UKC

Hi guys,

I'm a beginner climber (been doing it just for a couple months). Although I consider overall a fit person, I would definitely not say I'm a strong one, especially on my arms and hands.

My hand grip strength is very poor, not to talk about my fingers, for example, when I do dead hangs on a pull-up bar I'm not able to stay there for more than a few seconds.

Do you recommend me any exercise to improve this, or it'll get better just by climbing and I shouldn't bother too much at this point?. I know that when you are a beginner you shouldn't care about specific things such as FINGER strength, but my whole hand grip strength sucks, so it's a little more general that finger grip strength I'd say (maybe not!).

Thanks.

Cheers,
Antonio.

In reply to kamsy:

As a beginner, just focus on climbing Antonio and doing so in good form and technique. If not anything else, your technique is likely to be poor right now, so you can't even judge properly whether you are strong or not.

Your strength as a beginner will definitely get a lot better just by climbing. There will come a point where you'll start feeling that everything else is almost in place but strength is lacking and then perhaps you can consider more specific training but bear in mind that doing so too early will also increase your chances of getting injured - climbing is quite tough on some body structures and there is no easy way of short-cutting the adaptation period as these structures are not just muscles...

In reply to Simos:

Hi buddy,

Yeah, that just confirms my thoughts. I'll stick to the wall for a while and not worry about specific training.

Thank you.

In reply to kamsy:

Agreed with Simos. Just climb (often in poss) and it'll come! It's only when progress starts tailing off will you have to start looking at specifics to keep improving.

In reply to kamsy:
Try hanging or pull ups with a weight vest. Strength will increase rapid.

In reply to kwaidy:

Have you read what the OP posted? He can't do dead hangs without weight, why would he add a weight vest too? At best he just won't be able to hang at all and at worst, he'll get injured.

In reply to Simos:

Well, I can do.. 10 seconds .. As I said, I'll stick to climbing and hopefully the strength will come. My forearms are kind of fine, where I suffer the most is regarding my hand grip, my hands get pumped and tired after a bit of bouldering (let's say an hour), so even if I feel strong enough to do some problem, my grip keeps me away from sending it, so I have to call it a day.

In reply to kamsy:

I am no expert myself but I wouldn't get weight vests etc. Also 10 seconds are fine, there are different programmes on deadhangs from the little I've read I think you are not supposed to do them for more than 8-9 seconds at a time (obviously you can do sets) but I guess it depends what you are hanging off etc.

I'd be a bit careful with deadhangs - funny as it might sound, it's not too difficult to go wrong with them I think. How long you hang for, how often you do them and even how you are hanging (personally I think it's bad to just hang, you need to maintain a decent amount of body tension and arms should be a bit bent, not straight).

In any case, as mentioned previously - you'll build strength from climbing at first. And 1 hour's worth of bouldering is not insignificant, especially if you are testing yourself.

And lastly, it sounds to me that it's endurance you are lacking the most - not strength!

In reply to Simos:

Simos, yeah I guess it's actually a mix of both, lack of endurance and of strength.

I try to do bouldering sessions of at least an hour, including some stretching to warm-up, around 10 min. of traversing, and then boulder till my body says enough.

By the way, what do you think about generic rice bucket exercises for beginners? I've read it works opposing muscles in your forearms and also helps you to improve your grip.

In reply to kamsy:

I can't believe that after a few months that you are worried about this (and I thought I was bad when I started!). What you're experiencing is normal, just keep pushing yourself whilst climbing and I promise you that your grip strength will improve.

Working antagonistic muscle groups is a great habit to get into though I wouldn't count on it improving your grip strength. It will help prevent injuries in the future though. Keeping a bucket of rice lying around might be a pain though, most people put an elastic band/theraband around their fingers and open the fingers outward.

In reply to cha1n:

But I'm assuming that rice bucket training will, in addition to work antagonistic muscles, help me improve my grip, right?. I might be wrong though.

In reply to kamsy:

Just remember that your chosen activity merely gives your body the POTENTIAL to get stronger. That actual getting stronger bit occurs from recovery (rest and adequate nutrition).

In reply to kamsy:

OK, I must admit that I had no idea what rice bucket training was when I replied. I just assumed that you'd be using the resistance of the rice whilst opening your hand from a fist. I didn't think about the reverse but to be honest, if you have regular access to a bouldering/climbing wall then I don't see why you would mess around with buckets of rice when you could just go climbing.