UKC

I'm sure this has been discussed a million times before but I'm trying to figure out the best fingerboard to get. I prefer the wooden ones like Beastmaker/Crusher but not adverse to others... Can anyone suggest which they'd recommend? 

BeastMaker IMO, if you’re unsure which hedge easier and get the 1000. If you can make the most of a 2000 you’ll know.

Or, if you want to save pennies, just get a 20mm campus rung which allows you to train everything except slopers and jugs.

Even better: 20mm campus rung plus a pulley system (two pulleys, a couple of hooks in the right place to hang them off, length of static cord and two carabiners). That's my current set-up and I love it.

With a bit of strategic thinking, you might be able to position it so that you can add a fingerboard (or more wooden holds) later if you want.

Depends on having a bunch of heavy objects (whether that's weight plates or dumbbells or whatever) around to hang off the pulley system or yourself, though.

Further to the two suggestions above, you could try the Lattice training rung? It's a bit more expensive than a 20mm campus rung but you get the 20mm training edge and nice big warm-up edge above, which makes it more convenient for home use. It's a very comfortable edge to hang off, at least as comfortable as the beastmaker IMO.

I'm a big fan of the simpler approach, and you can train every grip type on just a straight edge, you don't need different pockets.

I'd also second using a pulley. That way you can easily modulate the load up and down which makes up for only having one edge size.

It's horribly slippery IMO - last thing I want from a training device. Also somewhat over-engineered - the bit you actually use is the same as a 20 mm campus rung, and the cost is vastly different - £40 vs £10. If you want a larger rung to warm up, buy a pull up bar - far more versatile as can be used for other exercises as well.

Indeed - a Beastmaker is nice but costly, and probably just as much training benefit can be gained from a 20 mm edge.

Yeah, I should have stated this above. Pulleys are great.

Interesting, can't say I've found it overly slippery myself. Except the one at Bloc in Bristol, that thing is practically glassy. So it's quite possible with a lot of use it'll go the same way, we'll see.

My perfect board would be something like the Edge board that Dave Macleod has been promoting, but it's so expensive for 3 edges (Something to do with using properly sustainable Scottish wood apparently. Which is good but it's still pretty eye watering). There is a US company called Royal Edge that do a similar board as well but it's pricey to get it shipped to the UK sadly.

Similar to what those above have said:

I've got a beastmaker 1000. It's pretty good, but I just use the bottom outside edges with added weight for training, big pockets for warming up, and the jugs for pull ups. One large and one small campus rung and a pullup bar would do everything I want just as well tbh.

In terms of training slopers I've found front three finger drag on a 20mm edge ticks that box.

Definitely go wooden. New resin fingerboards at home are awful on the skin. Without the traffic that holds get at a commercial wall, resin holds will stay very rough for a long time. A wooden board can be trained on when your skin is thin and won't make your skin any worse. Resin holds will make your skin worse and will be painful when your skin is thin. Don't add skin issues as a potential reason to not train.

On a similar note, if you have the option, put the fingerboard somewhere easily accessible to make sure you actually use it. Ideally close to the TV, not in a cold garage and preferably not in the kitchen due to constant changes in humidity and temperature.

The beastmakers are good. The 1000 is easier to warm up on and has a better selection of smallish edges. The 2000 is better for (assisted) one arm hangs and hard slopers (the 45 degree slopers are HARD).

I personally prefer not to use the pockets as I find they can bunch the skin around the knuckle which is uncomfortable and it is easy to cheat by using the sides of the holds. I prefer to do two and three finger work using a wider slot to prevent cheating.

Using a campus rung or lattice rung will get you most of the benefits of a fingerboard. If you add a good hold to warm up on and a smaller edge, that is pretty much all you need. By the time you add those things though, you will probably have spent about the same as on a fingerboard anyway. 

I find the lattice rung to be even kinder on the skin than the beastmaker. It is harder though (especially if, like me, you are stronger in a half crimp than a drag). 

Definitely get a pulley system set up so you can remove weight for one arm hangs and you can add weight by hanging weights on to a harness or weight belt. If you don't have a way of adding and removing weight, your options for incrementally adjusting difficulty will be very limited. 

I've got a Crusher matrix. Didn't like the Beastmakers at the wall, pockets we're either deep or v.shallow. Matrix has good variety and pinches!

Second the vote for wood over resin.

Chris

Definitely go wooden.

I would get a beast maker 1000.  I have a woodgrips one and it doesn't have a small enough edge (smallest is 30mm I think).  Advantage of a beastmaker is that you can also use the app which, if your new to fingerboarding, may be useful to you.  I use the BM app but on my woodgrips board but I have to guess which is the most similar edges to use.

Try to mount is a) where you also have space for a pulley and b) where you can also see the TV! 

a door frame is perfectly adequate if you house is well built

The best finger board is whichever inspires you to actually use it.

I had a Moonboard that sat unused for years.

Basically the grips were too small for me and I didn't really have a clue what to actually do with it.

It was only by getting on board with the Beastmaker hyperbole, getting a 1000 and their repeaper app that I actually started using a fingerboard in ernest. I simply did what the app said and I was away. It seemed an easy way in.

If you're psyched for what Lattice are doing with their app then equally you could go down that road. For me at the time, it was important to have an app and preset work-outs to get me really started on the fingerboard.

I don't own one, but have used a couple with varying mileages at walls, and had a fondle in a shop. Maybe it's just because of the wall location, but I find them to be frustratingly low friction, even for wood - I suspect its because I'm used to a Beastmaker which is quite soft wood (vs the hard wood of a lattice rung). I'd suspect as well that my Beastmaker is the perfect combination of worn-in and meticulously brushed, with the lattice rungs I've tried not meeting one of those criteria (new vs at a wall). That said, if I was in the market I'd probably have got a Lattice Rung before xmas when they had them on offer with a Lite plan for £100.