Grip strength is important more than just holding on to heavy weight. Having a stronger grip and stronger hands will allow you to be stronger and do more overall. You’ll notice increased strength in your arms, chest, back, and whole upper body.

This is basically the effects of irradiation , where gripping hard allows for better activation of muscles near by. That’s why world renowned strength training coaches like Dave Tate and Mark Rippetoe put so much emphasis on training to increase grip strength to improve all major lifts (bench press, deadlift, squat).

TRY THIS RIGHT NOW: Flex your bicep while making a tight fist, and then do it again without a tight fist.
Notice the lack of muscle tension when you don’t have a tight grip? Exerting force and tension in specific areas will basically “demand” more from your body there. It’s the same reason why we’re told to keep the core tight and everything flexed during heavy compound exercises.

Fat Gripz

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Using fat gripz alongside your regular workouts will noticeably improve your grip strength as well as overall strength. They help activate and strengthen weaker areas even through your regular workouts. They fit on virtually every barbell and dumbbell bar out there so they can be used on all exercises from benchpress to curls, and they also are extremely durable.They do take some getting use to, but thats a good thing – it’ll force your body to use and strengthen lacking muscles which will in turn improve your grip. Fat Gripz are also endorsed by Jay Cutler if that’s of any importance to you.

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Chalk

Chalk becomes a necessity when gripping heavy weight without straps or gloves. It helps to add friction between your palm and the bar, and also helps to soak up any sweat or moisture which could cause you to lose grip. It can be purchased in square blocks from this website.

Deadlift / Shrugs

Deadlifts are an excellent way to improve your grip as long a you don’t use straps. The amount you deadlift will decrease, but your grip strength will noticeably improve week to week. You can read more about proper deadlift form and grip by checking out this article. If you don’t want to sacrifice your deadlift, then shrugs are another exercise which helps to increase grip strength. You’ll definitely need chalk going into your heavier sets, but try to avoid using straps or other accessories at all costs if your primary goal is to increase your grip strength. Just please don’t do deadlifts on the smith machine.

Dead-Holds

Dead holds are basically shrugs (minus the shrugging). Grab the heaviest weight you can grab without straps (barbell or dumbbell) as long as possible. This exercise also helps to straighten out your posture if you do it frequently enough. Use chalk if you feel that your grip is giving out on heavier weights.

Alternating Grip

This grip is traditionally used by raw deadlifters (no straps), also called the under-over grip. It’s basically where you grip underhand with one hand, and overhand with the other.Naturally this is a great technique to hold on to heavy weight on a barbell, where double overhand or double underhand grips would no doubt fail.Use this grip for deadlifts and pull-ups when ever possible, and use chalk if neccesary.