[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":2748},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-setting-up-a-home-board-on-a-budget":3,"blog-related-setting-up-a-home-board-on-a-budget":238},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"body":7,"category":216,"date":217,"description":218,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":221,"imageAlt":222,"imageCredit":223,"imageCreditUrl":224,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":226,"navigation":227,"path":228,"readTime":229,"seo":230,"stem":231,"tags":232,"__hash__":237},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fsetting-up-a-home-board-on-a-budget.md","Setting up a home board on a budget","The Sendit Team",{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":204},"minimark",[10,14,17,22,25,28,34,38,41,60,63,68,71,131,134,138,152,155,159,162,179,182,186,193,201],[11,12,13],"p",{},"There is a particular kind of envy that hits when you see someone's home board on the internet. A perfectly lit, immaculate setup in a double garage, every hold colour-coded, an app running the angle by motor. It is brilliant, and it is also completely unnecessary for getting strong at home. A useful board can be a sheet of ply, some bolts and a handful of holds, screwed to the most ordinary wall in your house. The training it gives you is most of what those expensive setups give you.",[11,15,16],{},"If you climb regularly and struggle to get to the wall as often as you would like, even a small board pays you back fast. Here is how to put one together without spending a fortune.",[18,19,21],"h2",{"id":20},"what-a-home-board-is-actually-for","What a home board is actually for",[11,23,24],{},"Before you buy anything, be clear about why you want one. A home board is not for learning to climb or for endless variety. It is a focused training tool. Its value is convenience and repetition: you can do twenty minutes of quality hard moves on a tired Tuesday evening without driving anywhere. That repetition on consistent holds is what builds finger and pulling strength.",[11,26,27],{},"So you do not need a huge wall. You need a small, steep surface with good holds, set somewhere you will actually use it. A board you walk past every day gets used. A board in a cold shed at the bottom of the garden does not.",[29,30,31],"blockquote",{},[11,32,33],{},"The best home board is not the biggest one. It is the one that is so convenient you train on it without having to talk yourself into it.",[18,35,37],{"id":36},"the-cheapest-viable-build","The cheapest viable build",[11,39,40],{},"You can build something genuinely useful with surprisingly little. The core list:",[42,43,44,48,51,54,57],"ul",{},[45,46,47],"li",{},"A sheet of structural plywood, ideally 18mm, for the climbing surface",[45,49,50],{},"Some timber to build a frame at an angle, or a solid existing wall",[45,52,53],{},"T-nuts hammered into the back of the ply so holds bolt on anywhere",[45,55,56],{},"Bolts to attach holds",[45,58,59],{},"A drill, spade bits for the T-nut holes, and basic fixings into a structural wall",[11,61,62],{},"The single most important thing is that it is anchored into something that will take your full weight plus the shock of pulling hard. That means hitting the studs or joists in a wall, or a frame bolted properly to the floor and a solid wall. This is the one area where you do not cut corners. A board that comes off the wall mid-session is dangerous.",[64,65,67],"h3",{"id":66},"holds-where-to-actually-spend","Holds: where to actually spend",[11,69,70],{},"Holds are the part worth spending money on, and also the part where you can save by being patient. A small, considered set of holds beats a big bin of random shapes. Aim for a spread:",[72,73,74,87],"table",{},[75,76,77],"thead",{},[78,79,80,84],"tr",{},[81,82,83],"th",{},"Hold type",[81,85,86],{},"Why you want some",[88,89,90,99,107,115,123],"tbody",{},[78,91,92,96],{},[93,94,95],"td",{},"Jugs and big edges",[93,97,98],{},"Warming up, feet, easier moves",[78,100,101,104],{},[93,102,103],{},"Medium edges and crimps",[93,105,106],{},"The bread and butter of finger strength",[78,108,109,112],{},[93,110,111],{},"Pinches",[93,113,114],{},"Thumb strength and a different grip",[78,116,117,120],{},[93,118,119],{},"A couple of slopers",[93,121,122],{},"Open-hand strength and a humbling time",[78,124,125,128],{},[93,126,127],{},"Footholds, small and plentiful",[93,129,130],{},"Forces good footwork on a steep wall",[11,132,133],{},"Buy wooden holds if you can. They are kinder on skin than textured resin, which matters a lot when you are training on the same holds repeatedly at home. Watch for second-hand sets, end-of-line bargains and group buys with mates. You do not need fifty holds to start. Twenty good ones, arranged thoughtfully, will keep you busy for months.",[18,135,137],{"id":136},"angle-matters-more-than-size","Angle matters more than size",[11,139,140,141,146,147,151],{},"If you only get one thing right, make it the angle. A vertical board is gentle and good for footwork but limited for strength. The steeper you go, the more it loads your fingers and pulling muscles, and the harder it works you in a small space. For a home strength board, somewhere in the region of twenty to forty degrees overhanging is a popular and effective range. Steeper is more brutal and harder on the body. We go into this properly in ",[142,143,145],"a",{"href":144},"\u002Fblog\u002Fboard-angles-explained","board angles explained"," and ",[142,148,150],{"href":149},"\u002Fblog\u002Fchoosing-an-angle-on-the-board","choosing an angle on the board",".",[11,153,154],{},"If your ceiling height or wall lets you build an adjustable frame, great, but a fixed angle is completely fine and far simpler to build. Pick one steepness you will train on and commit to it.",[18,156,158],{"id":157},"keeping-it-cheap-and-useful","Keeping it cheap and useful",[11,160,161],{},"A few ways to keep costs down without ending up with something rubbish:",[42,163,164,167,170,173,176],{},[45,165,166],{},"Use one good sheet of ply rather than a huge multi-panel wall",[45,168,169],{},"Hammer in plenty of T-nuts now, even where you have no holds yet, so you can add later",[45,171,172],{},"Start with second-hand or budget wooden holds and grow the collection slowly",[45,174,175],{},"Skip the fancy lighting and app integration entirely at first",[45,177,178],{},"Borrow a drill rather than buying one if this is a one-off build",[11,180,181],{},"Set against a year of extra wall sessions you could not otherwise fit in, even a modest spend on a home board is good value. And because it lives in your house, the sessions you do are ones you would otherwise have skipped entirely.",[18,183,185],{"id":184},"using-it-without-wrecking-yourself","Using it without wrecking yourself",[11,187,188,189,151],{},"The catch with a home board is that it is steep, the holds are small, and there is nobody around to tell you to stop. That is a recipe for tweaked fingers if you are not careful. Warm up properly before you pull on hard, even though it is right there and tempting to jump straight on. Build up the intensity over weeks, not days. And take rest days, because training at home makes it far too easy to climb every single night. There is sensible guidance in ",[142,190,192],{"href":191},"\u002Fblog\u002Fusing-a-board-without-wrecking-your-fingers","using a board without wrecking your fingers",[11,194,195,196,200],{},"Once it is up, the trick is having a plan rather than just flailing around. Even a loose structure, a warm-up followed by a handful of hard problems you have set yourself, will make the sessions count. ",[142,197,199],{"href":198},"\u002Fblog\u002Fwhy-logging-your-board-sessions-pays-off","Why logging your board sessions pays off"," is worth a read for keeping track of what you have done.",[11,202,203],{},"A home board does not need to be impressive to be effective. A sheet of ply, a fixed overhanging angle, a small set of kind wooden holds and a solid fixing will get you most of the way to those garage setups online for a fraction of the money. Build the simple version, put it somewhere you will actually use it, and let the convenience do the work. The strongest home board is the boring one you climb on three times a week.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":207},"",2,[208,209,213,214,215],{"id":20,"depth":206,"text":21},{"id":36,"depth":206,"text":37,"children":210},[211],{"id":66,"depth":212,"text":67},3,{"id":136,"depth":206,"text":137},{"id":157,"depth":206,"text":158},{"id":184,"depth":206,"text":185},"Boards & systems boards","2024-02-09","You do not need a garage gym or a fortune to train at home. Here is how to build a useful climbing board cheaply, and what to spend on first.",false,"md","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1675448057171-c25cecd7f40d?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A hand on a small climbing hold","2H Media","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@2hmedia",null,{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002Fsetting-up-a-home-board-on-a-budget",6,{"title":5,"description":218},"blog\u002Fsetting-up-a-home-board-on-a-budget",[233,234,235,236],"board","systems board","training","diy","d-F4CQRg8FGB1G9sl2q7NEFfRvw4Lo70SZj_0aeSuW0",[239,321,409,499,704,780,871,970,1055,1156,1244,1318,1395,1474,1555,1690,1902,2105,2272,2409,2535],{"id":240,"title":241,"author":6,"body":242,"category":216,"date":307,"description":308,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":309,"imageAlt":310,"imageCredit":311,"imageCreditUrl":312,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":313,"navigation":227,"path":144,"readTime":314,"seo":315,"stem":316,"tags":317,"__hash__":320},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fboard-angles-explained.md","Board angles, explained",{"type":8,"value":243,"toc":301},[244,247,251,254,257,261,264,278,281,285,288,291,295,298],[11,245,246],{},"If you are new to adjustable boards, the first confusing thing is the number on the wall. Someone says they climbed a problem at 40, and you nod along without quite knowing what 40 means or why it matters. Here is what the degrees actually describe and how each range feels under your hands.",[18,248,250],{"id":249},"what-the-number-measures","What the number measures",[11,252,253],{},"The angle is how far the wall leans back from vertical. Zero degrees is a flat, vertical wall, straight up and down. As the number climbs, the wall tilts towards you, so 45 degrees is leaning back halfway between vertical and a flat ceiling, and a true roof would be 90.",[11,255,256],{},"That overhang changes where your weight goes. On a vertical wall, you stand on your feet and your hands mostly keep you balanced. As the wall leans back, gravity starts pulling you off it, so more and more of your weight hangs from your fingers and your core has to fight to keep your hips in. The bigger the number, the harder you have to pull just to stay on.",[18,258,260],{"id":259},"the-ranges-and-how-they-feel","The ranges and how they feel",[11,262,263],{},"Most adjustable boards swing through a wide arc, and each part of it climbs differently:",[42,265,266,269,272,275],{},[45,267,268],{},"Around 20 to 25 degrees feels slabby and balance-led. Feet matter most, fingers least.",[45,270,271],{},"Around 30 to 40 degrees is the popular middle ground, steep enough to train pulling but still standing on feet.",[45,273,274],{},"Around 45 to 55 degrees is properly steep, where body tension and finger strength dominate and feet cut easily.",[45,276,277],{},"Up past 60 degrees you are into near-roof territory, all core and power, where keeping your toes on at all is the challenge.",[11,279,280],{},"Most LED boards grade their problems at a reference angle, commonly 40 degrees. That is worth remembering, because the same set of holds becomes a very different climb as you move the wall.",[18,282,284],{"id":283},"how-the-angle-rewrites-a-problem","How the angle rewrites a problem",[11,286,287],{},"Take one problem and steepen the board, and you change far more than the difficulty number. Holds that felt like jugs at 25 degrees turn into crimps you can barely hold at 50, because you are now hanging more weight off the same edge. A foothold you happily stood on becomes a smear you have to keep tension on or your feet swing off.",[11,289,290],{},"The moves themselves change character too. On a shallow angle you can often reach statically, weight over your feet, moving in control. Steepen it and the same span might force a deadpoint or a dynamic move, because you can not stay locked off long enough to reach slowly. A heel hook that was a nice-to-have at 30 degrees becomes the only way to keep your body on the wall at 50.",[18,292,294],{"id":293},"pick-a-number-and-stick-with-it-at-first","Pick a number and stick with it at first",[11,296,297],{},"When you are learning, the most useful thing is to choose one angle and get familiar with it before you go chasing steeper settings. Climb enough problems at, say, 40 degrees and you build a real feel for what each grade demands, which makes the grades mean something to you.",[11,299,300],{},"Once you have that baseline, changing the angle becomes a deliberate choice rather than a mystery. Want it harder without jumping a grade? Add a few degrees. Want to work on standing on your feet? Drop it back. The number on the wall is one of the most powerful dials you have, and it stops being confusing the moment you have spent a few sessions feeling what it does.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":302},[303,304,305,306],{"id":249,"depth":206,"text":250},{"id":259,"depth":206,"text":260},{"id":283,"depth":206,"text":284},{"id":293,"depth":206,"text":294},"2026-06-19","From slab to roof: what the degrees mean on an adjustable board and how they change a problem.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1697456642802-59bfd518d5a2?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A climber on an outdoor rock face","Curdin","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@giger_00",{},5,{"title":241,"description":308},"blog\u002Fboard-angles-explained",[233,318,319],"angles","beginners","PEVszf9vCcj_JsNPFBWb5pMcP3zPjv0EA2yGnuYn6Qo",{"id":322,"title":323,"author":6,"body":324,"category":216,"date":397,"description":398,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":399,"imageAlt":310,"imageCredit":400,"imageCreditUrl":401,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":402,"navigation":227,"path":403,"readTime":229,"seo":404,"stem":405,"tags":406,"__hash__":408},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fbuilding-a-board-session-that-works.md","Building a board session that works",{"type":8,"value":325,"toc":390},[326,329,333,336,350,353,357,360,363,367,370,373,377,380,383,387],[11,327,328],{},"A board will happily let you flail for ninety minutes and call it training. You pull on, try a few random problems, get pumped, peel some skin and go home tired. That is exercise, not progress. The fix is a simple shape to the session that puts the hard work where it counts and protects you from the worst of the overuse.",[18,330,332],{"id":331},"the-shape-warm-up-hard-tries-volume-down","The shape: warm up, hard tries, volume, down",[11,334,335],{},"Almost every good board session follows the same four phases in the same order. The order is not arbitrary. It puts your most demanding work when you are freshest and your easiest work when you are tired, which is exactly backwards from how most people climb when left to their own devices.",[42,337,338,341,344,347],{},[45,339,340],{},"Warm up: raise a sweat and ease the fingers in gradually before any hard pulling.",[45,342,343],{},"Hard tries: your limit problems, while you are fresh and sharp.",[45,345,346],{},"Volume: a stack of easier problems for movement and capacity.",[45,348,349],{},"Down: a few very easy problems to wind down and finish well.",[11,351,352],{},"Get this order right and almost everything else takes care of itself.",[18,354,356],{"id":355},"warm-up-like-you-mean-it","Warm up like you mean it",[11,358,359],{},"The board is the worst place to skip a warm-up. Steep angles and small holds load fingers hard, and cold tendons do not forgive much. Start with a few minutes of general movement to get blood flowing, then climb easy problems several grades below your limit, dropping the angle if you need to, until your fingers feel warm and your shoulders are switched on.",[11,361,362],{},"Spend longer here than feels necessary. Ten to fifteen minutes of progressively harder easy climbing is normal, and it is the cheapest injury insurance you will ever buy. Your first hard try should not be the first time your fingers meet a small crimp that day.",[18,364,366],{"id":365},"hard-tries-are-the-point-of-the-session","Hard tries are the point of the session",[11,368,369],{},"Once you are warm, this is where the real adaptation happens. Pick one or two problems at or just above your limit and give them proper attempts. The key is rest. Limit-level tries need real recovery between them, often three to five minutes, so each go is a fair, fresh attempt rather than a tired flail that teaches your body the wrong movement.",[11,371,372],{},"Resist the urge to chain attempts every ninety seconds. Quality over quantity is the whole game here. A handful of genuinely fresh, focused tries on a hard problem will do more for you than twenty desperate ones. If you crack the project, pick the next thing up; if you do not, that is fine, that is what projecting is.",[18,374,376],{"id":375},"volume-then-down","Volume, then down",[11,378,379],{},"After the hard tries, switch to volume. Climb a stack of problems a couple of grades below your max, moving smoothly, focusing on good footwork and clean movement rather than survival. This builds capacity and grooves technique while you are tired, which is when efficiency actually matters. Keep moving but keep it controlled.",[11,381,382],{},"Finish with a few easy problems to wind down, then get off the board before your skin and fingers are completely cooked. Knowing when to stop is a skill. The session that ends with something in the tank beats the one that ends with a tweaked pulley and a week off.",[18,384,386],{"id":385},"keep-it-honest-with-a-record","Keep it honest with a record",[11,388,389],{},"The reason structure works is that it makes sessions repeatable, and repeatable sessions are the only ones you can learn from. Note what you sent and what you projected, the angle, and how the hard tries felt. Over a few weeks that record is what tells you whether the plan is working or whether you are just spinning your wheels. Logging it as you go, rather than trying to remember afterwards, is exactly the kind of thing Sendit is there to handle so you can keep your head on the climbing.