Why Grip Strength Is More Important Than You Think
Grip strength is not something that we usually think about let alone work on. Many studies shows that grip strength is good indicator of long term health. You can see below all of the studies. This may change your opinion about focusing a little more on it.
Grip strength is something that is easily measured and thus used as a proxy for over all strength. Since most of the studies have been conducted with people 50 years old and up, this method of assessing strength is much easier than squatting or other gym tests.This means that if your grip strength is strong, odds are so are your other muscles. The studies show that it is more related with how well the muscle works rather the muscle size.
From a lifting perspective, grip strength has often been cited as an under looked aspect of training that could unlock further strength. As a trainer, I see a lot of people having to stop exercises such as deadlifts, DB lunges, and most pulling exercises because of grip issues.
Let's take the pull up for example. One of the top exercises to build a strong back, and one you can with very minimal equipment. If your grip gives out before your back does, your back is not getting the workout it needs to adapt and get better. So unless you fix the wrist issue, you will not see a lot of progression with you back strength. The same is true with any other exercises in which your grip gives out first.
By strengthening your grip, you will be able to perform those exercises better, leading to more strength adaptations which in the long term, will increase your overall health.
How to specifically train your grip
The best way to train your grip is to use "Fat Gripz" extensions. It's just a piece of rubber you wrap around regular bars to increase the diameter. This will be much harder on your grip and will help you work on it.
Use lighter weights than usual
Using the Fat Gripz will put a lot of strain on your grip and wrist. To do your reps properly, make sure you use lighter weights than normal. If you usually use 100 pounds for your bent over rows, just use 70 pounds with Fat Gripz as a start.
Keep you reps between 8-15, no need to go hard core right away.
Work on compounds lifts and isolation exercises
Only use the Fat Gripz on a few exercises each workout, but mix up the exercises. If your workout consists of bent over rows, lat pull downs, single arm rows and curls, Use the Fat Gripz on only 2 at a time. One week you use them on the bent over rows and curls, and the next week you use them on the lat pull downs and single arm rows.
Have fun with it guys!
Clem
https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/36/1/228/665601
https://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2016/06/08/jech-2015-206776
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28549705
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002934306004475
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5750866/ "A useful proxy to determine physical fitness and physical well-being, especially among elderly people, is the measurement of hand grip strength, which is increasingly used as an indicator of overall muscle strength and function [23,24]. A high grip strength is strongly associated with preserved mobility [25], higher activities of daily living [26,27] and decreased disability [28,29]."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28195977 periodized 8 weeks