one of my goals is to develop a brutally strong grip. i feel like right now my weak grip is limiting my upper body developtment/strength, and i am trying to figure out the best way to develop a strong grip.
basically i know there are different types of grip strength like crushing, pinching, etc. but what is the best way, developing these types of strength, to get an overall strong grip?
i was thinking of buying a CoC gripper, the trainer, as I can only fully close the #1 once i think with each hand but the Sport is too easy. any ideas/thoughts? there have got to be many possible ways. bending nails and wrist rolling also came to mind.
Make sure you’re keeping your extensors balanced. Reverse curls, reverse rolling work. You could also get a bucket and fill it with sand/rice and do a lot of strengthening with that.
There are LOTS of different things you can do to train. Farmer’s walks, hand grippers, wrist curls. Try filling a large jar with sand or water and lifting it around the lip of the lid with only your fingers. You can try pinching plates together and using your fingers and doing farmer walks like that. It’s a lot harder then you think using only your fingers to pinch the weights closed.
Also, if you have a sledgehammer try a sledgehammer walk, look it up on youtube. There’s so many things to do that people really use, so just look it up and see what works for you. If you really want to get into grip training, check out www.gripboard.com. You’ll probably find everything you need to learn from there.
there is a thread in the combat sports forum about the same topic.
Ill save you a trip and give you my answer here, something I did at a HS wrestling camp years ago.
tennis ball pull ups.
hold them on top of the bar and see if you can do pull ups.
The difference between normal muscles and grip strength, is that you can’t have too much variety.
Thick bar, towel, thin bar, pinch, etc, there just keep on cycling them.
Don’t forget extensors. They generally respond better for me high rep (20rep+).
Don’t forget grip endurance. I find endurance training only make my strength better. It’s not the same as running long distance to get a large squat, that will never happen, but if you do maximal time body-weight holds from a bar, and the like, your grip strength will shoot up.
Find a few things you like to do and hit it hard for a few months to start. I find grippers a ton of fun so I use them a lot. Make sure to do some extensor stuff, and after a few months start adding in some different stuff. Also dont forget to hit your wrists/forearms too with things like heavy levering.
I have done a lot of grip work and the most effective for me was regular time on the wrist roller. One day I go forward (flexion) and the other day I do backward (extension), I use lighter weight with the extensors. I believe that consistency and progression are super important with the smaller muscle groups. Good luck with it.
For grippers, I like my Ivanko Super Gripper because I’m a cheap bastard and I don’t want to buy a million different grippers. You can buy modified Ivanko Grippers with knurled handles like the CoC grippers.
I think I am going to buy an ivanko super gripper. can someone explain to me if the resistance levels are numbered or something (from easiest to hardest)?
online i kept on seeing something like 3-7 or 12-9…it doesn’t make sense?
also should i buy the cheap standard versions or the ones gripper handles fixed in like this
seems like a waste of money
[quote]youngblood52 wrote:
I think I am going to buy an ivanko super gripper. can someone explain to me if the resistance levels are numbered or something (from easiest to hardest)?
online i kept on seeing something like 3-7 or 12-9…it doesn’t make sense?[/quote]
Those are the slots for the springs. With one spring on the 3rd slot and one on the 7th, you get X tension.
I just did the same thing because I didn’t want a bunch of little grippers either. I got the VG-II with the knurled grip, but I wish the grip was a bit wider and grippier.
The best and simplest thing I’ve ever found for improving my ability to hang on to things is to simply hang from my olympic bar set high in the rack, belt weighted or unweighted, 1 handed or 2 handed for time. 2 handed for a minute is good. 10-15 sec 1 handed working up to 30 is really good, though hard on the shoulder.
Works for Zydrunas Zsavickas, Andrus Murumets and Mikhail Koklayev, by their own reports. Bridged the gap for me between the 1.5 CoC gripper and the 2.0, the latter which I couldn’t close even with being able to do 5 reps on the 1.5.
Did the hangs while ignoring the grippers for a month, came back to the 2.0 and squeezed it closed no problem. Was able to overhand grip (no hook grip) 405 for a DL single on a standard Olympic bar as well, even with my little womanly hands.
I have to second the Tyler Grips, great for farmers walks and such. If you go the CoC route, get one that you can close once, get one you can close for reps. I thought that this suggestion was just a sales gimmick, but having two at once gives you something to work towards and it does work.
This is the third time I can recall this thread being done,your heavy dls will inclrease your grip strength anyway.
Dont just use grippers though do some pinch grip work,you can train a few times a week and dont use straps that will increase grip strength.