Finger Strength - Door Frame Pull ups - HELP :)

[cece_lee16]

Hello lovely people,

Just wondering if anyone can give me advice on finger strength ?,

I want to be able to do a pull ups on my door frame but the fingers are just far too weak ,

I've started implementing finger pushups and finger floor l sits into my routine but its been 3 weeks and I haven't noticed any considerable gains .. aka .. I still can't hold my weight on the doorframe although I can do 15+ pullups on a bar .. is there a technique climbers use for shallow edges ?

Finger pushups - 3 sets 10 reps 3 x week (Separate from normal push workout)

Fingertip floor L sits - 3 set x 8 seconds 3 x week (separate from normal L sit workout)

(can hold L sit for over 30 seconds on parallettes)

Worked in an office for the last 15 years so assuming my fingers were extra weak at the start ..

Anyone got any good exercises techniques to help ?,

I'm starting bouldering in the local climbing hangar next week and hoping this will help in both relative bodyweight strength and finger strength,

Cheers Peeps,

JP

 

[hollywood3307]

@cece_lee16 Other people have already commented so I’ll chip in as well.

First and foremost there’s not much carry over from pulling strength to finger strength. The term finger strength is not only including general forearm strength but also about bullet proof fingers because of strong tendons and ligaments in your hands and fingers. Studies also found that climbing or bouldering will thicken the bones of your fingers as an adaption of your body after having gone through puberty.

Now it’s not a technique thing and you have to understand that tendons and ligaments grow way slower than muscles.

For the love of god just go bouldering and climb on all types of holds, your pulling strength will increase further and your forearms will grow fast as well BUT after all the forearm is a pretty tiny muscle and like I said above finger strength does not only come from thick forearms but also strong tendons and ligaments and while I’ve met beginners who were positively pre disposed in having already strong fingers and tendons that’s very seldom. Just go bouldering three times a week for a half a year and don’t worry about additional finger training. Depending on how tendons pop aka tear it can fuck up your fingers for a lifetime so be careful.

Now usually the finger strength in bouldering is trained through hanging protocols that include different finger positions like the open handed hang, half crimped hangs, less than four finger hangs and even through using varying types of holds eg. small edges (crimps) our rounded bigger holds that don’t have clear surfaces to hang on known as slopers. Despite doing 15 pull ups all those are way I repeat WAY TOO HARD AND taxing for you and your body.

Finally please take it easy and after two months of just bouldering you’ll probably be able to pull up from your doorframe.

Now this is anecdotal but I could do hang protocols even if I’d be way weaker or less fit than you simply because I already have intense years of bouldering in my tank and even though my forearms might have regressed to matching sticks my tendons and fingers are stronger than yours, even when being fat I can do doorframe pull ups.

 

[cece_lee16]

@hollywood3307 amazing comment .. thanks for info ! .. I will just go bouldering a lot it will be my new hobby alongside calisthenics thanks

 

[hollywood3307]

@cece_lee16 Remember to take it easy in the very beginning, three times a week and not leaving put vertical (slabs) or roof boulders should be just fine and plenty of stimulus.

Even when being fit I promise you that the stress that bouldering puts on you doesn’t compare to anything you’ve ever done before. It’s kind of the bodyweight equivalent to olympic weight lifting. Yeah there is a technique side to it (that even though how much climbers talk and dwell about it doesn’t compare to the complexity of wrestling or other so called skill based sports) but then it’s also really intense max strength training while most of the time hanging on your fingers which is something you’re not used to in the slightest and when you’re not lanky or a climber from a very young age you’ll realize pretty fast that no matter how fun it always is something our body is simply not made for.

There actually is a higher percentage of somewhat injured climbers or boulderers on the amateur scene than you’ll find in any commercial fitness gym and the reason is very simple. They do too much in an amount of time that’s too short while not bothering the slightest about your antagonists and just like in bodyweight fitness the muscles you hit (antagonists while climbing) depends on your technique and while there is an ideal a lot of people focus on simply pulling through to the top of the boulder.

Now that’s a long response again but please just fkin do it and don’t think about training finger strength a lot before ever having done bouldering, make it fun, climb all types of climbs but really take it slow no matter how fun you’ll think it is.

As an anecdotal example I can tell you that I was doing pretty well bouldering outside in Fontainebleaus for example even though the climbs there are regarded as harder relative to other areas but I started out at the bottom of the goddamn barrel. My fingers and forearms were so weak that I’d literally only could do a few kids boulders or lowest of the level boulders and would still be pumped out of my mind and would have injured myself if I didn’t suck up my ego. Back then I transitioned from parkour. I could do several muscle ups, 20+ pull ups in a row, it all didn’t fkin matter, I wasn’t prepared in the slightest.

Now that I’ve literally covered everything, have fun.

 

[nordwin]

@cece_lee16 Here's an other reminder to take it easy. Remember your fingers are weak compared to the rest of your body and going too hard too quickly can lead to degloving

 

[newton3005]

@nordwin Also a friendly reminder, join a climbing gym, don't take it too seriously, and have fun with it (while being smart). The strength will come

 

[devin7866]

@cece_lee16 Finishing nails on door trim won’t hold up forever, just a friendly reminder.

