How to improve your grip

Grip is a very important part of rock climbing, it prevents you from falling and it helps you stay close to the wall.

Your fingers might get torn on the first few days of rock climbing, but it will get better.

Improving your grip is hard but there are ways to do it.

To improve your grip you can…

  • Find a hold that is hard for you to hold on to and try to hold on to it for 10 seconds. Repeat this 5 times on the first hold, and then switch to harder holds. When you are first starting, pay attention so you don’t strain your hands.
  • Do pull-ups on different holds and at different angles.
  • Do a pull-up and hold it at the top. Once that is easy, do a wide grip pull-up and while at the top, touch your chin to each hand 5 times.
  • Find or make a hangboard and then climb as high as you can. My first time I could only make it to 2 but after a few months I made it to 5 1/2. Who knows where I can go with more practice.
  • Just climb, a lot.
  • Use hand grippers like the ones sold by IronMind, the Captains of Crush. Start with the easy trainers and make sure to hold the grip closed as long as possible, then move to increasing difficulty grips.

These are some simple ideas for improving your grip, but there are tons and tons more out there. I’ll keep looking and write another post about other grip training soon!