The Number One Lesson I Learned from Climbing 100+ Moonboard Benchmarks

Check out the video to find out the number one lesson I learned from climbing 100+ moonboard benchmarks!

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[chrominox]

Honestly, dude, you capturing your progress is so influential. I know it serves as a point in time thing for you personally, but I want you to know that it influences people to believe that things *are* possible if they are well planned, structured and consistent. Thanks!

[AndreaTU]

"You sir, or the 7.3% of female watchers" 😂

[missycalimba]

I have been climbing the 2017 moonboard for the past 4 months, 3 times a week. But I don't climb super hard just V3/4/5s and can do moves less dynamically since I am tall. Have been taking a deload week every 3 weeks. Was thinking about skipping the deload this month, but on second thought maybe not!

[Michael_Schmatzberger]

Great summary :) as someone who has phases of almost exclusively climbing on the moonboard for months: You are absolutely right about taking it slow in the beginning, this is an important point that often gets ignored as people get early exitement about the moonboard and overdo climbing on it.

[partykrew]

Dude, I injured my wrist a few weeks ago right after taking about six months for my shoulder to heal. I know the feeling of wanting to still climb and improve while you're recovering. It's so hard to stay disciplined. Stay strong man

[evankuhn]

Super important video. I really appreciate it. Definitely important to talk about injuries especially with respect to the moonboard, so it's so easy to just keep pushing. I never got seriously injured up until the end of September 2020 (not on the moonboard, but on a dynamic move on an overhang with crimps). I couldn't climb at all for a long time, and even when I was able to start climbing again, I just did laps on super easy climbs. I'd say I'm mostly healed now, but looking back, it was definitely an issue of doing too much moonboarding accompanied with, on that particular day, not enough warmig up, and it sucked so much and I'll be sure to never make that mistake again (or try not to, at least)

[MitchellRoman]

Thanks for always making informative content for us out here!!! It's greatly appreciated!

[Stickmayne]

I seriously love watching your videos because I'm right about the same spot you are on the MB and climbing/strength in general. You'll heal up and get back at it man! Stay careful and keep getting strong 💯

[SendEdition]

That sucks that you got injured again! Thanks for sharing your experience - it's incredible how fast you've been leveling up your climbing. I hope to get to your level and maybe I'll be lucky and avoid the injuries too. Though, injury recovery makes for a great video too, I bet ;)

[dojanglesclimb]

Haha this must have been recommended to me because I've been climbing and uploading moonboard videos on my channel for about 3 months now. Have not injured myself yet, but maybe I'm not pushing as hard as you are. One day I climbed 16 V3s in like 1 hour and my elbow hurt for 2 weeks, but it must not have been too serious because I kept climbing with longer warm ups and got through it OK. Will definitely not do that again, and now I am thinking I should try less hard after watching this video. Thank you for sharing your experience.

[Popochas_]

Hey, I have been following your videos and I think this one has comon climbing controversy about training loads and I would like to give my opinion. Just to give some context, I built my own moonboard 2017 on my yard due to COVID and I have been training with the moonboard 2 - 3 times per week for a full year and for my surprise it's my best record without injures. 2 - 3 hours per sesh. 99 Entries 384 Benchmarks - 707 Problems in total.

Before covid I trained 3 times per week and only 1 day of those 3 on the moonboard and I always had climbing injures. (Elbow and fingers).



For sure I'm on the highest point of my climibing life. Boulder and Sport Climbing on the outdoors and indoors.

I just want to clarify I'm not an climbing specialist, but I have look for improvements to avoid injures and improve my climbing game.



The game changers for me were drinking the proper amount of water 2 - 3 Lt, specific warmup 15 min (For fingers I grab moonboard holds as you were climbing with my feet on the floor, 2 -3 sets of 1 min, you can control the weight on the fingers as you want), preventive exercises at the end of the moon sesh ( with low weight and more Reps) targeting golfers elbow, rotator cuff (Eric Hörst video), forearmes exercises and weighted pinch excercises. Why at the end of the sesh?, because you will also train resistance.



