Are you looking after your hands as a climber?

For us climbers our hands are one of the most important body parts to look after for our sport. We hang our entire body weight off just a few digits! Lets dive into some simple things you can weave into your routine during and after a climb!

On the wall:

Grip variety is key! When I first start working with a climber I would often ask what kinds of problems do they gravitate towards to, do they love steeper problems and board climbing or perhaps they love the technical challenge a slab wall can give or maybe a mix.

Alternating between different hold types within a session and between session can be super helpful so we are not loading the fingers in the exact same way each time!

Wall angle matters. Usually steeper the climb the more load that is going through the fingers usually, so opting for more vertical and slab wall climbing can be a nice relative rest for your fingers (assuming it’s not a super crimpy problem!)

Off the wall:

Tendon glides. There are the bread and butter of my hand rehab programs for my clients. They are gentle yet effective. But why do they work?

• the gentle gliding movement helps regain full movement in the fingers after prolonged gripping on the wall

• brings blood flow to the area and can even help with improving swelling

• can be a good test to see if you are losing range of motion in the fingers or feel tightness across the knuckles (a handy sign to monitor to help guide when to modify your training as your finger’s capacity is not coping with the training loads)

• you can change up the positions for your tendon glides to target different grips (see below!)

Image 1: Tendon glide variations

Hand push-ups are one of many mobility drills that I would give to climbers. I love these as they target the finger flexors through the hand which typical stretches of the hand may not get. These are good to do after a climbing session working through a comfortable range of movement.

Image 2: Hand push-ups

The trick is not to let your fingers bend! If you are finding that your fingers are lifting up you can opt to do one hand at a time and put the opposite hand on top like in the picture below!

Figure 3: Opposite hand assist hand push-ups variation

Regeneration/ Minimums hangs are also a favourite of mine for climbers rehabbing from an injury as well as to look after your finger health in general. Main thing to remember is that we are not going for max effort here and feet are staying on the ground.

A hang-board can be a good place to do these or a door frame if you are on the road. Often we are loading the fingers in similar positions each time so I like to use this as an opportunity to change up the positions of the hand, I quite like open hand positions or letting the fingers splay on the monos and various edges nearby. You begin to use all the little stabiliser muscles in the hand this way, that you may not hit with your traditional finger training programs!

Dosage generally 10 seconds holds and 50-60 seconds off repeated for 5-6 rounds. I quite like to program these into the morning to stimulate regeneration and repair after a climbing session and couple it with some tendon glides or non-grip activities as rest time (not a bad way to get some morning mobility in!)

By no means is this an exhaustive list but a good general starting point for looking after your fingers as a climber!

*Disclaimer: all information on this blog post is provided for educational purposes only. It should not be a substitute for seeking advice from a health professional