I'm new to climbing and one thing I do is to not work on a route more then maybe 6 times. I use to make a dozen attempts and my hands would cave. Working the same holds over and over cause some strain. So if I work on a problem that is crimpy and I do not top out in 6 attempts, I move on to another problem with different holds, maybe slopers. Good advice in the video. Cheers!
This video couldn't have come at a better time! I've been climbing for about 9 months now and just suffered my first finger injury last week while trying to push the grade. Thanks for the video and I'm looking forward to the next one regarding rehabilitating the injury. Thanks again!
Yay! I'm dealing with a finger injury (middle joint in the middle finger) and according to the doctor it's due to faster advancement in the difficulty of my climbing than my finger could keep up with. So I'm doing some rehab now. Looking forward the coming videos, especially hoping for some warm up tips. I think it's hard when bouldering outdoors to know if my fingers are ready or not for the project, specially if it's a crimpy problem.
Warming up outdoors can indeed be tricky. If I'm approaching a hard, crimpy problem, I'm touching the holds with chalk quite a few times until I have the feeling my fingers got the "specific warmup" for those hold shapes. It gets interesting when the crux crimp is out of reach though..
Not sure what you had in mind for your injury prevention series but I think it would be cool and worthwhile to do a video on antagonistic training exercises. I've heard that's huge when it comes to injury prevention. I'd definitely like to check that out! Thanks again.
I have to admit that I am currently recovering from a finger injury that this video would have probably prevented... that said thank you for all of your videos, I've been watching a lot of them and find them very helpful and full of valuable information. The editing and thoughtfulness that you put in are apparent!
I think it's also a good idea to know the first signs of injury. I'm only recognizing them now because I got some tendonitis back when I was doing BJJ, but basically it's sore or tense back of fingers and/or joints. Give them time to heal, I climbed on Tuesday night and Friday morning they're still a little sore, which means I'm postponing today's (and probably the weekends) climbing session.
Great video Mani! Wish I watched this a couple weeks ago. Recently decided I was ready to project much crimpier problems and quickly injured my finger. Classic mistake of confusing muscular strength with tendon strength! I also watched your video on treatment (as well as some from other climbers) and will be climbing less aggressive problems with some tape on my fingers to help in recovery. Thanks so much!
Wish I watched it earlier! Started 7 months ago I got strong quite quick and got a tendon injury in a day where I was feeling the strongest and gave a full rest for 2 weeks, today I'll try pain free climbing again=)
I only want to share my experience. I injured my shoulder one year ago and now, after a surgery, i'm starting to climb again. I have two advices: 1 WARM UP! i injured my shoulder on the first climbing of the day (outdoor) and the route was only a 6a. 2 train all the body. i careless my shoulders for years, i only train my back and my arms but never the shoulders (do Planck, push up for shoulders and, the most important, use the ELASTIC BAND). i'm sorry for my bad english and dude, you are great!
Very nice video man! Thank you for putting this up! I m lucky that I never had any injuries so far and I hope it will continue like that :) Very good tips!
@ManiTheMonkey I wanted to share a little trick I came up with for a more efficient taping method. I basically use the H method but instead of cutting the tape up to the middle from both sides (which makes things a bit complicated to then apply it around your finger) I make a small cut, about 2 to 3cm on one side and cut a long on on the other stopping at about 1cm away from the short cut. What this methods improves is that it's easier to tape your fingers and it stays better even after a long climbing season. Also doesn't need to be re-taped on top like Volker shows on his videos. I know almost nothing about climbing I literally just started but your videos did help a lot, I hope this becomes useful to you! Thanks ;)
Great video, great advice! (Wish I'd stumbled across these 2 years ago, when I started... would have saved me a couple of injuries... particularly the point about tendon and ligament development taking years to develop compared to the weeks/months that muscles need) Apart from skin injuries on the fingers and occasional scrapes and bruises, which I think are pretty much unavoidable, I got a painful case of climber's elbow through a) not enough rest periods (I love(d) climbing so much I might go 2 or 3 days in a row, way too much as a beginner), b) attempting the same tricky point again and again, thus loading the same points in the body again and again (now I don't try a problem point more than about 3 or 4 times, then I use the other grips from other problems to get past that point and try the next points on the same route). It took 9 months to get rid of. I did lots of surfing, as I was also looking for help with an achilles' tendon problem, due to running... yep, same basic reason, too much, too fast, too little rest :)! Although, while too little rest is harmful, when you have a tendon problem, too much rest is also no good, as I read and experienced - the tricky bit with the rehabilitation is to push hard enough but not too hard :)! Keep up the good work, Mani!!!
