Grip strength for climbing is one of the most important skills we should develop, as bouldering depends greatly on it. When inviting your non-climber friends to the gym for the first time, you’ll constantly hear that they lack strength and are afraid to give it a go because of weak muscles.
I started bouldering again after quite a long break. While getting back on the wall, I noticed a few weak spots, with my core getting a little soft, but maybe the hardest problem I faced was a considerable weakness in my grip strength.
You know that they’ll do just fine, and that’s true because when starting in bouldering, grip strength is not that important, but as you progress and get to nasty holds, the need for a good grip increases.
Why do we need to increase grip strength in climbing?
After your first couple of weeks at the gym and flashing all those V3 routes, you’re starting to show a little more interest in harder routes, and holding these tiny handholds isn’t easy.
As climbing is a complex sport, mental strength, technique, and strength in general are undoubtedly necessary. When hitting a plateau, some fine work on the unsung hero is needed.
If you want to progress in rock climbing, you must develop exceptional grip strength. This is crucial to endure the challenge of tiny and sketchy holds for extended periods. Moreover, an unyielding grip empowers you to find moments of respite and recovery on these holds, thereby preserving your stamina for the rest of your climb.
In order to increase your grip strength for climbing, you’ll have to start a set of specific exercises that will increase your forearm and grip. You can do this by working with weights, rollers, such as the Lattice Heavy Roller, or forearm training rings, but we’ll get to these a little bit later.
How strong should a climber’s grip be?
It’s hard to tell how much can or how strong is a climbers grip but here’s some scientific facts that could shed light on this dilemma:
A 2020 study on recreational climbers showed that compared to average men, recreational climbers have much higher grip strength levels. So the average grip strength of a non-climber man is around 32 kilograms, and of a non-climber woman is around 20 kilograms, compared to a climber man with a grip strength of 56 kg and a climber woman with a grip strength of 33 kg.
In order to increase your stats, you should include a rock climbing grip training routine that puts emphasis on grip and finger strength.
How can I increase my finger and grip strength?
Well, of course, first thing that comes to our mind when talking about grip strength is our ability to hold things (as in handholds) in our hands, right? But let’s get a little more deeper and understand the mechanics of getting our climbers grip stronger.
So grip strength is a combination of force and tension. The force is generated by your forearms while tension is given by the tendons in your fingers. Interestingly, our fingers don’t really have muscles as they consist of an intricate system of bone and tendons which communicate with our forearms. We are able to move our fingers because of forearms muscles that pull on the tendons in our fingers.
Although we have no muscles in our fingers, working in improving our tendon resistance is important in order to prevent tears and injury. We can obtain “stronger” tendons through our rock climbing grip training exercises.
6 exercises to improve your grip strength for climbing
There is no specific time when you should start working on your rock climbing grip training. Whether you are a seasoned climber or a newbie, strong fingers and a serious grip will help you get faster through the routes at your bouldering gym. So that being said, here are 6 exercises to improve your grip strength for climbing.
Finger Extensions
One of the best climbing grip trainer devices that you will find for working on your fingers is the 1cm rubber band. Hold your hands like an Italian and place the rubber band around them while working as much as possible to spread your fingers. As Adam Ondra said once, “the strength is in the pinky,” so you can do this exercise until you feel that your little finger is tired.
Alternatively, if you are looking to go more pro and more efficient, you can try out the Metolius Grip Saver, a wonderful contraption that works on the same system while holding a soft comfortable ball in your palm so you can also work on your flexion, not only extension.
Wrist curls
Doing wrist curls not only works on your forearms wonderfully but also helps you increase your grip strength as you have to hold down a specific weight. You can do these exercises starting easy with a barbell using both of your arms or by using freeweights.
If you are planning to introduce this exercise into your home workout routine, you might want to consider the Lattice Heavy Roller, which comes equipped with a carabiner so you can clip in any weight you want, even a 5-liter water bottle.
Pinch with wrist extension
Similar to wrist curls, the pinch with wrist extension is one of the best grip strengtheners for climbing. You can build your own plate to which you can attach weights or get one online that you can carry around you, even at the crag.
The exercise is done from a standing position, and you’ll pinch the plate while holding a straight arm, trying to hold the weight from 10 to 30 seconds.
My recommendation for this exercise is to try the Lattice Quad Block, which comes with great options for holds so you can not only pinch but also work on your crimps, making it a great rock climbing grip trainer.
Dead Hangs
Dead hangs are among the best grip strengtheners for climbing and not only. A very holistic exercise, dead hangs, will help you work on your climbing grip and increase your tendon resistance, your core and back muscles, and overall strength.
You can start doing dead hangs on a regular pull-up bar, but if you really want to get your climbing game on, you should try using a hangboard.
YV Vertical has a lot of hangboards and other climbing hand strengthening devices, such as Vertical Board Evo or Climbing Balls.
Crushers
Crushers are great rock climbing grip trainers that help you develop your forearm strength and tendon resistance. This exercise can be done using spring-loaded grippers or training rings, which come in various resistances.
The fun thing about this exercise (especially the doughnuts) is that you can use them anywhere: during your commute, on your lunch break, or while watching TV.
If you are a beginner, I recommend the softest ones, and then you can increase to the hardest, which simply feel so discouraging when you squeeze them for the first time. Five sets of ten reps during your workout will do wonders for your climbing grip strength.
You can check out the variants of forearm training rings we have from YV Vertical. They come in various resistance levels and are suitable for climbers of any level.
Push-ups and planks on your fingers
We already know that push-ups and planks are great exercises for rock climbers, but switching your palms to your fingers takes it to a whole other level!
Place your hands as you would usually do with a push-up or plank, but this time, try with your fingers tanned on the floor instead of staying on your palms. Try to start with a couple of sets of ten push-ups, or if that doesn’t work yet, start with a couple of sets of 30-second planks.
What’s your next climbing grip strength routine?
Working on your climber grip strength will help you stick to the wall more efficiently and give you an edge when things get complicated while climbing. Also, these exercises, fortunately, are going to help you work several muscles in your body so you’ll become an overall stronger climber.
Also, if you want to explore our grip trainers selection that should help you get to your objective in no time.
After you consider that you’ve mastered all of the exercises above, you can take your training to the next level using “hypergravity”. You’ll be able to work with your own weight to a certain point until you’re going to hit a plateau. That’s when playing with your weight comes into place.
Adding weights to your pull-ups, dead-hangs, or push-ups will make you stronger than you would have become using only your body weight.
In the long term, hypergravity exercises give you a feeling of lightness, great pulling strength, incredible grip strength, and overall power.
Please be careful and remember that these exercises are not recommended to beginner climbers as they can easily lead to injury.
Start small, be patient with yourself, and remember that we’re doing this for the fun of it.
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