What is the number one cause of failed pull-ups and deadlifts? It is the strength of the hands. Train the weakest link and improve your lifts. Check out these tips for increasing grip strength and start crushing your workouts.
This is a deadlift that will really highlight your weakness in grip strength. Practice the deadlift with both hands facing you holding the barbell.
Use a thicker barbell if you have one. Do not use chalk. This will force you to use your grip strength more and not rely on outside help. Go all the way, hold the weight at the top of the lift, and count your hang time.
Use a rubber grip like the Grip4orce Trainer to make the bar taller and harder to hold.
Another option is to use a bar of a larger diameter - a PVC pipe or an axis. The bigger the bar, the harder your grip is. You will see your grip strength increase just by using this one tip.
QUESTION: I've been working hard to improve my pull-ups. Will it improve my grip strength?
ANSWER: Any type of training on a barbell will help you strengthen your grip.
Mix up your pull-ups with a wide variety: normal pull-ups, chin-up pull-ups, wide pull-ups, mountain pull-ups, and towel pull-ups.
Also try doing your pull-ups on bars of different sizes (the bigger the better).
Try to find an I-beam or a piece of 4x4 lumber and hang from those. Your bar doesn't have to be round.
One of the hardest workouts I've done is 100 pull-ups for time on a 4x4 parallel bar. My grip was maxed out. For towel pull-ups - One way to develop grip strength is towel pull-ups.
As you can imagine, a good grip translates strongly in football to being able to hold a player more firmly and move them where you want. Towel pull-ups are one of many tips for increasing grip strength.
An old climber's trick is to do pull-ups on a 10cm pipe. It's incredibly difficult but it forces your hand to stay open and work all your grip strength. The pull-up bar used in Navy SEAL training is 2 inches in diameter. It's larger than the normal playground pull-up bar. If you want to increase your grip strength for training on a pull-up bar like this, you need to do pull-ups on a big bar.
Grip Strength Workout #1
For the time
50 meter farmer's walk (you choose the weight but go all out)
15 pull-ups (use a large 2-inch barbell)
50 meters of sled with a big rope (you choose the weight).
Use heavy dumbbells or kettle bells and walk with heavy weights.
You can also use smaller dumbbells and use a Fat Gripz to make the weight harder to hold, which will strengthen your forearms.
A rock climbing board can be a great way to stretch your hands and build hand strength.
Be sure to take it easy when starting to climb a hangboard and don't use grips that are too small.
Stick to a few hooks and don't add weight unless you're an advanced climber.
Sandbags are clunky and difficult to hold, making them great for developing grip strength. Take them, wear them and feel the burn.
You can easily make a sandbag out of a plastic bag and tape. You can also use an old military backpack. You can also spend $75 and buy a personalized bag that will last a long time.
QUESTION: How does grip strength improve pull-ups?
ANSWER: Often it's your hands that fail first in pull-ups, so your grip is important.
Workout #3
Steven Farmer workout on skateboard
Complete warm-up for 5 minutes - then...
Half-finger hang on to failure
6 to 8 seconds
5 pull-ups on a fat bar
3 minutes of rest, then 20 reps of push-ups and 20 reps of sit-ups.
complete 5 turns
then switch to full grab bar
suspend 6 to 8 seconds
5 pull-ups on a big bar
3 minutes of rest with 15 sit-ups and 15 push-ups.
3 full turns
Hold these tennis ball shaped balls and do pull-ups or just hang. They are also called "cannonballs". If you don't have a cannonball, you can make one by piercing a baseball and threading a wire rope or strap through it.
They help you build strength in your fingers, wrists, forearms and arms. The handle helps identify the weakest areas for grip strength. The more variety you create in how you pull up, both in form and grip, the better your overall pull-up operation will be.
Tip #8: Wrist Rolls or Wrist Bends
Simple wrist rolls on a PVC pipe or a broomstick attached to a weight will quickly work your forearms for an incredible pump. You can hold the hose at your waist or hold it in front of your shoulders.
Start with a light weight and roll up the hose. Then lower it slowly in an eccentric motion. You will feel the burns from the start. Add weight as your grip strength allows. You don't need to use a lot of weight for this exercise. Maybe 5 or 10 pounds. Watch the video below.
As simple as it sounds, it's a very difficult exercise that will have you working your fingers like crazy. You can start by placing your hands in a bucket of sand for support. As you get stronger, you can slowly scoop sand out of the bucket. Just putting your hands in the sand and doing push-ups will build your overall hand strength.
Handle workout #3
10 minutes, as many rounds as possible
10 pull-ups on a fat bar
10 push-ups
Farmer Walk 200 meters with dumbbells
Check out hand grippers like the Captains of Crush hand gripper - use the C of Cs to build Superman's hand strength.
The CFF Pitbull Gripper is also a great way to build bone-crushing grip strength.
There are also bands that you can use in the opposite way to expand your fingers and build strength.
Take the strong rubber bands you find in the vegetable department to close the jars.
Put this rubber band around your fingers.
Now open your hand against the band. Close your hand and repeat.
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