Watched this video, listened to Mani say, "if you're feeling stronger, be careful.", was crushing it last night feeling really strong, and... bam. Significant strain injury on my meta carpals. womp womp :(
Thank you very much for good channel, great job :-) I agree with you about avoid full crimp in indore climbing when somebody climb outdoors but when you climb only indoor what to do?
Are you able to provide some advice on tendon related injuries and prevention? Both my elbows and forearms hurt when I grip anything too hard at the moment, which has stopped me from climbing until they are better. I've also booked myself in to see a physiotherapist. Thank you.
Absolutely. You're right, sound quality is the point where my vids could improve the most I think. At the moment I'm saving for a Rode videomic pro and an Audiorecorder :)
Hey Mani, could you make a video about prevention, treatment and slow reintroduction to climbing from elbow injuries? I've had to stop climbing for a month due to medial epicondylitis... and I'll go back to the gym soon, but still feeling some pain. It's very common, very painful and the treatment is not very clear, so it'd be great if you can make a video!
Hi there, great content! However, would be great to get some advice how TO START after injury. Let's say, myself, I am about to come back bouldering after elbow fracture (which happened after unsucessful landing). How to overcome mental and physical fear to start over? How to deal with mental prejudice and do not start to overachieve just because of the felling of "downgrade"'?
Well shit! Nice video man, Just got my first climbing related injury after climbing for four years. An interesting thing happened when I was climbing at my favriote crag Willow river, trying my proj and there is a powerful move on shit feet to a big jug inside a waco and my hand hit the lip and i bumped it back to the good part of the hold and I felt this pain in my hand that I have never felt before. Really bummed right now. I guess my point is that it is not always the crimps that get you. Hopefully one day I can send that route it will amazing when it happens. LOL sorry for the rant story! Onwards
Thanks for your input man! Sounds like a rare incident, but not hitting something properly can indeed be a problem here and there, especially when slipping off and stuff. I'm sure you'll come back and send your proj! Stay strong!
Hi, I started climbing 2 weeks ago and just discovered your channel this week. Keep up the good works! :) Is it normal to get tired after 30 mins of climbing in my stage? After climbing for 30 mins, my whole arms lose all the energy juice, and they cannot even support my body weight of following climbing starts. Then I will need to wait for 2 days for my muscles to recover back for the next climbing session.
Well, you are still a beginner. 2 weeks is the very early stage, It's quite normal to get exhausted quickly, the energy storage of your forearms is still small. Give your body its time to recover, and soon you'll see the first results of your work!
Hey ! Fairly new climber here too, I've been climbing for almost 8 months. I completely get what you're going through : first time I was introduced to climbing, it was my brother who took me to a climbing gym, and he'd already been climbing for maybe a year. I climbed maybe 3-4 routes with rests in between, and I was completely destroyed - meanwhile, my brother just kept climbing for almost 3 hours. I couldn't comprehend how he could still climb after so long, especially since he was climbing harder routes. I also remember one of my earlier climbing sessions, where I had used my forearms so much I literally couldn't grip a bottle of water anymore - and I was still sore for a couple of days ! Now, however, I can usually go on as long as my brother did back then, and even though I still feel destroyed after a hard session, it's not nearly as bad as that one time. So keep climbing, it WILL get better ! I think you just have to let your body adapt to the new and strange stimulus you are putting it through. And this also means that you will progress very quickly ;)
Great video, as usual! For a related idea on the same topic, I recently installed on hangboard at home and want to train my fingers and finger strength. However, I have no idea how to fit that in to a 3 day/week climbing regiment w/o risking serious fatigue and eventual injury. Any advice on incorporating hangboards healthily?
