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Welcome to StrengthClimbing – a website dedicated to exploring the most effective and efficient rock climbing training methods.

Critical force and energy store component plot in climbing aerobic endurance
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Climbing Critical Force Calculator 2020

The Critical Force Calculator will help you determine where you stand with your aerobic endurance. It will also allow you to determine the optimum load at which you should train so that you will soon breeze up through those endurance routes!

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Rate of Force Development measurement with the Tindeq Progressor load cell.
Premium Content

All you need to know for perfect RFD measurements with Tindeq Progressor!

Instructional video included!


Rate of Force Development (RFD), often termed contact strength, is a highly critical factor determining your climbing performance.


Knowing your RFD is essential if you want to train effectively and keep progressing as a lead climber or boulderer!


In this article, you’ll find everything you need to know to measure and evaluate and your finger RFD practically with the Tindeq Progressor!

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Premium Content

Sport Climbing Level Calculator – Automatic Climbing Assessment!

The Sport Climbing Level Calculator is a tool designed to automatically evaluate the athlete’s physical sport climbing performance.


The tool evaluates the athlete’s finger strength and endurance and outputs an assessment report with training recommendations tailored to the climber’s performance profile.


Amateur climbers can use the calculator to learn what their sport climbing level should be compared with other similarly strong climbers. Then, using the calculator, the climber can easily design their training plan.


Coaches will find the Sport Climbing Level Calculator helpful in assessing their clients and quickly designing a draft of their training regimen.

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Endurance Repeaters Pyramids climbing endurance protocol
Premium Content

The best hangboard endurance training for rock climbing – Pyramids

Functional spreadsheet with Endurance Repeaters Pyramids training cycle included!


The Endurance Repeaters Pyramids is a very flexible exercise for building aerobic and anaerobic endurance required for high-level sport and trad climbing.


By appropriately controlling the training load and training volume, we can target the following:


  • Lactic capacity
  • Anaerobic threshold
  • Maximum oxygen consumption
  • Aerobic threshold


I’ve been successfully using the Endurance Repeaters Pyramids training method with my clients for years, obtaining significant improvements in Critical Force, which translated directly to sport climbing performance. Please try this technique and let me know your results!

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Ketogenic meal for climbers
Premium Content

Ketogenic diet for rock climbers – pros and cons – review

Climbing is a sport where the strength-to-weight and power-to-weight ratios are critical for success. Therefore, climbers understandably strive to minimize their weight while maintaining lean muscle mass, high performance, and overall well-being.


In this post, I summarize the current scientific knowledge regarding the positive and negative impact of the ketogenic diet on sports and climbing performance.

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Finger strength measurement on a fingerboard
Premium Content

Finger strength measurements for rock climbers made easy!

Instructional video included!


If you’re serious about training for climbing, monitoring your progress, and making the most out of your hangboard training, you need to have a clear finger strength benchmark.


In this article, you’ll find all you need to make accurate and reliable maximum finger strength tests that can later serve as a solid benchmark for designing your own finger strength and forearm endurance training drills and in-depth climbing data analysis.


As a bonus, you’ll also find a super helpful calculator to convert any weighted hang to an MVC-7 measurement and an instructional video to get you step-by-step through the testing process!

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Finger strength measurement on a fingerboard
Premium Content

How to test rock climbing finger endurance – simple guide

Instructional video included!


Endurance is the most elusive quality in rock climbing. How can some climbers power through unending sequences of hard moves without breaking a sweat, while others end up pumped before they even get to the crux? The answer is aerobic endurance, or in other words, Critical Force.


Read this article to learn how to make simple and reliable rock climbing endurance measurements using a hangboard. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to identify and address your weaknesses to break your sport climbing plateau!

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Training

How to boulder hard – conversation with Paul Gennaro!

This is the story of Paul Gennaro, a New Yorker who recently climbed his personal best at the local climbing area of Shawagunks.

