For any feat of grip strength, grip endurance always becomes a deciding factor. For example, in order to rip a deck of cards you must maintain a very tight pinch grip on the cards in order to display power from the wrist and upper body.
Ripping cards can take anywhere from 3 seconds for Dennis Rogers to 15 seconds for me, to maybe 60 seconds or more if you are just starting. If the hand fatigues and cramps the feat will fail.
Grip strength is a broad term. There are several kinds of power the hand can display
Pinching
The fingers and thumb work together to clamp the implement in place
Supporting
The hand is almost closed and the weight is held in place, such as a dead lift
Crushing
The fingers and hand close down on an implement
Factor in the many planes of movement the wrist has, and you end up with several others.
Levering, bending and tearing
All combinations of the above with wrist action.
It is interesting to note, a man may have a tremendous support grip, but only an average pinch grip. Or perhaps he has outstanding pinch strength, but only average crushing power. Training only one facet of grip will leave you with holes. There is no single drill which will train all areas, but a few come close.
Coming back around, grip endurance is very important. A set of deadlifts can take one full minute to pull, a kettlebell snatch set may take up to 10. The grip gets no rest. How do you train for this?
I will recommend 5 drills which i believe are critical tools to a would be grip athlete. These drills will benefit any athlete in any sport.
1) Heavy one arm swings
These can be with a kettlebell, an IronMind Rolling Thunder handle, or dumbbell. The keys is heavy weight, and a thick handle makes it better. the swing works the fingers to the utmost when done explosively for reps.
A given set of swings may be anywhere from 10-100 or more. I currently use a 48kg kettlebell and a 56kg kettlebell for one arm swings, and it has made great progress on my deadlift support grip.
2) Swipes
A swipe is a movement done with a leverage device, such as a sledge hammer, clubbell, or classic indian club. It has many similarities to a swing, but it stresses the hand differently because the implement pulls through the hand, not against it. It also works the leverage grip. Swipes are meant to be done with a lighter weight for higher reps, 15-100.
3) Pinch grip “around the worlds”
An advanced pinch drill from the Diesel Crew. You pinch two plates, and walk your hands one over the top as you rotate the plates. It is very taxing on the thumb and pinch. I recommend you start off a little bit lighter then usual as you learn the drill. Watch out for your toes!
4) Double Under grip nail bending
This grip, known as spike style, involves the palms facing you as you start the bend. It uses a lot more wrist then the popular Double Overhand grip. You will not kill the biggest bars with this grip, but you will get massive wrist strength from using it often.
Start with a smaller sized stock until you get the feeling for it. I posted a instructional video back in Oct 07 on the subject.
5) Heavy dumbbell farmers walks
Simple, Direct, Brutal. Pick up two heavy dumbbells, kettlebells, or even barbells and walk with them. Nothing funny or different. This is massive support grip. I like to do this outside where the ground is not uniform, small changes in the surface change your steps up and keep the grip taxed to the utmost.
Working for endurance, it is important to push past the typical 3 sets of 5 here. I want you to push these drills far. Swings are one of the best drills you can do. If you don’t already work swings, than you need to add them today. Pinch gripping is also easy to add, you can start with as little as two ten pound plates if that is all you have.
Do not use the following
- Gloves
- Straps
- Wrist bands (the ones for support, I do recommend sweat bands to keep you from touching your eyes with your dirty fingers)
- Hooks
Don’t ignore your grip! An average man with a strong grip will outperform a big man with weak hands any day of the week!
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{ 1 comment }
Good article. This is very helpful to me in planning my training. As a relative newcomer to grip training, it is nice to have information distilled into the classic “do this!” format. Thanks.