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Grip strength exercises are generally performed by weightlifters, rock climbers, and sportspeople who need a strong grip to succeed in their sport.
Grip strength basically means how firmly you're able to hold on to things and squeeze onto them. That's affected by the muscles located in the fingers, hands, and forearms.
Wrist strengthener exercises can help you build a good grip, which can come in handy in daily activities. You need grip strength to carry luggage or groceries around and even to open the tight lid of a jar. Apart from that, grip strength exercises also help prevent any fitness plateaus i.e., they can ensure that you're able to lift heavier and continue your fitness journey over time.
Best Grip Strength Exercises for Beginners
Check out the following five best grip strength exercises for beginners that can give you a good grip workout.
You can also check out these quick forearm workouts at home to get ripped forearms.
Let's get started:
1) Wrist Curl
Wrist curls are one of the simplest grip strength exercises you can do for a stronger grip as well as forearms.
It works out the smaller muscles in the wrists, which can contribute to your weightlifting ability. This is an isolation exercise that will not only improve grip strength but also the health of the wrist joint and forearm musculature.
Instructions:
- Place yourself on something stable, like a bench, and lean forward.
- Take a barbell or a pair of light dumbbells in each hand, and grip them underhand.
- Put your palms up towards the ceiling and rest your forearms on your thighs so that one of your hands appears to be hanging off of one of the knees.
- To achieve a neutral position for your wrist, bend it backwards while keeping the weight in your fingertips, and curl it up.
2) Hand Gripper
This is one of the best grip strength exercises for beginners and is quite fun to do. While it may seem easy, hand grippers are challenging to do. Grippers generally come in a wide variety of tensions. You can choose one for yourself depending on whether you're a beginner or advanced trainer.
Training with grippers requires a certain amount of skill and strength. First you need to learn how to properly set and close a gripper. You should begin to practice with a lighter gripper, and gradually increase from there.
3) Farmer's Carry
This exercise requires you to stand up with weights and walk for a predetermined distance or for a set amount of time.
It's typically done with two dumbbells or kettlebells. Because of that, not only are the muscles in the forearms and core get put to work, the muscles in the shoulders and hips are worked out too.
Instructions:
- Between two kettlebells, stand with your feet hip-width apart.
- Maintaining a flat back, bend forward at the hips and knees to reach for the handles. Keep your back straight.
- Stand with your arms extended and weights by your sides while engaging the core and straightening the hips and knees.
- Stand tall with your shoulders retracted and drawn back.
- Continue moving forward while taking relatively small steps and trying to move the weights as little as possible.
4) Pinch Plate Carry
The fourth one in our list of grip strength exercises is the pinch plate carry. It can help improve pinch grip strength, which comes in especially useful while climbing rocks, in certain field sports and wrestling.
The exercise improves finger and thumb strength together, and when performed unilaterally, it can strengthen your weaker side.
Instructions:
- With feet separated at hip width, rest a weight plate against the calf.
- Maintaining a flat back, bend at the hips and knees to grab the plate with four fingers on the outside and one on the inside.
- Engage the core, and straighten the hips and knees to stand with the arm extended and weight to the side.
- Pull your shoulders back and down, and stand tall. Extend your free arm to the side.
- Take small steps, and shift your weight as little as possible as you move forward.
5) Towel Pull Up
The last on our list of grip strength exercises is the towel pull up. While pull-ups themselves are extremely effective in strengthening grip, towel pull-ups are even more effective. Towel pull ups are very good at improving grip strength by providing a unique gripping tool to work with.
Instructions:
- Hang two towels from the top of a pull-up bar, and space them out so that they're shoulder-width apart from each other.
- Grab one towel with each hand, and let go completely so that you're just hanging there.
- Normal pull-ups should be performed starting from that position.
- As this variation is difficult, you shouldn't expect to complete the same number of pull-ups as usual.
Takeaway
Grip strength exercises are important for sportspeople as well as those who take their fitness seriously. These exercises can help you lift better and perform your daily activities like lifting and carrying stuff more easily.
For more such exercises, check out these best exercises to increase grip strength.
