Written by Sam Coleman | Co-founder
Fact checked by Kirsten Yovino, CPT Brookbush Institute
FACT CHECKED
A lot of people ask us about the importance of grip training and what are the best exercises for increasing grip strength. We are here to answer that question.
Daily life requires high activity levels of the flexor musculature of the forearms, hands and fingers. These are the muscles involved in gripping strength.
Activities such as moving your computer mouse, typing, writing, doing the dishes, carrying laundry, opening a jar, vacuuming, driving to weightlifting exercises such as deadlifts, pull-ups, curls and rows to sports like wrestling, tennis, football, and baseball (pretty much every sport necessitates intense activity levels of the 35 small gripping muscles in your forearms, hand and fingers.
A good grip is mandatory to be successful in almost everything we do. Read on for the 9 best exercises to improve grip strength.
What is Grip Strength?
Simply put, grip strength is how long and how much pressure you can apply to an object in your hand compared to how heavy the object is. Grip strength is the force produced by multiple muscles in the arms, forearms, and hands. Needless to say, grip strength benefits you in almost any situation where your hands are involved in holding or grabbing an object.
Grip STRENGTH Types:
There are four major types of grip strength that are responsible for different functions. We can grip objects in several ways that can be classified as the following:
- Crush Grip Strength: The crush grip is one of the most common forms of grip. This is when you’re closing your fingers towards your palms, thus creating forces. Playing tug a war and grabbing the rope would be an example.
- Support Grip Strength: This grip strength is when you’re holding something, and the fingers are responsible for much of the tension. An example of this is carrying the groceries from the car to the kitchen.
- Pinch Grip Strength: This is exactly as it sounds; it’s when you pinch something between your fingers and thumb. Think about pinching someone’s cheeks or picking up an object by clamping it between your fingers and thumb.
- Extension Grip Strength: This is the least common grip strength you’d think of because it is when you are opening your hand and moving your fingers away from your thumb.
Muscles Responsible For Grip Strength
The muscles that play a part in creating gripping force are found in the arm, forearm, wrist, hand, and fingers. Muscles from your elbow down to your fingertips play a role in producing your ability to grip objects.
There are 35 muscles that aid in moving the hand and forearm. The flexor muscles provide strength to the hands and forearms, while the extensor muscles help to stabilize the wrists.
9 Best Exercises To Improve Grip Strength
Try incorporating these 9 grip strength exercises into your workout programming to improve your grip strength. The only type of grip strength that isn't covered in these exercises is the extension grip strength. To work on that simply get a strong rubber band then loop it over your fingers and open/close your hand until you feel a burn.
1. Farmer’s Carry
The farmer’s carry is one of the best exercises to hit those forearm muscles and improve your support grip strength. This exercise is different from many grip strength exercises in that you’re walking while performing them. The walking movement makes the farmer’s carry test your core strength and grip strength as you have to constantly stabilize yourself as you move forward.
This exercise also mimics many daily activities of carrying objects from point A to B. There’s a reason why strongmen incorporate this exercise in their sport; it torches the forearms while building core strength and mindset.
How To:
- Simply pick up two weights (barbells/dumbbells/kettlebells etc.), one in each hand.
- Hold the weights at your sides with your arms straight.
- Keep your chest up and shoulders down while maintaining a neutral spine.
- Walk forward in a straight line of 10 meters (30 feet) while keeping the weight under control.
- Repeat 3-5 times.
Note: You could challenge your core more if you hold a weight in one hand to force your body to compensate for the uneven weight distribution.
2. Hammer Curl
The hammer curl is a fantastic exercise to strengthen your crush grip while building solid arms. Hammer curls will work the biceps and engage muscles like your brachialis and brachioradialis.
When performing hammer curls, your wrists are in a neutral position so that the muscles in the region are strengthened, while you can generally lift heavier weights compared to regular biceps curls. These are great for working the whole arm!
How To:
- Grab two dumbbells of equal weight.
- Stand up straight with your feet hip-width apart while holding the dumbbells by your sides with your palms facing each other.
- Curl the weight up so that the dumbbells move from your hips in an arch towards your shoulders while keeping your elbows stationary.
- Hold briefly at the top, then lower the dumbbells in a controlled motion back to starting position.
Note: Keep wrists straight throughout the movement, don’t rock the weights up.
3. Dead Hang
All you’ll need is your body and a bar to hang from to perform this essential exercise/stretch. This simple yet super effective exercise is sure to tax your support grip strength.
Dead hangs don’t only aid in strengthening your grip but also help with correcting muscle imbalances, decompressing the spine, stretching out multiple muscles, and enhancing your ability to do pull ups.
How To:
- Grab a pull up bar with both hands using an overhand grip at shoulder-width apart.
- Hang onto the bar without engaging any muscles except for your grip.
- Hold as long as possible.
- Repeat 2-3 times.
Note: You can change the grip to test yourself and stretch different muscles. Try underhand, mixed grip, or a wide grip.
4. Plate Pinch
The plate pinch looks like it might be a straightforward exercise, but it’s anything but easy. Many people neglect training their pinch grip strength, so this exercise will be challenging for most.
How To:
- Find a light weight plate, then reach down to pick it up with one hand while gripping it by squeezing your fingers and thumbs.
- Stand up straight while your arm is at your side, holding the plate by squeezing your fingers and thumb together.
