Nemesis Holds

[James_E]

I just finished my 5th workout of my current strength cycle and I'm really confused about my progression. The grip I have always struggled with is the semi/half crimp, or whatever you want to call it. I started my first couple seasons with the intent to work that grip with each finger bent at 90 degrees at the PIP joint (I'll call this a partial crimp), but both times switched to training the same hold, but with the pinky and index fingers relatively straight and the middle and index fingers bent at the PIP joint (I'll call this a half-crimp), as I found it more comfortable and easier to progress. Sorry if I'm using the wrong terminology, it seems like everyone has different ways of describing this grip.

This season (my third) I decided I would stick to my guns and progress the partial crimp, my logic being that if it was hard to progress then I should be targeting it. Well here I am, over half way through the strength phase with hardly any progress to speak of on that grip. While all of my other grips have progressed steadily, I have progressed the partial crimp maybe two times. Today I actually saw a decline on that grip, although I usually get one really bad workout mid-season.

Has anyone else had this experience? I'm starting to wonder if it might be an issue of hand geometry, like maybe I'm forcing my hand into an unnatural grip position and that is why it won't progress. Is it worth banging my head against the wall with this one grip, or could I see similar gains if I stick to training the half-crimp? I'm worried that this season is a lost cause for that grip, as even if I switched to the more comfortable grip position I don't see how I could work back up to my personal record from last season.

[Sander]

This grip is an odd one for me as well: it seems a bit harder to progress than the others. There's another notable difference: whereas as typical hold feels kinda hard at the start of a set and really hard at the end with some sort of a linear development in between, the half/partial crimp feels really easy at first and then gets super hard around the 4th hang...

[Chris W]

rockprodigytraining.proboards.com/thread/595/half-crimp-hard-progress

Bottom line: I had trouble keeping an objective position and said [the heck with] it this season. I switched to the full crimp via the Forge.

[James_E]

I guess I should have used the search function! Sounds like this is a fairly common problem. I'm still struggling with what I should do for the rest of this season. I'm hoping to get in 10 workouts for this phase, so I have 5 left. I could either back off the weight and basically start over, or switch to the more comfortable grip position. For next season I'm considering switching to a full crimp position, either with the thumb wrapped over the index finger or wrapped over an edge if I can figure out a good position on my RPTC.

[daustin]

Chalk up another person who struggled with the dreaded "half crimp". I've noticed that when I'm actually climbing, I typically either go full crimp or go more open-handed on small edges; I rarely grip the rock in the way the "half crimp" has been described here.

I wound up adding fully closed crimp to my routine (using the smallest edge on the RPTC). I don't close my thumb over my index finger, but I have my thumb in the same "closed" position resting next to the index finger, so I can still tell whether my closed grip is opening but also avoid stressing the index finger too much. I've also kept the SVDER grip, but now I just grab it in the more natural, semi-open way (pinky and index open, ring and middle more flexed) as opposed to trying to half crimp it.

[Lundy]

My experience is the same as Daustin. I don't really use that "half crimp" position, so I just train fully closed crimp on the RPTC small crimp, and the open position on the SVDER.