Grip Strength and Recoil Control

[Sleepswithdogs]

Tiger Balm Red or Ultra is also an amazing product for arthritic problems. Rub it on at night, feel better in the morning.

[meshugunner]

I use rubber bands for the extensor muscles. CoC stuff seems overpriced to me but if people think it's cool it helps to motivate exercise. I get bored easily so I have a variety of grip training toys. Small nerf balls, tennis balls ( puncture a tennis ball and it makes a nice thumb squeezer ). I was in the supermarket today and found a doggie chew toy made of a heavy piece of rope and works as variation of my towel twisting exercise.

I do wrist curls with weightlifting plates. Holding them palm down will work the extensor muscles. I also pick up an unloaded barbell off center and rotate it in various directions. A roller bar that winds up a weight on the end of a piece of cord is easy to make and very effective.

You probably know this but CoC style grippers have a flat side and a round side on the legs of the spring. They are a bit easier to close with the flat side in the web of the hand. I use them upside down as well. When they get a bit too easy for the reps I want to do, I shift my fingers up higher so I have less leverage. I also work lighter grippers without the middle finger and sometimes with just the last two fingers. The little spring clips used to retain weights on 1" barbells make nice mini grippers for the thumb or individual fingers.

Clamping grip is important too, this is what one uses for shooting. I take a gripper that I cant close completely and hold it as closed as I can for 30 secs.

Like I said, I need variety otherwise I lose interest.

[Mikethor]

Received the grip trainers today, wicked. Got the Trainer, 1 and the 2. I should not have got the Trainer as it is very easy and clearly the cheap one I had been training with at 88lb or 40 kg is actually a lot more than indicated. Bloody excited to have now and keen to start training. Great product and very impressed and yes they send to NZ if anyone from here is reading this.

[38supPat]

Nope

Did anyone say 50/50 at all?

Not yet. Everyone I have tested so far and asked them what percentage of how much each hand is gripping had an uneven number assigned to each hand or they didn't know.

Lol...ok well put me down for 50/50

[Jadeslade]

Dave Sevigny grips Glocks with a death grip, kind of invented or injected the principle into IPSC. His handshake is a death grip. He made Glocks viable for the average shooter by demonstrating the grip needed for competing with Glocks. Armando Valdez a former world champion from Florida shot a Glock 24-he has huge hands and definitely death gripped it. Metal guns don't need it so much.

[38supPat]

Glocks are a bit of a different creature, they don't tolerate a loose grip. I was working with a large class on the weekend and one shooter had a Glock that he was having all kinds of problems with, several times it malfunctioned. While other students were telling him to mark his mags and get rid of the bad ones I checked his grip, sure enough he had gotten loose on it. I shot three mags (his mags) in a row through it without a single problem. The other issue is that unlike an STI or similar gun where you have a 3.5lb gun with a 1.5lb trigger, you now have a 1.5lb gun with a 3.5lb trigger. You need a pretty solid grip to keep it from moving around while you pull the trigger.

[Fitzghan]

Greeting gents, first post so hello and thanks for the timely discussion. I shoot mostly Production and SSP in IDPA and have always used Glocks. I have always used as high of a grip of possible with as firm of a grip as possible without sacrificing dexterity in my trigger finger. I'm currently deployed and decided to read Brian Enos book. He talks a lot about how he grips a pistol and strives for a very neutral grip. He also doesn't seem to profess gripping the gun particularly hard which I found interesting and a bit at odds with what I have always been taught, and what I have always done.

I have been looking into the COC grippers and was wondering if anybody here that uses them does any other type of regular strength training. I lift 5 days a week and never use wrist wraps with the intent of keeping my grip strong. For grip specific training I do farmers carries with heavy Kettle Bells ( I like them for a thicker grip than dumbells) and at the end of my arms day I always pick up the heaviest kettle bells I can find and hold onto them for 1 min at a time for 5 sets.

I ask because after looking on the website I am considering which set would be appropriate to get. I plan to integrate them into my regular strength training program at the completion of my workouts. I have no idea what I can crush but have no problem holding 100lb KB's for over a minute. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[CHA-LEE]

Greeting gents, first post so hello and thanks for the timely discussion. I shoot mostly Production and SSP in IDPA and have always used Glocks. I have always used as high of a grip of possible with as firm of a grip as possible without sacrificing dexterity in my trigger finger. I'm currently deployed and decided to read Brian Enos book. He talks a lot about how he grips a pistol and strives for a very neutral grip. He also doesn't seem to profess gripping the gun particularly hard which I found interesting and a bit at odds with what I have always been taught, and what I have always done.

