# Hapkido & Grip Strength



## SmellyMonkey (May 27, 2004)

Hello all-

I've noticed that the masters in my school have amazingly thick forearms.  It seems like the muscle starts right at their wrist joint!  When I ask them how they got such terrific grip strength and forearm size, they shrug and say it just came through training.

I've been using the "captains of crush" grippers (the Trainer and level 1) for about 6 months now.  I haven't seen a big improvement in grip strength yet.  I've also been using a "wrist-roller" type device.  While it has helped me recover faster when a partner goes a little too hard with an S-arm or 3 finger technique, I haven't seen a big improvement in forearm size.

The masters did share one excercise with me.  They basically made a fist, opened their hand again, and made a fist as fast as they could.  They said one should do as many reps of this as they could, until once couldn't stand the burn anymore.  

What I would like to know is, what have you found to be a successful grip strengthing workout?  How often do you train your grip specifically?  And has the workout of make fist/open hand/make fist worked for any of you?


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## Disco (May 27, 2004)

Use a heavy Bo/staff. Either sit or kneel on the ground and raise the Bo from floor level to straight vertical and down again. Don't let the Bo bounce off the floor. Keep your arm close to your side and only use your wrist to move the Bo. Grip the Bo 8 to 10 inches from the bottom. The longer the Bo, the harder it becomes. 3 to 4 times a week and in 2 weeks you'll start to see a difference. Just keep increasing the number of reps at each session for each wrist.


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## Jion (May 27, 2004)

When I wrestled in high school we did fingertip pushups to help help stregthen grip.  We did 100 a day, if you're looking for specifics.  Our coach had forearms the size of my thighs.


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## kwanjang (May 28, 2004)

Your Masters were correct.  To improve grip strength you need to train hard instead of trying for gimmicks.  The open/close hand training is just one of the things, and the other suggestions are also good; however, you must do everything in balance.  

If you train to get big forearms, sword cutting (something like lifting the Bong) will most certainly do the trick, but don't do any exercises at the expense of maintaining flexible wrists lest you enjoy more pain when someone does a wrist lock on you.

I have found that Kicho Cha Ki and Chulsa Jang exercises/techniques are more than enough to give me what I need (if done correct).  Last. but not least, make all your work sport specific if you can.  That way you will gain on all the work you do (like your Masters suggested).


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## howard (May 28, 2004)

the head of our kwan has the kind of forearms and wrists mentioned in the first post.  his hands basically do not taper at the wrist.  i've never seen such wrists on a man who otherwise is of normal size.

we do a lot of pulling exercises, not sure if they're specifically for the wrist, forearms or entire arm.  for example, with a partner, your partner grabs your same-side wrist (he grabs your R wrist with his L hand) and holds tight, and you draw your arm into a right angle at the elbow and pull him back (pull your hand to your own waist).  he should resist fully.  this movement is actually the beginning part (the unbalancing) of a number of jungki wrist techniques (escapes and locks).

in korea they to this exercise with the inner tube from a bicycle tire that's fastened to a wall.

the fingertip pushups are excellent for your forearms and your hand / finger strength.

does anybody else do the conditioning exercise where you bang inner wrists with a partner?


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## Steronius (May 28, 2004)

I used to do a lot of indoor rock-climbing. I guarantee your fingers and forearms get real strong. i did it 2 to 3 times a week though for about 2 hour sessions. I quit though because i had to travel 40 minutes to get to the rock-gym -- too much a burden.  Probably some variation like traversing monkey bars could work.


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## howard (May 29, 2004)

Steronius said:
			
		

> Probably some variation like traversing monkey bars could work.


that actually sounds like a really good idea.  not only would it improve your grip strength, it would be great for your overall upper body strength.


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## glad2bhere (Jun 16, 2004)

Found a great little tool for working on the grip. Its called a "Gravity Grip" (Sports Authority, Inc. $7.99US) and weighs about a pound. What makes it so great is that it has the same mass of a ball of modeling clay or even wax but its essentially a thick rubber skin filled with--er--- something. The good news is that you can take it with you anywhere and even keep it in your pocket and it doesn't pick up lint or leave clay on your fingers after working it for a while.  The mass gives a better workout than say a tennis ball. Hey, for the price of a couple of FOSTER-s how bad can it be? 

Best Wishes, 

Bruce


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## SmellyMonkey (Jun 16, 2004)

Sounds interesting.  I know Nike has a similar product...some funky gooie stuff that you squeeze.  

Anyway, for a while I'll save my money for Duval (mmmm, Belgium beer) and work my grippers, do some wrist curls with dumbells, and work on my fingertip pushups.

Check out the www.ironmind.com website.  Those guys are crazy about grip strength.


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