Joe Shmo: Come on bro!
One more rep and you have a new PR!
Explode up! Come on….
Bang, the weight hits the floor mid rep.
Joe Shmo: Brooo what happened, you looked like you had 1
more for sure!?
Chip No Grip: Man I had so much energy left, but my stupid
grip gave out!
As a young lad I’ve always envied my father for having ‘Man
Strength’. If you are a dude you know
exactly what I’m talking about. If you
don’t, well let me explain. Remember
that time you tried to pick up that chair in the living room and move it up two
flights of stairs to the attic? How come
you can’t do it, but your dad can?
Man Strength!
No one knows when it happens or how exactly you get it, but
for some reason man strength gives you the ability to pick up some heavy
awkward stuff! Unfortunately, I don’t
have the secret formula for man strength, but I do know a way to get you in the
right direction!
There should never be a time when your grip strength is the
reason you don’t complete a lift, whether it’s a deadlift, barbell row, power
clean, snatch, dumbbell row, blah, blah, blah you get the picture. With that being said, it happens ALL THE TIME!
What really bugs me is when grip does
fail the first thing on Chip No Grip’s mind is: Tomorrow I’m going to do
forearm extension and flexion till my brachioradialis and flexor carpi radialis
pop! Will these increase the size of
your forearms: yes. Will it give you
skull-crushing hands: no.
Let’s get down to business. How exactly do you strengthen your grip? Well its really simple. What do you do when you hold onto something
heavy?? You squeeze it really hard!!!
#1) With that being said performing Plate Pinches is the
first on our list.
#2) Good ol Farmer’s walk! These are my personal favorite.
The picture really says it all. You pick up some heavy weight and walk
with it. Most people don’t have a set of
Farmer’s Bars but a nice set of dumbbells will do just fine. 25 feet there and back for 3 sets is a great
place to start. I like to add this in on
leg days because it really torches my legs and grip, not to mention it will add some
serious size to the ‘Yoke’.
#3) Fat gripz.
This is the only thing you’ll really
have to spend money on, but I know it’ll pay off. You’ll have a handshake that will intimidate the
hulk after using these for a month. The
only downside is that they aren’t as cheap as they look. Elitefts.net is selling them between $30 and
$40. The picture shown is the Fat Gripz
Extreme that sell for roughly $40. They
are really easy to use. Just snap them on a barbell, a chin up bar, dumbbell (if able), or
kettle bell and perform the exercise as you normally would. The fatter grip will smoke your
forearms.
#4) Kroc/Dumbbell (DB) Rows.
The Kroc Rows are named after the professional
powerlifter/bodybuilder Matt Kroczaleski.
I started doing Kroc Rows about a year ago, and wow can I see a
difference in Lat size. Sometimes I
truly feel like a flying squirrel looking in the mirror. If you want to start building a back that
emulates the work of Michelangelo himself; start rowing some DBs. When I perform this exercise I will do 4 sets
of 10 with the heaviest weight I can handle.
Then on my 5th set I’ll bust out as many reps as I can until
my grip fails, or I can't perform the exercise anymore. More often than not it is my grip that goes
first. This is the only time you want to
lose your grip…. When you’re actually trying to.
#5) Towel/Rope/Spaghetti
Chins
Not only is it great to change up your pull-up/chins
variations to target different fibers, but why not add some grip strength in
there as well. Hang a couple towels from
a chin up bar, clinch them and pull yourself up. Easy enough eh? WRONG!!
My forearms have never burned so much!
If you think you’re a warrior and say a rope or towel are too easy, step
into MHS, PT, CSCS, and TFW founder and CEO Martin Rooney’s world of Training
for Warriors and try the Spaghetti Chin Ups.
Check out the video below.
#6) Finally, but definitely not the least or easiest, Rock Climbing!
Let’s
face it the gym gets boring after a while.
So how can we destroy our grip outside of the gym, and have fun!? If you’ve never been bouldering before than
you are missing out on one of the hardest things to do requiring grip
strength. Dip your hands into some chalk
and starting bouldering for an hour. I
promise you your hands will tingle and your forearms will be ripping at the seams!
Well
there you have it: six sure ways to strengthen your grip. Remember that the stronger you get the more
your grip strength will start to show.
Don’t be Chip no Grip and not hit those new PRs because of something so
silly. I’ll leave you with 2 last minute rules about strengthening your grip.
#1)
Lose those wrist straps dude! Unless you
are strategically programming wraps into your program because you are doing a
lot of grip work that day just toss'em.
#2)
After returning your nice set of wrist straps you got for Christmas, use a ¼ of
that money and buy a thick block of chalk!
You can never go wrong with some chalk on your hands. It will take perspiration out of the
equation, make your grip a little stronger, and it looks pretty badass!
Stay
fit my friends.
HamDog
