Miserable grip strength is one of the biggest complaints when it comes to Weightlifting. Think about it. How many times have you had to cut a dead weight shorten because your hands are cramping? Having a good grip game isn’t all in the name of training, either. Carrying your shopping bags from the car (kudos to anyone who can do more than five at a time), picking up boxes, driving – they all require great grip strength.
The reason you might struggle is that you don’t have “the ability to sustain or sustain your grip, or the strength needed in your fingers to sustain a crunch,” says the strength and conditioning coach. andy vincent. Training-wise, this means you’ll have no choice but to finish your reps or, worst case, risk injury.
Studies back this up: a to study in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research found that hand grip strength is a good indicator of muscular strength and endurance, while other showed a correlation between poor grip strength and poor lateral rotational strength. Further away research has shown that good grip strength is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, and other found that those with lower grip strength were more likely to be diabetic or have high blood pressure.
With all that in mind, read on to find out. how to improve your grip strength, how to test your grip strength, and the best grip strength exercisesaccording to Vincent.
What is grip strength?
In a nutshell, grip strength is “your ability to hold and maintain your grip on your hand, or the overall strength of your fingers to do crunches,” explains Vincent. It’s all about the amount of force or power you can create with your forearm and hand muscles (which we’ll break down in detail below), and it’s these muscles that determine your level of grip strength.
Naturally, these muscles are trained less frequently (ever heard someone say they’re going to train their hands?), which is why your grip strength is often the first thing to fail when you lift weights, and therefore , the reason you can’t lift as much weight or perform as many reps.
What muscles make up your grip?
As mentioned, grip strength is determined by the muscles of the hand and forearm. Vincent breaks them down below.
Muscles of the hand:
- thenar
- hypothenate
- Interossei
- lumbrical muscles
Forearm muscles:
- Superficial flexor digitorum
- deep flexor of the fingers
- Flexor polycus longus
6 benefits of good grip strength
There are many more, but for the purpose of this article, Vincent highlights the following as the main rewards of improving and training your grip strength.
- Better grip strength will mean you can lift heavier weights and get stronger
- Better grip strength will improve your overall endurance as you can do more reps and train for longer.
- Better grip strength will improve your performance in any handheld sport.
- Better grip strength will make daily tasks easier and more manageable, such as lifting boxes, vacuuming
- Better grip strength will improve your cardiovascular health and reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, as seen in previous research
- Better grip strength will reduce your chances of elbow and wrist pain and injury in general
4 types of grip
When I started Weightlifting, my grip strength (or lack thereof) was clearly holding me back. Elite PT Loui Fazakerley explained that there are different types of grips you can use to help you train the front and back muscles of your forearm and hands. Changing your grip also means you can give your other muscles a break when they start to ‘give up’, without needing to stop your sets entirely.
Vincent agrees that this is a good approach to improving and training grip strength, and recommends that these are the four types of grip you could try:
- supinated grip: When both palms face forward
- pronated grip: When both palms face backwards
- mixed grip: When one hand is pronated and the other is supinated (you can mix both ways)
- hook grip: Where your thumb is below your four fingers. “This is an advanced grip, used in powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting,” cautions Vincent.
These four types of grip can be used for both dumbbells Y dumbbells.
How to test your grip strength
Are you still with us? When it comes to testing your grip strength, Vincent says there are a few ways to go about it.
- Use a dynamometer (a hand grip strength device).
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These are pretty cheap and you can buy them online, or you can find some at your gym. To test your grip strength with one, perform three squeezes on each hand. How does it feel? If you had trouble ‘closing’ the device (ie squeezing it all the way closed), try squeezing it twice and go from there. Three squeezes too easy? Go until you reach your maximum.
2. Pinch Grip Strength Test. “Hold two weight plates together with your fingers, and squeeze and hold them as long as possible,” says Vincent.
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3. Dead drop test. “Hang from a pull-up bar for as long as possible,” advises Vincent.
