I have been trying to work on some grip strength, but would like to know if anyone out there has any good workouts or exercises for it?
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I have been trying to work on some grip strength, but would like to know if anyone out there has any good workouts or exercises for it?
any grip strength I have is from manual labor. there is nothing like swinging a hammer, digging at ditch or splitting wood to make your hands strong. but if you don't do any of those thing just good ol' fashion rope climbing works very well. :)
Ya, I got you. i have been working with ropes for a little bit now
train da gi you must
Do deadlifts, rope climbing, pull ups, chin ups .. will all help your grip and help you overall :)
Gi pull ups. I had one of those hand grippers and they work well as long as you constantly use it. Lost mine and haven't replaced it yet. Kettle bells.
Bouldering indoor or out. U will get wicked grip
You guys always gotta make things complicated. Buy this, use that, has no one considered the obvious? Straight jackin! Chronic masturbation is the only way to go :-).
Hold a kettlebell upside down so the ball is above your hand and do push press.
If the kettlebell moves a inch either way it slams into your arm
But if you want to best grip training, break up with your gf and spend some nights alone
[insert masturbation joke here]
First of all, the gripping muscles for nogi are different than for gi. You to be able to close your fist strong for the gi. For nogi is the wrist and forearm, its about how strong you can bend your wrist. Understand this when trying to work out. Don't just squeeze something, its all about that wrist and forearm.
I agree with Nathan, manual labor is the way to go. You get work done AND train grip strength. I am from the country, manual labor is a part of the lifestyle, I had above avg grip strength my whole life, never needed to work it out. If you YouTube wrist and forearm workouts, I'm sure there's 100's of legit workouts. Lol, i bet there's 100's of shitty ones too..welcome to YouTube.
I agree, no-gi grip strenght is different. I can tell you rock climbing grip strenght training that will give you amazing grip strength. But it really doesn't translate to no gi except for wrist control. The best no gi grip strength training I have seen I learned from the guys at 10th planet St. Paul. If you have access to a heavy bag, gable grip around the heavy bag, lift your feet off the ground and hold for 1 minute. I have since added my extras based on rock climbing training. If you can hold for 1 minute, add a weight belt with 5 lbs. Continue to try for 1 minute. once you build up to 1 minute add another 5 lbs and repeat. I bet once you have worked your way up to 40 lbs or so, you will have a crushing unbreakable gable grip. Do the same process with s grip, and ball and socket seat belt grip. Check out Eric Horst's books and website Training for climbing and trainingforclimbing.com. His H.I.T workout is what this is adapted from. You want popeye forearms, this guy can get you there. You can also email him, he is a great guy and will be happy to help.
I agree, that's the power of da gi.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonrivello
I use the Grip4Force fat bar grips for all my sub-maximal work for my pull ups, rows and deadlifts. They are basically hard rubber "c" shapes grips that must be crushed closed around the bar. They make a standard Olympic bar 2.75" in diameter, and if you don't grip them closed, the bar is going to fall free. Pretty simple carry over to grip fighting and clinching, and it is very easy to program for a progressive strength increase over time by varying load and time under tension.
Very good and educated answer. I love those little grip things he taking about, we have some blue ones at the college I work at. Good stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike May
+1 Gi Pull ups are the one of the best grip exercises I've ever done.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brent Smith
We do pullups on a 4x4 and on a frayed barge rope hanging off of it, and try to explode from the rope to the beam and back.
If you want to really kill yourself stand comfortably and extend both your arms in front of you, palms down. For thirty seconds open your hands as wide as you can and then clench them into the tightest fist possible as rapidly as possible. Thirty seconds is pure murder, especially the first couple times. Rest 30 and repeat until fail. Your forearms will be exploding.
Your fingers closing a fist is NOT nogi grip strength, that's gi grip strength. You must work out the bending of the wrist. Such as a used in a collar tie, RG, butterfly grip, etc etc. you don't close your fist all the way down and clinch something in your fingers in nogi...ever. Why work out like that? I don't care how tight I can hold a piece of cloth in my fist, I need to be able to hold a collar tie, finish a rnc latch style choke using the freedom rock, hold a butterfly grip, etc.
You may not close them all the way down like you would in the gi but, at least for me, Im constantly grabbing wrist control and keeping it because I have a decent grip strength. IE Pyramid, jump rope triangle, kimuras, any figure 4 grip really,or even in guard i get double wrist control.Quote:
Originally Posted by ScottRay
Or is this even different muscle groups? I'm not doctor and haven't taken any sort of anatomy class before.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brent Smith
More No gi jiu jitsu could help:)
Automotive work, manual labor, rock climbing and what ryan said about holding kettlebells upside down all have helped me. I also use a grip exerciser when driving around.
