Hanging in there

Stronger fingers make for stronger climbers.

And by using hangboards, climbers of all ages, including my fellow seniors, can increase the strength of their fingers and grips at home—without having to break the piggy bank.

Hangboards, generally made out of wood or grit-impregnated plastic, usually include a variety of shapes and sizes of holds to hang on.

They’re great off-season training devices for climbers who don’t have access to indoor climbing gyms or don’t want to climb indoors. They are also good options for climbers who are trying to minimize their potential exposures to Covid-19 and other viral contagions.

I’ve been using hangboards regularly recently to try to get back into reasonable climbing shape in the wake of suffering a shoulder separation during a bikepacking accident more than a year ago.

Here’s some intel based on my personal experience:

First, the holds on some commercially available hangboards are too small and challenging to be of much use to anybody other than a small elite of rockclimbing superstars.

Second, to avoid debilitating injury, warm up thoroughly before every hangboarding session—and don’t push the envelope on smaller holds until you are really up for the challenge.

Third, wood hangboards are a lot easier on the fingertips than grit-impregnated plastic ones.

Fourth, there’s no need to spend a small fortune on a hangboard.

On the latter point: After many years of getting nowhere on a series of expensive plastic boards, I finally salvaged my current go-to favorite from a scrap heap in the garage.

My favorite board is just a board

It’s a 28-inch-long piece of 2”x 4” that I screwed into a beam in the basement. Cost: zero.

It’s so easy on my fingers that I have been using it regularly for more than a month now, and I can tell that my fingers are getting stronger.

As my fingers get even stronger, I will start adding weight to my climbing harness to add to my hanging load.

I’ve been using my homemade board every other day, doing ten sets of two ten-second hangs, with ten seconds between the reps and a four-minute rest between sets.

Afterward, I run through a set of slopers, edges and pinches on one of the plastic boards.

I plan to maintain the drill through the winter.

How well this program works won’t be known for sure until spring, when I hope to resume climbing outdoors on real rock.

In the meantime, I will be hanging out a lot in the basement.

Sticker shock on this one

My favorite plastic hangboard. So iLL Iron Palm. Good slopers, edges and pinches. A new wood version of this looks particularly interesting.