Crimps are often met with fear or complete refusal to attempt them. The reason comes down to either – fear of getting injured, or just being unable to hold on to them. This leads to some climbers just skipping those routes that require a crimp, or having 1-2 attempts and then deeming it a failure. We’re going to break down what makes a crimp strong and how you can improve your crimp ability without multiple months of hangboard training.

Now to be clear; training absolutely helps. It raises your ceiling and lets you access harder holds over time. But if you’re looking for a quicker win, something that helps you use the strength you already have, then keep reading.

What Does A Crimp Require?

Finger Flexion

Your finger flexors are what actually create the force on the hold. It’s not just about how strong they are, it’s about whether they’re ready to produce force

If they’re not then the hold feels worse than it is, you fatigue quickly, and everything feels way harder than it should.

Wrist Position

Needs detail

Wrist Stability

Needs detail

The Mistake Most Climbers Make (and so did I for so long!)

Most climbers when they realise their crimp is weak…just hang more. Now, I aren’t saying that’s bad, but it’s also just not enough. Without properly warming up our hands, fingers, wrists, and forearms are just concrete muscles connected together with tendons of leather. Yes we can hang more, but all we’d have is more of the same situation – that doesn’t sound totally fun now, does it.

Even when people do warm up, they follow a few exercises they probably learnt in school or a different sport and assume that they are transferable. To be fair, some of them are. However, finger/wrist warm ups are not something necessary in most sports we grow up with, and hence we don’t know what to do.

Activate Then Mobilise

Before we can tackle any hard, at our limit, problems we must activate the muscles, and then mobilise them. Activating a muscle means getting it ready to work, bringing it to life if you will. We do this with a low load, and in a controlled way. Then we Mobilise. We move through our range of motion, from start to finish. Once again in a controlled way (You may notice a pattern with all of our exercises…CONTROL). We don’t want to be flapping about like a fish out of water on the wall. This combination is what actually increases the force we can transfer through our fingers and thumb, on to the hold. This makes the hold feel better, and should reduce injury risk.

3 Warm Up Exercises

Wrist Extension/Activation

1. Start by going on your palms and knees
2. Rotate your wrists so that the fingers point inwards.
3. Circulate the body on the wrists in a clockwise and counter clockwise motion to mobilize the wrists.

Finger Flexor Activation

1. Sit with your forearm resting on a table or your thigh, with your palm facing up.
2. Hold a dumbbell and allow your fingers to extend fully while holding the weight.
3. Slowly curl your fingers inward, bringing the weight into your palm, as if making a fist.
4. Hold the contraction at the top for a moment, then release and extend your fingers back to the starting position, and allowing the weight to roll down your fingers. Curl your fingers slightly at the end so the weight doesn’t fall off.

Finger Articulation & Control

1. Place your hand down flat on a surface.
2. Now trying to keep your fingers straight to the knuckles slide the tips of your fingers to your palm so that your knuckles raise up to the ceiling and slowly return to the start position.

Quick Reality Check

Do any of these sound familiar?

• You can place the hold, but can’t really use it
• It feels worse than it should
• Your grip feels inconsistent
• You fatigue almost instantly

If so, you’re probably not lacking strength…you’re lacking preparation.