This is just crazy enough it may workQuote:
Originally Posted by Josh Passini
Experimental at best but I think there is some evidence. I think that grappler Marcelo something may have said it somewhere. I heard that guy is pretty decent.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brent Smith
This is the best answer. Just keep training.Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh Passini
Dean Lister has a great bit on this.
If you're going to add anything though kettlebells are best imo. Grab a 25 lber and go nuts.
Ya, I'm going to get some. I heard they are the bees kneesQuote:
Originally Posted by Brent Smith
word
Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh Passini
I have the opposite problem. I have grip strength for days but no JJ. Grip training is an entire sub-group and they even have their own competitions. There are several types of grip strength and for complete grip strength you should train them all. You have pinch grip (pinch some weight plates together and lift), crushing grip (heavy grippers), grip wrist (leverage, torque and control) and open hand support (thick grip). I would recommend crushing to everyone. It is kind of the base of grip strength. Sporting good grippers are useless. Go online for the heavy kind. For no-gi I would use many of the things already mentioned but would add chins and pulls with baseballs and softballs, heavy hammer leverage, farmer’s walks with different weights and bar diameters for strength and endurance, eagle claw strap pull-ups thick bar timed holds and even some pinch gripping. Building up the thumb is critical to keeping a hold from breaking. I also recommend strongman stone lifting. Your hand is open but your hand and wrist have to work together to maintain enough friction to complete the lift. Vertical bar dead lifts (approx 2”) and thick rolling handle dead lifts are also very good.
Wow, I gotta shake your hand one day. Honestly my grips pretty ok but I find when you're all sweaty that grip strength is not as important as grip fighting, which is not the same thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Jodoin
Ahhh. Brilliant. A learning opportunity. What is involved with hand fighting? What attributes (physical rather than technical) would add value to hand fighting?
I have a "black belt" in strength and conditioning but JJ is what I'm here to learn.
Thanks,
Bob
More no gi Jiu Jitsu! I agree. And the bag squeezing sounds great, but if your time is limited like mine, you could just squeeze/clench your classmates in live rolling while in a clenching position, ei, RG, Prison guard, etc.
First off, at the lower levels (like me) I agree with people saying that more time doing jiu jitsu will be of the most benefit. On the other hand all pro athletes perform exercises to work attributes which are important in their sport.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Jodoin
Physically strong wrist are important in grip/hand fighting but since I can break grips of guys way bigger and stronger than me, I have to say the technical side is more important.
Im pretty new but for me; looking up the anatomy of the wrist and arm bones and then getting really high and daydreaming about anatomy as it applies to grips, helped my grip game. When you are slippery, having a knowledge about those bones is a great help.
Great first post!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Jodoin
Yup. To increase my grip strength I roll and grip the shit outta people. Gripping intelligently and using the bodies natural handles at proper angles dramatically increases your power(not strength) as well. "There is no better preparation for the act, than the act itself."Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh Passini
I have a good story about strength vs technique. About 8-9 years ago I was training two Jiu Jitsu players for the Pan-Ams up at BTT in Boston. In order to better program their strength and conditioning I decided to get a gi and roll with them. I ended up training with some blue belts and a purple or two. I had zero idea what to do but none of them could submit me. I just held on and wouldn't let go. Most of this was due to grip strength. One of my athletes was a female purple belt who had just gotten promoted. My weight advantage on her exceeded her entire bodyweight by about 25lbs. I was surprised but she wanted to have a go after watching her friends fail to submit me. Brazilian gameness or female gameness...either way... We started off on the ground, took the hand slap and began. I grabbed for her gi thinking I could just immobilize her and she launched herself around to my back. She was like a monkey. I couldn't reach her. She went for the rear naked but, as I didn't have a neck, per se, she quickly abandoned that option rather than engage a battle of futility. This is where brains over strength prevailed. She put her forearm bone into the nerve just under my teeth and hung her entire 105 lbs from that. I tapped like my hand was on fire. She celebrated by jumping around the mat and we all had a good laugh.
Later I rolled with a black belt and he repeatedly submitted me in a variety of ways without any effort at all. He talked calmly the whole time.
What I took from all of that was that technique trumps strength once that technique passes a certain level. (And don't mess with skilled females)
Because strength is my thing, and my crutch, I always say it is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it, but, at the end of the day I do agree with the idea of rolling more no-gi. Technique would likely improve and adapt faster vs someone like me. As a beginner I would "tend" to abandon technique and fall back on my strength thus slowing my path to mastery. Less so now that I'm getting old, but still...
Ultimately, technique wins...If, however, a weakness is glaring, by all means, seek and destroy...
My philosophy with training is to destroy weaknesses (technical, mental and/or physical) while continuously building upon your strengths.
My first mission is flexibility. I work it 2-3 times per day.
Ps. She went on to earn her black belt...I think she was BTT-Boston's first female under Joao Amaral