In early 2022, Paul reached out to me asking if I thought a 40-year-old veteran could still make some strength gains to leap from V10 to V11 outdoor bouldering.

When he wrote to me, he was getting close to sending one of the few premier lines in the Gunks called Venus in Scorpio, graded V11, which he ultimately sent in the fall of 2022.

If you’d like to learn about Paul’s bouldering training methods, read the post and listen to our recorded conversation.

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beastmaking - a fingers-first approach to becoming a better climber
Reviews

Beastmaking – A fingers-first approach to becoming a better climber – Review

It’s time to review another book from Vertebrate publishing – Beastmaking by Ned Feehally – an excellent climbing training manual. The book is everything a climber needs to start designing training programs and making the most of their climbing. From finger strength and endurance training through injury prevention to skin conditioning and tactics, you’ll find it all here!

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Climber bouldering on Fortunadrago, 8B, Varazze
My Climbers

The 5 best climbs of 2021 in Varazze by Federico Roncagliolo

Federico is the best boulderer I’ve trained so far! In one year of training he improved his bouldering from 8A to 8B! He lives in Italy and his home crag is Varazze – a splendid bouldering area visited by the worlds crème de la crème. Here we present some of his favorite ascents from 2021!

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Climber training on the hangboard using Tyler Nelsons Density Hangs protocol
Endurance Training

Dr. Tyler Nelson’s Density Hangs Finger Training for Rock Climbing

Density Hangs, named so and popularized by Dr. Tyler Nelson, is a powerful hangboard training protocol. The term Density Hangs stems from the fact that the routine is generally considered to increase the cross-section of forearm tendons. That is partly true as pretty much any hangboard training method does that, but the main advantages of this unique exercise lie elsewhere. Namely, you can effectively use this method to make the muscle-tendon system more robust and less susceptible to injury. That lets you prepare your forearms and fingers for heavy and dynamic training loads while reducing the risk of damaging the connective tissues, which would stall your progress. In addition, if you’re already injured, you can use Density Hangs to speed up the healing process and increase the quality of your tendons by overcoming the stress-shielding mechanism and forcing the disrupted collagen to realign correctly. Read on if you would like to learn more about this must-know fingerboard protocol.

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A garage training setup for rock climbing
Tools

Hangboard Training Calculator for Rock Climbing

The Hangboard Training Calculator is an tool that allows the user to calculate the correct load, edge depth, and hang duration for various hangboard exercises.

Choose a fingerboard hold, hang at bodyweight or with any added or subtracted load, and measure your hang time until failure. Based on the result, the program lets you calculate the exact total load with which you can hang on this particular hold for any specified amount of time. Moreover, you can run the test on any edge between 5 – 35 mm and automatically recalculate the result to any other edge depth.

This way, you can quickly determine the correct loads for typical hangboard training routines such as Repeaters, MaxHangs, or Density Hangs.

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BETA BOARD Escape Climbing Intermediate Hangboard
Reviews

BETA BOARD from Escape Climbing – Hangboard Review

The BETA BOARD is one of Escape Climbing’s most iconic products. It was developed around 2011, and back then, it was known as the V5.12 Board. Escape Climbing invited me to write a non-biased review earlier this year, and since then, I’ve been using the BETA BOARD in my training sessions. So if you’re interested in learning more about this unique and very versatile fingerboard, go ahead and read the full post!

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Training

Elbow Pain – The Ultimate Guide for Rock Climbers

Have you been suffering from elbow pain for a long time? Has it prevented you from hard training and stalled your rock climbing progress? If so, this article is for you! Read it, and you will learn everything you need to know to diagnose your elbow pain accurately, heal it and prevent it from recurring. To write this comprehensive guide, I teamed up with Dr. Jared Vagy, a.k.a. The Climbing Doctor, and read through hundreds of scientific articles to ensure that the data presented is valid and up to date. Find out which methods work and from which it’s better to stay away. In addition, learn how to properly execute strengthening exercises as well as stretching and manual therapy techniques! Finally, don’t waste your time suffering when you could be enjoying pain-free climbing days at your favorite crag!

