Chances are you’ve all seen a system board before.  It’s the mirrored training wall sitting in the corner of your gym collecting dust.  However, despite the fact that these boards aren’t used all that often, when utilized properly they can be a powerful training tool.

To give you an idea of how a system board can be used to help round out your training, here’s an article from Climbing Magazine and climbing coach Justen Sjong.

“With its variety of holds and angles, the system board lets climbers of different abilities find their training sweet spot. If you want to refine movement, and understand and improve imbalances in your technique, the system board is your friend.” – Climbing Magazine

Building Symmetry with a System Board

Now, while a system board can be used simply as another bouldering wall, this isn’t its most effective use.  Just like a hangboard, these boards are training tools and should be treated as such.

As Sjong outlines in his article, these walls are not best suited to super high intensity training like limit level bouldering.  Save that for the bouldering cave or the Moon Board.  Instead, these boards are best used for developing thoughtful movement and smoothing out movement patterns on both sides of your body.

In other words, the symmetrical nature of these boards lets you do the mirror image of movements on both sides of your body.  Through this kind of training, you can make sure you are equally strong on both sides or your body and also move with the same efficiency in each direction.

Click through below for the full article and to read all of Justen Sjong’s tips for how to most effectively and thoughtfully train on a system board.

Full Article: Climbing Magazine – Effective System Board Training

(photo by Tory Powers; courtesy of climbing.com)

Other Articles You Might Like:

• Alex Johnson – Systems Training
• Neil Gresham: Systems Wall and Symmetrical Training
• Intro to Systems Board Training
• Systems Board Pinch Pull Ups