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Kettlebell My Hands are my weakest Link. How to fix that?

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My most recent way of getting forearm pump has been doing my conventional deadlifts at 75-80% 1RM for 5 sets of 5, with these specifics: 1) controlled descent, only lightly touching the floor; 2) complete lockout with ~1-sec pause; 3) relatively short rests - new set every 4:00 or so, about 3:30 rest periods; 4) at least one set double overhand, others using both mixed grips alternating by the set.

-S-
 
Steve Freides said:
@Kayodoubleu

Something I have mentioned on the forum before bears repeating here - early in my training, whenever my deadlift grip progress would stall, I'd switch to kettlebell swings, and whenever my kettlebell swing grip progress would stall, I'd switch to deadlifts. Holding onto a heavy deadlift will strengthen your grip and toughen your hands, and so will swinging a kettlebell.

@bencrush has done a lot of grip work - I'd reread his messages if I were you.

And perhaps the most important question - what is your goal? Personally I have seen no improvement in either my barbell deadlift or my kettlebell swing from gripper work so I've given it up entirely. Carryover between different movements can be highly individual - not saying my experience will be that of everyone.

-S-
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I don't want to compete in weighhlifting or something like that. I just want to get stronger. I am doing Judo so i thought a little bit of Grip training wouldn't hurt.
Kettlebelltraining is for staying fit and gaining strenght. I was 12 years in the millitäry so i have basic fitness and basic strenght. But i want to get stronger. That are my goals in general.
I trained KB 10 years ago, I read ETK and did the programs. I also noticed back than, that one handed swings with a lot of reps (50 reps) are really pumping my forearms. As i started training last year with heavier weight and doing S+S it wasn't that demanding on the forearms i think because of the 10 reps range.

Training Deadlifts would be great but my heaviest weight ist a 40kg Kettlebell and i won't be able to acces a gym for atleast another year. So i have to work with what i have. Maybe it would be a good idea to start doing high reps swings with lower weight again.
 
Grip training is one of the most rewarding things you can do with yourself. There are absurd levels of strength that the hands can achieve. I’ve always loved stories legendary or not about people with absurd grip strength. My dad would tell me about my granda’ who was a smithy and had absurd hand strength. When I did the Filipino martial arts I heard stories about Flora Villabrille who could rip coconuts open with his bare hands and lift full barrels in each hand apparently with only the small amount of finger purchase he could get from the top of the barrel. When I took up climbing after a few months I met someone I hadn’t seen in ages and I practically crushed his hand unintentionally when I shook it. His hand went like Woody Harrelsons rubber hand from “King Pin”. Stories about guys being able to snap the pin in a set of pliers just by crushing the handles together with enough force. Apparently the guy who invented Tiger style kung fu could crush thick bamboo by finger strength alone. Brookfield talked about that in his book that he had heard his fair share of legends about guys with strong hands but it just shows you the kind of resonance (if that’s the right word) this stuff has with people. That people would exaggerate something mundane as hand strength to signify someone’s strength.
 
Kev said:
Grip training is one of the most rewarding things you can do with yourself. There are absurd levels of strength that the hands can achieve. I’ve always loved stories legendary or not about people with absurd grip strength. My dad would tell me about my granda’ who was a smithy and had absurd hand strength. When I did the Filipino martial arts I heard stories about Flora Villabrille who could rip coconuts open with his bare hands and lift full barrels in each hand apparently with only the small amount of finger purchase he could get from the top of the barrel. When I took up climbing after a few months I met someone I hadn’t seen in ages and I practically crushed his hand unintentionally when I shook it. His hand went like Woody Harrelsons rubber hand from “King Pin”. Stories about guys being able to snap the pin in a set of pliers just by crushing the handles together with enough force. Apparently the guy who invented Tiger style kung fu could crush thick bamboo by finger strength alone. Brookfield talked about that in his book that he had heard his fair share of legends about guys with strong hands but it just shows you the kind of resonance (if that’s the right word) this stuff has with people. That people would exaggerate something mundane as hand strength to signify someone’s strength.
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Agree 100%. My new twitter account even has Grip in my handle.:p:cool:
 
GaryT said:
Agree 100%. My new twitter account even has Grip in my handle.:p:cool:
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It’s something that doesn’t get the respect it deserves. I can’t actually convince people to do it. My turd nephew has got the barbell bug and I gave him my blue fatgripz aaaaaaages ago and when I see him I ask if he’s using them and training grip and it’s always “No”. I actually have my CoC in work with me and in the next hour I’ll work through the trainer, The Number 1 and the 1.5 and then probably the stress ball I have stashed in the work. It’ll be less than 40 minutes as I’m stupefied by the nonsense on the TV and I’ll have done a productive training session.
 
