Just to add, I meet a climbing physio after a year of weird finger issues. They recommended low-intensity hangs daily to improve joint mobility, which worked for me. It did not really make me strong, but it reduced day-to-day stiffness. Once I recovered slightly, we switched to low-intensity (every day) and high-intensity (2 times a week) to further support my recovery. The high intensity changed my finger, and I gained around 30-50 % strength on different grip types in 1 month. So I do both but for entirely different reasons. Low intensity is just to maintain my finger mobility while it's still recovering, and high intensity is to regain lost strength. Edit: My physio said my issues were due to inflammation in my finger joint. My pully and tendons were normal.
Class, I've just done a pulley and trying to figure out the recovery process 😅 have done plenty of research but nice to see something anecdotal, even if it isn't directly related injury wise
Any specifics as to what made it low-intensity? On a scale of 1-10 how hard are you trying while hanging? Feet stay on the ground? Just curious what the protocol is because as someone with tweaky fingers, I'd love to try it out.
@@christiancapriotti6525@christiancapriotti6525, I used a lifting block with a 20mm edge for the low-intensity. I used around 10 kg, which is very low for me. When doing high-intensity, I did 3 reps at a 7-9 scale I held for 20 seconds. I am currently doing around 30 kgs as that's the old I can lift without pain.
@@jneumonik@jneumonik So I climbed after with a volume session 1 day and a social session the other day. I try to limit my time as well based on my fingers. I go 3 times a week, so 1 day, I do project, which for me is around v6-v7 at my gym.
Just started bouldering again at the venerable (sounds a lot better than geriatric) age of 62. Pre ordered the book as I need all the motivation I can scrape together. Dave's channel has been a big factor in getting me back out on the crags. Can't thank the guy enough.
just pre-ordered the book 😍 Regarding the "twice a day" programme: As someone who has tried this, my results are inline with your hypothesis. I achieved a measurable increase in hang times and weight added to a 20mm edge in 30 days. I am convinced that I'd probably have seen gains anyway (since I'm still in the noob phase) and that I'd have achieved better results with "normal" hang boarding. I did not notice any increases in my grades that I'd attribute to hang boarding. I do , however, experience more "confidence" pulling hard. I think you essentially summed up my experience perfectly.
Mike, respectfully, stfu. You severely underplayed your gains from the Emil protocol in that video. And to play it off as "I would have gotten similar results with any protocol because of noob gains" is a bonkers claim by virtue of its impossibility to test. And no sh** you didn't see increase in grades. Your most recent video showcases you learning to project for the first time.
jo mike, seeing your progression from a "skill learning youtuber" to a "completely hooked on climbing youtuber" has been one of the nicest things ive seen on youtube over the last few years - keep it up!!
Classic Dave MacLeod. Love it. Anecdotally, I’ve used this protocol to recover from chronic tendon pulley injuries. As far as strength goes I’ve been using a Tindeq and haven’t noticed any serious gains without some sort of max hang protocol.
Man, I really love how the information and knowledge is framed and shared on this channel. I'll consider pre-ordering the book, it'll be an interesting read and a nice way to support the channel
Interesting take! As someone who has been doing this protocol for over 3 years (and also has only internet-scientist knowledge of sports medicin!) I would like to emphasize and touch on some of your points from the final couple of minutes of your video. In my experience, as someone who works a sedentary job (which I imagine is also the majority of the climber demographic), what I mostly felt was an increased recruitment level in my fingers and a reduced "tweakiness" (for lack of better ways to describe it) while warming up and climbing. I doubt that someone who works with climbing, or spends a lot of time (at least once a day) climbing, or at least works a physical job would get the same benefit. Also, I would never attribute any strength gains directly to this protocol, but I believe that any strength gains I personally got from it were an indirect result of me just being able to climb more fingery problems and generally train my fingers more due to increased finger health.
I also share your experience, but to his point, were you doing max hangs also, before adding it (max hangs respecting 3 principles he states here)? If yes, then it does make the protocol a candidate for a little revolution (provided this gets tested with broad studies). If not, his argument just say you would have obtained the same or maybe better results with just max loads consistent and reasonable training.
Thank you. I have a half-edited video from Norway. Not a super long video since we had two dry days, but the quality of the climbing made up for that in spades!
Thanks a lot for your high quality content. I'm not good enough at English to buy your book but I have already sub and like. Hope you get what you deserve for such an honest way of doing things. Greetings from Spain man
I've pre-ordered. Thanks again for such a well thought through video with substantive commentary, unlike the other more sensualist perspectives of others on social media.
Congrats on the new book! Always a pleasure to listen to your thoughts on popular subjects. For me personally daily low intensity has worked very nicely as a recovery method and i have been able to lower overstress on my fingers. But like you pointed out this could be achieved with easier climbing as well but due to time contraints this is a good alternative :) keep up the good work!
I found the twice a day protocol useful to get back into finger boarding after having had bad experiences in the past - particularly when trying to follow the Beastmaker App repeater sessions and getting absolutely shut down / injured on even the easiest setting. I did one month following the protocol fairly closely and definitely got some good gains which got me back to my previous best performance. Having not trained consistently for a good few years, this is probably the newbie gains that you mention. The main benefit was the fact that it is such an accessible protocol, and is a bit of a gateway drug into researching and trying other training protocols. I now use it as a warmup routine before completing max hangs which I used your videos to help me structure - thanks! Another bit of anecdotal and completely unmeasured evidence 😂
As soon as you mentioned about the book I paused the video and pre-ordered it. I've been waiting for this book ever since you mentioned it in one of the podcasts. As for the daily routine, as a climber struggling with joint capsule adhesions and finger degeneration, I've given this routine a chance twice in last year, as something to help me feel better. It didn't, it made things worse. What it did is that, my weaker grip, which is three finger drag, it felt better while climbing - new stimulus. Plus I never paid that much attention to when it was more beneficial to use this grip until going through your technique course. And that will probably make a bigger difference in the long run than kneading the edge twice a day.
Thanks for the info, Dave. I'll be pre-ordering your book as soon as I can afford it--grad school doesn't pay very well, haha. Can't wait to read it. Be safe and be strong.
Pre-ordered the book Dave. I started climbing just under 2 years ago and 9 out of 10 and Make or Break have been excellent reads. Look forward to the next book and I hope you get the upfront support to take a bit of the stress out of the printing process!
Paused the video and started pre-ordering before Dave even asked as I was worried they'd sell out. I suspect you have nothing to worry about Dave. Sounds exciting!
That's interesting you say that. I think I do utilise a little click bait in my titles, within reason. I just make sure the video follows through on the setup on the title.
@@climbermacleodmaybe I've got too used to the over the top titles, yours seem quite reserved and honest to the video rather than something like "pro climber destroys popular training programme" in all capitals 😂
Thanks for a great video and breakdown Dave. Being a climber but also coming from a life sciences background I admit to going down a bit of a rabbit hole with the research from Keith Barrs lab on ligaments and Abrahamsons video. This is a really honest and grounded interpretation of what this paper actually said. But also as you said it would be super eye opening to see this applied in a case controlled experiment!
