this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2024
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If climbing has taught me anything, it's that lifting (deadlifting in this case) is no indication of grip strength.
Kinda. It can help grip strength a lot, or at least holding weights in that way can. But its not a grip strength exercise. Deadlifts, barbell/dumbell shrugs, farmers carry, curls, etc.. stuff like that can all help improve grip strength while not being the primary goal of the exercise.
OP should try opening the pickle jar with their thighs
What do you suggest for increasing it? I normally do dead hangs and wrist curls
Any sort of exercise that removes the thumbs and metacarpophalangeal joints from the equation, if you can close your hand, lock your grip and hang off of your skeleton you'll only add so much to your grip. There are actual crimping blocks and rolling handles you can attatch to weights to strengthen your grip.
Emil Abrahamsson seems to think that hangboarding is the answer to this problem, he suggests holding a hangboard without lifting your total weight off of the ground on the smallest ledge you can manage, twice a day, every day, to turn your grip into iron. He recently beat a lot of pound for pound grip championship records so I think his training techniques are worth paying attention to.
That being said, climbing itself might be the answer since these elite dudes routinely hang off of the absolute tips of their fingers while lifting their bodies up a wall and even for someone who can deadlift a shitton getting used to lifting your weight on crimps takes months to achieve.
It's also worth saying that you have very few muscles in your hand and grip strength is more a game of strengthening tendons and ligaments, which takes a lot longer than strengthening muscles, which might be why one of the guys with the most world records in grip strength right now is 70+ years old.
Metacarpophalangial, look at Dr. Knuckles over here
I looked it up because I couldn't figure out how the hell to refer to a specific row of knuckles, first? second? do you count from the palm or the tip? figured better to be precise.
I dig it. I inferred that joint from your description but had to look up the term to be sure.
Punch knuckles, not door knocking knuckles. Climbing needs more strength in the door knocking knuckles, whereas many grip strength exercises like deadlift do more work on the punching knuckles, the metacarpophalangial joints.
I've seen doodads that connect to the fingertips to focus work on the proximal interphalangeal joints.
Great descriptions! Lately I've been working on the (pardon me, I couldn't find a use for them) distal interphalangeal knuckles, just hanging from my finger tips. Pretty much all the good climbers at my gym can do that with weight added on a belt so I've still got a long way to go. But yeah I used to lift pretty heavy and this was pretty much impossible before I started practicing, just seem like totally different parts of the body although they're all in the hand.
For some reason I'm picturing a red hedgehog in a white coat now
Get those spring hand grip strengtheners?