Help Me Form A Grip Workout

[xagunos]

Hey guys, so i plan to start heavy grip training and would like to form a workout that I could repeat several times a week. My body routine consists of handbalancing, gymnastics work and hanging along with loaded stretching. I also wrestle in high school and box heavily. I receive plenty of wrist and support grip strength from the routine I am already following but I would like to add some crush and pinch specific exercises. What do you guys recommend?

My biggest goal overall in grip training is to be proficient at all types (not a plate pinch or a gripper specialist etc).

Edited November 27, 2014 by xagunos

[jvance]

I would go with an axle and thickbar day once per week, and start building a linear progression with high/medium reps and max days where you continually aim to increase either weight or volume each given week. You could either incorporate crush or pinch on that day as well. The second weekly grip workout should incorporate a bit of everything... Wide/thin pinch, vertical bar, wrist roller or curling, and whatever other pet lift that suits your fancy. Sounds like you train your base grip with your other activities so you don't need to overdo the specific stuff.

Make sure you educate yourself about the proper way to train and don't be afraid to ask, that's why we all joined in the first place is to freely share training wisdom. Good luck to you.

Edited November 27, 2014 by jvance

[climber511]

What I see most often with people - even on this board - is weak wrists compared to the other facets of their grip. Buy a sledge hammer and do all the levering motions. Front, back and don't forget inside and outside rotation work. In the beginning don't go all crazy and do too much - just add a little something each day and you'll be fine.

[xagunos]

What I see most often with people - even on this board - is weak wrists compared to the other facets of their grip. Buy a sledge hammer and do all the levering motions. Front, back and don't forget inside and outside rotation work. In the beginning don't go all crazy and do too much - just add a little something each day and you'll be fine.

In my handbalancing practice, I do lots of different drills like wrist pushups, knuckle pushups, wrist rocks, fingertip pushups etc already. Would it be necessary to add more wrist leverage work since the wrists are getting trained pretty heavily already? Also, what are your thoughts on heavy plate pinches (5 sets of 10-15 seconds) and heavy finger curls with a bar (5 sets of 3-5 reps)?

[Jose Cabrera]

Yes, i use the Gymnast wrist work for warm ups for sledge work and or wrist style bending. The gymnast stuff is very handstand specific.

[xagunos]

Yes, i use the Gymnast wrist work for warm ups for sledge work and or wrist style bending. The gymnast stuff is very handstand specific.

Okay you convinced me! In the mean time, I'll start with David Horne's beginner workout but I want to cut the reps from 15-20 to 3-5. Thoughts?

[Jose Cabrera]

Play with it see what works best. You're your best coach.

[climber511]

Yes, i use the Gymnast wrist work for warm ups for sledge work and or wrist style bending. The gymnast stuff is very handstand specific.

Okay you convinced me! In the mean time, I'll start with David Horne's beginner workout but I want to cut the reps from 15-20 to 3-5. Thoughts?

If you change the David Horne workout from 15 - 20 reps to 3 to 5 reps you wouldn't really be doing the David Horne workout any more - would you? There is a reason behind the way beginners need to train and the way intermediates and advanced need to train. Skipping a step along the way usually isn't a good idea in the long run.

[Shoggoth]

When doing the 15-20 ensure each rep is of the utmost quality and control. Don't hammer through them and only really work on the last few reps of each set. Doing this work properly will be very tough but will build a lot of tendon strength which will help immensely when it's time to drop to some lower rep sets.