Stretching 15 - 20 min and a good and hot shower at the end of the ritual.



Weighted pull ups and strenght abs out of the climbing days.



And I think this is the most important the proper rest. I DO NOT climb two consecutive days and I try to get an minimum of 7 hours sleep rest.

Also as soon as I feel something different from normal on my fingers or muscle s, I give 2 - 5 of full rest and also get an preventive physiotherapy on the uptight area.

I'm gladly to say that some tips were taken from your videos and from other youtube channels,

Thank you very much for your work and keep the psyched!!!

Sorry for my english.

[cernsb]

Thanks to all who have informed me about finger health whilst climbing. Having seen things like this, I know if I feel tightness or similar things in my fingers, I reduce my amount of climbing until it clears. Here's hoping that your finger injury doesn't stick around for too long

[HaydenRovelli]

great video man! makes sense, love that dang moonboard though

First of all: I hope you'll recover soon!
Totally agree with your analysis. Moonboard is definitely less diverse than climbing in the gym. Since all gyms are closed, I've build my own Moonboard and became a heavy user now. I'd like to share some learnings from only training on the Moonboard for a couple of weeks now:
1) properly warm up: I really don't like warming up but it's key to survive the Moonboard. I spend 15-20min doing several excerices and do some easy routes at 25° angle. It turned out those acupressure finger massage rings make a big difference. I massage every finger for a minute or so to warm up my tendons. Easy to do, big effect!
2) Although I really want to finish a problem, I have to force myself to do 2-3 min breaks between tries. I've started collecting 2-3 min activities I could do in those breaks (e.g. reading articles in magazines, cleaning holds, ...)
3) Take at least two rest days. While climbing in the gym, one day was usually enough. After a moonboard sessions, that's not enough anymore for me
4) stretching and finger massage after the session
5) if you have a high-gravity day, better leave it than force it
I hope that's a bit helpful. I'm looking forward watching more Moonboard content on you channel soon ;)

[tztz]

Hope you have a speedy discovery! I think this video is a great reminder to all of us on how we should take care of ourselves, imo it's better than the sucess story/tips video which there are plenty online already. I like how u joke about it at the end, hope you have a good recovery and I will be excited to see your other vids. Oh and 新年快乐！

[brenttsuji]

Sorry to hear about your finger, wish you a speedy recovery. Lesson learned!

[TesterAnimal]

I’ll take this into account when I get mine built. Once per week, with the other session on the 30 degree board.

[roxane]

One year ago indoor gyms were closed, so my gym installed outside walls. Those walls were mostly overhang, pretty straight forward, hard climbing comparable to moonboards. Because I was excited after several months without climbing, I suffered a lot of injuries. I also pulled out one tiny bone in my hand that my physical therapist had to put back. I realized that (besides the fact that I didn't climb for some time), I usually do a lot of slab during my climbing sessions. Alternating slab and overhang allows you to climb longer and avoid injuries. Variation is the key !!

[Haglar]

ya well I can't injure myself on the moonboard because I can't pull off the ground

[vincentwang]

I want to share with you my thought for moonboard training, hopefully it can be helpful :)
About my level: onsight V6 and project V8, I have finished Moonboard 2019 V3 and V4 benchmarks and several V5.

Plan: Moonboard session twice per week (3 or 4 days in between), each session for 1.5 hour maximum. During the climbing, I usually avoid little crimps or big dynos on the left hand as I have A2 and A4 pulley injuries on my index and ring fingers. Also, I would avoid to climb one problems for more than 3 times during one session as repetitive movement can more likely cause injury

Effect: I always have inflammation on my fingers (good pain) second day after the moonboard session, which means the session indeed works. Also, I can feel the improvement in my finger strength and body tension day by day without an increasing suffering from the fingers.

Hope you can recover soon and send awesome projects in the future!