- Hold for 20-30 seconds.
- Repeat 3-5 times with each arm.
Note: Start with light weights, then move up once you can hold the plate for longer than 30 seconds.
5. Dumbbell Finger Curls
This exercise works the muscles in the forearms and the hands, thus giving you a stronger grip. Focus on the contraction of the muscles while moving the weight in a slow controlled manner. Start with lighter weights so you can concentrate on proper technique to get the most out of the movement.
How To:
- Sit at the edge of a bench holding a dumbbell in each hand.
- Place the back of your wrist against the tops of your knees.
- Slowly let the dumbbell roll down your hands as you open your fist until the handle of the dumbbell is at your fingertips.
- Curl the dumbbells upwards as you flex your wrist towards you.
- Repeat 10 reps.
Note: This exercise can also be performed with a barbell instead of dumbbells.
6. Reverse Curls
The reverse curl is another excellent exercise for engaging the biceps and brachialis to improve crush grip strength. Reverse curls put the wrists in a position that causes more stress on the joint so that you’ll be using lighter loads to get big results.
Your forearms, wrists, and hands have to go into overdrive to keep ahold of the handle while curling the weight upwards. Many people neglect reverse curls, but we’re here to change that.
How To:
- Grab an Ez curl bar that is lighter than you’d use for biceps curls.
- Stand up straight with your arms to your sides while holding the barbell with your palms facing toward you.
- Keeping your elbows tucked to your body, curl the weight upwards towards your shoulders.
- Slowly lower the bar back to starting position while keeping your elbows stationary.
- Repeat 8-12 reps.
Note: this exercise can be done with a dumbbells or with a cable machine.
7. Fingertip Pushup
Fingertip pushups aren’t only for martial art movies. This exercise can help you increase your grip strength and make you look badass at the same time. Fingertip pushups engage the tendons and muscles in the forearms.
By bracing your body’s weight on your fingertips, you can strengthen your grip through the isometric tension placed on the muscle in your forearms. If you can’t support your whole body, try doing this exercise from your knees to start.
How To:
- Get into a pushup position with your legs behind you and your hands on the ground just outside your shoulders.
- Raise up your fingertips
- Lower your upper body to the ground by bending at the elbows, then press through your fingers and contract your chest to bring your body up away from the floor
- Repeat 10-12 reps
8. Pull ups
Pull ups are one of the best upper body compound exercises that you can do. Pull ups work multiple muscles in unison, including the forearms, as you need to squeeze the bar as you pull your body up towards the bar. Having your palms facing away from you will engage your forearms more, thus leading to a firmer grip.
How To:
- Grab the bar with both hands just wider than shoulder-width apart with an overhand grip.
- Start by hanging with your arms straight, then retract your shoulder blades and squeeze your lats to lift your body up towards the bar.
- Briefly hold at the top when your chin is past the bar, then slowly lower your body to starting position.
- Repeat 10-12 reps.
Note: You can use a pull up machine or bands to start. If you can’t do pull ups unassisted try out our pull up progression plan for beginners.
9. Deadlifts With Shrug
Deadlifts are a complete exercise that works muscles from head to toe. Deadlifts will improve grip strength because you must hold the load for an extended time under tension as you lift the bar from the floor and lower it down again.
With deadlifts, you can switch up the grip you use to change the stress on your muscles to develop an iron grip. Next time you do deadlifts, use a overhand grip (not a mixed grip) and even add a shrug at the top to increase the time under tension and improve your support grip strength.
How To:
- Set up the barbell then stand behind it with feet hip-width apart and the bar just over your toes.
- Hinge your hips and bend at the knees to reach down and grab the bar with both hands just outside your knees using an overhand grip.
- Keeping your back straight, lift up by straightening out your legs, then driving your hips forward until you’re standing straight up.
- Perform a shrug at the top by squeezing your shoulders up and backward.
- Slowly reverse the motion to the starting position.
- Repeat for 10-12 reps.
Grip Strength TIPS & Best Practices:
Below are some tips to keep in mind if you want to boost your grip strength in the most safe and effective ways.
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Variation: Again, using different objects to train grip is a best practice. For example, instead of the usual grip for pull-ups, you could use a towel or rope to pull yourself up. Even simply changing the size of the bar will boost your grip strength.
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NO STRAPS: If you want your grip strength & endurance to improve then don't use straps on deadlifts.
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Stop If Your Wrist Hurts: Don't push past pain as this could jeopardize your gains. Leave your ego at the door.
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Do Grip Specific Exercises At The End Of The Workout: Many compound exercises work grip strength and endurance. Isolated grip exercises should be done at the end of your workout.
Summary
When training you should always be thinking about your grip, especially for lifts like deadlifts, curls or even when squatting and benching. Crush that bar.
Try to do 1-2 of the 9 best grip strength exercises from above at least once a week in your normal training program. Or you could use a grip strengthener on your off days. Grip strengthener benefits are plentiful, plus they can be used while you're sitting on the couch watching Netflix.
If you're looking for a more unconventional approach then you could try using the steel mace which is the ultimate grip strength tool, use these 17 mace exercises to bulletproof your wrists and enhance your grip.
Whatever you do, don't forget grip strength is everything!
Learn even more great forearm moves in our article on the 7 Best Dumbbell Forearm Exercises!
Sam Coleman
Author