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Writer's pictureCharlie Schreiber

Hangboarding or Climbing: Is Dangling from a board of wood better than moving on rock?

"Hangboarding" is one of the most googled climbing training term. There’s no surprise to that; they are found in almost every climbing gym, many dedicated climber’s homes, and are one of the only tools used in our sport that solely target the greatest determinant in our climbing ability (yeah, I said it…) our finger strength. Just like climbing accomplishments, hangboarding feats of strength are also the subject of many social media posts and are featured in climbing training videos that strong climbers share with the rest of the community. But what role should hangboarding play in your climbing journey? Is it worth sacrificing time that could be spent climbing to dangle in place? How should you train if you want to improve your climbing in the most efficient way?


The goal of climbing training is to improve at specific strengths or skills to accomplish a goal or elevate your ability level in one or more aspects of climbing. In my own personal experience and what I have witnessed in the past 18 years of bouldering and sport climbing, finger strength and technique are by far the two most important aspects to continuously work on improving to elevate your ability level. Therefore, the main focus of the vast majority of training periods (if not all) in your climbing journey should be to develop one or both of these aspects. Maybe hangboarding and specific climbing stimuli could be enough to increase both of these areas? There are a few things to consider...


What you need to know about hangboarding


The hangboard and climbing both load the fingers. Both require that you stay above the Minimum Effective Volume (MEV) and at or below the Maximum Adaptive Volume (MAV) and Maximum Recoverable Volume (MRV) to be beneficial. Both must be done at the intensity and volume that is right for YOU and must be progressed at the proper rate to ensure constant improvements. Effective hangboarding and climbing sessions only lead to gains if they are followed by adequate rest periods before you load the fingers again. You can overdo it in your climbing and hangboarding intensity and volume and get negative results or even injure yourself. Therefore, for best results, one must learn as much as they possibly can and create a plan of action designed specifically for them and that works with their schedule, as well as track data as they go through their program. Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of Hangboarding and Climbing to further understand each one’s potential role in your climbing journey.


Hangboarding Pros 

  1. Easy to measure. Calculating the total load of each session for each grip type is easy when you know the exact amount of weight, size of the hold, total time under tension and set/rep count.

  2. Reliable and consistent. The hangboard doesn’t get reset. It will always be what it is and will be there over the long-term, ensuring high validity to results and the efficacy of your methods.

  3. Low investment cost. The hangboard is a one time investment, typically around $75-175 for the home set-up; much cheaper than building a home climbing wall. 

  4. Fingers are isolated. No other variables are in the equation when you are training on the hangboard. You know that the fingers and forearm flexors are what is being targeted. It is arguably the most reliable testing method for finger strength for this reason.

  5. Lower injury risk. As the vast majority of hangboarding protocols are static, the risk for injury at higher intensities is lower than that of many other dynamic training methods.

  6. Convenient during injury. Since Hangboarding isolates the finger flexors, it is typically the saving grace of maintaining and improving finger strength when a climber sustains an injury to another body part.


Hangboarding Cons 

  1. Lacks movement/skill components. I don’t think I need to elaborate on this too much. I think we all know that hangboarding is void of any and all of the thousands of body positions, movements and technical skills that climbing demands of us. 

  2. High opportunity cost. You hangboard because it is a highly efficient way of loading the fingers, therefore, the more time spent hangboarding means the less time you can practice or learn these skills and techniques that are crucial for capitalizing on your finger strength for the highest performance potential. 

  3. Limited grip positions. Hangboards typically have 4-5 types of holds. In climbing, we encounter an endless variety of grip positions; which are not able to be trained on the hangboard.

  4. High Form Dependency. When done with improper form or an anatomical/muscular imbalance, you can more quickly overload soft tissue due to the repetitive nature of hangboarding, resulting in a potential injury or further imbalance overtime.

  5. Mental Shortcomings. Aside from “try-hard” the hangboard lacks any of the mental aspects of climbing that is necessary (easily #3 on my list) in ascending the ranks in climbing.


