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humorist-workshop
Weak grip
Hey Mike,
I have been having some trouble with my grip at the gym. My forearms have always lagged a bit behind the rest of me, but this hasnt really been much of a problem until I started to deadlift.
In the past I didnt do that exercise due to lower back problems. Anyway, now my grip is holding me back. Last time, the weight literally dropped out of my hand when i still had at least 2 reps left in me. Its not even that I lift a huge amount.
Anyhow, I was wondering, do you think its a good idea to do forearm specific exercises? Or should I just keep dealifting and let the arms catch up? So far my favourite programs just focus on a few compound exercises and not much else.
Any input is much appreciated, this is really bugging me. Thx.
(not-so-wise)Alan
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You came to the right guy...I am a grip training FREAK. Yes you should do your forearms- but strong forearms don't always necessarily mean strong hands.
No matter what lift it is, deads, bench, even hacks...you're only as good as your grip.
Some Forearm exercises- Flexor (Inner)
-DB/BB Wrist curls (standing, seated, behind the back)
-Tick-Tocks- Get two DB's and hang them at your sides- bend the wrist in towards your side like doing a wrist curl and under the same control bend it all the way out as far as you can go- think of a pendulum; that's why they're called Tick-Tocks.
Extensor (Outer)
-Reverse BB/DB wrist curls
-Wrap rubber bands around your fingers and try and open your hand fully against their resistance
-Make a fist and with your other hand grip the fist as tight as you can and try to open your fist against your other hand's resistance.
-Thor's Hammers- Get a sledgehammer or other long; top heavy object and hold it in the middle at eye level and rotate it upwards under control until it is straight up, then under control lower it back to the parallel starting position. As your forearms get stronger- you will see that you will be able to go further down the handle.
-Sand drill; get a bucket of sand and with your hand try and drill all the way to the bottom.
Grip Work:
-Bar Hangs; Simple- just hang from a bar for as long as you can
-Newspaper crumple; Get a page from a newspaper and hold it out to your side gripping a corner of the paper with your thumb and index finger and without moving your arm crumple up the newspaper into your hand.
-Plate squeeze; Get an Olympic plate and with your 4 fingers hold it by the inner ridge- hold this at your side. Squeeze as if you were making a fist- being careful to keep a hold on the ridge.
More Advanced:
-Plate/DB Pinches; Get 2 10 lb Olympic plates and put them together (Smooth sides out) and grip the top portion and hold in the air and when you can't hold it anymore- switch to the other hand. To make it extra hard- begin by picking them up off the floor. For DB pinches- grab a hexagon shaped DB and stand it up...wrap your hand around the top part and lift. Repeat.
-Grippers; If you're serious about grip training I recommend getting a set of "Captains of Crush" grippers sold at Ironmind.com
-Bending 60-penny nails, ripping phonebooks/ decks of playing cards in half is a sign of excellent lower arm/hand development and quite an ego rush :-D
These are VERY tough grippers and the higher ones are for world class grip strength; read the selections and find which one is right for you.
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