You could start by dedicating a whole training day just for the hangboard session, and always doing a rest day directly afterwards, even if that means sacrificing other training for the hangboard. Once you get more experienced, you can try adding hangboard sessions after other sessions on the same day, with a restday afterwards (that's mostly how I do it at the moment). I would not do a hangboard session before another climbing session, since your fingers will be already weak and this will set you up for injury.
i seem to get a pain in the fingertips under the nail, its that feeling of the tips of my fingers being squashed and then the next day or two after, any pressure on the end is sore - cant find any information on what this could be or what could help prevent it. does anyone have any ideas
Today I was sand papering of my calluses and my roommate was so confused. Btw after 3 years of climbing it gets to a point were your hands are so rough and sore u just don't care anymore.
Thanks man! I asked because someone told me to start every day of trainig (i don't know how to say it but...) the inverse of pinching with some elastic bands around the fingers, have you ever done that?
my most frequent injury isn't muscular , joint or tendon related Its my skin on my hands I've been able to make some good calluses in the few months Ive been climbing they just all seem to rip off I've boiled it down to a couple possible causes just not sure first thought my hands just aren't used to my new hobby and my skin will get stronger in time two also because I'm new majority of climbs I do have alot of jugs and I've found them to be very hard on skin compared to other types of holds do you have any videos on skin maintenance by chance? if not maybe you could do a video in which you explain how to avoid skin injury then how to treat
Your skin is going to adapt to a certain point, depending on how big the issue is I'd recommend using hand cremes like climb on!. If it's really extreme you could start looking into antihydral, tough this is kind of a double edged sword because it can cause even deeper cut on your fingers if not used properly. Also never wear down your skin completely so that your body can build stronger skin until your next session and you don't have to start all over again.
your calluses may be getting too large at a certain point causing them to be easily ripped off. I read that using a nail file and filing them down helps a lot with that. I had one this week that was close to ripping and I tried it and it worked like a charm.
it happens often, when you are climbing jugs and are tired already.....for me it happens, when I'm trying to keep holding a jug, but I fail, and as I fall, it just rips my skin off........so the best advice is, don't climb jugs when you are too tired, or just don't try to hold on them so hard, just let go and fall
Interesting. My thinking was that the weight would be spread over it more fingers. However I understand now it's much more stress, almost doubling down in the index finger, and more force in all forefingers. Thanks.
Dealing with a finger injury right now and I'll admit it's probably because I was breaking all the rules in this video... been off climbing for about a month now :/
If you can do it pain free, try doing some very soft climbing moves here and there. This way your fitness doesn't drop that dramatically, and your finger doesn't forget what its actually recovering for. Sounds strange, but stopping climbing completely never fastened my recovery.
yeah it was hurting for a while to even do easy moves on jugs but lately ive been climbing just once or twice a week on really soft stuff and its slowly starting to improve. it's still quite stiff tho so im going to the doctor soon to get it checked out further
Damn that is some painful stuff, pretty good job that he came back from it! Were you subscribed before? I heard that there's a TH-cam bug going around unsubscribing actual viewers from channels, would be interesting if that was the case here as well.
I'm new to climbing and one thing I do is to not work on a route more then maybe 6 times. I use to make a dozen attempts and my hands would cave. Working the same holds over and over cause some strain. So if I work on a problem that is crimpy and I do not top out in 6 attempts, I move on to another problem with different holds, maybe slopers. Good advice in the video. Cheers!
Good tip!
This is definitely an effective strategy. Thanks for the input!
This video couldn't have come at a better time! I've been climbing for about 9 months now and just suffered my first finger injury last week while trying to push the grade. Thanks for the video and I'm looking forward to the next one regarding rehabilitating the injury. Thanks again!
Cheers for these videos! It's definitely given me food for thought when I'm at the climbing wall.
Hey, in future injury prevention videos I think it would be good to include opposition training like push-ups to prevent elbow injury.
Absolutely, I will cover that when the series moves on to elbows :)
New camera? quality looks great!
Nope, just refined my color correction a little bit. Glad you noticed it!
Yay! I'm dealing with a finger injury (middle joint in the middle finger) and according to the doctor it's due to faster advancement in the difficulty of my climbing than my finger could keep up with. So I'm doing some rehab now. Looking forward the coming videos, especially hoping for some warm up tips. I think it's hard when bouldering outdoors to know if my fingers are ready or not for the project, specially if it's a crimpy problem.
