Hangboard Routine: Sample Weeks by Level

A hangboard routine is a full warm-up, two hard sessions a week at most, and a lighter week when your fingers or numbers say so. The structure, two sessions a week for 4 to 8 weeks, rests on moderate evidence; the week layouts below are ours, assembled from the library’s articles, and no trial has compared them.

What does a session look like?

Every session runs in the same order: the warm-up routine, including its ramp before hard hangs, then the hangs while you are fresh, then climbing. Keep the rest of the day moderate. Two hard sessions a week, 48 hours apart, with hard climbing counted as a hard finger day, are the rules from how often to hangboard; every week below follows them.

Sample week for beginners

Start here after at least a year of regular climbing and with no pain. Use a 20 to 25 mm edge, open hand and half crimp. The hangs, week by week, are the 8-week plan in hangboarding for beginners.

Day	Plan
Mon	Warm-up, hangs (beginner plan), then easy climbing
Tue	Rest
Wed	Climbing
Thu	Warm-up, hangs (beginner plan), then easy climbing
Fri to Sun	Climbing as usual, one rest day

Sample week for intermediates

Move here after the 8 weeks, or if you already hang 20 mm comfortably. Use max hangs on an 18 to 20 mm edge in a half crimp, for a block of 4 to 8 weeks.

Day	Plan
Mon	Warm-up, max hangs (3 to 5 × 10 s, about 3 s in reserve, 3 min rest), moderate climbing
Tue	Rest
Wed	Climbing
Thu	Warm-up, max hangs, moderate climbing
Fri	Rest
Sat	Hard climbing
Sun	Rest

An optional extra: daily low-intensity hangs, about 10 minutes at roughly 40% of max, once or twice a day, at least 6 hours from other training. Their gain was not significant against climbing alone, so treat them as low-risk, not proven.

Sample week for advanced climbers

For climbers who test their maximum and work in phases. In an endurance phase, keep one max-hang session and add an aerobic base session and a repeater session on separate days, as finger endurance training suggests. Build the base for 3 to 4 weeks first, then add the repeaters while keeping one base session.

Day	Plan
Mon	Warm-up, max hangs (3 to 5 × 10 s, 3 min rest), moderate climbing
Tue	Rest
Wed	Aerobic base: 7 s / 3 s, 10 to 12 reps, 3 to 5 sets, 2 min rest, about 30 to 40% of max
Thu	Rest
Fri	Warm-up, repeaters: 7 s / 3 s, 6 reps, 4 to 6 sets, 3 min rest, about 75 to 80% of max
Sat	Rest
Sun	Hard climbing

The table shows the finger sessions and one hard climbing day. Most advanced climbers climb 3 to 5 days a week: add easy or moderate climbing after the board sessions or on Tuesday and Thursday, and never stack three hard finger days in a row.

How do you progress?

Max hangs: when the last hang of a session feels easy, add 1 to 2 kg next session. Gains come in steps, not every week.
Added weight before smaller edges. Keep the edge, grip and hang length fixed within a block and add weight on a medium edge first; added weight or smaller edges covers why.
Repeaters: if the whole set feels easy, raise the load next session; if your grip opens before the last rep, lower it.
Retest every 4 to 8 weeks on the same 20 mm edge (how to test finger strength).
Take an easier week when the warning signs in how often to hangboard appear. No study we cite tested a scheduled deload, so a fixed “every fourth week” rule is coach practice, not research.

Who should not do this?

Anyone with current finger, wrist or elbow pain, or a recent pulley injury.
Anyone still growing: no hangboarding beyond very light, supervised loading, and no campus board, until a doctor confirms growth is finished.
Climbers with less than a year of regular climbing.

Pain stops a session. If pain at the base of a finger lasts into the next day, back off for a few days and see a physiotherapist.

Do this in Entralpi

The routines above are written as percentages of your maximum. In the app, the max strength test measures that maximum; keep it with one tap at the end of the test, or type it in Settings (Profile, then Settings, under Physical Profile, Max strength). Then follow a plan or build your own workout with these hangs and rests. Without the plate, the timer runs the on and off times.

Sources

López-Rivera E, González-Badillo JJ (2019). Comparison of the effects of three hangboard strength and endurance training programs on grip endurance in sport climbers. Journal of Human Kinetics, 66.
Devise M, et al. (2022). Effects of different hangboard training intensities on finger grip strength, stamina, and endurance. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living.
Mundry S, et al. (2021). Hangboard training in advanced climbers: a randomized controlled trial. Scientific Reports.
Gilmore NK, et al. (2024). Effects of different loading programs on finger strength in rock climbers. Sports Medicine – Open.