Climbing: Grip Strength Carryover and Other Questions

Doss

Doss

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I've very recently (just within the last few days) been getting back into climbing. I had thought that maybe some grip strength would carry over from my weight training, but what I quickly found was that compared to even amateur climbers the strength in the last few joints of my fingers is laughable.

I'm sure that I'm going to get into climbing more, but I was wondering if any other serious lifters have ever climbed while trying to add mass? I'm thinking the lats and bi's will get hit quite a lot once my grip gets better, and building up that grip strength will probably have some affect on gripping BBs and DBs. The core will get some work as well. I'm just wondering how it will affect my physique?

Any thoughts on this?
 
Torobestia

Torobestia

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There are various types of grip strengths, and none of them actually translate over into the other. That is, getting strong in one area of grip won't help you get strong in another area of grip strength. There's pinch grip, crushing grip, and static grip, and there's wrist strength and finger strength. Each can be trained individually. Check this out for more on grip: getlifting.info » Get Gripped I – Why train your grip?
 
ZiR RED

ZiR RED

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It won't have any negative affect upon your physique. And lets not forget how much the legs are use to propel you upwards when you climb.

Just make sure you maintain hip and shoulder mobility. Excessive tightness in the pecs and hip flexor complex will really hold you down (pun...slightly intended)

br
 
Doss

Doss

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Thanks for the info, guys. Nice, quick read, Toro, I enjoyed it.

Br - Could you recommend any stretches or exercises to help with hip mobility? My focus lately has centered around hinge mobility and abduction exercises. Are their other movements that need specified attention?
 
Doss

Doss

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I'd like to update this in case any other bodybuilders are interested in climbing.

After almost 2 more weeks of climbing, I've noticed some very positive effects on my physique/training. Despite hearing that building 'climbing' grip strength in the last digit or two of each finger wouldn't carry over into weight lifting, I've noticed that on my really heavy sets my grip is lasting much longer than it used to. I'm no longer using straps for my work sets while deadlifting.

My upper back definition is getting better as well, but the most noticeable, positive change has been in my shoulders. Like many lifters my delts were imbalanced slightly towards the front and the middle of the delt didn't point straight down, but instead curved slightly to the front. This is almost gone. My rear delts have really rounded out and each shoulder is much more symmetrical from front to back.

I haven't noticed as much growth in my lats as I would've expected - I think it's because most of my pullup/chinup work is done with added weight.

Climbing is great fun and so far it's done nothing but aid me in my fitness goals. I highly recommend it. Being so much thicker than any of the other guys at the climbing wall is interesting too. A lot of people comment on how different my build is from the usual climbers! Ego stroking.
 

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