I have been looking into the COC grippers and was wondering if anybody here that uses them does any other type of regular strength training. I lift 5 days a week and never use wrist wraps with the intent of keeping my grip strong. For grip specific training I do farmers carries with heavy Kettle Bells ( I like them for a thicker grip than dumbells) and at the end of my arms day I always pick up the heaviest kettle bells I can find and hold onto them for 1 min at a time for 5 sets.

I ask because after looking on the website I am considering which set would be appropriate to get. I plan to integrate them into my regular strength training program at the completion of my workouts. I have no idea what I can crush but have no problem holding 100lb KB's for over a minute. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I have a pretty strong grip and use the CoC "T" and "#1" for my grip workouts. I use the "T" for reps and sets, then the "#1" for the squeeze and hold after the reps and sets.I think that holding a 100lb weight in your hand when doing a workout isn't the same as compressing a 100lb spring resistance device like a gripper.

[meshugunner]

I lift weights 2 or 3 times a week. Regular weight training doesn't do a whole lot for grip strength, it helps some but it's not that effective. I find weight trainers generally have a grip that is underdeveloped compared to their lower body strength unless they do specific grip training. A 1" bar allows the fingers to curl tight and also the thumb to wrap over the middle finger and lock which greatly reduces the gripping power needed. Dead lifts done w/o a strap, w/o the over under grip to prevent rolling and even w/o the thumb hook are effective. I have pieces of 1.5" dia pipe that I slip over barbells and dumbells which greatly increases the demand on the grip. 2" dia bars are a common technique among grip trainers. I've also wrapped a towel around the bar to good effect. You might try wrapping a towel around those kettle bell handles.

One and two handed plate curls from the wrist and also from the elbow are great and pinch grip lifts with a pair of plates in each hand are very good for the thumb.

A couple of general benchmarks for finger strength/body weight ratio are being able to do pushups on your fingertips and to hang from a chinup bar with one hand.

If you can find somewhere safe, tossing a kettle bell or some other heavy weight into the air and catching it is also very useful and fun.

[RaylanGivens]

Glocks are a bit of a different creature, they don't tolerate a loose grip. I was working with a large class on the weekend and one shooter had a Glock that he was having all kinds of problems with, several times it malfunctioned. While other students were telling him to mark his mags and get rid of the bad ones I checked his grip, sure enough he had gotten loose on it. I shot three mags (his mags) in a row through it without a single problem. The other issue is that unlike an STI or similar gun where you have a 3.5lb gun with a 1.5lb trigger, you now have a 1.5lb gun with a 3.5lb trigger. You need a pretty solid grip to keep it from moving around while you pull the trigger.

That's a great executive summary on hand grip for shooting Glocks in competition... Very well written!

It's the reason I ended up in this thread along with many others, I suspect... One of the advantages of the CoC grippers is that they seem to be calibrated very well... Getting a few CoC grippers and trying them is a good way to evaluate your hand strength compared to other shooters... For me, reading this thread told me that my hand strength is way under most of you guys... So I'm working on it... I can now close a CoC Trainer a couple of times... I would be embarrased to tell you where I started...

[Fitzghan]

have a pretty strong grip and use the CoC "T" and "#1" for my grip workouts. I use the "T" for reps and sets, then the "#1" for the squeeze and hold after the reps and sets.I think that holding a 100lb weight in your hand when doing a workout isn't the same as compressing a 100lb spring resistance device like a gripper.

Thanks for the reply. That was the kind of feedback I was looking for. Going to add these in.to the regime.

Meshugunner just so happens tomorrow is deadlift day. I use the over under grip on very heavy lifts. I like the idea of not wrapping the thumb and will try that on warm up sets and then see how high I can go before switching back to the over under.....after all the primary purpose of the deadlift isn't grip strength. I like the towel idea to....simple. Try it tomorrow as well.

Couldn't resist and did the finger push up and hang. Is there something more to the hang test? Time, wrap the thumb or dont? Overhand or under? Just curious. Also could you describe the plate curl and pinch grip lift a bit more? I won't be home for another month so would like to try some new grip exercises prior to using the COC's when I get back.

