I posted on my Facebook page earlier in the week about how grippers are quite possibly the best way to improve your grip strength for deadlifting.
Now, when I talk about grippers what comes to mind for many people are those junk grippers you find at Target or generic sporting goods stores. As with most things you buy at big box stores, they are junk. If you want something productive, you have to get a real tool.
Torsion spring grippers, like the famous IronMind Captains of Crush series are popular and convenient ways to train the crush grip motion of the hand. They consist of a stiff spring connecting two all-metal handles, usually with significant knurling to keep the handles from slipping.
In barbell lifts the main gripping motion is the crushing action of the fingers, as opposed to any direct involvement of the thumb. If you can’t hold on a the weight, even with a mixed grip, it’s because your fingers aren’t strong enough.
If you want a stronger crush grip, grippers are the ticket. Get a range of grippers from one that you can close easily to one that is more challenging and requires you to start from a parallel set. Learning how to set a gripper is imperative.
Recently I travelled to Phoenix, Arizona on a skydiving trip and I took the opportunity to grab a lift with my good friend Bret Contreras. After we lifted, I challenged him to an impromptu gripper for reps contest.
Multiple rep training is a great way to build both strength and strength endurance in the hands, which is especially applicable to keeping that hand closed around your favorite barbell. You want a gripper that you can close without too much effort so that you can rep it out. You’re not going to do this with a max effort gripper.
P.S. If you need some hardware to get started, I highly recommend my friend and neighbor Matt Cannon’s online gripper store. To the best of my knowledge there is nowhere else you can get your grippers and get them rated in one fell swoop – something I highly recommend so that you know exactly what you’re working with. I explain this a bit more in the video as well.
This seems familiar 🙂