SUPERIOR GRIP STRENGTH A strong grip is such an important aspect of your rock climbing! The relatively low number of holds and their respective depths is this model's primary downside. Its smaller dimensions help climbers with limited mounting options squeeze it into areas where larger boards would have no hope of fitting. The huge slopers on the Iron Palm provide a nice diversity of holds to utilize throughout a workout. ! A lot of people climb easy routes at the gym over and over as a large focus of their climbing. More grip options are generally better, but a good progression of holds regarding their depth and difficulty is the most important thing. While it's nice to have all sorts of pockets to inspire you, it's always worth remembering that it is okay to put 3-fingers in a 4-finger pocket. Privacy | Cookies | Terms, We tested climbing hangboards from Metolius, So iLL, Trango, and more to find the best products for your training needs. This is mostly due to its width, which is actually a good thing as it encourages better form, making it easier on your shoulders. Many climbers don't understand that there is a pretty broad range in difficulty between different models. Metolius and Atomik recently released a line of climbing holds made of polyurethane, but as of now, their fingerboards are still resin. For example, this board BARELY fits above normal sized doorways in homes with 8ft ceilings. Nailing the appropriate level of difficulty in your training board to push you to grow and gain strength without being too hard is crucial to maximizing the effectiveness of your purchase. This model has been through several iterations and updates over the years, with each new version steadily improving on the last. What space you have in your apartment, house, or dwelling to mount your hangboard could be the number one factor influencing your purchase. There aren't many options at a comparable price that offer the same number of grip options as this one, especially in a wooden model. Resin boards tend to feature more interesting slopers and cool arrays of pinches and rounded edges. Most training regimes involve 5-8 hangs for 7-10 seconds and then a 3-4 minute rests, equaling one set. Our favorite option for this comes from Blank Slate Climbing, which offers expensive but super-effective systems. How much harder depends a lot on the manufacturer and the finish they use. Its smooth finish and slightly rounded-off edges are easier on your skin than any polyester board we tested. If you reside in an EU member state besides UK, import VAT on this purchase is not recoverable. Fingerboards are awesome training tools that take very little time to get an extremely productive workout right without even having to leave your home. Simultaneously, this means mounting options may be more limited, but we found it can still fit above most doorways with average height ceilings (7.5-8ft). Many of the edges are tapered, becoming progressively shallower as you move across and down the board. Still, 3-4 flat-topped edges of progressively smaller depths is sufficient for most workouts and often costs much less. Conquer your next route with strength, control, and finesse! At the easiest, they are aimed at hard 5.10+ climbers to low 5.11 climbers and go up from there. This is the key to effectively building power. . (/ ) . Read review: Metolius Wood Grips Compact II. Those compact dimensions do come at the cost of some functionality. The Metolius Wood Grips Compact II offers one of the best combinations of holds and textures relative to its dimensions and price. Some of our review team's favorites include The Rock Climber's Training Manual: A Comprehensive Program for Continuous Climbing Improvement by Mike Anderson and Mark Anderson, Training for Climbing by Eric Horst, and The Self Coached Climber by Dan Hague and Douglas Hunter.
While small, we feel that the Compact II still offers enough hold options to be used for consistent, long-term training, but only barely. Stronger climbers might long for some slightly smaller edges (the smallest edge is 19mm). A bigger board typically means more holds, but don't underestimate how effective a compact board can still be if your space is limited. For the past 9 years, we have bought and tested the best hangboards on the market. We think this is true even if you share your home board with five or more roommates, with the main "wearing out" quickly issue more of a problem for climbing gyms. Overall, we found the three edge options found them shockingly functional. While wood still garners the favor of many climbers, polyester resin and polyurethane continue to get better and better. You don't need to fail in those early sets of 7-10 seconds, but it should be a slight battle for you to stay on. A compact board can still be very beneficial with an open mind and the drive to suffer on it if that is all you have room for. Most climbers who buy this board will spend a lot of time using the 4-finger edges, and with