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":391},[392,393,394,395,396],{"id":331,"depth":206,"text":332},{"id":355,"depth":206,"text":356},{"id":365,"depth":206,"text":366},{"id":375,"depth":206,"text":376},{"id":385,"depth":206,"text":386},"2026-06-12","A simple structure — warm up, hard tries, volume, down — that turns board time into progress.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1682872073234-3af7e7c26585?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","Luis Andrés Villalón Vega","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@avillalonv",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fbuilding-a-board-session-that-works",{"title":323,"description":398},"blog\u002Fbuilding-a-board-session-that-works",[233,235,407],"sessions","HS0mycwWZJQnuuA2Biqo4aTXjEzeddLjAHuBWfO--tM",{"id":410,"title":411,"author":6,"body":412,"category":216,"date":485,"description":486,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":487,"imageAlt":488,"imageCredit":489,"imageCreditUrl":490,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":491,"navigation":227,"path":492,"readTime":314,"seo":493,"stem":494,"tags":495,"__hash__":498},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fset-your-own-board-problems.md","Set your own board problems",{"type":8,"value":413,"toc":480},[414,418,421,424,427,431,434,437,464,467,471,474,477],[18,415,417],{"id":416},"why-bother-setting-your-own","Why bother setting your own",[11,419,420],{},"Climbing other people's problems is easy and endless. There are thousands of shared lines to pull on, and you could spend years working through them. But setting your own changes how you see the wall. Instead of solving a puzzle someone else built, you start asking what makes a move hard, why one hold sequence flows and another fights you, and where your own weaknesses actually live.",[11,422,423],{},"That shift is worth more than it sounds. When you set, you have to think like the wall. You notice that a hold faces slightly the wrong way for a left hand, that the distance between two crimps demands a foot you had not considered, that the move you imagined as a static lock-off is really a deadpoint. You learn movement from the inside out.",[11,425,426],{},"There is also the simple fact that you can target what you avoid. Bad at slopers? Set a problem that is nothing but slopers. Weak pulling off small feet? Strip the footholds back until your toes are working hard. A self-set problem is a training prescription you wrote for yourself.",[18,428,430],{"id":429},"how-to-set-a-line-worth-repeating","How to set a line worth repeating",[11,432,433],{},"A good board problem has a clear idea. It is not a random scatter of holds you happened to like the look of. Before you start, decide what the problem is about: a powerful first move, a balancy sequence on poor feet, a long reach to a sloper. Then make every hold serve that idea.",[11,435,436],{},"A few habits that lead to better lines:",[42,438,439,446,452,458],{},[45,440,441,445],{},[442,443,444],"strong",{},"Set the crux first."," Find the hard move you want, then build the rest of the problem to set it up and follow on from it. Working backwards from the crux keeps the problem focused.",[45,447,448,451],{},[442,449,450],{},"Mind the feet."," Footholds shape difficulty as much as handholds. Removing a foot or pushing it further out can turn a soft move into a proper one without changing a single hand.",[45,453,454,457],{},[442,455,456],{},"Make it climb in one style."," A problem that switches randomly between crimping and slopers and big jugs often feels disjointed. Pick a texture and commit to it.",[45,459,460,463],{},[442,461,462],{},"Test it honestly."," Climb your own line. If it only works one way and that way feels contrived, adjust it. If you can skip the move you cared about, tighten the holds around it.",[11,465,466],{},"Angle is part of the design too. The same holds at 25 degrees and at 45 degrees give completely different problems, so think about which angle expresses your idea best before you commit.",[18,468,470],{"id":469},"naming-grading-and-sharing","Naming, grading and sharing",[11,472,473],{},"Once a problem climbs well, give it a name and a grade. Grading your own setting is humbling and useful in equal measure. You will overgrade things you found hard for personal reasons and undergrade things that suit you, and comparing your guess to how others find it teaches you a lot about your own biases.",[11,475,476],{},"Sharing is where it gets fun. A board problem you set can be repeated by anyone on the same board layout, in your gym or across the world. Watching someone else find a different sequence through your line, or shut down on the move you thought was easy, is one of the quiet pleasures of board climbing.",[11,478,479],{},"Sendit lets you set, grade and share board problems and keep track of which of your lines are getting repeated. But you do not need any of that to start. Stand in front of the board, decide what you want the problem to be about, and build it one move at a time. The first few you set will be clumsy. Keep going. Setting well is a skill like any other, and it makes you a sharper climber every time you do it.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":481},[482,483,484],{"id":416,"depth":206,"text":417},{"id":429,"depth":206,"text":430},{"id":469,"depth":206,"text":470},"2026-05-08","Why setting your own lines makes you a better climber, and how to set ones worth repeating.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1501450753566-4977b58843ef?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","Inside a climbing gym","roya ann miller","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@royaannmiller",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fset-your-own-board-problems",{"title":411,"description":486},"blog\u002Fset-your-own-board-problems",[233,496,497],"setting","creativity","HXR3yiX8EOGENuXGvM7EkOihWsjX4V6fLzovtlWcnrA",{"id":500,"title":501,"author":6,"body":502,"category":216,"date":688,"description":689,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":690,"imageAlt":691,"imageCredit":692,"imageCreditUrl":693,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":694,"navigation":227,"path":695,"readTime":229,"seo":696,"stem":697,"tags":698,"__hash__":703},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-read-a-kilter-board-problem.md","How to read a board problem before you pull on",{"type":8,"value":503,"toc":680},[504,507,510,514,517,543,551,556,560,563,566,587,590,594,597,645,652,656,670,674,677],[11,505,506],{},"A systems board punishes guessing. The holds are small, the angle is steep, and the\nmoves come quickly — so the climbers who send first are almost always the ones who\nread the problem properly before they leave the floor. Reading a board problem is a\nskill in its own right, and it is one you can practise every single session.",[11,508,509],{},"Here is the way we think about it.",[18,511,513],{"id":512},"start-with-the-lit-holds-not-the-wall","Start with the lit holds, not the wall",[11,515,516],{},"On a lit board every hold has a role, and the colours tell you the story before you\ntouch anything:",[42,518,519,525,531,537],{},[45,520,521,524],{},[442,522,523],{},"Start"," holds are where your hands begin.",[45,526,527,530],{},[442,528,529],{},"Hand"," holds are the path your hands follow.",[45,532,533,536],{},[442,534,535],{},"Finish"," holds are where the problem ends — match and control.",[45,538,539,542],{},[442,540,541],{},"Foot"," holds are the only feet you are allowed.",[11,544,545,546,550],{},"Read the line top to bottom once, then bottom to top. You are looking for the\n",[547,548,549],"em",{},"shape"," of the climb: is it a straight ladder, a traverse into a headwall, a big\nmove off a crimp? Name it to yourself. A problem you can describe in one sentence is\na problem you can remember on the wall.",[29,552,553],{},[11,554,555],{},"If you can't say out loud what the crux is, you haven't read the problem yet.",[18,557,559],{"id":558},"find-the-crux-first","Find the crux first",[11,561,562],{},"Most boulders have one move that is meaningfully harder than the rest. Find it before\nyou start, because everything else is in service of arriving at that move in good\nshape.",[11,564,565],{},"Ask three questions:",[567,568,569,575,581],"ol",{},[45,570,571,574],{},[442,572,573],{},"Which hand makes the hard move?"," That decides your hand sequence all the way back to the start.",[45,576,577,580],{},[442,578,579],{},"Where are the feet for that move?"," The hold you pull on matters less than the foot that lets you pull.",[45,582,583,586],{},[442,584,585],{},"What body position does it want?"," Square on, or a drop-knee, or a flag?",[11,588,589],{},"Once you know the crux, you can work backwards and forwards from it. The rest of the\nproblem is just getting your hands and feet into the right order.",[18,591,593],{"id":592},"count-the-sequence-in-hands-and-feet","Count the sequence in hands and feet",[11,595,596],{},"Good reading is specific. \"Up and left\" is not a sequence. This is:",[72,598,599,610],{},[75,600,601],{},[78,602,603,606,608],{},[81,604,605],{},"Move",[81,607,529],{},[81,609,541],{},[88,611,612,623,634],{},[78,613,614,617,620],{},[93,615,616],{},"1",[93,618,619],{},"Right to the crimp",[93,621,622],{},"Left toe on the start foot",[78,624,625,628,631],{},[93,626,627],{},"2",[93,629,630],{},"Left to the pinch",[93,632,633],{},"Right foot up to the chip",[78,635,636,639,642],{},[93,637,638],{},"3",[93,640,641],{},"Match the pinch",[93,643,644],{},"Drop knee, left",[11,646,647,648,651],{},"You will not always get it right — that is what the first attempt is for — but\ncommitting to a sequence means your first try ",[547,649,650],{},"teaches"," you something instead of just\ntiring you out.",[64,653,655],{"id":654},"a-quick-checklist-before-you-pull-on","A quick checklist before you pull on",[42,657,658,661,664,667],{},[45,659,660],{},"Have I named the crux move?",[45,662,663],{},"Do I know which hand finishes?",[45,665,666],{},"Have I picked feet for the hard move, not just the easy ones?",[45,668,669],{},"Can I see my first three moves with my eyes closed?",[18,671,673],{"id":672},"log-the-read-not-just-the-send","Log the read, not just the send",[11,675,676],{},"The fastest way to get better at reading is to write down what you saw and compare it\nto what actually happened. In Sendit you can log the angle, the grade and a quick note\non every attempt — \"misread the heel, should've toed in\" is worth more next week than\na tick ever will be. Over a few sessions you start to spot your own patterns: the move\ntypes you always under-read, the feet you always skip.",[11,678,679],{},"Reading is free, and it is the one part of bouldering you can train while you rest.\nLook longer. Pull on once you know the story.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":681},[682,683,684,687],{"id":512,"depth":206,"text":513},{"id":558,"depth":206,"text":559},{"id":592,"depth":206,"text":593,"children":685},[686],{"id":654,"depth":212,"text":655},{"id":672,"depth":206,"text":673},"2026-02-13","The strongest climbers spend more time looking than pulling. Here is how to read a systems-board problem — the holds, the line and the sequence — before your hands leave the ground.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.pexels.com\u002Fphotos\u002F5916156\u002Fpexels-photo-5916156.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&fit=crop&w=1600&h=900","A climber reading a steep indoor wall before pulling on","Tima Miroshnichenko","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.pexels.com\u002F@tima-miroshnichenko",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-read-a-kilter-board-problem",{"title":501,"description":689},"blog\u002Fhow-to-read-a-kilter-board-problem",[699,700,701,702],"kilter board","boards","beta","technique","sxng-QO5FMnLyK3EBHfhnodFmjStc4f5Ycy0c25b_f4",{"id":705,"title":706,"author":6,"body":707,"category":216,"date":769,"description":770,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":771,"imageAlt":772,"imageCredit":773,"imageCreditUrl":774,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":775,"navigation":227,"path":149,"readTime":314,"seo":776,"stem":777,"tags":778,"__hash__":779},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fchoosing-an-angle-on-the-board.md","Choosing an angle on the board",{"type":8,"value":708,"toc":763},[709,712,716,719,722,726,729,740,743,747,750,753,757,760],[11,710,711],{},"An adjustable board is really many different walls in one frame. The same holds at 25 degrees and at 50 degrees give you two completely different training experiences, and learning to pick the right angle for the day is half of using a board well.",[18,713,715],{"id":714},"what-the-angle-actually-changes","What the angle actually changes",[11,717,718],{},"The steeper you set the board, the more your body weight hangs off your hands and the harder your fingers and upper body have to work to keep you on. At a shallow angle, more of your weight sits over your feet, so footwork and balance matter more and your fingers get an easier time. The angle is essentially a dial for how much of the load goes through your fingers versus your feet.",[11,720,721],{},"That single change ripples through everything. Steeper means more body tension, more core, more pulling, and feet that cut loose the moment you go slack. Shallower means precise feet, careful weight shifts, and holds you can actually stand on. Neither is better. They train different things, and a complete climber wants both.",[18,723,725],{"id":724},"picking-an-angle-for-the-session","Picking an angle for the session",[11,727,728],{},"The cleanest way to choose is to start from what you want to get out of the day:",[42,730,731,734,737],{},[45,732,733],{},"For raw finger strength and pulling power, set it steep, somewhere around 40 to 50 degrees, and keep the problems short and hard.",[45,735,736],{},"For technique, footwork and movement, drop it back towards 20 to 30 degrees, where you can stand on feet and actually balance.",[45,738,739],{},"For volume and endurance, a moderate angle lets you do more climbing without frying your skin and tendons in a few goes.",[11,741,742],{},"A lot of climbers default to the steepest setting because it feels like proper training, but a shallow board is brutally good for teaching you to trust feet and move efficiently. If your feet cut on every problem, a session or two at a lower angle will tell you a lot about your movement.",[18,744,746],{"id":745},"consistency-is-what-makes-it-useful","Consistency is what makes it useful",[11,748,749],{},"The real strength of an adjustable board is that you can keep the angle the same and let the grades do the talking. If you train at 40 degrees most of the time, your sense of what a board V6 feels like becomes meaningful, and you can track progress honestly over weeks.",[11,751,752],{},"The flip side is that grades shift with angle. The published grade on most LED boards is tied to a specific angle, often 40 degrees, and the same problem at a steeper setting will feel noticeably harder. If you climb a problem at 45 when it was graded at 40, do not be surprised that it fights back. Make a habit of noting the angle alongside the grade, or your log will quietly mislead you.",[18,754,756],{"id":755},"mix-it-across-a-training-block","Mix it across a training block",[11,758,759],{},"Over a week or a training block, there is a good case for spending time at more than one angle. A steep day for strength, a shallower day for movement and volume, and you cover more ground than grinding the same setting every session. Climbing is steep roofs and delicate slabs and everything between, and a board that only ever sits at one angle only ever prepares you for one of them.",[11,761,762],{},"Pick the angle for the job, write it down with your sends, and the board stops being a vague strength workout and becomes a proper training tool you can steer.