How to improve grip strength with repeaters

Welcome to my second article on how to improve grip strength for climbing, in this article I will be talking about improving local power endurance in the fingers and forearms using a hang board. Click here if you haven’t ready part one which focuses on building strength using max hangs.

 why improve power endurance?

Power endurance is a very useful weapon to have in your arsenal whether you are climbing routes, big wall, multi pitch or boulders. It will help you climb harder for longer, help you navigate crux moves easier on routes and retain strength in longer boulder problems.

 how to improve power endurance?

There are many ways to improve power endurance, some of which I have have written about in previously blog posts. In this article I am specifically focusing on using repeaters on a hang board to improve local power endurance in the fingers and forearms.

Repeaters Protocol.

So When performing repeaters on a hang board we are trying to mimic time on the wall, we do this by hanging for 7 secs and resting for 3 secs 5 times to make 1 set, this would closely represent the crux section of a route or hard boulder.

In the most simple form to improve endurance we want to be working longer than we are resting during each set, the 7 on 3 off protocol should provide sufficient stimuli to the fingers and forearms to build both aerobic power and anaerobic capacity.

To get started with this program you need to determine a weight, if you have already finished a max hang protocol you are in a good position and can jump on with around 50-80% of your max hang, if not you will need to run a test session to determine your max hang.

Once you have selected a weight you also need to select an edge size, I tend to increase the edge size slightly and use a 20mm flat edge for crimping to prevent sweating off of the hold.

Sample hang board session:

Beastmaker 20mm edge:

Warm up with a few 10 sec hangs.

Set 1:

80% of max half crimp X 7 Sec

3 Sec rest

80% of max half crimp X 7 Sec

3 sec rest

80% of max half crimp X 7 Sec

3 sec rest

80% of max half crimp X 7 Sec

3 sec rest

80% of max half crimp X 7 Sec 

3 minutes rest.

I then repeat this for 5 more sets, the first set should get you relatively pumped and by the 5th-6th set you should be failing in the later reps, The aim is to complete all 6 sets with the chosen weight and there are various options to progress:

1- Increase Weight

2- introduce a 6th rep in each set

3- work up to a 7th set

Summary

Give these a go and see how you get on, ensure you are always warmed up correctly to avoid injury do this with a full body warm up and some time on the wall prior to hanging. Try mixing this up with some 4 X 4 climbing or interval circuits to see the best results.