Thanks

[eric4069]

thanks to this thread I got my C O C Trainer this week, seems very well made and fun to use. My teenage kids were impressed that I could do so many morre reps than they could

I do find the knurled surface abrasive after a bit, maybe I should have gotten their smooth handled version instead "Zenith" model according to the catalog they enclosed in the package.

Eric

[meshugunner]

Fitzghan, ( in Afghanistan ? ).

Those are just benchmarks. If you can do those two then you have good gripstrength to body wt ratio. You can probably close a 200lb gripper quite easily. If you want tougher, hang from your finger tips. Push ups with fewer fingers. Some can do them just with their thumbs. Climbers can hang from one hand with an open handed grip, palm and fingers press down onto a rocky shelf, but they are built like monkeys.

Plate curls: Much like regular wrist curls but done with a plate held in the hand. Grasp the plate from the edge, thumb on one side, palm and fingers on the other and flex your wrist just like wrist curls. These can be done palm up, palm down, seated with forearms horizontal or standing with the arms vertical. This is more demanding than regular barbell curls because it requires maintaining a strong grip even when the wrist is fully flexed or extended. Also, it requires a lot more effort to stabilize the plate as compared to a barbell. Try two 10's stacked or a 25lb plate two handed. If you can do the 25lb plate single handed your hand strength is truly exceptional. These can also be done with the wrist locked and flexing the elbow as a regular bicep curl.

Pinch grip: This is a thumb work out. Pick up a plate on the edge by pinching between thumb and fingers and do the farmer's walk. You can try two plates together, swinging the plate front & back or side to side. The weight you need depends a lot on the shape of the plate and the slickness of the surface.

There are a lot of muscles in the forearms and the attachments vary from person to person. IIRC I read that the exact formation is random and some of it happens in early infancy. IMO one should make a point of doing a variety of exercises to supplement a core strength routine with grippers.

PS: I appreciate your service. Come home safe

Edited March 28, 2013 by meshugunner

[kneelingatlas]

Back when I was wrestling in high school the most effective grip training I did was rope climbs. We used hands and feet at first, then feet dangling, then legs extended out at a 90 degree angle to the upper body with 90 degrees between them; the real bad asses would use a weight lifting belt with a weight dangling between their legs, the best I ever did was a 25# plate.

Now that I'm a 30 year old executive, it just grip my pen REALLY HARD when I sign checks!!!

[DonovanM]

If you guys feel like badasses with your COCs, try running them upside down. I can barely do 10 reps with the Trainer, and only like 1 with the 1.5.

Plus I feel that this will work the index and middle fingers better. I think I might have developed a muscle imbalance which could have contributed to my tennis elbow, so I'll be doing most of my work with them upside down from now on.

[ChuckB]

I was fortunate enough to be very embarrassed with myself after trying Cha-lee’s dynamometer. In fact I had the weakest grip on the list… at least at the time I saw it. I was also one of the lowest classified shooters on the list as well.

I order my CoC and went to work on a 3 day a week regimen. I actually ordered the Sport instead of the trainer based on what my left hand measured on the dynamometer.

I started out doing 3 sets of 10 reps on both hands and by the end of the third set I could no longer close the gripper with my left hand. The first thing I learned was not to do it first thing in the morning. I could do several more reps if I did the exercises closer to lunch time. The end of the day had the same problem.

I worked my way up to 4 reps of 20 before I started getting the pain in my left elbow. It got bad enough that I couldn’t grip or carry any weight with my left hand. Even just brushing my elbow against a door frame was very painful.

I stopped the exercises for several months but my elbow really didn’t get better. Interestingly enough I also had a large naught in my left shoulder. I found that if I would use our message chair once or twice a day I could keep the pain bearable but still really couldn’t grip or carry anything.

A few months later while doing research I ran across this post and a few others. I started out using a couple of rubber bands around my left fingers instead of the Expand Your Hands Bands. I did 100 reps 3 times a week for 3 weeks and my elbow got noticeably better.

At the end of the 3 weeks though I actually ended up with a pain in the other side of my elbow. Out of curiosity I grabbed my CoC and did 10 reps, the pain was instantly gone. This was a major Ah Ha moment.

