · Points: 125

Campusing gives me medial epicondylitis and MBing irritates my finger/wrist extensors & both irritates my finger joints.

I'm not convinced campusing is much more than a specialized technique wrapped around pull (+some push) & finger strength: it really isn't that useful to do very often.

MB does train a (reasonably large) subset of steep climbing movements and will exercise your pull strength plenty. The holds may not be that special, but being able to off-load the brain cycles of making up problems that targets a weakness you may not even know existed is quite valuable. 

Peter Beal · · Boulder Colorado · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 1,825

@Nigel "the ratings are consensus" hahahaha, not even close. I wish! MB ratings are all over the place.

I am not a huge fan of the moon board because the holds are not that great, the board is tiny and the lack of feet reduces everything past roughly V6 to jumping and hand-foot matching.  IMO, part of the popularity of them is the decline in effective power problem setting in gym bouldering with the new emphasis on slopers and parkour setting. Takeaway: if you like a certain style of bouldering you're going to like a Moon Board

A campus board OTOH is a much more systematic, measurable and potentially effective training tool for a specific and very useful kind of strength.

Brendan Blanchard · · Boulder, CO · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 590

Agreed with Peter and Evan. The Moonboard is a very particular style and for some reason, the focus is almost entirely on long moves with out of the way, or hiked/matched feet, which just isn't as common or efficient as you'd think in real climbing. If you need to execute the least number of moves with the least holds, it'll certainly help you with that, but aside from finding it demoralizing and frustrating, I think it compromises on sport specificity from limit bouldering, and compromises on max recruitment training from campusing. 

Needless to say, I'm not a very big fan and I'm still pretty salty that Movement Boulder dismantled their systems board (great for technique and targeting exact movement weaknesses, per Ryan's post), and put up a Moonboard in it's place. That said, if you were to have a single training (for bouldering) item in a limited space, it would be a good value on that end. But, assuming you go to a regular gym with all these available, I think campusing and limit bouldering offer a better overall training experience/gain.

Peter Beal · · Boulder Colorado · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 1,825
Dana Bartlett wrote:

Peter, you wrote (in part) ". . . a specific and very useful kind of strength." 

What type of strength are you referring to?

The ability to lock off a flat edge relatively independently from your lower hand and then reach as far as possible to a higher hold

reboot · · . · Joined Jul 2006 · Points: 125
Peter Beal wrote:

The ability to lock off a flat edge relatively independently from your lower hand and then reach as far as possible to a higher hold

On a near vertical wall without any feet? Not to mention people who are good at it (on the campus board) fully utilizes the lower hand. Still, I'm not sure how it's specialized in ways besides having strong fingers and enough 1 arm pull strength.

Peter Beal · · Boulder Colorado · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 1,825
reboot wrote:

On a near vertical wall without any feet? Not to mention people who are good at it (on the campus board) fully utilizes the lower hand. Still, I'm not sure how it's specialized in ways besides having strong fingers and enough 1 arm pull strength.

"Still, I'm not sure how it's specialized in ways besides having strong fingers and enough 1 arm pull strength."


That's exactly what I want. I can't imagine anything more useful for hard rock climbing

reboot · · . · Joined Jul 2006 · Points: 125
Peter Beal wrote:

"Still, I'm not sure how it's specialized in ways besides having strong fingers and enough 1 arm pull strength."


That's exactly what I want. I can't imagine anything more useful for hard rock climbing

Me too (well the stronger fingers part). I guess what I'm trying to get at is you can train those 2 aspects independently.

Peter Beal · · Boulder Colorado · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 1,825
reboot wrote:

Me too (well the stronger fingers part). I guess what I'm trying to get at is you can train those 2 aspects independently.

You could do that but I think linking them together in a measurable way is very useful. I tend to be weaker in the lock-off side of the equation so I need to get schooled on a regular basis :)

Peter Beal · · Boulder Colorado · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 1,825
Dana Bartlett wrote:

That makes sense. 

This is is just belaboring the unanswerable question of the importance of technique versus strength - but do you look at campusing as primarily a movement training tool or a strength exercise? 

