Research

Mixed

Five weeks of campus board training improves maximal force in large holds (jugs) and rate of force development (RFD) in advanced climbers, but does not significantly increase maximal finger strength on small holds (rungs) or arm circumference in this short timeframe.

Don't expect significant finger strength gains on small holds from just 5 weeks of campus board training. Instead, focus on the explosive power (RFD) and strength on larger holds (jugs) which this training effectively improves.

ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
TG4 improved maximal force in the jug condition (effect size (ES) = 0.40, p = 0.043), and absolute RFD more than CG (ES = 2.92, p = 0.025)... The lack of differences between the two campus board training groups is likely a result of the identical volume between the groups... the short-term training period was probably too short to achieve significant improvements in finger strength.
Nicolay Stien et al. · Journal of Sports Science and Medicine · 2021

Why this rating

Small sample size, but clear distinction between hold types and metrics.

Source

Effects of Two vs. Four Weekly Campus Board Training Sessions on Bouldering Performance and Climbing-Specific Tests in Advanced and Elite Climbers

Nicolay Stien et al. · Journal of Sports Science and Medicine · 2021

DOI 10.52082/jssm.2021.438

rct · n=16Cited 15×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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