Grip Strength vs Finger Strength

Please note that their is a huge difference between finger strength and grip strength. Climbers will need to integrate both into their training, whereas those looking to improve their grip strength do not necessarily need to improve their finger strength.

Grip Strength and Grip Endurance

It is also very important to understand the difference between grip strength and grip endurance. Strength is about the force of the contraction you are able to produce and endurance is about the duration a specific contraction can be maintained. Both of these physical properties will be trained in this training programme.

Assumptions

I am making some assumptions prior to writing this training protocol, which you will need to ensure apply to you before considering starting this training programme. The first assumption is that you do not have access to a dynamometer, a device which is used to test grip strength. If you do have this, please use it test your strength instead of the weighted 10 second hang.

The second is that you have strong enough shoulders and grip strength to hang from a pull up bar, if this is not the case you can use the same format but trade all the hanging exercises with dumbbell or kettlebell holds.

The final assumption is that your maintaining roughly your current bodyweight. As these tests and training protocols involve hanging using your bodyweight, if you are undergoing large fluctuations in bodyweight then this will heavily effect the testing and programming. If this is the case, I would recommend using kettlebell holds instead of hanging from a bar.

Pre Programme Testing

Max Hang

A max hang tests how long you are capable of hanging from a standard pull up bar with just your bodyweight. For the majority of people reading this article, this will be a test of endurance, if you are not able to hang for more than 30 seconds, this is considered to be a strength test and not an endurance test. You should test your endurance using kettlebell holds at a weight you find challenging but one that you are able to hold for more than 30 seconds if you cannot perform a 30 second hang from bar.

Max 10 Second Weighted Hang

This test will see how much weight you can hang with for 10 seconds. This will test your grip strength, as the force of the contraction will be much higher through adding weight. Remember to keep active shoulders throughout, weighted hangs should not be performed with passive shoulders. Obviously using the dynamometer would be far more accurate for testing strength but not many people have these lying around. If you feel like the limiting factor is your shoulder strength and not your grip strength, I suggest using a different test. A different grip strength would be a plate pinch .

Plate Pinch Hold

The plate pinch hold involves holding a weight plate with your finger tips. This is a very challenging exercise. The hold duration of the exercise should be between 10-20 second time frame, if you can hold the plate for longer than 20 seconds the weight is not heavy enough.

Key Concepts

RPE

RPE stands for rate of perceived exertion, which is a difficulty scale out of 10. 1 being the easiest and 10 being the hardest. This is a valuable tool for gauging difficultly and is used in the training programme below.

Building Fatigue, Not Failing

When we are training the grip, do not look to reach failure every set. We are striving to generate enough fatigue to create an adaptation but not pushing to failure. Pushing to failure can increase the risk of injury or cause unnecessary fatigue without generating to much adaptation. Please do not think this means your training should be easy, it should be challenging and create a lot of fatigue, RPE 8-9 holds will be tough and involve being very uncomfortable.

Programme Design

The programme involves performing 3 sessions per week that will take 10 minutes each session.

Session 1 - Grip Endurance

Active Hang

4 x RPE 8-9

Rest 2 minutes between sets

Session 2 - Grip Strength

Weighted Active Hang

4 x 10 seconds @85% of your max hang test.

Rest 3 minutes between sets

Session 3 - Grip Strength

Plate Pinch Holds

4 x 15 seconds plate pinch hold @70-75 max hold.

Progressive Overload

After performing this protocol for one month, increase to 5 sets on each session. This will increase the weekly load from 12 sets per week to 15 sets. After one month of this volume, do a re-test of all the initial tests and see if you have improved your grip strength and endurance. After two months of training and re-testing, switch out the tests and the exercises within the programme and you can repeat the protocol with different exercises.

When To Perform Grip Training

These are perfect finishers at the end of resistance training sessions. These sets will create a great deal of localised muscle fatigue in the hand and the forearm, but will not create full body systemic fatigue. Therefore the session will not negatively effect these sets if you do perform them at the end of your session. If you are performing exercises which will reduce the ability of your grip durning your resistance training then the grip specific training should be performed prior to these sets.

Ensure that you are getting adequate recovery between training sessions. If you are getting delayed onset muscle soreness, try and organise your training so that you are fully recovered between sessions. With three different sessions per week this should be achievable and if is not you could consider moving to 2 sessions per week.