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":764},[765,766,767,768],{"id":714,"depth":206,"text":715},{"id":724,"depth":206,"text":725},{"id":745,"depth":206,"text":746},{"id":755,"depth":206,"text":756},"2026-01-23","How steeper and shallower angles change what you train, and how to pick one for the session you want.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1524755968487-e44edcb96e1d?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A climber high on an alpine ridge","Jonathan Bell","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@jonathanbell",{},{"title":706,"description":770},"blog\u002Fchoosing-an-angle-on-the-board",[233,318,235],"fn4N87wPuv2JxFWN7zMz4--wxbHmy9dnBcfW-nq4XkM",{"id":781,"title":199,"author":6,"body":782,"category":216,"date":859,"description":860,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":861,"imageAlt":488,"imageCredit":862,"imageCreditUrl":863,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":864,"navigation":227,"path":198,"readTime":314,"seo":865,"stem":866,"tags":867,"__hash__":870},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fwhy-logging-your-board-sessions-pays-off.md",{"type":8,"value":783,"toc":853},[784,788,791,794,798,801,827,830,834,837,840,843,847,850],[18,785,787],{"id":786},"memory-is-a-bad-coach","Memory is a bad coach",[11,789,790],{},"Ask most climbers how their training is going and they will tell you how the last session felt. Felt strong. Felt flat. Felt like nothing was working. The trouble is that a feeling on the day is shaped by sleep, stress, how warm it was, and whether the last problem went or not. It is a terrible measure of whether you are actually getting better.",[11,792,793],{},"The board is unusually good for cutting through that, because almost everything about it is measurable. The angle is a number. The grade is a number. A repeat is a thing that either happened or did not. Unlike outdoor rock or a constantly reset commercial wall, the board holds still. The same problem at the same angle is the same problem next week, next month, next year. That consistency is exactly what makes tracking worthwhile.",[18,795,797],{"id":796},"what-is-worth-writing-down","What is worth writing down",[11,799,800],{},"You do not need to record everything. A handful of things, noted simply, tell you most of what matters.",[42,802,803,809,815,821],{},[45,804,805,808],{},[442,806,807],{},"Angle."," A V5 at 25 degrees and a V5 at 45 are not the same achievement. If your board adjusts, the angle is the single most important number to capture.",[45,810,811,814],{},[442,812,813],{},"Grade and outcome."," What you tried and whether you flashed it, sent it after work, or fell off. A flash and a hard-fought send are different data.",[45,816,817,820],{},[442,818,819],{},"Repeats."," How many goes a problem took, and whether something that shut you down last time goes now.",[45,822,823,826],{},[442,824,825],{},"How you felt and why."," A quick note about a tweaky finger or a poor night's sleep stops you misreading a bad session as lost fitness.",[11,828,829],{},"That is it. Thirty seconds at the end of a session, not a spreadsheet that becomes a chore.",[18,831,833],{"id":832},"what-the-record-gives-back","What the record gives back",[11,835,836],{},"The payoff shows up over weeks. Strength and skill both improve slowly and quietly, so any single session feels much like the last. The log is where the trend lives.",[11,838,839],{},"You start to see things you would otherwise miss. That you have quietly moved from struggling on 30 degrees to cruising it. That your flash grade at a given angle has crept up. That the problems you fall on share a feature, all slopers or all big moves off small feet, which points straight at what to train next. A pattern in the data is a coaching cue that no feeling will ever hand you.",[11,841,842],{},"It also keeps you honest about volume and rest. Glancing back over a fortnight tells you whether you have actually been on the board as often as you think, or whether life got in the way. And it protects you from the trap of always chasing the same favourite problems while avoiding your weaknesses, because the record makes the gaps obvious.",[18,844,846],{"id":845},"keep-it-light","Keep it light",[11,848,849],{},"The best logging habit is the one you will actually keep, so make it quick and forgiving. Miss a session, note it badly, skip a detail, none of it matters. What matters is having enough of a trail that, three months in, you can look back and see the line of progress instead of guessing at it.",[11,851,852],{},"Sendit is built to make this painless on a board, with the angle, grade and repeats captured in a few taps. But the tool is secondary. The habit is the thing. Write down the angle, the grade and what happened, and let the numbers show you the progress your memory keeps getting wrong.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":854},[855,856,857,858],{"id":786,"depth":206,"text":787},{"id":796,"depth":206,"text":797},{"id":832,"depth":206,"text":833},{"id":845,"depth":206,"text":846},"2025-09-26","The angles, grades and repeats add up. Tracking board work shows progress a feeling never will.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1696105538708-6be6c90707a1?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","Nathan Cima","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@nathan_cima",{},{"title":199,"description":860},"blog\u002Fwhy-logging-your-board-sessions-pays-off",[233,868,869],"logbook","progression","6YBr-aGRiibBveOR2JDlTLwWGEe8cUx4eYH76Dg9RgQ",{"id":872,"title":873,"author":6,"body":874,"category":216,"date":960,"description":961,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":962,"imageAlt":488,"imageCredit":862,"imageCreditUrl":863,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":963,"navigation":227,"path":964,"readTime":229,"seo":965,"stem":966,"tags":967,"__hash__":969},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Ftraining-power-on-the-board.md","Training power on the board",{"type":8,"value":875,"toc":954},[876,880,883,886,890,893,896,910,913,917,920,926,932,938,941,945,948,951],[18,877,879],{"id":878},"what-power-actually-means","What power actually means",[11,881,882],{},"When climbers say they need more power, they usually mean one thing: the ability to move fast and hard between two distant holds. A big throw to a sloper, a campus-style move off two crimps, a deadpoint where you cut feet and catch the next edge. Power is force applied quickly, and a steep board is one of the best tools we have for training it.",[11,884,885],{},"The board concentrates everything. The wall is set somewhere between 25 and 50 degrees overhanging, the holds are small and consistent, and the moves are short and savage. There is nowhere to rest and very little technical fluff to hide behind. If you cannot pull hard, the board will tell you within two moves.",[18,887,889],{"id":888},"build-the-session-around-quality-not-quantity","Build the session around quality, not quantity",[11,891,892],{},"Power work is fundamentally about freshness. A tired muscle cannot recruit quickly, so the moment you are pumped or shaking, you have stopped training power and started training something else. Keep the volume low and the rest long.",[11,894,895],{},"A simple structure that works:",[42,897,898,901,904,907],{},[45,899,900],{},"Warm up properly. Twenty minutes of easy climbing, some pulls on bigger holds, a few moderate problems to wake the fingers up. Cold fingers on a board is how you tweak a pulley.",[45,902,903],{},"Pick three or four hard problems near your limit. These should take one to five hard moves, not twenty.",[45,905,906],{},"Give each go a genuine effort, then rest three to five minutes. Sit down. Let your breathing settle.",[45,908,909],{},"Stop while you are still climbing well. Forty-five minutes of sharp attempts beats two hours of sloppy ones.",[11,911,912],{},"The angle matters here. A steeper board forces more tension through the core and shoulders, which is exactly what hard moves demand. If your board adjusts, training power at 40 degrees and then dropping to 25 for endurance on another day is a sensible split.",[18,914,916],{"id":915},"specific-drills-that-pay-off","Specific drills that pay off",[11,918,919],{},"A few approaches give power work more shape than just trying hard problems.",[11,921,922,925],{},[442,923,924],{},"Limit bouldering."," Choose or set a problem you can barely do, or cannot quite do yet. The aim is maximal recruitment on every move. You might only complete it once all session, and that is fine.",[11,927,928,931],{},[442,929,930],{},"First-move repeats."," Pick the single hardest move on a problem and do it again and again with full rest. Isolating one move lets you train the exact position you are weak in, whether that is a powerful pull off a crimp or a dynamic move to a pinch.",[11,933,934,937],{},[442,935,936],{},"Cut-loose practice."," Find a move where your feet naturally swing off and learn to control the swing back in. Holding body tension through a dynamic move is a skill, and the board is the place to drill it.",[11,939,940],{},"Footwork still counts, even when you are pulling hard. A flag to stop yourself barn-dooring, a well-timed heel hook to take weight off the fingers, a drop knee to bring your hips closer to the wall. Power without precision just burns energy.",[18,942,944],{"id":943},"how-to-know-it-is-working","How to know it is working",[11,946,947],{},"Strength gains are slow and quiet. You will not feel dramatically stronger week to week, which is why a feeling is a poor guide. The honest signal is whether the moves that shut you down last month go now, whether you are catching throws you used to drop, whether the angle you avoided feels possible.",[11,949,950],{},"Note the board angle, the grades, and which problems you sent or fell on. Over a few weeks the trend becomes obvious in a way memory never manages. Logging board sessions in Sendit makes that trend easy to see, but the principle holds whatever you write it in.",[11,952,953],{},"Keep the sessions short, keep them hard, and rest like you mean it. Power is built in the gaps between attempts as much as the attempts themselves.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":955},[956,957,958,959],{"id":878,"depth":206,"text":879},{"id":888,"depth":206,"text":889},{"id":915,"depth":206,"text":916},{"id":943,"depth":206,"text":944},"2025-01-31","How to use a steep board to build the explosive pulling that hard moves demand.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1696105538782-7815474f28e0?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Ftraining-power-on-the-board",{"title":873,"description":961},"blog\u002Ftraining-power-on-the-board",[233,968,235],"power","dt_Wa5iF3yYjic7pMdDqXz1DbeOQH8xv17pGTBQ5XD4",{"id":971,"title":972,"author":6,"body":973,"category":216,"date":1041,"description":1042,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":1043,"imageAlt":1044,"imageCredit":1045,"imageCreditUrl":1046,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":1047,"navigation":227,"path":1048,"readTime":229,"seo":1049,"stem":1050,"tags":1051,"__hash__":1054},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-board-grades-compare-to-the-gym-and-outside.md","How board grades compare to the gym and outside",{"type":8,"value":974,"toc":1035},[975,978,982,985,988,991,994,998,1001,1012,1015,1019,1022,1025,1029,1032],[11,976,977],{},"Sooner or later every board climber has the same moment of confusion. They cruise V5s on the board, walk over to the gym boulders and get shut down by a V5, then go outside and find a V5 on rock is a different beast again. Same number, three very different experiences. Here is why, and how to read across them without losing your mind.",[18,979,981],{"id":980},"why-the-same-number-feels-different","Why the same number feels different",[11,983,984],{},"A grade is meant to describe difficulty, but difficulty depends entirely on context, and the three contexts could hardly be more different.",[11,986,987],{},"Board problems on a steep setting are concentrated and powerful. Short sequences, demanding holds, a fixed steep angle. They reward finger strength and pulling power, and they punish nothing else, because there is no slab, no reachy commercial volume, no real height. A board V5 is often a few very hard moves and little else.",[11,989,990],{},"Gym boulders are set by humans to be enjoyable and varied. A setter might dial a problem softer to suit the wall, throw in big friendly volumes, or build movement that flows rather than just pulls hard. Gym grades also drift between gyms and between setters, so two gyms can disagree by a full grade on what they call the same number.",[11,992,993],{},"Rock owes you nothing. Outdoor grades evolved over decades and tend to be conservative, built on bad feet, awkward bodies, conditions and the need to actually read the rock yourself. There is no setter making it flow and no colour telling you where to go.",[18,995,997],{"id":996},"the-rough-pecking-order","The rough pecking order",[11,999,1000],{},"There is no exact conversion, and anyone who gives you a tidy table is overselling it. But as a loose generalisation that most climbers recognise:",[42,1002,1003,1006,1009],{},[45,1004,1005],{},"Steep board grades tend to run stiff for their number, especially if you climb above the reference angle.",[45,1007,1008],{},"Gym grades sit in the middle and vary a lot between gyms and setters.",[45,1010,1011],{},"Outdoor grades are usually the most demanding for the number, because the rock and conditions add difficulty no plastic does.",[11,1013,1014],{},"So it is common to climb a grade or so harder on a board than you do outside, and to find gym grades somewhere in between. None of this means one is right and the others wrong. They are measuring different things.",[18,1016,1018],{"id":1017},"what-board-climbing-does-and-does-not-transfer","What board climbing does and does not transfer",[11,1020,1021],{},"The board builds the engine. Finger strength, contact strength, body tension and the ability to pull hard on steep ground all carry over directly, and a strong board climber usually has the raw power to climb hard everywhere. That is real and worth having.",[11,1023,1024],{},"What the board does not build is the rest of climbing. Slab technique, smearing, reading a wall you have never seen, placing your own feet on rock, managing fear above a pad or a bolt, and the patience to work out beta with no LEDs to follow. Those only come from time on the gym wall and outside. A climber who only ever boards often arrives at the crag strong and clueless, which is a frustrating place to be.",[18,1026,1028],{"id":1027},"how-to-read-across-the-scales","How to read across the scales",[11,1030,1031],{},"The practical answer is to keep separate expectations and not let one scale wound your ego on another. Track your board grades against board grades, your gym ticks against the gym, and your outdoor sends against rock. Comparing across them tells you almost nothing useful and mostly just makes you feel bad.",[11,1033,1034],{},"If you want the board to help your outdoor climbing, point it at your weaknesses rather than your max grade. Use it to get strong, then spend the time on rock and on the varied gym wall to turn that strength into actual climbing ability. The number is just shorthand. What matters is that you are getting better at the thing in front of you.