Hangboard Workouts - The Ultimate Guide

Hangboard Workout Tips

These are a few things you can learn prior to hangboarding - it also serves as a good reminder on proper form!

1. Shoulder Positioning:

Keep your shoulders engaged and slightly retracted. This means they should be pulled down and away from your ears. This engages the muscles of the upper back and stabilizes the shoulder joints.

Avoid overly retracting the shoulders, which can lead to unnecessary activation of the chest muscles and arching of the back.

2. Elbow Positioning:

Keep a slight bend in your elbows when you hang. This should not be a 90° lock off, but just slightly enough to engage the muscles and avoid strain on the elbow joints.

3. Grip Technique:

Here are some of the grips you will be using in almost all of the workouts

Open Hand Grip

Half Crimp Grip

Full Crimp Grip

4. Body Tension:

5. Progressive Overload:

Start with easier holds, such as jugs or larger edges, and gradually progress to smaller holds as your strength improves.

Modify the hang time and rest time as you progress. For beginners, a common protocol might be 10 seconds of hanging followed by 20-60 seconds of rest. As strength improves, you can increase hang time and decrease rest time progressively.

6. Exercise Patience and Prudence

Hangboarding targets small muscles and tendons differently than a typical gym workout, and benefits develop over time, requiring persistence and patience. Start gently to avoid injuries like pulley tendon strains, a common issue for the overenthusiastic.

Prioritize proper form and acquaint yourself with the sensation of hanging on the board. Observe how your body and fingers respond after sets of hangs. It’s normal for your fingers to tire quickly initially; the early sessions are about adapting your body to hangboarding.

Listen intently to your body as you train. If soreness emerges in your fingers or elbows, take some time off, reassess your form, and ease back into your training.

How many times a week should I hangboard?

Most climbers should hangboard 2 to 3 times per week, allowing at least one rest day between sessions for recovery. Beginners should start with 1 to 2 sessions to allow tendons to adapt, while experienced climbers might handle up to 3 to 4 sessions with careful monitoring for signs of overtraining or injury. Always prioritize quality and listen to your body's response to the training.

Beginners: If you're new to climbing or hangboarding, your tendons and muscles may not be fully adapted to the stress of hangboard workouts. Start with 1 to 2 sessions per week, allowing for plenty of rest and recovery time between sessions.

Intermediate Climbers: With some experience and if your fingers are already conditioned to climbing stresses, you might aim for 2 to 3 sessions per week. Ensure you're not experiencing pain or discomfort, and always allow for at least one rest day between sessions.

Advanced Climbers: Experienced climbers with years of finger strength training might handle 3 to 4 sessions per week. However, this is highly individual, and such frequency should only be attempted if you're confident in your recovery and injury prevention strategies.

Regardless of your level, here are some general tips to consider:

Rest and Recovery: Tendons recover slower than muscles, and overworking them can lead to injuries like tendonitis. Always prioritize rest and listen to your body.
Quality over Quantity: Focus on the quality of your hangs, ensuring proper form and engagement. It's better to do a few well-executed hangs than many poorly done ones.
Incorporate Variety: Change up the grips and difficulty to work different parts of the fingers and hands and prevent overuse injuries.
Listen to Your Body: If you feel pain (not to be confused with the discomfort of a good workout), stop immediately. Tenderness and mild discomfort are normal, but sharp or persistent pain is a sign to rest and reassess.

Hangboard Workouts:

Beginner Hangboard Workout:

Warmup: 

1. Stretch out your forearms
2. Start with a jug or depth you are really comfortable with
3. Hang for 10 seconds, rest 20 seconds - repeat twice.

When you are just beginning it is important to take things slow as tendons take longer to recover, and in general just take time to strengthen.

Start with a depth that you can comfortably hang from for about 10-15 seconds, normally 30mm to 50mm depth for beginners.

1. Hang for 10 seconds.
2. Rest for 30-60 seconds.
3. Repeat the first two steps 5-8 times.

This is a good routine for the first 2-3 months of your hangboarding journey. You can change up the number of sets, time, and rest as needed to increase/decrease the intensity.

