Curls for Cable Hammer

In this day and age, we all know (or should know) how important it is to maintain a healthy level of physical fitness in order to live a good quality life, maintain our cardiovascular system, and keep our bodies strong in order to thrive into our later years. For many of us, this means getting into the gym in order to do resistance training — one of the best forms of exercise that is available to us. For those looking to get back into the gym in order to maximize your health, strength, and vigor, one thing to take into consideration that is often forgotten or completely ignored is grip strength. “Grip strength? What does that have to do with anything?” you might ask. It may not make sense to you right off the bat to take time to train the hands and lower arms while at the gym. I know when I first learned about it, it seemed like a complete waste of time to spend valuable training time on less than 5% of your body, but the truth of the matter is having a strong grip pays many dividends both in your training and elsewhere.
Incorporate these moves in to your current program; you’ll be surprised how much impact a stronger grip can have on your body.

Throw Away the Wrist Straps – Straps are quick fix until you build your grip strength, not a permanent solution.

Fat Grips – Use thick barbells or clip on fat grips for rows, deadlifts, and curls. The extra size on the bar will force your forearms to work overtime.

Farmer Walks – Grab the heaviest dumbbells you can hold and walk until you drop them.

Just Squeeze – Focus on gripping as hard as you can on every exercise. The maximal effort expended will condition you to handle heavier loads.