Crimping is a technique climbers and boulderers use to grip small holds. Here are the key types of crimping grips, their differences and some tips and exercises to increase your finger strength.
Full Crimp Grip
Position: In the full crimp, the fingers are bent sharply, with the first knuckle at a 90-degree angle. The thumb wraps over the index finger, providing additional pressure and stability.
Advantages: It’s the strongest crimp position due to the added leverage and support from the thumb.
Drawbacks: The full crimp grip puts significant strain on the tendons, ligaments, and finger joints, especially in the flexor tendons. This can lead to injuries such as pulley tears or strain if used excessively without sufficient conditioning.
Half Crimp Grip
Position: The half crimp has the fingers bent slightly less than in a full crimp. The first joint is less sharply bent, and the thumb usually doesn’t wrap over the index finger.
Advantages: The half crimp provides a balance between strength and strain on the fingers, making it somewhat safer than the full crimp for prolonged use.
Drawbacks: It’s not as powerful as the full crimp, but still requires significant finger strength.
Open Hand Grip
Position: In an open hand grip, the fingers are more extended, with only a slight bend at each knuckle, and the thumb doesn’t wrap over the fingers. This position uses more of the forearm’s pulling strength rather than the fingers alone.
Advantages: The open hand grip is the safest for tendons and ligaments as it distributes force more evenly and reduces the risk of injury.
Drawbacks: It requires more forearm strength and less finger strength than crimping, making it challenging for very small or sharp holds.
Avoiding over-crimping and cultivating relaxation while crimping
According to Nail Gresham: Over-gripping is a common tendency among climbers, especially when fear or stress kicks in. Many climbers instinctively apply an excessive safety margin with their grip, wasting energy unnecessarily. Instead, aim to relax your grip by focusing on dragging your fingers over the holds and leveraging friction to grip more passively. This approach not only conserves energy but also enhances your efficiency and flow on the wall.
Developing a relaxed grip requires consistent practice, especially since it’s one of the first skills to slip away in high-stress situations. To train effectively, incorporate this drill on vertical or gently overhanging walls, where friction-based gripping is more applicable. On steeper terrain, you’ll find the technique easier to internalize compared to slabs, where different strategies take precedence.
The key to mastering this skill is repetition—practice it often and mindfully, until it becomes second nature.
Tips to improve your crimping
- Draw your hips and chest close to the wall. The closer you get to the wall the better the crimp is, the more surface area you have for your fingers. To get your hips closer, pull your hips with your feet and tension in your body towards the wall. Automatically you will move more weight on your feet and have less weight on your fingers.
- Reach next holds with extension, holding your body lower, underneath the holds you are holding.
- Where possible use heels instead of toes. This will help you hold your body closer to the wall. Also this will help making rock overs easier.
- On slabs you probably don’t get the option to draw both hips and chest closer to the wall. Getting just the chest closer will already help.
- Lock off between holds to maintain stability.
- Use the other hand to push you and the hand reaching towards the next hold.
- Improve your deadpoint. Deadpoint is
the moment the upward movement stops, just before gravity pulls them back down. This will give you fractions of seconds you need to grab the next hold. - Use full crimps and learn to become more familiar with smaller edges.
- Skin conditions will be different for each individual. Find out what works for you in the conditions you are climbing smaller crimps.
Train your finger strength
Science has so far shown two ways to train your finger strength. First is by the method of Eva Lopez-Rivera second is the no hang version of Emil Abrahamsson.
Sources
Eva Lopez-rivera, Finger strength training for climbing: a basic guide to hangboarding