Intermediate Hangboard Workout

After 2-3 months your tendons will be acclimated to the hangboard, so we can start to increase the intensity. 

Warmup:

1. Stretch out your forearms
2. Start with a jug or depth you are really comfortable with
3. Hang for 10 seconds, rest 20 seconds - repeat twice.

Workout:

1. Start with a half crimp grip
2. Use a depth that you would fail at 13-15 seconds
3. Hang for 10 seconds
4. Rest for 20 seconds
5. Repeat for 8 repetitions
6. Next start with a 3 finger drag position
7. Use a depth that you would fail at 13-15 seconds
8. Hang for 10 seconds
9. Rest for 20 seconds
10. Repeat for 5 repetitions

Advanced Hangboard Workout

1. Everything from above
2. Start from a two finger drag position or half crimp
3. Use your middle and index finger
4. Hang for 10 seconds
5. Rest for 20 seconds
6. Repeat for 2 sets
7. Use the same drag position  or half crimp but with your middle and ring finger
8. Hang for 8-10 seconds
9. Repeat for 2 sets

Metolius Hangboard Workout

This is a workout from Metolius. It is for 10 minute sequences if you are looking for a good place to start or only have 10 minutes to train!

Entry Level Hangboard Workout

1st minute: 15-second hang on Jug
2nd minute: 1 pull-up on Round Sloper
3rd minute: 10-second hang on Medium Edge
4th minute: 15-second hang with 3 shrugs on Pocket
5th minute: 20-second hang with 2 pull-ups on Large Edge
6th minute: 10-second hang on Round Sloper, followed by 5 knee raises on Pocket
7th minute: 4 pull-ups on Large Edge
8th minute: 10-second hang on Medium Edge
9th minute: 3 pull-ups on Jug
10th minute: Hang as long as possible on Round Sloper

Intermediate Hangboard Workout

1st minute: 15-second hang, followed by 3 pull-ups on Large Edge
2nd minute: 2 pull-ups on Round Sloper, followed by 20-second hang on Medium Edge
3rd minute: 20-second hang on Small Edge, then a 15-second 90º bent arm hang on Pocket
4th minute: 30-second hang on Round Sloper
5th minute: 20-second hang on Large Edge, followed by 4 pull-ups on Pocket
6th minute: 3 offset pulls each arm (high arm on Jug, low arm on Small Edge), then switch hands and repeat
7th minute: 15 knee raises on Jug, followed by 15-second hang on Medium Edge
8th minute: 25-second hang on Medium Edge
9th minute: 15-second hang on Slope, then 3 pull-ups on Jug
10th minute: Hang as long as possible on Round Sloper

Beastmaker 1000 Hangboard Workout

Beginner Beastmaker Workout:

1. 10 second dead hang (1) + two pull-ups (1)
2. 10 second hang (5)
3. Rest for 30 seconds
4. Repeat step two and 3 for 3 repetitions 
5. Two pull-ups (1)
6. 8 second hang on the sloper that is easiest for you (2 or 12)
7. 8-10 second hang on the deepest three finger pocket (7)
8. Hang to failure on any hold you choose (1, 5)

Congrats you made it! This is an excellent workout for your beastmaker 1000, you can stick to this workout/protocol for a few months and change the difficulty as needed.

The Hangboard Workout

Beginner Workout:

1. Do a quick warm up as explained above to prevent potential injuries!
2. Hang on the jug (1) with both arms for 10 seconds
3. Repeat twice with a minimum of 20 seconds rest, between reps
4. Next do two pull ups on the same jug (1)
5. Move to the very beginner friendly 40mm edge (3)
6. Hang for 10 seconds
7. Rest for 30 seconds
8. Repeat steps 5-7, 4 times
9. If you feel comfortable move to the 30mm edge (4)
10. If you do not feel comfortable continue with the 40mm edge (3)
11. Hang for 10 seconds
12. Rest for 30 seconds
13. Repeat steps 9-12, 4 times