6 Simple Exercises That Develop Your Grip Strength!
Having good grip strength is crucial in order to perform many strength training movements, such as deadlifts, weighted or multiple pull-ups, and various kettlebell drills. It is also import in many sports and everyday activities such as rock climbing, mountain biking, tennis, waterskiing/wakeboarding, gardening handy work and even craft work. When performing these movements and activities, it is often it is not our primary mover muscles that give out first (i.e. lats when performing a chin-up) but our muscles responsible for gripping on. Many gym users solve this problem by using lifting straps, which enable them to pull a heavier weight with the grip strength of a 7 year old girl. However, if you have read any one of my other articles, you probably would have already guessed that I’m not a fan of this solution. It facilitates not only underdeveloped grip, but also diminishes stabilization muscle involvement, leading to imbalanced muscle development. Basically put, if you can lift it with your primary mover muscles, you should be able to lift it with the strength of your own raw grip.
Lifting Straps
Grip strength is often thought to solely be dependent upon the forearm muscles. Although the forearm muscles are a major contributor to grip strength, good grip strength comes from the interplay between a number of muscles and tendons in the hand, wrist and forearm, all which need to be exercised to achieve a healthy grip, as well as to prevent injury. Commonly, people perform dumbbell wrist curls to strengthen their grip and forearm strength. But only working with the hand in close grip will cause an imbalance between the underside forearm, wrist and hand muscles and tendons (used in close grip) and the topside forearm, wrist and hand muscles and tendons (used in open grip). This results in limited grip strength development (a chain is only as strong as its weakest link) and eventually can lead to debilitating problems such as tendinitis and carpel tunnel syndrome.
Developing strong raw gripping power enables one to take their performance to a new level. Whether it be bombing down a hill on a mountain bike, performing a 200lb deadlift or ascending the Nose of El Cap at Yosemite, having a strong grip will enable you to focus on the job at hand rather than the failing of your hands. It’s important to note that different types activities require different types of grip strength, requiring various ratios of muscles and tendons involved. For example, the grip used and muscle ratios involved differs significantly between performing a shoulder press to a pull-up.
3 Grip types
The crush grip is where the object being gripped sits firmly against the palm and all fingers. Holding on tight to an object as to not lose control of it commonly requires a strong crush grip. In a pinch grip, the fingers and thumb are flat on opposing sides of an object, such as when lifting a vertically directed sheet of plywood or a weight plate. The support grip is where the object being gripped wants to force the anchoring fingers to open, such as when holding a bucket or lifting a table. The force of the object in the support grip is always on the fingers, as opposed to the force being exerted both on the palm and the fingers in the crush grip. Many actions require several grip types interchangeably throughout different phases of the action, such as the clean and jerk, horse or bicycle riding (pulling and pushing on the reigns or the handlebars. So it is crucial to develop strength in all of the muscles and tendons responsible for performing the various grip types. This requires a different type of training regimen than regular wrist curls. In plain English, it requires performing exercises that strengthen both the flexor (closing grip) and extensor (opening grip), and stabilization (both opening and closing) muscles of the hand, wrist and forearm.
Closing Grip Exercises
Slip outs
Grip a barbell, dumbbell or kettlebell. Now slowly loosen your grip until the bell is sitting just on the finger tips. Now slowly pull the bell back into your hand until it is secure against the palm again. The same can be performed while hanging from a chin-up bar or rings.
Plate pinches
Grab a weight plate in each hand and pinch on for as long as you can
Lever tilts
Grab a hammer or a kettlebell and slowly tilt it up and down, toward and away from the forearm.
Plate curls
Grabbing a weight plate, perform wrist curls holding the plate in both the vertical and horizontal position.
Opening Grip Exercises
Get two 1kg bags of rice (even cheaper than chips). Cut the tops of the bags and shove your hands in each bag. Now extend your fingers repeatedly. As you get stronger in your extensor muscles, substitute your bags of rice with bags of sand.
Stabilizing exercises
Fingertip plank hold/pushups
As the title suggests, hold plank or pushup on your fingertips. Start out with partial weight over the arms moving toward full plank. To advance from here, tuck various finger (resting on only 4, 3 or 2 fingers) in various combinations to develop strength throughout all of the tendons.
Medball tip slips
Rest a medicine ball in your palm. Now flex through the fingers pushing the ball up onto your fingers tips. Keep it controlled so that the ball doesn’t drop. Slowly extend your fingers until the ball is rest back in your palm.
Having raw gripping strength can never be overrated. It is so often overlooked, but is really the depending auxiliary factor in so many activities and sports. So take your game to the next level by developing a strong-hold. It need only take a few minutes every few days, and the payoff will be well worth it no matter what your game.
Happy training, bone-crusher handshaking and bottle-top bending.
Karl
Sphere: Related Content
Other Atricles You Might Like:
