How to train slopers climbing reddit I’d really like to get better! I don't really relate my hangboard numbers to my climbing, except in that I simply use it to rehab or improve finger strength. Jul 24, 2025 · Boost your climbing performance! Learn how to improve grip strength for rock climbing with the best exercises, tips, and training techniques. I think wrist flexor training and hanging from sloper is more specific. While most of slopers is body position/movement strategy, it is entirely possible your wrist strength is a limiting factor (or a factor that limits how many tries you get while figuring out the body position). One of my projects there has a techy crux followed by an endurance run on steep jugs and slopers. Get some training gear deals: http://bit. (Whose fourth finger is relatively short. The key to confidently tackling slopers is mastering proper body positioning, muscle engagement, and mental cues. It sucked. I figured this would also serve as a good resource for those searching the sub for tips on managing their skin in the future, as it I've done something similar in the past when I couldn't climb and it was incredibly beneficial. Limit your climbing to around 1-2 a week should be enough and with enough rest you actually feel a lot stronger. How can we progress? Is it a grip worth training? All of this attention culminated with the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA) sanctioning the first Climbing World Cup in 1989. If there aren’t many slopers, don’t buy many slopers. I would rather just train on sloper and do wrist flexion Reddit's rock climbing training community. In it they discuss how training their wrists has increased their sloper strength dramatically. Every overly strong climber and boulderer uses slopers the same way, they're just crimping like mad on a terrible hold and talk about "body position". False grip isnt really the position your wrist is when climbing on slopers. Lattice Training recently released a new video on their Ultimate Guide to Climbing Skin Care. My climbing gym only has 24ft top rope/autobelay walls. While the pinch uses your thumb muscles, it uses a different finger muscle, the Lumbricals. Beyond climbing problems with lots of slopers to exhaustion, which I have been doing recently, I'm looking for more things I can do. As far as indoors training is concerned, I'd like to train slopers and crimps. It’ll be my main focus/goal for this outdoor season. Training slopers on the hangboard is probably easiest on your fingers (compared to crimps/pockets), so they're a good place to start hangboarding if you haven't done it before. I use Working Hands. 13 climber himself) advised me to do the following until pain subsides: a) to climb on MRP (or IMRP), i. Don’t cheap out. Both climbing outdoors more and climbing harder grades in the gym will require open hand positions-- actually, all hand positions-- more frequently. This is a list of 12 great training exercises that come from training books, interviews with professional climbers, social media, Reddit and some of my climbing friends. Sep 30, 2021 · A former climbing coach breaks down the basics of campus board training and shows you how to make your own training regimen. Jan 12, 2022 · Pinch strength is hard to gain and easy to ignore until you need it. For me it's slopers and pinches and when i go to the gym i just set a few boulders having this in mind. Not only that I've added a few exercises and extra tips so that the n Biggest thing I noticed when climbing outside initially was that handholds tended to be tiny awkward crimps or slopers and footholds were almost non-existent compared to in the gym. com Feb 17, 2025 · Master the art of climbing slopers with these tips! Learn how to improve grip, body positioning, and technique to tackle even the most challenging slopers. On a well worn in BM in a public place I can - barely - hang the 45s, on my board at home I struggle on the 35s. 6K subscribers Subscribed He’s naturally quite strong but not super-human strong or anything. And not where it's a "balance" issue per se but just am lacking the ability to keep and hold a wrist position while open-handing a big sloper. Anyway, he can hang the beastmaker 45° slopers basically no problem, whereas on the same hangboard I cannot hold them for my life. If you're training finger strength in a half crimp you're likely effectively training the fingers for sloper work. I like to train for slopers this way: Generally, I am in a gym with roped climbing routes so I'll find a route with lots of slopers but very close to a softer route. Dynos won't make you that much better for the outdoors. See full list on climbing. However, you must use lotion to keep skin moist to heal it. I use this hangboard for my 30-45 minute warm-up before each climbing session. Slopers require more overall body strength, so my recommendations would be: Climb on slopers Requires specific technique and movement Often feels like you move "around" them Focus on applying pressure straight into the hold [1] Train open hand strength Significantly different from a crimp joint angle Improves ability to apply pressure through the fingertip Train deadlift, row, press, and pull Slopers are all about positioning. Slopers, smaller edges, getting up from desk by pushing arm rest all hurt. I'm fine with doing pull ups and can do a one arm hang just fine, but every time I do a sloper it feels like I'm pulling my wrist apart. Wrist exercises help a lot. Climbing well on slopers is dependent on a lot of variables (body position, shoulder strength, wrist strength/stability, finger strength, core engagement). In this slopers 101 session, Louis Was climbing ~V8 and noticed after