I did Emil's submax hang protocol once a day for severel weeks and I got rid of tweaky and achey fingers during and after bouldering, I didn't care for any strength gains.
Same here, after doing the protocol for a longer time now I feel much more confident in my fingers, they are always kinda warmed up, never had any injuries since. And I climb quite hard on wooden board so don’t need any additional fingerboarding on top of that
I Just pre-ordered your new book (to add to my collection). Your work and attitude towards education in this community is second to none. I want to emphasize one point (but two parts), that I am sure is obvious to you, and should be to everyone, but is often overlooked. Tissue strength only improves when you are resting, but to get that benefit, you must first create a need/demand. Hang board training, fingerboard work, climbing, etc. are all creating that need/demand. Getting great quality and timed rest (with proper nutrition) is like doing the work for free, but without it, you would simply get weaker and weaker (overtraining due to insufficient and poorly timed rest). One of my core tenant sayings from my lifting days (as stupid as it is): “You only get bigger when you are resting”, [but you need to have a reason to rest]. Of course figuring out the demand-rest cycle is very complicated (it depends), and frustratingly changes for the some person over time.
Even sporadic Hangboard training does wonders. Ever since moving into the flat I'm currently living in mine is gathering dust, since the door frames just won't allow installing it. When I was using it though it helped me a great deal and it will do so again once I move into my eventual home.
I'd buy the book. Another thing I heard on a climbing podcast is that 10 seconds hangs, although less efficient for strenght gains, have the added benefit of building more psychological resistance. You need to hang just a bit longer. But of course those are for hard hangs and not the mild ones.
I've trained Mono's every day for 800+ days with an intensity that I would call hard enough to feel hard but not hard enough the impact the next day of training. This is on top of board climbing and rock climbing. I use a spring scale and train each finger individually. My training weight for each finger has doubled over this period for training. Just pre-ordered a book. Can't wait
@@climbermacleod No real change in grade (8c Sport). Some improvement on the hangboard. (one arm 3 finger drag with 16kg added.) My fingers definitely feel more robust on pockets which is the main goal. All my local climbing is on crimps but i go on trips where the main grip type is pockets.
I thought the primary reason for the 2X a day protocol was for healthy fingers and to prevent injury? That was my understanding from Emil's protocol which has popularised the routine. The gains in strength are a by product of having healthy, well conditioned fingers from consistently doing the routine, no? The routine feels more like yoga for the fingers than strength training.
Not sure that the program necessarily promotes healthy fingers. Have also spoken to a physio who has seen quite a few overuse injuries from people who have been following the 2x a day program - most likely due to not being careful enough on the low intensity part. Since often it's too much of a hassle to use a scale and ensure you aren't pulling too hard.
Regarding The twice a day protocol. I have started using it at the end of last year in the middle of a hard training and climbing period. I had very little firsthand experience with hang boarding, although I did have a go here and there and had read a ton about it. I decided for the twice a day protocol because i wanted to load my fingers a bit more in a safe manner, as i found out that im too weak for the super bouldery, short, overhanging 7C on fingernail crimps. A project that I had been aspiring to climb.I (at least in my mind) had again reached a plateau at 7B+ at that time, which I have never previously broken for a multitude of reasons despite climbing for more than 10 years. I have never really stressed too hard about it, but after about two months or so of doing the protocol every day. I found myself with a larger than usual strength base(measured subjectively on systemboard performance) Come send day, after more than about a month of layoff because of the bad weather, I found that I can actually power down on the crimps and having memorized the sequence perfectly, it took me only a handful of tries to actually achieve. Given that I have not been able to try that many times(about 5 or so) in a single day before that, because it was always tweaking my fingers painfully, id say I have seen some benefit. Ive since moved on to weighted hangs, and instead of the twice a day protocol, I switched to doing some of my yoga poses on fingertips as well as doing a no hang about once a week, as the protocol is just a bit of a drag. Thanks for the insight on finger training effectivity
Just pre-ordered the book to Singapore 😊. I can’t wait to read it. About the “No hang” or “Twice a week” protocol, I personally use it in Crimpd as a warmup before the heavy weight hang board protocol or even before bouldering. I think it’s a great tool for this purpose.
5:30 the evidence for this comes from general tendon and ligament training studies. Keith Baar summarizes this strategy in Minimizing Injury and Maximizing Return to Play: Lessons from Engineered Ligaments. You can read through the studies he cites to get more details.
No, that's why I said 'specific' scientific evidence. I refer to Baar's paper I this video and there are no discussion of different hangboard protocols on finger strength that we are discussing, or in fact any evidence comparing responses to different intensities of training in humans. Baar's paper is concerned with the molecular responses in extracted connective tissue.
@@climbermacleodI'd be curious to hear your opinion on Baar's new retrospective with the crimp'd dats. At the time of this video, I agreed with your analysis that anecdotes and one in-vitro study weren't enough to guide my training. However with the crimp'd study I am now convinced and am looking at all kinds of ways to adopt Baar's thesis that low intensity long duration isometrics prompt tendon growth and repair. For example, a twice-a-day protocol for elbow tendonitis seems interesting.
@@bmdhacks The new study is interesting but doesn't add much new information, because of the way the data was collected. Any conclusions drawn from it are suspect - we do not know if people chose a particular training protocol because they were either injured, or preforming well, or relatively trained or detrained. Massive potential for the results to be purely just a selection bias effect and not due to the training protocol itself. This and other problems are acknowledged in the paper. I would definitely not use this study to guide training decisions. With that said, it is broadly consistent with what I say in the video. Max hangs plus either just going climbing a lot on fingery terrain (i.e. not volumes and parkour) is a great choice a lot of the time. Also, high volume rehab exercises for tendon injuries have been recommended for a long time now. For example Hakan Alfredson's protocols, first researched in Achilles injuries and discussed in my book Make or Break ten years ago.
I was also under the impression this protocol is mostly meant for recovery. My fysio deliberately calls then recovery hangs to make that very clear. I only do them when I have a pulley injury and cannot train with loads close to bodyweight or heavier. A process similar to loading the tendons as for elbow injuries etc. I do have the feeling my finger strength declines less rapidly compared to not doing any finger training at all when injured. So should you hangboard twice a day when injured? It depends how bad the injury is but probably yes! As soon as the pulley recovers you can go back to strength training with added weights and pull as hard as you can to get those strength adaptations💪 Hope this makes sense to you Dave. Thanks for making such high quality and nuanced videos. I have read all your books and will preorder your new one for sure!🎉
Hey Dave would be keen on a video addressing your opinion and approach to other supplemental training like pull ups, rows, bench, shoulders, etc. Thanks for everything!
Looking forward to the book, pre-ordered. Had a productive summer just getting lots of climbing in but thinking about a proper training program for winter. I have tried the low-intensity program, but due to life getting in the way, not been consistent enough to make any conclusions. I could perhaps anecdotally say my elbow tendonitis hasn't been an issue while doing it, which it usually is when I'm doing a lot of bouldering.
Man I would really like to buy your book, I just enjoy very much the wisdom as much as the climbing itself. Unfortunately it's not available to Brazil. But thanks for the videos !
