“What do you grip, mate?”
How often have you come across that question? Exactly, never – grip strength isn’t exactly the most hotly disputed factor of strength.
And it’s rare that people will talk about the big four exercises being; bench press, squat, deadlift and thumb squeezers. After all, one would think that in training a variety of exercises such as the deadlift or even the military press, the grip of the hand would naturally increase. But how many times do you see all the big burly chaps dropping dumbbells, barbells or even water bottles as they pace around the gym? A bit too often we here at PhysioRoom.com HQ think.
The hands are used for pretty much everything that comes with upper body movement. From weightlifting, writing, playing an instrument to texting the hands are responsible for much more than you would think – in fact, your life would be fingerless without them. *sigh*
But how is one to strengthen the hands without mini medicine balls and finger sized dumbbells? Though the latter would be frankly hilarious, thankfully there are more appropriate ways to train your hands whilst maintaining a level of humility and here at GymRoom.com we have put together a short list of our favourite ones.
How to improve grip strength
Improving grip strength is a fundemental way to improve your overall strength. After all, what’s the point in being able to lift 100kg with your chest if you can’t grip it in your fingers? None. Absolutely none whatsoever. Grip strength is such an important tool to increasing overall strength that a number of companies have created successful products to improve the ability of the hands.
Remember this?
That is grip strength.
Crushing Strength: Crushing strength is best described by the action one takes when holding an apple or crushing an adversaries hand. Characterised by an all out assault from the fingers to the middle of the palm, the crushing grip is most commonly used when turning nobs, holding barbells and using a walking cane – if you’re savvy enough.
Pinching Strength: The other type of gripping action is commonly utilised when holding a pen, a dart or the throat of snake. Pinching is, quite literally, just that. The pinch between thumb and a finger. Pretty simple, right?
So now that we have established what the two types of strength are, how do we improve them? And more importantly, how do we do it without looking like a complete clown?
Gripmaster
As the name suggests, Gripmaster is, well, frankly the Grand Master of hand strength improvements.
Featuring the capabilities to improve both the crushing strength of the overall hand and the pinching strength of each individual digit, the Gripmaster is ideal for sitting at the desk with or making small talk over. The Gripmaster range is available in a variety of different resistance levels and usage patterns from medical grade, arthritic management tools and even specific strength increases for climbers, cricket players and musicians. The ‘Master allows for a variety of different hand exercises to be performed which can strengthen both the overall crushing strength and the pinching strength of each digit due to the individual finger pistons. This makes it ideal for musicians such as guitarists who require great dexterity and mobility.
Fitness Mad Power Grip
The Pro Power Grip is a crushing grip strength exerciser which is designed to offer easy adjustable varied resistance to the hand.
The ergonomic grip fits snugly in the palm of the hand. The strengths are easily adjustable from either 5kg – 20kg or 10kg – 40kg depending on the device used. The Pro Power Grip is ideal for developing focused strength for weight lifting, climbing and general gripping strength. Isolation of the fingers is possible with the smaller resistance level though the Power Grip is ideally suited for those wanting develop a strong vice like grip rather than speed or dexterity.