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Raising the American Weakling
- xwowsersx 10y agoWell yeah. Use it or lose it, as they say. In weightlifting and powerlifting, grip strength is something that some people focus on in their training...can help a lot with deadlifting and such. Things like farmer's walk or just single-handed static barbell holds can help improve grip strength a ton.
- Afton 10y agoIf you're interested, head over to /r/griptraining. One of the most frustrating things about grip, is how specific each kind of grip strength is. Pinch grip (tripod pinch) vs static holds vs ulnar grip, all require specific training.
- 0xcde4c3db 10y agoAs far as I know strength in general follows a fundamentally similar pattern (i.e. strength gain doesn't translate much among different movements); I assume the difference is that there are more joints in your hands and hence more permutations of angles under tension.
- tomsthumb 10y agoStatic strength is also notably different than dynamic strength. Additionally, it is not uncommon to come up against soft tissue (ligament and tendon) limitations when doing strength work with the hands.
- Y201K 10y ago+1 for separating the two sports. Grip strength is rarely a limiting factor in weightlifting though.
- Neliquat 10y agoFor noobs it often is. Also other sports like pole, climbing, gymnastics, etc require much more than iron.
- tammer 10y agoI find practicing yoga to be surprisingly helpful in building grip strength. Many balancing postures are really good for this.
- colordrops 10y agoWhich postures increase grip strength? Binds? What form of yoga do you practice?
- 09bjb 10y agoAll the arm-balance poses and handstanding are dependent on grip strength, at least to do properly. Maybe I'm conflating finger/forearm/wrist strength with "grip", but they sure feel related. The crow pose and handstanding seem to help my DL, and visa versa.
- tammer 10y agoReally many forward standing poses offer opportunity to use the mat as resistance (even downward-facing dog). Probably want to look into this with an instructor as there are techniques to improve resistance while limiting tendon strain. Basic grip exercises like balling & extending fists can be easily worked into practice as well, perhaps while focusing on the feet in a toe squat.
- nooron 10y agoA few simple grip trainers from Amazon did wonders for my weightlifting. A couple years ago, I was a novice with barbells. After a month of failing to progress on barbell lifts, I realized that my grip strength was lacking. The trainers solved the problem. I'd highly recommend anyone start with basic grip training with a barbell routine. Made a huge difference for me.
- kbart 10y agoAny specific recommendations? I've tried few, but wasn't impressed.
- tomsthumb 10y agoCaptain of crush gets recommended fairly often. Rice buckets would likely not be bad for straight hypertrophy which you could turn around with some recruitment into straight strength.
- nooron 10y agohttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C1DW2UO/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C1DW2UO/. If you are male, start with the 60, 80, and 100 lb strengths. If you are female, start with 40, 60, 80. Cap'n of Crush is great, but will also grate your hands and forms callouses. I don't like being covered in callouses all the time. Also, these are more innocuous and will make you look like less of a meathead in public.
- monkmartinez 10y agoHave you seen how many people complain about carrying a 2 to 5 lb laptop a few miles? No wonder strength is down across the board. Go dig a hole every now and again. Do some sandbag training. Play on the monkeybars with your kids. DO SHIT and lift heavy stuff when you can.
- stuckagain 10y agoI'd be surprised if the average American alive today has ever walked a few miles in his life.
- rexreed 10y agoAll at once or do you mean over their lifetime? In the first sense, possibly correct but probably not. In the second sense, without a doubt incorrect.
- rusk 10y ago> Go dig Without a doubt, one of the most satisfying all-body compound exercises you can do. Spend a day digging and you'll have pains in places you didn't even know you had muscles.
- throwanem 10y agoOr just wander all over the place. It's not just good exercise; you might half-slide, half-tumble down a hundred-foot hill and find this at the bottom: http://i.imgur.com/2zfbnc9.jpg http://i.imgur.com/2zfbnc9.jpg (And a nest of bees at the top, on the way back up! There is nothing I know of that'll send you up that last twenty feet of 45° slope faster than to bump into a deadfall log and hear it start angrily humming.) Those blue jeans you might make so much of wearing to work every day? This is the sort of thing they are made for. Give them a workout, and yourself as well. You'll feel a lot better for it!
- nicolas_t 10y agoI'm in France currently and it's been a while since I've seen monkey bars in a kid playground. Along with swings and sand, they've been deemed too dangerous by the authorities. With the current playgrounds, I don't think kids have a lot of opportunities to build up strength. Less than we did as a kid.