@climbermacleod tks for the answer man, yes , our postal office is sufferable, it's being more and more left aside and people are using private carriers whenever possible.
There's now a retrospective study by Keith Baar et al. Effects of Different Loading Programs on Finger Strength in Rock Climbers. Published Nov 19, 2024. Abrahangs as effective as max hangs, but incorporating both is an additive effect
Hey Dave, thank your for your content. I read on an ebook reader device. Will you make an ebook version of the new book available? (optimally on Amazon) I'm asking since I think 'Make or Break' is not available in ebook formats.
Would really love to preorder. Is there an option to deliver to Germany? Only UK available so far. Speaking of the twice a day protocol, usually my go to if i feel like my fingeras are a bit injured. Rest, twice a day, switching it to long intensity hangs, and then slowly work my way back up to max hang protocoils is usually tthe best cylce. Felt like switiching between Power endurance workouts of 70-80 % of my max hang and Max hang sessions to gain more base power is a good way to make constant gains without tweaking. I feel like the power endurance help me consolidate the new jump in strength. Just moving up the weight did not do any good to my finger health in the past.
Hey Dave! Massive thanks for the great content on the channel, it's very valuable and also enternaining. I have a doubt regarding your books. I've been thinking of reading the 9 out of 10 climbers book, but this new Moving The Needle also seems incredible! Which would you recommend to read first? I'll be getting both eventually! Thank you!!
Thank you. I'm not being evasive here but I'm not sure! Only four people have read Moving the Needle so far, so it's hard for me to be objective about which is better. 9/10 might be a good place to start, not least because it's available. If you like it, you can go from there!
I tried an adapted version of the protocol (once a day but nothing on climbing days and an extra couple of hangs on back-two). I found it good for a few months until I picked up an overuse injury in the back of my forearm. I think there wasn't enough rest even in this reduced protocol for me but I normally need a lot of recovery time compared to others.
Hi Dave, I wanted to say thank you, you and your videos really helped me throughout my only year of climbing and allowed me to improve very quickly, I would have liked if I could order your new book but unfortunately from the link they do not deliver to my country(israel), what could I do if I want still to get the book?
Love this video! Dave your the man, I am just curious I am studying physiology and have seen lots of studies on the differences in low rep high intensity Vs. High rep low intensity. Different reseasrch articles are observing that when looking at the two groups they can't see a difference in strength gains? I know different limitations occur in these studies but do you think we can apply this to climbing and see huge musclular gains, and less injuries due to less volume being distrubuted to the fingers?
Correct, the biggest nuance in all training recommendations is “it depends” If a climber is already maximizing the loads on their fingers from hard crimps, they could be well at their maximum volume for that position. Yielding no benefits or even worse leading to overtraining. Others who are quite weak will see some progress, specifically to the robustness of their fingers, but that fatigue may come at a cost to their actual climbing. Just like with everything, any addition to your training must come with analyzing the total volume and intensity that you’re currently doing and WHERE would adding something like this fit in?
Book ordered Dave. I have weak fingers. It is definitely stopping me progressing. If I can't even start a climb because I can't support my weight on my fingers, then this must be a limit for me.
Interesting, in my head the mentioned twice a day routine was to try and activate / get blood to the tendons etc to try and strengthen them over time through low intensity pulls whilst still leaving room for maximal training along side and not to replace it.
Would it be possible to have a short video on how you setup and cleanup trad or even sport climbs? Not just the setup but like devices you use to practice and ascend/self belay. Been exclusively bouldering outdoors and want to take my lead climbing outdoors but dont know where to start.
After having slight but consistent pain in the fingers in general for something like 9 months, I am rather defensive when it comes to the health of the fingers. My fingers feel fine for a couple of months, now. I learned that the tendons and ligaments need three days of rest to fully recover after a hard(!) bouldering session. My path to getting healthy fingers was taking one month off from climbing and afterwards reducing climbing to two times a week with two strict days of finger rest after each session. That helped and even though my fingers felt heavily loaded, I also felt that they can fully recover while getting stronger and stronger. I am now at the point where I want to add specific finger training via hangboarding. As David pointed out, it is somewhat a balance between being healthy (not systematically overloading tendons and ligaments) and getting stronger. Therefore, I decided to add a single max hang session in between the two climbing session. I think this should be possible without degrading the health of my fingers over time. However, I wonder whether this is enough of a stimulus? On the other hand, I wonder how someone can do significantly more max hang sessions without reducing the amount of climbing. Especially, I wonder how doing max hangs daily can be possible without overloading both the muscles and the ligaments. Any thoughts on that?
Have all your books. They are the bible and that’s from someone who has been collecting climbing books since Neumann and Horsts books from the 90’s. Pre-ordered. Thanks for all you do Dave.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on overcoming isometrics for finger training. My experience switching from hangs to overcoming isometrics has been very positive, but I'm also a father who trains almost exclusively on a fingery home wall. In that context, I'm getting the specific, hard pulling practice on the wall, with the overcoming isometrics training maximal recruitment but with less soft tissue stress than hangs (so they detract less from the climbing). I saw that at least one other commenter said the Tindeq pulls had not helped them, and I suspect some piece of the puzzle is just missing there-perhaps the intensity is just not high enough, as they might struggle to pull maximally hard with their fingers without the cue of added load you get in fingerboarding.
Ah man you have to love it when Dave pi***s on your chips!!! I've been climbing a long time, but have become very inconsistent due to work, location & life. This twice a day is something I can achieve easily enough with a portable hangboard. Maybe I'm waisting my time??
Sounds like I got to your chips after the work/location problems did the damage. If you swap out on of your twice daily sessions for max hangs, I'll buy you another bag of chips. Sort out work and location near a crag, and I'll make it a triple burger, no bun.
@@climbermacleod as long as it's a veggie burger I'm in. There aren't many crags in Essex, but I get the jist. Max hangs & lottery tickets it is. Thanks Dave
Thanks for the video! Pure gold! Are you going to sell your book through Amazon? On your site, there's no shipping option to Brazil or Argentina. Thank you!
The book sounds amazing and really interesting. Really want to pre-order it however I'm traveling abroad now. When are you planning to release the book? That way I'll know where to send it
Just preordered, looking forward to the book :) I developed PIP synovitis from excessive hangboarding and never fully recovered. I completely moved away from hangboarding, but feel like the resulting lower intensity of my training does not necessarily make my joint any better. Perhaps it needs more stimuli to heal completely? But then very intense training sessions aggravate my joint again... Any thoughts/experience on that? An answer would be much appreciated (even anecdotal)
A frustrating problem without a straightforward answer. There may be something about your approach that is causing the finger joints to complain. Many possibilities and possibly an experienced coach could pick it up. For example, the way (joint angles and position) you take the holds, warm up process, form during exercises, weakness in some part of the chain (forearm, upper arm etc), heat/humidity of the training environment. Or perhaps it's something outside of the training itself influencing susceptibility - chronic generalised inflammation (e.g. autoimmune conditions, infection, gut conditions), poor recovery, smoking (which damages connective tissue), poor quality diet, or some other stressor. It's one of those problems where if time and ramping hasn't worked, start going down the list of every other thing you can think of.
