A Secret Weapon For Your Weight Training Workout

walk into any gym in the land and you will have no problem finding individuals training the usual body parts: arms, legs shoulders, chest, abs, back etc.

This is all fine a good, as any effective program should incorporate all of those aspects into it for best results.

However, nine times out of ten most gym goers downplay or outright neglect one of the most important areas of training: the strengthening of the grip and forearms.

Think about it; the strength of the hands and forearms affects every other exercise. The stronger these areas are, the more effectively the rest of the body can be trained. For example, in every pulling movement such as shrugs, rows, pull-ups etc the hands will give out before the larger, stronger lat muscles are worked as hard as possible.

For "pressing" movements, the stability of the hands and forearms comes into play.

In either case, the stronger the hands and forearms, the more reps in just about every exercise and more reps = more strength.

Of course, you could always strap your hands to the bar (and many do) but in the long you will get better results by using a few specific exercises to strengthen your grip directly.

Here are some very common ways of training these oft neglected areas:

1. Hand Grippers - At some point you have probably tried a plastic or wooden handled hand gripper that you could easily close for a few hundred reps. While those may be fun for a while, they soon lose their challenge. There are, however, several brands of heavy duty hand grippers which will challenge even the strongest of people. Don't let the small size fool you, these grippers range from 60 lbs. all the way up to 365 lbs or pressure to close. Train high reps, low reps, singles or what have you; if you want to turn your hands into industrial crushing machines, these are a great choice.

2. The Plate Pinch - As simple as it gets, put two plates together with the smooth sides facing out and then lift. The heavier or wider the plates, the more difficult the feat is. The average person should be able to lift a pair of 25 pound plates but you wont find one man out of a thousand who could do the same with a pair of 45 ponders.

3. The Farmers Walk - Grab a pair of heavy dumbbells and walk with them until they drop. Ion addition to being a fine grip exercise, this movement will also develop every other part of the body as well including the lungs which makes it a very effective all -round conditioner.

4. The Wrist Roller - This could take the form of a simple round piece of wood with a length of cord attached or it could be a machine ground knurled metal pipe with a high density climbing rope attached, both will get you strong. Be sure to roll both directions for best results.

5. The One Arm Deadlift - Couldn't be simpler: 1. see weight, 2. pick up. Use a heavy dumbbell or for more fun, an Olympic bar.