If you picked 4 exercises what would they be?

[Gerry Seymour]

Perhaps you are correct and I wouldn't be surprised if you were; I cannot claim to know everything. But from my experience, it has helped me a lot with my Traditional Jujitsu and my grip there, and I don't do any other exercises for grip unless you count pull ups. I also went to physio after a full recovery of some injuries and I was told my grip is excellent (don't meant to brag, sorry) for my age.

It does strengthen the muscles involved, and any strengthening will bleed to other positions of the hand. But he's right that the position being strengthened most by fingertip push-ups is pretty far from the position used in gripping. I still use it - you just have to know the limitation and be okay with it. It likely also stresses the support muscles in a different way, which would be helpful for grappling.

 

[Ivan]

It does strengthen the muscles involved, and any strengthening will bleed to other positions of the hand. But he's right that the position being strengthened most by fingertip push-ups is pretty far from the position used in gripping. I still use it - you just have to know the limitation and be okay with it. It likely also stresses the support muscles in a different way, which would be helpful for grappling.

Thanks for sharing this with me

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I don't do any other exercises for grip unless you count pull ups.

To develop strong grip, you can do:

- throw square bag.
- throw long bag.
- twist cane bundle.
- crack belt.
- twist brick.
- twist single head.
- twist wood stick.
- ...

 

[Ivan]

To develop strong grip, you can do:

- throw square bag.
- throw long bag.
- twist cane bundle.
- crack belt.
- twist brick.
- twist single head.
- ...

Thank you so much! These will make a fine addition to my collection!

 

[JR 137]

Perhaps you are correct and I wouldn't be surprised if you were; I cannot claim to know everything. But from my experience, it has helped me a lot with my Traditional Jujitsu and my grip there, and I don't do any other exercises for grip unless you count pull ups. I also went to physio after a full recovery of some injuries and I was told my grip is excellent (don't meant to brag, sorry) for my age.

If you want to increase grip strength, do pull-ups with a towel rather than the bar. A former strength and conditioning coach colleague of mine at a college I worked at used it a lot for football, hockey and lacrosse players.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

One more clip for reference.

- twist single head.

 

[Ivan]

To develop strong grip, you can do:

- throw square bag.
- throw long bag.
- twist cane bundle.
- crack belt.
- twist brick.
- twist single head.
- twist wood stick.
- ...

If you want to increase grip strength, do pull-ups with a towel rather than a bar. Roll the towel up and hang it over the bar where the handles normally are. A former strength and conditioning coach colleague of mine at a college I worked at used it a lot for football, hockey and lacrosse players.

I do most of my pulls up at the gym. I have the choice to use the climbing grips instead of the bar but thanks for the advice too!

 

[JR 137]

I do most of my pulls up at the gym. I have the choice to use the climbing grips instead of the bar but thanks for the advice too!

I never thought of that or saw it before. Very interesting.

Towels would probably hit more muscles in your hands, but those would probably be murder on the ones they hit.

 

[Ivan]

I never thought of that or saw it before. Very interesting.

Towels would probably hit more muscles in your hands, but those would probably be murder on the ones they hit.

Yeah I can't curl my hand into a fist for like 10 mins if I do a proper workout on them. Theres 2 standard rubber covered grips, and behind them there is 2 of those ^^^ which you can use instead.

 

[jobo]

Does the angle of the pull-up really limit grip strength development? You're correct that it mostly only affects the angle used in the exercise, but what other angles would matter for grip? As I think through it, what other angles are you likely to use when gripping for maximum grip?

Your point about being able to squeeze (rather than hold) is accurate enough. There's some cross-over, but squeezing something that moves is a much better way to develop squeezing ability than simply holding something (including your own weight during a pull-up).

not t he angle of the pull the angle of the fingers, which then depends on how thick the bar iI and if that matches more of less the thickness of what you want to grip real world. crushing a tennis ball is different than cracking a walnut. and pull ups are largely finger hangs, which don't work the thumb to much. and grip strength has a lot of thumb in it

 

[Gerry Seymour]

To develop strong grip, you can do:

- throw square bag.
- throw long bag.
- twist cane bundle.
- crack belt.
- twist brick.
- twist single head.
- twist wood stick.
- ...