a session (next day) that my ulnar-side would hurt when turning my hand with something as low weight as my phone. Pockets Slopers/pinches - not exactly the same strength involved, but related and openhand strength will help with this Catching at the end of a dynamic move - catch the hold in openhand, pull your fingers up into a crimp to make the next move The last point I'd like to make is that it is necessary to train crimps too. I would rather see people train finger early in a way that is easily measured, super systematic and repeatable rather than climb for 4 years and then realize that they havent made gains in 1. MembersOnline • Toidiu ADMIN MOD My formative years in climbing I would session and try to send boulders. The entire wall is overhung with lots of crimps pinches and slopers. My recommendations for your routine would be: Train slopers/pinches if you can, those kinds of holds felt awful returning to climbing after training only crimps and pockets for months. If you need to work hand strength, you generally want to do open hand or 3 finger drag for slopers and pinch blocks for pinches. However, hangboarding is a pretty effective way to train power-endurance and endurance of your upper body. Moved PermanentlyThe document has moved here. We've got tips that will have you confidently climbing slopers in no time! We'll go through the different kinds of slopers and how to grab onto them. Jan 26, 2024 · Read our No-Hang routine review. I'm struggling with open hand contact strength, especially on sloper problems. Coincidently, the closest sport climbing area consists of my anti style. Nov 29, 2024 · But here’s the truth: slopers, typically found on higher-level climbs (V4 and up), are more conquerable than you might think. Assuming you're talking about indoor climbing just look for slopers and practice the move. Dedicated to increasing all our knowledge about how to better improve at our sport. An optimal pinch and extensor training program should include pinch training with both arm positions. The deeper you grab, the closer you can bring your center of gravity to the wall. The other route starts on an overhanging crack and has big moves on slopers into a corner. It allows us to train them specifically off the wall and work on the strength and conditioning of the wrist. I like having things written down, so I made notes of the relevant information from the video (and some of the comments made by others) and thought I'd share it here. A big thing about slopers, in my opinion, is not about strength or grip technique, but rather the plumb line and making your force go as perpendicular to the gripping surface as possible. I kept climbing on it for a couple weeks, which in hindsight was a mistake. My surgeon (a 5. Beastmaker slopers - so I guess possibly all wooden board slopers - are ridiculously variable depending on the condition of the board. Apart from these podcasts there doesn't seem to be a great deal of information on wrist training. Oct 30, 2021 · As the exercise is to train for the physical style of sloper-based climbing, attaining a high level of power-endurance on the 45 slopes can have benefits. Gripping Technique VS F When you know what your weaknesses are, it's very easy to train these on a spray wall. MembersOnline • Effective way to train slopers Join me and climbing coach Louis Parkinson (@CatalystClimbing ) for a coaching session focussed on improving your SLOPERS. Also, I dont really understand how to overload the false grip. Honestly, the best way to get better at them is to climb on them as much as possible. Jul 31, 2024 · To help, here’s an article from Climbing Magazine by JP Whitehead and featuring Megan Martin that outlines some of the basic techniques behind climbing on slopey holds and then gives you some tips about how to try your hardest by squeezing the life out of slopers. I want to learn about specific muscle groups and exercises that correspond using slopers effectively; I want to train this specific strength systematically. Slopers are more dependent on forearm angle and body positioning (especially body tension), so it's better to just train slopers by climbing them. It is always more beneficial to train the actual grip positions you are going to use during climbing rather than wrist flexion. So how do I train for this? Are my wrist weak? Depending on the grade you’re climbing - even getting low on slopers, when you have to engage them, you may have some wrist pain. To be honest I would actually recommend to climb less, 3 times a week is a lot even for expereince climbers. Climbing is the best way to train for climbing, so start practicing your use of slopers on lower grade climbs to conquer your anti-style :) Good luck! Mar 8, 2022 · Slopers are rounded climbing holds, usually big and blobby. Well imo the u can climb slopers on the gym all u want, but when you're in Fontainebleau, the slopers are from another planet almost. Sep 9, 2024 · Hate Slopers? This is a short guide that shows the 3 main steps to approach any Sloper. They really, really hurt my wrists but I cant always pinpoint where exactly in my wrists it hurts. It works. That isn’t to say you shouldn’t get high value holds (there are lots of suggestions posted — I’ll also recommend Cornerstone Climbing, they always have sales). e. I am definitely “stronger” for my bodyweight at holding various hold-types, including slopers. TLDR: should I be making most of my dynamic moves to small edges with 3 finger drag ? this seems to be the safest, but i'm not sure if it's the most effective. Still, this may not be the best training for your sloper-based project. Footwork is critical to most styles of climbing but especially crimps. in