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Climbing Information:
Technique & Training:
Training Crimp Strength vs Open Hand:
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naw
Feb 19, 2007, 1:17 PM
Views: 1574
Registered: Sep 13, 2004
Posts: 192
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I've been climbing for a few years and bouldering exclusively for about a year now. When I first started bouldering I had a couple of different finger injuries in the ring finger A4 pulley on both hands, and as a result I've modified my climbing to be almost exclusively open hand. I pretty much never crimp anything and in both training and practice pull on everything with an open grip.
However, lately I've been having trouble moving into the next grade of difficulty (just as a reference, I've been doing V4 pretty easily in the southeast but can't seem to get a V5) and I feel like the problem is that I can't crimp on smaller holds. Most of the harder problems I've tried just had holds on them that I couldn't move off of open handed, but if I try to crimp them it just doesn't feel probable. I feel like I have a mental block to crimping and it just doesn't feel right.
I'd like to try to train my crimp strength a little to make me more comfortable but I have a hard time finding a safe way to do that. I have a hangboard at home (the metolius pure force) but the grips on it aren't very wide and seem to lend themselves more to open hand grips (maybe because it feels weird to crimp with your hands right next to each other?). Should I try to crimp on the smallest rail with one hand and maybe use a jug or pocket with the other hand and just switch it up? Also, since I seem to have trouble moving off of these smaller holds outdoors, should I try to do some pullups on the smaller holds, or just stick with deadhangs like I'm doing now? I use a training system similar to rock prodigy's and I feel like it's making my open hand endurance better but not really increasing my power on small holds. I'm a bigger climber (6'3" 180 pounds) so I really feel like increasing my contact strength is the way to push into the next grades. Most all of my hardest sends are on vertical to slightly overhanging problems where I can compensate for my weight with technique...on really overhanging problems I struggle to send at the same level.
Sorry for the barrage of questions, but I'm going to hueco in 6 weeks and really want to train for the overhanging crimpy lines there since most of the climbing I do in the southeast is vertical/slightly overhanging open hand stuff. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
nate
(This post was edited by naw on Feb 19, 2007, 2:28 PM)
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Edit Log:
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Post edited by naw
() on Feb 19, 2007, 2:28 PM: To Avoid Further Asshole Responses
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