You go to a gym and try to lift some really impressive weights. But you find that you are not able to even deadlift a 4 pound weight! Each time you try, the weights just slip out of your grasp. You realize that the problem lies with your grip, and you start to look around for any way possible to be able to deadlift soon by incorporating grips into your routine. You have realized that it is not just the bulging biceps and perfect abs that count. You realize that you also need to strengthen your hand muscles. The universal truth is that the muscles in the hand are as important as the body’s other muscles. In some ways, they can be even more important, since they are needed to enhance muscle strength (how will you be able to build up those biceps if you had a pudding grip?). The good news is that strengthening your grip is not very difficult. There are exercises that will help you get that iron grip that you have always longed for.
Exercises To Strengthen Your Grip
- Use fist push-ups. These are similar to regular push-ups, except that you would be using your fist and not your palm for these push-ups. These are great to build up fist muscles.
- Do finger push-ups, where you would be using your fingers instead of your palms to do push-ups. The perfect solution to strengthen your fingers.
- Spread your fingers as wide apart as they can possibly spread. Hold them out for a few seconds and then bring your fingers back into a tight fist. Hold this position for a few seconds and repeat.
- Pinch your index finger and thumb together as tightly as you can for a few seconds. Then spread them apart as far as possible and repeat this exercise. This is called the isometric pinch and is said to be quite effective.
- Press your fingers together with as much pressure possible and then release. Repeat this exercise a couple of times.
- Use a hand gripper. These could be made of rubber or of foam, and are great to improve your hand muscles. They also aid in relaxation.
- Do regular wrist curls while holding weights. You would need to begin with lightweights and then move on to heavier ones.
- Hang from an overhead bar for as long as possible. This is an effective way to get a stronger grip as well as to build up your forearms.
- Rope climbing is an activity that can strengthen your grip, since you will need to balance your body’s weight on your hands.
- Climbing a tree is quite good to improve your grip. (Monkeys have a great grip – even with their tails!)