Grip Strength for Pull ups

 Grip Strength for Pull ups

You need a huge amount of grip strength for pull ups. If you are constantly adjusting your hands to hold on to the bar or need straps for all of your pull up sets, you have a weak grip. Fortunately for you, I have written an entire article to help you address your puny grip today.

Pull ups require an iron grip. Whether you are doing sets of twenty reps or need the strength to hold on when you have over 100 pounds attached to your body, you are need a strong grip. Most trainees have a weak grip, and this will eventually limit their progress. If this is you, you need a dedicated approach to building your grip strength so that you can make excellent long-term progress.

Grip Strength for Pull ups: Benefits

Building better grip strength has huge payoffs for the strength or physique-minded individual, besides just getting better at pull ups.

Better pull ups!

 Building better grip strength will help you improve your pull ups. You will feel more confident holding on to the bar and this will carry over to your pull up performance. Not only that, but your grip won’t be the limit factor in your pull up performance. Your grip will no longer prevent you from getting more reps or sets in when your lats and biceps can handle more work. And a stronger grip will help you transfer force better, leading to stronger pull up performance.

Stronger Deadlifts: 

Ever miss a heavy deadlift because you could not hold onto the weight? It is really sad when you can’t lift weights your quads, hamstrings, glutes and lower back can handle because your grip is too pathetic. Strengthening your grip can prevent this from ever happening to you again.

A stronger grip will also make your deadlifts feel stronger. When your grip is stronger, you feel in control of the weight, and you can better control your form and improve force production.

Finally, you will be able to train using a double overhand grip for longer if your grip is strong, instead of switching to a mixed grip or relying on straps. This can help you pull with a more even and symmetrical position, equalizing the training effect on both sides of the body. You also reduce your likelihood of acute or chronic bicep tendon or elbow injuries caused or exacerbated by the mixed grip position.

Stronger Back Squats

You will be able to grip the bar a bit harder, which tells your nervous system to wake up and lift heavy weight. A stronger grip around the bar during the back squat will also help you get a little bit tighter through you upper back.

Grip Strength for Pull ups = more General Strength

You won’t have problems holding on to heavy weights in any exercise. This is a big deal. Your grip will no longer be the limiting factor, preventing you from getting stronger, faster.

This is a huge deal for barbell athletes and strength-minded individuals trying to get as strong as possible. If strengthening your grip led to a five-percent improvement in the weights you could handle and could help you put 25-100 pounds on your powerlifting total, would you do it? Yeah, me too!

Reduced Injury Risk

A stronger grip means less likelihood of peeling off of a chin up bar or letting go of a weight that could crush you.

You will also be able to use the double overhand grip more in your deadlift training, which is the safest and most symmetrical style of pulling. This style of deadlift training reduces any risk to the back or bicep tendons that might exist with a mixed grip deadlift.

Strengthening the grip will lessen your likelihood of elbow pain and injury to the forearms. Stronger tissue is more resilient tissue, and less likely to be seriously injured.

Athletic Performance 

A better grip will improve your performance in just about any sport. Better grip strength will help powerlifters handle heavier loads without reliance on straps and the mixed grip.

Better grip strength will also improve your performance in endurance and mixed sports like Crossfit and Strongman. Crossfit athletes need to be able to do high volumes of exercises with barbells, dumbbells, and kettlebells without putting weights down. Cross Fit events may require competitors to do high rep pull ups, dumbbell snatches, or barbell cycling with Olympic Weightlifting movements. The athlete who can work quickly and efficiently without putting the weight down due to a weak grip is going to be more competitive than the athlete who needs to constantly take breaks to rest their hands and forearms.

Strongman athletes need to carry very heavy loads and do high rep deadlifts. This requires incredible grip strength.

Rock climbers need excellent grip strength, as do gymnasts (peeling off of the Uneven Bars is NO FUN!), obstacle course racers, and American Ninja Contestants. Any event that requires the competitor to hold on to a bar or an object requires huge grip strength.

Even other types of athletes will benefit from a stronger grip. A stronger grip will make other athletes stronger in the weight room, and probably better prepared for the rigors of sport too.

Better grip strength will absolutely make you a better athlete.

How to Improve Grip Strength

Beginners (who do not currently weight train) can just start weight training and their grip strength will improve a lot. But if you are already strength training and you find that your grip is the limiting factor in a lot of your exercises, than you need to start adding strategic grip work to your training.

