|
|
Post by jrblack on Mar 23, 2018 18:38:49 GMT -7
I saw this thing in the gym today: [See attachment 1; images aren't working today?!] The idea is that you stand on the foot marks and pull upward on the hold with one hand as hard as you can. The readout shows the lbs you pull up. Then you compute your strength-to-weight and it tells you your bouldering grade: [See attachment 2] I'm 171 lbs and could pull 71 lbs upward, so I didn't register on the chart  But if you extrapolate to get that I boulder around V2/V3, then it's correct. Has anyone ever seen these things before?! I wonder if they're generally accurate. Attachments:
|
|
|
|
Post by MarkAnderson on Mar 23, 2018 20:20:48 GMT -7
Seems about as accurate as the carnival sledgehammer.
|
|
|
|
Post by erick on Mar 23, 2018 20:49:48 GMT -7
Kinda reminds me of the lattice strength assessment. The one guy I know who did it got a result back that said his fingers were too weak to climb the grades he was on. Then I listened to another podcast where Steve Maish did the same assessment and was told the same thing.
Finger strength is important and a really interesting correlation to grades climbed but only one factor in determining performance. All that said, I’d love to do this gripple test and see how I perform cause I think my fingers are stronger than my climbing redpoints would show.
|
|
|
|
Post by jrblack on Mar 23, 2018 21:36:14 GMT -7
If you want to forgo the Beast Fingers test (at Earth Treks Golden) you can just use your own hangboard:
https://www.reddit.com/r/climbharder/comments/5uvic4/clearing_up_some_confusion_on_max_hang_vs/
|
|
|
|
Post by brendann on Mar 24, 2018 13:49:07 GMT -7
I wonder if they're generally accurate. Generally Accurate is a good way to put it. They won’t predict a single climbers performance on a single problem, but they get into the ballpark. The more samples the better. It would be interesting to compare the Beast Fingers data set to the Lattice since they use different testing methods (Pull vs Hang). Steve Maisch took some time to train on the specific Lattice edge and got his results into the predicted range. |
|
|
|
Post by aikibujin on Mar 24, 2018 15:31:49 GMT -7
If you want to forgo the Beast Fingers test (at Earth Treks Golden) you can just use your own hangboard: https://www.reddit.com/r/climbharder/comments/5uvic4/clearing_up_some_confusion_on_max_hang_vs/ I didn't see this when I was warming up in the ET bouldering area yesterday, so I assume this is upstairs in the training area? I'm skeptical that it can "predict" my grade. I think my finger strength is weak compared to what I climb, but it will be interesting to give it a pull and see the results when I'm over there. |
|
|
|
Post by jrblack on Mar 24, 2018 15:41:15 GMT -7
If you want to forgo the Beast Fingers test (at Earth Treks Golden) you can just use your own hangboard: https://www.reddit.com/r/climbharder/comments/5uvic4/clearing_up_some_confusion_on_max_hang_vs/ I didn't see this when I was warming up in the ET bouldering area yesterday, so I assume this is upstairs in the training area? I'm skeptical that it can "predict" my grade. I think my finger strength is weak compared to what I climb, but it will be interesting to give it a pull and see the results when I'm over there. It's downstairs in the weightroom against the wall. I read some things about Beast Fingers and I've seen some criticism regarding the incut edge on the hold they use: some people claim that because it's incut it's dangerous. Also, it's not clear to me whether you're supposed to wrap your thumb over the top of the hold with a half-open crimp, or just use a fully open crimp. I can generated 10+ lbs more pull if I use my thumb. I logged 71 lbs with my right hand, Boer. I'll bet you can pull substantially more... maybe even up to your bodyweight. |
|
|
|
Post by climbnkev on Mar 24, 2018 16:23:05 GMT -7
|
|
|
|
Post by jetjackson on Mar 24, 2018 16:42:57 GMT -7
I think they're useful for identifying glaring weaknesses, but other than that, not really that useful. Over on r/climbharder there seems to be a cohort of really technically minded climbers, who seem to want to take these test metrics and use it as an indicator for what they 'should' be climbing outdoors. i.e. This test predicted that I would climb V(x) outside, so that's my level and I'll go project that. Anecdotally I've seen it with a few cases where the persons hardest problem is say V5, and rather than get on a few V6s and V7s, they'll go outside and thrash themselves unsuccessfully on a V8/9, because some app told them they should be climbing at that level. Where they should have interpreted it as - I probably need to work on things other than finger strength because that is what is holding me back. It reminds me of the Seinfeld bit where he talks about the hearing test - youtu.be/Ulu7DN8W9Sg?t=21s - I think our ego's are susceptible to placing too much importance on the results on these kinds of tests, when climbing really is the single best indicator of whether or not you're good at climbing |
|
|
|
Post by jrblack on Mar 24, 2018 18:54:17 GMT -7
I think it's really interesting... I mean, if you took a finger-strength test and it told you that most people with your strength are climbing V5, but you regularly climb V7, that might suggest you should focus on finger training. If instead it showed that most people with your strength are climbing V9 and you're only climbing V6, you know you need to work on technique.
For me, the test said I should be climbing V2 and that's about right. But it motivated me to train since people on the lower end of the strength spectrum should have some of the easier gains to be had.
It's all silliness in the end, but then so is climbing itself.
|
|
|
|
Post by jetjackson on Mar 24, 2018 18:59:23 GMT -7
It's all silliness in the end, but then so is climbing itself. Blasphemy!  |
|
|
|
Post by jrblack on Apr 20, 2018 20:56:43 GMT -7
When I posted this a month ago, I was pulling 71lbs (weighing 176lbs at the time), so about 40% of bodyweight. After a hangboard cycle, I tried again today and pulled 86lbs (weighing 165 lbs now), so about 52% of bodyweight. According to the chart they have, I should be able to climb V5 with my finger strength. There's no way I'm climbing that hard yet, so I guess either - I need to work more on technique or
- Mark was right and this is just a stupid circus trick that should be ignored
In either case, hangboarding had a pretty significant impact on my finger strength after only one cycle. |
|
