Max Hangs protocol
Fingerboarding for strength gains
Note: This article is aimed at climbers interested in improving finger strength, specifically climbers who are capable of climbing at least bloc 7B+ and are familiar with fingerboarding.
Max Hangs are just what they sound like, max hangs on a fingerboard to target finger strength development. They can be done with two arms or one, depending on strength development. The beauty of a Max Hang workout is that it can be done quickly. Warm-up and max hangs can be done in as little as 30 minutes or preceding other training/climbing.
A proper warm-up for the body is necessary prior to completing a Max Hangs workout. Once the body is warm, begin introducing the specific finger exercise by building weight slowly, starting to hang 2 armed with body weight and then adding weight slowly until you reach maximum weight. Conversely, if you are utilizing a 1 arm hang, begin by removing approximately 50% of body weight and then progress from there*.
In order to improve, Max Hangs should be done two to three times per week depending on the amount of other training you are doing. If your goal is to simply maintain your strength level, one session per week should be sufficient.
Make sure that you listen to your body and keep in mind that each session is likely to feel different from day to day.
Aim to do 3-5 reps per grip type (i.e., 3-5 hangs with half crimp, 3-5 hangs with open hand, etc.). Any more than 5 reps per grip type is too much and simply results in extended recovery time.
You can get away with doing a max hang session fairly often. With finger training, little and often is much better for strength development than infrequent marathon sessions. During the session, you should focus on putting maximum effort into each hang.
Max hangs can be split into shorter hangs (5-12 seconds) or longer hangs of around 20 seconds. Short max hangs tend to train neuromuscular development, meaning you are training the muscles to recruit more muscle fibers. Long Max Hangs are intended to increase muscle size (hypertrophy) and strength in the forearm. The latter lead to slower but potentially longer lasting gains in strength.
For each rep, leave a margin of 1-5 seconds at the end of the hang, meaning if you fail at 10 seconds on a specific edge at a specific weight, stop your hang somewhere between 5-9 seconds. This takes a little bit of experience to sort out. The goal is not to hang until failure but just before. Based on her research, Eva Lopez has found that leaving this margin at the end of each rep leads to similar gains as going to failure but reduces the risk of injury.
Short Max Hangs
Focus: Strength - neuromuscular gains
Process: Hang for 5-12 seconds (1 rep). Do 3-5 reps per set. Do up to 5 sets with different grip types. Leave a margin of 1-5 seconds for each rep.
Load: Adjust the load so 5-12 seconds is the maximum you can achieve with the margin. Hang for at least 5 seconds and for up to 12 seconds. The reason for the range is that your times are likely to vary between sessions.
Rest: Rest 3-5 minutes per rep (each hang) so that you are able to give 100% effort for every rep
Progression: Add weight
Long Max Hangs
Focus: Strength - muscle size
Process: Hang for 20 seconds (1 rep). Do 3-5 reps per set. Do up to 5 sets with different grip types. Leave a margin of 1-5 seconds for each rep.
Load: Adjust the load so 20 seconds is the maximum you can achieve
Rest: Rest 3-5 minutes per rep (each hang) so that you are able to give 100% effort for every rep
Progression: Add weight
*As a rule of thumb, if you need to decrease your weight by more than 30 lbs (13.5 kg) to do the One Arm Hangs on a particular hold, then you should either increase the edge depth or stick with regular two-arm hangboarding for the time being.
Sources:
Feehally, Ned. Beastmaking. Vertebrate Publishing, 2021.
Eva Lopez Blog. Eva López, PhD. Evidence-based Athletic Training for Climbing: Search results for max hangs (en-eva-lopez.blogspot.com)