- Hi, I'm Geek Climber.
Recently I have been able to climb a few V7s,
but I still get shut down pretty often
by lower level climbs.
I knew I had to work on my weaknesses
to become a well-rounded climber,
but I never bothered to take action until this.
I can't even start this V2-V3
because I don't have enough pinch strength.
So I decided it's time to make a change.
I have an opportunity to work with Frictitious Climbing,
which makes high-quality pinch block
that caters to all levels of climbers.
I'm going to challenge myself to train
on the pinch block for 30 days.
I'm going to test the max weight that I can pinch
for at least five seconds on the widest pinch
and the narrowest pinch for both hands,
and then do the same test again after 30 days
and see how much I will improve.
For the widest pinch, I can pinch 20 pounds
with my right hand over five seconds easily.
And 25 pounds for almost five seconds.
So that falls into the almost 25 pounds category.
For my left hand, I can pinch 20 pounds
for five seconds solidly,
but can't pinch 25 pounds off the ground.
So that falls into the solid 20 pounds category.
For the narrowest pinch,
I can pinch 10 pounds for five seconds solidly
with my right hand,
but can't pinch 12 pounds off the ground.
So that falls into the solid 10 pounds category.
For my left hand, it takes a lot of effort
to pinch 10 pounds for five seconds,
so it falls into the barely 10 pounds category.
After training by myself for a few days,
I thought to myself, I have no idea what I'm doing,
and I want to get the pinch training right.
So I decided to reach out to a world-class climbing coach,
Eric Horst, who has been coaching for 30 plus years
and has written multiple training for climbing books,
for some advice on training properly with the pinch block.
- And if we're gonna set a basic rule that applies
to most people,
the first year that somebody gets into climbing,
they should just climb a few days a week
and develop the skills.
Give your fingers and joints, tendons, ligaments
some time to adapt to those unique stresses of climbing
and then year two, start to ease into training,
and then year three, maybe more significantly into training.
- So it's more about the time and length
instead of the grades.
- That's right. I'll stand with a pinch block
at my side with the weight and I will count
for seven seconds.
And then I'll set the weight down.
And then I'll train the other side.
Pinch it for seven seconds with my other hand.
So I go seven seconds, seven seconds.
That's like one repetition,
and I would do that six times.
So after I do that first set,
then about a five-minute rest
and then I do another set of those six repetitions.
If you're really well-conditioned,
you could probably do a third set.
I wouldn't do more than three sets of these repeaters.
You wanna do them on a bouldering day workout.
If you are doing hangboard training,
you would do the pinch training on the same day.
This is not something you would do on a rest day,
and so that's kind of a strength endurance protocol
because you're not just doing one repetition and being done,
but you're doing six repetitions on each side.
Many people might need to begin with 15 or 20 pounds.
Often times on a route,
it's just not one pinch you need to do,
but there might be a couple of pinches in a row.
So you do need to have some degree of strength endurance.
It's not enough to be able to pinch hard one time,
but to be able to do a few pinches in a row
and that's why I like this repeater protocol.
When you're pinch block training,
you don't wanna grab with your thumb deep onto the block,
but you wanna grab it that the joint to be kind of
right at the edge of the block,
so you're squeezing with the end of your thumb,
the pad of your thumb here.
not like your whole thumb down like that.
There's more training value in training more
with the end of the thumb like that.
When you're pinching at your side,
the rest is extended and it actually trains the muscles
of your lateral forearm
because when you're climbing,
your wrist is often extending.
You see people even on a crimp;
they'll see their elbow come out.
The pinch block training,
you kinda kill two birds with one stone.
You train your thumb muscle. That's beneficial for climbers
to have stronger pinch,
but you also train those extensor muscles
on the lateral forearm. That helps stabilize the wrist
and make you a more effective and efficient climber
no matter what type of hold you're grabbing.
So, pinch block training is actually really important
and it's something that's overlooked by a lot of climbers.
And that, by the way, is for a very wide pinch.
If you get much more narrow than this,
or if you go to something even as narrow as this,
is when you pinch it, you end up having to crimp
with your fingers.
You get the extensor muscles trained better
with a wider grip that puts your fingers
in an open hand position.
Training wide pinch on the blocks
will make you better at narrow pinching.
The thumb's getting stronger regardless of how wide
you train your pinch.
Training narrow pinches is not as useful
for the wrist stabilizer.
Like I said, that's kind of a hidden benefit
of doing the wide pinches.
It makes your extensor muscles stronger,
which, by the way, changes the biomechanics in your fingers.
It actually reduces your risk of pulley injuries and stuff.
Not have rounded shoulders, you wanna be engaged.
You don't wanna be shrugging, either.
So you wanna, the same form you would take
if you were finishing a deadlift.
Standing tall, not hyper extended.
You don't wanna be doing that.
You wanna have good attention, posture,
retracting your scapula a little bit.
Get your chest out and holding it for seven seconds.
I don't think pinch block training is something
that's likely to get you injured,
but the better the form,
that's always a smart thing.
- Based on what coach Horst said,
I started my training routine with seven-second pinch
for each hand alternatively for six times
with 15 pounds on the widest pinch for two to three sets.
On day 12, I could already feel the improvement
on my pinch strength.
I was able to hold onto a pinch
and make a move that I couldn't originally.
As I continued to train,
on day 17 I started training with 20 pounds
for the first set and 15 pounds for the remaining sets.
On day 23, I started training with 20 pounds for all sets.
On day 25, Frictitious Climbing redesigned and upgraded
my pinch block based on coach Horst's feedback.
Thirty days flew by really fast and it was time
for the final test.
For the widest pinch, now I'm able to pinch
30 pounds for five seconds with a maximum effort
for my right hand.
I improved from almost 25 pounds to barely 30 pounds.
For my left hand, now I'm able to pinch 30 pounds
for almost five seconds,
which means I improved from solid 20 pounds
to almost 30 pounds.
For narrowest pinch, now I'm able to pinch 15 pounds
for almost five seconds with my right hand,
which means I improved form solid 10 pounds
to almost 15 pounds.
For my left hand, now I'm able to pinch 12 pounds
for five seconds solidly,
which means I improved from barely 10 pounds
to solid 12 pounds.
Thanks for watching.
If you want to make your pinch strength stronger like I did,
make sure to check out the link
in the video description below
and use promo code GEEKCLIMBER to get free shipping
for your Frictitious pinch block purchase.
Full disclosure, I'm not sponsored
but I will earn a commission for each purchase.
This is a way to support my channel
and also support quality climbing start-ups
that are courageous enough to compete
with the big climbing brands.
Coach Horst also recently launched a brand
called PhysiVantage,
which carries science and research-backed supplements
for tendons and ligaments.
Be sure to check it out in the video description below.
Lastly, this completes my third training goal of the year
and my fourth and last one will be the hardest,
but it will also be epic!
Be sure to subscribe so you can watch it
as soon as I complete it.
See you in the next video.