- rectangletangle 10y agoGrip strength has strong ties to overall cardiovascular health. Since a strong developed heart can adequately supply the blood flow necessary for a strong grip. Focusing on grip strength isn't terribly important, relative to focusing on overall cardiovascular health. Grip strength is a good example of correlation, since it's a byproduct of overall health. Working a sedentary desk job, it's really important to deliberately make time for proper exercise. Running, swimming, biking, or whatever, It's important to exert yourself. That being said, I don't think it would hurt too much to do some hand exercises regularly.
- bashinator 10y agoI'm a musician - I use many different grip-strength trainers on a regular basis at the desk. One of my favorites is power putty, but the traditional one-per-finger squeeze tool is good too.
- warcher 10y agoI'm at the phase of my musical career where my desk routine is mostly stretching against RSI injuries. But even back in the day, nothing but hours on the instrument ever helped my hand strength. The motor skills are just too fiddly and specialized-- you lift, you row, et cetera, mostly I found I played worse.
- theparanoid 10y ago"We can even now read of pro athletes unable to complete a single pull-up" is very disingenuous. I won't extol on the benefits of exercise since the first principle is to not fool yourself.
- _yvjs 10y agorelsted to the secular decline in testosterone (whatever's causing that)?
- brokenmachine 10y agoSecular??
- _yvjs 10y ago*related since this doesn't seem familiar to people, a little more detail: http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/02/16/did-falling-testosterone-affect-falling-crime/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/02/16/did-falling-testosteron... https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article-lookup/doi/10.1210/jc.2006-1375 https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article-lookup/doi/10.1210/jc.... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17895324 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17895324 https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323394504578607641775723354 https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323394504578607... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/mens-health/10695991/Why-are-mens-sperm-rates-falling.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/mens-health/10695991/W... Serum testosterone levels and sperm count and quality seem to be declining. Not entirely clear it's real and not all clear why it would be happening. Some contrary evidence: http://www.harryfisch.com/pdf/Declining%20Worldwide%20Sperm%20Counts-Disproving%20a%20Myth.pdf http://www.harryfisch.com/pdf/Declining%20Worldwide%20Sperm%...
- cik2e 10y agoI think it's more like if you're close to dying you might also have some trouble grabbing on to stuff. >> Grip strength was not only “inversely associated with all-cause mortality”—every 5 kilogram (kg) decrement in grip strength was associated with a 17 percent risk increase" Statements like this one need a min/max, better yet some quartiles, to even start to make sense. The relationship can't possibly be linear.
- aisofteng 10y ago"I think it's more like" and "can't possibly be" are useless layman speculation unless backed by hard data.
- andrenotgiant 10y agoI'm not able to access the full study, but I'm impressed that they could get statistical significance with 237 people. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26869476 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26869476
- ASpring 10y agoWhy? If you can't get significance with 237 people your effect size is likely so negligible that it's not worth studying anyway.
- allemagne 10y agoIf you want to simulate our "arboreal ancestors" to improve grip strength then you could probably do no better than joining a rock climbing gym. Every time I visit mine I leave with my forearms aching and plenty of freshly torn calluses. It's fun as hell, maybe in part because we as humans used to need an inborn propensity for it.
- brianmwaters_hn 10y agoTotally anecdotal here, but I would not hesitate to wager that many climbers' grip strengths lie way outside the normal range. The sport has a higher grip exercise-to-cardiovascular exercise ratio (however you might measure that) than probably any other sport that exists today.
- rangibaby 10y agoAnother way of building your grip strength is deadlifting raw, although that is anaerobic.
- test1235 10y agoraw ... ?
- kevinnk 10y agoWithout a deadlift suit[1]. Some people also use "raw" to mean without straps as well[2]. [1] https://gometal.com/product/pro-king-deadlift-suit/ https://gometal.com/product/pro-king-deadlift-suit/ [2] https://www.paulcheksblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Wrist-Strap-in-use.jpg https://www.paulcheksblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Wri...
- epimetheus 10y agoStraps are key though, if you are like me, and suffer from chronic Carpel Tunnel Syndrome. Deadlifting heavy will exacerbate the condition (or high reps with 6-7 RPE even). It does seem to get better if I don't use them for my warmups and do use them for working sets, but I still get twinges.
