Grippy Pull Down Test - beastmaker climbing grip strength test

Feb 04, 2024 beastmaker Climbing Motherboard

As I bought my beastmaker Motherboard setup I was a bit upset. I did expect from the Motherboard and Grippy App somekind of digital tools to test my finger grip strength and improve it by a training plan or workout. The part with the workouts was fine. There existed a few predefined by big names of the climbing community and there was the possibility to add your owns. Unfortunately there didn't exist precise finger strengths tests as you may know them from Lattice Trainging for example. Until I opened the Grippy App yesterday.

Why might a precise finger strength test be usefull?

While training your finger grip strength on a fingerboard, but also on pull-ups for example it migth be important to set a goal and be able to measure the progress. Those tests make sense before and after a mesocycle. For pull-ups this seems simple. Just take the amount of repetitions or the added weight on a fixed amount. You could do the same for finger strength with added weight on the 20mm edge of the beastmaker. Just add some weight on your harness and try to hang on the edge for a predefined amount of time. For example 10 or 12 seconds. This process might take you a few tries until you reach your limit exactly. This process might be excessive effort if you already have a smart fingerboard with a loadcell.

Grippy Max hang benchmarks

The Grippy App aleady has some benchmark tests. But those are more like boolean tests. Have you been able to stay on a certain amount of time on a edge or not? The following levels do exist.

Civilian 100% bodyweight on 45mm
Kinda Fit 100% bodyweight on 30mm
Well Fit 100% bodyweight on 20mm
Strong 100% bodyweight on 15mm
Well Strong 125% bodyweight on 15mm
Semi Pro
Pro
Weak Beast
Beast
Ghost

You have the possibility to achieve Bronze for hanging 5 seconds, Silver for hanging 7 seconds and Gold for hanging 9 seconds on the defined level. The gaps between those levels make them useless to measure your trainging progress of the last three to four weeks.

Grippy Pull Down Test

The new no hang tests of the Grippy App are using the data from the loadcell more accurate. You need to hang with one arm on four different holds for 12 seconds. Afterwards comes the second arm. The four holds are the following.