this board, two of its three 4-finger holds offer the same depth; one is just at a diagonal. Unlike with wood, you can use as much chalk as you'd like on resin, though it's still not a bad idea to clean it now and again. This model's 8.5-inch height means it should fit above doorways in most standard height ceilings (7.5-8ft) but might not work in tighter spaces or cramped basements. Folks who are or want to get serious about their training would be better off with a board that offers a better progression of holds from a difficulty perspective. The other main disadvantage of the Project is that most of the holds climbers habitually use are in the board's center. This is especially true for people who frequent roofy crags or projects that are steep and blocky. DIY-folks will especially love the challenge. Polyurethane breaks down quicker than resin when exposed to weather and is thus a poor choice for a board that will be mounted outside. fingerboards or training boards) have long been part of climbing training regimes, and with good reason. While you can easily put 3 fingers on a four-finger edge and there are advantages of this, having true pockets that are shaped appropriately can help reduce the chance of injury and straight-up inspire you to try the harder holds on your board. In order to determine the best of the best, our testers bought, used, analyzed and compared all the top hangboards on the market. If you are on a tight budget or have limited mounting options, then the Metolius Prime Rib is your new jam. The price is nice, though, and some sandpaper and elbow grease can at least improve the texture and sharp edges to some extent. Picking a board that is geared towards your current ability levels can help you maximize how much training you get out of your board. Slopers are great for warming up, finishing your workout when your fingertips are trashed, and working on whole-hand strength, but you shouldn't put too much focus on them as this is only a small part of your workout. It has the potential to help many aspects of your climbing, from pushing harder grades to giving you more confidence while you fiddle in gear or for that long, all-day route with a cruxy last pitch. Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing. Here the Metolius Wood Grips Compact II barely fits above a standard height doorway with a 7-foot ceiling. Based in the damp and rainy Pacific Northwest, he is forced to turn to the climbing gym and his collection of hangboards to stay strong during the wettest seasons. The Simulator offers a plethora of edges and pockets that provide one of the better progressions of grips from a difficulty perspective of any of the models we tested. Doorway is one of the lowest-priced hangboards available. The Iron Palm also has the best pinches of any board we have ever seen. For perspective, polyurethane and polyester resin are what nearly all climbing holds are made from, and the two share many characteristics. For those who might be unsure if they want to commit to hangboard training or throwing down on a more expensive option, the Get Out! Hangboard training is an easy way to finger power with just a little bit of time every week but it is easy to overdo so be careful. A straight-on view of this uniquely designed board. Furthermore, the attention to detail in each grip's shape and depth offers a seemingly perfect incremental ladder of difficulty. They are for building finger strength, which requires a good progression of holds that are challenging for their user. For anyone tight on space or money (or both) who just wants a satisfactory board, the Compact II is certainly worth considering with a solid selection of holds for its size, easy-to-mount dimensions, and some of the review's best texture. . // (, ), / ( : , , , ), ( : , , ), ( ), (CD/DVD/GAME/BOOK ), ( , ), . For not a ton of money, you can get an incredible amount of climbing-specific finger strength in a relatively short amount of time. We closely examined each model's design, variety of holds, material, texture, and mounting options. , [] , . Such as is the case with the Metolius Wood Grips Deluxe II. Though it's far from the best board we tested, for those considering getting a hangboard but might not be willing to spend a lot of money on a tool they are unsure they'll even use, its low expense makes it a good option. If you have space for a larger board and can afford to spend a bit more, we think you can get a complete training board in another model. A good range of edges is an important factor when considering your purchase. The Metolius Wood Grips Deluxe II is our favorite all-around wooden model and is a fantastic addition to almost any climber's home training plan. 17 1 3 18 1 3 , 18 2 21 2 () . It works well for just about anyone, from people just getting into fingerboard training to those working on intensive 5.13 projects. The depth might seem impossibly difficult at first, but give yourself a month, and you'll be surprised