Grip Exercises

[megaman]

i used to pratice hand grips with a generic hand grip exerciser (a spring with the two ends at a 30 degree angle with handles at both sides). i'd squeeze the sides and try to hold a quarter between the handles as long as i could while watching tv or doing something mundane not requiring my hand/s. later, i got a more ergonomic grip exerciser from a acquaintance who was an occupational therapist. it was a rehabilitation tool that had handle with an interal grip for the fingers that slid back a forth. you could put colored ruberbands with different poundage of resistance as you strength increased. this was a practice i did years ago when i first got shooting pistol and my hands were smaller and i tended to relax my grip on my glock 20 and get the empties eject over or hit me in the head . has any one tried any grip exercises? or still practice anything similar to what i described?

[Jake Di Vita]

I love grip exercises. Back in high school I arm wrestled people every day so I put a lot of effort into building up the ole' forearms. Not to mention I have a pair of hand grips (like those you mentioned) that take approximately 230 pounds of pressure to close. That's getting heavy.

[Nik Habicht]

An awful lot of your grip strength comes from your forearms, so I always found wrist curls beneficial.

[shred]

Somewhere around here's a repost of the quintessential grip-strength thread. It's always around here somewhere.

My take: if you've got a weak grip, work on it, but otherwise there's no (shooting) need to go nuts with the grip squeezer. I got into that sort of thing when I was getting serious about rock climbing and while I can do two-finger pullups (which is a grip/tendon party trick, not super-human strength, btw), it didn't significantly improve my shooting.

[Jake Di Vita]

"there's no (shooting) need to go nuts with the grip squeezer"

That's very true, comparitevely I squeeze the gun very lightly, I just really worked on it because I like weighing 150 and beating people that weighed 250.

[Steve Moneypenny]

if your limp wristing a glock you need to hold it more firmly, put skate tape on it, and lock your elbows in a little more (not lock the joints, just keep more tension in them)

i think dexterity which is closely related to strength is very important to shooting espeically of the index finger. if you can't wiggle it fast why do you think you can shooot fast with it and not move the other fingers?

[benos]

Anything you do to exercise your forearms will be beneficial to your shooting. My grip was never stronger than when I worked full time as an auto mechanic.

Two of my favorites: Attach a one gallon water jug (filled with water) to a one inch dowel rod with enough rope to have the jug just not touching the floor when your arms are extended at shoulder height directly in front of you. Roll the jug up to the dowel rod by rotating your wrists, and then roll it back down to the floor by rotating your wrists in the opposite direction. Also do this by rolling it up by rotating your wrists in the opposite direction that you did the first time. You'll see this works your forearms in a completely different manner. Also do this exercise with your elbows bent to a 90 degree angle, still at shoulder height.

Get a dumbbell that will allow you to attach a weight to the very end of one end, and then you grip the other end. (This one's killer because it s(t)imulates the muscles used in returning the pistol from recoil.) Let your arm extend completely down at your side, parallel to your body/leg, with the weight in front, gripping the opposite end, and your wrist extended so that the weight is as close as possible to the ground. Then without moving your arm, bend at the wrist to raise the weight as high as possible, then lower it to it's original position. Experiment with the weight until you find the weight that will let you do about 20 reps before maxing out. The repeat with the other arm. Then switch back to the other arm, this time with the weight held to face the rear, and again with your wrist extended so the weight is as close as possible to the ground. As before, without moving your arm, extend your wrist to raise the weight as high as possible from the ground, and then lower to it's starting position. Repeat 20 times and then do the other arm.

be

[davecutts]

I’ve done Brian’s hammer wrist thing, the weight on a rope deal, and the tiger method of reading the paper; lay it out and with one hand at a time completely crumple the page into the tightest ball possible, the Sunday LA times is a killer, but also the best way to get the most value out of it. I find what works best for me is something I already do i.e. reverse grip bicep curls with an e-z curl bar, thumb on top of the bar.

[ALANW]

I haven't done any grip-specific exercises for a while; I never seem to get the right feel from them. But you do build up grip strength anytime you have to hold a heavy weight for a length of time, ie. deadlifting, curling, pull-ups.

[bird]

Several years ago I was really into the whole power lifting/weight training thing, you know the whole 18" arms, 600#+ deadlifts etc.etc.

I now prefer a lean flexible body and I don't even lift weights anymore,(I just hit the speed bag).

I especially liked the hand grip exercises, as when I was a little kid I remember my Grandfather taking walnuts and crushing them with 1 hand and he could take 3/8" spikes and bend them in half.

I find that having a strong grip lets me hold any pistol with a rock-solid vice-like grip while being totally relaxed with no tension if that makes sense....LOL

Here is a couple of links you should check out.

https://secure.amazon-networks.com/secure-h...ml/forearm.html

The power forearm routine is a real a$$ kicker and will build your hands/wrists/forearms like nothing else.

http://www.ironmind.com/

There is alot of great grip tools on this sight.

I have not done any of the grip exercises for about 10 years now but I still have a pretty decent grip.

[davecutts]

I have not done any of the grip exercises for about 10 years now but I still have a pretty decent grip.

he's beeing modest.

[Mr Grinch]

This works well. It is sold as a grip strengthening putty for rock climbers.

Power Putty