How to think about training and weaknesses?

24M - 5ft 6in (167cm) - 150lbs (68kg) - +1ape

I've climbed for almost 2 years and seriously trained for maybe 1 year. I had some experience climbing in college but that was less <6 months. My training for a little bit included a lot of hangboarding and high-effort climbing on the moonboard but that stopped when I got an A2 pulley injury on my left hand pointer finger. Now when I train I continue to climb on the moonboard but effort is not as intense unless I feel like working on a project, and no dedicated hangboarding sessions. I've done 22/40 V3 2019 Benchmarks and a few other V4/5s. My sessions almost all look like climbing 5-8 V3s and then a few attempts on a BM I haven't done yet. I stop before my fingers feel weak. Somedays I'll do more attempts on harder climbs. I've gotten to a place where I can probably climb 12/40 V3 BMs first go.

Goal is to get really strong climbing on boards lol, specifically improve tension in weird positions

There's a few benchmarks on the 2019MB that I currently view as impossible with where I am right now. I evaluated what things I can do to increase my chances of climbing these and I believe I have a few things to work on. (1) Technique (2) Lock-off strength (3) Finger strength

So all my training now is basically on the boards. When you finally decide that just climbing more isn't enough, how do you know what weakness you should focus on first? Can't I get training for lock-offs and finger strength through climbing? How do you decide when you think the stimulus you get from just climbing isn't enough and now you should dedicate some more time to finger/lock-off training exclusively, or whatever training?

I appreciate any opinions, advice, or whatever yall have to say.

Posted Apr 28, 2026, 6:59 PM UTC

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