Grip force is useful in many sports - acrobatics, parkour or climbing, and, of course, while exercising in the gym. So, let’s look at the question; How can you strengthen your forearms?
Strong forearm muscles are key for grip strength allowing you to perform exercises while hanging (pull-ups on a bar), but also a range of free weights, like barbells or dumbbells. Crossfit, street workout and, of course, all forms climbing require an extremely strong grip. Here are some exercises that you should include in your training plan, to build up that grip strength.
Lunges holding weight
Lunges are an exercise that is well known for leg training. Most often we do these with a barbell on the shoulders. But we can also use dumbbells, kettlebells or even barbell plates as holding the weight in our hands is a great way, we can train our grip strength. With this in mind, lunges with plates will be the biggest challenge as keeping two, even five-kilogram plates in your hands for a whole series of lunges can be pretty hard. On the plus side – you might will forget about the pain in in your legs! Twice the benefit!
Farmer's walk
The exercise known to strongmen, the farmers walk forces the whole body to exercise - the deep and abdominal muscles are responsible for stabilizing the torso, and the muscles of the back, buttocks and legs bear the weight. It’s worth considering that, is less effective without a lot of weight in your hands. Kettlebells will work best.
Lifting weight plates held with fingers
Keeping the plate steady with clenched fingers does not seem difficult - we do this many times during training racking the weight and loading the bar, but when we try reps in a set, attempting to raise a straight arm up parallel to your forehead with the plate held only with the fingers, you can really feel the burn.
Pulling up on a towel
The chin-up exercise strongly engages the muscles of the forearms. However, if you want to significantly strengthen your grip strength, you can try a variant with a towel thrown over the bar. Of course, it should be a strong towel, but this exercise has two advantages - it greatly strengthens the grip in your hands and forces you to stabilize your whole body so that you do not swing.
Rope climbs
This is an extremely demanding exercise that engages all muscle groups. It will not work if your forearm muscles are too weak. If you only have the option of installing a rope and practicing pull-ups, this exercise is really worth trying. Another interesting option that can be easily done even in a home gym is to lift yourself up from sitting on the ground with a rope. Install a suitably strong rope, e.g., by throwing it over a pull-up bar and sit on the ground. Then, with the strength of our hands and arms, pull yourself up to a standing position. It is important not to help yourself with your legs in any way, only your hands are working here.
Gripping a plate with only your fingers
This is a fun looking exercise designed to strengthen your grip. It is worth remembering; perform this in a safe place, placing an exercise mat or even a mattress / pillow on the floor. Hold the weight plate (5 kg is enough) with one hand at the level of the forehead and then let go, trying to catch it with the other hand. Suddenly you now know why a floor cover (and a cover for your feet) comes in handy.
Grip Strengthener
A well-known, inconspicuous device that can be used at any time of the day. Two or three sets of over a dozen repetitions will improve your grip strength. However, it is worth remembering that the muscles of the hands and forearms, like any other muscle group, need time to recover. Therefore, constantly walking with a hand grip in your hand can quickly lead to overtraining.