by what you can hang onto. GearLab is reader-supported. If the most convenient place to mount this board happens to be in a prominent location in your home, you can take solace in the fact that it's far from an eyesore; we think most people can appreciate the aesthetic nature of this board. Great progression of holds for strength-training, Wider design encourages good form and ergonomics, Not the best board if you are already sending 5.13. Ian is an exceptionally avid climber who is passionate about training and incremental improvement. The board also has a nice progression of edges, but we wish it had one slightly smaller edge to increase its difficulty. [ ] [] . Sonnie Trotter, over a winter working a full-time construction job, once trained almost exclusively on hangboards, rarely visiting a climbing gym while preparing for his ascent of Necessary Evil (5.14c) in the Virgin River Gorge. Material on GearLab is copyrighted. While this is nice, we encourage people to look for a board with dedicated pinches rather than trying to make a pinch out of an existing hold as, generally speaking, it just makes the hold easier. If you can't do this, it means the board is too difficult for you, and it likely won't offer as many options to help you progress. The edges decrease in well-thought-out increments from 31mm to 25mm to 19mm in the 4-finger, 3-finger, and 2-finger depths. Copyright 1995-2022 eBay Inc. All Rights Reserved. Even though they are mostly in the middle of the board, this model has a reasonable selection of grips for its size. For the most part, when considering different models, the difficulty range starts pretty high, and there are no truly "easy" boards. They are designed to be nice depths for 5.10-5.11 climbers, but overall we didn't think this model offered as good a progression of difficulty as most other models, even more-priced focused ones. We pinched, crimped, and hung open-handed on each board. If your finger grips seem too difficult, consider two sets of three fingers. This model only has three edges, 15mm, 23mm, and 38mm, which basically equates to two training edges and one warm-up edge. For the price of one month's premium gym membership, you can train two to four days a week in your spare time for years. . All but one of the boards we reviewed features at least one pair of jugs. We love having a progression of edges where each edge is roughly 5-10mm smaller than the last. This model's smallest edge is 19mm, which is pretty small. After our in-depth testing, we have recommendations for hangboards for specific training regimes and ability levels. This design also encourages a more open-handed crimp, which is better for training overall and is less prone to cause an injury than a curled-over crimp. Nonetheless, this is an incredible training board to push those climbing at high levels. At only 4.2-inches tall, this model can squeeze above basement doorways or other places that most other training boards wouldn't even be a consideration. Using less than 4-fingers is another easy way to increase the load your fingers are taking to increase strength, though this needs to be worked up to. And, to assure complete independence, we buy all the products we test ourselves. If you have limited space, then no model offers as much training prowess for its given dimensions as the Metolius Prime Rib. We love the gentle curve of the slopers letting you fine-tune training and adjust for difficulty. This design makes it easier to be more systematic in your fingerboard training (something that will help you get stronger more efficiently) and to focus on and see subtle improvements in strength. Rebecca Schroeder crimps on the Metolius Prime Rib. Don't let its lower price tag fool you; this board has what most climbers need to make progress and push to the next climbing grade. Despite these minor drawbacks, the Metolius Wood Grips Deluxe II is a top-tier option with the review's best texture and an excellent progression of holds to help motivate toward and achieve climbing goals. It also isn't the most compact model but still offers an impressive amount of edges and pockets while striking a nice balance of being small enough to fit above most doorways with average height ceilings (8ft). Their board offers various pockets and edges that are the most systematic in its progression of difficulty of any board we tested. We think the Wood Grips Deluxe is perfect for folks who might redpoint from the mid 5.11 to the harder 5.12 range and will even still work for 5.13a. View cart for details. ) , , . We pick the best rock climbing shoes for bouldering We've weeded through dozens of climbing shoes to select to We tested 11 of the best ropes available on the market Best Climbing Harnesses for Women of 2022. Here you see the hollow backside of this model, which helps make it lighter overall. A hangboard also known as a fingerboard is a must-have addition to any dedicated climber's training program. Great price, especially for