Having a strong grip super important and functionally relevant regardless of your age, gender, or active endeavors. I mean, even if you’re not an obstacle course racer, hybrid athlete, or powerlifter, you’re definitely going to want to give a firm handshake and be able to twist the lid off a pickle jar (or whatever) independently for decades to come. Plus, who knows – a strong grip could save your butt in a life-or-death situation like hanging onto a tree branch over a flood stage river (lol, hopefully just a hypothetical).
A number of studies have shown that weak grip strength can predict an increased risk of functional limitations, disability, and not living as long. Regardless of your age today, you’re getting older every single day. A stronger grip could improve your quality of life, and that’s the most important thing – but it can also help you pick up heavier weight and the gym and also improve your skills and ability to successfully complete obstacle course (like Spartan Race) obstacles like rigs, monkey bars, rings, farmer carries, the box, rope climb, wall climbs/jumps (especially Road to Sparta) and more.
DEAD HANG
Hanging from a bar for as long as possible is a simple yet beastly method to improve grip strength, forearm strength, and pull-ups. When practicing your dead hang, use a forward-facing, closed-grip on the bar and hand until failure. Don’t be floppy, engage shoulders, chest and core. After resting for a few minutes, try to hang again until failure, you’ll likely feel the burn and not last as long. That’s okay! Rest again, and do a third rep until failure. Incorporate a “3-rep dead hang until failure” into your workout (or just whenever) at least a couple times a week.
Ways to Make it Harder:
- Dead hang from towels looped over bar.
- Dead hang wearing weighted vest
- Try it one-armed
- Dead hang and do a pull up every 10 seconds, without releasing from bar
FARMER CARRY
To start, you’ll need two dumb bells, kettlebells, or bar plates of the same weight (later on you can incorporate variations). The ideas is to grip a weight in each hand and walk for time or distance, keeping shoulders upright and core engaged. Farmers win the prize for lugging heaving stuff around on the daily and their strength and stamina has been immortalized forever with exercise named in their honor. Farmer’s Carries are a simple and effective exercise that will fire up your grip, get your blood pumping, and strengthen pretty much your entire body. It even calls on mental toughness, because about halfway in, you’ll want to quit!
Incorporate Farmer Carries into your workout several times a week and see gains in your grip and overall strength. You’ll have no problem carrying all the grocery bags inside with one haul! I like to program Farmer Carries between run intervals (without rest) to up the challenge of both exercises.
3 Ways to Make it Harder:
- Use awkward, harder-to-carry weight like universal bars, sandbags, or loaded trap bars.
- Use different grips: try pinch grip on plates, or loop a hand towel through top of kettlebell to be the handle. Spread your hand wide to grip over one end of a lighter dumbbell. Use “fat grips” or a wrapped towel around the bar or handle of your weight to create a larger circumference to grip.
- Carry offset weight. For example, a lighter dumbbell on one side and a heavier on the other. OR just weight on one single side like a suitcase. Or carry one weight overhead and one by side. These these variations really tax grip and also cause core to work in overtime to stabilize.
NO GYM, NO WORRIES!
You can still work on your grip strength at home or in the office with just a few minutes of time. Dead hangs can be done at home with a chin up bar (this is pull up bar I have), and grip strength only limited by your imagination. There are lots of little gadgets around designed to improve grip strength like a Grip Strength Squeezer or Grip Ring Spartan. Heck, at the gym those bar collars are one of the most grip-centric things around and sometimes the hardest part of the lift. Instead of the “clenching in” grip, it’s also a smart idea to work the opposition motion, extending out. Put a rubber band around between your finger tips and first finger joints and then stretch hands outward for a strengthening stretch.
Get 20% off any U.S. Spartan Race: Sprint, Stadion, Super, Beast, Ultra Beast, Trail, Kids and Hurricane Heat! All Heats! Sign Up Today! — Use code: SAP-JFf21
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.