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Bleau Blocks - 100 finest boulders of the fontainebleau forest review
Reviews

Bleau Blocs – 100 Finest Boulders of Font – Review

“Bleau Blocs” is a new anthology of Bleau’s 100 finest boulders from Vertebrate Publishing. In the book, you’ll find detailed descriptions of Bleau’s crème de la crème boulder problems. Although it’s not a typical guidebook, it’s just what you need to look at Font from an entirely different perspective. The book is simply a must-have for anyone planning a bouldering trip to the Fontainebleau forest. Check out the detailed review to find out more!

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Hard bouldering
Strength Training

Eric Hörst’s “7-53” finger strength training program (case study)

In this article, you will find the results of a hangboard strength training plan designed and executed by one of my blog readers. The program was based on the Maximum Weight “7-53” protocol – a highly effective finger strength training method developed by Eric Hörst.

Carson trained hard, and in just eight weeks, he improved his finger strength by 17% relative to his body weight. Go ahead and read the full article to learn the details of his training program!

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StrengthClimbing Climber on Katmandú", 5.11d/5.12a (7a/7a+), Guadalcázar, San Luis Potosí, México
My Climbers

Hangboard Training Program Results – José Antonio

José Antonio is a highly motivated climber from Mexico who likes both lead climbing and bouldering alike. When José Antonio and I met in June, he’d been climbing for over three years, and his personal best was 5.12a/7a+. After two months of following the program, he quickly sent his first two 5.12b/7b routes, and he’s hungry for more!

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warm-up for rock climbing muscle temperature
Training

9 Powerful Reasons to Warm-Up for Rock Climbers (Review)

In this post, you will learn 9 powerful reasons why it’s critical that you do a good warm-up before beginning any kind of rock climbing activity. Based on a vast literature search, I review and examine the most vital physiological mechanisms associated with the warm-up. From increased blood flow through postactivation potentiation (aka “recruitment”) to stretching, all these effects are essential to maximizing short-term and long-term performance and preventing injuries. After reading this post, you will think twice the next time you feel like skipping the warm-up!

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Strength Training

Eric Hörsts “7-53” Hangboard Maximalkraft-Protokoll

Das “7-53” Hangboard Maximalkraft-Protokoll ist eine hocheffektive Krafttrainingsmethode, die von Eric Hörst als etwas zwischen dem klassischen 7/3-Repeater-Protokoll und Eva López MaxHangs entwickelt wurde. Dieses sehr zeiteffiziente Protokoll ist der Mittelweg zwischen Kraft- und Kraftausdauertraining und wird für mittlere und fortgeschrittene Kletterer empfohlen. Mit dieser Methode stieg Eric auf einer 14-mm-Kante von 22,5 kg auf 41 kg Zusatzgewicht, und es ist sein bevorzugtes Hangboard-Protokoll!

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Sport Level Climbing Assessment body weight endurance curve
Assessments

Rock Climbing Performance Assessment: Highly Advanced 5.13c (8a+)

This is an example of an actual rock climbing performance assessment of a highly advanced climber, whose goal is to break into 5.14 grades (8b+). Here you will find a thorough analysis of the climber’s strength and endurance profile, together with relevant charts and a detailed evaluation of the climbing performance.

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The Climbing Bible Review
Reviews

The Climbing Bible – Review

“The Climbing Bible” is the most recent release by Vertebrate Publishing. In the book you’ll find everything you need to get you started as a climber and hundreds of high-quality photos to get you psyched for training and sending hard. Although the book is more suitable for beginners, advanced crushers might also find it helpful, particularly concerning mental training and tactical aspects. Check out the detailed review to find out more.

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My Climbers

Hangboard Training Program Results – Piotr

Piotr is an extremely motivated and experienced lead climber, who excels at crimpy slabs and vertical walls. He lives in Mexico, where he has access to vast areas of high-quality virgin rock, which allows him to bolt his own new lines. After solidifying his 5.13a/7c+ level, Piotr is firmly on his way to sending his first 5.13b/8a!

