Gripper Strength Carryover.

[lloyd80s]

Hi all,

I've heard many times from people on the gripboard that having good gripper strength, doesn't always carry over well into other grip events. When I close a gripper and train on them I'm hoping that my whole grip will get stronger, i'm a bit worried now as using gripers is only real grip training I enjoy. Will I end up with a great crush and wimpy pinch? Surely grippers must train the pinch a little bit?

I wanted to ask what you'd all do for overall grip training if you could only choose 1 to train for a year and try to keep your grip as strong as possible, EG grippers, blobs, v-bars etc.....

Thanks guys

[knyaz]

it would be hard to train only one aspect of grip, it definately wouldnt be healthy for your hands

if you would like your whole grip to get stronger,

throw in some plate pinching, Blob, thick bar deadlifts, bending... gripper training is very fun but once

you start doing other things grip related you will enjoy them just as much

good luck with your training

[hab34buy]

Not for a really well balanced grip (just as kynaz said, it wouldn't be healthy) but for picking one thing that makes my hands feel strong, hmmm...

I'd probably have to pick either pinch grip or extensor work, for the following reasons. Directly, neither would largely help with crush, but pinch gripping works the thumb. Having the thumb and fingers exercised together like in plate or block pinching makes my hands feel strong. It also makes a still healing injury feel better, whereas crush alone tends to agravate it. To train extensors only seems like an odd choice to train solely for a year, but I think it would then be easier after the year to jump into other training (crush or pinch) with the opposing muscles being at top shape.

This is interesting to think about in terms of if I could only train one...

[vikingsrule92]

I would also say it wouldn't be good for the hand but if I had to pick one it would be block weights. They are amazing for overall hand strength. they work the thumb extremely work (same thing as jw7 was saying for pinch) and it really seems to help my grippers.

[The Mac]

And what catastrophe is going to overcome you that leaves you only able to train one area of your grip? Since just about everyone agrees a grip programme should be as well rounded as possible, even allowing for specialisation, such questions as these, even as thought experiments, are going in the wrong direction entirely.

[dimmers]

I think training grippers alone won't get you really strong hands (especially if you're only using an MM set).

It doesn't take long to throw in some block weight training and some pinch work?

[makey98]

I think you will find that after a while you will get bored with grippers or maybe you close the #4, then what? You will probably move onto other areas of grip that you will find new goals and challenges. Wes said on here that he only trained grippers when he first started and he thought it caused him some problems later on. So many people have said this, I don't understand why it is still a question. Grippers don't give you strong hands, they make you strong at grippers. Obviously there is carryover, but people get a strong grip from picking up big, heavy things in a variety of different ways.

Train your grip AND BODY as a whole and you will have much more success. I truly think from my own experience that your gains WILL halt for 95% of people unless you are improving the strength of your entire body. I have had some back problems for a while and my grip strength has barely improved over the last year. I think it is some kind of safety mechanism that your body has that won't let you hands reach their potential without your body catching up. I think that this works for all aspects of your body and hands . If you don't train your hands as a whole, eventually your crush will halt, if you don't train your extensors, your pinch will stop, if you don't train legs, eventually your upperbody strength will stall, ect. ect.