Climbing Tips: Hang Around for Hand Strength

Bill Brown August 10, 2008

As a rock climber, your hands are your anchors. Your feet hold you up, but without your hands, you ain’t going nowhere. That said, it’s obvious that hand strength is of great value to a climbing fool such as myself. Obviously, the best way to keep your climbing strong is to get out there and climb…but what if you can’t? When time is a factor or the weather’s bad, or in my case, if your state is on fire and it’s raining ash, having a hang board is a godsend.

If you got swindled into living in a residence without an interior climbing wall and there’s no climbing gym around, a hang board is a convenient way to stay on top of your climbing game, especially if you’re stuck inside.

A hang board is a board (sigh) made of plastic, wood, or a rock-simulating composite built with a variety of holds to hang from. It’s a great way to build endurance and strength in your hands and forearms when climbing isn’t a possibility.

There are a variety of hang boards to choose from-different sizes and materials make for different experiences, but Revolution Climbing’s Grill Hang board is a good way to go. It features every hold you could want, with pockets and pinches of all sizes, as well as a nice big sloper for you to curse.

With the various holds, you’ll be able to static hang, asymmetrically hang, or even traverse from one side of the board to another. It’s the next best thing to having a climbing wall in your garage (more on that later).

If you spend your winter on this beast, you’ll be dominating walls in the spring.

And who doesn’t love to dominate?

Check it out here.


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