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My Climbers

Hangboard Training Program Results – Sam

Samantha is a super experienced lead climber, who has traveled worldwide and climbed rocks on almost every continent. She likes climbing bouldery routes, with short cruxes and good rests in between, but since her aerobic endurance is excellent, she can comfortably project longer routes as well. Her goal in 2021? Simple – send 5.13c and beyond!

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My Climbers

Hangboard Training Program Results – Daniele

Daniele is a powerful all-round climber who specializes in bouldering but is also successful in sport climbing. He’s had a great summer so far, and he managed to set personal bests in both bouldering and lead climbing. His most spectacular achievement in 2020 was climbing Souvenir 8A in Chironico, which was set by Fred Nicole.

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experimental hangboard training program for finger strength and forearm endurance
Training

Hangboard Training Program Results – Jędrzej

I’m currently developing and testing my own Experimental Hangboard Training Program that’s based on cutting edge climbing research. The program is addressed to both boulderers and lead climbers, and the training sessions are tailored to fit the climbers’ current goals and climbing schedules.

A group of climbers agreed to participate in the experiment by following the prescribed training protocols and undergoing periodic assessments to test their progress. Here you can find the regularly updated details of my progress.

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experimental hangboard training program for finger strength and forearm endurance
Training

Personal Hangboard Training Program – Results

I’m currently developing and testing my own Experimental Hangboard Training Program that’s based on cutting edge climbing research. The program is addressed to both boulderers and lead climbers, and the training sessions are tailored to fit the climbers’ current goals and climbing schedules.

A group of climbers agreed to participate in the experiment by following the prescribed training protocols and undergoing periodic assessments to test their progress. Here you can find a ranking with the most recent test results of all the climbers following the program.

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climbing finger strength analyzer
Tools

Climbing Finger Strength Analyzer 2.0

The Climbing Finger Strength Analyzer 2.0 is finally here! This version is significantly improved compared to the initial one. New features include:

  • Height and Arm span module
  • Possibility to select your current training mode
  • Testing with one-arm hangs
  • Intensity expressed in terms of added load
  • Auxiliary Pull-ups module
  • Evaluation of your BMI
  • Detailed written assessment of your performance, together with suggestions on what to do to progress

I did extensive research, analyzed results reported by climbers on various fora, and went through the entire r/climbharder survey from 2017 to fine-tune the algorithm. In the post below the Analyzer app, you will find some cool sample input sets, which you can use for testing.


Try to get creative with the Analyzer and pinpoint your weaknesses! Remember, always warm up before you train!

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Mtoda 7-53 trening siły palców chwytotablica wspinaczka
Strength Training

Metoda “7-53” Erica Hörsta – trening wspinaczkowy siły palców na chwytotablicy

Opracowana przez Erica Hörsta metoda “7-53” jest bardzo skutecznym sposobem trenowania siły maksymalnej palców na chwytotablicy. Ten protokół treningowy jest czymś pomiędzy standardową metodą 7/3 Repeaters a metodą MaxHangs Evy López. Ten wydajny czasowo protokół łączy w sobie elementy treningu czysto siłowego oraz treningu wytrzymałości siłowej i zalecany jest średnio zaawansowanym i zaawansowanym wspinaczom. Dzięki wieloletniemu treningowi przy użyciu metody “7-53” Eric Hörst zwiększył dodatkowe obciążenie z którym ćwiczy na krawądce 14 mm z 22.5 kg do 41 kg i jest to nadal jego ulubiony sposób trenowania siły palców!

