UKC

Hi - i was wondering if any has, or has used a powerball for increasing finger strenght?

are they any good? do they work?

thanks

Diggs

In reply to diggers:
not actually used one. They are meant to be very good as a warm up

In reply to diggers: Not used one on a regular basis myself however they are supposed to be good training aids - although not so much for finger strength. They, over time, increase strength (and endurance) in your forearm/wrist.

In reply to diggers:
just used my dads, and that only gave me wristache.

In reply to diggers:

They can be good for rehab if used at low revs (make sure you rotate the ball in both clockwise and anti-clockwise directions to balance training and help to avoid injury).

They can also be very good for improving pinch and grip strength as high amounts of pressure (grip) are needed to maintain good form when going for high scores and avoid rattling.

In reply to diggers: I use my powerballs when i'm getting a bit gripped on a route. I find if i click them into place just before the crux i get all the finger strength i need.

I take them off at the end of the route otherwise i start chatting loads of bull about how desperate the route was and how run out it wat etc. so for training there not much good, as they make me an obnoxious training partner..

I've seen people in pubs who always have their powerballs on and they usually end up nutting someone, or getting layed out by a bouncer.

Hope this helps.

In reply to diggers:

your time would be better spent wanking.
if you want stong fingers go climbing and get a fingerboard.

PB's have no affect on finger strength at all.

PB can be helpful for rehab but they are designed as short term novelty items and later for collecting dust.

In reply to Daniel Armitage:

Best post on here in ages!

In reply to Danger: we aim to please..

In reply to diggers: really good for grip strength, get one with a counter.

In reply to jazzyjackson:


Agree entirely with all this post. There have several million threads about these things. For strength gain they are singularly useless.

In reply to diggers:

my powerball got my forearms solid! but my finger strength did not seem to improve.

In reply to Alun:

Must depend how you use them then, try getting speeds over 10000 rpm you need strong fingers to get high rpms, plenty of strong climbers say they have benefited from using them.
http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,7489.20.html

I`d recommend http://ukbouldering.com to anyone after sensible answers about training.

In reply to jazzyjackson:

Sod the strencth they're excellent for stamina IME.

In reply to superfurrymonkey:

Careful, don't flood the place with UKC fools
That UKB powerball thread is quite useful, just ignore GCW and Houdini.

In reply to superfurrymonkey:

No, you don't. You don't actually need to grip the thing very hard at all. All you have to do is be able to rotate your wrists very quickly. Ever do that when you're climbing? No, neither do I. The most it will do is maybe help a little with lactic acid dispersion, but not very much. Anecdotal evidence from "strong climbers" doesn't necessarily make good training advice.


Every time I try I can't get in because of all the willy waving. Obviously I'm not cool enough.

In reply to Alun:

Not at all. When at higher speed (over 12,000rpm) there is minimal wrist movement and grip is a major factor. If you don't have good grip you'll never get to the higher speeds.

Don't worry about not getting into UKB, it's a better place without you

In reply to bentley's biceps:

Okay, think of this way. When, while climbing, do you ever have to grip a vibrating ball for minutes at a time?

Think about it from a sports science point of view. The way you use your muscles when gripping a powerball bears very little relation to the way you use them when climbing. Compare that to training with a fingerboard, where you are training the muscles in exactly the same way as they are going to be used.

The science behind this concept of specificity training is established and applicable to all sports, not just climbing, and there is countless amounts of literature to back it up. Plus, like all good science, it makes sense, when you think about it a bit.

Anyway, there's no real harm in using a powerball, and it's not as is they're very expensive. So if you or anybody else likes using them, then more speed to your wings.


I'm delighted to hear it. Does it have a good search facility? (Or perhaps more pertinently, do people use it?)

In reply to Alun:
UKB's search facility is pretty OK.

I don't think anyone has suggested using PowerBalls alone for training. They have their uses- pinch strength is certainly improved, somthing it's hard to do on a 'board.
And at lower revs it's good for a warm up/ warm down, just to get the blood flowing.
Using it at the strength settings will also help with stamina.