Movement-wise it's very limited though definitely helpful in developing accuracy in deadpointing. I would regard it primarily as strength training.

Squeak · · Perth West OZ · Joined Feb 2016 · Points: 21
Dana Bartlett wrote:

That makes sense. 

This is is just belaboring the unanswerable question of the importance of technique versus strength - but do you look at campusing as primarily a movement training tool or a strength exercise? 

Both, to effectively make the moves you need the strength

PCowan · · Loveland, Co · Joined Jul 2013 · Points: 5

I have a moonboard in my garage, hangboard in the basement and I find myself almost only using the moonboard just because it's more fun.

I think the hangboard may yield greater specific finger strength gains but the moonboard is also great for that too. I've added some non moon holds that I incorporate into problems which helps tremendously with variety of style.

Lena chita · · OH · Joined Mar 2011 · Points: 1,667
Dana Bartlett wrote:

That makes sense. 

This is is just belaboring the unanswerable question of the importance of technique versus strength - but do you look at campusing as primarily a movement training tool or a strength exercise? 

Campusing is not a strength exercise -- it's a power exercise. And it can be a movement training tool, too, especially if you are bad at this sort of movement. But rarely do you need to campus on an actual route-- sometimes, but very rarely. It is mostly a power training tool

John Bigroom · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2017 · Points: 0

Hi, 

Thanks to the Campus-Moon training combination,

I send today my very first whole yellow problem on 40deg Moon. 3rd try. 

(edit) 

And I think it is at least a 6C with that size holds on 40deg board. 

Sometimes it feels more like a 'Train hard, climb harder and then downgrade even harder!' ;)

Lena chita · · OH · Joined Mar 2011 · Points: 1,667
Dana Bartlett wrote:

When someone is doing campus exercises physical work is being done, and it seems that improvement in climbing can be made. But I never really understood the rationales for campusing - and I say that with an attitude that is questioning, not disputatious. It has been touted as a plyometric exercise (which it could be), yet even if it was/could be,I never found evidence that plyometrics increase strength. It has been recommended as a way to increase contact strength - but what is contact strength? And some people say it increases speed of recruitment but (and I may be dense) 1: I don't see why this would be helpful, and; 2: Would exercise physiology principles support campusing as a form of exercise that would increase speed of recruitment? 

I think there is some difference in the terminology that you and I are using.

Plyomentrics (and campusing as a specific example of plyometrics) have the goal of increasing POWER, not strength. It is confusing, because some people use the term "speed-strength" instead of power, and I think that is where you are coming from... And yes, in terms of biology, exercise that train power increases/synchronizes the muscle fiber recruitment.

Power, in terms of physics, is force times distance over time. E.i. exercises that train/improve power are exercises in which muscles exert maximum force in short intervals of time over relatively long distance, think dynamic moves, jumping etc. There are two main ways to do this for climbers -- limit bouldering, and campusing. And more specifically, I am talking about campusing meant as training the longest moves you can possibly make, or almost make, and not just a ladder of going up/down 1-2-3-4-5-6-7, over and over, the way a lot of bro's like to do it.


I think campusing can increase contact strength, but that is not the main goal of campusing. Hangboard will do a lot more for contact strength. And the other thing that campusing does is train timing/precision of latching a small edge.

As to why would it be useful for climbing? Well, any time you need to make a long deadpoint move, power comes in handy, and if you are going for a small hold that you need to latch precisely... there it is.

Personal experience: For a very long time, I scoffed at campusing as a gimmicky activity relatively unimportant for everyday climbers like myself, and I was able to climb 5.12 without ever campusing, so clearly it was not necessary! I was also really really bad at campusing, but that had clearly had no effect on my opinion!   
I started campusing, reluctantly, when I started doing periodization training with RCTM plan, because it was part of the plan, and I was determined to follow it fully. I have quickly improved in my campusing, and my climbing has also improved. I am still rather bad at campusing, and it seems to de-train much faster than strength OR endurance aspect for me. But I can tell the difference in my climbing when I'm at the end of the power stage. That is the time to get on routes that have long powerful dynamic moves -- and as a short midget, there are lots of routes like that out there for me, even if other people do not consider them power routes... So there's my rationale.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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