Holding five bags of groceries requires killer arms and a very strong grip. I’m not sure you have strong grip strength. You must be shortchanging your workouts in addition to your pantry stash.

Your ability to hold weights without a palm or wrist plays a big role in ensuring your sweat sessions effectively get your muscles to pop.

Grip strength is very important and plays a significant role in daily activities. Grip strength is required everywhere, from holding rubber bands to holding huge bags.

1. What Is Grip Strength?

Simply put, grip strength exercises are the activities that allow us to perform everyday tasks effectively and are a measure of how much power or force you can create with your forearm and hand muscles. So, here is the answer.

Good grip strength indicates upper-body and overall strength because you must hold weights to enhance muscle strength. Doing a proper workout with challenging weights and grip strength is often the first thing to fail.

If your hand grip is weak, you cannot do as many reps as you want; even if you can do one, your grip will fail before those other muscles do. The same happens with deadlifts.

2. Benefits of Having a Strong Grip Strength

Grip strength exercises are just simply toning your body’s micro muscles. It can help in preventing tendonitis.

You will curb your chances of getting carpal tunnel syndrome. Grip exercises also help in maintaining good hand strength along with strong wrists, elbow, and forearm muscles; some of the other exercise’s collective benefits include:

• There is less risk of getting arthritis, or we can say that by doing the grip exercises, you can also safeguard yourself from getting arthritis.
• Help the individual to improve their fine motor skills.
• Get stronger at the gym because you can lift heavier weights more easily.

3. Types of Grip Strength Exercises

This is very difficult to categorize, so first, we will start with the three grip types. The basic grip is categorized into three types: Crush, Pinch, and Support.

Let us discuss each corner of these categories in brief.

3.1. Crush

Crush is the first category in which grip strength is categorized. The best example to describe is crumbling the paper ball in your hands or shaking someone’s hand muscles. Curling your fingers to your palm is referred to as your crush strength.

3.2. Pinch

This type of grip is self-explanatory- the strength between your fingers and thumb, mostly like you pinch the person beside you.

3.3. Support

This is the ability to hold onto something long, like hanging on a pullup bar.

4. Signs Your Hand Muscles Could Use Strengthening

There are many signs by which you can estimate that your hand muscles could be strengthening or not.

• You have trouble carrying heavy grocery bags without putting them down for a small break.
• You consistently fail barbells or dumbbells.
• You sometimes feel grip pain when lifting challenging weights.
• You often get tired from typing on your keyboard.

5. How do you improve grip strength at home?

You need not go to the gym, or you do not need gym equipment to improve your grip strength. You read it right: you don’t need to go to the gym to improve your grip strength.

You can easily improve your grip strength and your forearm muscles at home. Just grab some household items mentioned below to build grip strength.

Yes, these items are available in everyone’s house, So it is very good that anyone can improve their grip strength. Some exercises are listed below:

5.1. Stress-Ball Squeeze

Squish a stress ball (you can choose any ball; most people prefer tennis) with your entire hand for 5 to 10 pulses. Repeat this with each finger. Switch hands and repeat the sequence. Repeat using just the pointer finger and thumb.

It will help the individual to perform daily routine work easily and efficiently.

5.2. Wrist Rotation or Wrist Curls

First, grasp an unopened wine bottle, keeping your upper arm by your side and your elbow bent around 90 degrees.

• Now rotate or pan towards your midline, try to bring it back to the center, then rotate in the opposite direction.
• Do around 2 to 3 sets of around 20 to 30 reps. After completing with one hand, now perform with the second hand.

It helps build core strength and also helps in providing strength to your arms and wrist.

5.3. Book Pinch

This can be performed using three to four sets of books of the same size, gripping one in each hand and arms at the sides.

Now squeeze with fingers for almost 30 seconds, then relax for almost 30 seconds. Do this exercise for around three to five sets every day.

This will help strengthen your forearms, wrists, and fingers.

6. The Best Grip Strength Exercise to Do at the Gym

Yes, grip exercises are very useful and have many advantages. Apart from performing the grip exercise at home, you can perform or do grip strength exercises in the gym under a proper grip trainer and paid commissions.

The training includes opening jars, tea towels, and pull-ups, including pulling movements and opposite directions.

The only limiting factor is the callous line sometimes and sometimes the injuries; if the exercise is not performed under your training head, it may cause injuries that are sometimes minor and sometimes very severe.

Grip training involves the fingers because fingers are the most important part of the hand, which helps provide better strength. Grip training requires a lot of patience and time. The cast iron pan is a good example of a grip strength exercise.

6.1. Farmer Carry

This is among the best exercises in the open area for better grip strength.

Hold heavy dumbbells or kettlebells in one hand, arms down by sides, and walk forward straight without letting the weight bang, which must be against your leg. In this, the directing force of the weight should be downwards.

• Continue this exercise for almost 30 to 60 seconds. Then, take a 60-second rest and repeat these exercises for the left-hand grip strength. Keep doing switch hands.
• This exercise helps carry grocery bags quickly, and you can easily include this exercise in your workout routines for a solid grip.

It helps maintain your core strength.

6.2. Suitcase Deadlift

This exercise comes under the grip training of bodyweight exercises. It is very easy to perform.

Hold weights in your left hand first, feet shoulder-width apart, and your right hand must be clenched in a fist.

• Keep abs engaged and knees very soft; now sit hips back slowly and lower weight until and unless it reaches the middle of the left shin.
• The back should be parallel to the floor, pressing through heels, and keep engaging abs and quickly return to the starting position.
• When you squeeze the glutes once completely upright, that should be considered one rep. Try to do good squeezes.
• Do this exercise in three to four sets of 20 to 30 reps.

This will help to provide strength to small muscles. It also provides strength to the wrist, forearm, and fingers. This will help increase grip strength.

6.3. Hammer Curl

This exercise provides strength to the forearm, wrist, and fingers. This is the best exercise for grip work. For this exercise, the equipment needed is dumbbells. It also helps in reducing the extra deposited weight.

Stand with feet and hip-width apart, holding a pair of dumbbells at the side.

• Palms should face inward, with the back straight and the chest upright.
• Now, bend your elbows and curl weights towards your shoulders without moving your upper arms or any body part.
• Now, slowly position with control.
• When you complete one, that will be considered as one rep. Perform four sets of around 12 reps.

These are the best exercises you can perform in the gym without training. This will provide strength to your forearms and fingers.

6.4. Towel Chin-Ups

To perform this activity, you need one corner, which is not more difficult than other exercises. This is as simple as regular chin-ups.

Cover the bar with a towel first, and then challenge that grip. This is a very good activity for preparing yourself for rope climbing. This will help make your bones stronger; it also provides strength to your wrists and forearms.

Final Note

Conveniently, we can improve our grip strength¹ at home; there is no need to join some special gym to increase our grip strength.

Grip strength is very important in everyday life; it will help the individual perform regular daily activities easily and efficiently.

Grip strength also helps maintain good cardiovascular health ²and keeps individuals far from cardiovascular disease. Nothing big is required to perform and strengthen your grip strength at home except your dedication to do so.

1. Norman, Kristina, et al. “Hand grip strength: outcome predictor and marker of nutritional status.” Clinical nutrition 30.2 (2011): 135-142. ↩︎
2. Wu, Shouling, et al. “Association of trajectory of cardiovascular health score and incident cardiovascular disease.” JAMA network open 2.5 (2019): e194758-e194758. ↩︎

Last Updated on March 22, 2024 by Sanjana