26 Comments

This is great! Thank you so much. Question for you. How can I improve wrist strength? I feel my grip problem comes more from the wrist than the grip itself, and it limits me on how heavy I can go. Even with bodyweight stuff (planks, push ups) I falter because of my wrist, rather than anyting else. Any tips?

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This is such a good question. And you’re right that they are not exactly the same thing — but they are definitely related. Working on grip strength will absolutely help your wrists as well. I want to do a whole post about wrist stuff because it is so common (and so annoying!) but the short answer is: For planks, push-ups, and the like, press into your fingers a LOT, like so hard you could almost lift the middle of your hand off the mat. This will take a lot of pressure off your wrists. And if that isn’t enough, make a fist and place your knuckles down on the mat (so your wrists are fully straight, not bent). More soon!

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These are great tips, Anna! and looking forward to the post.

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This newsletter was so great. Just wanted to chime in with some enthusiasm for CHALK!! Using it doesn’t improve my grip strength, but it definitely makes my grip less slippery which is very helpful for hanging on the bar, deadlifts etc. I use the chalk they provide at my gym and at home when I hang on my pull-up bar, I use liquid chalk since it’s less messy (and I think it actually does a better job).

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ahh thank you so much, Julia! And yes CHALK! It does work wonders. I also like it better than lifting gloves — I think the gloves inhibit grip strength improvements a bit, but lifting with chalk makes gripping easier but still helps you improve that strength while you’re at it!

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100%!! I’m very pro chalk, anti glove lol!

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This post made me think of Charlie, recent Survivor finalist, who won a challenge and reported in a confessional that he realized a lot of Survivor challenges come down to holding onto something for a really long time so he specifically trained his grip strength before getting on the show. DROP THE REGIMEN, CHARLIE!!!

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Ha! Incredible

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Thanks for this info!

I assume grip + wrist strength is what helps you open jars, etc.? Definitely looking forward to future posts on that, as I'm already struggling with that kind of functional thing in daily life. I have to use something grippy like a rubber glove or garlic peeler to have even a shot at opening certain bottles/jars! I do have smaller hands, but I can tell I've lost some strength, too.

I have heard that grip strength is a test women get at the doctor's office starting at a certain age. Not sure if it's a proxy for overall strength or if there is something specific they're checking for?

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YES to the jars question. It really should make a difference.

As for the test, I don’t know a ton about it (something to research!) but I think grip strength is seen as an easy-to-measure marker for general muscle mass, which can be an indicator of risk level for all kinds of diseases — I think it’s kind of a canary in the coal mine for how sturdy or fragile someone might be as they age.

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Nice post. Hanging is SO good. I, too, have fallen out of my practice, but this is inspiring me to get back to it. As well as being so good for us overall, there was a recent studio that showed that you can use grip strength exercises to affect high BP. The body is so magnificently designed and varied movement so very necessary for our wellbeing.

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Wow, I didn’t know that about BP! Definitely looking into that.

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"In the last two decades more than 30 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) [1–16], supported by individual patient-level [17] and group-level meta-analyses [18–26], have unequivocally demonstrated that isometric resistance training (IRT) elicits antihypertensive benefits in people who are healthy [8, 9, 14, 15] and those who exhibit prehypertension [2, 10], hypertension [1, 11, 13, 16], peripheral artery disease [4], coronary heart disease [3] and heart failure [5]. Current guidelines suggest the gold standard exercise prescription for managing hypertension is aerobic exercise [27] with emphasis more recently attributed to IRT [28, 29]. While recognizing current guidelines, Cornelissen and Smart [30] first demonstrated, using a pooled data analysis, that reductions in systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP), following a 4 to 8 weeks program of IRT, are greater than those observed with an aerobic exercise training (AET) or dynamic resistance training (DRT) program of similar duration [30]."

- Baffour-Awuah, Pearson, Dieberg, Wiles, and Smart

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I got a grip donut thingy as swag from my health insurer. I’m absolutely going to pull that out and use it now!!

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Ooh! Will you report back? I’m intrigued.

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Verdict: It’s great. It helps me focus in meetings, too, but son’s more helpful than a fidget toy (because I’m actually improving my grip strength). I have gotten stronger (well, it’s gotten easier for me to squeeze the donut thingy, and for longer periods of time), but I haven’t tested my grip strength functionally, I just assume it means good things.

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Amazing!

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I remember when you first told me about grip strength! Such a boss!

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So good for yoga too, no??

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💯💯💯

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I love using my strength grippers as a fidget toy while in work meetings—and it helps my climbing, too, which is a great bonus.

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Yes such a good fidget toy! And man, climbers have the most amazing grip strength.

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I need to get back into grip training. I'm an out-of-practice climber who know finds herself limited by tendon strength. I know, I know, the answer is "climb more" :)

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Ahhh climbing is such great motivation to rebuild that strength! So cool.

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Great post! I'd add that the muscles of the hand and forearm respond to training stress the same way other muscles do. The same principles of sets, reps, time under tension, progressive overload and recovery still apply. Some trainees buy grip trainers, get overzealous and do hundreds of sets and reps which can lead to overtraining and injury. No need to over do it. :-)

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Hey Anna, great story! I have also thought about writing a story about training hands and forearms. I think such training can be very effective, especially for everyday life. Maybe even more than a full-body workout, if we're really only talking about functionality. Something like this would be great for women in particular!

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