Intense Finger Training
This video didn’t get shot until after about three weeks training these pull-ups, not the most encouraging statement, but it took a while for my muscles and tendons to adapt to the loading. Then there was of course the need to just become accustomed to the pain of the weight on the fingers. I have seen some guys do similar work with their fingers all the way through the loops of whatever they are using for the pull-ups, but if you stay on your pads this whole exercise just becomes brutal.
This whole series of finger tip work grew out of an obsession with trying to strengthen tendons, not just building up strength. A number of sources such as Supertraining, and much of Pavel’s work talk about the need to put a pretty extreme load on the tendons if you are looking to actually see them get stronger. This was my adaptation of that idea for climbing. It is way easier to hang out and rest on a small pocket when your tendons and musculature has become used to bearing a load much higher than your body weight. The next training video in this particular series that I hope to get out is the work I have been doing with lock offs, forgetting completely about pull-up reps and just looking for static holds in various positions and with various hand positions.