Hangboard Routine -Training for Climbing

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	I	J
1	Hangboard Routine - Training for Climbing
2
3			WARM UP					NOTES (Please read before starting)
4			Activity	Reps	Sets	Notes		Warm Ups	Pull-Ups: The idea is to get the shoulders warmed up but also to start getting the hands warmed up. Do the first set on jugs but then move to open hand position to warm up the forearms better.
5			Foam Rolling	2-3 minutes total time, work on extension of the thoracic spine. Support the head and neck with your hands initially and then eventually extend the arms over head. Also, work over the shoulders, lats, etc.				Warm Ups	Push-Ups: Cross training opportunity, increase blood flow, and get ready for some of the core work built in.
6			Tendon Gliding	Perform 10 tendon glides. Touching all 3 spots counts as 1 (top of palm, middle of palm, base of palm). Perform on both hands at the same time for efficiency. You can also do this before you get to your climb. For example, I love to do it in the car (with just 1 hand, of course) or while I’m walking into the gym. Just get the tendons moving so our hands are a little warm				Foam Rolling	Since we will be in the overhead position a lot, thoracic extension is helpful for safe shoulders. Also, just helps to initiate mobility and prepare the tissue for work ahead
7			Bilateral External Rotation with Scapular Retraction aka "No Money"	12-15	1-2	This exercise is to help warm up our infraspinatus, teres minor, and rhomboids to get us ready to rock. Squeeze the shoulder blades together as you rotate out. Palms up or thumbs up for our hand position. Either is fine.		Effort Level	This is a concept that was greatly explained by Eva Lopez. Essentially, taking MaxHangs for example, if the effort level is plus/minus 3 seconds, and the goal is 10 seconds, if you fail at 6 seconds then you either have too much weight or are on too small of a ledge. If you can hang for 15 seconds, it is too easy and you may need to add weight or go to a smaller ledge. This is how you can track your progress. If you were able to do 4 sets of 10 seconds with +25% BW on a 20mm edge with no issue, you may be ready to increase weight or go to a smaller edge. It is best practice to start on a large enough hold or with minimal body weight to the point where you are reaching the plus (ex, 3 sets of 15 seconds) and work your way down, rather than starting to fail at 6 seconds and then adjusting.
8			Horizontal Abudction AKA "Human T"	12-15	1-2	Notes: This is our next warm up and will be to help get the middle trapezius and posterior shoulder ready to go. Try to keep the band parallel to the ground so you make a strong ‘T’. Don’t let your hands drop down into a “droopy T”. Squeeze the shoulder blades together as you do this. 12-15 reps, 1-2 sets.		Submax No weight	The first sustained hold, mainly meant as a warm up. Starts getting the flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) and to a lesser extent the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) warmed up. 30-45 seconds is great for this.
9			D2 Flexion AKA "Sword from the Sheath"	12-15	1-2	This exercise hits the lower trapezius which will be really important for those hangs. It also provides an exercise going towards the hanging position so we can get the body accustomed to being “engaged” while we hang. Make sure the thumb is pointed backwards at the end of the movement. Perform 12-15 reps, 1-2 sets.		Single arm recruitment pulls	This is part warm up, part awesome training. These recruitment holds are short, near max effort holds. You will notice the force you can safely generate will increase with each round or even each rep as your tissue warms up and the neuromuscular recruitment component improves. The hold in this should be small enough so that you cannot lift off of the ground. The idea is not to immediately overload the tissue by placing complete body weight on the hold, but rather safely begin loading it to get ready for the challenge of round 4, minimaledge hangs later. With this hold, try not to have your elbow fully extended but rather start with a slight bend. If in fact you are strong enough to lift yourself off of the ground... don't, your tissue may not be fully warmed up yet, don’t hurt yourself. The concept with this is to pretend like you are pulling the hangboard down, not to just put all of your weight on a small hold on a single arm. Each rep will be a 5 second hold and you should should slowly work up to "max" effort throughout the 5 second hold. Think of it as each second is a "gear". The longer you go, the higher the "gear" (effort/force) you place into it. This also allows you to listen to your body and stop if you aren't ready for the next gear yet. The first round you may only get to 3rd gear, but by the 3rd set, you are safely pulling in 5th.
