Beginner Hangboard Workout: Your First 8-Week Program

This program works whether you have been climbing for years or you are picking up a hangboard as your very first piece of training gear. New to hangboarding entirely? Start with our hangboard for beginners guide for the full picture. The progression is built into the board itself: start on big holds, work your way down to smaller ones. Anyone can begin on jugs and large edges on day one.

All you need is a hangboard, chalk, a timer, and the willingness to show up consistently. For help choosing a board, see our best beginner hangboards buyer's guide.

What You'll Need

Your Hangboard

Look for labeled edge depths (so you can track progression), a range from jugs down to at least 20mm, and quality wood construction for comfortable, skin-friendly contact during high-rep training.

You will need to mount your hangboard properly before starting. Renting or can't drill? You can mount on a pull-up bar instead.

Gear Checklist

✅ Hangboard with jugs and progressive edge depths
✅ Chalk
✅ Timer (phone works fine)
✅ Training log (notebook or app)

Grip Types: The 3 Positions You'll Use

Three main grip positions, each training your fingers differently. You will use all three as you progress.

Open Hand

Fingers extended and draped over the edge with minimal curl. You can use three or four fingers depending on the hold. No thumb involvement. This is the lowest-stress grip position and the one your hand naturally settles into on larger holds and slopers. A common training variant is the three-finger drag (index, middle, ring only), which isolates those three fingers for focused loading. Great for warm-ups and building base finger strength.

Half Crimp

Your default training grip for this program. Fingers curled over the edge with the fingertip joints (DIP joints) flexed inward. The key distinction: your thumb is not involved. It just rests naturally alongside your hand, not wrapped over or locked onto anything. Half crimp is the most functional grip for climbing crimps and small edges, and it responds well to progressive training. You will use this for the majority of your working sets. For a deep dive into training all three grip positions, see our crimp training guide.

Full Crimp

Same finger position as half crimp, but now your thumb locks over the top of your index finger. That thumb lock is what creates the mechanical advantage and the extra force. Full crimp is the strongest grip position, and every climber uses it on the wall when they need maximum hold on a small edge. For this program, you will start with half crimp and open hand. Full crimp is a natural grip to add once you are comfortable with the fundamentals.

The 8-Week Program

This program has two phases, each built on a specific research-backed protocol. Everything you need to do is in this section.

Before You Start: Find Your Edges

Phase 1 edge (Abrahangs, Weeks 1-4): Pick an edge you can hang on comfortably. For most people, that is a 25-40mm edge, or even jugs. You will be doing no-hangs (feet on the ground), so the edge just needs to be comfortable under moderate finger load. This should feel easy. That is the point.

Phase 2 edge (MaxHangs, Weeks 5-8): Pick an edge where a full dead hang (feet off the ground) lasts about 10-12 seconds before you would fail. Most people land between 20mm and 30mm. If your hangboard has labeled edges (like The Hangboard's 40mm to 10mm progression), use the markings to track.

Baseline test: Before Week 1, warm up, then dead hang your Phase 2 edge in half crimp for as long as you can. Write down the time. You will repeat this after Week 8.

---

Phase 1: Abrahangs (Weeks 1-4)

Based on the protocol developed by Emil and Felix Abrahamsson, drawing on Keith Baar's collagen synthesis research.

This is not traditional hangboard training. There are no max-effort dead hangs. Your feet stay on the ground the entire time. The sessions are short. And you do them twice a day, every day, with at least 6 hours between sessions.

That is the core of Abrahangs: frequent, sub-maximal loading that stimulates tendon adaptation without the fatigue and recovery demands of high-intensity training. Emil Abrahamsson's original results were remarkable: in 30 days, his max load on a 14mm crimp went from bodyweight +48kg to bodyweight +67kg. His brother Felix gained 10kg on two-arm hangs.

A 2024 retrospective study (Gilmore et al.) analyzing data from the Crimpd training app found that the Abrahangs protocol was as effective at improving grip strength as traditional MaxHangs, and combining both had additive benefits.

How No-Hangs Work

Stand beneath your hangboard and grip the edge. Keep your feet flat on the floor. Gradually press down through your fingers as if you are trying to lift off the ground, but do not actually lift off. Load your fingers to about 70-80% of what it would take to leave the floor. Hold for 10 seconds. Release. That is one rep.

If you do not have a feel for 70-80% yet, start lighter and work up. The hangs should feel moderate, not hard. You should finish each session feeling like you barely worked. That means you are doing it right.

The Abrahangs Session

Each session takes about 5 minutes total. Emil's original protocol totaled only 1 minute and 40 seconds of actual hanging time per session. Here is a beginner-adapted version using the same structure:

Half crimp on your comfortable edge:
3 sets of 10 seconds on, 50 seconds rest
~70-80% of liftoff weight

Open hand on a large edge:
3 sets of 10 seconds on, 50 seconds rest
~70-80% of liftoff weight

That is it for Weeks 1 and 2. Six sets, 60 seconds of total hanging time, twice a day.

Weeks 3 and 4, add pocket work if your board has pockets:
Middle and ring finger pocket: 1 set of 10 seconds on, 50 seconds rest (~70%)
Index and middle finger pocket: 1 set of 10 seconds on, 50 seconds rest (~70%)

Now you are at 8 sets per session, about 1 minute 20 seconds of hanging, twice a day. Still very manageable.

Phase 1 Schedule

Warm-up for Phase 1: Because the intensity is so low, you do not need an elaborate warm-up. A couple minutes of wrist circles, finger flicks, and one easy set at lighter-than-normal pressure is enough. If you are doing your morning session right after waking up, give yourself a few minutes to move around first.

