Mutant Hangboard

Hey there, cowboys. This isn't a post about the progress of my wall (big update on that soon), but about what's happened with a marginally older friend. Remember this thing?

Credit to the Wayback Machine (not really)

I do! It's hard to forget, because it's still in my spare room and it takes up a lot of room. If you'll remember, Kuraimu had its humble beginnings as this thing, before I decided to build a proper monster in the garage and relegate this frame to hangboard status. So what's happening with it now?

Pay no attention to the dust

Well, for starters, it hasn't got any holds any more. I put up some campus rungs- low, but I'm not good enough to campus properly anyway, so they are mostly used for hanging and very static moves. It works out alright. The towel on top is for grabbing the edge to do pull ups- it's more stable than it looks.

But wait! What's that futon doing behind the frame? What's going on back there?

I love exposed screws

Oh, a hangboard. This frame serves double duty!

Fire detector for when my workouts get too hot

The board is a Metolius Contact board, a real beast of a hangboard that has been reviewed elsewhere. This thing has more than enough on it to keep me busy for a long while.

Now, originally, I had planned on using the existing board as a home made hangboard by filling it with T-nuts and placing holds. I eventually relented and purchased the Contact for a few reasons:

1. I keep using all of my holds on the actual climbing wall. To really get the training potential of a proper hangboard, I'd need several matched sets of different holds; this runs up to costing more than just buying the real thing.
2. I can make rails and pockets to hang on, but recreating the varying depths of the pockets and slots of the Contact would be a lot of work
3. I like spending money

So I bought the Contact. So far I'm happy with the decision- this thing allows for regimented and controlled training in a whole new way. This sort of training, by the way, is why I even wanted a hangboard in the first place. Many people view hangboards as a sort of stopgap solution to training without a wall, something that I have. And I while I do hope to use my garage wall to get stronger and increase my weekly climbing hours, the hangboard really allows for measured and controlled progress in strength in a way that simply climbing doesn't.

Anyway, moving on, you might have noticed the ropes in the previous pictures. I'm a weak climber, so I need help to hang by my fingers.

Enter the pulley system! Reducing weight allows me to get in 8-10 second hangs on holds I otherwise wouldn't be able to use. It's a simple but effective system.

Shout out to Fighting Road, The Only Choice (unfortunately)

Weight goes on one end of each rope, via a bolt and washer.

Crossloading! Yer gonna die!

I go on the other. 

Repping my gym

Hangs result! The idea will be to continually train using decreasing amounts of weight over time until I can hang unassisted from the target holds. My current big goal is to hang on the deepest two-finger pockets with my middle two fingers for ten seconds. Right now, doing it with 15 kg taken off is a challenge, so I either need to train hard or eat a lot less. The answer here is obvious.

Anyway, that's what's up with my indoor training apparatus. It doesn't have a name anymore. I'm sorry, Indoor Training Apparatus. Would it help if I capitalized?

Stay tuned for more on the progress of Kuraimu proper, as well as more hold reviews- I just got a big box of Metolius goodies. Stay chilly fresh proper my droogs. I wish it would stop raining.