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8-month climbing hangboard finger strength training progress Bechtel's 3-6-9 Ladders strengthclimbing
Strength Training

8-month Hangboard Finger Strength Training Program Results

In this post, I describe the results of my eight-month hangboard finger strength training program with Steve Bechtel’s 3-6-9 Ladders routine. My goal was to verify how much I can progress my absolute and relative finger strength while undergoing a weight loss intervention, and under conditions of chronic sleep deprivation.
With the program, I increased my MVC-7 HC 20 absolute strength from 108 kg to 116 kg. During the last training cycle, I managed to reduce my body weight from 65.5 kg to 61 kg through Intermittent Fasting and Low Carbohydrate/Keto Diet. As a result, I increased my relative finger strength from 163.5% to 190%, allowing me to improve from the 7A benchmark to 7B benchmark level on the Moonboard Masters 2017 hold setup. Go ahead and find out the details!

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Endurance Training

Eric Hörst Hangboard Moving Hangs climbing training endurance protocol

The Hangboard Moving Hangs (HMH) climbing training protocol was described by Eric Hörst in his book Conditioning for Climbers. Because the intensity of the exercise is rather low, even beginner climbers with a couple of months of training under their belt can give it a try.

The Hangboard Moving Hangs climbing training protocol is a perfect introduction to hangboarding, because it’s safe, it puts less strain on the shoulders than typical dead hangs, and it’s easy to do. This routine is a powerful and versatile technique for developing forearm endurance, and it is worth including in any climber’s training portfolio! I started hangboarding with the Hangboard Moving Hangs climbing endurance protocol myself, and I would recommend it to both beginners and advanced climbers.

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One Arm Hang strength climbing training hangboard
Strength Training

One Arm Hangs hangboard training protocol

The One Arm Hangs protocol was made popular by Chris Webb-Parsons, an Australian V15 boulderer. The One Arm Hangs can be particularly useful to climbers who are so strong that they need to add very high loads, even over 50 kg, to make their two-handed hangs challenging enough, and for whom reducing the hold size may at some point become painful. Since the One Arm Hangs protocol is very different from any two-handed hangboard protocol, if you never tried it before, you are likely to notice quick strength gains, owing to the entirely new stimuli it provides. This can make One Arm Hangs the perfect tool whenever you need to break through a plateau.

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Eva Lopez Subhangs strength endurance hangboard training
Endurance Training

Eva López SubHangs strength endurance protocol

The Eva López SubHangs strength endurance protocol is characterized by long hang times of up to 45 seconds, at relatively low loads, between 55 – 85% MVC-7. This approach is aimed primarily at improving strength endurance and potentially also strength itself, through hypertrophy. The Eva López SubHangs strength endurance protocol is quite similar to the more old fashioned way of hangboard training, where long hangs till failure were preferred. The protocol can be executed in two versions, the minimum edge with no added weight (SubHangs MED) and with added weight (SubHangs MAW). Use this method if you want to reduce recovery times between sustained sections of a route, or if you need to be able to hang on to small holds for longer!

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Zlagboard Forearm Endurance Workout hangboard training climbing
Endurance Training

Zlagboard Forearm Endurance Workout

The Zlagboard comes with a built-in Forearm Endurance Workout protocol. The idea behind the method is to generate a severe forearm pump, targeting the anaerobic lactic energy system and improving both the physiological and psychological tolerance to high acidic loads. While not very climbing-specific, the Zlagboard Forearm Endurance Workout might be just what you need to get you through long, hard, and pumpy cruxes. Boulderers may also benefit from faster regeneration between attempts, as well as from muscle hypertrophy caused by growth hormone release triggered by lowered blood pH. Go ahead and give the Zlagboard Forearm Endurance Workout a try if you like suffering, but keep your climbing goals in mind!

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Finger strength training for climbing on a hangboard - Steve Bechtel's Ladders protocol
Strength Training

Steve Bechtel’s 3-6-9 Ladders hangboard finger strength training

Steve Bechtel designed his 3-6-9 Ladders protocol as an effective and safe strength training method that can be used both off-season and during the season, while not leading to overtraining or injury. His idea was to reduce the load to the necessary minimum and progress the volume instead. But that does not mean that the loads used are light! Try an 8-week cycle with Steve Bechtel’s 3-6-9 Ladders protocol to trigger both neural and structural adaptations of the forearm muscles!

