Hanging Weight From a Harness While Hangboarding: Front/Back

[palo]

Recently had a facebook discussion after watching a video of someone hanging weight from the back of their harness. The OP in that thread had several pretty reasons for doing so. I've always been a fan of hooking weight to my belay loop, but after this thread, I felt the need to experiment once again.  

What's your preference? Why?

Also, came across this: vimeo.com/48445480

[MarkAnderson]

I like to keep the weight kinda even between front & back because I think it's easier on the skin around my hips. However, up to 20 lb, I load it all in the back, mostly so that it doesn't interfere with my legs. Above 20, I split it up, with the greater load in the back (so at +35, I would have 20 on the back, 15 on the front; at +40 I'd have 20 each front and back).

From a Physics, Free Body Diagram perspective, loading it all in the back should theoretically provide a better angle of attack on the holds, essentially making them feel slightly more positive (and vice versa). I doubt that effect is significant enough to be measurable.

[palo]

That's the conclusion these trainers came to as well. That it better positioned your upper body to handle the load. Im not entirely convinced, but Im definitely going to give it a shot in a day. Just my experience in the past was that having it hang from my back loop caused the weight to fall outside of the plumb line from my finger tips.

[MarkAnderson]

Feb 22, 2018 15:41:41 GMT -7 palo said:

having it hang from my back loop caused the weight to fall outside of the plumb line from my finger tips.

Yes, but that's a good thing, in theory, b/c it causes your body to essentially swing forward.

Consider hanging from an edge on an overhanging wall with your feet on, pulling your hips into the wall, vs your feet dangling so you're hanging straight down.  Feet on is clearly better, even if they aren't taking any weight, b/c it makes the edge feel more positive.

Of course, like I said, I can't imagine this makes an actual difference while hangboarding.  We're talking about maybe an 8" difference in hangpoint, on a much longer lever arm, and a relatively small amount of weight (in terms of % of body weight).  Any nerds out there want to do the trigonometry?  I can't imagine it's worth more than 1 or 2% for typical hangs.  Maybe if you're adding a ton of weight, although if you really want it to make a difference you should tie a sling around your neck* and hang the load between your shoulder blades [*this is a joke].

They key is to just be consistent in your methods so that your numbers mean something.  If you're going for a world record, etc, load it in the back.

[tetrault]

Not sure if I read it somewhere or came up with the (uninformed and possibly incorrect) idea that hanging weight from the front of the harness would tend to induce a slightly larger curve in the lower back, assuming you tend to look up and tilt your upper body back slightly while hanging on the board. Where as hanging the weight in back would tend to keep the lower back a tiny bit straighter, which might be better posture.

Actually, I remember now. Some guy once told me, while at a truck stop, that I look like I could take a big load in back. It was before I started hangboarding, so it didn't make sense at the time.

[scojo]

In my experience, hanging weight off of a harness gets kind of awkward when I have more than around 60 lb. attached to it (harness are designed to usually have forces pulling up on them). With a weight belt (like they have in many gyms), I'm completely fine with hanging > 100 lb. with them, and this is all in the front of course (although I only use this much weight for pullups, not hanging off my fingers).

[Chris W]

I guess I never really thought about it much; I've always hung the weight from my belay loop. When I feel it pulling my back into lordosis, I use it as an opportunity to actively engage my core to pull myself into a posterior pelvic tilt. It's been a chronic posture problem of mine anyway.