Iron grip training ?

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by dtrip, Aug 3, 2005.

  1. dtrip

    dtrip New Member

    Hello,

    Im 32 yo, beginner with MA,

    I want to strengthen my grip on both hands. What I want is to
    be able to grip a strong man's wrist and press with the fingers
    so hard, that he is subdued. Im 170 cm, 78 kg.

    1. Can you describe or link me to a specific program to achieve this ?
    I know of finger pushups and lifting things with fingers only etc,
    are those enough ?

    2. I always thought having an iron grip can really end a fight early.
    You just have to protect your face until you can grap the other guy
    from the wrist(s). What do you think, is it a good idea ?

    Thanks
    Dimitris
     
  2. Lord_Vorac

    Lord_Vorac New Member

    Sounds good to me. Like the idea of picking a big man up with your little finger - literally :p

    I read somewhere of small techniques like pushing your fingers of your right hand against your left fingers. Like wrestling your own fingers. This way you're not restricted by limitating weights (be it free-weights, or body weight), but can excert a large ammount of force as your get stronger. Sounds stupid, but try it for awhile, I've found my grip increased, perhaps not able to subdue a guy just by sqeezing his wrist - but, meh.

    Just my two cents.


    Vorac.
     
  3. TKD=FUN

    TKD=FUN New Member

    search the internet for a product called "gripmaster" Its designed for improveing muscle in fingers for instrument players. Ive found that it also has uses for martial arts. Ive used the heavy one for about a year everyday and ive noticed significant increases in grip.
     
  4. Yohan

    Yohan In the Spirit of Yohan Supporter

    http://www.powerballs.com/

    These things are great once you get the hang of them. I use one, but on and off, and only for the last few weeks, so I haven't really noticed a difference yet, but I can tell it works because my forearms/hands are usually sore to death when I get done with it.
     
  5. aikiwolfie

    aikiwolfie ... Supporter

    Hmm ... so if I pound your arm with a sledge hammer will that help your grip? :p I'm moveing this to Health And Fitness because the regulars there will be able to give you better training advice. :)
     
  6. kenwen

    kenwen Valued Member

    To be honest your aim of subduing someone with a strong grip alone is a bit...hopeful. At best, they might go ouch.

    1. Grippers for crush grip, pinch grip training to strengthen the thumb. Thick bar lifting to train open hand grip. Check out the KTA or Steve "Mobster" Gardener's e-book for gripper work. Pinch grip is typically trained by turning smooth backed weight plates so the smooth sides are out, pinching them between the fingers and thumb and lifting. Thick bar lifts can be done on custom dumbbells/barbells.

    1a. Grapple a lot, especially jacketed work. Great way of working grip specifically for martial arts

    2. Erm, no. If you're protecting your head (I'd assume you'll be using your hands for a guard) how are you meant to grab someone's wrists? Also, the time spent trying to grab someones wrists would be better spent going for a bigger target.

    my twopence worth
     
  7. PlumDragon

    PlumDragon "I am your evil stimulus"

    So are you saying that bridging, grabbing, clinching, push hands, blocking, redirecting, controlling, trapping, and other similar methods are all useless?? :rolleyes:

    There are plenty of situations where going after a wrist as you say is a bad idea. But there are plenty of times when having the sligbhtest clue when to use a grab, on the wrist or somewhere else, and have strength to make it effective, might be useful, and a good thing to have in your "toolbox".
     
  8. kenwen

    kenwen Valued Member

    Not quite :)

    What I am saying is that focussing on grabbing someones wrists whilst they are attacking you is useless.

    If the opportunity arises then go for it, however, to say that to fight with the express goal of grabbing someones wrists thereby subduing them is folly
     
  9. PlumDragon

    PlumDragon "I am your evil stimulus"

    I dont think his goal is to focus entirely on that single thing. But to spend 20 minutes extra a day strengthening your fingers/hands, which could potentially have many more uses than just wrist grabs, whats the big deal?

    BTW, if you can block, then grabbing is the next step. its not that hard...I do it all the time; and Im really not good when it comes to that sort of thing.
     
  10. JSun

    JSun Valued Member

    1. The problem with grabbing someone by the wrist, regardless of your grip strength, is that you might find yourself in a small/large hand wrap or other folding wrist lock. Unless you know an escape/counter chin-na, you'll find it's you who is submitting, if not submitting with a broken wrist.

    2. In Kuk Sool, as well as Hapkido, we learn sets of techniques that deal with inside and outside wrist grabs. As a matter of fact, one of the very first sets a Kuk Sool student learns is Son Pae Ki. These are techniques that bring ki to the hands and teach the practitioner to escape in a way that puts pressure on the weakest point of a wrist grab, the space between the thumb and first finger. They are simple, effective and the foundation for further refined wrist sets.

