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Tendon glides

3 rounds of 45 s cycling five hand shapes: straight, tabletop, straight fist, hook fist, full fist.

Warm-up
Mobility
3 min
Low intensity
Low injury risk
Timer

How to do it

Tendon glides move the finger flexor tendons through their full travel before you load them. Cycle smoothly through five hand shapes: fingers straight; tabletop (bend only the big knuckles, fingers flat); straight fist (bend the big and middle knuckles so the fingertips touch the base of your palm, end joints straight); hook fist (curl the two end joints, big knuckles straight); full fist. Do it for 45 seconds, rest 15, and repeat 3 times, both hands at once. To reach the tendons that cross the wrist too, hold the wrist bent back with your other hand or a sling while you cycle. It's a warm-up, not a strengthener; follow it with easy climbing.

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.

Tendon glides

0:00 / 2:50

Ready

2:50

3 rounds

3 rounds of 45 s cycling five hand shapes: straight, tabletop, straight fist, hook fist, full fist.

3
rounds
45s
work
15s
rest
2:50
total

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Who it's for

Anyone about to load their fingers, especially on cold days or when your hands feel stiff after a rest day. It takes three minutes and asks nothing of you, which makes it easy to do every session.

Common mistakes

  • Blurring the shapes together. Make each shape clearly before moving to the next. Half-made shapes skip the part of the movement you're after.
  • Squeezing hard. The full fist is closed, not clenched. This is movement, not effort.
  • Treating it as the whole warm-up. It gets the tendons moving. Your fingers still need easy climbing before anything hard.
  • Going fast. Smooth and steady through all five shapes. Rattling through them turns it into hand shaking.

How to progress

There's nothing to load here. When the basic sequence feels easy, add the version with your wrist held bent back, which also moves the tendons that cross the wrist. Then keep doing it; its value is in doing it before every session.

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.

  • Power Endurance Keep your power through one hard move after another.

  • Endurance Climb longer before you pump out, by moving efficiently.

  • Performance Peak for a trip or a comp: focus, reading problems, trying hard.

  • Deload Train less, let your fingers recover, keep moving.