The Best Hand Grip Exercises

Whether you like it or not, you’ll have to strengthen your grip if you want to improve your overall physique and workout routine. This isn’t surprising at all. A powerful grip will allow you to lift heavier weights and do more pushups and pull-ups.

Moreover, some good hand grip exercises will bulge your forearms. Plus, these will fortify the endurance of your muscles. If you’ve ever seen a bodybuilder squeeze a spring (which was a “gripper” to begin with) and you wondered what that was for, now you know.

Since you’re reading this, you’re probably a beginner who’s looking for answers on how to strengthen your grip. Don’t you worry; you’re one step closer to finding the answer. In the following paragraphs, we’ll provide you with a range of hand strengthening exercises. As soon as you implement these in your daily workout, you’ll feel the difference.

Forearm Strengthening Exercises

  • Let’s look at a couple of workouts.
  • Barbell static hold
  • Squeeze a ball
  • Hand gripper exercise
  • Pinch weights
  • Extend IronMind rubber bands
  • Static pull-up
  • Weight curls

Whenever you do grip exercises, your forearms will automatically be involved, too. As for the hand exercise equipment, all you need is a barbell or a dumbbell and a gripper.

Barbell Static Hold

Take the barbell out of its socket, keep your arms by your sides and try to hold the barbell for 1 minute. This will be enough if you’re a beginner. You’ll probably be unable to hold it more than 1 minute anyway.

As time passes, though, you should try to crank the exercise up a notch. So lengthen the static hold to 2-3 minutes.

We like that this is a great exercise for the grip and for the wrists (which you want to keep straight, to decrease the risk of injuring yourself).

Squeeze-a-ball

As childish as it sounds, this simple technique is highly efficient. Of course, that depends on how malleable the ball is. Needless to say, if it’s a ball made out of silly putty, you won’t really work that grip out.

So, make a visit to the fitness store and ask for a more rigid ball. Keep it in your hand and envelop it with your fingers and your thumb. Squeeze it for approximately 1 minute.

Hand Gripper Exercise

The hand grippers benefits are not limited only to the grip itself. Your forearms will be engaged in the process. So they will be worked on as you perform your exercise.

A hand gripper is the most common hand exercise tool. It’s made of two handles and a spring that’s not as friendly as you might think. Squeezing the tool does require some effort, but you’ll get better at it, in time.

You can do many exercises with a gripper. Still, at this stage, you should focus on two of them:

  • Squeeze it to the maximum and hold it like that for as much as you can with a hand. Afterward, repeat with the other hand.
  • Set your chronometer to 1 minute. See how many squeezing reps you can do until that minute expires.

Pinch Weights

Pinching weights is one of the most difficult grip exercises you’re likely to come across, at least when you’re not a pack of muscles already. When you “pinch” a weight, you lift it from the ground using your fingers, while trying to hold it for as long as you can.

To be clearer:

You’re not using your hand. Just your fingers. It will improve your grip a great deal, but it can be hellish when you start doing it. So hang in there.

Extend IronMind Rubber Bands

These bands are made from a thick, resistant rubber. What you have to do is put the band on your fingers and extend them. The band will, of course, make that quite hard to accomplish. It’s certainly not as easy as it sounds. A good rubber band can beat even the best hand grippers out there in terms of efficiency.

Static Pull-up

It may be hard to believe that little to no motion can destroy your forearms. Simply do a pull-up and hang in there for as long as you can. If you think that’s a piece of cake, you will definitely change your mind the very first time you’ll try this.

For maximum efficiency, grip the bar with your palms facing forward, not backward. It will make it even harder to hold on to it. But your grip and forearms will get stronger in a shorter time.

Weight Curls

This is a method of improving the grip for slightly more experienced bodybuilders because it requires some power in the wrists already.

You’ll need to grab a barbell with your hands placed in the middle of the bar. Then start gently curling the weight in an upwards – downwards motion. Do as many reps as you can. Don’t overdo it, lest you injure your wrists, not improve them.

A powerful hand grip is vital in fitness and bodybuilding. If your grip is weak, it doesn’t really matter if your biceps are so bulky that you could chop wood on them. In fact, many people skip working out their grip. Afterward, they get mad because they can’t lift up heavier weights.

Still, improving the power and the efficiency of your grip is an attainable purpose. You don’t need to spend a small fortune on professional equipment and devices. A rubber band and a hand gripper, for instance, can do wonders. You only need to be determined enough to work out on a regular basis. Good luck!