Best Rehab Tool for Finger Injuries: Farmer Crimps

[@cojabr]

I've been using this weighted crimp concept I learned from this channel, but I don't have the rock rings. Instead I've been crimping on the inside lip of a weight plate, and I add additional plates with a chain when I need to add more resistance. It's been driving significant progress over the past few weeks for a tendon strain injury. Thanks for the video!

[@vincentton4449]

love the outtakes at the end!

[@EverettWilson]

Thanks for putting this together. Hacked together a simple campus rung setup with scrap wood and some old webbing!

[@HoopersBeta]

Nice! That's awesome. Great way to reuse your resources.

[@die_hertz]

How's that possible a channel with such content and editing quality has so few subscribers. I hope that changes

[@HoopersBeta]

Working on it! :)

[@jhead6833]

Hey, cool channel:) What do you think about using these instead of hangboarding? How does it compare? Does one get a same stimulous or is hangboard much more comparable to climbing?

[@Albe851]

Super helpful content. Thanks!

[@mountbeckworth1]

Thanks. For a more open hand position I got a small plant pot, the sort that is red clay, and threaded a weight through the hole. You grip the bottom of the pot and lift. Often holds on climbs aren't the orientation of the Metolius gear, so this trains other aspects.

[@HoopersBeta]

Great idea! Good use of your available resources.

[@motoz30]

seems dicey. as you increase the weight &/or intensity of your squeeze you may just shatter that clay. i'd use that pot as a mold, and use concrete mix.

[@mountbeckworth1]

To motoz30...if you can crush a garden clay pot in your hand, you most probably don't need to exercise. Your problem will be crushing each handhold as you climb. Good luck with that.

[@The.sun.chaser]

Hey Hooper, so this teaches me how to strengthen my muscles for crimping. What training should be done for the antagonist muscle group of crimping?

[@emilferent23]

Really appreciate it! Thanks a lot!

[@thrillhouse8787]

Is there any advantage to the "farmer" position (hand beside hip) vs a more standard finger pull lift (pulling hand in front of the GROINAL area, legs apart etc)?

[@jakebaldwin6450]

Between this video and the pulley injury video I don't believe you provided any guidance on frequency or intensity. During rehab how often would you recommend doing farmer crimps and what are the approximate sets and reps for each session?

[@HoopersBeta]

The intensity is dictated by the amount of discomfort you have. the "proper pain protocol" is a guide for this and can be seen in our finger pain video (link here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fInclGZ6mbehpNU) Frequency: can be done approximately every other day. Sets - reps: It should be each set is just 1 rep of a 10 second hold. 4-6 sets in total depending on level of discomfort and timeline of your injury.

[@bjrn6379]

As a somewhat newer climber, about 6 months in, I have not used a fingerboard or any similar devices. Would this still be an ok excercise for me to do, seing as you don't have to go anywhere near bodyweight? After climbing a bit to hard and with a bit to high of a frequency, I've gotten some soreness in my middle finger, and if i just push the top of the thumb and middle finger together as in a full crimp angle/position (not the closed crimp), I feel some discomfort around the A4, whereas a half crimp position/closed crimp feels completly pain free. Would this excercise be beneficial for that kind of issue, to do parallell with climbing which is less strenous for the fingers? Thank you for a truly superb channel!

[@oliverjohnsonuk]

Hi, what sort of protocol would you recommend for farmers crimps as a recovery aid for an A2 strain?

[@nathangiannini3282]

Quick question for anyone who might know the answer. I hurt my finger right before Covid (not badly just strained) and ever since it still hurts when I try and crimp. I rested basically for 8 months but he said that you should be loading it during the healing process so that it heals properly. My questions is did I wait to long to start loading my finger now for it to heal properly? Or is it never to late to start reloading an injured finger so it stops hurting. Thanks.

[@HoopersBeta]

Not too late! Definitely check out our video that discussed pain science and covers what you're asking! The video is called why your finger won't heal and how to fix it.

[@nathangiannini3282]

@@HoopersBeta just did! Thanks for the quick response!

[@Qwerpy123]

My ring finger is still pretty tender after I either strained or partially tore a pulley about 5 weeks ago. It doesn’t feel great hanging even 2.5 lbs on it. Is it worthwhile do do these with my middle finger assisting until the ring finger has recovered more?

[@HoopersBeta]

Yeah you should do it with all the fingers rather than just the strained one. You may also need to do some more gentle loading before working up to these carries if it remains an issue.

[@Snow4LifeNEver]

If buying that crimp tool is not within my budget, what are the alternatives? Can I just hold a light weight at the end of my fingers?

[@HoopersBeta]

You want an edge of some sort rather than just the handle of a dumbbell. You can make an edge out of pretty much anything! Screw two pieces of wood together and you can make it whatever thickness you want :)

[@Snow4LifeNEver]

@@HoopersBeta ​ Thanks for the tip! I ended up buying a pair of those portable hangboards and combined it with the plate holder of a wrist roller. And thanks to all your wonderful content, I was able to completely recover from my A2 pulley injury and haven't felt it ever since! Even did my first 5.12a a couple of weeks ago, full of full crimps that really tested those pulleys 😅

[@Snow4LifeNEver]

@@Jennifer-wr9si I consider the rock rings to be portable hangboards. As long as you have edges of different depths, it should do the trick. Hooper's Beta mentioned that you could even use two pieces of wood screwed together. Buying one was more time/cost efficient for me, plus I only really need one so I was planning on splitting the price with a friend if I ever find one who wants the second portable hangboard.

[@codyheiner3636]

This seems functionally exactly the same as hangboarding, that's why "no one is doing them". Yes it's easier to precisely modulate the amount of force for very light weights, but the scenario where that is important is relatively rare, and it doesn't seem to be worth the hassle IMO. Experienced athletes with good body awareness can just hangboard and keep the feet on the ground to modulate the weight on the fingers.

[@HoopersBeta]

In my opinion, that is a mistake. How warm your tissue is, amount of rest, workouts prior that week, etc. can all play a role in how much you can load through your tissue. So thinking that day to day you can simply "modulate the weight on the fingers" with your feet on the ground is extremely subjective, inaccurate, and not what I would recommend. Take the time, make the effort, and be objective about your training / rehab. Also, to throw some science in there. It has been studied that many athletes will only generate 60% of their max force on giving weight training drills compared to their 1 rep max (where 80-85% is required to generate change) so we are naturally not great at identifying appropriate work loads).

[@RubenRojasCHL]

@@HoopersBeta About the inaccuracy, what if you use a digital scale? I weight about 76kg, step on the scale and keep it at +-45kg, that way I'm only hangboarding with roughly 40% of my BW, doing 4-6 sets of 45-60 seconds aswell as using the pain protocol you mentioned. Wouldn't this lead to similar results?

[@meekrodriguez6438]

First