Why do people climb on training boards? How does it help us develop as climbers?

1. Finger Strength

Board climbing is, hands down, one of the best tools for finger strength!

It might not be as targeted as handboarding, but the coordination and variety transfers extremely well to outdoor climbing.

2. Measurable

If you take training and performance seriously (as many of our clients do), you need to remain consistent long-term and keep track of long-term progress.

A defining feature of many of the best climbers is they have great intuition with their training from years of experimenting.

To understand where your own progress comes from you need a consistent testing ground i.e. a training board.

3. It’s Very Physical

Commercial gym setting is often about complex movement and problem solving which is great for skill development. This has an obvious benefit.

But if you want to work the top 5-10% of your physical attributes, being limited by complexity is not going to help. This is where board climbing supplements skill training.

4. Did someone say replica training?

Many climbers have set replica moves on a board. Even if they don’t completely match the move, copying the movement style can help condition the muscles for more time on rock.

Does your project have a hard gaston move?

Set some gaston boulders to get the rear delts, traps and lock-off strength working in your favour.

5. Versatility

There are many ways to train on a board:

• Tension training drills
• Endurance training drills
• Power training drills
• And more!

It can be hard to find the appropriate boulders in a commercial gym set, but the board often makes this easier.

⚠️Caveat⚠️

Many boards start at quite a high difficulty level.

Before getting too systematic with board training, it’s worth establishing a good baseline of board problems you can comfortably warm-up on.

Having a set of 5 to 10 go-to warm-up problems (increasing in difficulty) is a great way to judge your readiness to train on the board.

Need help structuring your training?

Learn more about our 1:1 coached plans.

Learn more about our self-coached training plans.

How to choose the right plan for you.

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