Having solid grip strength allows you to maintain proper form and get the most out of effective exercises like the classic deadlift and the old-fashioned pull-up. It also helps you excel in fun sports and activities like climbing and helps you perform your functional daily tasks more efficiently, such as unscrewing the stubborn lid from that jar. Crushing certain items with bare hands has always been an impressive primal feat of strength. There are numerous reasons why fitness gurus are talking about grip strength. The good news is that all you need to do is throw a few specific exercises into your typical training plan.
What is grip strength?
Grip strength refers to how strongly or firmly you can hold on to something or squeeze something in your hands. Gripping involves the use of different muscles in your hands, fingers, wrists, and forearms working together and allowing you to tightly clutch onto objects and move them around. If you weren’t able to grip the dumbbell, you couldn’t perform a simple bicep curl. Without good grip strength, for example, you couldn’t grip onto the bar to hold your whole body weight in the air during a dead hang.
Why is it important to develop a stronger grip?
Here’s why solid grip strength is important:
- Maintain proper form and get the most out of exercises like deadlifts.
- Improve your ability to perform sports and activities like climbing.
- Improve your ability to perform functional daily tasks and household chores.
- Research shows better grip strength is associated with longevity and a healthier life.
You’ll be able to get a better hold on the weights, which could enhance your overall athletic performance and the results of your weight training.
How can you build grip strength?
To build grip strength, you’ll also need to build force, power, and flexibility in your hands, lower arms, and forearm muscles. Certain exercises target these muscles and allow you to practice gripping from various angles and positions. You can do these exercises just two or three times a week and still notice improvements in your grip strength over time. These muscles recover more quickly, so you can train them more often if you’d like.
Our top five exercises to build grip strength
These are the exercises that made our list for developing a more powerful grip:
- The farmer’s walk — This strength and conditioning exercise involves holding a heavy load in each hand and walking for a designated distance.
- Grip strengtheners — You can use a hand gripper tool to practice gripping or squeeze a stress ball.
- Thicker bar lifts — Try making the barbell thicker when lifting by wrapping a towel around it, or just use a thicker bar. This makes your forearm muscles work harder to hold on to the bar.
- Dead hang — Practice dead hangs, where you grab onto a horizontal bar like a pull-up bar with both hands and hold your entire body weight in the air. Build your tolerance by increasing the length of time you hang from the bar.
- Kettlebell row — Perform a rowing movement while gripping a kettlebell.
You can also play sports like tennis that require you to grip tightly on to the racket while in motion.
