This year I have made substantial improvements in my pinch and thumb strength, which in turn has vastly increased my total hand power.
I am going to share some ideas with you which I predict will be useful. As usual, everything I am going to present must be put to the test to determine if it will be useful for you to gain more functional hand strength.
Why focus on the thumb?
Get to know these valuable muscles...they are your friends
The thumb is one of several important mechanical advantages we own over other primates. Our highly mobile thumb allows us to manipulate a wide range of objects and tools.
Our thumbs are used daily for a huge range of tasks. You may never have considered how much you use your thumbs day to day, unless you have hurt or injured it.
When we examine hand strength, the thumb plays major roles in many popular feats and lifts. Pinching is the most obvious example. The thumb is also employed in wide hand position support grip, levering, and ripping.
In sport, the thumb is used for control in throwing and catching. It is used for all varieties of grips in grappling and wrestling.
In day to day lifting such as cleaning a garage or basement the thumbs will be used.
So in short you use your thumb a lot in loaded positions.
What happens when the thumb is not employed or it atrophys?
When the thumb pad muscles (thenars) become weak the hand will have difficulty with opposition movement (touching the fingers to the thumb) and will have instability with grip and a higher probability of hand pain.
Note the reduced surface area in the atrophy case
Addition problems from weak thenars: reduced surface padding for pressure on the hand. Some people experience pain in flat hand positions and while holding heavy objects such as barbells for presses. A thicker stronger thumb mound would reduce discomfort. Correctly applied hand training would likely reduce pain in many people.
If you are trying to climb the gripper mountain a strong thumb pad is essential. The “dogleg” of the gripper is pressed against the thumb during the close. If the hand is too soft or weak, it is pryed open by the closing force of the fingers.
My last 9 months of training- pinch focus
I signed up as a contest promoter for David Hornes Worlds Strongest Hands series, which would be the largest grip competition ever thrown. It was a huge success in many ways for the sport. I knew I would be ok with grippers, I was strong with reverse bending, but my pinch kinda sucked by comparison.
Of course it did, I rarely trained pinch with any degree of focus. The game is specifics with the body. Train something and you get better at it. Ignore it and you do not.
My goal was to increase my two hand pinch, which is a standard grip event.
I struggled to find a comfortable width on the euro device my first few months of training. I had needed some time to find a solid set up for my body position. I needed time to get used to the stress on the tissue.
As I get better, I sought out more variety in the types of pinching I was doing each workout. I lifted my blobs and block weights. I pinched quarters and thin pieces of steel. I stacked and sandwiched plates for one hand deadlifts, swings, and cleans. I used hub lifting handles for my finger tip, wide awkward metal blocks for loading, and slick painted pinch plates for farmers walks. On any given day I was working with 2-4 different thumb exercises. I have all of the popular devices and handles, and during the last 9 months I have used all of them.
What made the biggest difference?
I think the highest pay off drills were the super narrow pinching set ups I have used and the swings.
For the narrow pinching I am working with three different handles. One of them is pinching on a 6mm disc with the euro apparatus. The other two are from David Horne’s World of Grip. He calls them the “Grip Topz” a set of unique gripping surfaces which attached to a loading pin. One of the griptopz is a steel stub 8mm in diameter, the other is a piece of steel cut to the size of a British penny.
I am doing some kind of narrow pinch in each of my grip days now. I find the only limit I have is skin fatigue on the side of the index finger. The narrow pinch position is the thumb grasping the side of the the pointer finger. Most people will need to break in to this slow, as the skin will be prone to tearing at first.
The other high pay off drill has been a two hand pinch using my Strongergrip pinch lever block. I load between 120 lbs and 130 lbs on the 2″ pinch block and do swings to chest height. It is extremely challenging, the handle is slick and you have to adjust the level of pressure through out the movement.
What has not gone as well?
Blob and block weight lifting. My bugbear right now. I find lifting my blobs leave my hands very fatigued, much differently than the europinch or the narrow set ups do.