general use the injured finger only with the two surrounding fingers also engaged, as this will take some load off the lumbrical muscle b) crimp everything. Maybe reduce to less max effort attempts, then climb a bunch of easier problems where you can go easy on your finger tips. Lately wrist training for slopers and compression have become all the rage. Ofc You need to reduce climbing volume if you hangboard more. Sometimes you need to engage them, or need to transition to mantle them. Slopers do take some finger strength, but they also require full body engagement and really precise movement and positioning. The reason I like this is because despite their being merit to “just climbing” instead of training finger strength in isolation, I feel quite strongly a lot of new climbers at modern gyms will end up under training their fingers due to the heavy use of jugs and slopers. I think this is mainly sparked by two podcast guests: Yves Gravelle and Dan Varian. My question is, how can I improve my Reddit's rock climbing training community. In the end, the best way to train climbing movements is climbing and climbing, and there aren't any shortcuts for that. Try doing this a few times and your skin will adjust. Dec 16, 2022 · Training Tip: While pinching in an overhead arm position (possible with some fingerboard designs) is a good pinch-training exercise, hanging from an overhead arm position does not engage the wrist stabilizers in the same (ideal) way as in doing the exercise shown above. It's just not the same. Training slopers on a hangboard will improve your ability to hold slopers but they are in a set position/angle so won't improve your ability to lock-off in a range of positions. The crimp, depending on how exactly you do it mainly uses your Flexor Digitorum Profundus. . 5 years and getting strong requires actual training. You can use That said, I noticed that I never really used a proper drag grip when I'm actually climbing; only half crimp and open crimp. How would you train half crimp? I'm thinking in my board climbing sessions to be mindful of not full crimping on sub maximal climbs, don't crimp the pinches and slopers, etc. I have a whole collection of holds I pinched pennies on, and I absolutely hate them. Holds in real climbing are very complex, and the forces you apply on them are even more complex. In the end if you want to get better at outdoor climbing, you should sometimes skip the commercial set. Its more of a technique rather than an exercise you could overload, unless you are trying to do weighed pullups with false grip. Pinch blocks or pinching free weights is an easy way to train. This movement was spearheaded by the FFME and Paul Brasset, the latter of whom began forming a division within the UIAA to define competition rules and train officials. Nov 23, 2022 · This problem is solved with the Heavy Roller! Coming from the world of professional arm-lifting sports this form of training is tried and tested and targets the muscles involved with hard slopers when climbing. Make sure you are palming the slopers from the correct angle when climbing on them. Many beginner climbers will not know how to climb slopers or even what they are—and once they learn, they might avoid them, but slopers have their own satisfactions, and knowing how to use them is part of being a well-rounded climber. I supplement with off the wall strength training and cycle in power endurance phases to stay just barely fit enough to not pump off my bouldering projects. Because slopers are often created at the intersection of two surfaces, the deeper you grab the more positive your pulling surface (assuming the hold is convex - consider a rounded basketball-sized I always like to point out that shoulder tension and wrist strength are underrated parts of sloper climbing. Hello to the bouldering subreddit! As my title suggest, I’m looking for any tips/accounts/youtube videos that might give me some advice on how to better train for slopers, or any general technique training that might help me level up my bouldering experience. Grip type is extremely nuanced in actual climbing, while on hangboarding it is relatively one-dimensional. Pinches get significantly stronger just getting on a lot of pinch strength. Since I started climbing at this gym in May 2023, I've noticed a significant improvement in my climbing ability. If you're actually climbing on slopers, especially outdoor rock and more specifically on route climbing, you could use some wrist work. The basic strategy is to get your body as close to the wall as possible and use your feet to gain purchase to pull into the wall as much as possible. Learn to train slopers off the wall with the Heavy Roller. Incorporate exercises like wrist and pull-ups into your training routine to boost your overall strength and power. Oct 4, 2022 · To improve our ability to hold slopers with stability, we can address the balance of strength across the wrist and train our muscles to engage in a timely manner! By training the muscles that act directly on our wrist, we can build up the joint’s dynamic support that we need for slopers. This doesn't seem to strain the Reddit's rock climbing training community. To speed up improvement, if you're ready for it, you can also train IMR on a hangboard with either a max hang or repeater protocol. Try to stop climbing before you get to this point. Plus I want to dip my toes in some lead climbing this season. Large slopers are unique in that you can get similar purchase in a variety of directions. Improve your climbing abilities, finger health and develop a stronger grip with this innovative approach. If you want the train your wrist strength off the wall, the wrist wrench or