Kev said:
Grip training is one of the most rewarding things you can do with yourself. There are absurd levels of strength that the hands can achieve. I’ve always loved stories legendary or not about people with absurd grip strength. My dad would tell me about my granda’ who was a smithy and had absurd hand strength. When I did the Filipino martial arts I heard stories about Flora Villabrille who could rip coconuts open with his bare hands and lift full barrels in each hand apparently with only the small amount of finger purchase he could get from the top of the barrel. When I took up climbing after a few months I met someone I hadn’t seen in ages and I practically crushed his hand unintentionally when I shook it. His hand went like Woody Harrelsons rubber hand from “King Pin”. Stories about guys being able to snap the pin in a set of pliers just by crushing the handles together with enough force. Apparently the guy who invented Tiger style kung fu could crush thick bamboo by finger strength alone. Brookfield talked about that in his book that he had heard his fair share of legends about guys with strong hands but it just shows you the kind of resonance (if that’s the right word) this stuff has with people. That people would exaggerate something mundane as hand strength to signify someone’s strength.
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This is so motivating. :D I wan't to take my CoC and chrush it together. But i can't. Weakling.

I just finished my 150 snatches with 20kg. Still had to glove up because of blisters on both hands but today i tried to lead the KB on the way down like after a Press and not "dropping" it like usual in a snatch. And it was a lot better this way. I had absolutly no problems. The last 50 snatches i even did in one go with normal form because i felt still like i had a lot of energy left. So it seems that the drop during the snatch is my problem. I have one more training seasion left this week which i will still do with gloves. But for next week i think my hands should be all heal up and i will try this style of snatch without gloves. If this is a workaround to my problem i had no problem to use it. At least i could switch to this style if i realize that my skin starts burning.
 
watchnerd said:
As a barbell athlete, that's not at all how I interpret the ideology.

Relax, then strength, is part of the ideology.

The Bruce Lee punch analogy.

Same thing applies to grip, especially on ballistics, but even on grinds.

You don't have to white knuckle it the whole time, only at the moment of greatest need for force production, usually the sticking point.

Even if I'm doing a heavy pull grind, once I'm past the sticking point, I can hold an isometric grip sufficient to keep the bar from falling and ride out the rest of the more relaxed strength curve and let my back, core and hips do the work.
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Completely agree. This is a basic concept in martial arts that is directly applicable. Manage tension and relaxation to save energy to exert maximum tension at the striking or critical points of the lift. A max lift barbell deadlift or squat attempt may be the only exception I can think of.
 
silveraw said:
A couple things to add that I didn’t see addressed yet.
When doing a lot of CoC work I’ll get calluses on my pinkie where the end of the gripper handle sets. I could see where that would tear especially if you start out with a 1 when you should be starting with a T.

Second work your pinch strength. Grippers and kettlebells pretty much neglect this completely. Ironically working this seems to help non pinch grip. An easy one if you have hex dumbbells is doing hub lifts and pinch curls with them after S&S. As a bonus it is real hard to tear skin doing these. Adam T Glass has a great article on programming pinch work into the PM.
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Good point but also training finger extension with bands to overcome claw grip and muscle imbalances.
 
Kayodoubleu said:
This is so motivating. :D I wan't to take my CoC and chrush it together. But i can't. Weakling.

I just finished my 150 snatches with 20kg. Still had to glove up because of blisters on both hands but today i tried to lead the KB on the way down like after a Press and not "dropping" it like usual in a snatch. And it was a lot better this way. I had absolutly no problems. The last 50 snatches i even did in one go with normal form because i felt still like i had a lot of energy left. So it seems that the drop during the snatch is my problem. I have one more training seasion left this week which i will still do with gloves. But for next week i think my hands should be all heal up and i will try this style of snatch without gloves. If this is a workaround to my problem i had no problem to use it. At least i could switch to this style if i realize that my skin starts burning.
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That’s called a half snatch. If it stops your hands from turning to mince meat then good. But work on toughening your skin up and by the sounds of it your technique. You may be over gripping the bell.
 
GaryT said:
Pinch grip involves the thumb in opposition of the fingers; think similar to pinching a weight plate. Pinch is the only major grip work that uses the thumb other than extensor tng. Crush grip uses the fingers against the lower palm; eg grippers, tennis ball, etc
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I understand the concept. However, if one was to hold a gripper against the thumb instead of lower palm, wouldn't that constitute a pinch grip?
 
TimothyGander said:
I understand the concept. However, if one was to hold a gripper against the thumb instead of lower palm, wouldn't that constitute a pinch grip?
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You would need to have a monstrous pinch to do that with even a guide CoC. When you buy an Ironmind Imtug that move is in the instruction manual. However I just attempted it with my easiest Imtug (no 3) and I couldn’t budge it.
 
Imagine training grip for years and having an above average grip, taking up judo only to be told that gripping with your index finger and thumb just turns your entire arm into an acid bath of death and fatigue. Judo is literally meant to be middle, ring and pinky only gripping the gi.
 
Kev said:
Imagine training grip for years and having an above average grip, taking up judo only to be told that gripping with your index finger and thumb just turns your entire arm into an acid bath of death and fatigue. Judo is literally meant to be middle, ring and pinky only gripping the gi.
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Why is it constrained in which fingers to use?
 
watchnerd said:
Why is it constrained in which fingers to use?
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As soon as you start gripping with the thumb and index finger your whole forearm and I suppose all that irradiation business just burns you out really quick. I get chinned for it all the time. (Chinned=chewed out) I keep meaning to take my CoC to the club to see what the higher belts can all do.
 
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