One topic related to weight training that you don’t hear enough about is the importance of having the right grip on the bar you’re working with. In fact, grip strength can limit your performance when you strength train and make your upper body workouts less effective. Even if you have strong upper body muscles, you can’t optimize a lift if you can’t hang on to the bar or fatigue too early.
When you weight train, you’re at an advantage if you have a strong grip. You might wonder what determines grip strength? How hard you can grip is partly due to genetics and the anatomic structure of your hands. If you have long fingers, you’ll have an easier time gripping a bar in a stable manner than if you have short fingers that don’t cover the bar completely. A larger hand width means you can cover more of the bar too, making for a more stable grip. Women often have smaller hands than men and that places females at a slight disadvantage with respect to grip strength.
You can’t choose the size of your hands or the length of your fingers, but you can improve the grip you have and that can enhance the quality of your lifts and lower the risk of injury. Let’s look at some ways you can improve how you grip the bar and get more out of your lifts every time you train.
Chalk Your Hands
One thing you don’t need is for the bar to slide out of your hands when you lift. One way to lower the risk is to chalk your hands before gripping the bar. Chalking is even more important if you have sweaty hands that reduce traction between your skin and the bar. The chalk dries moisture that builds up on your hands and increases the likelihood of the bar slipping out of your grip. If chalk helps you get a better hold on the bar, it can also help you optimize your lifts and reduce the risk of injury. Since your hands won’t slide as much on the barbell, chalking beforehand reduces the risk of blisters and calluses too.
Wear Gloves
An alternative to chalking your hands is to wear a pair of weight-lifting gloves when you train. Wearing gloves has the same benefits as chalking as they provide traction. The contact of the glove with the bar reduces the chances of the bar sliding out of your hands and it keeps your palms dry. It also feels more comfortable when you lift with gloves on and you’re less likely to get ugly calluses. If you have weak wrists, you can also buy weight-training gloves that have an extension that wraps around your wrists for more support. Some people even think that wearing weight-lifting gloves makes you look hipper and more like a pro! If you don’t chalk your palms or wear gloves, at least wipe your hands off with a clean, dry towel between sets.
Don’t Squeeze the Bar Like a Vice
You need a firm grip on the weight but don’t squeeze the life out of it! Too tight of a grip places excessive stress on your wrists and can cause wrist pain. Even if you don’t hurt your wrists, a strong grip will tire out your forearms when you’re doing an exercise. However, you should have a firm, but comfortable, grasp on the bar. A firm, but not excessive squeeze, helps you safely guide the bar and can even help you strengthen your grip over time since you’re activating your wrist and forearm muscles when you train.
Strengthen Your Grip
You can’t increase the size of your hands, but you can strengthen the muscles in your hands. One of the best exercises for doing this is the reverse curl. Here’s how to do one:
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
- Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing the floor.
- Holding your elbows in place, curl the weight up toward your shoulders.
- At shoulder level, hold the contraction for 2 seconds.
- Bring the dumbbells back down to the starting position in a controlled manner.
- Bring back the dumbbell down in the same motion to the starting point.
- Repeat according to your target sets and reps.
You can also use kettlebells or a barbell to do reverse curls. Use what feels more comfortable for you.
Another simple exercise you can do to strengthen your hand grip is to hold a tennis ball in your hand, squeeze, hold for a few seconds, and release. Do 15 repetitions, rest for 30 seconds, and repeat. Aim for 2 or 3 sets. You don’t need a lot of exercises to boost your grip strength, these two are enough but be consistent with doing them.
There’s another perk of having a strong grip. A study finds that in healthy, middle-aged men, grip strength is a powerful predictor of how functional a person will be 25 years down the line. Other studies correlate a strong grip with better heart health and greater longevity.
Work on Forearm Strength Too
Having stronger forearms can help your grip strength too. Just as a weak grip can limit your strength performance on other exercises, so do weak forearms. Exercises, like bench press and rows, can strengthen your forearms, but don’t forget about another exercise that targets the forearms, hammer curls. You might think of hammer curls as a biceps exercise, but they also work the muscles in your forearm, the brachialis, and brachioradialis. So, switch the orientation of biceps curls during some sets and show your forearms some extra attention!
The Bottom Line
Don’t let a weak or ineffective grip keep you from making big strength gains! You might not think about your grip and how strong your wrists and forearms are, but it matters. You can kick your training up a notch by strengthening your grip and taking steps to increase traction when you hold the bar. Small changes like this can make a difference! Give them a try.
References:
- 1999;281(6):558-560. doi:10.1001/jama.281.6.558.
- Harvard Health Publishing. “Grip strength may provide clues to heart health”
- com. “Strong grip may predict longer life at all ages”
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