By Jim Wendler
One of the biggest things that I struggled with during my deadlift training was my grip. This was never a big deal when I was lighter (under 250lbs), but as I became bigger my grip began to suffer.
...
The big embarrassment came when I pulled 585 and it fell out of my
hands. I had everyone telling me to go see a doctor because of the
numbness, but I knew what the real story was; I had not taken my grip
training seriously enough.
Now I was in somewhat of a dilemma – I know I needed to train my grip
but everything I’ve read was contradicting itself. I’ve heard that
the best way to better your deadlift grip is to deadlift. While I
believe this is true, the only problem with this is that when one
becomes more advanced, the less you can perform deadlift workouts. The
deadlift is extremely hard on your body and can take a long time to
recover from. So what was going to suffer? My overall training or my
grip?
Then I got the shot in the ass that I needed. (No, not that shot.) I
met Jed and Smitty from the Diesel Crew at the 2003 Boston Seminar and
they got me on track. First, they showed me what it is like to have fun
and train again. Like many of you, training often became a job for me;
something that I did only because of habit. It was the same routine
over and over again and I would feel guilty if I didn’t do Reverse
Hyperextensions or ab work at the end of a workout. I know that many of
you are or were in the same boat. Then I met the Crew and things
changed. They loved what they did and it showed. I had a renewed sense
of training after seeing them.
The Diesel Crew (www.DieselCrew.com)
is
known for grip prowess as well as doing lifts that have long been
forgotten. They’ve got dozens of strange videos on their website; most
of them showcase some kind of lift that will make your head shake in
amazement.
Anyway, with their guidance (along with some other people) here are
some of the things that helped my grip tremendously. They are simple to
do, but grip work takes time. While I noticed results in about 6
weeks, it took about 8 months of training my grip to get it where it
needed to be. To give you a point of reference – when I began doing
this, I couldn’t close the Captains of Crush Trainer with my left hand
(this was my numb/weak hand). In about 6 months, I was able to close
the #2 fairly easy. I think this was a substantial improvement. The
biggest thing that you will notice is that I didn’t really focus on
improving my crushing grip, but my finger strength. In doing so, my
overall grip improved. Remember the saying, “You are only as strong as
your weakest link”? Well, much of grip training focuses on the thumb
and forefinger. These are already strong on most people. It’s the
pinky, ring and middle finger that are usually weakest.
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