    3. There's no way for me to know what kind of shape you're in, but if you're just getting started in your training, I'd suggest focusing on conditioning your entire body, as opposed to just your grip. MA is more than about fighting. I think it's a lifestyle that demands physical fitness. The beauty of the art is that it's never to late to begin your training. It just gets more difficult the longer you wait :)
     
  11. PlumDragon

    PlumDragon "I am your evil stimulus"

    Thats true for every single possible technique in martial arts. There is always a multitude of counterattacks, always an antithesis, all the way up to the very point of conclusion. Its benign to discuss this for a specific technique because its always true, and as we get better, we learn to offset this fact.

    Agreed entirely. While a couple of basic exercises for the hands wouldnt hurt, its important to make sure your body as a whole is prepared for it, and well conditioned as a whole.
     
  12. kenwen

    kenwen Valued Member

    That's his stated aim from his first post.

    I'm actually a BIG advocate on grip training. However, I'm also a big advocate on realistic targets and capabilities and to say that a wrist grab is enough to stop a fight is in my humblish opinion not realistic
     
  13. PlumDragon

    PlumDragon "I am your evil stimulus"

    And you dont think its possible that maybe he has more than 1 total aim in his training? He wants our help with this specific thing; its not our place to claim we know all of the other things he is, or will be, working on in his martial arts training.

    Wrist grab enough to stop a fight: Ill agree with you there, its not something he should plan on using to finish someone.
     
  14. fixationdarknes

    fixationdarknes Valued Member

    Soreness is not an indicator of gain.
     
  15. Prophet

    Prophet ♥ H&F ♥

  16. Prophet

    Prophet ♥ H&F ♥

    Quite right.

    He only gets sore because he is not used to the movements yet.
     
  17. dtrip

    dtrip New Member

    Hey all,
    sorry for being away so long !

    Well actually Plum Dragon got it, yes I want to spend some extra minutes per
    day and have this option in my "toolbox".

    Currently I workout every day to get back in shape, to start TKD in September.
    Im also playing with nunchakus and tonfas for some years. Im 32 yo.

    About Chin-Na counters subduing me instead: I ll take my chances on this
    (assuming he doesnt know gripping).

    Maybe I wasnt very clear: my thinking is that if you have a strong grip, you
    can easily beat someone by inflicting great pain in wrists, chest, neck,
    legs, not to mention groin (ouch !), etc. If you really think about it, you
    have easily and many times the opportunity to "touch" someone during
    combat, only you dont because you wouldnt know what to do next.
    What it "next" was just "squeeze" ?

    Mainly against ligaments, wrist was a good example, but also arms, armpit,
    neck, behind the knee, etc etc. Just grip and squeeze. But I mean really
    good hard grip, guys.

    Can you fold a beer bottle cap with one hand ? Thats what I mean.

    What about a coin ? :) (you think this would this possible by a human ?)

    Cheers and thanks a lot
    I will check all the propositions and equipment suggested, probably try most
    of those

    Dimitris
     
  18. dtrip

    dtrip New Member

    I read the articles (fantastic insight and training), there is even a book mentioned
    in there I ll see if I can find it,

    and checked out the products (funny the world powerball champion is Greek :D )

    Well I have a lot of material to take it from here, thanks a lot it was great help
     
  19. laoch

    laoch New Member

    if you're really intent on training grip strength check out some rock climbing/bouldering sites. Grip strength is one of, if not the, most important elements of climbing and there is a lot of information on how to increase it. One of the best things I can reccomend is getting what's called a hangerboard (or go to your local climbing gym and check it out, most gyms have a board or some sort of training setup, or just climb, that'll get your hands stronger while having fun). Basically it's just a molded polyurethane (or some sort of plastic with a rock like texture and feel). The boards have different shaped sections to grip and you can do either dead hangs, pull ups, or lockoffs on them. The links below show two of metolius' boards (the best in my opinion).
    http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/simulator.htm
    http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/simulator.htm
    http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/rockringscnc.htm

    The last link is for a slightly different product, sorta like the gymnastics apparatus "rings" but slightly different, I used to have a set of those back home and they're great. You can really get a good upper body workout and train your grip at the same time. Hope this helps.
    Cheers,
    Jay
     
  20. BoxBabaX

    BoxBabaX H+F Baba ^^

    hehe i love powerballs :D
    This article: http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;jsessionid=0FDBF157BF8B6723D9065F5FD95009CB.hydra?id=460273 is very good, its about increasing pull ups/chin ups, but he goes into detail about increasing hand and forearm strength.
     

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