10			Tendon Gliding Round 2	10	1	See above		Submax with weight	This is similar to round 1 except now we are adding weight. The idea here is multidimensional. We want to get the shoulders safe for hanging if you are going to do a maxhang protocol for round 4, but also it is to further warm up the flexor digitorum profundus and superficialis (the two main finger flexors that are crucial for climbing). Finally, it allows for a small break for the pulleys that we just put a lot of force into with our round 2 holds. Allowing us to safely prepare for Round 4 which goes back to a crimp.
11			Hangboard Pull-ups	10 or as many as comfortable	1-2	To finish off the warm up, use a large hold (one that you can get close to the first joint (your proximal interphalangeal joint) of your middle finger on and either do 10 pull ups or 10 scapular pull ups. If you can’t do 10, that’s fine, just do as many as comfortable to get yourself ready.		Minimum Edge	The idea here is to push your strength on smaller edges, without the addition of weight. This is much better for an introduction to the hangboard, whether it be with an experienced climber who has not been on a hangboard recently, or someone who has at least 6-12 months of climbing and wants to start working on more strength. It is also helpful when you do not know what edges you should be training on. Start with a medium to large ledge that you can half crimp on. Eventually, as the name would assume, you want to hang on the smallest edge that allows you to hold on for 12 seconds (plus/minus 3 seconds). Important, shoot for the over on this! Meaning, if you are failing at 15 seconds in the first round, that is fine. Don’t go to a smaller ledge yet. Rather, perform all 3-4 sets and if you make it 15 seconds each time, then you may need a smaller ledge. Write it down so you are better prepared next round. Yes, you need the full 3 minute rest. The energy system you are using here takes longer to
12								MaxHang	The MaxHang program has been heavily researched and backed by Dr. Eva Lopez. This is similar to your “limit boulder”, your project, this is where you need to be careful and respect your experience and skill level. This will be done with weight, with a hold time of 10 seconds, plus/minus 3 seconds. The timing of this can be varied depending on your skill and experience level (see the work done by Dr. Eva Lopez for more on that). Why are you adding weight if you don't when you normally climb? One thing to recognize is that these hangs are to be done with two-hands so the force is equally distributed to both hands. Often times in on our hardest climbs, we place a significant amount of stress on a single hand. By performing MaxHangs with weight on 2 hands, you are attempting to simulate the effect of a hard, project hold, with 1 hand (while be safer and equal with 2). NOTE: If you can do >50% BW, you should probably drop the weight down and work on a smaller ledge. Important, shoot for the over on this! Meaning, if you are failing at 15 seconds in the first round, that is fine. Don’t go to a smaller ledge or add more weight right away. Rather, perform 4 sets and if you make it 15 seconds each time, then you may need more body weight or a smaller edge next time. What might happen instead? You may start strong with your first 2 sets at 15 seconds, then fail at 10, and 7 on your last sets. Good thing you didn’t change things too quickly! Write it down so you are better prepared next round. Yes, you need the full 3 minute rest. The energy system you are using here takes longer to recover and since this is a high effort round, we need to rest longer to maintain safety.
