Grip strength has been a hot topic recently, and it’s not just because people want to deadlift more weight.
I mean, yes, they do. Who wouldn’t want to be stronger and able to lift more weight?!
…But there’s more to it than that. Having a strong grip may actually be associated with how healthy you are (1). Your overall health is obviously important!
Now, your grip strength can also affect parts of your everyday life too. Do you ever have to carry heavy things? Have you ever moved a heavy piece of furniture? Have you ever carried bags of groceries in from the car? Have you ever had to take out a heavy bag of trash?
All of these things and more can be a lot more difficult when your grip strength sucks. It’s even worse if you’re having to carry things up and down stairs, or for long distances.
You may not want to do those things, but it’s definitely nice to be able to when the situation calls for it. Otherwise, you’ll be asking or paying others to do it for you forever.
Having a weak grip could also be a limiting factor for the progress you make in the gym.
You can only pull as much weight as you can hold onto. You can only do pull-ups for as long as you can hold onto the bar. If you can’t grip the weight in the first place, you can’t lift it!
In this article, I’m going to give you some of the best grip strength exercises I personally use in my training. These will help you build a foundation of strength from the ground up!
Before we get into the grip strength exercises, let’s define the different types of grip strength. I’ll also cover the benefits of grip strength exercises, and the muscles we’ll be strengthening.
What is Grip Strength?
When I say grip strength, I’m referring to your ability to hold things with your hands and fingers. There is more than one way to grip something though.
We grip things differently every day depending on their shape, orientation, and how heavy they are.
There are 4 different types of grips out there. While they’re similar, they are all classified differently.
The first type of grip is called the crush grip. The crush grip pretty much takes your thumb out of the equation and focuses on your fingers squeezing toward your palms.
Think about the old-school barbell safety clips you used to have to squeeze together to fit onto the end of the bar. They worked very similarly to how a clothespin works.
The force was all produced with your fingers squeezing toward your palms. The next grip type is similar but has a little more involvement with your thumb.
This one is called the support grip. Your fingers do most of the work, but your thumbs play a supporting role, like holding onto a pull-up bar.
A deadlift is similar, but now the muscles controlling your thumb will have a little more work to do. While your thumbs will be slightly more involved, it’s still a support grip.
When things get really heavy, some people switch to the next grip type on the list: the hook grip.
The hook grip is when you wrap your thumb around first, then overlap your other fingers on top of your thumb. I’ve done it, and while it can help you grip a little more weight, it hurts. I’m not a fan of the hook grip, but that’s just me!
Let’s compare those to the pinch grip, which is the most different from the others. Imagine having to carry a 45-pound weight plate by its edge.
You’re going to have to pinch the plate with your fingertips. This is a totally different feeling than gripping a bar in the previous examples.
The muscles you’ll use will be similar, but they definitely won’t be worked the same.
So when you’re training for maximum grip strength, you want to target these muscles from all angles. That way, you can hold onto anything life throws at you!
What Muscles Are Involved In Your Grip?
The muscles we all use to grip things with our hands aren’t only in our hands themselves. Several are actually in our forearms.
Now, I could get really scientific with the anatomy here, but I don’t think it’s necessary. These muscles all have really long names that I’m sure none of you will try to remember.
Don’t believe me?
• Flexor Digitorum Profundus
• Flexor Digitorum Superficialis
• Flexor Pollicis Longus
• Extensor Digitorum
See what I mean? That’s just a few of them, and they’re not easy to remember names like your biceps & triceps are.
What you need to know is these muscles are mostly inside your palms, and on your forearms.
When you squeeze your hands and make a fist, you can feel which muscles tighten. Those are the ones I’m talking about.
Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about the benefits of grip strength exercises.
Benefits of Grip Strength Exercises
There are quite a few benefits to increasing your grip strength. Yes, a strong grip can obviously be beneficial to your progress in the gym. When you have a stronger grip, you can hold onto more weight.
When you can hold onto more weight, it gives your other muscles the opportunity to lift more than they previously could. Sure there are always other ways around it like using straps, but straps don’t benefit your grip strength.
If you always rely on straps, you won’t be building the foundation of strength you need to lift without them.
Outside of benefiting your lifts in the gym, what other benefits are there when it comes to grip strength exercises?
Well, a stronger grip is associated with better health status. Not only that, but grip strength is even a good predictor of all-cause mortality and disability in old age (1).
That’s not the end of it actually. This has been studied quite a bit!
They’ve found correlations between low grip strength and type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, and more. Those with less grip strength in old age are also more likely to have a lower quality of life (2).
