Recruitment pulls
5 max-effort pulls of 5 s per arm, alternating arms, 1 min between pulls.
- Slot
- Strength
- Focus
- Finger strength
- Time
- 10 min
- Intensity
- High intensity
- Injury risk
- Moderate injury risk
- Equipment
- Hangboard, Timer
How to do it
Dr. Tyler Nelson's short, all-out finger pulls. Stand under a hangboard with your feet on the floor and take an edge with one hand, elbow slightly bent. Build the pull over 1-2 seconds, then pull down as hard as you can for the rest of the 5 seconds - your feet stay on the floor, so you control the load. Switch hands after each pull, resting about a minute between pulls, for 5 pulls per arm. Fine as a primer before climbing, or at least 4-6 hours away from it.
Run it now
The same timer as the app: a five-second get-ready, then every round and rest counted down with a beep. Keep this page open while you train.
Recruitment pulls
0:00 / 9:10
Ready
9:10
10 rounds
5 max-effort pulls of 5 s per arm, alternating arms, 1 min between pulls.
High risk: read the protocol, stop if anything feels wrong.
- 10
- rounds
- 5s
- work
- 55s
- rest
- 9:10
- total
Done.
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Take the quizWho it's for
A good first structured finger session for climbers who are wary of hangboarding. Feet stay on the floor, so you decide the load rather than your bodyweight deciding it, which makes it both safer and easier to scale than max hangs.
Common mistakes
- Yanking from the start. Build the pull over one to two seconds, then hold maximum. A snatch is how you hurt a pulley.
- Not actually pulling hard. The opposite failure, and more common. Three seconds at genuine maximum should be uncomfortable and should leave you glad it's over.
- Letting the elbow lock out. Slight bend, shoulder engaged, same as any hang.
- Doing them right after climbing. Either as a primer before you climb, or at least four to six hours away from a session.
- Adding sets because they feel short. They're meant to feel short. Five pulls per arm is the whole session.
How to progress
Because your feet set the load, progress is simply pulling harder against the same edge, which is hard to measure by feel. A cheap crane scale or force plate turns this from guesswork into a number, and this exercise is the one in the catalog that benefits most from measuring it.
When it fits
The training periods this exercise fits into in Blok Sessions.
Base Lots of easy climbing, good movement and aerobic fitness.
Strength Stronger fingers and pulling, with weight you control.
Power Explosive moves, momentum and coordination.
Performance Peak for a trip or a comp: focus, reading problems, trying hard.