Cameron Allen
Table of Contents
Your grip strength is one of your biggest assets in life. Practically every aspect of your daily routine involves your grip in one way or another, whether it’s shaking hands, carrying groceries, or playing a competitive sport.
Therefore, you must treat it as a priority and train it accordingly. Read below to learn all about how to strengthen your grip, why is it important, and some tips and tricks to help you progress quicker.
How to Increase Grip Strength
When it comes to strengthening your grip, there are various to-the-point grip exercises you can explore.
Incorporating upper body exercises like hanging from a pull-up bar for timed intervals, performing reverse wrist curls with dumbbells to target your forearm muscles, using hand grippers to work on hand and finger strength, or engaging in challenging sports like rock climbing or rowing that naturally strengthen your grip and wrists.
Aside from these bodyweight exercises, you can also incorporate weight-lifting, exercises like farmer’s walks, deadlifts, rack-pulls, and sled-pulls are all excellent exercises to improve grip strength.
By increasing the intensity and duration of these exercises as you progress, you can effectively improve your grip strength. It’s important to mix up your routine with a variety of grip exercises to target different muscle groups and improve overall hand strength and versatility.
Remember, consistency and hard work are key, incorporate these exercises regularly into your workout regimen, train hard and you will see improvements in your grip strength over time.
Will working my grip strength make my forearms bigger?
Strengthening your grip is a sure-found way of building up those forearms. This is why you will often see laborers and construction workers with jacked forearms.
Many grip exercises, like deadlifts, farmer’s walks, plate pinches, wrist curls, or even just squeezing a tennis ball, work the muscles in your forearms, elbows, hands, and wrists to support, strengthen, and stabilize your grip.
These exercises can lead to muscle hypertrophy, which is what triggers muscle growth. By consistently training your grip strength hard and engaging your forearm muscles properly, you’re likely to see progress in both areas over time.
So, if you’re aiming to build bigger forearms, focusing on a variety of grip exercises is a solid way to reach that goal alongside boosting your overall strength and functionality. Train hard and stay consistent, and you’ll soon notice some serious gains in your forearms.
Why Grip Strength And Wrist Mobility Is So Important
Having a strong grip and good wrist mobility is crucial for various reasons.
Grip strength is essential for performing everyday tasks like carrying groceries, opening jars, or even holding onto objects securely. Your grip and wrist mobility also play a significant role in many sports and physical activities, such as weightlifting, rock and rope climbing, or playing racquet sports like badminton.
Having strong wrists and grip can greatly enhance your performance in these activities and reduce the risk of injuries. Additionally, adequate wrist flexibility is vital for maintaining proper form in exercises like push-ups, planks, or heavy overhead presses in the weight room.
This helps prevent wrist pain and improves overall movement efficiency. By focusing on building a solid grip and improving wrist flexibility, you can enhance your functional abilities, prevent injuries, and excel in various physical aspects.
How Do I Test Grip Strength?
The simplest way to measure or test your grip strength is through the handgrip test. All you need is a hand dynamometer, which is a useful device specifically designed to measure grip strength.
Begin by holding the dynamometer in one hand with your arm at your side and squeezing the handle as hard as possible. Make sure your wrist is in a neutral position and your elbow is not bent. Repeat the test three times with both hands, allowing some rest between attempts. Record the highest reading from each hand, or average out the three measurements to get an accurate measure of your grip strength.
Although not as efficient or accurate, there are other ways to test your grip strength. Some examples include performing exercises like dead hangs or holding onto a heavy dumbbell for as long as you can. These exercises can give you a good indication of where you stand in terms of grip strength and endurance.
6 Tips to Build Grip Strength
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Incorporate grip-specific exercises into your routine, like deadlifts and farmer’s walks
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Use grip-strengthening tools like hand grippers, Alpha Gripz, Great Ape Grips (Rice bag trainer) or stress balls to work on your grip strength on the go
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Prioritize proper form during exercises to ensure you’re engaging the muscles in your forearms effectively
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Gradually increase the weight or resistance to keep your training challenging
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Include forearm stretches and mobility exercises in your warm-up routine to prevent injuries
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Be consistent and give your muscles time to rest and recover between intense training sessions
You want a forearm workout that leaves you vascular and feeling a burn? Alpha Gripz will help you get there. A product that helps you increase grip strength for various sports.
