grip not strong enough

J

junkfoodbad

2
I was doing deads yesterday and increased my load a bit. i was doing 3x6@200 and on the last set, i nearly dropped the weight at about my 3rd rep. I barely pushed out a 4th when my grip slipped.

I'm using a semi-supinated grip and im wearing gloves. Should I continue to work at this weight to increase grip strength (which could take forever since i have no idea how weak my grip is) or should I invest in some straps?
 
Lose the gloves...feel the bar with your palms.
Use a overhand grip (for both hands). Don't use straps yet...thye will only hinder your grip progress.
Start doing "pulling" exercises with only your hands and no straps for heavy weights for 5-6 reps apiece: pulldowns, rows, chins, shrugs, farmer walks.

Also, your torso may be weak too if you are losing your grip. In a dead lift, yuo need to keep your torse (chest) erect and butt close to floor.
 
I do BO BB Rows and I dont have a pull down machine at home.

I'm pretty sure it isnt weak torso because the grip slipped at my fingers even when i was at the lowest point it was slipping.

I had no problem at 185, its just when i increased to 200 that it started to slip.

As far as switching to an overhand grip, should i lower the weight as well? If I cant do 200 with a semi grip, i sure as heck wont be able to do it with an overhand

And can gloves really affect my grip strength?
 
Gloves block receptors in the palms that help send signals to the brain and muscles (by the nervous system) that the weight is heavy. If your brain cannot compute that the weight is heavy (and simply by sight), then it will not "fire"up all the muscles needed to hold the weight.

Overhand grip will help if you keep your shoulders retracted. As you get stronger, then you can go with a mixed grip.
 
Totally agree with these guys:

I had some serious trouble with my full cleans. At around 205lbs....I would darn near through the bar through the mirror in front of me because of my weak grip.

I'd like to add doing farmer's walks and one arm bb deadlifts helped me tremendously. Also, I believe the proprioceptive receptors and nervous system get more bang for the buck from doing these.

A few olympic lifters, I spoke with, talk of just grapping the heaviest set of db you can handle and holding them for as long as possible. Put them down rest and do it again for a longer point of time.
 
agree with everyone here. definitly drop the gloves, you might want to look into the "hook grip" its helped me. Back when i did a 100kg deadlift, i could barley hold it, now i hold a 140kg deadlift with no problem, just by not using straps or gloves and the hook grip helped some too (its a bitch getting used to though)
 
and if you ditch the gloves, you can use a bit of chaulk to help.

for direct grip training, I found that dumbbell shrugs, as heavy as I could hold, helped. after my set, I'd just hold the dumbbells until I couldn't hold em any more.
 
i tried the hook grip for a couple sets back when i was lifting lighter and my thumb joints hurt for about a week. You say this goes away with time?
 
IMO you need so supplement your forearms.. Farmerwalks were already mentioned and I feel those are one of, if not THE most effective exercise. Considering they work exactly what you want/need.

I forget the name of it, but when i lift heavy (not for the purpose of strengthening my grip) I overlap my thumb over my middle finger.. This helps greatly, although it will take some work away from your forearms.
 
mreik said:
IMO you need so supplement your forearms.. Farmerwalks were already mentioned and I feel those are one of, if not THE most effective exercise. Considering they work exactly what you want/need.

I forget the name of it, but when i lift heavy (not for the purpose of strengthening my grip) I overlap my thumb over my middle finger.. This helps greatly, although it will take some work away from your forearms.
Click to expand...

Thats the hook grip you describe and the one that hurts my thumbs real bad.

as far as farmerwalks, ill take a look at that. Maybe swap that out with another iso once a week maybe?
 
junkfoodbad said:
Thats the hook grip you describe and the one that hurts my thumbs real bad.

as far as farmerwalks, ill take a look at that. Maybe swap that out with another iso once a week maybe?
Click to expand...

the hook grip will hurt you at first, just takes some getting used to.
I got a small tendonitis in my thumb tendon from it and it makes you use the thumb more too, because with a regular grip the thumb barly reaches over the fingers to reinforce the grip.
 
Here's a few exercises recommended by some pro on T-nation:

Farmer walks. Grab some heavy DBs and walk around.
Wrap a towel around the pull-up bar when you do pull-ups.
Plate pinch. Take two 10lbs plates and pinch them together while holding them out.
Load up a bar and lift it as you would a deadlift, but stand there and hold it.
 
Well, I disagree with some methods suggested, and agree with others.

The issue with grip is that you lack forearm strength, wrist strength and finger strength. -Not any one of the three, ALL THREE.

The best fix for eliminating your weak points is to ditch any and all aids such as straps, chalk, etc. -But do so at a much lower weight than you currently lift.

After you do that, and determine the weight you lift safely, then find a bar with a grip your hand only goes 1/2 to 2/3 of the way around. (Generally this is a 2 1/2 or 3" grip.) Again, lower the weight you lift significantly and load up the big bar. Lifting with the big bar ONLY will slowly bring your fingers, wrist, and forearms into line with the rest of your body for functional strength but it will take a while.

The grip is one of the EASIEST things to over work. If you have the pain you claim, back off for a week and only SLOWLY ease into the training again. Remember: you are dealing with an injury point because it is not up to speed with the rest of your mucscles. Once the grip is in shape, and you can again lift what you do today with a big bar, then it would be safe to advance in weight.

You will find a weak grip is prevalent in many weight training circles, and those who work grip often do it wrong. The best way to get good in a single lift is to practice the lift a zillion times. Grip is no different. If you want to grip a bar, don't look to grippers or straps or chalk. Build the grip with the bar. Farmers walks are only 50% effective if done with a small bar. Keep the big bar in use.

You will notice after the grip is strong enough to handle what you presently lift, and if you stay with a big bar, your gains will always come much faster than they did with the small bar. Once you get along where you are happy with strength levels, switch only occasionally back to small bars for practice, but keep using big bar as frequently as possible for gains.

Aside from all of this, in order to maximize the grip, I would eliminate ANY barbell use. Going with dumbbells alone will cause the fingers and wrist to see more action than barbells. With a wide grip on dumbbells, you will soon see why those are the manliest lifting tools ever made.
 
i can agree with Hawk's post. When i started directly working my grip, i saw no gains. all i did was ditch the straps and the problem solved itself.
 
Platecurl, barhold, pinch, wristcurl... you could also get some RB -or Captain of Crush grippers - grippers is a lot of fun to train with and those are the best quality ones.
 
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