Finger Strength
3-2-1 Boulder
Tags: Bouldering, Finger Strength, Skills, winter training
3-2-1 Boulder – by Steve Bechtel Sometimes you just need some simple guidance. There is so much training “noise” these days, it’s hard to tell what you need to be doing to get better. In the interest of making things less confusing and simpler to progress, I am suggesting a 3-2-1 plan as a weekly…
Slow Strength 2
Tags: Bouldering, Finger Strength, parsons, Strength
by Steve Bechtel As with all good programs, there is a part two to Slow Strength. Unlike almost every other program you read, though, I can’t say that you must do part 1 first. In fact, you might call this Slow Strength “Variation 2.” I tried to keep the training pretty much the same volume,…
Tendon Strength: A Primer
Tags: Finger Strength, peter Stuger, Tendon strength
by Peter Stüger Even though tendon strength is crucial to athletes and rock climbers in particular, there is rarely any discussion about it. Today, the little information we find about training our tendons is truly disproportionate to the abundance of information we find about muscle training. Tendons, like muscles, are crucial components in…
Five New Hangboard Sessions – Fall 2022
Tags: Finger Strength, Hangboard, programs, Strength, workouts
Five New Hangboard Workouts – Fall 2022 by Steve Bechtel Trying to decide between doing repeaters and max hangs is like living in Paris and trying to decide between eating at McDonalds or Subway. Not only are there other options out there, some of them might actually be better. Hell, I can’t blame the average…
MOVE: Antagonist Strength Training
Tags: antagonists, Finger Strength, in-depth video, MOVE
As climbers, we tend to over-focus on isometric (static) finger strength. Work on getting your extensors strong, and your finger strength will go up.
The Gift of Isolation
Tags: bodyweight, COVID-19, Finger Strength, home training
by Steve Bechtel In the spring of 2020 disaster struck the climbing gym industry when COVID-19 swept across the globe. Almost all gyms closed or at the very least had to restrict access. Although some could stay open, most operated at a huge loss. Even with government grants and loan assistance, the gym scene…
Melding Strength and Power
Tags: Finger Strength, Hangboard, Power, Steve Bechtel, Strength, Weight Training
by Steve Bechtel Too frequently, we try to over-categorize our training. Long-time athletes and coaches learned about training for climbing by reading about and practicing training that came from other sports. We all understood that strength and power and endurance were different entities, some of us going so far as to train all of these…
2-3-1 Finger Strength A
Tags: Finger Strength, off-season strength, volume cycling
by Steve Bechtel If you’ve been training for any amount of time, you are probably familiar with “staleness” in training – when you go flat despite trying harder, putting more weight on the bar, or upping the grades in your limit sessions. Most athletes will show a pretty standard pattern of going flat after around…
Base Strength 1
Tags: Finger Strength, Off Season, Simplest Hangboard Plan, Weight Training
When I say base, I mean base. This plan is a 4-week repeatable plan that is aimed at climbers who are coming off a layoff or who have not done any strength training before. It is a 3-day per week resistance training plan, with a little bit of climbing sprinkled in. You can do more…