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":1036},[1037,1038,1039,1040],{"id":980,"depth":206,"text":981},{"id":996,"depth":206,"text":997},{"id":1017,"depth":206,"text":1018},{"id":1027,"depth":206,"text":1028},"2025-01-17","Why a board V5 can feel nothing like a gym V5, and how to read across the scales.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1516592673884-4a382d1124c2?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A close-up of a climber's hands and chalk","Brook Anderson","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@brookanderson",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-board-grades-compare-to-the-gym-and-outside",{"title":972,"description":1042},"blog\u002Fhow-board-grades-compare-to-the-gym-and-outside",[233,1052,1053],"grades","outdoor","mRp_tOhKkm0bpU0GgP_lRIRAC9YPa3ePJsL86fwP73o",{"id":1056,"title":1057,"author":6,"body":1058,"category":216,"date":1146,"description":1147,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":1148,"imageAlt":488,"imageCredit":862,"imageCreditUrl":863,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":1149,"navigation":227,"path":1150,"readTime":314,"seo":1151,"stem":1152,"tags":1153,"__hash__":1155},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Ftraining-endurance-on-the-board.md","Training endurance on the board",{"type":8,"value":1059,"toc":1140},[1060,1064,1067,1070,1074,1077,1080,1100,1103,1107,1110,1113,1127,1130,1134,1137],[18,1061,1063],{"id":1062},"the-other-side-of-board-training","The other side of board training",[11,1065,1066],{},"Most people think of the board as a power tool, and it is. But the same wall that builds explosive pulling can also build a much bigger engine. Endurance on the board is about staying on the wall when your forearms are screaming and your grip is going, and learning to climb well in that state rather than falling apart.",[11,1068,1069],{},"This matters whether or not you ever tie into a rope. A bouldering session is a string of efforts, and the climber who recovers faster between problems gets more quality attempts. For anyone projecting longer routes, the ability to keep pulling through a pump is often the difference between clipping the chains and lowering off.",[18,1071,1073],{"id":1072},"circuits-and-repeats","Circuits and repeats",[11,1075,1076],{},"The basic unit of endurance work is volume on holds that are not at your limit. Pick problems several grades below your max, then keep moving.",[11,1078,1079],{},"A few formats worth rotating through:",[42,1081,1082,1088,1094],{},[45,1083,1084,1087],{},[442,1085,1086],{},"Up-down-up."," Climb a problem to the top, reverse it back to the start, then climb it again. Linking the moves in both directions doubles the time on the wall and forces you to find rests you would normally skip.",[45,1089,1090,1093],{},[442,1091,1092],{},"Circuits."," Stitch several easy problems into one long lap around the board, only stepping off when you genuinely cannot hold on. Aim for a sustained pump rather than a sharp one.",[45,1095,1096,1099],{},[442,1097,1098],{},"Timed repeats."," Climb for a set time, say four minutes on, then rest a similar amount, and repeat for several rounds. This trains your ability to recover between bouts, which is exactly what a session of hard bouldering asks of you.",[11,1101,1102],{},"Drop the angle if your board adjusts. A 25 or 30 degree wall lets you stay on far longer than a 45, and that time under tension is the whole point. Save the steep angles for power days.",[18,1104,1106],{"id":1105},"climbing-when-pumped","Climbing when pumped",[11,1108,1109],{},"The hidden skill in endurance is staying calm and accurate when your body wants to grab everything in a panic. A pumped climber over-grips, breathes badly, and rushes. Training endurance gives you reps at being uncomfortable so you stop flailing.",[11,1111,1112],{},"Pay attention to the boring things while you are tired:",[42,1114,1115,1118,1121,1124],{},[45,1116,1117],{},"Keep your arms straight when you can. Hanging off a bent arm burns grip you do not have to spare.",[45,1119,1120],{},"Breathe deliberately. Long exhales settle the heart rate and keep your head clear.",[45,1122,1123],{},"Use your feet. A solid heel hook or a flag that takes weight off your fingers buys you seconds, and seconds are everything when you are running out.",[45,1125,1126],{},"Find the rest. Even on a board there are shakeout positions if you look for them. Drop a hip in, get over a foot, let one arm recover.",[11,1128,1129],{},"The point is to make good movement automatic under fatigue, because that is the state real climbing happens in.",[18,1131,1133],{"id":1132},"patience-and-progress","Patience and progress",[11,1135,1136],{},"Endurance is the slowest, least glamorous thing to train, and it rewards consistency over heroics. You will not feel transformed after one session. Over a month of regular volume, though, you notice the pump arriving later and clearing faster, and you notice you are still climbing cleanly on the moves that used to fall apart.",[11,1138,1139],{},"Keep a rough record of how long your laps lasted and how the rests held up. The numbers nudge you to push the volume up gradually rather than coasting. A bigger engine is built one unremarkable circuit at a time, and the patience to keep climbing when pumped is itself the thing you are training.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":1141},[1142,1143,1144,1145],{"id":1062,"depth":206,"text":1063},{"id":1072,"depth":206,"text":1073},{"id":1105,"depth":206,"text":1106},{"id":1132,"depth":206,"text":1133},"2024-12-06","Circuits, repeats and the patience to climb when pumped — building a bigger engine on the board.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1696105539018-a73a53770934?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Ftraining-endurance-on-the-board",{"title":1057,"description":1147},"blog\u002Ftraining-endurance-on-the-board",[233,1154,235],"endurance","wOZwca7G76TKVvCZI7hy6FkUis9SeG-LADuQ3c_kbKw",{"id":1157,"title":1158,"author":6,"body":1159,"category":216,"date":1230,"description":1231,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":1232,"imageAlt":1233,"imageCredit":1234,"imageCreditUrl":1235,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":1236,"navigation":227,"path":1237,"readTime":229,"seo":1238,"stem":1239,"tags":1240,"__hash__":1243},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-route-setters-design-problems.md","How route setters design problems",{"type":8,"value":1160,"toc":1224},[1161,1164,1168,1171,1174,1177,1181,1184,1187,1191,1194,1197,1211,1214,1218,1221],[11,1162,1163],{},"Most climbers spend years pulling on plastic without much thought for how it got there. Then one day you watch a setter work a problem, twisting a foothold a few degrees and turning a clumsy scrabble into a clean rock-over, and you realise there is a whole craft hiding in plain sight. Route setting is part choreography, part engineering and part reading the room.",[18,1165,1167],{"id":1166},"setters-design-movement-not-just-difficulty","Setters design movement, not just difficulty",[11,1169,1170],{},"The beginner's assumption is that setting is about making climbs hard. Strip the holds down to nothing and you have a hard problem, job done. Good setters think almost the opposite way. They start with a movement they want you to make, then arrange the holds to coax you into it.",[11,1172,1173],{},"The hold is only half the story. Where it goes, which way it faces and how far it sits from the next one decides everything. The same chunky hold can be a casual jug or a desperate sloper depending on the angle it is bolted at. A setter who wants you to drop a knee, throw a heel or commit to a dynamic slap will place and rotate holds so that any other solution feels worse than the intended one. When a problem flows, it is because someone choreographed it that way.",[11,1175,1176],{},"This is why two problems of the same grade can feel completely different. One might be a pure power sequence off two holds, another a delicate, balancey traverse that never feels strenuous but punishes a sloppy foot. Both might be the same grade. The grade tells you roughly how hard, not what kind of hard.",[18,1178,1180],{"id":1179},"grading-is-a-negotiation-not-a-measurement","Grading is a negotiation, not a measurement",[11,1182,1183],{},"There is no machine that reads a grade off a wall. Setters grade by feel, by comparison to other climbs they have set, and by how a range of testers get on with it. A problem that the setter floats might shut down a shorter climber entirely, or vice versa, and part of the craft is spotting those height and reach dependencies before the climb goes up.",[11,1185,1186],{},"Most gyms have setters cross-check each other's grades, because a single person calibrates to their own strengths. A wiry crimp specialist will under-grade a fingery problem and over-grade a powerful one. Pooling opinions across a few bodies of different shapes and styles is how a setting team keeps grades roughly honest, though \"roughly\" is doing real work in that sentence. Grades drift between gyms and even between walls, and that is normal.",[18,1188,1190],{"id":1189},"setting-for-the-whole-gym","Setting for the whole gym",[11,1192,1193],{},"A single problem is a small thing. A wall of problems, refreshed every week or two, is the real product, and good setters think about the set as a whole.",[11,1195,1196],{},"That means spreading climbs across the grades so the gym serves the nervous first-timer and the strong regular alike. It means varying the style, so a circuit is not all the same powerful pulling on the same hold type. A well-set wall might offer:",[42,1198,1199,1202,1205,1208],{},[45,1200,1201],{},"Approachable, juggy lines for people finding their feet.",[45,1203,1204],{},"Technical, balance-led problems that reward footwork over strength.",[45,1206,1207],{},"Steep, powerful test-pieces for the strong end of the room.",[45,1209,1210],{},"A few quirky, puzzle-like sets that make people stop and think about beta.",[11,1212,1213],{},"Setters also work around the physical wall. Steep overhangs naturally suit powerful, gymnastic movement. Slabs demand trust and precise feet. Vertical walls reward technique and stamina. A good setter plays to each angle rather than fighting it.",[18,1215,1217],{"id":1216},"watch-how-you-are-being-moved","Watch how you are being moved",[11,1219,1220],{},"Once you know setting is intentional, your climbing changes. Instead of grabbing the nearest hold, you start asking what the setter wanted. Why is that foothold so far out to the side? Why does the good hold face the wrong way until you turn your hips? Reading the intended sequence is often the difference between thrashing up a problem and floating it.",[11,1222,1223],{},"Next time a problem feels brilliant, take a second to appreciate that someone built that feeling on purpose. And next time one feels awful, well, even good setters have off days, and tastes differ. Keeping track of the styles and angles you gravitate towards, and the ones you avoid, is a quietly useful way to spot the gaps a clever setter would happily exploit.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":1225},[1226,1227,1228,1229],{"id":1166,"depth":206,"text":1167},{"id":1179,"depth":206,"text":1180},{"id":1189,"depth":206,"text":1190},{"id":1216,"depth":206,"text":1217},"2024-11-15","The craft behind the holds — how setters shape movement, grade and the flow of a session.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1641159955598-134649e62d86?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A climber outdoors","Alexander Williams","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@alwilliams012",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-route-setters-design-problems",{"title":1158,"description":1231},"blog\u002Fhow-route-setters-design-problems",[496,1241,1242],"gym","community","IJ515sYQ55aWD8lzQUdWm07WH4HWhU6aflAengmHsWE",{"id":1245,"title":1246,"author":6,"body":1247,"category":216,"date":1304,"description":1305,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":1306,"imageAlt":310,"imageCredit":1307,"imageCreditUrl":1308,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":1309,"navigation":227,"path":1310,"readTime":1311,"seo":1312,"stem":1313,"tags":1314,"__hash__":1317},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Ffoot-rules-on-the-board.md","Foot rules on the board",{"type":8,"value":1248,"toc":1299},[1249,1252,1256,1259,1273,1276,1280,1283,1286,1289,1293,1296],[11,1250,1251],{},"When you set up a problem on a board, you are not just choosing hand holds. You are also choosing what counts as a foot, and that choice changes the climb completely. The same hand sequence can be a friendly V4 or a brutal V7 depending on which foot rule you pick. Here are the common ones and what each is actually training.",[18,1253,1255],{"id":1254},"the-main-foot-rules","The main foot rules",[11,1257,1258],{},"Most LED boards let you set a foot rule when you create or filter a problem. The usual options are these.",[42,1260,1261,1264,1267,1270],{},[45,1262,1263],{},"Footholds only: you may only use the holds marked as feet, often shown in a different colour. This is the standard for graded problems, because it fixes the footwork and makes the grade mean something.",[45,1265,1266],{},"Feet-follow-hands: any hand hold becomes legal for your feet once it is in play, but only hand holds. No dedicated foothelds, no kickboard tricks beyond the holds themselves.",[45,1268,1269],{},"Screw-ons allowed: the small bolt-on footchips scattered around the board are fair game, alongside whatever else the rule permits. These tiny chips make footwork far easier.",[45,1271,1272],{},"Anything goes: feet anywhere on the board, including the kickboard. The most forgiving setting.",[11,1274,1275],{},"The strict end of that list makes a problem harder and more precise; the loose end makes it easier and more about the hands.",[18,1277,1279],{"id":1278},"what-each-one-trains","What each one trains",[11,1281,1282],{},"Footholds-only is the discipline that makes you place feet accurately. Because you are restricted to marked holds, often poor ones at awkward spots, you have to think about exactly where each toe goes, when to drop a heel, and how to keep tension when the only legal foot is miles from where you want it. This is the rule that builds real board footwork, and it is why graded problems use it.",[11,1284,1285],{},"Feet-follow-hands sits in the middle. You get more options than footholds-only, so the climbing feels a touch more flowing, but you still can not just smear anywhere. It rewards using your hand holds as feet cleverly, which is a genuinely useful outdoor skill, since rock does not come with marked footchips either.",[11,1287,1288],{},"Screw-ons and anything-goes lower the footwork demand sharply. With tiny chips or the whole board available, your feet are rarely the problem, so the climbing becomes about the hands and the pulling. That is not lazy, it has its uses: it lets you isolate and train the hand sequence, or push into harder hand holds without footwork being the thing that stops you.",[18,1290,1292],{"id":1291},"picking-a-rule-on-purpose","Picking a rule on purpose",[11,1294,1295],{},"The rule you choose should match what you want from the session. If you are working footwork, body tension and precision, climb footholds-only and accept that it is harder. If you want to train pulling power on small hand holds without your feet being the limiter, loosen the rule so feet stop getting in the way. Both are valid, as long as you choose deliberately rather than by accident.",[11,1297,1298],{},"One thing worth knowing: a problem's published grade assumes the rule it was set with, almost always footholds-only. If you climb it with screw-ons or feet-anywhere, you have made it easier, so the tick does not really count at the stated grade. Keep your hard sends honest by climbing them as set, and use the looser rules as a training tool rather than a shortcut to a grade you have not actually earned.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":1300},[1301,1302,1303],{"id":1254,"depth":206,"text":1255},{"id":1278,"depth":206,"text":1279},{"id":1291,"depth":206,"text":1292},"2024-09-27","Feet-follow-hands, screw-ons or anything-goes — the common foot rules and what each one trains.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1600729664711-816e87d1d667?