Warming up outdoors can indeed be tricky. If I'm approaching a hard, crimpy problem, I'm touching the holds with chalk quite a few times until I have the feeling my fingers got the "specific warmup" for those hold shapes. It gets interesting when the crux crimp is out of reach though..
Love your channel and the effort and passion you put into your videos. It really shows man. Keep up the great work!
Thanks David!
Not sure what you had in mind for your injury prevention series but I think it would be cool and worthwhile to do a video on antagonistic training exercises. I've heard that's huge when it comes to injury prevention. I'd definitely like to check that out! Thanks again.
I have to admit that I am currently recovering from a finger injury that this video would have probably prevented... that said thank you for all of your videos, I've been watching a lot of them and find them very helpful and full of valuable information. The editing and thoughtfulness that you put in are apparent!
Hey, great video! I'm glad my finger injury is completely healed.
This is great, thanks for doing these. We're excited for next episode :D
I think it's also a good idea to know the first signs of injury. I'm only recognizing them now because I got some tendonitis back when I was doing BJJ, but basically it's sore or tense back of fingers and/or joints. Give them time to heal, I climbed on Tuesday night and Friday morning they're still a little sore, which means I'm postponing today's (and probably the weekends) climbing session.
Great video Mani! Wish I watched this a couple weeks ago. Recently decided I was ready to project much crimpier problems and quickly injured my finger. Classic mistake of confusing muscular strength with tendon strength! I also watched your video on treatment (as well as some from other climbers) and will be climbing less aggressive problems with some tape on my fingers to help in recovery. Thanks so much!
Wish I watched it earlier! Started 7 months ago I got strong quite quick and got a tendon injury in a day where I was feeling the strongest and gave a full rest for 2 weeks, today I'll try pain free climbing again=)
Fantastic video! Really amazing editing as well, but just the way you explained everything is awesome as usual :)
Thanks Kat :)
I only want to share my experience. I injured my shoulder one year ago and now, after a surgery, i'm starting to climb again. I have two advices: 1 WARM UP! i injured my shoulder on the first climbing of the day (outdoor) and the route was only a 6a. 2 train all the body. i careless my shoulders for years, i only train my back and my arms but never the shoulders (do Planck, push up for shoulders and, the most important, use the ELASTIC BAND). i'm sorry for my bad english and dude, you are great!
Thanks for the input, that's definitely great advice!
Good video! Will follow these steps. I'm a beginner in bouldering, just recently got my first 7a. No injuries yet and I'd like to keep it that way.
Beginner, and already 7A! Good job!
Very nice video man! Thank you for putting this up! I m lucky that I never had any injuries so far and I hope it will continue like that :) Very good tips!
Great info! Keep it up!
im almost 1 year in with my finger injury, getting better but doesnt go away. take his advice seriously!!!
@ManiTheMonkey I wanted to share a little trick I came up with for a more efficient taping method. I basically use the H method but instead of cutting the tape up to the middle from both sides (which makes things a bit complicated to then apply it around your finger) I make a small cut, about 2 to 3cm on one side and cut a long on on the other stopping at about 1cm away from the short cut. What this methods improves is that it's easier to tape your fingers and it stays better even after a long climbing season. Also doesn't need to be re-taped on top like Volker shows on his videos. I know almost nothing about climbing I literally just started but your videos did help a lot, I hope this becomes useful to you!
Thanks ;)
Thanks for the input, interesting approach.
Great video, great advice! (Wish I'd stumbled across these 2 years ago, when I started... would have saved me a couple of injuries... particularly the point about tendon and ligament development taking years to develop compared to the weeks/months that muscles need)
Apart from skin injuries on the fingers and occasional scrapes and bruises, which I think are pretty much unavoidable, I got a painful case of climber's elbow through a) not enough rest periods (I love(d) climbing so much I might go 2 or 3 days in a row, way too much as a beginner), b) attempting the same tricky point again and again, thus loading the same points in the body again and again (now I don't try a problem point more than about 3 or 4 times, then I use the other grips from other problems to get past that point and try the next points on the same route).
It took 9 months to get rid of. I did lots of surfing, as I was also looking for help with an achilles' tendon problem, due to running... yep, same basic reason, too much, too fast, too little rest :)! Although, while too little rest is harmful, when you have a tendon problem, too much rest is also no good, as I read and experienced - the tricky bit with the rehabilitation is to push hard enough but not too hard :)!
