Grip strength is something we measure in our initial assessments at W10 and is something that we are constantly aiming to improve for a number of reasons.
It’s very often a neglected piece in the strength training puzzle but here are a few reasons it features in almost all of our programs and why we are reluctant for people to use lifting straps.
Grip Strength For:
- Shoulder health is very closely related to your grip strength. When you grip something hard your shoulder stabilizers automatically grab your arm and jam it into the centre of the socket as a kind of injury reduction mechanism.
2. Having a stronger grip can sometimes instantly make you “stronger”. Try pushing something overhead with a loose grip then try the same weight whilst consciously trying to crush the handle. Our body doesn’t allow us to put anything overhead that we cant stabilise for obvious reason.
3. The stronger your grip, the more weight you can pick up. Grip strength is often one of the first things to go when people are performing heavy deadlifts, heavy kettlebell swings or DB/BB row. The longer you can grip these weights, the more you stress your body which will drive better results.
4. Reduction in grip strength has been closely related to increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. A large global study of 140,000 people in 17 countries was carried out over 4 years ago and the results were pretty interesting. The findings showed that grip strength is a stronger predictor of death than systolic blood pressure. The findings weren’t showing that if you have low grip strength you’re more likely to develop these diseases but that if you do develop cardiovascular disease, poor grip strength increases the chance of it being fatal.
Improving Grip Strength – Part 1
Improving Grip Strength – Part 2
If you have any questions on the above or would like some advice on how we could help you with your fitness goal, don’t hesitate, visit our gym and try one of our small group personal training sessions.
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