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","Daniel Jiménez","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@danieljimenez715",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Ffoot-rules-on-the-board",4,{"title":1246,"description":1305},"blog\u002Ffoot-rules-on-the-board",[233,1315,1316],"footwork","rules","4xY7sbj3kICzZnSqG4q40RcnY-8DusCr3ZecEeN3elU",{"id":1319,"title":1320,"author":6,"body":1321,"category":216,"date":1383,"description":1384,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":1385,"imageAlt":310,"imageCredit":1386,"imageCreditUrl":1387,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":1388,"navigation":227,"path":1389,"readTime":314,"seo":1390,"stem":1391,"tags":1392,"__hash__":1394},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fbenchmarks-the-board-grades-you-can-trust.md","Benchmarks: the board grades you can trust",{"type":8,"value":1322,"toc":1377},[1323,1326,1330,1333,1336,1340,1343,1346,1350,1353,1364,1367,1371,1374],[11,1324,1325],{},"On a board with tens of thousands of community-set problems, grades drift. Someone sets a problem, calls it V6 because it felt like V6 to them on a good day, and it sits there a touch soft or a touch sandbagged forever. Benchmarks exist to cut through that noise and give you a smaller set of problems whose grades you can actually trust.",[18,1327,1329],{"id":1328},"what-a-benchmark-is","What a benchmark is",[11,1331,1332],{},"A benchmark is a problem that has been singled out as a reliable marker for its grade. Rather than one setter's guess, a benchmark has been climbed by a large number of people, its grade has settled through that broad consensus, and it has been flagged as a steady reference point. When you see the benchmark tag on a board, you are looking at a problem the wider community broadly agrees on.",[11,1334,1335],{},"That matters because the rest of the database is genuinely all over the place. New problems with a handful of ascents can be wildly off, soft enough to flatter you or stiff enough to crush your confidence. Benchmarks are the opposite. They are the few hundred problems you can point to and say, with reasonable confidence, that this is what the grade feels like.",[18,1337,1339],{"id":1338},"why-honest-grades-are-worth-chasing","Why honest grades are worth chasing",[11,1341,1342],{},"The whole reason people train on boards is repeatability and honesty. A grade you can not trust undoes both. If you tick a soft V7, you walk away thinking you have moved up a grade when you have not, and your training drifts towards whatever feels good rather than what actually challenges you.",[11,1344,1345],{},"Benchmarks fix the reference. Because their grades are stable and the holds never move, a benchmark you climb this month means the same as one you climbed six months ago. That makes them the cleanest way to answer the only question training really asks: am I getting stronger.",[18,1347,1349],{"id":1348},"how-to-use-them","How to use them",[11,1351,1352],{},"The simplest way to use benchmarks is as a ladder. Pick the benchmarks at and just above your current level and treat them as your honest test pieces:",[42,1354,1355,1358,1361],{},[45,1356,1357],{},"Project benchmarks at your limit grade, not random hard problems, so a send actually means something.",[45,1359,1360],{},"Repeat a benchmark you have done before to feel whether it has got easier, which is real evidence of progress.",[45,1362,1363],{},"Use a benchmark at a grade below your max as a barometer warm-up to gauge how you are climbing on the day.",[11,1365,1366],{},"Because everyone is climbing the same benchmark problems, they are also a fair point of comparison with friends and with your past self. Two climbers arguing about who is stronger can just go and try the same benchmark, which settles it faster than any conversation.",[18,1368,1370],{"id":1369},"do-not-chase-the-tag-for-its-own-sake","Do not chase the tag for its own sake",[11,1372,1373],{},"A word of caution. Benchmarks are useful precisely because they are reliable references, not because they are inherently better climbs. Some are brilliant movement, some are awkward and one-dimensional, set to test a specific style. If a benchmark suits you perfectly, your tick will read a little flattering; if it plays to your weakness, it will feel sandbagged even though the grade is fair.",[11,1375,1376],{},"Use them as the honest yardstick they are, spread across a few styles so no single weakness skews your read, and let them be the backbone of how you measure progress. Logging your benchmark sends over time, alongside the date and angle, turns a scattered pile of attempts into a clear line you can actually watch climb, which is exactly the kind of record Sendit keeps for you.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":1378},[1379,1380,1381,1382],{"id":1328,"depth":206,"text":1329},{"id":1338,"depth":206,"text":1339},{"id":1348,"depth":206,"text":1349},{"id":1369,"depth":206,"text":1370},"2024-09-13","Why benchmark problems exist, and how to use them to measure progress honestly.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1508287459906-37445322fdf6?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","Jonathan Ouimet","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@mtlwebdesign",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fbenchmarks-the-board-grades-you-can-trust",{"title":1320,"description":1384},"blog\u002Fbenchmarks-the-board-grades-you-can-trust",[233,1052,1393],"benchmarks","SrS5gWXi5L6n1I1W-KQy96RQWk82oxyzjiGS7wQHF8c",{"id":1396,"title":1397,"author":6,"body":1398,"category":216,"date":1463,"description":1464,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":1465,"imageAlt":310,"imageCredit":1466,"imageCreditUrl":1467,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":1468,"navigation":227,"path":1469,"readTime":229,"seo":1470,"stem":1471,"tags":1472,"__hash__":1473},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fwhy-train-on-a-systems-board.md","Why train on a systems board",{"type":8,"value":1399,"toc":1457},[1400,1403,1407,1410,1413,1416,1420,1423,1434,1437,1441,1444,1447,1451,1454],[11,1401,1402],{},"A systems board looks like a small, steep wall covered in a grid of holds, often lit up in different colours. It is not trying to be fun in the way a fresh set of comp boulders is fun. It is a tool, and once you understand what it is for, it becomes the most efficient way to get strong that most gyms own.",[18,1404,1406],{"id":1405},"what-a-board-does-that-a-normal-wall-can-not","What a board does that a normal wall can not",[11,1408,1409],{},"The thing that makes a board special is repeatability. The holds never move, the angle is fixed or set by you, and a given problem is the same today as it was last month and will be next year. On a commercial wall, the setters change everything every few weeks, so you can never quite tell whether you got better or the new V5 is just softer.",[11,1411,1412],{},"A board removes that doubt. Climb the same problem at the same angle and the only variable left is you. That makes it honest in a way a constantly changing wall can not be, and honesty is what training needs. You can not improve what you can not measure, and a board gives you something stable to measure against.",[11,1414,1415],{},"It also concentrates the work. The holds on a steep board are deliberately demanding, and the wall is short, so a single problem packs a lot of hard pulling into a handful of moves. You get a big strength stimulus without spending an hour roped up or shuffling between distant boulders.",[18,1417,1419],{"id":1418},"it-trains-the-things-that-actually-limit-you","It trains the things that actually limit you",[11,1421,1422],{},"For most climbers, the limiting factor is not endurance or technique on easy ground. It is the ability to hold small holds and pull hard between them on steep terrain. A systems board is built precisely for that:",[42,1424,1425,1428,1431],{},[45,1426,1427],{},"Finger strength, because the holds are small and the angle loads them hard.",[45,1429,1430],{},"Pulling power, because steep ground demands you generate tension and move through it.",[45,1432,1433],{},"Body tension, because feet cut and bodies swing the moment you stop holding everything tight.",[11,1435,1436],{},"These are exactly the qualities that carry over to harder boulders and routes everywhere else. Spend a season getting strong on a board and you tend to feel it on rock, on the comp wall, and on your projects.",[18,1438,1440],{"id":1439},"the-shared-problem-advantage","The shared-problem advantage",[11,1442,1443],{},"The other reason boards have taken over training rooms is the shared database. The popular LED boards come with thousands of problems set by climbers all over the world, each with a grade and a star rating that gets refined as more people climb it. That means you are rarely guessing how hard something should feel, and you can pick a problem that targets crimps, or slopers, or big spans, depending on what you want to train that day.",[11,1445,1446],{},"Because the angle is adjustable on many boards, the same hold set covers everything from a mellow vertical to a brutal roof. You decide how hard the day is by where you set the wall, not by hunting for the right boulder.",[18,1448,1450],{"id":1449},"use-it-as-a-tool-not-a-playground","Use it as a tool, not a playground",[11,1452,1453],{},"The catch with a board is that it is demanding, and it is easy to overdo. The holds are sharp on the skin and hard on the fingers, so a board is best as a focused block within a session rather than two hours of flailing. Warm up properly, do your hard tries while you are fresh, and stop while you still have something left rather than grinding until your fingers are cooked.",[11,1455,1456],{},"Treated that way, a board earns its place. It is compact, it is honest, and it loads the exact qualities that hold most climbers back. Tracking which problems you have sent and at what angle turns all that repeatable work into a record you can actually learn from, which is part of what Sendit is built to do.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":1458},[1459,1460,1461,1462],{"id":1405,"depth":206,"text":1406},{"id":1418,"depth":206,"text":1419},{"id":1439,"depth":206,"text":1440},{"id":1449,"depth":206,"text":1450},"2024-08-16","What a systems board does that a normal wall can not, and why it is the most efficient strength tool in the gym.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1643903096045-07741be1f245?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","Mike Markov","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@mikemarkov",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fwhy-train-on-a-systems-board",{"title":1397,"description":1464},"blog\u002Fwhy-train-on-a-systems-board",[233,235,699],"PgN3MiCaFLVdJO05z6lwlqEPZ4XZAzRgJAXGUtDh9p4",{"id":1475,"title":1476,"author":6,"body":1477,"category":216,"date":1542,"description":1543,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":1544,"imageAlt":310,"imageCredit":1545,"imageCreditUrl":1546,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":1547,"navigation":227,"path":1548,"readTime":314,"seo":1549,"stem":1550,"tags":1551,"__hash__":1554},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fwarming-up-on-a-steep-board.md","Warming up on a steep board",{"type":8,"value":1478,"toc":1536},[1479,1482,1486,1489,1492,1496,1499,1502,1513,1516,1520,1523,1526,1530,1533],[11,1480,1481],{},"A steep board is one of the least forgiving warm-up environments in the gym. The holds are small, the angle hangs your full weight off your fingers, and the easiest problem on the wall is often still a real pull. Walk in cold, jump straight on, and you are loading tendons that are not ready. That is how pulleys get tweaked.",[18,1483,1485],{"id":1484},"why-steep-boards-punish-cold-fingers","Why steep boards punish cold fingers",[11,1487,1488],{},"On a vertical wall you can ease in on jugs with your weight over your feet. A steep board takes that option away. Even the soft problems put meaningful load on small holds, because gravity is pulling you off the wall and your fingers have to take the difference. There is no gentle terrain to hide on.",[11,1490,1491],{},"That means the warm-up has to happen before you are properly on the board, and then ramp up carefully once you are. The goal is simple: by the time you touch a hard crimp, your fingers, forearms and shoulders should already be warm, mobile and ready to take load. The first hard problem of the day should never be the first real thing your tendons feel.",[18,1493,1495],{"id":1494},"off-the-wall-first","Off the wall first",[11,1497,1498],{},"Start away from the board entirely. A few minutes of general movement to raise your heart rate and get blood moving makes a real difference, far more than people expect. Then wake the fingers up gently.",[11,1500,1501],{},"A reasonable off-wall on-ramp:",[42,1503,1504,1507,1510],{},[45,1505,1506],{},"A few minutes of light cardio, enough to break a faint sweat.",[45,1508,1509],{},"Shoulder and wrist circles, plus some easy band work for the shoulders if you have a band.",[45,1511,1512],{},"Gentle finger work: open and close the hands, light hangs on a big edge or a jug, nothing remotely maximal.",[11,1514,1515],{},"The aim is to arrive at the board already warm, not to use the board to get warm. Pulley tissue takes longer to come good than your muscles do, so give the fingers extra patience.",[18,1517,1519],{"id":1518},"ramp-up-on-the-wall","Ramp up on the wall",[11,1521,1522],{},"Once you are on, drop the angle if your board adjusts. Starting a steep session at a shallower setting lets you climb actual problems with far less finger load, then steepen towards your working angle as you warm. If the angle is fixed, pick the very easiest problems on the wall and use those instead.",[11,1524,1525],{},"Climb a handful of easy problems, well below your limit, focusing on smooth movement and keeping your feet on. Then step the difficulty up gradually, one grade at a time, with full recovery between problems. You are looking for the point where your fingers feel warm and springy and your forearms have a light, even pump rather than a cold ache. Pushing through cold-finger discomfort is exactly the wrong instinct here.",[18,1527,1529],{"id":1528},"take-your-time-then-commit","Take your time, then commit",[11,1531,1532],{},"A proper board warm-up is rarely under fifteen minutes, and on a cold day it can be longer. That feels slow when you are itching to try your project, but it is the difference between a session and a setback. The strongest climbers in the room are usually the ones spending the most time warming up, not the least.",[11,1534,1535],{},"Once you are genuinely ready, that is when the hard tries belong, fresh and sharp. Get the on-ramp right and your fingers last the session, last the season, and keep you off the long, dull road of injury and rehab. No problem on the wall is worth a torn pulley because you were in a hurry.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":1537},[1538,1539,1540,1541],{"id":1484,"depth":206,"text":1485},{"id":1494,"depth":206,"text":1495},{"id":1518,"depth":206,"text":1519},{"id":1528,"depth":206,"text":1529},"2024-04-12","Steep boards punish cold fingers. A gentle on-ramp so your first hard problem is not your first injury.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1522163107776-c8be3ad2247d?