Grip strength is an important indicator of your fitness and also helps measure age-related muscle degradation. Here are some exercises to increase grip strength.
Grip strength is not just about how easily you can open a sealed jar or squeeze your hand tightly. It also depends on how tightly you hold objects and the maximum force produced by your forearm muscles. As we age, our bodies wear out. While we focus on strengthening our abs and biceps, we often forget to strengthen our grip. Grip strength is about the strength of your hands, forearms, and wrists, and it speaks volumes about your overall health and strength. So, increasing grip strength is essential.
What is grip strength?
Grip strength measures how much force your hands can exert to grasp an object. “It includes several components like forearm muscles, hand muscles, and fingers. Anything that requires manual labour requires grip strength, from making dough to lifting those heavy shopping bags,” says fitness expert Spoorthi S.
According to a study published in Clinical interventions in agingGrip strength is an essential biomarker for older adults. It tells you a lot about your overall strength, upper limb function, bone mineral density, fractures, falls, malnutrition, cognitive impairment, depression, sleep problems, multimorbidity, and quality of life, the study adds. In fact, a grip strength test can also check your risk of diabetes.
Why is grip strength essential for our body?
Imagine opening a stubborn jar or carrying groceries home from the market: all of these require good grip strength. For fitness enthusiasts, grip strength is useful for heavy deadlifts or shifting weights during your reps. “Grip strength is an essential form of training for all ages, as it helps improve functional mobility, muscular strength and endurance, bone health, and rehabilitation,” says Spoorthi. Journal of Health, Population and Nutritionsuggests that grip strength is an accurate measure of age-related decline in muscle mass, strength, and function.
How to improve grip strength?
To acquire an iron grip, there are various fun and engaging exercises you can start with:
You may also like
1. Gripping or Crushing Training
The term “crush grip” refers to the grip between your fingers and the palm of your hand. The simplest grip strength exercise is the crush or grip training. A hand gripper or even a ball that is lying around can be used for grip training. You can also use hand grippers as well as rolling grips. Also check out our other hand exercises for better grip.
2. Country walks
It involves carrying weight from one end to the other. You simply take a heavy weight or kettlebell in your hand and walk a set distance with good posture. This helps you improve your grip, forearms and overall body stability.
3. Dead Support or Blockages
For this exercise program, all you need to do is find a place to hold on to. This exercise, combined with grip endurance, focuses on decompressing the spine.
4. Performing wrist curls
By rotating your forearms and wrists in different directions, you target the flexor muscles, which are essential for grip strength. Many gym-goers include wrist curls in their warm-up to loosen up the muscles. Check out our other wrist strengthening exercises for a better grip.
5. Plate tongs
Take some weights and hold them between your thumb and fingers. You can do the same thing with books or objects lying around the house. The exercise improves grip strength and motor skills.
What should you remember when doing exercises to improve grip strength?
Grip strength exercises seem easy to perform, but there are also a few things to keep in mind before doing these exercises:
- Start with something small, then train your muscles a little more and more over time.
- When doing strength training exercises, keep your posture in mind to target the right muscles. Changing your posture can lead to injury or muscle pain.
- Grip training shouldn’t be limited to just one exercise repeated. Mix up different types of grip exercises to target different muscles and avoid overexerting yourself.
- Grip strength exercises may seem too difficult after a certain point because you don’t see results quickly, but you have to be patient and believe in the process.
Summary
Grip strength is very important to understand your health status. With age, grip strength constantly decreases, which can also affect your overall well-being. Therefore, it is important to continue to develop your grip strength by performing simple exercises. However, make sure to go slowly and pay attention to your form when performing these exercises.
#increase #grip #strength #exercises
