[Concretesnail]

hi
im fresh into bouldering and need to work on my grip strength. having done some reading it seems that fingerboads are the way to go to add to my tennis ball squeezing.

I have in in the mind to build a board to save a few quid and as i have the materials and router kit to cut the holds.
what i dont have, and hope some kind folks will help with, is the dimensions of holds which i will need and layout help.

im planning a board roughly 650x250x60mm with two rows of holds, jugs on top with a slope inbetween.

if someone can give me some idea of depth and height of the holds and advice if spacing is crucial. so far my ideas for layouts are;



top edge;      jug                                  slope                              jug
upper row;  shallow hold      deep hold         deephold         shallow hold
lower row;   deep hold        shallow hold     shallow hold        deep hold


i hope that makes sense and that someone can help.

[Monolith]

If you're fresh on the scene and raring to go, just get yourself to the wall three times a week, get involved with the outside scene and climb principally open-handed on jugs and half-crimped on edges (break in slowly and get ready for years and years for gains to ever develop).

You absolutely don't need to be worrying about fingerboarding at this point if you're new to the sport completely. Tendons and ligaments take a lot of time to develop fully and I'll guarantee you'll get bored of the sport ten minutes after your fingerboard has been up if you come to see this is all there is to getting better at climbing.

Try climbing on the vertical bouldering wall by looking just once at the wall and then only at your feet when climbing. Avoid the common mistake of the beginner in trying to haul yourself up the wall. Watch loads of old Johnny Dawes footage. Talk to your more experienced peers at the wall. Warm up the big muscles thoroughly (ALWAYS) before getting even close to 70%+ of your max effort. Trawl through this forum for a few evenings a week and you'll soon pick up far more useful information than you thought. You'll only be wasting your time procuring a potential injury at this point.

[masonwoods101]

  build up technique and experience first

[Nibile]

 
Absolutely. No need for fingerboarding or any other kind of hyper-specific training: it's a recipe for injuries, bad technique and boredom (you can't flirt with the girls while fingerboarding on your own).
Now that there are wonderful climbing walls all around (except Italy), get yourself to one of them two or three times a week.
Climb on many different angles and on different kind of holds: if you vary a lot your sessions, you'll get better very easily and you'll be able to train on multiple days still feeling fresh-ish.
Stop strong.

[rosmat]

..... it seems that fingerboads are the way to go to add to my balls squeezing.

Sounds kinda sore and unessecary..... 

[Concretesnail]

Thanks for the relies guys. He reason for wanting to graba finger board is that it isn't possible for me to get to the wall between work and family commitments and it would be a way for me to work on my weakest area, grip strength, in the short windows of time I have.

[Moo]

In that case a fingerboard may not be too bad of an idea. Be seriously careful tough don't fire into it at full tilt, build up very very slowly and progressively, allowing time for adaption and recovery which will be a lot longer at first as your new to it. Also your new to climbing so it's worth investing in someone else's hard won experience otherwise you will end up with a finger destroying machine. I would advise that you look at one of these.

http://www.beastmaker.co.uk/collections/products/products/beastmaker-1000-series

[Nibile]

Also your new to climbing so it's worth investing in someone else's hard won experience otherwise you will end up with a finger destroying machine. I would advise that you look at one of these.

http://www.beastmaker.co.uk/collections/products/products/beastmaker-1000-series

Exactly. I was about to post that. I've used self-made fingerboards for years, and I only started truly progressing when I bought a Beastmaker. It's money well spent.

[Concretesnail]

The beast 1000 is what I had looked at in terms of copying its types of hold shape. Simple rounded rectangular with depths of  20mm 40mm and 30 degree slope. I would be using it for short steady hangs to start with nothing nutty. I want to be able to keep my eye in and slowly increase my finger strength.

[Concretesnail]

bit of an update. ive built a jig an fitted it which will allow me to mount a variety of boards . ive slid a hang bar into the frame too. im giving a moon board a run but am also looking at beast 1000 boards to try and make a decision either way.