8 Advantages from Training your Finger Muscles for Climbing

Climbing requires both physical and mental strength. When you climb, one of the core body parts is our hands, specifically our fingers. It pays to know how we should care for our fingers before, during and after climbing. More articles related to climbing are available online, and they offer insightful ways on how to train your finger muscles. Having said this, we listed down eight (8) advantages from training your finger muscles for climbing:

  1. Endurance on long climbs

Blood flow and oxygen supply are crucial parts of our fingers when climbing. When these two do not work together, grips cannot sustain a longer sequence of climbing. Training your finger muscles strengthens ligaments and tendons. It also supports your body weight and can minimize the percentage of Maximum Voluntary Contraction (MVC) during climbing.

  1. Maximize grips and holds

Training your finger muscles helps you in strengthening your grip and sustains longer holds. One of the effective exercises is to hang board finger training. One of the best benefits of this exercise is that it promotes a firmer grip. It also gives a more stable hand grasping duration. But doing this kind of training requires further preparation as it may cause injuries if you are not well-prepared. It also requires rest before advancing to the next level of difficulties. 

  1. Lesser finger fatigue

An elite climber can rest and hold for a little longer when they climb after a steep and level of climbing. If you have extensive training, you will have the full capability of developing this kind of stamina. Some professional climbers can relate to this – they rest and catch their breath for a snap while they are hanging. Some they call it ‘micro rest’ but to develop this kind of technique requires longer training and experience. 

  1. Prevents injuries

Of course, having various training for finger muscles prevents injuries. One of the challenges you may face is when you sustain a finger injury. This is common for people who are lacking preparation before heading to the actual climb. As we have mentioned earlier, climbing requires both physical and mental preparation. Everyone is viable to become a climber as this is such a skill sport and it promotes wellness, but like any other sports, you need to undergo a series of training and for climbing, it is important to know how important your finger is in pursuing this sport. 

  1. Promotes finger wellness

Doing exercise daily promotes wellness, a healthy way of maintaining our body parts in good shape. Finger muscle training, if consistently observed, can eliminate spasms and nerve pains. It brings you to the optimal use of your finger during climbing. Consider your finger as another body system that needs good health. 

  1. It makes climbing more fun!

When you develop a system of training for your finger muscles, you will enjoy and appreciate climbing more. It will also make your experience less exhausting and rewarding once you reach your goal. You can also give a helping hand and tips to someone who is climbing for the first time. 

  1. Hands of All Trade

There are several ways you can enjoy training even at the comfort of your home. You can search online and stream videos on how to train finger muscles on your own (Do-It-Yourself). You can also do some errands that require grip and hold, you can improvise and be creative! Make sure you will have proper training after these chores because it is still important to have proper exercise. By means of this, your fingers are flexible enough to handle everything, or should I call it, hands of all trade! 

  1. Achieve your end goal

As you prepare for a climb, aside from preparing yourself physically, it is also important that your mind is prepared for this activity as well. Climbing is not as easy as trekking on a mountain or hiking on a straight slope. Climbing is more series, it needs full preparation, proper training and focus dedicated to achieving your end goal. As we have mentioned earlier, our fingers are the vital part of our body for climbing, strengthening its ligaments and tendons requires training to get in shape. Our end of mind thinking must be like this: to achieve our climbing goal. Training your finger muscles aids you in achieving your goal. It’s like a law of attraction; you prepare for a battle and claim you will win in the end.