- Super easy to move this equipment around
- Comes with 4 different levels to work up to
- Work outside and inside parts of forearm
Built for versatility, Great Ape Grips offers a comprehensive grip training experience that is an upgraded/mobile version of the classic rice bucket workout!
- A new and unique way to train forearms
- Easy to bring anywhere
- Minimal Space Required
Kettlebell training involves dynamic, whole-body movements that enhance strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular fitness. Its effectiveness for athlete-like conditioning stems from the combination of resistance training and functional movements.
- Replaces dumbbells and allows for full body exercise
- Increase grip strength with various exercises
- Something for everyone
Traditional Hand gripper set. Comes with 6 different levels to work up to.
- Easy to use
- Training for every level
- Cheap and quick delivery for those wanting to start today
How To Improve Grip Strength and Mobility At The Office & Home
The best part about grip strength training is that you do not need a whole gym to gain progress. You can easily train your grip at home, at work, or on the go with commonly available and affordable equipment. Things like rice bags and hand grippers are an excellent choice for beginners to make some serious progress.
Alpha Gripz
Alpha Gripz grip training equipment is a fantastic choice for enhancing your grip strength. These tools are designed to target the muscles in your hands and forearms, helping you build strength and endurance.
Alpha Gripz offers a variety of options, from hand grippers to finger exercisers, allowing you to customize your grip training routine based on your specific goals and needs.
Whether you’re a beginner looking to improve your grip strength or an experienced athlete aiming to take your performance to the next level, Alpha Gripz equipment is an excellent choice.
Great Ape Grips Rice Bag
The rice bag by Great Ape Grips (Review) is one of the most unique and versatile pieces of grip equipment out there. Essentially it is a 3-pound bag full of rice with a glove-like incision in the middle. This allows you to wear it like a glove and enjoy the unique resistance profile.
These rice bags are great for building grip strength alongside your wrists. Wrist curls are exceptionally comfortable with both palms facing towards and away from you. The rice filling makes it extremely adaptable to various movements like squeezing, twisting, and more.
You can even make your workout harder by squeezing the bag with a bent wrist.
Hand Gripper
Hand grippers are one of the most common tools to build grip strength. They are extremely common and also affordable. You can also get dial grippers which have a dial to increase or decrease the intensity.
These adjustable grippers are amazing for beginners who are making quick progress. To use a hand gripper, all you have to do is squeeze the handles together using your finger strength. Make sure to gently place the gripper between your fingers and palms.
So if you’re dealing with weak grip strength in terms of handshakes or just carrying groceries, hand grippers are one of the best grip work tools for you.
Grip Strength Measurer
Part of doing these exercises is to know and see progress so you can see if want you are doing is actually working. That is where a grip strength measurement meter will be needed. If you are serious about increasing your grip strength this is the perfect tool to measure the progress you may (or may not) be seeing.
Best Workouts to Improve Grip Strength
Improving your grip strength is not a complicated process, most people do not need a personal trainer or a physical therapist to make decent progress. If you have access to a gym, all you need are a few of the best exercises to improve your grip.
Reverse grip barbell curl
The reverse grip barbell curl is without a doubt, one of the best exercises for building your forearms and strengthening your grip. You can perform the exercise with a straight bar, however, an EZ curl bar is preferred.
An EZ curl barbell is less straining on your wrists and involves more of your forearms during the exercise. To perform this exercise, grab and lift the bar with your palms turned towards the floor, instead of up. After this, curl the weight up normally, pause at the top and perform a slow eccentric.
Within a few sets, you will feel the burn and pump.
You want a forearm workout that leaves you vascular and feeling a burn? Alpha Gripz will help you get there. A product that helps you increase grip strength for various sports.
- Super easy to move this equipment around
- Comes with 4 different levels to work up to
- Work outside and inside parts of forearm
Built for versatility, Great Ape Grips offers a comprehensive grip training experience that is an upgraded/mobile version of the classic rice bucket workout!
- A new and unique way to train forearms
- Easy to bring anywhere
- Minimal Space Required
Kettlebell training involves dynamic, whole-body movements that enhance strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular fitness. Its effectiveness for athlete-like conditioning stems from the combination of resistance training and functional movements.
- Replaces dumbbells and allows for full body exercise
- Increase grip strength with various exercises
- Something for everyone
Traditional Hand gripper set. Comes with 6 different levels to work up to.
- Easy to use
- Training for every level
- Cheap and quick delivery for those wanting to start today
