For the last couple of months I’ve been doing heavy barbell holds to work on grip strength.
Anyone else do these?
Load the barbell up with several 100 .lbs in a rack just above knees. Then stand up straight and hold it until the grip gives.
For a month I’ll do 10 sec. holds then next months 5 sec hold etc…
You realy feel it in the upper back and traps the next day
[quote]MNguns wrote:
For the last couple of months I’ve been doing heavy barbell holds to work on grip strength.
Anyone else do these?
Load the barbell up with several 100 .lbs in a rack just above knees. Then stand up straight and hold it until the grip gives.
For a month I’ll do 10 sec. holds then next months 5 sec hold etc…
You realy feel it in the upper back and traps the next day[/quote]
I’ve been doing a variation of that. I’ve been doing heavy rack pulls at just above or just below my knee for reps. Re-gripping after each pull, and then holding the last rep until my grip is about to give out. It has made a real difference in grip strength.
Heavy deads pretty much do this to me anyway. I guess if I used a lighter weight and held for time I’d get a more endurance-type improvement, but training without straps is working well so far.
Also doing sets of power hang cleans without setting the barbell down gives the grip a good workout too.
Yeah, but I do them with straps for my traps, not my grip.
Here’s a completely honest question - if you are working static holds, does it matter if the weight is near max or not? I mean would a static hold of 100lbs for minutes work the muscle the same as a static hold of 300lbs for 20 seconds?
Do static holds recruit muscle fibres the same way contractions do? Are you training FT fibres with static holds by requiring straps with heavy weights?
I’ve never even thought about this one before but I guess it makes sense.
[quote]BlakeAE wrote:
if you are working static holds, does it matter if the weight is near max or not? I mean would a static hold of 100lbs for minutes work the muscle the same as a static hold of 300lbs for 20 seconds?
Do static holds recruit muscle fibres the same way contractions do? Are you training FT fibres with static holds by requiring straps with heavy weights?[/quote]
You can translate the weight and time held on static holds to weight and repetitions on concentric lifts. You’ll have better carry-over to 1rm deadlift by performing short duration heavy holds and better carry-over to 10rm deadlift by performing long duration sub-maximal holds.
If I were to try 20 rep deadlifts again I’d load up a weight I could hold for a good minute in snatch-grip for accessory work. Anything below 5rm would be 10seconds at most.
As for the ft twitch, well, your forearms are dominantly slow-twitch because of the constant contraction in your hands. Slow twitch always fire first, but under near maximal weight your fast twitch also fire. This of course, doesn’t mean your forearms can’t grow. It’s extremely possible with isolated work incorporated into your routine, just like calves.
Just be careful; too much isolation work and you’ll have trouble walking up a flight of stairs.
I do them also. I definaetly use a load heavier than my max…like I’ll go near 600 and just hold it.
Yes I do them and WELL above max DL 700+ right now where as last max DL was 615.
I would suggest also go a LOT longer than 5-10 seconds Ive had max pulls last longer than that and you need the grip to hold up. I generally go for near 1 min then will up the load. Just got 685 nfor over 60 so I have bumped it to 705ish.
Phill
Well, this is damn cool to learn. Phil those are BIG numbers. Thanks!
Thanks I hope the get better soon. I have as Dave Tate say made the Easy step Ive moved from Shit to Suck now the hard slow progress moving from suck to good. if I hit good then I can think about great LOL
Hope the info helps,
Phill
[quote]Phill wrote:
Thanks I hope the get better soon. I have as Dave Tate say made the Easy step Ive moved from Shit to Suck now the hard slow progress moving from suck to good. if I hit good then I can think about great LOL
Hope the info helps,
Phill[/quote]
Yeah man, you’re just at “suck.” What the hell is wrong with you? You passed ‘suck’ about 300 lbs ago. haha