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Critical force and energy store component plot in climbing aerobic endurance
Tools

Climbing Critical Force Calculator

The Critical Force Calculator will help you determine where you stand with your aerobic endurance. It will also allow you to determine the optimum load at which you should train so that you will soon breeze up through those endurance routes!

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Endurance Repeaters HangboardTraining Protocol
Endurance Training

Endurance Repeaters – Forearm Aerobic Endurance Hangboard Routine

Endurance Repeaters are a less known modification of the standard 7/3 Hangboard Repeaters protocol. The idea behind this method is to perform intermittent hangs until failure, with the load reduced to only 30 – 40% of your maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). Such training is known to introduce adaptations, which include improved capillary density and vascular conductance, increases in size and density of the mitochondria, aerobic enzymes and fat oxidation, as well as sparing of muscle glycogen, reduced rates of lactate (La-) production and enhanced La- removal. Ultimately, you should expect improved oxygen supply to the muscles and better maximal endurance capacity. Give Endurance Repeaters a try if you often get pumped before you even reach the crux on those long sport routes!

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Eva Lopez MaxHangs Hangboard Routine climbing training
Strength Training

Eva López MaxHangs hangboard routine for finger strength

The Maximum Hangs (MaxHangs) protocols were developed and popularized by Eva López. The training protocols are low volume and high intensity, and their effectiveness is scientifically proven! MaxHangs became widely accepted in the climbing community and are among the most popular hangboard protocols. The routine can be executed in two versions, the minimum edge with no added weight (MaxHangs MED) and on a fixed edge depth with added weight (MaxHangs MAW). Both methods trigger neural adaptations through short TUT and high loads.

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Eva López IntHangs strength endurance fingerboard protocol with added weight
Endurance Training

Eva López IntHangs strength endurance fingerboard protocol

The Intermittent Dead Hangs (IntHangs) protocols were developed by Eva López for strength endurance training. While similar to the classic Repeaters, IntHangs are generally characterized by lower volume. IntHangs should constitute only a part of a training session and be combined with other activities. lntHangs can be executed in two versions, the minimum edge with no added weight (IntHangs MED) and fixed edge with added weight (IntHangs MAW). Both methods trigger muscle hypertrophy because of the relatively long time under tension (TUT) and medium loads.

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Hangboard repeaters strength endurance hangboard protocol climbing training
Endurance Training

Hangboard Repeaters strength endurance protocol

The classic 7/3 Repeaters are a typical strength endurance training protocol, designed to mimic the grip and relax sequence that is characteristic of climbing. The loads used are generally low, compared to the Eva López MaxHangs protocol, or to the Eric Hörst’s “7-53” protocol, which makes Repeaters safer for intermediate climbers. The rest times between hangs are on the other hand very short, typically just 3 seconds, which stimulates the anaerobic lactic energy system and inevitably leads to severe muscle pump. While Eric Hörst doesn’t consider repeaters to be the best strength endurance protocol, he still thinks it can be useful as a pre-season preparation for lead climbers.

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Eva Lopez SubHangs hangboard protocol hang time vs. load intensity plot Rohmert
Tools

Climbing Finger Strength Analyzer

The Finger Strength Analyzer will allow you to see how strong your fingers are. This will give you a basic idea of how hard you should be able to boulder and how much time you should invest in strength training to progress.

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Strength Training

Eric Hörst’s “7-53” finger strength hangboard routine

The Maximum Weight “7-53” protocol is a highly effective strength training method developed by Eric Hörst as something in between the classic 7/3 Repeaters protocol and Eva López’s MaxHangs. This highly time efficient protocol is the middle ground between strength and strength endurance training, and it is recommended for intermediate and advanced climbers. With this method, Eric progressed from 22.5 kg to 41 kg added weight on a 14 mm edge and it’s his favorite hangboard protocol!

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