a wooden board, Takes creativity to keep workouts interesting, Limited to two training" edges and one warm-up edge. Plus, the "easier" the holds feel, the longer you can hang on. The difference in texture has also decreased, and while wood is still superior, it isn't near as big of a gap as it was five or six years ago. The Yes4All board had two full sets of very similar pockets at 10mm and 12mm deep. A good start can be looking for a board that you can already hang onto around 1/3-1/2 of the boards holds with two hands. , G , , G . While those are some of our favorites, there are unquestionable other useful resources out there. While not the most inspiring model, the reasonably-priced Prime Rib is an unequivocally solid board that will work for a wide range of climbers who might have limited mounting options. It's important to note that this type of training will greatly increase your finger power and, to a lesser extent, your contact strength (ability to latch onto a hold dynamically), both of which will enable you to hang onto progressively smaller holds. With the help of some friends, our testing team performed at least eight extended workouts on each board during our testing cycle. Though it may not be the best choice for top-end climbers, it's ideal for folks whose projects are in the 5.11-5.12+ range and below, which is most of the climbing community. Each member of our review team thoroughly tested each model and compared them in five categories. The ultra-smooth texture on this board is also among our review team's favorites and easily proved among the easiest on our skin even after extended sessions. The Rock Prodigy is super versatile from a difficulty perspective. Best progression of holds for strength-training, Straight-across 1/4" edge is hard on fingertips. A handful of models, like the Atomik Yaniro Power, offer a similar smooth finish, plus the advantages of cooling quicker and being easier to clean. When will I get my refund for an entire order that is cancelled. However, 20 minutes into a fingerboard workout and those same slopers can cause annihilating forearm fatigue. We are fine with both but slightly prefer having individual pockets to train as they tend to help inspire progression and motivation. The texture of this model, and all other wooden boards from Metolius, is our favorite, balancing a smooth feel without becoming too slick. Technology is improving, though, and manufacturers are trying harder to produce polyurethane models with a smoother texture, with some models now being very similar or equal to wood. Consider doing more one-armed hangs as you continue to progress, or one arm with a little assistance with your second hand lightly hanging onto a nearby sling or large hold. As one of the best-priced wood boards, the value of the Metolius Wood Grips Compact is not to be underestimated. Having a bigger board typically means a greater array of holds, which is nice, but fear not, it is not a requirement. Wider design reduces shoulder and elbow stress. ! Climb higher, faster, more efficiently, and with more confidence! We've seen enough variations of mounts to be confident that where there's a will, there's a way to mount a training board. This board's unique slopers and pinch grips are great for fine-tuning these specific skills, keeping workouts interesting, and building whole-hand strength. This amount includes applicable customs duties, taxes, brokerage and other fees. The fact that polyester resin boards are heavier isn't a big deal except during the moment when you are mounting it overhead. You will have to get creative to keep your workouts interesting. After extensive testing, we discovered which models excelled at different types of training regimes or user abilities. A selection of training books from our review team's library. Polyurethane is the material primarily used by hangboards produced by So iLL, Trango, and the Detroit Rock Company (DRC). While atypical in shape, these jugs are still great for warming up or weighted pull-ups. A little chalk is fine, but over time, excessive chalk use covers the wood's pores, creating an undesired gummy and slick feeling. We do think most of the models we tested offer mediocre pinches. The 3D Simulator is easily the best hangboard for your money, although a better description might be an incredible board that happens to be exceptionally affordable. Your goal is to perform 5-8 total sets, ideally really struggling or failing towards the end of those sets. If you are consistently sending harder, we'd likely recommend a more challenging board. For strong climbers looking to take their climbing to the next level, we highly recommend the fully-featured and burly Atomik Yaniro Power. While they don't do a ton for making your fingers stronger, they are key for warming up, working on lock-offs (don't underestimate the benefits of these), or just cranking out pull-ups, weighted, assisted, or straight-up. If you can hold on for longer, with less