Heavy Grips / Grip training

TheVoodoo

Hey, Long time lurker, but first time poster in this forum. Few quick questions about Heavy grips and grip training.

Are they worth it? Is there a better option available?

Also, where should i start? It says 100lbs is for beginers, but would that be too easy and therefore pointless? I've very large hands, but have done no grip training of any sort before.

Thanks

rubadub

I have heavy grips and like them, some would be against them since they say the action of closing them does not mimic or help with their lifts -e.g. powerfliters. But personally I DO use that action in work, e.g. using pliers/snips etc, so it helps me hugely.

I would rate towel/rope pullups very highly too. The latest toy I bought was the fatgripz http://www.fatgripz.com/



These have helped my grip a lot, I did a PB chinup with 42.5kg the other day and the grip was solid at a high weight for once, I also banged out 5 negatives and it was still no issue (back was!)

The fat gripz were about €35 delivered. You can also wrap a towel around the chinup bar or dumbbell handle. It does not change much on pushing exercises, it is pulling exercises where it kills you.

This is a post I made about possibly making gripz

I have the fat gripz and like them a lot. I do not think they are too expensive, yes it is just rubber but it is a quite a lot of rubber, a pair of cheap grips for a bicycle are about €5 and the fat gripz cost me €35 delivered, they would also be a low production item so I would expect to pay more. I have made lots of equipment but was willing to pay for these. I had PVC tubes on my chinup bar before but they were loose which I did not like.

One idea I had for making them would be to get beer cans or big family size tins of beans, cut the lid off the can/tin and pour silicone sealant into it, then plunge a 1" diameter rod into the middle of it and let it set. The rod could be a bit of wood, or broom handle, to stop it sticking to the silicone you could cover it in cling film (or a long balloon or even a condom!). The can should be lined with cling film too, in work I have silicone paste which never sets, I think this could be rubbed on surfaces to stop the silicone sticking. If it was a beer can it could probably be cut and carefully peeled away. You might be able to find a plastic drink bottle, the bottle could be filled and the neck of the bottle might act as a support to keep it central, you might even want the outer plastic left on, if you roughen it with sandpaper it would grip better.

The silicone is probably too squishy though, I was thinking you could make some sort of matrix mixture. If you could get hard rubber pellets they would be mixed with the silicone so it would not be so squishy. I think some automotive silicones will cure much harder, or there could be other filler that could be used, like "no more gaps", stuff from a hardware store that sprays out and fills a gap. But it should be elastic like the fat gripz, maybe somebody knows of a good product.

It would take a good few days to fully cure silicone at that thickness. Once set you should be able to cut a slice in it like the real grips.

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I since found an old silicone tube in work, it had broken and had completely set solid inside. I cut the outside and was able to pull out the solid core, it is far more compressible than the fat gripz though, it does have an interesting feel like jelly type handlebar grips I have used in the past, they sort of mould to your hands. I also think they would be more likely to rip/tear under high loads.

If I was buying a gripper it would be the john brookfield one. I made extensions for my own gripper to mimic it and they work very well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EwFnW6iC4w

JayRoc

Joe DeFranco regularly goes on record about the importance he places on grip training, there's good stuff to be had here if you dig around
www.defrancostraining.com and his youtube channel.


I'd personally rate a fat bar or a towel-covered handle over something like the Captains of Crush, say.

JJayoo

One of the guys from diesel crew has alot of info bout grip training.

http://www.dieselcrew.com/