- artlogic 10y agoI started indoor climbing 3 months ago and it's done wonders for my grip strength, as well as my overall health. I can't recommend it enough for engineers and other problem solving addicts. I was, frankly, bored by weight training and other more traditional exercise routes. Now I look forward to a nice change of pace - solving physical problems as opposed to logic problems.
- brianmwaters_hn 10y agoThe problem-solving aspect of climbing (esp. bouldering) is definitely one of the best parts. Very easy to get sucked "into it" once you get started.
- caconym_ 10y agoI second your recommendation. For various reasons I haven't been doing it the last few years, but it was really good for me and I'd like to get back into it.
- nitrogen 10y agoAnother non-team sport that has good problem solving aspects but on a faster pace is trail running. You don't get the same thinking through a route you might have with rock climbing, but leaping over rocks and ruts requires some quick subconscious analysis and careful pacing that can be quite exhilarating.
- tomsthumb 10y agoThat sounds like it is very high engagement and requires presence. I get something similar riding a bike in traffic, which is logically stupid but experientially great.
- GarvielLoken 10y agoYou could do orienteering, then you get the mental aspect also. It is really fun and you get the forest running.
- Proven 10y agoAka the pussification of America. Move along, nothing to see here.
- burger_moon 10y agoDeadlifts seem to be doing wonders for my grip strength. For a while my grip was the limiting factor on my dead lift. Actually most pulling exercises are going to work your grip strength. By the end of my pull days I struggle to hold on to light dumbbells for a whole set.
- jboggan 10y agoI made the mistake of deadlifting the morning before trapeze practice once.
- hudibras 10y agoFor those looking to geek out on grip training: https://www.reddit.com/r/GripTraining/wiki/faq https://www.reddit.com/r/GripTraining/wiki/faq
- maxcan 10y agoMany of the comments here seem to be focussing on increasing grip strength but that misses something the article could have delved into more. Grip strength is strongly correlated with health and longevity, but its not directly causal - simply increasing your grip strength wont really add many years to your life. Instead grip strength is strong correlate with overall musculo-skeletal mass and strength, which does have a highly causal relationship with health and longevity. So, focussing purely on grip strength will do more to break the correlation than give you a long life. If you want to have a healthy, long life focus on overall strength. Squats, deadlifts, odd-object carries etc. If you're new to lifting, have someone who isn't show you proper form. Or just read Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. Its the bible of heavy lifts. Source: I can deadlift more than 3 times my bodyweight while still having a 7 min mile.
- Hydraulix989 10y agoThat puts you in the most elite category for fitness (at least for strength): http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/DeadliftStandards.html http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/DeadliftStandards.... The bar is a lot higher for mile times, but 7 minute mile still is top ~25% of the American population, given we're all so sedentary.
- pyromine 10y agoThat's absurd, I had surgery and couldn't do anything for 3 weeks, once finally cleared my second run I ran a 6:30 mile. How is it that as a society we've devalued physical health so strongly.
- afarrell 10y agoThere is a myth that physical ability is a trade-off against mental ability. You see this in the slogan "sleep is for the weak" and in the stereotype of the nerd as sedentary. It is a myth--the brain is a part of the body and by nurturing the body you support the brain.
- 10y ago
- maxcan 10y agoSecond thought - many of the problems faced by modern society could be solved if everybody spent a few hours a week under a heavy barbell or picking one up.
- pc86 10y agoMany of the problems faced by modern society could be solved if everybody spent a few hours a week doing something other than sitting in a chair, lying down, or staring at a screen.
- AngelicaAurora 10y agoBreak rocks with a sledge hammer. Best workout ever.
- Terr_ 10y ago> Pound per pound, babies are remarkably strong. So are ants: How much of that baby-power is just the square-cube law applied to smaller-humans?
- guard-of-terra 10y agoI thoroughly hate the idea of exercise. It's when you are pretending that you're accomplishing something that requires physical load, while in reality doing nothing. This whole busy work is so mind-bogglingly boring. I would rather trek for five hours than one hour of "exercise". However, I have no idea what to do with my arms. Not much useful applications to muscular strength in modern world. It's a disgrace that workout is not automated yet, and there's no signs to it. Make some box or some pill that will keep my body in the shape without me noticing. We solved transportation, why can't we do something here?