It currently tests well once a week or less. There are still days when I completely miss lifts with the original York blob I own, as in can’t budge it off the floor. I have had some good days with it, just sparse by comparison to my other set ups. My primary method of training with the blocks right now is dragging them and deadlifting them to various loading heights.
A word of caution for those who want to tackle blob and block weight lifting; watch out for over stretching the thumb. It is very easy to exceed your limits with these very wide blocks. Take your time and do not force your hand over the side of the slope. If it is not going well that day I recommend moving on to the next thing.
What about…
No, I do not use my TTK (titans telegraph key) for dynamic pinch work. It bugs the shit out of my thumb joint. I have tested it several times, there does not seem to be a comfortable ROM to work with for me. I do however do pinches with my IMTUG grippers…
No, I do not use rubber bands for extensor work. Before people just in to comment on that, save it I don’t care. I think they are over-rated.
No, I do not use contrast baths. While I have in the past recommended them to people, I do not find a need for them. By avoiding effort in training and stopping before things break down I rarely find even this volume of grip work bothersome. If you are currently using them and you enjoy them- cool. If not, there may not be a reason to start. I have not found a clear performance improvement associated to these and my training.
What are the results?
My best pinch on the euro apparatus in 2010 was 197 lbs. My best pinch so far in 2011 has been 218.3 lbs. I have now lifted 100 kg off the floor over 1″ on three occasions. It is just a matter of time.
In 2010 my best blob volume on a given day was 8 lifts all the way off the floor to lock out in 7 minutes. This year my best blob day has been over 40 lifts in 20 minutes.
With the Grip Topz penny I have pinch lifted 36.2 lbs, with the stub 42.1 lbs. We will see where those fall during the 2011 Worlds Strongest Hands Series which begins in August.
I can now do a full pinch pull up hanging from my strongergrip bar.
My best one hand pinch has been 92 lbs on the europinch apparatus.
So overall things are moving along exactly how I would have liked.
Bottom Line
Increasing your pinch training frequency will most likely be the highest pay off for grip strength fast gains. In the great majority of people it is an untapped area of potential. If you currently find yourself with weak thumbs, it is time to see the opportunity to get better.
{ 7 comments }
That great Adam.
How many days a week are you doing finger extensions?
Do you do them every time you work your grip or more often?
Using five fingers (not the shoes, the things on your hands) to lift things instead of two would take less effort so aren’t you starting with an element of effort?
When you test thumb strengthening exercises do you measure with the position of your thumb rather than the tips of your fingers?
Maybe you should use straps when you do your block lifts?
I hear kettlebell snatches will strengthen your thumbs too, have you tried them?
I like the diagrams, looks like Wyle Coyote came up with the names. Good comments Gary. Kettlebell snacthes using just thumbs with fingers duct taped in a fist may be productive.
Nice stuff Adam. I’ve always had weaker pinch grip and it certainly affects other things like the 2″ v-bar DL. A long time ago I did plate curls fairly regularly and that was something. After reading a post from you, I re-introduced them into my training for a short time, but was not consistent. I’ll try to add plate curls and pinch curls w. a standard plate + weights attached and be consistent – I think it will be a good thing. Thanks!
Another great post Adam! Interesting to me that no matter how frequently I trained my thumbs they didn’t respond on 2HP. They did get stronger on the blobs but it took quite a while.
Ben, does the USAWA have a two hand pinch event?
They sure do Adam. They call it “Pinch Lift.” Back in 2002 I remember Matt Graham pulling 200lbs on the 2HP with plates that were only chalked at the beginning of the contest. In other words they weren’t seasoned at all. The contest we just did had 2HP and I only pulled 162lbs. Would’ve likely been much closer to 180lbs on a seasoned set up though because my pinch strength actually felt strong – which is rare.
Forgot to mention that the plates we used on Saturday weren’t even chalked at all when they arrived in the gym. They were someone’s York 45s. Mark Mitchell pinched 174lbs and almost got 193lbs. I have heard that he’s done well over 200lbs on seasoned plates so that’s why I estimated my pinch on a seasoned set up would’ve been higher.