Correct use of grips for campus and fingerboards

[Simon Lee]

I'd like to know which grip is fundamentally stronger, in terms of biomechanics.

For me it's easier to hang beneath a hold open handed than crimped. When it comes to moving off a hold I find it doesn't make too much difference if I'm moving dynamically, but if I have to lock deep then I have to crimp. When open handing your palm is parallel to the rock, when you're locking lower than shoulder height the wrist angle makes this difficult to maintain.
When the going gets tough a crimp for me always feels the most secure, probably because I've wrapped my thumb over.

 

[abarro81]

I think youll get a lot of transfer half crimp to crimp. As for it being harder to hold than a crimp - that's partlywhy gresham was saying its better training.

If you want to be able to climb well outside of British lime then you'll need to train all grip types anyway. Even in Britain, land of the crimp, its occasionally necessary to half crimp (think slots, pinches etc) so well worth training.

For me I tend to think that I do plenty of crimping and half crimping outside and on the wave so most of my fingerboarding is open. I campus with a 'natural' grip, which is open except for my mid finger

I still don't think it matters which is 'fundamentally stronger'. It sounds to me like you just want an excuse to crimp all the time :shrug:

 

[Sasquatch]

I'd like to know which grip is fundamentally stronger, in terms of biomechanics.

The one that suits the hold and move you are using/doing.

Every hold and every move is slightly different, so expecting perfect transference from the board is unrealistic. A half-crimp has the most transference across both open hand and closed crimp and is least likely to injure, hence the recommendation for training using a half-crimp.

Any other questions....

 

[Dylan]

I've been injured both both with crimped/half crimped and open handed. The injuries were all different. Fancy that!

 

[rodma]

I've been injured both both with crimped/half crimped and open handed. The injuries were all different. Fancy that!

That's just ridiculous, you should have taken the opportunity to let go when using the other grip types, unless of course you injured yourself hitting the ground

 

[douglas]

Thanks for the advice.

 

[psychomansam]

heehee

http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=67550

Read the answer to the second question!

hmy:

 

[rodma]

:clap2:

awesome that, I've tried those in the past, but never without my fingers feeling dangerously fudgy afterwards. I'd love to be able to do them again.

 

[slackline]

That first picture is brilliant!

 

[miso soup]

fftopic: but I was more interested in the bit after that:

"I started to straighten up my body. Actually I was hunched. I thought because of my backside muscles got too big since I started climbing, I wanted keep my chest and body open to extending my reach. But it took a year to get better."

How do you do this? I thought hunched shoulders were an inevitable part of being a climber. I generally do some shoulder opening stretches after a session but I'd resigned myself to it never being enough to counteract all the hours of squeezing beforehand.

 

[Simon Lee]

fftopic: but I was more interested in the bit after that:

"I started to straighten up my body. Actually I was hunched. I thought because of my backside muscles got too big since I started climbing, I wanted keep my chest and body open to extending my reach. But it took a year to get better."

How do you do this? I thought hunched shoulders were an inevitable part of being a climber. I generally do some shoulder opening stretches after a session but I'd resigned myself to it never being enough to counteract all the hours of squeezing beforehand.

It is a good idea to correct not just to improve reach but also as an injury prevention strategy as postural problems can place awkward loads elsewhere and shoulder imbalances may contribute to elbow injuries. This can be done via specific stretches, working on your posture and strengthening certain underdeveloped muscles though it won't happen overnight.

A good article on the subject of correcting kyphosis for bodybuilders who are also prone to suffering from the same condition.

Yoga or pilates can be a less focussed route to achieve the same goal.

 

[T_B]

On Sunday I tore my first pulley (ring finger) in 26 years of climbing .

Did it indoors, half crimped.

 

[Johnny Brown]

How do you do this? I thought hunched shoulders were an inevitable part of being a climber.

Press-ups, basically. Though yoga will do a lot more for your back health generally, whilst incorporating lots of press-up type manoeuvers.

 

[andi_e]

Also good for alleviating elbow pains I find.

 

[quiffhanger]

Also good for alleviating elbow pains I find.

Second that. I used to find elbow pain quite limiting when training. I now and try do roughly 2 press ups for every chin-up I do: anecdotally seem to have helped quite a lot.

In Sean McColl's training vid he does them in a very specific elbows-in kinda way. Not sure why...

-ross

 

[rich d]

Don't elbows in, hands together pressups work the triceps more?

 

[a dense loner]

Please someone just do some press ups, start worrying about subtleties later

 

[Muenchener]

Please someone just do some press ups, start worrying about subtleties later

OK. Did 3 sets today alternating with sets of overhead squats (narrow grip with broomstick) in an attempt to do something about my woeful upper back / shoulder mobility.

In my younger days I used to pull-ups and no or very few press-ups, and had continually sore shoulders. A while ago I started doing pull-ups again but always did the same number of dips, and my shoulders were absolutely fine.

Now I get sore elbows from bouldering, so press-ups.

 

[Sasquatch]

Please someone just do some press ups, start worrying about subtleties later

I do 55 every morning

I do a descending pryamid set from 10 almost every morning of Pressups, Situps, and lunges... It equals out to 55 of each. Gets me going in the morning....

 

[EDDIES]

Please someone just do some (Insert basic exercise), start worrying about subtleties later

That sentence applies to almost all threads under the training and injuries tab!