6 signs you could improve your grip strength
Answering yes to any of the following is a sign that you could improve your grip strength. And good news: we can help you do just that. Stay with us.
- You suffer from elbow or wrist pain.
- You can’t gain more weight on certain lifts without using weightlifting straps
- Your forearms burn when you lift weights or during other workouts like rowing or circuit classes.
- Have thumb cramps in hand sports
- Has difficulty with everyday tasks, such as carrying shopping bags.
- Your hands get tired or cramp when you use a keyboard for a long time
How to improve grip strength at home
Now comes what everyone has been waiting for: how to increase your grip strength. You don’t necessarily need a gym membership and/or access to weights, as Vincent shares the following hacks to do at home.
- The door hangs dead. ‘Find a door with a thick architrave and perform a dead hang on the wood.’ He hold as long as possible and repeat three times.
- purchase retention. ‘Load some sturdy shopping bags with heavy household items like detergent bottles.’ Hold as many bags as you can in each hand at the same time for as long as possible and repeat three times.
- The bottle squeezes. ‘Fill a bottle of water until it is 75% full, then twist the cap on tightly and squeeze with maximum effort for 10 to 30 seconds.’ Do 3-5 rounds per hand.
5 grip strength exercises, ranked from most to least preferred
Vincent says that there are many exercises you could do to improve your grip strength, but if he had to pick five, these would be it. He listed them in order of preference, with dead hooks being the most preferred, and hammer curls being the least preferred (but still very effective).
1.Death hangs
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How: Using a secure top bar, grab the bar with an overhand grip (palms facing out). Take your feet off the step or bench so you’re holding on to the bar. Keep your arms straight and hang as long as you can.
2. Farmer transportation
How: Holding a dumbbell in each hand, arms down by your sides, walk forward in a straight line without letting the weights hit the side of your leg. Continue for 30 to 60 seconds. Rest 30 to 60 seconds, then repeat. Do three to five sets.
3. Pinch grip carry
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How: Grasping the top of a weight plate with either hand, arms down by your sides, walk forward in a straight line without letting the weights hit the side of your leg. Continue for 30 to 60 seconds. Rest 30 to 60 seconds, then repeat. Do three to five sets.
4. Transport case
How: Holding a kettlebell in one hand, arms down by your sides, walk forward in a straight line without letting the weight hit the side of your leg. Continue for 30 to 60 seconds. Rest for 30 to 60 seconds, then repeat with the weight in the opposite hand. Do three to five sets.
5. Hammer curls
How: Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding a pair of dumbbells at your sides. The palms of the hands should face inwards, with a straight back and an upright chest. Without moving your upper arms, bend your elbows and curl the weights toward your shoulders. Slowly lower the dumbbells back to the starting position with control. That is a repetition. Do three to four sets of 12 reps.
6 grip strength shape tips
1. ‘When using a barbell, place the barbell in the palm of your hand, not between your fingers, before making a fist. Without a doubt, the bar will slide during the series between the fingers, but it is better to start with it in the palms of the hands.
2. ‘Keep your hands evenly distributed around the weights.’
3. ‘Your thumbs offer a lot of gripping power; really accentuate by wrapping them around your dumbbells to ‘lock’ your grip.’
4. ‘If you’re looking for maximum effort when lifting weights, try loading with ropes to carry first. Going for a PB when you also have to think about your grip is not smart. The straps are a strategic way to help him get comfortable with the lift, before you lose them and require grip strength from him.’
5. ‘Use rest breaks when lifting. Do as many reps as you can, then lower the weight and pause for 20 seconds before continuing.
6. ‘Practice mobility. Wrist ‘cars’ are my favorite mobility exercise for wrists and hands, and forearm stretches are great for tight forearms. To do dolly carts, get on all fours and place your palms on the floor with your fingers facing you. Then, move your fingers so they are facing forward and then sideways. You can lean toward your wrists to increase the stretch.
