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Talk at the first Canadian Climbing Medicine Symposium in 2017

Climbing Research Roundup 2023–2026

Updated 4 min read Plan your training Félix Bourassa-Moreau

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Eight studies from 2023 to 2026 matter most for finger training. Finger strength is the biggest physical factor in climbing grade, light daily hangs are not yet shown to add strength beyond climbing alone, and finger strength tests are reliable when you standardize them.

What predicts your grade?

Berta et al., 2025, Journal of Sports Sciences. In 307 climbers (185 men, 122 women), maximal finger strength accounted for about two thirds of the variance in climbing ability that the tests explained (68% in men, 64% in women), and intermittent endurance for most of the rest (28% and 34%). Normalized to body mass, men and women did not differ in finger strength or endurance, so percentage of bodyweight is a fair way to compare yourself. More in What predicts your climbing grade?

Do light daily hangs build strength?

Gilmore et al., 2024, Sports Medicine – Open. This retrospective study of 526 climbers in the Crimpd app found strength-to-weight gains of 3.2% for max hangs, 2.5% for “Abrahangs” (10 minutes a day of low-intensity hangs, feet on the floor) and 5.8% for both, but the Abrahang gain was not significant against climbing alone, and the protocol’s creator is a co-author. Daily low-intensity hangs goes through the study and its limits.

How reliable are finger tests?

Reliable for tracking change, when you standardize them.

  • Pérez-Cordero et al., 2025, Frontiers in Sports and Active Living. A systematic review of 15 studies and 747 participants found maximal isometric finger strength tests highly reliable (intraclass correlations of 0.85 to 0.99), and the authors recommend standardizing on an edge of about 20 to 23 mm. How to test finger strength walks through it.
  • McClean et al., 2023, International Journal of Exercise Science. In 13 climbers tested twice, peak force from the 4-minute all-out test was highly reliable (ICC 0.94, 5.6% variation), and end-test force was good (ICC 0.85) but varied 21% from day to day.
  • Boklaschuk, MacDougall and MacInnis, 2026, European Journal of Applied Physiology. In 26 climbers, the all-out test was extremely repeatable (ICC 0.97) but gave a critical force of 122 N against 98 N from constant-force tests to exhaustion, and the authors concluded it is likely unsuitable for setting exercise intensities. The critical force test explains how far to trust the result.
  • MacDougall et al., 2023, Sports Biomechanics. Disclosure: this study evaluated our product. Against a laboratory force platform, in a static test and in 30 all-out finger tests by 15 climbers, the Entralpi plate showed excellent agreement, ICC 0.991 and a mean relative error of 0.41%. Crane scale vs force plate compares measuring tools.

Does finger training make you climb harder?

Saeterbakken et al., 2024, Frontiers in Physiology. In a randomised trial, 31 advanced and elite boulderers either added 5 weeks of one-arm dynamic finger pulls with weights three times a week or kept bouldering as usual. Dynamic finger strength rose 11.5% against 5.3%, but isometric strength, rate of force development and bouldering performance did not differ between groups: turning strength into harder climbing still takes climbing. Does hangboarding work? puts this with the other trials.

Is fast force partly neural?

Colomer-Poveda et al., 2023, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. Comparing 16 elite climbers with 15 untrained people, a loud startling sound sped up reaction time and rate of force development in both groups, but the climbers’ advantage in early force development appeared only after the startle. That points to a neural part in fast force production; rate of force development covers how to train it.

Do this in Entralpi

Several of these studies set loads as a share of maximum or of critical force. In the app, the tests (Take a test) measure peak force, critical force and the speed of a pull, and What each test measures explains how each is counted. Then pick a workout from the Train tab or build your own.

Sources

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