Generally Health

How often should you train your grip?

Is it advisable to train the grip once per week, as with other muscle groups (typically), or more frequently?

I had a difficult time finding the answer to this one on the web, but I think I have found the solution. As Grapple Arts and Grippage explain, there are different facets to the grip, including wrist strength, finger strength, thumb strength, pinching and so on. There is also ’supporting grip’, examples of training for which would be holding onto a heavy bar, hanging from a chin bar, etc.

So the trick here seems to be to exercise these different aspect on different days. So one day might be crushing grip and pinching grip, and a few days later wrist strength (through plate curls) and thumb strength.

As you probably know, you also need to work the opposite muscles of the body limits development to prevent injuries due to uneven development. So exercises where the fingers spread out from a closed position, such as with bands around them, or when jabbed into a bucket of sand might need to be done too.

On top of that, there are grip exercises which involve holding heavy bags by the material (to simulate grabbing clothing or gi, for example), and using thick bars when doing normal weight training (foam is recommended, to simulate the ‘give’ of human limbs while grabbing, for greater transference of the strength gains). But it might not be ideal to do all of this at once, and instead to just focus on a few things at a time.