I would happily preorder the book but i only see the option for a UK shipment. Any chance we can pre order it with a shipment outside of UK ? (France in my case)
There might be two more effects not mentioned in the video, which I find worth to consider: (1) Increasing a blood flow in forearms, and and (2) improving of the grip technique. As @FelixAbrahamsson mentioned, especially for sedentary job I find (1) very important, it warms up the muscles, it brings up nutrients and accelerates recovery. (2) is also interesting to consider, while after >30 years of climbing I still find myself to focus properly on the grip for individual fingers. I find the protocol of @EmilAbrahamsson fine for it is simple, fast, safe, consistent over time. Though, I'm not following it myself😄
Appreciate the talk but I feel this discussion is over looking one of the aspects "I feel" is the most important and the source material from which the "program" was loosely designed; tendon signaling. This is an especially pertinent IMO for those climbers who started climbing after 25 yrs of age (their peak GH years) and will likely have a long road to develop tendon strength/rigidity compared to their muscular strength as tendon strength changes take far far longer to materialize than muscular gains. Although I don't think low intensity twice a day pushes the needle I do think a question like "would adding 5 low intensity hangboard sessions to my weekly climbing routine improve my long term tendon strength/rigidity". I do also think the answer is likely yes. There are also potential recovery benefits to low intensity hangboard work. These questions and the value of low intensity hangboard IMO all have much more value as an addition to a solid program rather than a niche/replacement program of hangboard twice a day. But if using low intensity hangboarding to add onto/add frequency yo an already satisfactory program I see significant potential benefits...especially in climbers who started later in life. Reading between the lines of your statements on consistency and your previous videos I think you likely agree just didn't cover the topic directly here.
Significant potential benefits over disuse, yes. But the point made in the video is that just going climbing will yield all the low intensity benefits, plus several more. Hence, my preference, young or old, would be to do lots of climbing and use strength training methods for training strength. The primary exception, also mentioned in the video, would be if you are stuck inside all day unable to pull on holds.
@@climbermacleod Yes definitely and certainly agree that twice a day low intensity in no way a long term solution to climbing progression. Thanks for video and response.
I’d love to see a study on this. Correct me if I’m wrong but the videos on this haven’t really quantified what “low intensity” really is. It would be interesting to see a comparative research project on regular stimuli at (for instance) 20%, 35%, and 50% of 1RM.
I had added a previous comment which I guess did not make it through moderation due to having a link. The thing is, there are some controlled studies on hangboarding. The title of one such study is: Hangboard training in advanced climbers: A randomized controlled trial. Their conclusion was: Compared to a control group, maximizing weight in hangboard training with an 8-week protocol is superior in terms of grip strength advancement in recreational climbers.
Good video. Have you done any videos on, or have any thoughts about compartment syndrome from overuse? Been struggling since a spring trip to Fontainebleau this year where due to weather windows we ended up climbing 11 out of 14 days. Since then I have been struggling a lot with feeling pumped very rapidly, and I can't seem to shake it. I've tried mild excercise and complete rest mixed with vibrating, but it doesn't seem to help much if at all. Would really like to avoid surgery, but it's difficult to find info on non-interventional recovery methods.
Honestly that is a question for an experienced and specialist surgeon. A good surgeon will be a reluctant one. Although I have seen others suffer with this, I don't have enough experience to advise. I hope you can find a way forward.
Dear Dave, about the book, any suggestions on how to get it from Mexico? For 9 out of 10 got it from Amazon, guess will have to wait to do the same for this one?
The 'if you add you need to remove' is what is stopping me from doing more than a once per week maxhang session. I'm 48, which may help explain it too, and am defo a late starter in climbing (age 40). I do want to improve, and am happy to do some amount of off-the-wall training to help the cause, but do find it much more satisfying to climb, perfect technique and so on. Could be the 'wrong' approach, or one that will not get me to the very upper echelon of what I may be capable of, but that's my happy balance. Am pre-ordering anyway, just to see how very close our starter years may have been before you so cowardly decided to leave the intermediate climbing class. 🤣
Haha thank you. Without knowing much details it sounds like there is a bit of headroom before you run into the need to remove something problem, especially if you have a relative off season, or in fact any variability in the loading through the year. Could you try a single set per day and see if you can handle that? Single sets get a good chunk of the benefit for strength.
@@climbermacleod I train 3-4 time a week, one of them being a maxhang session (4-8 sec maxhangs, 3min rest, until I reach about 30sec cumulative for each - assymetrical - hang). I can't add any or I explode, and removing a climbing one (which can be limit climbing or power endurance training) hurts like hell. Had never heard that single set idea. But what protocol are you talking about here? A set of what exactly?
My anecdotal experience with a low intensity protocol have been improved skin for outdoor climbing at the tips and my fingers feeling more 'snappy' while climbing. I did not observe any marked increase in strength as measured by a Tindeq.
watching this while hangboarding for the 5th time today
new meta: hangboarding twice an hour.
Only the 5th?
I'm doing an 8-hour hangboarding workout today. Those are rookie numbers
@@richerlariviere😂
Just to add, I meet a climbing physio after a year of weird finger issues. They recommended low-intensity hangs daily to improve joint mobility, which worked for me. It did not really make me strong, but it reduced day-to-day stiffness. Once I recovered slightly, we switched to low-intensity (every day) and high-intensity (2 times a week) to further support my recovery. The high intensity changed my finger, and I gained around 30-50 % strength on different grip types in 1 month.
So I do both but for entirely different reasons. Low intensity is just to maintain my finger mobility while it's still recovering, and high intensity is to regain lost strength.
Edit:
My physio said my issues were due to inflammation in my finger joint. My pully and tendons were normal.
Class, I've just done a pulley and trying to figure out the recovery process 😅 have done plenty of research but nice to see something anecdotal, even if it isn't directly related injury wise
Any specifics as to what made it low-intensity? On a scale of 1-10 how hard are you trying while hanging? Feet stay on the ground? Just curious what the protocol is because as someone with tweaky fingers, I'd love to try it out.
On the high intensity days do you climb, if so, at limit?
@@christiancapriotti6525@christiancapriotti6525, I used a lifting block with a 20mm edge for the low-intensity. I used around 10 kg, which is very low for me. When doing high-intensity, I did 3 reps at a 7-9 scale I held for 20 seconds. I am currently doing around 30 kgs as that's the old I can lift without pain.
@@jneumonik@jneumonik So I climbed after with a volume session 1 day and a social session the other day. I try to limit my time as well based on my fingers. I go 3 times a week, so 1 day, I do project, which for me is around v6-v7 at my gym.
Just started bouldering again at the venerable (sounds a lot better than geriatric) age of 62. Pre ordered the book as I need all the motivation I can scrape together. Dave's channel has been a big factor in getting me back out on the crags. Can't thank the guy enough.
Just pre-ordered ! What you bring to the climbing community does deserve support! Thanks a lot
Just pre-ordered your book from Italy. You are the most honest, humble and objective climber I've seen and this is how I can give something back
Thank you!
just pre-ordered the book 😍
Regarding the "twice a day" programme: As someone who has tried this, my results are inline with your hypothesis. I achieved a measurable increase in hang times and weight added to a 20mm edge in 30 days. I am convinced that I'd probably have seen gains anyway (since I'm still in the noob phase) and that I'd have achieved better results with "normal" hang boarding. I did not notice any increases in my grades that I'd attribute to hang boarding. I do , however, experience more "confidence" pulling hard. I think you essentially summed up my experience perfectly.
