Richard sorin's theory

[Rick Walker]

Awhile back I donated money to Cyberpump and was lucky enough to get my hands on one of Richard Sorin's "Straight Talk" videos.

In the video, he talks about testing athletes total body strength via the grip.  When he spoke of this-I was a bit skeptical.

I then noticed something.  For the past 7 weeks now I have been hitting the iron hard again-doing favs like squats, deads, militarys, etc.  My grip strength has taken off as well.  I went from losing strength in my hands to the point where I couldn't close my PDA 387 to now repping it for triples-better then my previous PR of 2.

I also tested 2 of my athletes I train.  They are basketball players and they do no specific grip work.  In the begining, they would pick up the #1 and be miles from it-now they can both crush it.  They have added close to 100 pounds on each of their big lifts (squats, benches, deads)

But, then again, some of the COCs on here are "weak" by some standards.  Meaning, they can't bench their bodyweight, have low squats, etc.  Their total body strength is much lower then their grip strength.

What do you guys think-I see a positive correlation!  Yet-I know some that squat over 850 and deadlift 750 yet can't close a #2 ???

Rick Walker :hehe

[mobsterone]

Grip strength is a good indicator of overall strength but we have bods here, inc me, that specialize in grip strength and therefore we will have grip strength outside the normal range. BTW I can BP over bodyweight, squat 1.75 x bwt x reps and deadlift bwt x 2 (I'm 247 at the mo). I don't do singles for the most part but do do high rep Leg press, press, curls etc.

[ruffhans]

I guess its up to each person  how they want to be strong. in grip, or other. i do know for me i was never realy into lifting big, ( stong man stuff). it was body building movements that i was always intrested in. i have always been a little strong anyway. what i always felt was importent was being able to handle your wieght. pushups, chins, dips and stuff. all i know is what matters to me.

i do know this.

if i see a huge, or strong man, and he cant close the #1, i think thats bad!

it looks bad! if i see a guy close a #3 and he cant bench his own wieght, i always think no big deal. thats just me. however there is something about just doing grip stuff and letting your body go to ####! ive seen some pics of stroooong grip people who look very impressive. i have gained a few pounds in the last year. just working grip and nothing else. it has made me a lill upset with myself. im one of those that always felt you should be strong,....and look it too!

[Guest mg6680]

I think it does...Lately I've been doing a lot of DB exercises for the rest of the body.  Its just like going back to a regular bar after using a 2" bar going back to a 90lb DB after using a 150lber...seems like candy.  My training partner is similar body strength to me.  When we do our heavy DB exercises he lags from the lack of hand strength.  It kinda sucks (I guess it could be good) when we're done with a set and I have to rack the DB because his hands cant handle it.  Because of this I believe the thick bar exercises give me the most benefit.

[Tom of Iowa2]

I don't know...??but with the people I have met there really doesn't seem to be much of a correlation between grip and overall strength.

In fact a local guy-Josh Bigger-came in,hadn't lifted in 5 or 6 years and was far stronger than anyone!!(with one exception- Sean MCCabe) in the gym with his grip-his hands were much stronger than any of us.And some of us -because of labor backgrounds and sports(wrestling)had pretty good grips.At least 5 guys have done OVER 200lbs on the Rolling Thunder and he just destroyed us.He is also much stronger on an exercise we call 'dumbell finger curls' we just hold the dumbell with one hand,allow the weight to roll down to the end of the fingers and then curl the fingers back up.He is 50 to 75lbs ahead of some fairly strong guys-per hand.We over load the Hammer Stength Gripper(has an extension),hold it for time and he is from 2 to 5 plates ahead of anybody.

There are several guys that can out lift him in conventional weightlifting tests......(i can for one)

There is another guy here-255lbs or so-construction worker and he is 'nothing'on the weights( he has a big structure and was apparently a good athlete in highschool so i think he'll BE strong soon) and his grip is better than many of us also(has me by 15lbs on the rolling thunder)

Also- extreme end of the strong body but weak hands scale- an older guy here(45 or so)-I won't mention his name-he'd kill me but his gym strength is really something(seated shoulder presses 360 for 5 or 6 reps,skull crushers with 325 for reps,trap bar 7 plates a side,dumbell Inclines 165's for a few reps,partial deads 18 inches 775+ for reps,shrugs with over 900lbs(straps of course),etc,etc,his grip absolutely sucks!!!HE Can't rolling thunder 170!barely pinch grip 2X25's!...he does have VERY small hands and wrists though.In fact(and he gets a big kick out of this and actually laughs about it)Josh does those single dumbell finger curls with 100 lbs-per hand- more than he can!

When i was in Cali. for a year0there were some VERY strong bodybuilders(don't underestimate these guys) and some of them had pretty grips and some didn't....did seem to have something to do with their background(work/sports history)but some of thes guys were FLAT strong(i don't care what sort of monkey drugs they were doing)and some couldn't squeeze a grape and some had some REAL grip?????

Again..i think grip strength and body strength-doesn't seem to go together at all?Or at least in MY experience i haven't seen much correlation.

One last thought(and I think this is just growing pains and his body adjusting to the shock of heavy liftin)but Joshs lifting/Gym strength has been increaseing at a rate that is hard to fathom...he will surpass all of the gentlemens lifts i listed above in a year-or less(except that shoulder press)but his grip has absolutely stalled at this time..again his body IS much stronger-stronger EVERY week -but grip strength has stalled.Not exactly the topic here.....but it is happening  and hard to explain....

[The Mac]

In general I would say that there is a positive correalation, but it is not perfect and (as detailed above) there are many exceptions.