I ordered my Expand Your Hands Bands (haven’t received them yet) and went out and got one of those dynoflex gyro balls. The first couple of days I played with it until my arms were noodles.

Now I’m trying to work out a regimen to combine the Expand your hands, CoC and the dynoflex. Just to try to use all of the muscles. At this point my elbow and both arms feel better than they ever have.

My biggest advice, start exercising everything you can as opposed to just using the crushers. Avoid the injury.

Sorry for the long post but I hope it is helpful.

Edited April 2, 2013 by ChuckB

[toothguy]

ChuckB, the bands work well. Along that same line if you fill a bucket with rice you can use it to push out with your fingers like the bands. The rice provides resistance and works a more full range of motion than the bands. You can work your thumbs more effectively also. I warm up doing rice grabs, squeezing the rice between my fingers. Do about 25 reps each way to warm up and after using the grippers, do 50 each way. Good warm up and prevents injury.

[hornetx40]

Lots of good info thanks

[ChuckB]

Toothguy, great idea, just difficult to take with you or do while working.

[toothguy]

Toothguy, great idea, just difficult to take with you or do while working.

Yes, 25 pounds of rice in a bucket is a little clumsy.

[meshugunner]

I just got one of these, the 7" version in medium.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005K26Y30/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I bought it for finger extensions and finger spreading . It works very well, though I think a lighter model would have been better for extensions. The medium is stiff enough to be useful for finger closing exercises if I work with the finger tips. The shape offers a lot of variety in exercises. The 7" is very convenient to take with me and use while driving etc.

I might get the extra stiff, black one also but that is only available in 14" which is the size of a dinner plate.

I like to work the grippers inverted. I find the difficulty about the same as right way up. Everyone's hands are different.

I also like to take a light gripper and close it w/o the middle finger. The middle finger is the strongest and is always used as an assist to power one's grip, which may be why it's hard to suppress milking action with that finger. IMO, rather than further developing that finger, it pays to bring the others up to strength. The pinky in particular is a real slacker.

[Ssanders224]

We have a hand dynamometer at work, and after reading this thread I rushed to go get it, Ha.

It would be interesting to take it to the next USPSA match and see what the correlation between classification and grip strenght was...

It pegs out at 200lb though, so If you can close a 2.5 COC it doesnt do much good.

[SimpleSwede]

I ordered my CoC Grippers (Trainer, 1 and 2) and Expand-Bands earlier this week and got them today. Do you guys just go for reps or do you also do like a grip and hold to simulate gripping a pistol for an entire stage? E.g. close a tough gripper and then hold for a certain amount of time. Or maybe even hold it in a pistol-like postition in your shooting stance...

[toothguy]

I ordered my CoC Grippers (Trainer, 1 and 2) and Expand-Bands earlier this week and got them today. Do you guys just go for reps or do you also do like a grip and hold to simulate gripping a pistol for an entire stage? E.g. close a tough gripper and then hold for a certain amount of time. Or maybe even hold it in a pistol-like postition in your shooting stance...

I use the CoC grippers for my grip training. I use the Trainer for reps and the #1 for the timed hold closed. My workout consists of 4 sets of 25 reps on each hand with the "T", then a 30 second grip and hold closed with the #1. I perform this exercise routine all in one string with the only rest being the time off while working on the other hand. I basically pass the same gripper between hands back and forth. After doing this exercise routine my forearms are pretty much nuked. I only do this workout once or twice a week for maintaining my current grip strength. I have the higher numbered CoC grippers but only use those for testing my maximum grip force.

[meshugunner]

I ordered my CoC Grippers (Trainer, 1 and 2) and Expand-Bands earlier this week and got them today. Do you guys just go for reps or do you also do like a grip and hold to simulate gripping a pistol for an entire stage? E.g. close a tough gripper and then hold for a certain amount of time. Or maybe even hold it in a pistol-like postition in your shooting stance...

I do that. In shooting and in many other situations you need a 'clamping' grip (static constant pressure) rather than a crushing grip. I take a gripper that I cannot fully close and hold it at max pressure for 30 secs. Sometimes I use both hands to close a gripper and try and hold it closed for as long as I can. Be careful with this kind of exercise. It involves a lot of strain. The muscles should be warmed up and if you are just starting out, stay within your comfort zone. A strain will set your training program back for a long time.