How to Improve Grip Strength for Weightlifting

Grip strength is necessary for performing many daily tasks as well as various sports activities. Likewise, it is very important for weightlifting. When performing strength training movements, the strength of your grip can greatly affect your weightlifting performance. Some people have limited grip strength and would like to improve it. It is possible to improve your grip strength through exercises, specific equipment, and grip techniques.

What is grip strength?

Grip strength is how much force you can generate when you hold your hands together. There are several types of grip strength, including:

• Squeeze: This type of grip uses the fingers and palm.
• Support: Support grip strength is related to how long you can hold or hang.
• Pinch: How hard you grab something with your fingers and thumb.

The muscles that make up your grip include those in your forearm and hand. The 35 muscles that control finger movement come from your lower arm and hand. These muscles are involved in all gripping movements.

Importance of Grip Strength

Grip strength isn’t just important for weightlifting; it’s also important for overall health. In fact, there’s evidence that a weak grip may increase your risk of heart failure and death. 1 Since grip strength is tied to your muscles, it can decrease as you age. Improving your grip strength and maintaining muscle tone can be very beneficial to your long-term health. 2.
When lifting weights, a strong grip is needed to increase the amount of weight you can lift. This is especially important for exercises like deadlifts, barbell rows, pull-ups, and barbell snatches or high pulls.

How to Improve Grip Strength

Grip strength can be improved by practicing the same weightlifting movements that use grip strength. In addition, there are many other ways to improve grip strength through specific exercises and equipment.

Improve your grip strength at home

You can improve your grip strength at home using a towel, a thick book, a tennis ball, a shopping bag, or a rubber band.

• Towel: Wet a towel and hold the ends flat in front of you. Grasp the ends and pull the towel in opposite directions.
• Thick book: Hold a thick book between your fingers and thumb. If this is not difficult, try moving your fingers and thumb along the spine from one end to the other and back again.
• Tennis ball: Hold a tennis ball in your hand and squeeze it with only your fingers (thumbs facing up). Squeeze as hard as you can before releasing it. Repeat this exercise about 100 times a day.
• Shopping bag: When you bring groceries home, use a large reusable bag that can handle a lot of weight. Pull them to your sides like a farmer’s pull.
• Rubber band: Place two or more rubber bands on the ends of your fingers and thumbs and practice opening and closing your fingers by spreading them against the resistance of the rubber bands. Add more rubber bands as you get stronger.

Equipment to improve your grip strength

There are some equipment designed specifically to improve your grip strength, such as grippers and grip pads.

A gripper is a piece of equipment that you hold in your hand and squeeze between your hand and fingers. There are different resistance levels, up to 100 pounds.
Grip pads, or pads that wrap around a barbell, increase the diameter available for you to grip for specific exercises. This causes muscle activation in the hands, forearms, and upper arms, which improves grip strength. 3. When using a thicker barbell with a grip pad, be sure to use a lower weight than usual, as you may not be able to lift as much weight and may drop the barbell.

Exercises to Improve Grip Strength

There are a variety of exercises you can try (which can also be customized) to specifically target grip strength. Add these exercises to your routine to improve different types of grip strength and muscle endurance in your upper body.

• Pullups

  Pull-ups utilize a support and squeeze grip. This is a great bodyweight exercise to build grip and lower arm strength. Stand under a pull-up bar and grab the bar with an overhand grip, with your hands wider than shoulder width apart.

• Dead Hang

  Try the hang to build support grip strength. Stand under a pull-up bar and grab the bar with an overhand grip, with your hands wider than shoulder width apart. Hang from the bar with your arms straight.

• Deadlifts

  Deadlifts require a strong grip, especially when you use heavier weights. A weak grip will limit your ability to lift the weight. When holding the bar, squeeze it with your hands, as if you were trying to bend it to apply pressure.

It is also important to grip the barbell with the joint line between your hands and fingers, rather than with your palms.

Place the barbell on the floor in front of you and stand facing the barbell with your legs about four inches away from the barbell.

• Your feet should be shoulder-width apart and pointing straight ahead, or angled slightly outward.
• Flex your center of gravity as you squat, keeping your back straight and grasping the barbell with an overhand grip, shoulder-width apart.
• As you stand up, keep your arms straight and fully extended, gripping the barbell.
• As you lift your hips, your shoulders will lift and your back will remain straight.
• As you stand up, rotate your shoulder blades back and down, then lower the barbell back to the floor in the opposite motion.

• Farmer’s Walk

Farmer’s walks (or weightlifting) will strengthen your brace and squeeze grip and can be modified to improve your pinch strength. Farmer’s walks will also strengthen your lower arms.

• Place a pair of heavy dumbbells or kettlebells at your feet and tighten your core muscles, keeping your chest lifted. Squat down to grab the weights
• Stand up and begin walking forward, holding the weights at your sides
• Walk as far as you can, then lower the weights back down.

Another way to do a farmer’s walk is to hold the base of the dumbbells instead of the handles. This will further improve your grip strength. You can also carry the weights in a pinch position to improve your pinch strength.

• Zottman Curls

Zottman curls help build forearm strength.

• Hold a pair of dumbbells in each hand with your arms straight at your sides. Keep your arm joints close to your body and your palms facing each other, maintaining a neutral grip
• Rotate your palms outward, making sure they are facing away from you
• Start by curling the dumbbells up to your shoulders while keeping your elbows in place.
• Once the dumbbells are at shoulder height, rotate them, making sure your hands are facing outward.
• Return the dumbbells to your sides, with your hands facing the ground.
• Lift the dumbbells back up to your shoulders, with your hands still facing the ground.
• At the top of the movement, twist your wrists so your hands are facing you, then reverse the curl.
• Continue to rotate the curl, with your hands facing forward and backward, for multiple repetitions.

Other Useful Ways to Have a Strong Grip

In addition to helping you add weight to various lifts, a strong grip can also help with other athletic activities such as rock climbing where you will need a high level of supportive grip strength. Acrobatics, calisthenics, baseball, rugby, golf, and racquet sports also require strong grip strength.
Useful everyday activities that benefit from a strong grip include opening jars, lifting heavy objects, and living a healthy, independent life as you age.

Conclusion

Grip strength consists of multiple aspects and is also an important part of living a healthy, active lifestyle as you age. For weightlifting, improving grip strength can improve performance and give you a better chance of reaching your potential maximum lift.
With technique and effort, it is possible to improve your grip strength. Using the exercises and tips detailed in this article can help.

They are an excellent bodyweight exercise to build your grip and forearm strength. It is also important to hold the barbell at the joint line between your hand and fingers, rather than with your hands… Place the barbell on the floor in front of you and stand facing the barbell with your legs about four inches away from the barbell. Bend at the hips and squat down, keeping your back straight, and hold the barbell with an overhand grip, hands shoulder-width apart. The farmer’s walk (or carry) will strengthen your brace and squeeze grip and can be modified to improve your pinch strength. You can also carry weights in a pinch grip position to improve your pinch grip strength.