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","Hu Chen","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@huchenme",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fwarming-up-on-a-steep-board",{"title":1476,"description":1543},"blog\u002Fwarming-up-on-a-steep-board",[233,1552,1553],"warm-up","injury prevention","_oZ8tCBfkGn2JL4VqaUA_GVF26LeQVwP5gxwvfjjml4",{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"body":1556,"category":216,"date":217,"description":218,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":221,"imageAlt":222,"imageCredit":223,"imageCreditUrl":224,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":1687,"navigation":227,"path":228,"readTime":229,"seo":1688,"stem":231,"tags":1689,"__hash__":237},{"type":8,"value":1557,"toc":1678},[1558,1560,1562,1564,1566,1568,1572,1574,1576,1588,1590,1592,1594,1636,1638,1640,1646,1648,1650,1652,1664,1666,1668,1672,1676],[11,1559,13],{},[11,1561,16],{},[18,1563,21],{"id":20},[11,1565,24],{},[11,1567,27],{},[29,1569,1570],{},[11,1571,33],{},[18,1573,37],{"id":36},[11,1575,40],{},[42,1577,1578,1580,1582,1584,1586],{},[45,1579,47],{},[45,1581,50],{},[45,1583,53],{},[45,1585,56],{},[45,1587,59],{},[11,1589,62],{},[64,1591,67],{"id":66},[11,1593,70],{},[72,1595,1596,1604],{},[75,1597,1598],{},[78,1599,1600,1602],{},[81,1601,83],{},[81,1603,86],{},[88,1605,1606,1612,1618,1624,1630],{},[78,1607,1608,1610],{},[93,1609,95],{},[93,1611,98],{},[78,1613,1614,1616],{},[93,1615,103],{},[93,1617,106],{},[78,1619,1620,1622],{},[93,1621,111],{},[93,1623,114],{},[78,1625,1626,1628],{},[93,1627,119],{},[93,1629,122],{},[78,1631,1632,1634],{},[93,1633,127],{},[93,1635,130],{},[11,1637,133],{},[18,1639,137],{"id":136},[11,1641,140,1642,146,1644,151],{},[142,1643,145],{"href":144},[142,1645,150],{"href":149},[11,1647,154],{},[18,1649,158],{"id":157},[11,1651,161],{},[42,1653,1654,1656,1658,1660,1662],{},[45,1655,166],{},[45,1657,169],{},[45,1659,172],{},[45,1661,175],{},[45,1663,178],{},[11,1665,181],{},[18,1667,185],{"id":184},[11,1669,188,1670,151],{},[142,1671,192],{"href":191},[11,1673,195,1674,200],{},[142,1675,199],{"href":198},[11,1677,203],{},{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":1679},[1680,1681,1684,1685,1686],{"id":20,"depth":206,"text":21},{"id":36,"depth":206,"text":37,"children":1682},[1683],{"id":66,"depth":212,"text":67},{"id":136,"depth":206,"text":137},{"id":157,"depth":206,"text":158},{"id":184,"depth":206,"text":185},{},{"title":5,"description":218},[233,234,235,236],{"id":1691,"title":1692,"author":6,"body":1693,"category":216,"date":1888,"description":1889,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":1890,"imageAlt":1891,"imageCredit":1892,"imageCreditUrl":1893,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":1894,"navigation":227,"path":1895,"readTime":229,"seo":1896,"stem":1897,"tags":1898,"__hash__":1901},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-moonboard-versus-the-kilter-honestly.md","The Moonboard versus the Kilter, honestly",{"type":8,"value":1694,"toc":1880},[1695,1698,1705,1709,1712,1715,1720,1724,1727,1730,1734,1816,1819,1823,1829,1832,1835,1839,1842,1873,1877],[11,1696,1697],{},"Walk into a decent training-focused wall in the UK and you will usually find at least one of them: the Moonboard, often tucked in a corner with a small crowd of quiet, focused people taking long rests, or the Kilter, lit up like a fruit machine with everyone cheering each other on. They are the two best-known systems boards, they look superficially similar, and they train you in genuinely different ways. If you only get time on one, it is worth knowing which.",[11,1699,1700,1701,1704],{},"Both are standardised boards, meaning the hold layout is the same wherever you go, problems are shared through an app, and a grade on the board roughly means the same thing in Sheffield as it does in San Diego. That is the whole appeal of a systems board, and if the idea is new to you, ",[142,1702,1703],{"href":1469},"why train on a systems board"," lays out the case.",[18,1706,1708],{"id":1707},"what-the-moonboard-is-like","What the Moonboard is like",[11,1710,1711],{},"The Moonboard is unforgiving and proud of it. It sits at a fixed steep angle, the holds are mostly small, positive but sharp wooden and resin shapes, and the footholds are limited and deliberately poor. There is no adjustable angle. You climb what the board gives you, and what it gives you is a lot of hard pulling on small holds at a steep angle.",[11,1713,1714],{},"The result is a board that builds raw power and finger strength quickly, because there is nowhere to hide. You cannot smear your way out of a bad position or find a sneaky foot. You have to pull hard, hold tension, and move with intent. The grading is famously stiff. A grade on the Moonboard tends to feel harder than the same number elsewhere, which is humbling at first and useful once you accept it.",[29,1716,1717],{},[11,1718,1719],{},"The Moonboard does not flatter you. It is the climbing equivalent of a coach who only tells you what you got wrong, and for a certain kind of climber that is exactly what works.",[18,1721,1723],{"id":1722},"what-the-kilter-is-like","What the Kilter is like",[11,1725,1726],{},"The Kilter is built around adjustable angle and LED-lit holds. You set the wall anywhere from gently overhanging to brutally steep, and the holds light up to show you the problem. The holds themselves come in a huge range, from tiny crimps to big friendly jugs and slopers, so the board can serve a complete beginner and a hardened crusher on the same panel just by changing the angle and the problem.",[11,1728,1729],{},"That flexibility is its strength. You can warm up at a shallow angle on big holds, then crank the wall over for power work, all without leaving the board. The grading runs softer and more generous than the Moonboard, and the social, lit-up nature of it makes it a friendlier place to be. The flip side is that it is easy to coast, picking holds that are too good and angles that are too kind, and never really pushing.",[18,1731,1733],{"id":1732},"a-side-by-side-look","A side-by-side look",[72,1735,1736,1748],{},[75,1737,1738],{},[78,1739,1740,1742,1745],{},[81,1741],{},[81,1743,1744],{},"Moonboard",[81,1746,1747],{},"Kilter",[88,1749,1750,1761,1772,1783,1794,1805],{},[78,1751,1752,1755,1758],{},[93,1753,1754],{},"Angle",[93,1756,1757],{},"Fixed and steep",[93,1759,1760],{},"Fully adjustable",[78,1762,1763,1766,1769],{},[93,1764,1765],{},"Holds",[93,1767,1768],{},"Small, sharp, limited feet",[93,1770,1771],{},"Huge range, often friendlier",[78,1773,1774,1777,1780],{},[93,1775,1776],{},"Grading",[93,1778,1779],{},"Stiff, humbling",[93,1781,1782],{},"Softer, more generous",[78,1784,1785,1788,1791],{},[93,1786,1787],{},"Best for",[93,1789,1790],{},"Power and finger strength",[93,1792,1793],{},"Versatility, beginners to elite",[78,1795,1796,1799,1802],{},[93,1797,1798],{},"Atmosphere",[93,1800,1801],{},"Quiet, focused, intense",[93,1803,1804],{},"Social, lit-up, encouraging",[78,1806,1807,1810,1813],{},[93,1808,1809],{},"Risk",[93,1811,1812],{},"Easy to get hurt if you rush in",[93,1814,1815],{},"Easy to coast and not push",[11,1817,1818],{},"Neither column is the \"right\" one. They are tools with different edges.",[18,1820,1822],{"id":1821},"which-one-suits-you","Which one suits you",[11,1824,1825,1826,1828],{},"If you are reasonably experienced, your fingers are conditioned, and you want a focused tool to build power and contact strength, the Moonboard is hard to beat. It does one thing and does it relentlessly. The catch is that the small, sharp holds and steep angle are demanding on fingers and shoulders, so it is not where a newer climber should be spending their sessions. Easing in without hurting yourself matters, and ",[142,1827,192],{"href":191}," is essential reading before you commit.",[11,1830,1831],{},"If you want one board that can grow with you, that you can warm up on, that suits a beginner and still has plenty to offer when you are strong, the Kilter is the more sensible all-rounder. The adjustable angle alone makes it more forgiving on the body, and you can dial the difficulty so that a bad day still gives you a workout rather than a beating. The trade is that you have to bring the discipline yourself, because the board will happily let you take it easy.",[11,1833,1834],{},"A practical middle path, if your wall has both: warm up and build volume on the Kilter, then do your hardest, most focused power efforts on the Moonboard once you are fully warm and your fingers are ready.",[18,1836,1838],{"id":1837},"how-to-actually-use-either-one","How to actually use either one",[11,1840,1841],{},"Whichever board you end up on, the same principles make it work:",[42,1843,1844,1850,1861,1867],{},[45,1845,1846,1849],{},[442,1847,1848],{},"Warm up properly first."," Both boards are steep and finger-intensive, and going at them cold is how people tweak pulleys.",[45,1851,1852,1855,1856,1860],{},[442,1853,1854],{},"Pick benchmarks."," Both apps flag well-tested benchmark problems. These are the ones whose grades you can trust, which makes ",[142,1857,1859],{"href":1858},"\u002Fblog\u002Fbenchmarks-and-why-they-matter","benchmarks, and why they matter"," worth understanding.",[45,1862,1863,1866],{},[442,1864,1865],{},"Rest like you mean it."," Power work needs long rests between attempts, not the quick turnaround you might use on easy circuits.",[45,1868,1869,1872],{},[442,1870,1871],{},"Log it."," A board's grades are consistent enough that tracking your sessions actually tells you something.",[18,1874,1876],{"id":1875},"the-honest-answer","The honest answer",[11,1878,1879],{},"There is no winner here, only fit. The Moonboard will make you stronger faster if your body is ready for it and you have the discipline to rest hard between burns. The Kilter will serve you across a wider range of days, moods and ability levels, and is the safer place to start. Most climbers who have access to both end up using each for what it does best. If you only have one at your wall, do not lose sleep over it. The board you actually train on consistently beats the perfect board you visit twice a month.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":1881},[1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887],{"id":1707,"depth":206,"text":1708},{"id":1722,"depth":206,"text":1723},{"id":1732,"depth":206,"text":1733},{"id":1821,"depth":206,"text":1822},{"id":1837,"depth":206,"text":1838},{"id":1875,"depth":206,"text":1876},"2023-12-08","A straight comparison of the two best-known systems boards, what each one teaches, and which is likely to suit you and your goals.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1777364701608-88711c9046ff?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A rugged cliff face","Bruno BD","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@brunobd",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-moonboard-versus-the-kilter-honestly",{"title":1692,"description":1889},"blog\u002Fthe-moonboard-versus-the-kilter-honestly",[233,234,235,1899,1900],"moonboard","kilter","SjSkyN-Yct4X_5TESfxaLB34bScp073IOZjJsSKKYvE",{"id":1903,"title":1904,"author":6,"body":1905,"category":216,"date":2092,"description":2093,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":2094,"imageAlt":2095,"imageCredit":2096,"imageCreditUrl":2097,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":2098,"navigation":227,"path":2099,"readTime":314,"seo":2100,"stem":2101,"tags":2102,"__hash__":2104},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fboard-angles-and-what-they-train.md","Board angles and what they train",{"type":8,"value":1906,"toc":2084},[1907,1910,1913,1917,1920,1923,1927,1930,1990,1997,2001,2004,2007,2012,2016,2019,2022,2026,2029,2032,2046,2054,2058,2061,2081],[11,1908,1909],{},"The first time someone cranked the board up to 40 degrees and told me to have a go, I lasted about two moves before peeling off and landing in a heap. I had been climbing for a couple of years and thought I was reasonably strong. The board disagreed, loudly. What I had not understood was that the angle changes the whole nature of the climbing, not just the difficulty. A move that is trivial at 20 degrees can be desperate at 45, and not because the holds got smaller.",[11,1911,1912],{},"Angle is the single biggest variable on an adjustable board, and most people leave it parked at whatever the last person set. Knowing what each range actually trains lets you point your sessions at something useful rather than just flailing on whatever angle you happen to find.",[18,1914,1916],{"id":1915},"why-angle-matters-more-than-hold-size","Why angle matters more than hold size",[11,1918,1919],{},"When the wall is steep, gravity stops pulling you gently into the holds and starts pulling you off them. Your body weight hangs away from the wall, so your fingers, your core and your shoulders have to do the work of keeping you connected. Drop the angle back towards vertical and a lot of that load shifts onto your feet, balance and precision instead.",[11,1921,1922],{},"That is the key idea. Steepness trades technique for raw pulling power and body tension. Neither end of the range is \"real\" climbing and the other a gimmick, they are different tools. A good board session uses the angle deliberately.",[18,1924,1926],{"id":1925},"a-rough-guide-to-the-ranges","A rough guide to the ranges",[11,1928,1929],{},"These bands are approximate and the feel changes with your height and the set, but they are a fair starting point.",[72,1931,1932,1944],{},[75,1933,1934],{},[78,1935,1936,1938,1941],{},[81,1937,1754],{},[81,1939,1940],{},"Mostly trains",[81,1942,1943],{},"Watch out for",[88,1945,1946,1957,1968,1979],{},[78,1947,1948,1951,1954],{},[93,1949,1950],{},"10 to 25 degrees",[93,1952,1953],{},"Footwork, balance, precise weight shifts",[93,1955,1956],{},"Easy to muscle through and skip technique",[78,1958,1959,1962,1965],{},[93,1960,1961],{},"25 to 35 degrees",[93,1963,1964],{},"All-round strength with real tension demands",[93,1966,1967],{},"The sweet spot, easy to overcook volume",[78,1969,1970,1973,1976],{},[93,1971,1972],{},"35 to 45 degrees",[93,1974,1975],{},"Power, core tension, contact strength",[93,1977,1978],{},"Hard on fingers and shoulders, fatigues fast",[78,1980,1981,1984,1987],{},[93,1982,1983],{},"45 degrees and beyond",[93,1985,1986],{},"Maximum pulling power and tension",[93,1988,1989],{},"High injury risk, short sessions only",[11,1991,1992,1993,1996],{},"If you are setting up a board at home and torn on what to commit to, our piece on ",[142,1994,1995],{"href":228},"setting up a home board on a budget"," goes into the practical side of mounting and adjustability.",[18,1998,2000],{"id":1999},"the-gentle-end-slab-and-just-past-vertical","The gentle end: slab and just past vertical",[11,2002,2003],{},"Anything from a slight slab up to around 25 degrees rewards good feet and honest weight transfer. You cannot bully these angles with your arms because there is not enough overhang to make pulling pay. Instead you have to stand on small footholds, trust your shoes, and move your hips over your feet.",[11,2005,2006],{},"This is brilliant territory for working footwork and balance, and it is criminally underused. Most people treat the board as a place to get pumped on steep ground, but spending time at a low angle on poor feet does more for your technique than another lap on the jugs. If your footwork drifts when you get nervous, this is where to fix it.",[29,2008,2009],{},[11,2010,2011],{},"Counterintuitive but true: a low-angle board with bad footholds is one of the best technique tools you own. It punishes lazy feet immediately and gives you no power to hide behind.",[18,2013,2015],{"id":2014},"the-middle-where-most-useful-work-happens","The middle: where most useful work happens",[11,2017,2018],{},"Somewhere around 25 to 35 degrees is the angle most people get the most from. It is steep enough that you cannot ignore body tension, but not so steep that you are reduced to a couple of moves before falling off. You can build proper problems here, link real sequences, and train strength and technique at the same time.",[11,2020,2021],{},"If you only ever set the board to one angle, this band is the safest bet. It builds the kind of strength that carries over to a lot of outdoor and indoor climbing without immediately wrecking your fingers.",[18,2023,2025],{"id":2024},"the-steep-end-power-and-tension","The steep end: power and tension",[11,2027,2028],{},"Past 40 degrees the climbing becomes about power and keeping your body rigid. Your feet want to cut loose, your hips want to sag, and the whole game is fighting that. Done well, steep board work builds the contact strength and tension that lets you hold swings and slap to the next hold without falling off. Done badly, it builds an injury.",[11,2030,2031],{},"The steep end is genuinely effective and genuinely risky. A few honest rules:",[42,2033,2034,2037,2040,2043],{},[45,2035,2036],{},"Warm up properly first, including some easier board climbing, before you touch a steep angle.",[45,2038,2039],{},"Keep the volume low. A handful of hard, quality attempts beats grinding out twenty.",[45,2041,2042],{},"Stop the moment your fingers feel tweaky rather than just tired. The two feel different and you must learn to tell them apart.",[45,2044,2045],{},"Do not climb steep when you are already cooked from a long session, that is when people get hurt.",[11,2047,2048,2049,2053],{},"If you want a structured way to use these angles rather than just picking one and hammering it, ",[142,2050,2052],{"href":2051},"\u002Fblog\u002Fprogramming-a-board-session","programming a board session"," walks through building a session with intent.",[18,2055,2057],{"id":2056},"picking-an-angle-for-the-day","Picking an angle for the day",[11,2059,2060],{},"Before you climb, ask what you actually want from the session. A simple way to choose:",[567,2062,2063,2069,2075],{},[45,2064,2065,2068],{},[442,2066,2067],{},"Technique day or coming back from a layoff?"," Stay low, 10 to 25 degrees, and obsess over your feet.",[45,2070,2071,2074],{},[442,2072,2073],{},"General strength and you only have one session this week?"," Sit in the 25 to 35 band and climb real problems.",[45,2076,2077,2080],{},[442,2078,2079],{},"Building power and your fingers are healthy and warm?"," Go steep for a short, sharp burst, then come down.",[11,2082,2083],{},"The board is one of the most honest training tools going, but only if you use the angle on purpose. Stop inheriting whatever the last person left it on, decide what you are training, and set it to match. Your climbing will move forward a lot faster, and your fingers will thank you for the days you chose to stay off the steep stuff.