Keep up the good work, Mani!!!
Great advice
Watched this video, listened to Mani say, "if you're feeling stronger, be careful.", was crushing it last night feeling really strong, and... bam. Significant strain injury on my meta carpals. womp womp :(
Thank you very much for good channel, great job :-)
I agree with you about avoid full crimp in indore climbing when somebody climb outdoors but when you climb only indoor what to do?
Train the more open grip types, and hell go outside!
very helpful video!
Warmup is super important as well👍
Absolutely, thanks for reminding me. I think I will dedicate a whole episode to that topic alone :)
Nice 👍 keep it up 💪
Are you able to provide some advice on tendon related injuries and prevention? Both my elbows and forearms hurt when I grip anything too hard at the moment, which has stopped me from climbing until they are better. I've also booked myself in to see a physiotherapist. Thank you.
I love your videos, but the sound is not the best. Did you think about getting a pro microphone?
Absolutely. You're right, sound quality is the point where my vids could improve the most I think. At the moment I'm saving for a Rode videomic pro and an Audiorecorder :)
+Vegan Rockclimbing lav mic wäre wohl optimaler für dich
Hey Mani, could you make a video about prevention, treatment and slow reintroduction to climbing from elbow injuries?
I've had to stop climbing for a month due to medial epicondylitis... and I'll go back to the gym soon, but still feeling some pain.
It's very common, very painful and the treatment is not very clear, so it'd be great if you can make a video!
The elbows are on my to-do list.
Awesome, look forward to it!
Hi there, great content!
However, would be great to get some advice how TO START after injury. Let's say, myself, I am about to come back bouldering after elbow fracture (which happened after unsucessful landing). How to overcome mental and physical fear to start over? How to deal with mental prejudice and do not start to overachieve just because of the felling of "downgrade"'?
Well shit! Nice video man, Just got my first climbing related injury after climbing for four years. An interesting thing happened when I was climbing at my favriote crag Willow river, trying my proj and there is a powerful move on shit feet to a big jug inside a waco and my hand hit the lip and i bumped it back to the good part of the hold and I felt this pain in my hand that I have never felt before. Really bummed right now. I guess my point is that it is not always the crimps that get you. Hopefully one day I can send that route it will amazing when it happens. LOL sorry for the rant story!
Onwards
Thanks for your input man! Sounds like a rare incident, but not hitting something properly can indeed be a problem here and there, especially when slipping off and stuff. I'm sure you'll come back and send your proj! Stay strong!
Hi, I started climbing 2 weeks ago and just discovered your channel this week. Keep up the good works! :)
Is it normal to get tired after 30 mins of climbing in my stage? After climbing for 30 mins, my whole arms lose all the energy juice, and they cannot even support my body weight of following climbing starts. Then I will need to wait for 2 days for my muscles to recover back for the next climbing session.
it depends if you have done any other sports before climbing. If not, you will likely progress ;)
Well, you are still a beginner. 2 weeks is the very early stage, It's quite normal to get exhausted quickly, the energy storage of your forearms is still small. Give your body its time to recover, and soon you'll see the first results of your work!
Hey ! Fairly new climber here too, I've been climbing for almost 8 months.
I completely get what you're going through : first time I was introduced to climbing, it was my brother who took me to a climbing gym, and he'd already been climbing for maybe a year. I climbed maybe 3-4 routes with rests in between, and I was completely destroyed - meanwhile, my brother just kept climbing for almost 3 hours. I couldn't comprehend how he could still climb after so long, especially since he was climbing harder routes.
I also remember one of my earlier climbing sessions, where I had used my forearms so much I literally couldn't grip a bottle of water anymore - and I was still sore for a couple of days !
Now, however, I can usually go on as long as my brother did back then, and even though I still feel destroyed after a hard session, it's not nearly as bad as that one time. So keep climbing, it WILL get better ! I think you just have to let your body adapt to the new and strange stimulus you are putting it through. And this also means that you will progress very quickly ;)
Great video, as usual! For a related idea on the same topic, I recently installed on hangboard at home and want to train my fingers and finger strength. However, I have no idea how to fit that in to a 3 day/week climbing regiment w/o risking serious fatigue and eventual injury. Any advice on incorporating hangboards healthily?