---

Phase 2: Eva Lopez MaxHangs (Weeks 5-8)

Based on Eva Lopez and Gonzalez-Badillo's progressive dead hang research.

Now you shift gears. Phase 2 uses full dead hangs (feet off the ground) at high intensity with long rest periods between sets. This is the MaxHangs protocol that Lopez's research showed can produce significant strength gains.

The structure is simple: hang at near-max effort for 10 seconds, rest for 3-5 minutes, repeat. The long rest is not optional. Full recovery between sets is what makes this a strength protocol rather than an endurance protocol. Each hang should be high quality.

Phase 2 Session Structure

Warm-up (15 minutes):

1. General warm-up (5 min): arm circles, light pull-ups or push-ups, shoulder activation. Get your blood moving.
2. Finger warm-up (5 min): finger flicks (2x20), rubber band extensions (2x15), wrist circles, gentle finger stretches.
3. Progressive hangs (5 min): start with easy no-hangs on jugs, then dead hang your largest edge for 10s, work down through 1-2 edge sizes toward your working edge. Build up gradually.

Working sets:

All sets in half crimp. In Weeks 7-8, you can add one set of open hand if you want to build grip variety.

Intensity check: Every hang should be hard but completable with solid form. If you cannot hold for the full 10 seconds, move to one edge size larger. If 10 seconds feels comfortable, either move one edge smaller or add weight (a backpack with books works).

Cool-down (10 minutes): Light forearm stretches, wrist flexor and extensor stretches, easy arm circles. Nothing complicated. Just flush the pump out and loosen up.

Phase 2 Schedule

Train 2-3 times per week with at least 48 hours between sessions. You can continue your Phase 1 Abrahangs sessions on off-days if you like. The two protocols are complementary, and the Gilmore et al. study found additive benefits from combining them.

If you are also climbing: Do your MaxHangs before climbing (when you are fresh) or on a separate day. The session including warm-up and cool-down takes about 40-50 minutes.

---

Week 8: Re-Test

After your final Phase 2 session, take a rest day, then re-test your baseline. Warm up fully, dead hang your original test edge in half crimp for as long as you can. Compare to Week 1. Most people see a meaningful improvement.

Listen to Your Body

Before every session, warm up your fingers with a few easy hangs on the biggest holds you have. A couple of light no-hangs on jugs, some wrist circles, and a set or two at well below your working intensity goes a long way. Jumping straight to working sets on cold fingers is a habit worth avoiding early.

Normal training fatigue, that deep tiredness in your forearms after a session, is expected. What you want to watch for is anything sharp or unusual in a finger joint. That is your signal to ease off and call it a day. You are not losing progress by skipping one session, but you set yourself back if you push through something that does not feel right. If you are coming back from a finger injury, start Phase 1 at lower intensity (50-60% instead of 70-80%) and give yourself extra time before moving to Phase 2. A session with a physio who works with climbers can help you figure out the right starting point.

Rest days are part of the program, not a break from it. This is especially true in Phase 2, where the 48-hour gap between MaxHangs sessions is built in for a reason. Your fingers get stronger during recovery, not during the hang itself.

Why This Program Works: The Research

You do not need to read this section to follow the program. But if you are curious about why it is structured this way, here is the science.

The Abrahangs Protocol

In 2017, Keith Baar and colleagues published research (PMC5371618) on engineered ligament tissue showing that mechanical loading stimulated collagen synthesis, but the tissue became refractory (unresponsive to further stimulus) after about 10 minutes. It then needed approximately 6 hours before it would respond to loading again.

Emil and Felix Abrahamsson adapted this finding into a hangboard protocol: very short, sub-maximal no-hang sessions performed twice daily with 6+ hours between. Emil's sessions were only about 1 minute 40 seconds of actual hanging time. After 30 days, his results were striking: a 19kg increase in max load on a 14mm crimp, plus dramatic improvements in one-arm hang time and smaller edge hangs.

An important nuance: Hooper's Beta's 2023 analysis pointed out that Baar's original research was in-vitro (lab-grown sinew, not living human tendons), and the collagen synthesis mechanism may not translate directly. The protocol clearly works, based on both the Abrahamssons' results and the 2024 Gilmore et al. study analyzing thousands of climbers via the Crimpd app, but the exact physiological mechanism is still being studied. Possible explanations include connective tissue remodeling, neurological adaptations, or a combination of factors.

What we know for sure: the 2024 study found Abrahangs was as effective at improving grip strength as traditional MaxHangs training, with the added benefit of being gentle enough to layer on top of existing training without creating fatigue.

Eva Lopez MaxHangs

Eva Lopez's hangboard research, published with Gonzalez-Badillo in 2012 and 2019, established that structured progressive dead hangs produce significant finger strength gains. Her MaxHangs protocol uses high-intensity, short-duration hangs (5-15 seconds at 75-103% of MVC-7, which is your max voluntary contraction for 7 seconds) with 2-5 sets and 3-5 minutes of rest between.

The key insight: long rest between sets allows full neuromuscular recovery, which means every hang can be performed at true high intensity. This trains your nervous system to recruit more motor units and produce higher peak force. Lopez's research showed this approach was highly effective for grip strength development, and it is now one of the most widely used hangboard protocols in competitive climbing training.

Why Both Together

Phase 1 builds tendon resilience through the gentle, frequent Abrahangs loading. Phase 2 layers strength on top through high-intensity MaxHangs. The Gilmore et al. study specifically found that combining the two protocols produced additive strength gains beyond either alone. That is why this program uses both.

If you have regular gym access, climbing is a great complement to this program, but it is not required. The hangboard work stands on its own. For the broader view of hangboard training at every level, see our hub guide.

Frequently Asked Questions