13		HANGS						Climbing Post Training	If you plan on climbing after this routine, great! Just wait 15 minutes before attempting anything hard. You can climb on some V0’s but nothing beyond V1 just to make sure to get some rest. A great idea is to do this routine in the morning and then climb in the afternoon/evening (6 hours between sessions is ideal)
14			Round 1: Submax no weight	Round 2: Single arm recruitment pulls (not hanging)	Round 3: submax with weight	Round 4a: Minimum Edge	Round 4b: MaxHangs
15		Hold Length	30 seconds	3-5 seconds	20 seconds	10	10 seconds	STRETCHES
16		Hold Size	Medium to Large (~20-40mm)	Small (~15-20mm)	Large (~30-50mm)	Small/Med (~10-20mm)	Small/Med (~15-25mm)	Round 4&5 Stretches	Round 4 and 5 have much longer breaks, thses are NECESSARY. Use this extra time to go through some stretches
17		Hands	2	1	2	2	2	1st rest	Runners stretch: multiple variations are possible. Perform rotations by opening up your chest away from the front leg, or simply go deeper into the stretch by trying to bring your chest towards the ground and even get your elbows down instead of your hands
18		Hand Position	Open	Half Crimp	Open	Half Crimp	Half Crimp	2nd rest	Deep squat to HS stretch: personal favorite. With the deep squat, you can go wider or narrower, and with the HS you can perform both straight and bent leg variations
19		Weight	none	none	15-25%	None	25-50% BW	3rd rest	standing straight and bent leg side splits: Both bent and straight leg variations are important. Go wider as you feel comfortable. Reach leg to leg for a bonus stretch
20		Effort Level	plus/minus 5 seconds	as tolerated (self progressing)	plus/minus 5 seconds	plus/minus 3 sec	plus/minus 3 sec	4th rest	Frogs pose and childs pose: great to further open up the hips and build on top of the previous stretches. Also, very helpful to keep the hips closer to the wall while climbing
21		Repetitions	1	5 each hand	1	1	1
22		Sets	2	3	3	3-4	4-6 (skill level depeendent)
23		Rest	1 minute	1.5 minutes	1.5 minutes	3 minutes	3-5 minutes	Mobility Training
24		Mobility & Warm-up Activity	Side Split Against Wall	HIgh Feet Drills	Nordic Hamstring Curls	Stretches 1-4 (see stretches on right)		Side Split Against Wall	This will help when balancing on wide feet and having to move out to the side. Start by facing a wall in a side split position. Your toes should be all the way up against the wall. Bring your arms out to your sides and then reach the right hand towards the right toe. The left arm will go overhead as if reaching up towards a hold. Come back up to the start position, then repeat going to the left. Perform 5-6 reaches on each side, holding for 5 seconds at your end range.
25		Notes	Choose 1 or the other. Don't do both Min Edge and MaxHang. Choose whichever works better for you!					HIgh Feet Drills	High feet drills are to work on hip mobility and of course, high feet! We will have two forms of this, high feet close to the body with the knee bent, and high feet to the side with the knee straight. You will face a balcony (preferable) or wall with your toes touching the balcony/wall. Lift your left leg up as high as you can as close to your body as you can allowing the knee to bend. Hold briefly 2-3 seconds then return, perform 6 times on each leg. Next, keep your knees straight and reach one up and out to the side while trying to keep your hips close to the wall. Don't allow your shoulders / chest to lean to the side to compensate. Hold at your end range for 2-3 seconds, then return. Perform 5-6 times on each leg.
26			The 'mm' are just ideas / recommendations. If it is too small, go up! Think of what is relatively small / medium / large for YOU at the stage of training YOU are at.					Nordic Hamstring Curls	Start by kneeling on the ground and backing up against a wall. You want to pull your toes in (dorsiflexion) as you scoot back so you can get as much foot on the wall as you can (think about the toes and heels touching the wall when you start). Padding is mandatory for the knees. Next, engage the core, glutes, butt, hamstrings, and start to lean forward, maintaining a straight/neutral spine. Hold briefly at your end range, then return. Perform 8-10 reps and then finish with 1 iso rep at max distance. You may fall forward, that’s OK! Just be prepared to catch yourself. Start with a small/safe range in the beginning and slowly advance as you warm up!
27			When switching rounds, rest for at least as long as the prior round. So from round 3 to round 4, at least 1.5 minutes					GENERAL NOTE	Any of these can be replaced with your desired mobility or warm up activity that matches your level!
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100