[Aussiegav]

So,
I have weak fingers.
Been using a fingerboard for twice a week on average for 2 years. I weigh 85kg. Since April 2018,  I’ve gone from not being able to half crimp a 20mm edge at body weight to now body weight plus 18kg for 10secs.

Whilst I’ve managed to maintain healthy fingers, I think these aren’t great gains. Certainly not the massive gains that others have stated.   

 I’ve been wondering it would be better to do two hard limit bouldering board sessions and either; dropping the fingerboard sessions or just one finger board session a week? (Probably a density hang session).

[jwi]

Depending on your age, training history and other things these could be pretty good gains.

I would be insanely happy for such gains 🤷🏼‍♂️ in just two years.

[remus]

Depending on your age, training history and other things these could be pretty good gains.

Yes, going up 18kg in 2 years is pretty good progress for the majority of people. I think the general thinking with fingerboarding (and finger strength in general) is that it's a slow builder, so the key is to keep plugging away over the course of years. I think it's important to mix up your fingerboarding so the stimulus doesn't get stale, though. Swapping between max hangs, density hangs, different grip types etc. helps to keep it interesting.

Having said that board sessions are probably a good thing to add in to the mix. It's a much more dynamic exercise (vs. fingerboarding which is very isometric) and is very specific, so you'll get good transfer of board strength to climbing.

[nai]

After the same initial gains I appear to have maxed out my gains.

A couple of years ago I decided to swap deadhang sessions for board sessions.

Benchmarked beforehand and retested afterwards.

The result was the same sort of gains in finger strength I'd expect to see over a fingerboard block but contact strength, power, technique and a zillion other apects of my climbing were far better. 

Plus it was obviously more fun

I did try a dedicated fingerboard programme again during lockdown thinking if I started with Andersons and went from there maybe that would help but I wasn't making too many gains then got injured.

[Aussiegav]

Depending on your age, training history and other things these could be pretty good gains.

I would be insanely happy for such gains 🤷🏼‍♂️ in just two years.

48 in 2021.
Had a massive break from serious climbing 2003 and returned in 2018. So was like starting from scratch again.


That’s a relief to think these are good gains.  Suppose it’s managing expectations, having patience  & trying not to reflect on what I used to do.

[Fultonius]

It's probably worth remembering that a lot of the numbers posted on here may include the initial "bump" you seem to get when first starting weighted hangs.

Was your bodyweight initial test what you could do day one, or what you could do after a bit of getting used to doing hangs?

I remember in April when I first started doing weighted hangs, I quickly jumped 10-15kg, but that was really me just getting used to doing it and getting closer to my actual max ability at the time. After that, it was a lot more slow and gradual.

That said, mixing it up is always good when you plateau.

[tomtom]

I’m 51 and I’d be chuffed with those gains oldfella.

But also echo what Nai said - since building a board in March (50 deg and a bit) with lots of small but positive crimps - I’ve stopped finger boarding.

Not benchmarked any gains like Nai - but I get the same finger ache after a session from the board and it builds all sorts of other strenths too.

And it’s much less dull.... all that counting to 7... 😁

[gme]

I’m old school and think fingerboard should be supplementary. If you have the choice go for a board session every time.
You can do both quite well. Max hangs to warm up.

[T_B]

A lot depends on the steepness of the board. Over 40 degrees and in my experience you’re not training finger strength as well as you would on a 20 - 30 degree board.

Also, what’s your natural grip? I’d find it very hard to force half crimp on a board when I naturally chisel my (relatively) short index finger.

Are you already decent in other areas on a board?

Minimum 3 sessions pw for me deadhanging to see any gains.

[teestub]

I think on steeper boards you’re just training a different sort of finger and hand strength than you are in more vertical boards. It’s certainly still east to set problems you can’t do because you can’t hang onto the holds, rather than because the moves are too big. On less steep boards to set relatively difficult problems you end up having to use v small or slopey holds so the whole affair becomes a lot more conditions dependent.

