Pinch Gripping

[Arthur Antonopoulos]

Hi guys,

Question for you all. There seem to be a couple of ways of performing pinch grips. I have always performed them with my fingers pointing straight down. I guess this is because I remember seeing a picture of Bruce White years ago doing pinch grips in this fashion and it stuck in my head ever since.

I've also seen people performing them with their fingers bent and pointing out to the side and it seems that most of the pressure is between the thumb and the index finger rather than between the thumb and all the fingers.

I guess it's a bit hard to describe but I hope you guys understand what I mean. I suppose the questions to ask are:

-From your experiences what do you feel are the advantages and disadvantages of each method. I feel that the fingers straight down is probably a superior way of performing them but then again I have never really tried performing them otherwise.

-Also does width of the pinch have any play in the style?

-Does anyone perfrom finger pinches? Pinches between the index finger and thumb or between the middle finger and thumb?

I appreciate any responses you guys can offer.

Arthur

[Tou]

If you want to see how to hold the plates (or a block), check in the grip gallery. There's a picture of Nick McKinless pinching two 45's. That's the most common way to pinch. Plates are held perpendicular to the floor with fingers pointing down.

As for the width of pinching, it plays a lot in the difficulty of the lift. The wider the surface to pinch, the harder it is (with the same weigth, of course).

Pinch grip is hard, it hurts but it pays.