How can you improve it?
Farmer carry … with a twist
Instead of using dumbbells or kettlebells, or anything else easy to grip – find
some weight plates and hold the edges, so it’s really hard to keep hold of
them, and do a farmer carry with these! Focus on squeezing all of your hand
into the plates (imagine you’re trying to squash them) … and just be careful if
you drop them!
!
Hang
Either on a climbing wall, pull up bars, or a regular wall, just jump up and grab
on and then hang! Hang there for as long as you can, without tension in your
shoulders, and see how long you can keep hold for.
!
Crawl – with claws
Do a regular bear crawl, but instead of flat palms or bunched up fingers, only
let the tips of your fingers touch the floor. Be careful not to push this too
much, or do it too explosively and risk damaging your hands if they aren’t
particularly strong yet.
!
Big grip
Put a dumbbell on its end. Grab the top end, and carry as in a farmer walk.
This BURNS so be careful if you drop the weight as you still need feet for
racing too!
!
Climbing
Not technically an individual exercise, but there couldn’t be an article about
grip strength without mentioning climbing. An exercise that is fantastic for
your whole body, all obstacle course racers should definitely consider adding
climbing into their training. Pick some of the challenging climbs, or
bouldering, to really test your grip strength! Look down and your grip will
tighten – guaranteed!