Yeah, as you build a wider pyramid of moves, the strength gains will have more and more leverage. Thank for ordering Moving the Needle too!
Mike, respectfully, stfu. You severely underplayed your gains from the Emil protocol in that video. And to play it off as "I would have gotten similar results with any protocol because of noob gains" is a bonkers claim by virtue of its impossibility to test. And no sh** you didn't see increase in grades. Your most recent video showcases you learning to project for the first time.
jo mike, seeing your progression from a "skill learning youtuber" to a "completely hooked on climbing youtuber" has been one of the nicest things ive seen on youtube over the last few years - keep it up!!
Classic Dave MacLeod. Love it. Anecdotally, I’ve used this protocol to recover from chronic tendon pulley injuries. As far as strength goes I’ve been using a Tindeq and haven’t noticed any serious gains without some sort of max hang protocol.
Man, I really love how the information and knowledge is framed and shared on this channel. I'll consider pre-ordering the book, it'll be an interesting read and a nice way to support the channel
Interesting take! As someone who has been doing this protocol for over 3 years (and also has only internet-scientist knowledge of sports medicin!) I would like to emphasize and touch on some of your points from the final couple of minutes of your video. In my experience, as someone who works a sedentary job (which I imagine is also the majority of the climber demographic), what I mostly felt was an increased recruitment level in my fingers and a reduced "tweakiness" (for lack of better ways to describe it) while warming up and climbing. I doubt that someone who works with climbing, or spends a lot of time (at least once a day) climbing, or at least works a physical job would get the same benefit. Also, I would never attribute any strength gains directly to this protocol, but I believe that any strength gains I personally got from it were an indirect result of me just being able to climb more fingery problems and generally train my fingers more due to increased finger health.
I also share your experience, but to his point, were you doing max hangs also, before adding it (max hangs respecting 3 principles he states here)?
If yes, then it does make the protocol a candidate for a little revolution (provided this gets tested with broad studies). If not, his argument just say you would have obtained the same or maybe better results with just max loads consistent and reasonable training.
@@rackhamlerouge I have been doing max hangs on and off for many years so hangboarding in itself was nothing new to me, if that answers your question
Thanks for being the voice of reason in the climbing training community. Pre-ordered 👍
Thank you!
Can’t wait Dave, thank you for the video and the book. I also want to hear more about your new route there in Norway.
Thank you. I have a half-edited video from Norway. Not a super long video since we had two dry days, but the quality of the climbing made up for that in spades!
Love the name for the book Dave, look forward to reading it!
This video gets me pumped up to train. Thanks for the insight Dave, you are an inspiration!
Hey Dave, loved the video and needed this advice to get past my indecision regarding hang boarding twice a day, thank you!
Wow, I've been waiting for this video for so long! Very excited to see it!
I'm looking forward to reading your new book Dave! Great informative video as always! Consistency is king! 💪
Thanks Dave! Helps a lot. Excited to have a look at your new book
Thanks a lot for your high quality content. I'm not good enough at English to buy your book but I have already sub and like. Hope you get what you deserve for such an honest way of doing things. Greetings from Spain man
The book sounds incredibly interesting! Will absolutely preorder right now!!
Thank you!
Thanks for reminding about main principles in the world of “go and just do” recommendations.
I've pre-ordered. Thanks again for such a well thought through video with substantive commentary, unlike the other more sensualist perspectives of others on social media.
Congrats on the new book! Always a pleasure to listen to your thoughts on popular subjects. For me personally daily low intensity has worked very nicely as a recovery method and i have been able to lower overstress on my fingers. But like you pointed out this could be achieved with easier climbing as well but due to time contraints this is a good alternative :) keep up the good work!
I found the twice a day protocol useful to get back into finger boarding after having had bad experiences in the past - particularly when trying to follow the Beastmaker App repeater sessions and getting absolutely shut down / injured on even the easiest setting.
I did one month following the protocol fairly closely and definitely got some good gains which got me back to my previous best performance. Having not trained consistently for a good few years, this is probably the newbie gains that you mention.
The main benefit was the fact that it is such an accessible protocol, and is a bit of a gateway drug into researching and trying other training protocols. I now use it as a warmup routine before completing max hangs which I used your videos to help me structure - thanks!
Another bit of anecdotal and completely unmeasured evidence 😂
The beast maker is a notorious sandbag. 6A on the app is not a 6a in the wild
Looking forward to the new book!
Thanks
Much appreciated Stefano.
Congratulations on writing your new book!
Just preordered, can't wait
Thank you!
As soon as you mentioned about the book I paused the video and pre-ordered it. I've been waiting for this book ever since you mentioned it in one of the podcasts. As for the daily routine, as a climber struggling with joint capsule adhesions and finger degeneration, I've given this routine a chance twice in last year, as something to help me feel better. It didn't, it made things worse. What it did is that, my weaker grip, which is three finger drag, it felt better while climbing - new stimulus. Plus I never paid that much attention to when it was more beneficial to use this grip until going through your technique course. And that will probably make a bigger difference in the long run than kneading the edge twice a day.
Thank you! Yes, management of damaged joints does somewhat change the game towards high quality, lower volume training where that is an option.
Such a good video. No matter what the buzz is on the internet, trust the principles and hard work 👌
Instant pre-order, can't wait to read it!
interesting insight as always. book is pre-ordered
Thank you!
Thanks for the info, Dave. I'll be pre-ordering your book as soon as I can afford it--grad school doesn't pay very well, haha. Can't wait to read it. Be safe and be strong.
Already preordered the book this morning. Can’t wait for it to come out.
Thank you for the support!
Pre-ordered the book Dave. I started climbing just under 2 years ago and 9 out of 10 and Make or Break have been excellent reads. Look forward to the next book and I hope you get the upfront support to take a bit of the stress out of the printing process!
Paused the video and started pre-ordering before Dave even asked as I was worried they'd sell out. I suspect you have nothing to worry about Dave. Sounds exciting!
Great video, classic Dave, skips the usual social media hype and click bait titles and gets to the meat of the issue. Going to go order the book :)
That's interesting you say that. I think I do utilise a little click bait in my titles, within reason. I just make sure the video follows through on the setup on the title.
@@climbermacleodmaybe I've got too used to the over the top titles, yours seem quite reserved and honest to the video rather than something like "pro climber destroys popular training programme" in all capitals 😂
Thanks for a great video and breakdown Dave. Being a climber but also coming from a life sciences background I admit to going down a bit of a rabbit hole with the research from Keith Barrs lab on ligaments and Abrahamsons video. This is a really honest and grounded interpretation of what this paper actually said. But also as you said it would be super eye opening to see this applied in a case controlled experiment!
I did Emil's submax hang protocol once a day for severel weeks and I got rid of tweaky and achey fingers during and after bouldering, I didn't care for any strength gains.
