Min Edge or Added Weight on a Hangboard

Add weight on a medium edge first, and move to smaller edges for specificity or when you have no weights. Added weight progresses in small, measurable steps. The evidence that it beats smaller edges is weak: one small study whose differences were not significant, and one trial that supports added weight only indirectly.

Once body-weight hangs on a 20 mm edge feel easy, you have two dials: a smaller edge, or more weight on the same edge. They do not train quite the same thing.

What did the studies find?

López-Rivera and González-Badillo, 2012. Nine elite climbers trained dead hangs for 8 weeks, either on the minimum edge depth they could hold (MED) or on an 18 mm edge with maximum added weight (MAW), switching methods halfway. The group that started with added weight and then moved to small edges improved grip strength and endurance more than the group that did the reverse. With only nine climbers the differences were not statistically significant.

Mundry and colleagues, 2021. In a randomized trial with 30 intermediate-to-advanced climbers (UIAA VI to VIII), one group added 1.25 kg every week, another shortened its hang time every week, and a control group kept climbing, for 8 weeks. The added-weight group improved overall grip strength more than climbing alone (p = 0.032, a small effect); the shorter-hang group did not differ from the control group. The trial did not test smaller edges.

Why does added weight tend to work better?

• Small, measurable steps. You can add 1 kg. Edge sizes usually jump by 2 to 5 mm, which can be a big change in difficulty.
• Load on the tissue you want. On tiny edges, skin, fingertip pain and precise finger position often limit you before the flexors and tendons do.
• Consistency. The same edge, grip and position every session makes progress easy to see.

When do smaller edges make sense?

• Specificity. If your project has tiny crimps, time on small edges trains the skin, finger position and confidence you need there. López’s preferred sequence also ends with small edges.
• No weights available. Travelling with a portable board, a smaller edge is the easiest way to add difficulty.
• Very light climbers, for whom a few kilograms is a large share of body weight.

What does a practical progression look like?

This is López’s added-weight-then-minimum-edge order from the 2012 study.

1. Weeks 1 to 4: max hangs on an 18 to 20 mm edge, adding weight in 1 to 2 kg steps as hangs get easier.
2. Weeks 5 to 8: keep body weight and move to a smaller edge you can hold for 10 seconds with a few seconds in reserve.
3. Retest on your standard 20 mm edge so you can compare blocks; how to test finger strength explains how.

Do this in Entralpi

Weight and edge size are two different dials, which makes sessions hard to compare: is +10 kg on 20 mm harder than body weight on 14 mm? A force sensor answers that by measuring the force your fingers produce, whatever the edge. The max strength test measures your max (Take a test). Keep it with one tap at the end of the test, or type it in Settings (Profile, then Settings, under Physical Profile, Max strength) and a workout in % max is a share of that number. A workout writes its loads in one way, kg, % bw or % max, and the app converts them when you change it (Build your own workout).

Sources

• López-Rivera E, González-Badillo JJ (2012). The effects of two maximum grip strength training methods using the same effort duration and different edge depth on grip endurance in elite climbers. Sports Technology, 5(3–4).
• Mundry S, et al. (2021). Hangboard training in advanced climbers: a randomized controlled trial. Scientific Reports.