I’m not trying to scare you. Those are correlation studies.
So they look at people with those conditions and find that they all share that common attribute: low grip strength.
That doesn’t mean if you don’t do these grip strength exercises you’ll develop a disease. I’m not saying that at all.
However, I am saying that some grip training could help in some of these areas in the long term.
One thing I am confident in is that if you keep your muscles strong, you’ll likely live a better quality of life into old age than if you didn’t.
That includes your grip strength. I can’t prove it, but I strongly believe it!
Now let’s get to the grip strength exercises!
Grip Strength Exercises
Farmers Carry
The Farmers carry is a simple exercise, but it will train your grip as well as anything else. You will need 2 dumbbells, and that’s it! You can also use kettlebells.
1. Pick up a set of dumbbells with one in each hand. They should be heavy and difficult for you to hold onto for an extended period of time.
2. Squeeze the handles and walk a specified distance or for a specific amount of time.
3. Repeat for multiple sets.
Dead Hang
This is another simple exercise. All you need for this one is a pull-up bar high enough that you cannot reach it from the ground.
1. Jump up and grab the pull-up bar at shoulder width.
2. Hold for a specified amount of time, or for as long as you can without dropping.
3. Repeat for multiple sets.
Wrist Roller Exercise
This is tougher than it looks, and it burns! You’ll need a wrist roller device, which can be homemade or professionally made.
It will have a double handle with a long string/rope attached to it. It also usually has a hook/carabiner on the end of the string/rope. This allows you to tie some weight plates to it, which is where the resistance comes from.
You can make one with a 12-inch wooden dowel, a skinny rope, and a carabiner hook. Otherwise, plenty of gyms have them!
1. Loop the carabiner hook through the center hole of one or more weight plates, and attach it back onto the rope. You don’t need a ton of weight for this, and a 25-pound plate is more than enough for most people.
2. Grab the handles with both hands and hold your arms out straight in front of you. This will add some extra shoulder work. If you’d like, you can rest your forearms on something with support with your hands out in front so the weight can still hang down.
3. Begin to roll the handles forward one hand at a time. The rope will start to roll around the center of the handlebar.
4. Continue rolling until the weight reaches the top. Once it reaches the top, reverse the motion and slowly let it roll back down.
5. When it reaches the bottom, continue in that direction to pull the weight back up.
6. When it reaches the top, reverse the direction to let the weight slowly roll back to the starting position.
7. Repeat for multiple sets.
You can take a break in between directions if you’d like. Just make sure to do an equal amount of sets in both directions.
Plate Pinch
This is another simple one, but trust me … It's effective! All you need for this one is 1-3 weight plates per hand.
If you use 1 plate then make sure it’s heavy enough to be challenging to hold onto. If you use multiple plates, keeping them from sliding past each other adds a little more difficulty.
…But still, make sure it’s heavy enough to challenge you!
1. Grab 1-3 weight plates and sandwich them together in one hand, leaving the most flat side on the outside. Do the same thing on your other hand.
2. Pinch the plates together with your fingertips as hard as you can for as long as you can without dropping them.
3. Repeat for multiple sets.
Deadlifts
This is a great exercise to increase your grip strength! Your grip isn’t the most important part of this exercise, but it is still a big piece of the puzzle.
Now pay close attention to the form cues here. It’s easy to get hurt if you do these carelessly with bad form.
1. Start by walking up to a loaded barbell with your feet hip-width apart. Get close enough to where your shins are no more than an inch from the barbell.
2. Squat down and grab the bar with both hands in an overhand grip a little wider than your feet.
3. Pull up on the bar enough to pull yourself into a deeper squat without lifting the bar off the ground. Make sure your back is straight, your shoulders back, your chest out, and your core is braced. This is the starting position.
4. Squeeze the bar and press your feet into the ground to begin standing up. At the same time, pull up on the bar and squeeze your glutes.
5. It should almost feel like you’re starting to slightly lean back as you pull the bar off the ground.
6. As your knees straighten, continue squeezing your glutes to extend them at the same time.
7. When you reach the standing position, squeeze your glutes hard for a second. Then slowly lower back to the starting position.
8. Repeat for reps.
Widened-Grip Shrugs
This is only a slight variation of a traditional shrug. The only difference is putting thicker grips over the bar.
You can wrap a towel or foam pad around the bar where you’ll grip it, and duct tape it down. The only thing that really matters is that you’re gripping something wider than a traditional bar.
The wider the grip, the harder it is to hold onto!