 

[marcia838]

@cece_lee16 Tendon strength progresses slowly, so I'd taking it easy with the training, for now; climb lots and have fun/work on technique. Pushing finger exercises aren't really used by climbers because they arent transferrable to the wall/rock. Eventually you'll be able to do pull-ups on bigger edges and you'll slowly reduce the size. The best climbers are the ones that don't get injured, so take it easy, don't rush into a finger injury. Just my two cents. I would recommend overall body strength, do ring work, strong legs are key for climbing too. Good luck and enjoy

 

[thehomebrewguru]

@cece_lee16 Try the bouldering subreddit. The climbing community has extensive discussions about when it is safe to start hangboarding, and you should research it before you destroy your pully joints.

 

[spiralhoney]

@cece_lee16 Long time climber, 8-10 years experience and some of the advice here is horrid. It will only lead to disappointment and some very sore fingers.

So you want to do some finger pull-ups?

The best advice is just go bouldering/climbing at your local gym and enjoy yourself. Simple. After a 4-6 months you'll slowly build tendon strength and probably be able to smack out a few reps.

Just be careful with some of the advice here, suggesting hangboard protocols. The tendons and ligaments in your fingers are incredibly fragile and build much slower in comparison to regular muscle.

This is especially important for someone who is already quite strong (15 odd pull-ups). As it means you're able to exert more force through those tendons, and consequently increase the risk of injuring them too.

TLDR: Take it easy, just go bouldering and enjoy yourself.

 

[cece_lee16]

@spiralhoney Thanks for the advice and for the kind manner in which you put it ! .. I'll just go climbing and enjoy myself .. some of the answers sound like dictators and that is something i'll never appreciate you da man !

 

[ccardenas]

@cece_lee16 Start drinking your coffee out of one of those rock climbers pinch Mugs. Nothing motivates finger strength like not wanting scalding hot coffee all over your genis ;-) /s

 

[wandaj]

@cece_lee16 You need to learn to be a rock climber, to train finger strength we use a hangboard. It's a piece of wood with grooves or ridges or holds off various sizes that you can hang. For now you just want to learn four finger drag, 7secsbon the board 3 secs off, repeat consecutively for 10 reps or failure. To start with you can hang and use your feet to bare some of the weight. Make sure you engage your shoulders and don't simply hang of your skeletal frame for this training.

Edit: didn't read that you're going bouldering, the gym will have hangboards, usually a beastmaker so you can see what they're like then. I don't see how finger push-ups would help, or whether it's an efficient way to improve finger strength.

 

[hollywood3307]

@wandaj But you usually only train finger strength once you’ve already climbed a bit as tendons and ligaments take time to grow.

I would not recommend a beginner to just starting hangboarding. Simply climbing on all types of holds should be sufficient.

 

[wandaj]

@hollywood3307 Climbing itself is fine but I'd strongly recommend beginners to use fingerboards. You don't have to hang using your bodyweight but use your feet (if you can touch the ground) to take load of to decrease the load. And by the sounds of it OP has relatively good fitness and strength so they're not necessarily started of as a complete newbie to fitness and climbing.

 

[hollywood3307]

@wandaj Yeah but there is no point in doing so as the tendons just grow that slow. Your forearms will get enough stimulus through just bouldering all types of climbs. Hangboarding then puts too much stress on the elbow and finger tendons for someone that worked the office for more than a decade.

I transitioned from parkour when I started and was way stronger than OP is now but it didn’t fucking matter as fingers and forearms were my weak links, just lowest level boulders and kids boulders shut me down. Had I hangboarded I would’ve blown my tendons as they were literally fkin smooth rubber bands.

 

[cece_lee16]

@wandaj Cheers for the feedback, I have a beastmaker but am yet to fix it to the wall .. this may be a silly question but how about finger pullups in the meantime ? .. its a pull and its fingers ? probably not the same but i think i can do three finger pull ups maybe try using my finger grip rather than palm on bar ? . thanks

 

[wandaj]

@cece_lee16 Mate get that beastmaker up! I would love to have one. From my intelligence gathering for training finger strength I haven't come across finger pull-ups, but if they work and you are seeing improvements then go for it. Maybe just hanging from a pull up bar in that finger drag position will be good, decreasing the number of finger pads in use. The top run of a fingerboard is not too similar to a pull up bar, obviously the bar would be thicker

 

[hollywood3307]

@cece_lee16 Dude just fucking chill out you don’t need a beastmaker just yet all the harder holds on it are soooo mich above your level it ain’t even funny.

Like you haven’t even bouldered or climbed so far.

Your thinking will only lead to blown or torn tendons and golfers/tennis elbow. Go bouldering and after half a year of going for more than three times a week you can put it up.

Also don’t even think about finger pull ups, I mean you can do them and just look at how weak you are but the main point is just go fkin bouldering, just do that and DON'T DO ANYTHING ELSE or you can seriously fuck up your shoulders, elbows or fingers FOR LIFE.

The intensity doesn’t compare to what you’ve been doing so far, for the love of god just go bouldering and take it slow. Don’t train your fingers until 6 months in or you might just be another beginner that blew his tendons.

 

[pantsmanderson]

@hollywood3307 this is the correct answer.