Tips on improving my grip?

manda1978
manda1978 Posts: 525 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm struggling with my grip when lifting. I have pretty small hands and wrists, plus i've broken my right wrist twice. I use straps but my hands ache and I end up with teh bar/deubells hanging off my wrists with the straps as my hands just can't grip any longer.

Any tips?

Replies

  • addysolari
    addysolari Posts: 181 Member
    I'm mostly bumping because I want to see other people weigh in.

    Use one of those squeeze grip trainers

    Only grip strength exercises I know are pinch grip a reasonable plate and time how long you can hold it and try beat your time each week. Or the same thing with a dumbbell and just let it hang in the second joint of your fingers
  • rdzilla
    rdzilla Posts: 113 Member
    Keep training and never use lifting straps or gloves. Grip strength comes with time and when you finally get it you'll be amazed at what you can hold onto.
  • kagevf
    kagevf Posts: 509 Member
    ouch! a broken right wrist twice?

    try a squeeze ball for grip strength training. and maybe use gloves?
  • prestigio
    prestigio Posts: 181 Member
    (Dumbbell) farmer walks are great for training your grip.
  • beertrollruss
    beertrollruss Posts: 276 Member
    manda I feel for you, especially the 2 broken right wrists. If you have good medical coverage, you may want to work with a physical therapist.
  • steve0820
    steve0820 Posts: 510 Member
    Farmers Walk
    Wide grip chin ups
    Isometric holds (pull ups, chin ups, etc... at different heights...)
    Rock climbing
    DOH with deadlift (also holds at the top of the movement)

    Also, they're certain exercises you can add variations to that adds grip work. For Ex, bicep curls, on the way down, slow and controlled, before the next curl (approx 5 sec descend)

    Using a supinated grip when doing BB rows is another example.

    Just some of the things I can think of at the moment.

    Hope it helps.
  • SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish
    SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish Posts: 831 Member
    One of the best exercises: get a 10lb plate, tie it on one end of a 4 foot rope, the other end of the rope tie it to a pipe firmly, then hold it out in front of you with both hands on either end of the pipe and twist/wind the pipe little by little until you wind all the rope around the pipe and the weight makes it to the top, repeat x10, then wind the other way for 10 more, increasing the weight as this becomes easy and increasing the diameter of the pipe for more difficulty. Get a squeezable egg shaped exerciser and practice squeezing on that, get squeeze grippers and work on those, tie a rope up a tree and grip it with your hands, trying to pull yourself up, if you cant, partial hang, work to be able to pull yourself up hand over hand, hold a barbell with about 30lbs, sit down and rest your forearms on your legs and let your hands out past your knees and do reps of wrist only curls x3 sets, then reverse the weight and your wrists and do it the other direction...all good grip strengtheners.
  • CarlKRobbo
    CarlKRobbo Posts: 390 Member
    x 2 For Famers Walks, chin ups, Plate Pinches...

    Rock climbing is good as well.

    As for the post before me - Wrist roller is good, Brutal but good.

    Depends on how advanced you are with Chin ups\Pull ups, but the towel versions are evil..

    Climbing rope? Progress to no legs (If grip\safety allows).

    Grippers , and one more for the more advanced... Captain's of Crush!! (Do not google the Acronym... lol!)
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    Farmers Walk
    Wide grip chin ups
    Isometric holds (pull ups, chin ups, etc... at different heights...)
    Rock climbing
    DOH with deadlift (also holds at the top of the movement)

    Also, they're certain exercises you can add variations to that adds grip work. For Ex, bicep curls, on the way down, slow and controlled, before the next curl (approx 5 sec descend)

    Using a supinated grip when doing BB rows is another example.

    Just some of the things I can think of at the moment.

    Hope it helps.

    came in to post this- saw it was done.

    so- this.
  • Lofteren
    Lofteren Posts: 960 Member
    When I swapped from powerlifting to strongman my grip was a bit of an issue. You only need to have a strong enough grip to hold onto your deadlifts in powerlifting but in strongman you need to firmly grasp all kinds of awkward things. The thing that helped me the most was training with fat gripz. They are great for any exercise that requires you to support the weight in your hand. I used them mostly for db rows, curls and deadlifts. You can find them here:

    http://www.amazon.com/Fat-Gripz-The-Ultimate-Builder/dp/B005FIS14Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398261544&sr=8-1&keywords=fat+gripz

    I'm a cheap *kitten* though and made mine out of duct tape and 2 1/2" wide pvc pipe. I would also finish up my work outs with plate pinches for time. Simply pinch some weight plates together (however much you can handle for more than 10 seconds) and hold them until your grip fails. Most girls can pinch 3, 10lb plates in one hand. I would only do 1 or 2 sets of these at the end of each training session. You don't want to over train your hands. It's pretty painful and takes a while to go away.

    Another thing I did that helped a lot were hammer twirls:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tKouy__Rok

    Hammer twirls with a fat grip on the handle will SMOKE your hand and your forearm in just a couple of sets.
  • lamps1303
    lamps1303 Posts: 432 Member
    I have exactly the same problem, particularly with deadlifts.

    Was given the following advice:
    - use mixed grip - one palm facing upwards, the other facing the floor (change hands each set)
    - use chalk (if your gym allows) - liquid chalk is less messy
    - start grip strengthening exercises - farmers walk, plate pinches...
    - do not use straps or gloves. Straps put too much strain on the wrists, and gloves offer little support.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    I have exactly the same problem, particularly with deadlifts.

    Was given the following advice:
    - use mixed grip - one palm facing upwards, the other facing the floor (change hands each set)
    - use chalk (if your gym allows) - liquid chalk is less messy
    - start grip strengthening exercises - farmers walk, plate pinches...
    - do not use straps or gloves. Straps put too much strain on the wrists, and gloves offer little support.

    This advice.
  • manda1978
    manda1978 Posts: 525 Member
    Thanks everyone,a ppreciate it.

    I've started using monkey grip (mixed grip) with deadlifts recently, that does seem to help but don't feel like I'm lifting as much as I could.

    Lunges are becoming difficult, I use 20kg dumbells but I have to use straps. Again I know I could lift more but not sure if my hands will take it.

    Not sure what a farmers walk is? Will google it.

    I've just started trying chinups. I have a shoulder injury so have struggled. I'm at the stage of using momentum to get up, then I hold for a few seconds and drop. I'll add these into my weekly routine.

    Why should i ditch the gloves? Understand that straps put strain on the wristm but if I don't use them I'll have to drop my weights significantly...?


    Yeah I broke my right wrist twice within 12mths when I was 10yrs old, I'm mid 30's now. My wrists are pretty small (5cm accross, just measured it with a ruler haha). Also been having a few issues with my forearm and elbows, but I think the elbow issue is from hyperextension whilst doing incline bicep curls.

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