Let’s start with the obvious complaint that hangboard training, for all its merits, is simply not climbing.  Just as the climbing gym is not the same as climbing on real rock, the hangboard is just an attempt to recreate but never an exact copy.  The hangboard has one direction to pull; straight down.  It is hard for me to think of route or boulder problem that only pulls in one direction with your wrists in perfect alignment with the forearm.  In climbing we pull sideways, diagonally, undercling, squeeze, gaston, stack fingers, finger lock, and a whole host of body positions that are far from neutral.  These positions and directions of stress are difficult, if not impossible, to recreate with a hangboard.  The controlled setting of the hangboard allows us to keep it safe and progressive, but being a static loading platform it takes away the dynamic loading of moving to a hold, unless you are actually jumping to your board or campusing between holds.

Couple the fact that we are losing the connection between our feet and core to our arms and hands, it does not train the shifting of weight and the effect that has on our perception of how good or bad a hold may be.  The small rung on my board may feel like a nightmare to hang on so I don’t or can’t train on it, but give me feet and I’m on there for days.  Conversely, you could incredibly comfortable on a hold from your board, but put it on a wall with a slight overhang or change its orientation and it suddenly becomes impossible.  It can get frustrating because it feels like all that training was completely for naught.  It could disrupt your actual technique altogether and you might find yourself trending toward an entirely upper body and burly approach rather than a comprehensive approach to your lingering project.  The important thing to remember is that the hangboard is just another tool in the box.  It has its place and its use, but even if you have seen gains over the last weeks, dial it down a notch when you return to bring the pieces together and be patient to see the fruits of your labor.

This is a weird one.  The designers and producers of hangboards have a different idea of what is needed to reach a certain level, how to use their board to attain the next level, and what is appropriate for your current level.  One company may decided that climbing ability is based on grade and another may decide it based on climbing age (length of time climbing).  One may test maximum pull-ups and another may test total hang time and/or max weighted hang on a given hold.  A prime example is the DRCC V5.12, a board described as having the necessary hold types and depths to get a climber to be a competent and confident climber at the V5 and 5.12 level.

It also works as a conversational art piece

I have watched and read reviews of programs for the above, the Lattice 12-week Program, and have my own review on Climbing and Jonathan Siegrist’s 6-Weeks to Stronger Fingers on deck.  The most unfortunate and seemingly similar report from all of these was, and I’ll paraphrase, “as I was nearing the end of the program I started to have a nagging finger tweak.”  The entire point of these programs is to make us stronger and better.  Supposedly, they are based in science and some such as Rock Prodigy and Lattice are specifically tailored to your testing at the beginning and mid-point, they still leave reviewers concerned for their finger health.  That’s not a ringing endorsement.  We are training connective tissue and that requires a long-term training cycle with simple and minimal changes over time.

Programs That Are Effectively Pointless

Hey, Metolius, your 10-Minute Sequences are damn near useless.  There, I said it.  Whew, that feels good to get off my chest!  It is designed as an every minute on the minute (EMOM) challenge with a new, or sometimes several, exercises performed starting at the top of every minute.  They have programs for Entry, Intermediate, and Advanced levels for free on their website and one comes in the pamphlet in the package specific to the board you purchased.  There are a lot of pull-ups incorporated into these sequences along with some core work such as knee-ups and L-sits.  What they are trying to do is address the problem I outlined in the first point by trying to make training on a hangboard as close to a climbing experience as possible, but it is not training.  It is random, like they were throwing darts at playing cards on prize wheel and the progression from one level to the next makes no sense.  It reminds of a climbing team playing add-on.  For example, you never touch the small edge at the entry level but are then expected to be able to hold that edge for 20 seconds in the third minute of the Intermediate level.  The point is to fight the pump as in climbing, but the prospect of dry firing from my hangboard is not something I’m looking for and even the simplest training program says that a pump is not what you should be chasing.  Some of the challenges are not even possible to complete in the allotted time, such as the one Advanced set that calls for you to hang from each hold for 5 seconds and bump from one to the next without getting off the board.  There are only twelve 5-second periods in a minute but there are thirteen holds on the board.  That doesn’t make sense!

Too Many Options?

In the previous article I discussed that having so many options in terms of boards is a good thing, and program design will only continue to get better as the sample population grows.  I see posts on forums, Facebook, Instagram, etc. at least weekly, but during this pandemic it is almost daily, on what board to buy and what program to follow.  No matter how many times someone asks and the community answers, the question still gets asked again because either some new hotness has come out or simple laziness to scroll a little lower.  Either way, I think I see some paralysis by analysis for people to pull the trigger on purchasing a hangboard that is going to help them achieve their goals, will have staying power in their training life, and is the program they want to use compatible with their board.

I understand that there is a lot going on in the world of hangboarding.  We have looked at the history, the best that hangboard training has to offer, and the deeper complications of the rabbit hole that can get us lost in the weeds.  Nothing will replace working on a project, but hangboarding has its place for those looking to get better or maintain their fitness through injury or lock down and it should be used as a part of the whole training package to reach your goals.

Ready to start your hangboarding journey?  Let’s make this easy and apply the KISS principle.  Pick a board that you can 1) afford, 2) install easily, and 3) has enough capability to either keep you interested or progressing.  Program selection should come down to 1) will it keep my interest, 2) is it scale-able as I improve, and 3) does it work on my weaknesses/work towards my project goals?  Now go get it!

-Tylor Streett, might not need to jump on the finger board this week from all this typing and editing.