How to improve at .5 cracks?

[Laura]

Does anyone have any ideas how to train for .5 cracks? I understand the technique, I'm just trying to get stronger.
Thanks!

[tedwelser]

Hey- I am commenting in hopes that doing so will attract attention from someone who can help you on this. I climb mostly in the east, not indian creek, so I am no expert in training for particular crack sizes.

the only thing I understand is that strength for thin cracks is often linked to crimp strength, and sometimes thumb strength.

good luck

[brendann]

It depends a lot on your finger size. .5 BD Camalot can be tight fingers for some (easy) and thumb stacks for others (hard).

[slimshaky]

i built several 'crack boards' and found them very, very helpful. basically, just 2 pieces of 2x6 boards that are about 20 inches long. use nuts and bolts to make a 'sandwich' with a gap in the middle. you can use it with a rope over a pulley to some weights (kind of like a lat machine at a weight lifting gym), or hang it and use it pretty much like a hangboard (more difficult because it wants to rotate).

it's amazing how much you can learn about the tough sizes. for example, my left hand is a lot stronger on big thumbstacks (.75 camalots), but my right hand is a lot stronger ringlocking in a rattly finger crack (.5 camalots). also, i have several slightly different thumbstacking and ringlocking methods for each size.

i really feel this made a huge difference in my desert climbing. it all started when i was getting started on the 'tougher' sizes and i tried this route called rock lobster and just got killed on it. for the life of me i could not figure out how to do it. when i came down someone showed me how to thumbstack. i went back up on TR and still got killed, but made progress. the next couple desert trips i worked on this size on several routes but couldn't send anything.

over that winter i built the crack boards and trained, basically the same way as a hangboard. i went back out on president's day and crushed rock lobster. i even climbed above gear for once . i felt so confident on it, it was one of those 1 in a 1000 pitches where everything just felt so solid.

i think it really helps in terms of making the jams feel more familiar, plus you definitely get stronger (and your thumbs get used to being crushed like juniper berries at a gin distillery).