You could start by dedicating a whole training day just for the hangboard session, and always doing a rest day directly afterwards, even if that means sacrificing other training for the hangboard. Once you get more experienced, you can try adding hangboard sessions after other sessions on the same day, with a restday afterwards (that's mostly how I do it at the moment). I would not do a hangboard session before another climbing session, since your fingers will be already weak and this will set you up for injury.
i seem to get a pain in the fingertips under the nail, its that feeling of the tips of my fingers being squashed and then the next day or two after, any pressure on the end is sore - cant find any information on what this could be or what could help prevent it. does anyone have any ideas
You didn't mention warming up as an injury prevention strategy other than a performance improvement one. Isn't it such?
Nice Video, thank you.
But i have to add 1 really important Point in Terms of Finger injuries... Warm Up !!!
cool video;) thanks
Awareness is the best, veganism is honorable and efficient
Today I was sand papering of my calluses and my roommate was so confused. Btw after 3 years of climbing it gets to a point were your hands are so rough and sore u just don't care anymore.
The video was really good, I have been binge watching all of them. Definitely going to subscribe.
Yeah the confused roommates, I know what you mean :) I'm glad you enjoy the content!
Do you think that finger warm ups have any direct impact on injuries ?
A thorough warmup definitely reduces the chance of all injury in general. Finger warm ups? :) Just do a few easy moves and it should be fine.
Thanks man! I asked because someone told me to start every day of trainig (i don't know how to say it but...) the inverse of pinching with some elastic bands around the fingers, have you ever done that?
my most frequent injury isn't muscular , joint or tendon related
Its my skin on my hands
I've been able to make some good calluses in the few months Ive been climbing they just all seem to rip off
I've boiled it down to a couple possible causes just not sure
first thought my hands just aren't used to my new hobby and my skin will get stronger in time
two
also because I'm new majority of climbs I do
have alot of jugs and I've found them to be very hard on skin compared to other types of holds
do you have any videos on skin maintenance by chance?
if not maybe you could do a video in which you explain how to avoid skin injury then how to treat
Your skin is going to adapt to a certain point, depending on how big the issue is I'd recommend using hand cremes like climb on!. If it's really extreme you could start looking into antihydral, tough this is kind of a double edged sword because it can cause even deeper cut on your fingers if not used properly. Also never wear down your skin completely so that your body can build stronger skin until your next session and you don't have to start all over again.
your calluses may be getting too large at a certain point causing them to be easily ripped off. I read that using a nail file and filing them down helps a lot with that. I had one this week that was close to ripping and I tried it and it worked like a charm.
it happens often, when you are climbing jugs and are tired already.....for me it happens, when I'm trying to keep holding a jug, but I fail, and as I fall, it just rips my skin off........so the best advice is, don't climb jugs when you are too tired, or just don't try to hold on them so hard, just let go and fall
use sandpaper (grade 1000-1500) to wear down the old skin
yeah thanks will look into it
Why is using the thumb on a crimp worse than only 3 fingers?
more bent fingers- more stress on your pulleys- greater chance for injury.
Interesting. My thinking was that the weight would be spread over it more fingers. However I understand now it's much more stress, almost doubling down in the index finger, and more force in all forefingers. Thanks.
Dealing with a finger injury right now and I'll admit it's probably because I was breaking all the rules in this video... been off climbing for about a month now :/
If you can do it pain free, try doing some very soft climbing moves here and there. This way your fitness doesn't drop that dramatically, and your finger doesn't forget what its actually recovering for. Sounds strange, but stopping climbing completely never fastened my recovery.
yeah it was hurting for a while to even do easy moves on jugs but lately ive been climbing just once or twice a week on really soft stuff and its slowly starting to improve. it's still quite stiff tho so im going to the doctor soon to get it checked out further
I don't know why I was unsubscribed? anyway, I had a friend that dislocated his elbow haha he still climbs and is way better than me =)
Damn that is some painful stuff, pretty good job that he came back from it! Were you subscribed before? I heard that there's a TH-cam bug going around unsubscribing actual viewers from channels, would be interesting if that was the case here as well.
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Vegan Power!!!
Keep those fingernails and toenails trimmed up short.