Sourced, cited, and corrected when we got it wrong.
The protocols in Deadpoint are drawn from published climbing-training work, cited per template in the source itself. Here's what that actually rests on, including the bits that are coaching judgement rather than evidence, because pretending otherwise would be worse than useless.
Added-weight hangboard training improves grip strength
Mundry et al., Scientific Reports, 2021 · DOI 10.1038/s41598-021-92898-2
A randomised controlled trial across 30 climbers at UIAA VI–VIII (roughly French 6a–7c+) found added-weight hangboard training significantly improved grip strength over eight weeks. This is the strongest single piece of evidence behind the max-hang work in every template.
The MaxHangs cycle: 4 weeks added weight, then 4 weeks smaller edge
Eva López's protocol · via strengthclimbing.com's write-up
An eight-week structure alternating Maximum Additional Weight and Minimum Edge Depth blocks, with 48 hours between sessions as sufficient recovery. The app uses her margin-before-failure approach rather than true one-rep-max attempts: pick a load where your genuine limit sits a few seconds past the prescribed hang, not exactly at it.
Periodisation, and knowing when to stop adding volume
Lattice Training
Strength work belongs in a base period: it's the slowest quality to adapt, and it sets up power later. Power work gets introduced two to six weeks out from a goal. And two structured strength/power sessions a week is the target: past that point, more doesn't buy more adaptation, just more fatigue. That cap is why the engine will tell you to rest.
Why there's no campus board work for intermediates
Lattice Training; prerequisite protocol via climbmaxxing.today
Lattice explicitly cautions intermediate climbers against self-directed campus training without a coach's direct guidance. Commonly cited gates before it's appropriate at all: a one-arm hang around 20mm for ~20 seconds, and ten strict pull-ups. Rather than include it with a warning, the intermediate templates use explosive pull-ups for the same power-conversion stimulus.
A correction we caught ourselves
An earlier draft of the advanced template claimed the Mundry RCT studied exclusively advanced climbers. It didn't. The 30 subjects spanned UIAA VI–VIII, which is intermediate through advanced. The claim was checked on a verification pass, found to be an overreach, and corrected in the source. It's noted here because a training app quietly overstating its evidence is exactly the thing you should be suspicious of, and the correction is still sitting in the code with the reasoning attached.
Everything above informs the templates; none of it was copied from any paid programme's proprietary content. Where a number is coaching judgement rather than a cited finding (most of the set-and-rep specifics are), it's marked as such in the source rather than dressed up as research.
If you're new to climbing, don't buy this.
Deadpoint has no beginner tier, and that's deliberate: it was removed rather than hidden. If you've been climbing under a couple of years, structured finger training is close to the worst use of your time and a decent way to hurt yourself. Go climb a lot, get good at moving, and come back. The app's floor is intermediate, roughly V3–V6 bouldering or French 6a–6c, because that's where specific strength work starts paying off in a way volume alone doesn't.
Not medical advice
Deadpoint prescribes physical training loads. It isn't a medical device, it doesn't diagnose anything, and the injury flags in the quiz add general prevention work and caution notes, not treatment. If something is currently painful or flaring up day to day, see a physio before training through it.
See the reasoning for yourself.
The engine explains every call it makes, in the app and on this site.