A Training Band and a Rubber Egg

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Recently I bought a Training band and a rubber egg (otherwise known as a Pilates Stretching Hand Rehabilitation Ball) instead of a Fingerboard. I want to strengthen my fingers to progress as a climber. I often know what to do but finger strength is the limiting factor.

Ever since I saw fingerboards in web videos and in person I have wanted to get one but at first didn’t know where to get one and then didn’t find one at an acceptable price. When I saw it at one of the climbing gyms where I go the price was unreasonable so I lost interest. The one at Décathlon is at a better price so I was tempted. For the fingerboard I need to buy a drill, some screws, and place it. This is easy to do but the costs mount up.

I want to strengthen my finger strength with the rubber band. They have several levels of resistance and I chose the one with 35kg of resistance. They have higher resistance ones but I didn’t like the higher prices. The next step is to find videos showing how versatile these are for strength training.

The Rubber Egg as I call it is great because you can strengthen fingers individually or all at once. You can easily carry it with you and strengthen your fingers at any time of the day. I have played with it for two or three days now and I can feel the different muscle groups that are being recruited.

The alternative to the fingerboard, the training band and the egg is to go bouldering two to three times a week for an hour or two at a time. The drawback is that these gyms cost from 21 CHF per training session to 600+ francs per year. With the Rubber Egg and training band I will train on a daily basis, and see gains when climbing with the group on a weekly basis. Ideally both of these toys will allow me to climb beyond 6a and enjoy the overhanging routes.