Same here, after doing the protocol for a longer time now I feel much more confident in my fingers, they are always kinda warmed up, never had any injuries since. And I climb quite hard on wooden board so don’t need any additional fingerboarding on top
of that
Great content! Will pre order the book ❤️📗
I Just pre-ordered your new book (to add to my collection). Your work and attitude towards education in this community is second to none.
I want to emphasize one point (but two parts), that I am sure is obvious to you, and should be to everyone, but is often overlooked. Tissue strength only improves when you are resting, but to get that benefit, you must first create a need/demand. Hang board training, fingerboard work, climbing, etc. are all creating that need/demand. Getting great quality and timed rest (with proper nutrition) is like doing the work for free, but without it, you would simply get weaker and weaker (overtraining due to insufficient and poorly timed rest). One of my core tenant sayings from my lifting days (as stupid as it is): “You only get bigger when you are resting”, [but you need to have a reason to rest].
Of course figuring out the demand-rest cycle is very complicated (it depends), and frustratingly changes for the some person over time.
ordered! got the other two books which I regularly go back to as reference when a problem arises.
Even sporadic Hangboard training does wonders. Ever since moving into the flat I'm currently living in mine is gathering dust, since the door frames just won't allow installing it. When I was using it though it helped me a great deal and it will do so again once I move into my eventual home.
I'd buy the book.
Another thing I heard on a climbing podcast is that 10 seconds hangs, although less efficient for strenght gains, have the added benefit of building more psychological resistance. You need to hang just a bit longer. But of course those are for hard hangs and not the mild ones.
I've trained Mono's every day for 800+ days with an intensity that I would call hard enough to feel hard but not hard enough the impact the next day of training. This is on top of board climbing and rock climbing. I use a spring scale and train each finger individually. My training weight for each finger has doubled over this period for training. Just pre-ordered a book. Can't wait
Thanks for the report! And what about your general climbing standard? & thanks for ordering a book.
@@climbermacleod No real change in grade (8c Sport). Some improvement on the hangboard. (one arm 3 finger drag with 16kg added.) My fingers definitely feel more robust on pockets which is the main goal. All my local climbing is on crimps but i go on trips where the main grip type is pockets.
Another great video :) Looking forward to seeing you on Harris
I thought the primary reason for the 2X a day protocol was for healthy fingers and to prevent injury? That was my understanding from Emil's protocol which has popularised the routine. The gains in strength are a by product of having healthy, well conditioned fingers from consistently doing the routine, no? The routine feels more like yoga for the fingers than strength training.
Not sure that the program necessarily promotes healthy fingers. Have also spoken to a physio who has seen quite a few overuse injuries from people who have been following the 2x a day program - most likely due to not being careful enough on the low intensity part. Since often it's too much of a hassle to use a scale and ensure you aren't pulling too hard.
Regarding The twice a day protocol. I have started using it at the end of last year in the middle of a hard training and climbing period. I had very little firsthand experience with hang boarding, although I did have a go here and there and had read a ton about it. I decided for the twice a day protocol because i wanted to load my fingers a bit more in a safe manner, as i found out that im too weak for the super bouldery, short, overhanging 7C on fingernail crimps. A project that I had been aspiring to climb.I (at least in my mind) had again reached a plateau at 7B+ at that time, which I have never previously broken for a multitude of reasons despite climbing for more than 10 years. I have never really stressed too hard about it, but after about two months or so of doing the protocol every day. I found myself with a larger than usual strength base(measured subjectively on systemboard performance) Come send day, after more than about a month of layoff because of the bad weather, I found that I can actually power down on the crimps and having memorized the sequence perfectly, it took me only a handful of tries to actually achieve. Given that I have not been able to try that many times(about 5 or so) in a single day before that, because it was always tweaking my fingers painfully, id say I have seen some benefit. Ive since moved on to weighted hangs, and instead of the twice a day protocol, I switched to doing some of my yoga poses on fingertips as well as doing a no hang about once a week, as the protocol is just a bit of a drag. Thanks for the insight on finger training effectivity
Good video Dave!
Thank you Mani.
....as always! Thanks, Dave!
Just pre-ordered the book to Singapore 😊. I can’t wait to read it.
About the “No hang” or “Twice a week” protocol, I personally use it in Crimpd as a warmup before the heavy weight hang board protocol or even before bouldering. I think it’s a great tool for this purpose.
This was a great video, thanks!
This couldn’t have happened at a more convenient time for me, I’m just about to buy a beast maker 😁 cheers Dave!
Happy finger strength!
Just preordered your book! :)
5:30 the evidence for this comes from general tendon and ligament training studies. Keith Baar summarizes this strategy in Minimizing Injury and Maximizing Return to Play: Lessons from Engineered Ligaments. You can read through the studies he cites to get more details.
No, that's why I said 'specific' scientific evidence. I refer to Baar's paper I this video and there are no discussion of different hangboard protocols on finger strength that we are discussing, or in fact any evidence comparing responses to different intensities of training in humans. Baar's paper is concerned with the molecular responses in extracted connective tissue.
@@climbermacleodI'd be curious to hear your opinion on Baar's new retrospective with the crimp'd dats.
At the time of this video, I agreed with your analysis that anecdotes and one in-vitro study weren't enough to guide my training. However with the crimp'd study I am now convinced and am looking at all kinds of ways to adopt Baar's thesis that low intensity long duration isometrics prompt tendon growth and repair. For example, a twice-a-day protocol for elbow tendonitis seems interesting.
@@bmdhacks The new study is interesting but doesn't add much new information, because of the way the data was collected. Any conclusions drawn from it are suspect - we do not know if people chose a particular training protocol because they were either injured, or preforming well, or relatively trained or detrained. Massive potential for the results to be purely just a selection bias effect and not due to the training protocol itself. This and other problems are acknowledged in the paper. I would definitely not use this study to guide training decisions. With that said, it is broadly consistent with what I say in the video. Max hangs plus either just going climbing a lot on fingery terrain (i.e. not volumes and parkour) is a great choice a lot of the time. Also, high volume rehab exercises for tendon injuries have been recommended for a long time now. For example Hakan Alfredson's protocols, first researched in Achilles injuries and discussed in my book Make or Break ten years ago.
I was also under the impression this protocol is mostly meant for recovery. My fysio deliberately calls then recovery hangs to make that very clear. I only do them when I have a pulley injury and cannot train with loads close to bodyweight or heavier. A process similar to loading the tendons as for elbow injuries etc.
I do have the feeling my finger strength declines less rapidly compared to not doing any finger training at all when injured. So should you hangboard twice a day when injured? It depends how bad the injury is but probably yes!
As soon as the pulley recovers you can go back to strength training with added weights and pull as hard as you can to get those strength adaptations💪
Hope this makes sense to you Dave. Thanks for making such high quality and nuanced videos. I have read all your books and will preorder your new one for sure!🎉
Hey Dave would be keen on a video addressing your opinion and approach to other supplemental training like pull ups, rows, bench, shoulders, etc. Thanks for everything!
