Hands give out with heavy weight

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I use the Chalean Extreme program for my strength workouts. The problem is, my hands give up under the heavy weights before the muscles I am working do. I notice it mostly when I am using 20 lbs on lower body sets. I wear gloves, take off my rings. It is really prohibiting me from getting as many reps, or as much weight, as I could be.

Any suggestions?

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  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    sounds like you need to work on your grip strength and forearms. for grip, you can use a squishy ball that you squeeze and hold for a time
  • Pickles11
    Pickles11 Posts: 310 Member
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    I'm new to this program but I remember her saying in burn 1 or 2 to make sure you aren't gripping too hard with your hands because exactly that will happen- your forearms and hands will fail before your desired muscle. Maybe try focusing on how hard you are gripping and see if there's any way to lessen your grip.
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
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    farmer's walks for grip strength.

    Also, to train your grip, squeeze the bar as tight as you can on every single lift, including ones where your grip isn't even supporting the weight. It will improve it substantially and pretty quickly.
  • warmachinejt
    warmachinejt Posts: 2,167 Member
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    to work out your grip you just need to keep lifting...
    my grip gives out on a lot of exercises , mostly when i'm lifting over 200lbs. The body part may be half exhausted but my grip is weaker. Just gotta keep going at it.
  • mrsladybrewer
    mrsladybrewer Posts: 70 Member
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    Thanks, everyone. I have been making sure I am not overgriping as recommended, and that doesn't seem to work. I will see what I can do to strengthen my hands.
  • mrsladybrewer
    mrsladybrewer Posts: 70 Member
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    farmer's walks for grip strength.

    Also, to train your grip, squeeze the bar as tight as you can on every single lift, including ones where your grip isn't even supporting the weight. It will improve it substantially and pretty quickly.

    What are farmers walks?
  • enginerd81
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    Take off the gloves-
    they make the effective grip diameter larger. This reduces your gripping force.
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
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    farmer's walks for grip strength.

    Also, to train your grip, squeeze the bar as tight as you can on every single lift, including ones where your grip isn't even supporting the weight. It will improve it substantially and pretty quickly.

    What are farmers walks?

    Hold something heavy in each hand and walk slowly and carefully while carrying the weight. When I say heavy, I mean about as heavy as you can handle.
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
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    Take off the gloves-
    they make the effective grip diameter larger. This reduces your gripping force.

    Wow I didn't even notice that she said she was wearing gloves. They effectively prevent you from developing proper grip strength in several ways. I agree--ditch them.