Guidelines for transition to harder hangboard workouts?

[acmesalute76]

In the RCTM it is recommended to move to intermediate after “1-3 seasons” and to advanced after another range of time. My question is, what are some other guidelines besides a vague range of time for someone to decide to use a harder (more volume) routine? Weight used? Grades climbed?

I’m curious because I’m halfway through my second season on the beginner routine and still seeing steady gains, but I feel like I could handle more volume and still recover between workouts. Although if I can still make gains with less volume, why would I change routines at all? And if that’s the case, would it make sense to stick with a routine that is creating gains until it is not effective anymore? Potentially for much longer than 3 seasons?

I don’t want this to become a personalized “should I advance” thread, but rather a discussion on more general guidelines that would apply to a wide range of people (who are searching the web for answers to their question...)

[MarkAnderson]

So you want hard and fast criteria that applies equally to all people regardless of any personal variables (like age, experience, ability, etc)?

I’ll get right on that 😏

[wellhung]

I don’t remember what it was like transition from the beginner to intermediate routine very well, but I think is was a slightly harder workout due to the increased volume.  Good fun.  Try it and see if you like it.

However, going from intermediate to advanced, The higher volume is not what is noticeable to me.  The 7 and 6 rep sets seem like a needed warmup for a much more intense 5 rep set, using 10 lb differences between the reps.   If I tried to do the highest intensity 5rep set without the lighter sets before I don’t think I could stand the pain on the smaller holds.  I need those other sets to perform these more intense hangs.

[Chris W]

Sept 10, 2018 11:08:54 GMT -7 acmesalute76 said:

I’m halfway through my second season on the beginner routine and still seeing steady gains

If you are still improving, you could always just stick with it, especially if you're relatively new to training. 

[Sander]

Potentialy more interesting is switching from repeaters to max hangs for a season. They both target different energy systems and I've noticed they help me both in different ways...