The Kids of COSP improving their grip strength. Have you signed up for Sweat For A Cause yet??
Grip strength is an important piece to CrossFit. Most people have felt that intense forearm pain and thought “If only I had forearms like the Hulk.” Let’s talk about a few ways we can improve on it and what type of grip strength would be best for you!
We are constantly going from an open grip to a closed grip. It is not a matter of grip giving out on a 1 rep max weighted pull up. It is a matter of gripping a barbell, then opening your grip and gripping the pull up bar, then back to the barbell. So we know we are working on endurance of our open to close grip, not overall 1 rep strength.
There are also a few types of grip:
-Pinching, open hand (finger strength) – Pinch grip on a thick plate
-Pinching, closed hand – Pinch grip on a thin plate
-Crushing, closed hand (forearm strength) – Trying to hold onto the pull up bar when your grip is giving out
-Crushing, open hand – Lifting a thick bar
Our focus for this article will be closed hand and open hand crushing grip. Both apply to the sport of CrossFit more so than pinching grip.
First of all you need to use more chalk, just bathe in it before coming into the gym, you will be stronger and not look weird at all. Just kidding, chalk is overrated and not the reason you keep loosing your grip.
1) Fat bars
At CrossFit Federal Hill we have two options for fat bars. We have the axle bar and the Fat pull up bar. The axle bar can be loaded and the pull up bar is obviously stationary. They are both about the same diameter, much larger than a traditional barbell or pull up bar. This requires some extra strength to hold on the bar. It is like working out with 135 pounds, but you know the test will require 95 pounds. We recommend using the axle bar for deadlifts with a double overhand grip, not a mixed grip. Load the bar with a submaximal load and work on sets of 10-15 followed by a 30 second sprint on the assault bike or rower. This will keep the heart rate high and challenge your grip strength. Two things that happen quite often if you are doing CrossFit.
For the fat bar pull ups we recommend hitting large sets of strict pull ups with about 30-60 seconds rest between each set. If you work these into your training then grabbing on a standard pull up bar will feel like you are holding baby weight.
2) Farmers Carry
The farmers carry requires you to hold two objects by your side and walk. Usually this is performed with kettlebells or dumbbells. These are a great exercises for overall strength development along with grip strength. There are plenty of ways to slice this up, but we will continue to focus on interval training and working the open to close grip strength.
Our favorite one for the farmers carry is the partner 200 M walk. You grab the load and walk 200 M with as little breaks as possible then your partner grabs the load and does the same. Hit this for a total of 1000 M per person. Another option is timed intervals. Hit a 100M farmers carry then a 200M run for five rounds.
The key to the farmers carry is working with time under tension. It should not be trying to run with the load at your waist. Walk at a solid pace, but remember our goal is grip strength not getting better at fast walking while holding 53 pounds in each hand.
3) Towels and Ropes
Towels and ropes are another great tool to utilize when working on grip strength. Our two go to exercises would be towel pull ups and rope climbs. For the towel pull up you can drop a towel over the pull up bar and dead hang or try to do a few pull ups. Take about 30 seconds rest and repeat.
Rope climbs will get the forearms burning, but can be challenging and intimidating to work into a workout. Without getting too technical the correct way to climb a rope is to use as much legs possible, the arms should be minimal. When working grip strength we prefer a legless rope climb or focusing more on using the arms. Here are a few ideas starting with the most basic and working up.
-Lay on the ground, grab onto the rope and pull yourself up.
-Jump onto the rope and dead hang
-Climb the rope stopping at every pull to hang from your arms only for 5 seconds
-Legless rope climbs.
Throw these in at the end of any workout. Work on getting better on the rope and it will improve overall grip strength. These should not be your go to exercise, but good accessory work when axle bars and farmers carry start to become a chore. Remember, you want to keep your training fun and interesting.
Before diving headfirst into this we recommend finding a baseline measurement and committing to a plan a few days per week. A good baseline test is a max distance farmers carry with 70 KBs for guys or 53 Kbs for ladies. After that write up a plan and commit to 2 days a week for 6 weeks. Then retest to see the results. A goal means nothing without a plan of action.
Want more one on one attention for specific areas such as this? Check out this article about why personal training might be a good option for you!
Check out this great article on strengthening your core.