Fingerboard in Competitive Bouldering

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However, from a scientific point of view, FBs have to date been used mainly as assessment tools to determine muscle strength and endurance (16,23); they have not been investi- gated as training devices to increase grip endurance in com- petitive BL. Thus, it remains unclear to what extent and in what time frame FB can contribute to increasing grip strength and endurance compared with conventional BL. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate the training effects of a 4-week FB regimen compared with a conventional BL regimen of equal duration and training volume. We hypoth- esized that FB would lead to greater gains in grip strength compared with BL because specific grip positions are worked maximally until muscle failure in FB (14). We also expected greater mean grip endurance gains in the FB group compared with the BL group because conventional BL in- volves low-height climbing routes with a limited number of climbing movements (7,14).

METHODS

Experimental Approach to the Problem

To test our hypotheses, 23 highly advanced male boulderers were randomly allocated to a regimen of 4 weeks of FB (n = 11) or BL (n = 12), each consisting of 3 sessions per week with a duration of 150 minutes per session and a min- imum rest period between 2 training sequences of 48 hours. Fingerboard and BL were determined to be independent variables. Pretests and posttests of 120 minutes in duration (dependent variables) involved the following: (a) grip strength assessed using handheld dynamometry (GS) and grip endurance determined as the hanging time to volitional fatigue, including (b) dead hangs in the common crimp,

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sloper, and pinch grips (DHcrimp, DHsloper, and DHpinch, respectively) and (c) intermittent finger hangs (IFH). In addi- tion, body weight, room temperature, and perceived physical state (PEPS) were assessed to determine the potential influ- ence of these variables on the test results.

The sport-specific tests used in this study to investigate grip strength and endurance were chosen to guarantee high test apparatus access and easily reproducible test criteria to promote the establishment of a database for future compar- ative data classification. Handheld dynamometry has been shown to be a valid and reliable method for assessing grip strength (1,19), and straight-arm isometric finger hangs until volitional exhaustion have previously been demonstrated by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) to be a reliable indicator with a value that increases with climbing ability level (1,12). In addition, 6 subjects from this study were randomly selected from the FB and BL groups and per- formed a grip strength and endurance test-retest to assess reliability and consistency, separated by 48 hours of rest and with retest data serving as the initial pretest values.

Subjects

A total of 23 highly advanced male boulderers volunteered to participate in the study and were randomly allocated using abba sorting to FB (n = 11) or BL (n = 12) regimens of equal duration and training volume. The FB and BL subjects had equal climbing abilities, comparable years of climbing experience, and similar body characteristics (Table 1). All participants (a) had to be at least 18 years old, (b) were recruited from local climbing clubs and commercial climbing centers, (c) had to be experienced in regular BL training in the past year (at least 1 training session per week), and (d) were not allowed to be engaged in a periodized training regimen in the last 4 weeks before the investigation to minimize the influence of past training effects on the investigation results. In addition, a self-reported BL ability of at least 7a Fb (Fb corresponds to Fontainebleau, a rating scale used in BL) in the 6 months before the investigation

TABLE 1. Subject characteristics by training samples.*†

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the

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Age (y) Height (m) Body mass (kg) BMI (kg$m22) Climbing

experience (y) Climbing ability (au)

26.3 6 4.5 1.78 6 0.04 71.0 6 5 22.4 6 1.4

5.8 6 2.4

25.0 6 4.5 1.77 6 0.06 69.4 6 5 22.1 6 1.2

6.5 6 3.2 9.8 6 0.7

9.8 6 1.0 *FB = fingerboard; BL = bouldering.

†Results are given as mean 6 SD.

FB(n=11) BL(n=12)

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Fingerboard in Competitive Bouldering

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was required to ensure that the subjects had advanced BL ability. Reports from the FB-scale were converted to a climbing ability conversion table (2) to enable statistical analyses. Moreover, subjects had to complete a physical activity and health history questionnaire before participat- ing in the study, and only healthy boulderers with no recent injuries and a minimum climbing experience of 3 years were recruited. All subjects verbally received testing in- structions (sleep, nutrition, and hydration), provided writ- ten informed consent to participate in the study, and were informed of their right to leave the study at any stage. The study protocol received ethical approval from the German Sport University Cologne.

Procedures

The investigation took place in-season (November to January) to minimize substantial temperature fluctuations and to avoid erroneous increases caused by lower physical states during the off-season. Pretests and posttest protocols, each with a 50-min duration, were performed at the same time of day (18:00 to 19:00) with a minimum rest period before data collection of 48 hours, during which no physical activity was allowed. The contents and timing of the pretests and posttests did not change and were the same for the FB and BL groups. Participants were supervised by the same examiner and were prompted to maintain their daily eating and sleeping habits. There was to be no alcohol consump- tion within 24 hours or caffeine consumption within 2 hours of data collection.

Participants arrived