This is a good set of exercises that don't require specific equipment. Almost anything that requires holding on to a moving weight will help with the kind of grip used in grappling. Of course, grappling is one of those exercises, itself - the rest is to get stronger than the other grapplers!

 

[Gerry Seymour]

If you want to increase grip strength, do pull-ups with a towel rather than the bar. A former strength and conditioning coach colleague of mine at a college I worked at used it a lot for football, hockey and lacrosse players.
View attachment 22159

That's another good one - I hadn't thought of that in a while.

Something Tiger Woods used to do that I liked (though you'll probably have to improvise). He'd take a newspaper (that's the part you might need to improvise), lay out a thick section on the table, and crumple the sheets (one at a time) with one hand, into a tight ball. Doing a few sheets like that makes it clear how much you're exercising.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Yeah I can't curl my hand into a fist for like 10 mins if I do a proper workout on them. Theres 2 standard rubber covered grips, and behind them there is 2 of those ^^^ which you can use instead.

Yeah, when I was rock climbing, my grip was insane for my overall size. It's an amazingly good forearm/grip workout.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

not t he angle of the pull the angle of the fingers, which then depends on how thick the bar iI and if that matches more of less the thickness of what you want to grip real world. crushing a tennis ball is different than cracking a walnut. and pull ups are largely finger hangs, which don't work the thumb to much. and grip strength has a lot of thumb in it

That's a good point. I think most gripping in grappling comes pretty close to the grip size of the average pull-up grip I've seen. Most are tubular steel with a rubber or foam grip, so would be near the size of my own wrist and a lapel grip on a grappling gi (the wrapped bar being a bit smaller than the former, but larger than the latter). It would't develop the grip as efficiently for grabbing sleeves and such.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

To develop strong grip, you can do:

- throw square bag.
- throw long bag.
- twist cane bundle.
- crack belt.
- twist brick.
- twist single head.
- twist wood stick.
- ...

Can you give some more details on the belt cracking exercise? How to do it, what attributes you are trying develop, etc?

 

[skyeisonfire]

My fav four are;

1) knuckle/finger tip push-ups and planks
2) v-sit hold and v crunches
3) modified dragon flag and variations
4) cable machine...specifically geared towards pushing and pulling actions. I use these to maximize my strength and endurance.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Can you give some more details on the belt cracking exercise? How to do it, what attributes you are trying develop, etc?

You fold a Karate belt into 3 parts. Hold on both ends and pull it to make a crack sound. It can develop your grip strength, arm strength. Also it can blend into you move and footwork. For example, if you

- twist your opponent clockwise, you can crack your belt by moving your left arm up and right arm down.
- right hand push on your opponent's neck and left hand pull his leading leg, you can crack the belt with right hand up/forward and left hand down/backward.
- ...

Each belt cracking can be act as a push and a pull, or a twist. Your legs will move exactly the way as you will apply your throw.

This is my favor "leg lift" belt cracking training. You can crack your belt to train almost any throw that you may prefer.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

So, I was thinking about this as I led exercises yesterday. Apparently my answer to this for before class:

1. Turkish get-up
2. Push-up (sometimes Judo push-ups, sometimes rock star push-ups)
3. Medicine ball pass (2 people back-to-back, pass the medicine ball around themselves)
4. Reverse crunches

Of course, the issues are a bit different before a class, and when leading a group in the exercise, but those are the 4 I seem to nearly always include. Others show up at times.

 

[Flying Crane]

For grips, you can tie together a bundle of chopsticks, then grip it like you are holding a baseball bat. Twist in both directions, over and over. You can do it while watching tv or otherwise relaxing.

I also like archery as a form of strength training. I rarely make it to the range to actually shoot, but I pull out my bows and practice drawing them while watching tv or hanging around. It develops the fingers that you use to pull, and the arms, shoulders, back, chest. Pull both right-and left-handed for equal development on both sides, don’t become lop-sided.

 

[Gaucho]

Push ups, sit ups, running.