Can anyone can direct me to some good resources on grip strength?
I’m not interested in getting certified in closing any grippers. I only want tremendous hand strength. I just want to be able to rip telephone books and roll up frying pans.
I’m buying the Ivanko Supergripper tool sometime this week or next week. Along with that I’ve been doing plate wrist curls and pinch gripping plates
I think my grip strength has been limiting my potential for pulling movments so it’s time to turn my weak link into a strength.
Definitely some farmers walks and dead hangs from a pull-up bar.
I have to ask though…
Are you talking more endurance grip strength as in keeping your hand latched or closing grip strength as in crushing something?
I personally like unfolding newspapers flat out on a table. Take one hand and grab it in the center and pick it up and hold it out and crumple it up into a ball. Do this with a full newspaper p/ hand. You should start to feel a burn. I use this to work on my swim grip technique.
Gripboard is the best resource out there for grip strength. Also check out John Brookfield’s two books, Mastery of Hang Strength and The Grip Master’s Manual.
Newspaper crumpling doesn’t really build that much strength, but I believe Brookfield recommends it if you want a “pump” in your forearms. Of course, hand towel roll-ups are superior for a pump. Get a golf towel (one that has the metal ring in it) and roll it up with one hand, always keeping the hand facing down so you don’t cheat. Once that gets easy, attach a bucket to the ring, and gradually fill it with sand as you get stronger.
Ironmind has lots of fun grip toys. Heavy Grips are decent grippers too, and you just missed a big sale on them from APT’s Pro Wrist Straps. But if you end up ordering the HGs from APT’s, use this promotional code for 15% off: BUDDY
[quote]Xen Nova wrote:
Can anyone can direct me to some good resources on grip strength?
I’m not interested in getting certified in closing any grippers. I only want tremendous hand strength. I just want to be able to rip telephone books and roll up frying pans.
I’m buying the Ivanko Supergripper tool sometime this week or next week. Along with that I’ve been doing plate wrist curls and pinch gripping plates
I think my grip strength has been limiting my potential for pulling movments so it’s time to turn my weak link into a strength.
Any resources/gems you’ve found???!?!![/quote]
What type of grip are you thinking of? Bottoms up w/ a KB are pretty good. But I know some of you don’t have KB’s and they are pretty expensive. There are some good ones you can do w/ sledge hammers too. I don’t know the name of this one particular torque exercise, you can do where you hold a sledgehammer at the base of its handle, fully extend your arm parallel to the ground and slowly lower the head towards your nose and back up. Great crush grip exercise.
MILO usually has some good articles on grip strength. The latest issue had an article called “Ninja Grip Training”. I’d tell ya who wrote it but I loaned it to a coworker who is training his son. Pretty good article.
Try just hanging from a pull up station. See how long you can hang; it may surprise you.
Gripboard - you have to register, but some of the strongest hands in the world post there.
Its well worth it, and its a free registration. Theres lots others out there to, but gripboard discusses all aspects of hand strength, including feats of strength.
rockclimbing.com has some good training posts to, if you can get around the rock climbing articles. But i climb so i dont mind them.
Iron John: just a question, do you happen to post on the gripboard and would your last name be wood???
I find simply grabbing a rubber ball and then asking a mate to stick his finger up your arse works wonders. You WILL squeeze the ball harder than you ever thought possible.
Non-gay methods may also work though.
Plate pinching is what I go for. Grab 2 x 10kg plates and hold them in lne hand and take a stroll accross the gym.
diesel is another good one (dieselcrew.com), but that focuses mostly on strong man training. Gripboard has info on how to tear phonebooks and techniques, things like that. It has quite a few members that can do these things. Most of them have been training for these things for a while now.
John Wood’s functionalhandstrength.com has Dennis Roger’s DVD’s. Dennis does ALL that and more, and he is the king and grandmaster of performing strongmen at 5’9" and 168 lbs.
[quote]wressler125 wrote:
diesel is another good one (dieselcrew.com), but that focuses mostly on strong man training. Gripboard has info on how to tear phonebooks and techniques, things like that. It has quite a few members that can do these things. Most of them have been training for these things for a while now.[/quote]
Yeah, Smitty and Jedd need to get a few articles on there about technique and the like. Although the videos are pretty instructional (and inspirational).
[quote]OneEye wrote:
Gripboard is the best resource out there for grip strength.[/quote]
Sounds good but they sure are slow about authorizing new registrations…
I read almost every article on functionalhandstrength.com and there doesn’t seem to be much useful information about actual grip training, just fluff and ads for the Formulator and COC grippers.
[quote]xulfralos wrote:
OneEye wrote:
Gripboard is the best resource out there for grip strength.
Sounds good but they sure are slow about authorizing new registrations…
I read almost every article on functionalhandstrength.com and there doesn’t seem to be much useful information about actual grip training, just fluff and ads for the Formulator and COC grippers.
[/quote]
They can be slow, but I guarantee it’s worth it. You’re in this stuff for the long haul anyway, aren’t you?
John Wood gets a bad rap for promoting the products he sells, but I mean, it’s business. He gives some great advice in his daily emails, make sure to register for that.
They can be slow, but I guarantee it’s worth it. You’re in this stuff for the long haul anyway, aren’t you?
John Wood gets a bad rap for promoting the products he sells, but I mean, it’s business. He gives some great advice in his daily emails, make sure to register for that.[/quote]
Yup. Went and checked out the Diesel Crew videos while I’m waiting. First thing I did was sign up for the mailing list on FHS.
There are a couple of articles here at T-Nation that I found last year regarding grip strength…
The gripboard is great! A whole bunch of helpful and impressive people.
In their movie gallery there are vids of apple crushing and gripper closing. The best though, is Clay Edgin video displaying his skills after two years of training. He rolls a pan up into a taco shell and destroys a phonebook. Awesome.