fingers, or on a shallower ledge, youll be able to scale the tougher and tougher routes. Because it's a great choice for stronger climbers, conversely, it isn't the best for folks who aren't already climbing in the mid-5.12 range. , / / / . Get ready to send it with the Synergee Wooden Hang Board! There is a reason so many pro and top-notch climbers use these boards for targetted finger-strength training. No ads. We certainly like the grips that this model offers, but its small size means it simply has fewer holds available. Still, if you're stoked to get the best training tool out there, the Trango Rock Prodigy is our top recommendation, and we think the price is well worth the payout. This listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available. . Edges and crimps are the bread and butter of fingerboard training and what most climbers should focus their decisions around when purchasing a board and spend most of their time hanging from while training. . For example, an intermediate climber won't get nearly as much out of a burly board, like the Atomik Yaniro Power, as something like the Metolius 3D Simulator, which is a more intermediate board. The key to this type of training is to hang off of bad holds and those that are extremely challenging for you (once warmed up, of course). However, you'll be best served if the rest is all business. It should be noted that while this model closely mirrors the Beastmaker 1000, it certainly isn't identical. It also offers one of the most ergonomic designs that encourages good form while reducing stress in your elbows and shoulders. Additionally, it is worth noting that it is rare that two models have exactly equal texture even when directly comparing two models under the same brand. The texture struck an excellent balance between being smooth without feeling slick and offered the conscious overall favorite texture among any board we tested (along with the other wooden boards from Metolius we trained on). As the largest model we tested, the wide design encourages good ergonomics, making it more shoulder and elbow-friendly than narrower models. It isn't that 5.10 climbers can't use this board, but folks already sending 5.11+ routes or harder will get far more out of it. No sponsored content. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Wide boards like the Atomik Yaniro more often offer more holds and generally encourage better ergonomics but can offer fewer options to mount. Adding resistance, similar to power-weightlifting, will boost your top-end finger and crimp strength. Most of our testers agree that more depth variation would offer a better progression of difficulty and make tracking strength gains easier. Polyester resin is the material that many climbing holds are made of. Let us know! Returns accepted within 30 days of shipment for orders within the Contiguous US. If you're not climbing at least 5.10 on toprope in the gym, there is also a risk that you could injure yourself on any training board because your fingers and tendons aren't quite strong enough for the intense pressure they'll see while training on one. Pinches, like slopers, help increase whole-hand strength but are of even greater benefit to climbers who log a lot of time in steeper terrain. And while not everyone can have a rock climbing wall in their home, they can have a Synergee Hang Board mounted over a doorway for daily, consistent grip and pull up training! While we tend to think of fingerboard training taking place on flat-topped edges, our minds were opened by these softball-shaped holds. We mounted each one to our walls, measured the size and the depth of each pocket, and spent hundreds of hours hanging off all of them for our review. Read up before diving headfirst into your first session. Then drilling that into the wall to make sure you are drilling into studs to get the strength necessary, so you don't pull the board right out of the drywall. There are many training programs, books, and inexpensive apps to help you focus your time and effort to improve finger strength. After you are thoroughly warmed up (minimum of 10-15 minutes), you should be training on grips that you will hold onto for less than 10 seconds, and some training resources suggest even less than 7. The Iron Palm is made of urethane, which is quite strong and can make versatile shapes. It can be inspiring to have specific pockets, pinches, or other interesting grips. We like the Trango Rock Prodigy for its variety of holds of different difficulties, providing great warm-up options as well as very challenging edges, and plenty of hold in between. The low friction aspect of it also makes holding on subtly harder, which is a small bonus while training. While this board is wooden, the finish is downright irregular and bumpy. This board also offers among the largest selection of grips of any model in our review, including several holds designed to be used in multiple ways. We hung up boards inside and outside our houses to assess everything from training utility to ease of mounting. The ideal hangboard for your ability should have several holds you can barely grip and some you can't yet manage to hang onto. Polyester resin's primary advantage is that it can be formed in almost any shape imaginable, and most resin boards have more diverse and interesting hold options than their wooden counterparts. Something went wrong. The Wood Grips Deluxe has skin-friendly, rounded edges. Put your ego aside, crimp until you fail, and fail quickly, then take solace in the fact that you're getting stronger, even if you can only hang on for a few seconds. While this is unquestionably a group effort, longtime GearLab Editor and IFMGA/UIAGM guide Ian Nicholson leads the charge. This is an excellent training technique because it significantly increases the stress (typically your bodyweight) across fewer fingers, resulting in more efficient power gains. Wood is lower weight than resin, and while this makes mounting easier, once your board is up, this doesn't really matter. Hangboards (a.k.a. Some products we tested would be best for climbers above or below that difficulty range, but that range still guided the selection process for our review. The Metolius Project is currently one of the lowest-priced options available and offers reasonable performance for its cost. At less than 5-inches tall, it will fit above doorwards where few if any other models have a chance of fitting. If you frequently find yourself bouldering in the Southeast or places like Fontainebleau then this board is the one to get. We like at least one set of slopers, but two is nice if only to mix it up. All of these methods will continue to build finger strength quickly. It basically offers the jugs, slopers, and for what most people will be a warm-up edge, and then two very similar depths (10mm and 12.5mm), which is too small for all but the most elite climbers to use anything but the four-finger edges. It has jugs to warm up on, a few slopers, and an excellent progression of edges, which our testers loved. The Metolius 3D Simulator is mega-popular and with good reason. You can use 1-3 fingers on a broad edge to simulate a pocket, too. Read review: Metolius Wood Grips Deluxe II. Like edges, having a solid progression of pocket pairings is more important than some flashy pinches or jugs, as they will facilitate a better workout in general. We found the dimensions to be elbow and shoulder-friendly, as this board slightly wider than average. All trademarks property of their respective owners Nearly all Training For Climbing type books include a comprehensive fingerboard section. What you should seek out is a nice progression of subtly more difficult edges and pockets of which at least some are currently too hard for you to hang onto. We only make money if you purchase a product through our links, and we never accept free products from manufacturers. Whereas most boards tend to focus exclusively on finger strength and crimpers, the Iron Palm instead offers additional slopers and pinches that are the best in the game.
. We also like when edges are slightly rounded at the entrance because it is generally a less harsh feeling on your finger pads. Manufactured of a near-identical appearing material as Metolius's line of polyester resin boards, the Get Out is geared towards 5.10 and 5.11 climbers, so pretty perfect for those just getting into fingerboard training. There's tons of climbing gear out there. 9 DIFFERENT HOLD OPTIONS Our Climbing Board has numerous options of different widths and depths to train for every ledge, crimp, and pocket you might come across on the wall! After effectively being able to hang off of all (or nearly all) of the holds on your board, add a little weight (10-20 lbs.) Every rep doesn't have to be super severe, but it should rarely be easy, and most of the time, it should be a battle to hang on. We'll let you be the judge there. How can we improve GearLab? For a few more dollars, you can make it less of an eyesore with plywood that has one side finished (or you can finish it yourself). While it hardly has the expansive and diverse number of holds that many larger models offer, it does pack in an interesting number of well-thought-out grips. The systematic layout, wide selection of grips, and variable mounting positions all make this board a personal training center that is truly customizable to your ability and training regime. The Prime Rib's 4.2" height is the shortest in our review, making it a great option for anyone limited on space. It also doesn't offer a good progression of holds compared to most of the other models we tested. These rounded features are flatter on top while gently becoming more sloping as they roll off to the sides. You don't need a ton of holds to be able to train effectively but you do need a nice progression of difficulty relative to your strength and more holds make it easier to hit that sweet spot and simply make training can more fun.