- bendbro 10y agoBeing able to manhandle your girlfriend is one useful application
- literallycancer 10y ago>I would rather trek for five hours than one hour of "exercise". However, I have no idea what to do with my arms. Not much useful applications to muscular strength in modern world. You could try going up a steep mountain or a rock, might be more fun.
- Broken_Hippo 10y agoI, too, hate the idea of exercise. So much so that while I really like walking places, the idea of walking for exercise alone is a turn-off. Even when I know I enjoy it once I'm out. So for me, I have to find motivation. I walk as a primary means of transportation, even to the grocery store. I can keep up on short-length yoga stretches since I notice a difference in the way my body feels and I can find uses for flexibility. Since it isn't any more time than a shower, it isn't so bad. And the same thing with arms: Do some pushups daily. Commit to this for about 5-6 weeks. It isn't much time per day, after all. Then see if you notice some differences. Maybe that case of water doesn't seem so heavy or you carry more in one spurt. Maybe a usually stubborn package is easier to open. And if there isn't a difference, don't worry so much so long as you've adequate strength. Or set a goal that will require the strength, like rock climbing, cave exploring, or so on.
- Cthulhu_ 10y ago
- GarvielLoken 10y agoGood thing I do Judo! Those higher belt guys got unbelievable grip strength, it is not something you simply strip off if they get a hold of you.
- DanBC 10y agoBBC Radio Four's Inside Health programme had an "exercise special" and the links between weakness and mortality were discussed, and "can you open a jam jar?" is used as a rough and ready diagnostic question. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06vkg24 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06vkg24
- eggy 10y agoPull ups build grip strength and they recruit a lot of other muscles. Hanging is one thing, but you need grip plus lat muscles to pull yourself up over something. I have Olympic rings that I have brought with me when working all over the world. I even had my baby almost two now hang from them when she was just one and a half years old. She held her own bodyweight for 10 seconds before my wife and in-laws flipped out. Same when I brought her swimming since birth. I lived in SE Asia for over 8 years. The last year I lived in a Javanese village in Indonesia. The average male weighed about 140 lb plus or minus, and they could lift 130 lb bags of rice and load a truck for hours on end. I could do it at 180 lb, but not as long a time as they could. The last part of lifting it above shoulder height for me to put it in the truck was the ultimate fatigue test. That was above their heads, and more like a full press for them. I admired their strength and smiles throughout all of this hard labor and poverty. Now I have returned to NY, and the number of obese people I see, and the number of walking aids, electric shopping carts, and other signs of malady are more striking and apparent to me. I was running barefoot 3 or more miles a day in the rice fields and jumping rope along with bodyweight exercises. I am 52 and I have never felt better physically or mentally. It only takes desire or willpower. Also I went vegetarian over 3 years ago, and cut eggs and dairy 2 years ago.
- sp332 10y agoYou see those people here because if they were in poverty in those other places they would be dead.
- JoeAltmaier 10y agoNot quite - if the weak here died, it would be almost 100% dieoff. Its more to do with lifestyle?
- sp332 10y agoNot people who are currently weak but people who can't be strong in those specific ways. So not 100% die-off but a stronger divide between healthy and dead.
- 10y ago
- bitL 10y agoBasketball. If grip is your main concern, simply play basketball. I remember during fitness tests at my first university after I squeezed grip measuring device outside its scale, the coach remarked that I surely must be playing basketball, he was seeing it all the time.
- atom-morgan 10y agoWhat am I missing here? I wouldn't associate basketball with grip strength and I played a lot growing up.
- jessaustin 10y agoIf you're just shooting hoops, it won't help. If you're actually playing the team sport with aggressive opponents (in pickup or with refs who "let 'em play"), the ball will get ripped out of your hands every time you pick it up, and then your grip strength will improve.
- gerbilly 10y agoI love my Rock Rings[1], I've been doing pullups on them a few times a week for years. [1] (http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/training_giude_rock_ring.html http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/training_giude_rock_ring.htm...)
- mildbow 10y agoI've been considering a training board, but it's too much hassle to put up. So, I've been using towels over my pull-up bar, but this seems great for $30. Thanks. Bought!
- orasis 10y agoNo affiliation, but I really like http://gmb.io http://gmb.io. I'm a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, so I find dynamic body weight movements more engaging than weight lifting or yoga. The progressions on the site are fantastic - some of the best movement pedagogy I've seen.
- Tycho 10y agoDid they mention power steering?