Beginner-Friendly Hangboard Workouts: Build Strength at Home
Training for climbing at home without a full rock climbing wall is challenging. So, how can you build strength for climbing at home effectively, efficiently, and in a directly translatable way?
The best answer is hangboarding! While YouTube has great climber-specific strength and core training videos, nothing works those finger tendons and forearm muscles like hangboarding. It can be daunting if you’re a beginner climber or new to using a hangboard. After all, it is a piece of wood or hard plastic with increasingly small edges and tiny pockets. But, a hangboard is a beginner-friendly training tool and can be the center point of many workouts that build climbing-specific strength.
Before we dive into a few beginner-friendly hangboard workouts, it is important to keep in mind two things:
Warmup
Meet yourself where you are at.
Warming up is critical because the fingers and tendons are small and easy to injure if not smart about training them. A good warm-up will consist of the following exercises:
● Finger flicks: 15-20 flicks x 2-3 sets
● Wrist rotations: 10 in each direction
○ First set with your hand in a fist
○ Second set with your fingers flexed
● Progressive hangs: 5-10 for 10-20 seconds each
○ Progressive hangs should involve keeping your feet on the ground to control the weight in your fingers. With each set, you can take more weight from your feet and into your fingers. Only the last hang can be with no feet as long as you’re on a 20mm + edge.
○ Progressive hangs should also involve starting on the deepest edge and working down to the 20mm edge. If 20mm is your board's deepest, do all sets on the 20mm.
As mentioned, the finger tendons are easy to injure, especially for beginners. The force climbing puts in your fingers is uncommon in any other part of life, so it is essential to build the strength gradually to prevent overuse injury or strains. While the goal is to build strength through handboarding, always err on the side of caution, and if any small aches or pains arise, back on sets, reps, or add assistance with your feet.
Now that we’ve covered the housekeeping, it’s time to dive into the workouts!
Beginner-Friendly Hangboard Workouts
1. 7-3 Repeaters
Grab a comfortable edge. We recommend the 20mm as a general starting point, but feel free to use a deeper edge. Keeping your feet on the ground, begin pulling down through your fingers for 7 seconds, then rest for 3 seconds. Repeat until failure, or you reach 10 minutes.
As a beginner, aim to take 25-50% of the weight out of your hands by keeping your feet on the ground. As you improve, you can put less weight into your feet, but during this workout, you should always have at least your toes in contact with the ground.
Perform 1 set. This is great to add to a general strength or conditioning workout.
2. Modified Frechies
Frenchies are a great lock-off and strength training exercise but are challenging to master.
However, performing modified frenchies is a great way to build the strength needed for climbing.
In the modified version, you’ll want a chair or step under your hangboard so that you can use your feet to assist you into the top of a pull-up position if needed. Once at the top of the pull-up, with or without assistance, hold the position for 10 seconds. Again, assist yourself by putting as much weight as necessary into your feet to last 10 seconds. After that, lower to a 90-degree lock-off position and hold for 10 seconds. Finally, lower into a dead-hang position (you might have to move your feet from the chair to the ground) and dead-hang for 10 seconds.
That entire 30-second sequence is one modified Frenchie, which is 1 set. Rest for 2-5 minutes and repeat 3-5 times.
3. 10-Min on the Min
This workout combines finger strength with general pull-up and lock-off strength. Set a 10-minute timer. At the start of the minute, perform the exercise and rest for the remaining part. Begin the next exercise at the start of the new minute. Modify the exercises as needed (i.e., use a larger edge, reduce the reps, reduce weight with feet assist).
Min 1 - 15 second hang on 20mm
Min 2 - 3 pull-ups on the jugs
Min 3 - 10 second lock-off on large edge
Min 4 - 10 second hang on the medium edge and 2 pull-ups on jugs
Min 5 - 10 second sloper hang and 1 pull-up on the sloper
Min 6 - 20 second hang on the large edge and 5 knee raises
Min 7 - 10 seconds hang on a 3-finger pocket or mediuASDFm-edge
Min 8 - 15 90-degree lock-off
Min 9 - 3 pull-up jugs
Min 10 - Dead hang on sloper or 20mm edge until failure
If you’re climbing regularly, try implementing a hangboard workout twice a week before your climbing sessions or on a non-climbing day. Be patient with yourself, and progress will come. Most importantly, be proud of yourself for showing up and putting in the work. Let us know in the comments below if you have any questions about warm-ups, injury prevention, or any workouts/exercises you feel need clarifying! Happy training and strength-building!