If you are beyond the beginner stages of training or are already performing a structured strength training routine, you will need a dedicated approach to building grip strength. Likely your typical barbell exercises are not enough to maximize your grip performance and to get the benefits of an iron grip.

Grip Strength for Pull ups: What Exercises?

Dumbbell and kettlebell one arm walks:

This is a great exercise for working on the grip strength of each arm unilaterally and also loading the internal and external oblique. Start off with a kettlebell on one side of your body. Sit back with a flat back until you approach the weight with one arm. Keeping your body square, perform a 1 arm suitcase deadlift to start. Then walk 20-100 feet with the weight. Make sure to keep your focal point forward, your stance upright (not tilted to one side) and your back in a neutral position. Walk until your grip starts giving out and then repeat the exercise on the other side.

Dumbbell and kettlebell two arm walks:

Great for improving grip strength and bracing ability. Hold two kettlebells or dumbbells and walk for 20-100 feet at a tough pace before resting and starting up again. Use heavier weights for shorter distances and lighter weights for longer ones.

One extremely tough challenge: load up with two dumbbells to equal a weight equal to half of your body weight. Then walk for 10-20 minutes. This is a great way to build grip muscle endurance.

Deadlifts with an overhand grip:

Slowly start to improve the weights you handle with a double overhand grip. Really work to use the overhand grip as long as possible during your warm up sets and slowly improve the weights you can handle with a double overhand grip.

Vertical Hanging and Weighted Vertical Hanging:

This exercise will improve your grip but is also very specific to the pull up. Improving your grip strength in the hanging position will definitely improve your pull up strength and endurance. Once that gets easy, you can start progressing to one arm hangs (scary at first, I know!).

Start with two hands on the bar and let your body hang down. Keep your glutes tight and let your shoulders relax in your ears. Hang for 30-60 seconds at the time, adding time until you can do 3 sets x 2 minutes. At that point, you should start adding weight to your hangs. You can start with just 20-45 lb at a time, starting with 30 seconds and then progressing until you hit 2 minutes. When you get to 2 minutes time, you are ready to increase the weights again.

Any Type of Kettlebell Work for High Reps or for 5 to 10 minutes:

Kettlebell swings, one arm swings, and overhead snatches can also help you to develop grip strength. Start with 10-20 swings or snatches per minute for 5 minutes, and add time as you get better. Once you are able to do ten minutes at a time, you can progress to 30 swings or snatches per minute or continuous swing or snatch work. Go for 5-10 minutes, and not only will you smoke your lungs but you will smoke your grip as well. This is a great way to strengthen your grip and prepare it for more work.

Towel or Fat Grips Pull ups:

You can buy rubber fat grips to go over your pull up bar or you can simply wrap a towel around your pull up bar. Either will make it so much harder to hold onto the bar for your sets. This will really improve your grip strength when you go back to regular pull ups.

Practical Programming

You can incorporate grip training into your training, at the end of your training, or into your conditioning. Here are some sample ways to incorporate grip training into your routine. Overhand grip pull ups can simply be substituted for your regular pull ups and towel pull ups can substitute for your regular pull ups.

Walks with weights, hanging, and kettlebell swings/snatches can serve double duty as your conditioning and your grip work.

Do the following workouts on conditioning days or after your regular weight training.

Grip and Conditioning Workout 1:

Set Your Timer for 20-30 minutes

Every Minute, complete 5 alternating kettlebell snatches left and 5 kettlebell alternating snatches right. Rest for the remainder of the minute.

***Add snatches each week until you are up to 20-30 snatches per minute.***

Grip and Conditioning Workout 2:

Set your Timer for 20-30 minutes. Complete the following exercises as a circuit. Go for as many rounds as possible until you reach 20-30 minutes.

50 yard 2 hand Farmers Walk

25 yard 1 hand Farmers Walk (R)

25 yard 1 hand Farmers Walk (L)

50 Jump Rope

Grip and Conditioning Workout 3: 

Complex: Do 10 of each exercise in the circuit without putting the Kettlebell Down. After finishing all exercises, rest 30-60 seconds. Repeat for 4-5 total rounds.

1. 10 One Arm Snatch Left

2. 10 One Arm Snatch Right

3. 10 One Arm Swing Left

4. 10 One Arm Swing Right

5. 10 Two Hand Swings

Pick 2-3 of these workouts to do per week at the end of your training and watch your grip strength (and your conditioning) improve tenfold!

Over time, these workouts will really help you improve your grip strength for pull ups and just about any other physical challenge you want to conquer. Start addressing your grip strength today and it will pay dividends.