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":2085},[2086,2087,2088,2089,2090,2091],{"id":1915,"depth":206,"text":1916},{"id":1925,"depth":206,"text":1926},{"id":1999,"depth":206,"text":2000},{"id":2014,"depth":206,"text":2015},{"id":2024,"depth":206,"text":2025},{"id":2056,"depth":206,"text":2057},"2023-10-06","From a gentle slab to a brutal 50 degrees, here is what each board angle asks of your body and how to pick the one that suits your goal.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1615307415592-72926ccf614e?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A climber resting on the floor","Precious Madubuike","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@preciousm",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fboard-angles-and-what-they-train",{"title":1904,"description":2093},"blog\u002Fboard-angles-and-what-they-train",[233,234,235,2103,702],"strength","cmcGjY3YRW2EnBSs8bDoKWhSttZDlCRgY0aX8v_g-zg",{"id":2106,"title":2107,"author":6,"body":2108,"category":216,"date":2260,"description":2261,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":2262,"imageAlt":2263,"imageCredit":2264,"imageCreditUrl":2265,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":2266,"navigation":227,"path":191,"readTime":314,"seo":2267,"stem":2268,"tags":2269,"__hash__":2271},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fusing-a-board-without-wrecking-your-fingers.md","Using a board without wrecking your fingers",{"type":8,"value":2109,"toc":2251},[2110,2113,2117,2120,2123,2128,2130,2138,2152,2155,2159,2162,2170,2174,2177,2226,2229,2233,2241,2245,2248],[11,2111,2112],{},"The first time most people get on a steep board, they fall in love and overdo it in the same session. The holds are small, the angle is mean, and every problem feels like a fight you want to win right now. Two days later your fingers are stiff, a knuckle aches in a way that does not feel like normal soreness, and you start wondering whether you have done something silly. You probably have, and the good news is it is easy to avoid once you understand what the board is actually doing to your hands.",[18,2114,2116],{"id":2115},"why-boards-are-harder-on-fingers-than-the-gym","Why boards are harder on fingers than the gym",[11,2118,2119],{},"A spray wall or a commercial bouldering wall gives you variety. Big jugs, slopers, volumes, the occasional crimp. Your fingers get a mix of loads and plenty of rests where they are barely working. A board is the opposite. The holds are small and consistent, the angle keeps your weight hanging off your fingertips, and good problems often ask you to hold a tiny edge while you move off it. That is exactly what builds finger strength, and it is also exactly what gets people hurt.",[11,2121,2122],{},"The tissue that takes the strain is mostly the pulleys, the little bands that hold your tendons against the bone in each finger. They adapt slowly. Muscle gets stronger in weeks, but tendons and pulleys take months. So you can feel powerful and motivated long before your fingers are ready for the load you are capable of pulling. The gap between what you can do and what you can safely do is where injuries live.",[29,2124,2125],{},[11,2126,2127],{},"The board will let you pull harder than your fingers are ready for. Your job is to be the brake, because nothing else will be.",[18,2129,356],{"id":355},[11,2131,2132,2133,2137],{},"The single biggest mistake is starting too hard. A proper warm-up is not five minutes of half-hearted pulling, it is fifteen to twenty minutes of gradually waking the tissue up. If you want the full picture, ",[142,2134,2136],{"href":2135},"\u002Fblog\u002Fa-warm-up-that-actually-prepares-you-to-climb","a warm-up that actually prepares you to climb"," goes into it properly, but the short version for a board is this.",[42,2139,2140,2143,2146,2149],{},[45,2141,2142],{},"Get your whole body warm first. A brisk walk, some arm swings, a few minutes off the wall so your heart rate is up.",[45,2144,2145],{},"Climb the easiest problems on the board, well below your limit, on the biggest holds you can find.",[45,2147,2148],{},"Drop the angle if your board adjusts. Starting at 20 or 25 degrees before working up to 40 or 45 saves your fingers a lot of cold loading.",[45,2150,2151],{},"Do a few sets of easy hangs or repeaters on big edges if you have a board with positive holds, just to load the fingers gently before you ask them for everything.",[11,2153,2154],{},"By the time you start trying hard, your fingers should feel warm, slightly pumped and ready, not cold and brittle.",[18,2156,2158],{"id":2157},"manage-the-grips-not-just-the-grades","Manage the grips, not just the grades",[11,2160,2161],{},"Where your fingers go on the hold matters more than the grade of the problem. The full crimp, where your fingertips are bent back hard and your thumb wraps over the top, puts the most force through your pulleys. It is also where most board injuries happen, usually on a move where a foot cuts and you suddenly load a crimp dynamically.",[11,2163,2164,2165,2169],{},"Two simple habits help. First, favour an open-hand or half-crimp grip when you can, especially early in a session. Second, be wary of the move where your feet swing off and all the load lands on one or two crimping fingers at once. That snatch load is what tweaks a pulley. If a problem forces it, do it once cleanly rather than flailing at it ten times. There is more on grip types in ",[142,2166,2168],{"href":2167},"\u002Fblog\u002Fopen-hand-crimp-and-the-grips-in-between","open hand, crimp and the grips in between"," if you want to understand what your hand is actually doing.",[18,2171,2173],{"id":2172},"how-much-is-too-much","How much is too much",[11,2175,2176],{},"Volume on a board adds up faster than it feels like it should. A handful of hard problems can be more finger load than an hour of varied bouldering. A rough guide for staying healthy:",[72,2178,2179,2192],{},[75,2180,2181],{},[78,2182,2183,2186,2189],{},[81,2184,2185],{},"Experience on boards",[81,2187,2188],{},"Sessions per week",[81,2190,2191],{},"Rough hard attempts per session",[88,2193,2194,2204,2215],{},[78,2195,2196,2199,2201],{},[93,2197,2198],{},"New to it",[93,2200,616],{},[93,2202,2203],{},"5 to 8",[78,2205,2206,2209,2212],{},[93,2207,2208],{},"A season or two in",[93,2210,2211],{},"1 to 2",[93,2213,2214],{},"8 to 15",[78,2216,2217,2220,2223],{},[93,2218,2219],{},"Experienced, no current niggles",[93,2221,2222],{},"2 to 3",[93,2224,2225],{},"15 to 25",[11,2227,2228],{},"These are not rules, they are starting points, and they assume you are climbing on other days too. The honest test is how your fingers feel the morning after. A little stiffness that eases as you move is fine. Sharp, localised pain in a single finger is a sign to stop and rest, not to push through.",[64,2230,2232],{"id":2231},"listen-for-the-difference-between-sore-and-hurt","Listen for the difference between sore and hurt",[11,2234,2235,2236,2240],{},"General forearm and finger fatigue is normal and expected. It is dull, spread out, and gone in a day or two. Injury feels different. It is sharp, it sits in one spot, often at the base of a finger or a knuckle, and it gets worse when you crimp specifically. If you ever feel or hear a pop, that is the session over, no debate. Learning to tell these apart is half the battle of training fingers, and ",[142,2237,2239],{"href":2238},"\u002Fblog\u002Fbuilding-finger-strength-without-getting-hurt","building finger strength without getting hurt"," covers the recovery side in more detail.",[18,2242,2244],{"id":2243},"build-the-habit-of-stopping-early","Build the habit of stopping early",[11,2246,2247],{},"The climbers who train on boards for years without serious finger injuries tend to share one trait. They stop while they still have something left. They walk away from the session feeling like they could have done one more, rather than chasing a send until their hands are wrecked. That last desperate go, when you are tired and your form has gone, is where the snatch loads and the tweaks happen.",[11,2249,2250],{},"So treat your fingers as the limiting resource, because they are. Keep a session or two of margin in the bank, warm up like it matters, watch the full crimps, and pay attention to the morning-after feeling. Do that and the board becomes the best strength tool you own. Ignore it and you spend half the year nursing a finger and wondering why you keep getting hurt. Train smart and the strength comes anyway, just a little more patiently than your ego would like.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":2252},[2253,2254,2255,2256,2259],{"id":2115,"depth":206,"text":2116},{"id":355,"depth":206,"text":356},{"id":2157,"depth":206,"text":2158},{"id":2172,"depth":206,"text":2173,"children":2257},[2258],{"id":2231,"depth":212,"text":2232},{"id":2243,"depth":206,"text":2244},"2023-08-04","A board can build serious strength or leave your fingers aching for weeks. Here is how to train hard on one without tipping into injury.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1691616791156-5f0bf26cd35c?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A pair of climbing shoes on rock","Chaewool Kim","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@koreandirtbag",{},{"title":2107,"description":2261},"blog\u002Fusing-a-board-without-wrecking-your-fingers",[233,234,235,2270],"fingers","msprQwnh0ZuO1rUIYU4aq5kORs9lEPsUPmgksfdHiSc",{"id":2273,"title":2274,"author":6,"body":2275,"category":216,"date":2398,"description":2399,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":2400,"imageAlt":2401,"imageCredit":2402,"imageCreditUrl":2403,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":2404,"navigation":227,"path":1858,"readTime":314,"seo":2405,"stem":2406,"tags":2407,"__hash__":2408},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fbenchmarks-and-why-they-matter.md","Benchmarks, and why they matter",{"type":8,"value":2276,"toc":2389},[2277,2280,2284,2287,2290,2295,2299,2302,2332,2335,2339,2342,2345,2351,2355,2372,2376,2379,2382,2386],[11,2278,2279],{},"Anyone who has spent time on a Moonboard or a Kilter has run into the word benchmark, usually attached to a little star or badge next to certain problems. They look the same as any other problem on the board, but climbers treat them with a strange reverence. Send a benchmark and people nod. Spray your own problem and grade it hard and people raise an eyebrow. The reason is simple once you understand it, and benchmarks are one of the most useful tools a board has for telling you whether you are actually getting better.",[18,2281,2283],{"id":2282},"what-a-benchmark-actually-is","What a benchmark actually is",[11,2285,2286],{},"On a board, anyone can set a problem and put a grade on it. That is the joy and the curse of board climbing. The joy is endless fresh problems. The curse is that the grades are wildly inconsistent, because every setter has a different idea of what a given grade should feel like, and people tend to grade their own problems generously.",[11,2288,2289],{},"A benchmark is a problem that has been climbed by a large number of people and broadly agreed to be the grade it claims. The community effectively votes with their attempts, and the problems that hold up as fair, classic and well-set get marked as benchmarks. They are the problems you can trust. When a benchmark says it is a certain grade, that grade means something, because thousands of climbers have weighed in rather than one optimistic setter.",[29,2291,2292],{},[11,2293,2294],{},"A normal board problem is one person's opinion of a grade. A benchmark is a crowd's. That is the whole difference, and it is everything.",[18,2296,2298],{"id":2297},"why-the-grades-on-boards-drift","Why the grades on boards drift",[11,2300,2301],{},"It helps to understand why board grades are so slippery in the first place. A few reasons:",[42,2303,2304,2310,2316,2322],{},[45,2305,2306,2309],{},[442,2307,2308],{},"Setters grade their own work."," It is human nature to think your own problem is harder than it is, and soft-grade your sends or stiff-grade your projects.",[45,2311,2312,2315],{},[442,2313,2314],{},"Style bias."," A problem that suits the setter feels easy to them, so they grade it down, when to everyone else it is desperate.",[45,2317,2318,2321],{},[442,2319,2320],{},"No moderation on most problems."," Anyone can publish anything, with any grade, and most problems are climbed by very few people.",[45,2323,2324,2327,2328,2331],{},[442,2325,2326],{},"Board grades are not crag grades."," A board grade and the same number outside often feel quite different, which our piece on ",[142,2329,2330],{"href":1048},"how board grades compare to the gym and outside"," gets into.",[11,2333,2334],{},"Against all that noise, benchmarks are the signal. They cut through the inconsistency by being the problems enough people have climbed to agree on.",[18,2336,2338],{"id":2337},"how-to-use-them-for-real","How to use them for real",[11,2340,2341],{},"The reason benchmarks matter to you, beyond trusting the number, is that they make a brilliant yardstick. Because they are stable and trustworthy, they let you measure yourself honestly over time in a way that random problems never could.",[11,2343,2344],{},"The simple way to use them is this. Pick a few benchmarks at a grade just above your current level and treat them as your projects. Come back to them across a training block. As you start ticking benchmarks you previously could not touch, you have proper evidence you are getting stronger, not just the warm feeling of sending soft problems you set yourself. They are an honest mirror.",[11,2346,2347,2348,151],{},"You can also use them to compare across time and even across boards, because a benchmark at a given angle is roughly the same challenge today as it was last year. That stability is gold for anyone trying to track progress, and it pairs well with the habit of ",[142,2349,2350],{"href":198},"why logging your board sessions pays off",[64,2352,2354],{"id":2353},"a-sensible-way-to-work-them","A sensible way to work them",[42,2356,2357,2360,2363,2366,2369],{},[45,2358,2359],{},"Warm up properly first, because benchmarks at your limit are hard on cold fingers.",[45,2361,2362],{},"Pick two or three benchmarks at the grade you are chasing, not ten.",[45,2364,2365],{},"Work them across sessions rather than burning out on them in one go.",[45,2367,2368],{},"Log your sends so you can see the trend over weeks, not just days.",[45,2370,2371],{},"Resist the urge to abandon a benchmark for a softer self-set problem when it gets hard. The honest grade is the point.",[18,2373,2375],{"id":2374},"do-not-let-them-become-a-stick-to-beat-yourself-with","Do not let them become a stick to beat yourself with",[11,2377,2378],{},"A word of caution. Benchmarks are an honest measure, and honest measures can sting. Because the grades are trustworthy and often a touch stiff, a benchmark can feel harder than the same grade elsewhere, and it is easy to feel like you have gone backwards when really you have just met a fair grade for once.",[11,2380,2381],{},"Use them as a tool, not a verdict. Progress on a board is rarely a smooth line, and a benchmark that shuts you down for weeks then suddenly goes is completely normal. The board is a demanding environment by design, and the angle alone makes everything feel harder. Keep some perspective, mix benchmarks in with fun problems and other training, and treat the cold honesty of the grade as useful information rather than a judgement.",[18,2383,2385],{"id":2384},"trust-the-crowd-track-the-truth","Trust the crowd, track the truth",[11,2387,2388],{},"Benchmarks exist because board grades are noisy and climbers wanted a way to cut through it. They are the problems the community has agreed to trust, which makes them the best honest yardstick you have for measuring real progress on a board. Use them to project, to track yourself over a season, and to keep your own grading honest. Send a benchmark at a new grade and you have earned it, because the whole crowd vouched for that number. That is worth a lot more than a star next to a problem you set yourself.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":2390},[2391,2392,2393,2396,2397],{"id":2282,"depth":206,"text":2283},{"id":2297,"depth":206,"text":2298},{"id":2337,"depth":206,"text":2338,"children":2394},[2395],{"id":2353,"depth":212,"text":2354},{"id":2374,"depth":206,"text":2375},{"id":2384,"depth":206,"text":2385},"2023-06-02","Benchmark problems are the trusted grades on a board. Here is what makes a problem a benchmark and how to use them to track real progress.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1644000454371-58ff8177fec1?