[T_B]

What do you mean by “a different sort of finger strength”? Surely finger strength is pretty basic and boils down to open/half crimp/crimp/pockets. I have a 60 degree board in my garage with mainly crimps on it, but I still end up dragging them, as that’s my natural/default prehension.

[teestub]

When climbing on steeper boards I find there’s a lot more opposition thumb action going on that on shallower angle boards, which are more thumb over crimping or dragging (away from pure pinches at both angles obviously). This seems to put your wrist and hands in different positions and I’m not sure the strength is directly transferable.

I can’t imagine trying to force an unnatural hand position whilst climbing on a board, I’m not even sure about forcing a 90 degree first finger on the fingerboard if your natural position is straight, particularly if one is also training full crimp.

[T_B]

I think those with a long history of training need to force themselves out of natural grip positions to make appreciable gains. The idea of just pulling harder on your natural grip only takes you so far. My index fingers are relatively weak, forcing them into 90 degrees doesn’t feel ‘bad’ and definitely improves my overall grip strength when forced to crimp or pull on awkward holds outside. The problem with most indoor wooden holds is that you can virtually always get your thumb on. I don’t think getting your thumbs on is good for improving finger strength.

[tomtom]

Depends on the holds shirley?

On mine I have very incut 13-15mm crimps - that I tend to open /half crimp and single pad 16-20mm rounded holds - that on a 50 are effectively15-20 degree single pad slopers. These can make you climb quite differently - either open hand hang under them or more powerfully crimp the back edge.

Depends what you want from your finger strength? 6 or 10mm micros will help your pex/ ratty lime edges - on a slopey crimp you have to pull really hard in a different way... I think!!

[nai]

6 or 10mm micros will help your pex/ ratty lime edges

but not 8, totally useless

[tomtom]

6 or 10mm micros will help your pex/ ratty lime edges

but not 8, totally useless

Ideal for Harmers :p 😁

[Aussiegav]

Thanks everyone for the contributions.
All the best to you all for the festive season and 2021.

[shark]

The problem with most indoor wooden holds is that you can virtually always get your thumb on. I don’t think getting your thumbs on is good for improving finger strength.

The thumb is a finger and less semantically thumb strength is important.

[Paul B]

But you can't squeeze everything and on steep boards, you can get your thumb on almost anything!

[tomtom]

The problem with most indoor wooden holds is that you can virtually always get your thumb on. I don’t think getting your thumbs on is good for improving finger strength.

The thumb is a finger and less semantically thumb strength is important.

I had a conversation like this with my 4 1/2 year old last week. “Dad, how come I can I have five fingers on my hand when I count them I have a thumb and four fingers?”

[shark]

But you can't squeeze everything and on steep boards, you can get your thumb on almost anything!

So from a training point of view that’s a good thing

[Duma]

suspect the comma would have better placed after everything, if Paul meant what I think he did.

[teestub]

But you can't squeeze everything and on steep boards, you can get your thumb on almost anything!

There’s often thumbs on steep stuff outside, and there’s often crimps it’s easier to thumb over bone down on steep boards. Obviously a good board will have a variety of options, and if you had a particular project with a particular type of hold it should be easy to replicate.

[Bradders]

The problem with most indoor wooden holds is that you can virtually always get your thumb on. I don’t think getting your thumbs on is good for improving finger strength.

The thumb is a finger and less semantically thumb strength is important.

Agree. You use your thumbs most of the time when you go outside (or I do anyway, in one way or another), so why restrict their usage in training?

I think the only reason not to is to reduce reliance on full crimp and hopefully reduce injury risk, but even that has issues.

[remus]

Not sure if this is the point t_b was trying to make, but on some of the boards I've used there's an over abundance of Jenga block style crimps, where you can use your thumb on the short end of the crimp or you can get a bit of pinch action on it. In my experience this is significantly easier than an equivalent sized edge where you can't get any thumb action on the go, and if you use the holds a lot then you can become over reliant on the thumb. It can be a bit of a shock when you then get outside and feel weak on holds just because you can't get the thumb involved.

As always, the key is keeping a bit of variety so you don't become overly specialised in a single style of hold.