Looking forward to the book, pre-ordered. Had a productive summer just getting lots of climbing in but thinking about a proper training program for winter. I have tried the low-intensity program, but due to life getting in the way, not been consistent enough to make any conclusions. I could perhaps anecdotally say my elbow tendonitis hasn't been an issue while doing it, which it usually is when I'm doing a lot of bouldering.
Go Dave, educate the population!
Man I would really like to buy your book, I just enjoy very much the wisdom as much as the climbing itself. Unfortunately it's not available to Brazil. But thanks for the videos !
Yeah sorry, we had to stop shipping to Brazil after losing too many books to the local postal system.
@climbermacleod tks for the answer man, yes , our postal office is sufferable, it's being more and more left aside and people are using private carriers whenever possible.
I love your giggles and laugh at the end of your sentences, put a smile on my face haha!
You're a great ambassador for climbing!
Please tell me that an audiobook version narrated by you could be a possibility in the future - I'd buy that immediately
Just pre-ordered your book!
Thank you!
There's now a retrospective study by Keith Baar et al. Effects of Different Loading Programs on Finger Strength in Rock Climbers. Published Nov 19, 2024. Abrahangs as effective as max hangs, but incorporating both is an additive effect
Yes, I read it when it came out.
Tried to preorder on your website, saddly no shipping available to my home country. Hope I can get my hands on it someday!
All the best to you Dave!
Where are you in the world?
Brazil
Hey Dave, thank your for your content. I read on an ebook reader device. Will you make an ebook version of the new book available? (optimally on Amazon) I'm asking since I think 'Make or Break' is not available in ebook formats.
No plans to, no.
Would really love to preorder. Is there an option to deliver to Germany? Only UK available so far.
Speaking of the twice a day protocol, usually my go to if i feel like my fingeras are a bit injured. Rest, twice a day, switching it to long intensity hangs, and then slowly work my way back up to max hang protocoils is usually tthe best cylce.
Felt like switiching between Power endurance workouts of 70-80 % of my max hang and Max hang sessions to gain more base power is a good way to make constant gains without tweaking. I feel like the power endurance help me consolidate the new jump in strength. Just moving up the weight did not do any good to my finger health in the past.
Hey Dave! Massive thanks for the great content on the channel, it's very valuable and also enternaining. I have a doubt regarding your books. I've been thinking of reading the 9 out of 10 climbers book, but this new Moving The Needle also seems incredible! Which would you recommend to read first? I'll be getting both eventually! Thank you!!
Thank you. I'm not being evasive here but I'm not sure! Only four people have read Moving the Needle so far, so it's hard for me to be objective about which is better. 9/10 might be a good place to start, not least because it's available. If you like it, you can go from there!
I tried an adapted version of the protocol (once a day but nothing on climbing days and an extra couple of hangs on back-two). I found it good for a few months until I picked up an overuse injury in the back of my forearm. I think there wasn't enough rest even in this reduced protocol for me but I normally need a lot of recovery time compared to others.
Hi Dave,
I wanted to say thank you, you and your videos really helped me throughout my only year of climbing and allowed me to improve very quickly, I would have liked if I could order your new book but unfortunately from the link they do not deliver to my country(israel), what could I do if I want still to get the book?
Love this video! Dave your the man, I am just curious I am studying physiology and have seen lots of studies on the differences in low rep high intensity Vs. High rep low intensity. Different reseasrch articles are observing that when looking at the two groups they can't see a difference in strength gains? I know different limitations occur in these studies but do you think we can apply this to climbing and see huge musclular gains, and less injuries due to less volume being distrubuted to the fingers?
The book sounds very interesting Dave! Are there any plans for it (or any of your other books) to be available on Kindle?
No plans for that sorry. Amazon's monopoly pricing makes it impossible for a niche book.
Correct, the biggest nuance in all training recommendations is “it depends”
If a climber is already maximizing the loads on their fingers from hard crimps, they could be well at their maximum volume for that position. Yielding no benefits or even worse leading to overtraining.
Others who are quite weak will see some progress, specifically to the robustness of their fingers, but that fatigue may come at a cost to their actual climbing.
Just like with everything, any addition to your training must come with analyzing the total volume and intensity that you’re currently doing and WHERE would adding something like this fit in?
Book ordered Dave. I have weak fingers. It is definitely stopping me progressing. If I can't even start a climb because I can't support my weight on my fingers, then this must be a limit for me.
I'd have loved to pre order your book Dave, but I'll hold off until it releases in bookstores in Sweden so I can avoid the costly shipping.
the first 20min book advertising I watched :D just kidding, like it a lot!
Interesting, in my head the mentioned twice a day routine was to try and activate / get blood to the tendons etc to try and strengthen them over time through low intensity pulls whilst still leaving room for maximal training along side and not to replace it.
Would it be possible to have a short video on how you setup and cleanup trad or even sport climbs? Not just the setup but like devices you use to practice and ascend/self belay. Been exclusively bouldering outdoors and want to take my lead climbing outdoors but dont know where to start.
Thank you Dave
After having slight but consistent pain in the fingers in general for something like 9 months, I am rather defensive when it comes to the health of the fingers. My fingers feel fine for a couple of months, now. I learned that the tendons and ligaments need three days of rest to fully recover after a hard(!) bouldering session. My path to getting healthy fingers was taking one month off from climbing and afterwards reducing climbing to two times a week with two strict days of finger rest after each session. That helped and even though my fingers felt heavily loaded, I also felt that they can fully recover while getting stronger and stronger.
I am now at the point where I want to add specific finger training via hangboarding. As David pointed out, it is somewhat a balance between being healthy (not systematically overloading tendons and ligaments) and getting stronger. Therefore, I decided to add a single max hang session in between the two climbing session. I think this should be possible without degrading the health of my fingers over time. However, I wonder whether this is enough of a stimulus? On the other hand, I wonder how someone can do significantly more max hang sessions without reducing the amount of climbing. Especially, I wonder how doing max hangs daily can be possible without overloading both the muscles and the ligaments. Any thoughts on that?
Who's David?
Have all your books. They are the bible and that’s from someone who has been collecting climbing books since Neumann and Horsts books from the 90’s. Pre-ordered. Thanks for all you do Dave.
Thank you!
I'd love to hear your thoughts on overcoming isometrics for finger training. My experience switching from hangs to overcoming isometrics has been very positive, but I'm also a father who trains almost exclusively on a fingery home wall. In that context, I'm getting the specific, hard pulling practice on the wall, with the overcoming isometrics training maximal recruitment but with less soft tissue stress than hangs (so they detract less from the climbing). I saw that at least one other commenter said the Tindeq pulls had not helped them, and I suspect some piece of the puzzle is just missing there-perhaps the intensity is just not high enough, as they might struggle to pull maximally hard with their fingers without the cue of added load you get in fingerboarding.
Just pre ordered!
Great video Dave, funny, I had been wondering what your opinion on this would be! Also, do ME sell that hoody your wearing??
I was wondering about the hoody too..
Ah man you have to love it when Dave pi***s on your chips!!!
I've been climbing a long time, but have become very inconsistent due to work, location & life. This twice a day is something I can achieve easily enough with a portable hangboard. Maybe I'm waisting my time??
