The Confusion of Antagonists / Opposition Training for Climbers
You walk through a climbing gym and you’re going to find someone doing “opposition” training (AKA antagonist).
Here’s the general statement I often hear: I do too much of ___ which means I need to train the opposite to make sure I am “balanced”.
This is assumed to reduce injury risk.
The reality is, you’re not balanced.
You never will be. Anatomically and functionally, that makes no sense.
Humans were designed to grab things and throw them (finger flexion at variable intensities and speeds), not extend their fingers under heavy loads (unless backhanding those @$$holes who wrote on the petroglyphs in Utah).
This means that finger flexion will always be stronger than finger extension. Trying to find this balance is kind of a waste of your time.
Let’s take it one step further. Even though these groups do different things (actions), that isn’t how we use them as climbers. With the exception of trad climbers doing crazy hand stacking work, climbers use the extensors every time we grab onto a hold.
It’s a synergistic relationship with the other side. Not a true agonist-antagonist battle.
If we add in grabbing things quickly with the fingers (contact strength) we see the need for rapid relaxation of the extensors. In that context all your slow strength training is potentially inhibiting your performance, not helping it.
You see, making them equal makes little sense. Training the extensors muscles by extending the fingers is the least useful of all. It’s laughable at best. It’s a movement we never do, and at an intensity that means little for our performance.
Stop and think about the hardest thing you’ve done with your fingers (crimping the sickness). You would not be able to do that if your extensors weren’t holding your wrist in the best position for producing force on the other side. It’s more about synergy than anything else.
Key takeaways:
“Balance” is often a silly concept that’s a waste of time to think about.
Synergy matters; it’s not an agonist-antagonist battle.