Climbing Pros 

  1. It’s Climbing, enough said… (jk)

  2. Technical Diversity. Offers all techniques and skills used when climbing because it is climbing! 

  3. Full Spectrum. Simultaneously trains all muscles of the body, coordination, mobility, movement patterns, etc. 

  4. Complexity and Problem Solving: Every climb is different and challenges our mind and body to constantly adapt to new stimuli, which is crucially important for skill and strength development and reinforcement.

  5. Wide variety of grip positions: the endless number of grips in climbing create smarter and stronger hands.

  6. Greater quantity of solutions: Climbing offers the greatest number of highly relevant training opportunities that address a wider range of a climber’s strength and skill profile.

  7. Dynamic: Climbing constantly requires us to move at high velocities, allowing us to train our coordination, power (strength x speed) and movement skill.


Climbing Cons 

  • Validity issues: Improved climbing performance may be due to multiple variables or one you may not expect. Did you improve your finger strength this cycle or did you improve your movement efficiency, resulting in climbs feeling easier and fingers feeling stronger.

  • Measurability issues: Not as measurable as hang boarding due to an inability to measure load through the fingers and forearm flexors for each move or climb.

  • Moves not guaranteed: Results in more failed repetitions due to fluctuations in difficulty between moves and technical shortcomings (foot slips, poor technique, etc). 

  • Higher cost, time and space: If you wish to build a climbing wall in your home, if you want it to be half-way decent, it will cost much more than a hangboard, take longer to build and take up much more space. Be ready to spend between $300-$3000, depending on many factors. 


My Thoughts and Suggestions about hangboarding

In determining how much of a role hangboarding should play in your program, it is crucially important to understand your needs. The portion of time that you invest in any form of training should be a function of what you can benefit most from doing at this stage of your climbing. The more time and energy you devote to hangboarding, the less time and energy you can safely and effectively put into other forms of training that stress the fingers. Beginner climbers are a blank slate who need to develop every aspect of their climbing strength and skill profile. Therefore, hangboarding may be most beneficial for them as a small (2 to 5%) portion of their warm-up in which they safely warm-up their fingers in a highly calculated and repeatable way; allowing them to enjoy the rest of their session focusing on climbing. Elite Climbers that have many years of movement experience and find themselves frequently limited by their finger strength rather than technique may potentially benefit from a higher portion of their finger load to come from the hangboard (5-50%, depending on the focus of the training cycle) in the form of strength training protocols. 


Climbing delivers load to your fingers, just like hangboarding. I believe that climbing alone can take you all the way to your maximum potential, but I also believe that hangboarding can be tactfully employed to speed up the process and avoid setbacks on the way. However, with higher levels of effort and creativity, climbers can use climbing in the same way as hangboard training to perform sets, reps, achieve TUT at intensity levels that can be measured by the individual (though not quite as accurately as hangboarding). Carefully selecting or creating your own climbs, employing rules and structuring the parameters and execution style of your sessions can be as highly effective in developing finger strength as hangboarding. I know this is very hard for the average climber to do (that's why I devoted my career to creating plans and guiding climbers) based on the time they have to devote to their sessions, learning about sports science and recording and analyzing their data. The hangboard also offers climbers a highly convenient, simple and time-efficient way to train their most important strength aspect when they are in a rush or don’t have access to a climbing wall. 


In conclusion, the hangboard is a fantastic tool that I believe can be used effectively to aid a climber in preparing, training and recovering throughout their climbing career. But it is important to keep in mind that people have gotten and continue to reach the highest level of our sport with and without the use of a hangboard, yet NO ONE has gotten there with the hangboard alone, or even as the majority of their training. Aside from using the hangboard safely and responsibly, the most important concepts to consider when looking to include it in your climbing training are: 1) How much time/energy is ideal to devote to this style of one-dimensional training, at this point in your climbing career? Keep in mind the sacrifice associated with every second of hangboarding; it needs to be worth it! 2) The time and energy spent needs to be organized. Lay out a well-structured program, record your data and make the right decisions. 


Every type of training tool has a place in a climber’s journey towards their maximum potential; it’s your job to educate yourself on every aspect of each tool as well as your goals in order to use them in the right way, at the right time, for the right amount. Good luck in your climbing and your dangling.


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