Sounds like I got to your chips after the work/location problems did the damage. If you swap out on of your twice daily sessions for max hangs, I'll buy you another bag of chips. Sort out work and location near a crag, and I'll make it a triple burger, no bun.
@@climbermacleod as long as it's a veggie burger I'm in. There aren't many crags in Essex, but I get the jist. Max hangs & lottery tickets it is. Thanks Dave
I would love to get your book but it seems that there is no shipping option to Brazil. Any chance it might become available at some point?
Thanks for the video! Pure gold! Are you going to sell your book through Amazon? On your site, there's no shipping option to Brazil or Argentina. Thank you!
The book sounds amazing and really interesting. Really want to pre-order it however I'm traveling abroad now. When are you planning to release the book? That way I'll know where to send it
Thank you! I don't have a firm release date until I have it cast iron from the printers, but likely next month or into November.
@@climbermacleod ok thank you 🙏
The last section is crucial and it's important to consider the individual's circumstance. As always, it depends...
What brand is that sweater? Where did you get those pants? That colour of pants speaks to me greatly in ways I never knew
Mountain Equipment.
Thanks for this videos
Just preordered, looking forward to the book :) I developed PIP synovitis from excessive hangboarding and never fully recovered. I completely moved away from hangboarding, but feel like the resulting lower intensity of my training does not necessarily make my joint any better. Perhaps it needs more stimuli to heal completely? But then very intense training sessions aggravate my joint again... Any thoughts/experience on that? An answer would be much appreciated (even anecdotal)
A frustrating problem without a straightforward answer. There may be something about your approach that is causing the finger joints to complain. Many possibilities and possibly an experienced coach could pick it up. For example, the way (joint angles and position) you take the holds, warm up process, form during exercises, weakness in some part of the chain (forearm, upper arm etc), heat/humidity of the training environment. Or perhaps it's something outside of the training itself influencing susceptibility - chronic generalised inflammation (e.g. autoimmune conditions, infection, gut conditions), poor recovery, smoking (which damages connective tissue), poor quality diet, or some other stressor. It's one of those problems where if time and ramping hasn't worked, start going down the list of every other thing you can think of.
Thanks a lot for the detailed response:)
I would happily preorder the book but i only see the option for a UK shipment. Any chance we can pre order it with a shipment outside of UK ? (France in my case)
Just change the country down below in the address part
There might be two more effects not mentioned in the video, which I find worth to consider: (1) Increasing a blood flow in forearms, and and (2) improving of the grip technique. As
@FelixAbrahamsson mentioned, especially for sedentary job I find (1) very important, it warms up the muscles, it brings up nutrients and accelerates recovery. (2) is also interesting to consider, while after >30 years of climbing I still find myself to focus properly on the grip for individual fingers. I find the protocol of @EmilAbrahamsson fine for it is simple, fast, safe, consistent over time. Though, I'm not following it myself😄
Appreciate the talk but I feel this discussion is over looking one of the aspects "I feel" is the most important and the source material from which the "program" was loosely designed; tendon signaling. This is an especially pertinent IMO for those climbers who started climbing after 25 yrs of age (their peak GH years) and will likely have a long road to develop tendon strength/rigidity compared to their muscular strength as tendon strength changes take far far longer to materialize than muscular gains. Although I don't think low intensity twice a day pushes the needle I do think a question like "would adding 5 low intensity hangboard sessions to my weekly climbing routine improve my long term tendon strength/rigidity". I do also think the answer is likely yes. There are also potential recovery benefits to low intensity hangboard work. These questions and the value of low intensity hangboard IMO all have much more value as an addition to a solid program rather than a niche/replacement program of hangboard twice a day. But if using low intensity hangboarding to add onto/add frequency yo an already satisfactory program I see significant potential benefits...especially in climbers who started later in life. Reading between the lines of your statements on consistency and your previous videos I think you likely agree just didn't cover the topic directly here.
Significant potential benefits over disuse, yes. But the point made in the video is that just going climbing will yield all the low intensity benefits, plus several more. Hence, my preference, young or old, would be to do lots of climbing and use strength training methods for training strength. The primary exception, also mentioned in the video, would be if you are stuck inside all day unable to pull on holds.
@@climbermacleod Yes definitely and certainly agree that twice a day low intensity in no way a long term solution to climbing progression. Thanks for video and response.
I’d love to see a study on this.
Correct me if I’m wrong but the videos on this haven’t really quantified what “low intensity” really is. It would be interesting to see a comparative research project on regular stimuli at (for instance) 20%, 35%, and 50% of 1RM.
I had added a previous comment which I guess did not make it through moderation due to having a link. The thing is, there are some controlled studies on hangboarding. The title of one such study is: Hangboard training in advanced climbers: A randomized controlled trial. Their conclusion was: Compared to a control group, maximizing weight in hangboard training with an 8-week protocol is superior in terms of grip strength advancement in recreational climbers.
Good video.
Have you done any videos on, or have any thoughts about compartment syndrome from overuse? Been struggling since a spring trip to Fontainebleau this year where due to weather windows we ended up climbing 11 out of 14 days. Since then I have been struggling a lot with feeling pumped very rapidly, and I can't seem to shake it. I've tried mild excercise and complete rest mixed with vibrating, but it doesn't seem to help much if at all. Would really like to avoid surgery, but it's difficult to find info on non-interventional recovery methods.
Honestly that is a question for an experienced and specialist surgeon. A good surgeon will be a reluctant one. Although I have seen others suffer with this, I don't have enough experience to advise. I hope you can find a way forward.
@@climbermacleod I guess so. Cheers for the reply :)
Hi, will there be a E-book version?
No sorry, Amazon's monopoly pricing makes it a non starter for niche books.
Dear Dave, about the book, any suggestions on how to get it from Mexico? For 9 out of 10 got it from Amazon, guess will have to wait to do the same for this one?
The 'if you add you need to remove' is what is stopping me from doing more than a once per week maxhang session. I'm 48, which may help explain it too, and am defo a late starter in climbing (age 40).
I do want to improve, and am happy to do some amount of off-the-wall training to help the cause, but do find it much more satisfying to climb, perfect technique and so on. Could be the 'wrong' approach, or one that will not get me to the very upper echelon of what I may be capable of, but that's my happy balance.
Am pre-ordering anyway, just to see how very close our starter years may have been before you so cowardly decided to leave the intermediate climbing class. 🤣
Haha thank you. Without knowing much details it sounds like there is a bit of headroom before you run into the need to remove something problem, especially if you have a relative off season, or in fact any variability in the loading through the year. Could you try a single set per day and see if you can handle that? Single sets get a good chunk of the benefit for strength.
@@climbermacleod I train 3-4 time a week, one of them being a maxhang session (4-8 sec maxhangs, 3min rest, until I reach about 30sec cumulative for each - assymetrical - hang).
I can't add any or I explode, and removing a climbing one (which can be limit climbing or power endurance training) hurts like hell.
Had never heard that single set idea. But what protocol are you talking about here? A set of what exactly?
My anecdotal experience with a low intensity protocol have been improved skin for outdoor climbing at the tips and my fingers feeling more 'snappy' while climbing. I did not observe any marked increase in strength as measured by a Tindeq.