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A close-up of hands holding a rope","Adam Bezer","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@bezer",{},{"title":2274,"description":2399},"blog\u002Fbenchmarks-and-why-they-matter",[233,234,235,1052],"aibmRBoV06PcWavyt_OctRnZPyFPooMYzCABR44oQDo",{"id":2410,"title":2411,"author":6,"body":2412,"category":216,"date":2523,"description":2524,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":2525,"imageAlt":2526,"imageCredit":2527,"imageCreditUrl":2528,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":2529,"navigation":227,"path":2051,"readTime":229,"seo":2530,"stem":2531,"tags":2532,"__hash__":2534},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fprogramming-a-board-session.md","Programming a board session",{"type":8,"value":2413,"toc":2515},[2414,2417,2420,2424,2427,2430,2444,2452,2454,2457,2463,2468,2472,2475,2478,2481,2484,2488,2491,2495,2500,2503,2507,2512],[11,2415,2416],{},"Most board sessions go the same way. You warm up half-heartedly, pull onto something hard because it looks cool, fail on it a few times, get distracted by whatever your mate is trying, throw yourself at a couple more random problems, and leave forty minutes later with sore fingers and no real idea what you trained. The board is a brilliant training tool, but a board session without a plan is just hard bouldering with extra steps. The difference between the two is structure.",[11,2418,2419],{},"A board, whether it is a Moonboard, a Kilter, or a home systems board, is a concentrated training environment. The angle is steep, the holds are consistent, and the difficulty is dialled in tight. That concentration is exactly why it rewards planning and punishes wandering. An hour on the board with a clear purpose does more than three hours of aimless pulling. Here is how to give a session a shape.",[18,2421,2423],{"id":2422},"decide-the-point-of-the-session-first","Decide the point of the session first",[11,2425,2426],{},"Before you touch a hold, answer one question: what is this session for. The answer shapes everything that follows. A board can train several different things, and they do not mix well in the same session.",[11,2428,2429],{},"The main purposes are roughly:",[42,2431,2432,2435,2438,2441],{},[45,2433,2434],{},"Power and max strength: a few very hard problems, long rests, total quality.",[45,2436,2437],{},"Strength-endurance: sustained, pumpy problems or links, shorter rests.",[45,2439,2440],{},"Volume and skill: lots of moderate problems, working movement and consolidating.",[45,2442,2443],{},"Specific weakness work: targeting a grip type, an angle, or a style you avoid.",[11,2445,2446,2447,2451],{},"Pick one. Trying to train max power and endurance in the same session gives you a watered-down version of both, for the reasons we lay out in ",[142,2448,2450],{"href":2449},"\u002Fblog\u002Ftraining-power-versus-endurance","training power versus endurance",". The session has a job. Everything you do should serve that job.",[18,2453,356],{"id":355},[11,2455,2456],{},"The board is steep and the holds are small, which makes it one of the easier places to tweak a finger if you go in cold. A proper warm-up is not optional here, it is injury prevention.",[11,2458,2459,2460,151],{},"Start off the board entirely. Get your heart rate up and your blood moving with a few minutes of easy movement, then work through some gentle finger and shoulder mobility. Then get on the board and start on the very easiest problems, holds you could do half asleep, gradually working up over fifteen or twenty minutes until your fingers feel warm, open and ready. Do not rush this to get to the \"real\" climbing. On a steep board the warm-up is part of the training, and we go into the specifics in ",[142,2461,2462],{"href":1548},"warming up on a steep board",[29,2464,2465],{},[11,2466,2467],{},"The warm-up is not the boring bit before the session. On a board, it is the thing that lets you have a session at all next week.",[18,2469,2471],{"id":2470},"build-the-main-work-around-your-purpose","Build the main work around your purpose",[11,2473,2474],{},"Now the session proper. The shape of it follows the purpose you chose at the start.",[11,2476,2477],{},"If it is a power session, the structure is hard and brief. Pick two or three problems at or near your limit, short, just a handful of powerful moves. Give each a few genuine attempts with long rests in between, three to five minutes, so every go is fresh. Quality over quantity, every time. The temptation is to keep flailing at a problem when you are too pumped to do it justice, but tired attempts just teach bad movement and risk injury. Stop a hard problem while your attempts are still crisp.",[11,2479,2480],{},"If it is a strength-endurance session, flip the logic. Choose problems a notch or two below your limit and link them, or repeat them, with shorter rests, chasing a building pump. Pyramids work well: climb a problem, rest briefly, climb a slightly easier one, and so on. The aim is sustained effort, not a single max go.",[11,2482,2483],{},"If it is a volume or skill session, climb a lot of moderate problems with the emphasis on doing them beautifully. Quiet feet, controlled movement, no thrashing. This is where you actually build technique and consolidate, and it is the most undervalued kind of board session.",[18,2485,2487],{"id":2486},"keep-your-feet-in-the-picture","Keep your feet in the picture",[11,2489,2490],{},"One thing the board quietly does is make people lazy with their feet, because the steep angle and good handholds tempt you to muscle through with your arms. Whatever the session's purpose, hold yourself to good footwork. Place feet deliberately, do not let them cut and swing unless the problem genuinely demands it, and drive from your legs where you can. A session of sloppy, arm-only climbing builds bad habits fast, and on a steep board those habits are hard on your fingers.",[18,2492,2494],{"id":2493},"protect-the-fingers-and-know-when-to-stop","Protect the fingers and know when to stop",[11,2496,2497,2498,151],{},"The board's biggest risk is that it loads your fingers harder than almost anywhere else, on small holds at a steep angle. The single most useful skill in board training is knowing when to stop. Finger injuries rarely announce themselves with a clear warning, they creep up across a session that went on too long, and we cover that danger in detail in ",[142,2499,192],{"href":191},[11,2501,2502],{},"The honest rule is that the last few problems you force out when you are trashed do almost nothing for your training and most of your injuries. End the session while your climbing still looks good. Leaving with something in the tank is not a wasted session, it is a sustainable one.",[18,2504,2506],{"id":2505},"log-it-or-you-will-repeat-the-same-session-forever","Log it, or you will repeat the same session forever",[11,2508,2509,2510,151],{},"The last piece is the one that turns a single good session into actual progress. Write down what you did, the problems you sent, the ones you fell on, how you felt, the angle. Without a record you cannot tell whether you are improving or just doing the same things on a loop, and you cannot spot the weakness that keeps recurring. We make the full case for this in ",[142,2511,2350],{"href":198},[11,2513,2514],{},"A board session done with a plan, a real warm-up, a single clear purpose, attention to your feet, and a sensible end point, will teach you more in an hour than a month of random pulling. Decide the point before you start, protect your fingers, write it down, and the board becomes the training tool it is meant to be rather than just a hard place to mess about.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":2516},[2517,2518,2519,2520,2521,2522],{"id":2422,"depth":206,"text":2423},{"id":355,"depth":206,"text":356},{"id":2470,"depth":206,"text":2471},{"id":2486,"depth":206,"text":2487},{"id":2493,"depth":206,"text":2494},{"id":2505,"depth":206,"text":2506},"2023-03-31","How to build a board session with structure instead of just pulling on random problems, from warm-up to the main work, so the time you spend actually counts.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1767850815964-cf6423b9a5dc?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A boulderer on a rock in a forest","Dennis Yu","https:\u002F\u002Funsplash.com\u002F@far_out",{},{"title":2411,"description":2524},"blog\u002Fprogramming-a-board-session",[233,234,235,2533],"session","x2xqzI7iLauO7Edeh4WpMaTnq4DtU0EohlMV5ezGEAY",{"id":2536,"title":2537,"author":6,"body":2538,"category":216,"date":2738,"description":2739,"draft":219,"extension":220,"image":2740,"imageAlt":2741,"imageCredit":223,"imageCreditUrl":224,"imageType":225,"mapArea":225,"mapLabel":225,"mapLat":225,"mapLng":225,"mapPath":225,"mapZoom":225,"meta":2742,"navigation":227,"path":2743,"readTime":314,"seo":2744,"stem":2745,"tags":2746,"__hash__":2747},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-systems-board-nobody-uses-but-should.md","The systems board nobody uses but should",{"type":8,"value":2539,"toc":2728},[2540,2543,2546,2550,2553,2556,2563,2567,2570,2584,2587,2592,2596,2599,2625,2631,2635,2638,2684,2687,2691,2694,2705,2708,2712,2718,2722,2725],[11,2541,2542],{},"In the corner of a lot of gyms there is a steep wall covered in matching pairs of holds, arranged in neat symmetrical columns. It has no app, no leaderboard, no glowing LEDs. Most climbers walk straight past it on their way to the Moonboard or the Kilter, and the systems board sits there largely ignored. Which is a shame, because for a certain kind of training it does things those flashy boards cannot.",[11,2544,2545],{},"The systems board is the unglamorous, unfashionable training tool that quietly makes strong climbers stronger. It is not exciting and it does not produce shareable sends. But if you actually want to improve specific weaknesses, it is one of the best tools in the building.",[18,2547,2549],{"id":2548},"what-a-systems-board-actually-is","What a systems board actually is",[11,2551,2552],{},"The defining feature is symmetry. Holds are mounted in matching left-right pairs at set intervals up the wall, usually the same type of hold repeated in a column: a row of slopers here, a row of crimps there, a row of pinches over there. The wall is steep, often adjustable, and the whole thing is designed so you can do the same movement again and again on the same grip type.",[11,2554,2555],{},"That is the key difference from an app board. A Moonboard or Kilter throws you constantly varied problems that test a bit of everything at once. A systems board lets you isolate one thing, one grip, one body position, and drill it deliberately. It is the difference between playing a match and running a specific drill.",[11,2557,2558,2559,2562],{},"If you are weighing up the app boards too, our honest comparison in ",[142,2560,2561],{"href":1895},"the Moonboard versus the Kilter, honestly"," is worth a look alongside this.",[18,2564,2566],{"id":2565},"why-it-gets-ignored","Why it gets ignored",[11,2568,2569],{},"Let us be honest about why it sits empty:",[42,2571,2572,2575,2578,2581],{},[45,2573,2574],{},"There is no app telling you what to climb, so you have to bring your own plan",[45,2576,2577],{},"There is no leaderboard or grade, so there is no quick hit of achievement",[45,2579,2580],{},"It looks boring, because it is repetitive by design",[45,2582,2583],{},"Nobody shows you how to use it, so most climbers genuinely do not know what it is for",[11,2585,2586],{},"That last one is the real problem. A systems board with no instructions is just a confusing wall of holds. Give someone a way to use it and it suddenly becomes obvious.",[29,2588,2589],{},[11,2590,2591],{},"The systems board is not trying to entertain you. It is trying to make you better at one specific thing at a time, and that is exactly why it works.",[18,2593,2595],{"id":2594},"what-it-is-brilliant-for","What it is brilliant for",[11,2597,2598],{},"The whole point of the symmetry is targeted, repeatable training. A few things it does better than almost anything else:",[42,2600,2601,2607,2613,2619],{},[45,2602,2603,2606],{},[442,2604,2605],{},"Grip strength on a specific hold type."," Want to get better on slopers? Climb the sloper column up and down until your forearms scream. The repetition on one grip is the training.",[45,2608,2609,2612],{},[442,2610,2611],{},"Symmetry and weaknesses."," Because moves mirror left and right, you quickly notice if one side is weaker. You can then train the weak side deliberately, something varied problems hide.",[45,2614,2615,2618],{},[442,2616,2617],{},"Body tension and positioning."," Repeating the same move lets you focus entirely on technique, hip position and tension, rather than figuring out new beta each time.",[45,2620,2621,2624],{},[442,2622,2623],{},"Endurance circuits."," Traversing or climbing up and down on one grip type builds grip endurance in a controlled, measurable way.",[11,2626,2627,2628,2630],{},"This sits neatly alongside the case we make for these boards in ",[142,2629,1703],{"href":1469},", which goes deeper on the principle.",[18,2632,2634],{"id":2633},"a-simple-way-to-start-using-it","A simple way to start using it",[11,2636,2637],{},"If you have never touched the systems board, here is a way in that turns it from intimidating to useful:",[72,2639,2640,2650],{},[75,2641,2642],{},[78,2643,2644,2647],{},[81,2645,2646],{},"Goal",[81,2648,2649],{},"What to do",[88,2651,2652,2660,2668,2676],{},[78,2653,2654,2657],{},[93,2655,2656],{},"Grip strength",[93,2658,2659],{},"Climb up and down one hold type, several controlled laps",[78,2661,2662,2665],{},[93,2663,2664],{},"Find weaknesses",[93,2666,2667],{},"Mirror a move left and right, note which feels worse",[78,2669,2670,2673],{},[93,2671,2672],{},"Body tension",[93,2674,2675],{},"Repeat one move slowly, focusing on tight core and hips",[78,2677,2678,2681],{},[93,2679,2680],{},"Endurance",[93,2682,2683],{},"Traverse along one grip type until pumped, rest, repeat",[11,2685,2686],{},"Pick one goal per session rather than trying to do everything. The strength of the board is focus, so use it focused.",[64,2688,2690],{"id":2689},"a-sample-twenty-minutes","A sample twenty minutes",[11,2692,2693],{},"Warm up thoroughly first, because steep boards load fingers hard and cold fingers get hurt. Then:",[42,2695,2696,2699,2702],{},[45,2697,2698],{},"Five minutes on an easy grip type, climbing up and down to get moving",[45,2700,2701],{},"Ten minutes on your chosen focus, say the crimp column, doing controlled laps with full rests between",[45,2703,2704],{},"Five minutes mirroring a couple of moves left and right to check your symmetry",[11,2706,2707],{},"Keep notes on what felt weak. That is the gold the systems board gives you that varied problems do not.",[18,2709,2711],{"id":2710},"a-word-on-going-easy","A word on going easy",[11,2713,2714,2715,2717],{},"Because the board is steep and the holds can be small, it is easy to overcook your fingers, especially on the crimp columns. Build up slowly, warm up properly, and stop before your fingers are wrecked rather than after. The advice in ",[142,2716,192],{"href":191}," applies just as much here as on the app boards.",[18,2719,2721],{"id":2720},"give-it-a-go","Give it a go",[11,2723,2724],{},"Next time you are at the wall and the systems board is sitting empty in the corner, walk over to it instead of past it. Pick one grip type, climb it up and down a few times, and pay attention to what your body is doing. It will not feel like a triumphant session, but the weaknesses it exposes and the strength it builds will show up in your real climbing within a few weeks.",[11,2726,2727],{},"The fancy boards are great fun. The systems board is where a lot of the quiet, deliberate work gets done. Use the tool everyone else ignores, and let it do its boring, brilliant job.",{"title":205,"searchDepth":206,"depth":206,"links":2729},[2730,2731,2732,2733,2736,2737],{"id":2548,"depth":206,"text":2549},{"id":2565,"depth":206,"text":2566},{"id":2594,"depth":206,"text":2595},{"id":2633,"depth":206,"text":2634,"children":2734},[2735],{"id":2689,"depth":212,"text":2690},{"id":2710,"depth":206,"text":2711},{"id":2720,"depth":206,"text":2721},"2023-01-27","The plain symmetrical board in the corner gets ignored for the flashy app boards. Here is why that is a mistake.","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.unsplash.com\u002Fphoto-1675448057779-5461731e6b0d?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop&crop=entropy&q=80&auto=format","A white wall set with black holds",{},"\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-systems-board-nobody-uses-but-should",{"title":2537,"description":2739},"blog\u002Fthe-systems-board-nobody-uses-but-should",[233,234,235,702],"SkeBDvI4DQks5CpFqGRHpOkkwmhmMmG2t4j78MPHZbY",1784277608430]