1. Place whatever grip widener you choose onto a loaded barbell where your hands will go, and pick up the bar.
2. Lean forward a few degrees so that your arms have a little room to hang away from your torso, and bend your knees slightly. This is the starting position.
3. Keep your arms straight as you shrug your shoulders up and back as high as you can.
4. Squeeze your traps hard at the top for a second, then slowly return back to the starting position.
5. Repeat for reps.
Towel Chin-Ups
Towel chin-ups are a great exercise to train your grip strength. It works your grip in a totally different direction than traditional chin-ups.
All you need is a pull-up bar high enough that you can wrap a towel over it, and grip it, without your feet touching the ground.
1. Throw a towel over the pull-up bar so that part of it is hanging down on both sides of the bar.
2. Grab the towel with one hand on each side, and let your body hang. This is the starting position.
3. Pull your shoulders back, and pull yourself up by focusing on pulling your elbows behind you.
4. Once your head is above your hands, squeeze your biceps and your lats for a second, and slowly return to the starting position.
5. Repeat for reps.
Kettlebell Hammer Curls
This is one I bet you haven’t tried before, and it’s not easy to do.
Make sure you choose a weight that your grip can handle. Your biceps can handle more weight than your grip can with this one.
1. Grab a kettlebell with each hand, and turn it to a neutral grip with your palms facing your body. This is the starting position.
2. Squeeze the handles hard, and curl the weights up keeping that neutral grip. The weight of the kettlebell will stick straight out like an extension of your arm throughout the movement.
3. Squeeze your biceps at the top, and slowly return back to the starting position.
4. Repeat for reps.
Kettlebell Wrist Extension
This is not a common exercise, but it will work your forearm muscles differently than most. Follow along closely.
You’ll need a table and a kettlebell. That’s it. You can also do these on the ground instead of a table if you prefer.
1. Place a kettlebell on its side on top of a table. The whole handle should be touching the table and facing you with the weight facing away from you.
2. Grip the sides of the handle with both hands, but with your wrists rolled forward as far as you can comfortably.
3. While keeping the top of the handle in contact with the table as a pivot point, roll your wrists back to lift the weight off the table. Keep pulling until the kettlebell is standing on its handle.
4. Slowly return the weight back to the starting point.
5. Repeat for reps.
Kettlebell Wrist Rotations
This is a similar exercise to the wrist extension but with a little more of a twist.
Kettlebell wrist rotations are working on pronation and supination of your wrist. These motions are when you rotate your palm to face up and down.
1. Doing these with force is good for wrist stability and grip strength as well.
2. Place a kettlebell on its side on top of a table. The whole handle should be touching the table, with the weight on your left and the handle facing right.
3. Grab the handle with your right hand in an overhand grip, and make sure your elbow stays on the table.
4. Grip the handle hard, and rotate your hand toward the right until the kettlebell is standing on its handle.
5. Slowly continue in the same direction until the weight touches the table to the right, and your palm is facing the ceiling.
6. Rotate your hand back to the left until the kettlebell is back to standing on its handle.
7. Slowly continue in the same direction until the kettlebell is back at the starting position with your palm facing the table.
8. Repeat for an equal amount of reps with both hands.
Putting Everything Together
When it comes to your grip strength, these exercises will help you tremendously!
They can work your hand and forearm muscles in many different ways. Doing these grip strength exercises can help not only with your other lifts but potentially with your overall health too. It sounds funny to say, but that’s what research shows!
Grip strength exercises aren’t all you need though. If you’re focused more on the fitness aspect of it, you’ll need a high-quality diet to go along with it to see optimal results.
…Actually, even if you just want to stay healthier long term you’ll need a high-quality diet. There’s not really a scenario where you won’t.
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References
(1) Soysal P, Hurst C, Demurtas J, Firth J, Howden R, Yang L, Tully MA, Koyanagi A, Ilie PC, López-Sánchez GF, Schwingshackl L, Veronese N, Smith L. Handgrip strength and health outcomes: Umbrella review of systematic reviews with meta-analyses of observational studies. J Sport Health Sci. 2021 May;10(3):290-295. doi: 10.1016/j.jshs.2020.06.009. Epub 2020 Jun 19. PMID: 32565244; PMCID: PMC8167328.
(2) Vaishya R, Misra A, Vaish A, Ursino N, D'Ambrosi R. Hand grip strength as a proposed new vital sign of health: a narrative review of evidences. J Health Popul Nutr. 2024 Jan 9;43(1):7. doi: 10.1186/s41043-024-00500-y. PMID: 38195493; PMCID: PMC10777545.
