Grip strength training and how to incorporate

[Adriano Katkic]

I had to buy a new door frame pull up bar. The old one had sponge wrapped around it, which made slipping impossible. The new one is thicker and has smooth surface. It's killing my grip. My regular 60s warm up GH became hard-to-pull-off-please-God-make-it-stop GH. Man, I miss that old bar.

I need advice how to develop better grip strength. Was thinking of going GTG with grippers, like holding half max time several times a day, or doing sets several times a day. I'm worried this will exhaust my already exhausted forearms. Any advice on how to train and incorporate it into my regular SSC+WOD routine?

[Aaron Griffin]

How long can you hang from this new bar? I find dead hangs work my grip very well - try doing 3 or more sets of hangs instead of 1 set of 60s

[Bruno Cochofel]

You can use something like:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/York-Fitness-60 ... 657&sr=1-1

to improve your grip also.. This is very used in rock climbing..

[rubadub]

Get some tennis or hockey tape to wrap the bar with.

The grippers posted above are lightweight ones, you would be doing reps far too easily all day long, even the "heavy duty" ones in regular shops are far too easy. You want proper "captain of crush" ones or similar. I have cheaper versions called "heavy grips", I have the 200, 250 and 300 and can only close the 200 for about 15 reps max, nowhere close to closing the 300, I think I have done 14 rope pullups in the past, I have 2 ropes from my chinup bar.

http://www.heavygrips.com/en/order_page/index.html

You can also hang towels from the chin up bar and do pullups, or use mop heads.

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[Adriano Katkic]

Good advice, especially with towels.

Thank you.

[Joshua Naterman]

Rope work is key, and so is thick bar work in general. Just working with the thicker bar will strengthen your grip over the next few weeks.

[Cole Dano]

One out of the ordinary tip, swinging a gada did wonders for my grip -

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this guy is not super big, but is a rare example of someone swinging with good form. The gada itself is easy to make, fill a soccer ball with concrete, put in a wooden handle that has a couple of heavy bolts running through it. The bolts make sure it holds together with the concrete.

[Julekman]

Rope and towels are the best tools for grip. Hang with two hands, later start with one hand. When you hang with one arm - towel for 1 min, you are the beast. Do that regular after pull ups.

[Joshua Naterman]

Cole... I LIKE IT! Awesome! Maybe I should fill a whiffle ball bat with concrete (partially) to make clubs... hmm...

[Cole Dano]

Its a great tool for anyone doing contact sports Slizz.

Just go to the local sporting goods and get a cheap mini soccer ball to start. Its easier to work with than a wiffle and won't hurt as bad if you accidentally clobber yourself.

edit: misread your post slizz, yeah i've heard of folks doing that, its easy to try, but i think it would be too heavy for its size and not swing so well. Scott Sonnen's clubbells have the same problem. Still it's cheap and worth a try. Hey i've got it, add some styrofoam pellets to the concrete then it won't be too dense.

[Julekman]

in a meantime, till you build that bat Slizz, you can use kettlebell for the same purpose, just turn it upsidedown, the ball up, and the hands down on the handle, palms up or neutral on the side.This exercise is also great for shoulders

[Joshua Naterman]

That's a great idea Cole!

[rubadub]

An old barbell might work for the gada/mace. I expect normal ones would be too heavy, but the cheap beginner ones with vinyl weights are usually hollow. I have a hollow curling bar which is only 2kg, you might pick one up a used one cheap. Then you could add more weights easily, probably best wrap them in a towel to protect yourself, or the vinyl weight might work OK. Cheap barbells are usually shorter too, you might want to chop off one end so there is no stopping collar in the way, also would be knurled if needed.

Of course you need to secure the collar really well. With spinlock collars I find if you tighten it you can then rotate the plate itself, which turns the collar even tighter, the wide diameter of the plate gives you lots of leverage. I was also considering welding a smooth spike onto my collar sticking out like a thick spoke radially, I could have a tube which fits over this to tighten it up really well, loads of leverage. Another idea would be to grind/file 2 flats on your collar so you could tighten it with a large spanner/wrench.