Hangboarding in the full crimp position

UKBouldering.com

Help Support UKBouldering.com:

There’s no harm in finger-boarding full crimp if you’re used to crimping.

Fifteen years of finger-boarding and training on a board had ‘trained’ me to prefer half-crimp over full crimp; and I found that outside on limestone I was subconsciously half crimping everything instead of utilising the full power of the full crimp that I used a lot before I stared finger-boarding.
So in recent years I always perform a few hangs at full crimp at the end of my warmup during every f-board session, to remind myself how to full crimp!
 
I full crimp reluctantly too, but working on a problem at the moment where you have to full crump a hold to hang it, so have included some full crimping in training for the first time in a while.
 
There’s truth in the saying: don’t use it, you lose it.
I know Buster did a few posts about training full crimp on his Instagram some time back.
Ned’s book, beastmaking also covers full crimp training too.


I’ve never been competent at full crimping. But started using full crimp on easier boulder problems once warmed up (Especially on the Moonboard) help my confidence and competence with the full crimp.
Over time, I increased to intensity of problems using the full crimp. A simple principle of increasing intensity to create gains.

IMO: The mental aspect of full crimping with confidence shouldn’t be over looked.
 
It's quite funny to see that most people don't like crimping. When I'm climbing something fairly hard, I will look to crimp everything, to utilize my best grip. In this video I take a second on moves 2 and 3 to find the correct part of the hold - they are slopers, but I'm searching for a slight ripple on each hold to full crimp. As soon as I learnt to grip the holds this way, I was locked in and the problem was dispatched shortly afterwards (great Bonjoy boulder by the way!).

There are downsides to crimping everything. Achy fingers aside, I find it can sometimes limit the mobility of my shoulders in certain positions, and it tends to reduce how hard I can pull with the biceps in comparison with an open grip. Clearly, being well rounded is the best approach. It seems most of you have to consciously add crimping into board sessions, whereas I generally ban myself from crimping on the board!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjXPKrxB9DI
 
OT - as another "crimp everything" climber, I wonder if it's affected my wrist stability on slopers - engaging the thumb with the wrist in flexion naturally stabilises it, whereas on large slopers with the wrist in extension my wrist feels very unstable to the point of subluxing (don't know if this is the right word) and stopping me doing certain moves. I find it very hard to train open without my wrist(s) feeling like I'm damaging them somehow.
 
Duma said:
OT - as another "crimp everything" climber, I wonder if it's affected my wrist stability on slopers - engaging the thumb with the wrist in flexion naturally stabilises it, whereas on large slopers with the wrist in extension my wrist feels very unstable to the point of subluxing (don't know if this is the right word) and stopping me doing certain moves. I find it very hard to train open without my wrist(s) feeling like I'm damaging them somehow.

Make a large diameter wrist wrench?
 
It's a training device to build wrist strength. It's fairly easily to make one with PVC pipe, griptape and straps. A large diameter pipe would make it so that the position of the fingers somewhat replicates a large sloper.

Random youtube video showing how they work, note which side the straps are on causing it to rotate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=839UJXWw4VA
 
Liamhutch89 said:
It's quite funny to see that most people don't like crimping. When I'm climbing something fairly hard, I will look to crimp everything,...

On steep routes absolutely every hold is a jug until you hit mid/high eights
 
I've no doubt crimping on a hangboard is a good idea and the pinky can be trained in a crimp position but can you train getting into that position?

Has anyone gone from being unable to get their pinky into that position without use of their other hand (therefore totally useless when climbing) to being able to crimp with their pinky?

My hand when crimping: https://photos.app.goo.gl/MPPrLEHhZXFAtnjm9
 
I did pinky monos with a mono pick up device and super low load to begin with (as Dan V detailed arouns the start of covid on the fingerboarding thread?), had to force my pinkies into the position to begin with, then recruitment pulls when warming up at the crag, and now I can do hangs on a fingerboard at bodyweight as described above. Hope that helps.
 
YorkshireTea said:
I've no doubt crimping on a hangboard is a good idea and the pinky can be trained in a crimp position but can you train getting into that position?

Has anyone gone from being unable to get their pinky into that position without use of their other hand (therefore totally useless when climbing) to being able to crimp with their pinky?

My hand when crimping: https://photos.app.goo.gl/MPPrLEHhZXFAtnjm9

Hanging back two crimp at sub bodyweight loads will likely be helpful in this regard. You'll be able to get the position right and then load it carefully as much as feels reasonable.
 
Bradders said:
YorkshireTea said:

That's bizarre! Sorry but is that really the position your pinky sits in when under tension?

Just doesnt make sense to me, I don't understand how you could be resisting tension with the joints at that angle.

Yeah that's the position with front three in a high angle crimp. Means it feels like I'm getting absolutely nothing from the pinky but I physically can't get it into another position

I'll try monos or back two with very light load and try push the pinky into the right position. I'm also doing some high angle crimp no-hang hangs as I'm willing to accept my pinky won't ever get into the position and I'll always be weaker at angles above half crimp but want to increase front three crimp strength for when I need it
 
YorkshireTea said:
Yeah that's the position with front three in a high angle crimp. Means it feels like I'm getting absolutely nothing from the pinky but I physically can't get it into another position

Exactly the same for me. I struggle to change this position to a more 'conventional' crimp, even when using the other hand to fix the joint angles of my pinky.
Always put it down to my anatomy and somehow learned to live with it. Curious if it can actually be fixed.

On a side note, I've always wondered if this difference between the fingers is in part responsible for developing notable Dupuytren lumps between ring-fingers and pinkies...
 
SA Chris said:
you mean as a result of DC, or responsible for DC?
Responsible for DC, as the movement of the tendons will vastly differ between ring finger and pinky when latching a hold open and rolling into a crimp position (or when the fingers open up). I imagine that this could lead to some notable shear forces in the palm. I don't know; maybe it is just utter nonsense...
 
knollchri said:
I don't know; maybe it is just utter nonsense...

Fear it might be. From DC groups I have followed on FB etc, there seems to be very little / no link at all between any activity and DC, least of all the position you hold a finger in.
 
The link to the finger position might be indeed.

SA Chris said:
...there seems to be very little / no link at all between any activity and DC,...
I feel must disagree with the lack of link between activity and DC though. Anecdotally, I have seen a cohort of very active climbers (education for trainers in Austria) with average age of ~25 years, where around one third had developed DC (which is clearly way higher than normal for this age-group). Some hand-surgeons that work closely together with climbing federations also confirmed the observation that there is a much higher occurrence of DC in climbers than in non-climbers.
I just don't think that there is enough research being done to get a clear picture yet. Anyway, I hope that I did not divert from the actual topic of the thread too much...
 


Write your reply...
Back
Top