related tools is a popular way to increase your wrist flexion strength in a sloper-relevant way. Feb 10, 2024 · To build strength specifically for slopers, practice open-handed grips on hangboards and sloper holds at the gym. Physical Therapist & Climber here: Pinch strength and crimp strength are somewhat related but mainly use different muscles to achieve the goal of holding on to the hold and not falling off. I had such pain on gym routes in the 7 grade which were all slopers or mix of mostly slopers. That's something that made my pullup/one arm Reddit's rock climbing training community. And as great as off the wall training is, it just doesn’t beat climbing. In part two of our Blokhelden training ser Reddit's rock climbing training community. I'll certainly train half/semi-closed crimps, but I'm also interested in training full crimps. The way I would recommend improving sloper strength is to just keep climbing slopers and climb with an open hand. Had the same issue (lumbrical tear at ring finger, from climbing on MR pockets). I’ve been climbing for about 5-6 years. ly/369BimTTraining open hand grips for slopers and pinches can be tricky. So if you do decide to train them, you can only gauge progress on the same board. Reddit's rock climbing training community. This strengthens my wrists through a full range of motion, compared to a single angle when doing static hangs on sloping hangboard hold. Hangboarding allows your fingers to develop for crimps and slopers, but pinch training appears to offer greater complexity. I supplement a little by wrist-curling weight plates. The deeper you grab, the more likely you are to find an irregularity in the surface that affords better friction. Climbing is quite stressfull fro the tendons and those take a lot longer to heal compared to muscles. Many slopers are filled with nuances that strong crimping finger may overcome. Add/swap something out for front lever progression here and there. In this case, use your palm and fingertips to press and squeeze the entire hold while maximizing surface contact. I've been climbing for 10 years plus and I think the best step is to keep climbing and get better at footwork. For example, when grabbing a sloper above you, making sure your center of gravity is underneath you completely will make the hold feel better. I'd like to create a compendium of Slopers offer very little purchase for pulling yourself into the wall. Most of my anticipated outdoor projects this year are at least double that length. Jul 7, 2023 · Often on large, rounded slopers, it’s advantageous to spread your fingers as wide as possible, like you’re palming a basketball. Watch this T4C video How to Hold Slopers | Bouldering Guide Cheng is Always Climbing 13. ) I'd imagine the BM2k slopers would do something to train that grip, but using the same grip on the edges is more consistent/less susceptible to conditions. Jun 15, 2023 · It's easy to dismiss pinches as a grip you seldom use, but in fact you use your thumb in pinch mode more than you think. Gym climbing and outdoor are not the same and saying you can climb a certain grade based on what you can climb at the gym isn't representative of what you can climb outdoors. Probably most people agree that half crimp is more active hold position and is going to stress the muscles more. Dec 13, 2022 · It’s a challenging grip to train. I understand training it will probably make me a more well-rounded climber strength-wise, but does anyone have evidence (quantitative or anecdotal) of the benefit of training 3-finger drag? Sep 15, 2023 · 7 exercises to help weak wrists and improve wrist stability when climbing. Board climbing is awesome but I've been too injured the past couple years to do much of it, sadly. Besides just climbing crimpier stuff, how can I systematically train full crimps while keeping myself injury free especially considering how much of a training newbie I am? I’ve been climbing for about 2 years now - I tend to avoid all slopers, especially when they’re part of the crux of a climb. Hi all! I’ve been climbing for 2 years now and I just started outdoor rope climbing (woohoo!). Getting the right directionality with respect to all of your other limbs is what hard slopers boil down to. From tufas to aretes and even crack climbing, it pays to pinch. Some of the training exercises require rock-climbing grip training equipment or other exercise tools but most of them can be found in your local climbing gym or inexpensively online. Dec 21, 2019 · Geeking out on Gripping Technique while trying to hang the hardest Beastmaker 2000 Slopers with as little Finger Strength as possible. Being highly deficient in one will eventually come back to bite you (although, to be fair, if you're going to be strong any any-- half crimp is likely the best to be strong at). Better ability to compress with your entire arm means you’ll be able to hold some slopers a lot better. Coming from the world of professional arm-lifting sports this form of training is tried and tested and targets the muscles involved with hard slopers when climbing. Has anyone trained wrist or forearm strength in particular and noticed useful carry over to improvements in climbing? Has anybody has success with training this longer term? I recently see increasing content online relating to isolated training of the wrists via forearm training inspired by forearm training tools and drills with the wrist wrench and heavy roller style exercises from the likes On the campus board, why do most people train with crimp grip instead of 3FD? the campus board seems like the perfect use case for utilizing 3FD to me. csmnq ovrh knld uswjdg rbam shmrl qgwzj hvkod joqgdzp xrtke bii xcj qmzo nrg wvosw