How To Increase Your Deadlift Max With Specialized Grip Training

“You rock my world.” Those were the words of a world class powerlifter friend of mine, when I shared these grip training ideas. The principle behind this training program is the same principle that is behind all result producing strength and conditioning programs. The training must be harder than the competition.

In the case of the deadlift, this principle dictates that if you are aiming to deadlift 500 pounds, each hand must be able to support more than 250 pounds due to accelerative forces. Partial deadlifts may be the first exercise that comes to mind to fit this task. With a partial deadlift you may be able to hold 600-700 pounds or much more.

Let’s take it a step further and ask: “How many different ways can we train the hand?" Let me rephrase that. How many ways – specific to the deadlift – can we train the hand? Like any other form of training, grip training is highly specific to the task. Another friend of mine, a performing strongman, trains the partial deadlift and manages 1500 pound. He never trains with grippers and cannot close the captain crush gripper level 3, which supposedly requires 280 lbs to close (1).

According to the textbooks, a deadlift involves a so-called “power grip”, which places “all fingers and the thumb around an object" (2). So let's break it down and see how many different ways we can train specific to the power grip.

1. You can flex one finger at a time.
2. You can emphasize either the proximal or the two distal joints of each finger.
3. You can emphasize the thumb or any of the other four fingers.
4. You can train the finger extensors of the hand.
5. You can train the wrist extensors.
6. You can train the wrist flexors.

In this article I want to share three exercises to develop these areas. This article presents these exercises as an extra workout (or feeder workout) to be performed two to three times a week an adjunct to your regular routine. These exercises are strongly inspired by famous strongman Herman Goerner, whose personal best in the one hand deadlift was 720 pounds. Among his preferred exercises were the two finger deadlift, and deadlifts holding the bar with only the first joint of the fingers (3).

1. Single Finger Curl with Cable

The single finger curl with cable emphasizes the two distal joints of the little finger, ring finger, middle finger and the index finger. A study indicates that grip strength is higher with the elbow extended (4). Therefore these exercises are performed seated on the floor or a bench with the extended elbow supported on the inside of the bend knee. The cable is set to match the height of the hand.

Start position: Begin with the little finger and place the handle on the last digit of the finger. The Finger should be on the middle of the handle. If the finger is placed of the middle of the handle, the handle will rotate and the quality of the repetition is compromised. The other fingers are curled and thus “out of the way”.

Picture: Start position of a single finger curl with Cable.

Action: Curl the finger until the handle touches the other fingers. The range of motion is VERY small, but the load on the muscle is significant. Perform 12-20 repetitions per set and increase the load when you perform 20 repetitions in 1 or more sets. Perform 2 sets per finger. (With the short range of motion the duration of each repetition is about 2 seconds. Therefore the 12-20 repetition bracket is not – as it would normally be – endurance, but rather structural strength)

Note: The handle shown is ergonomically shaped. Straight and thin iron handles works best.

Continue with the ring finger, middle finger and index finger without rest. Repeat the process with the other hand without rest.

2. Dynamic Plate Pinch with Dowel Rod

Dynamic pinch emphasizes the first joint of each finger as well as the force produced by the thumb. As a tool to train dynamic pinch strength, I learned of the Titan Telegraph key years ago. But it was not until recently, when a very strong mountain climber friend of mine told me how dynamic pinch improved his climbing, that I paid attention to dynamic pinch. If you don’t happen to have a Titan Telegraph Key, you may train the dynamic pinch strength using a dowel rod and to small weight plates with smooth sides.

The exercise is show in the following video:

Start position: “Sandwich” the dowel rod with the weight plates using a pinch grip on with both hands.

Action: Aim to pinch the two plates together on the left side of the dowel rod, while resisting maximally with the right hand. Continue to pinch the plates together on the right side of the dowel rod, while resisting maximally with the left hand. Pinching the plates together on each side of the dowel rod, counts as one repetition. Perform 2 sets of 4-8 repetitions with about a minute of rest in between sets.

The advantage of this exercise is the maximal tension on both hands throughout the range of motion. On the other hand, progression cannot be objectively quantified. You goal is subjectively to exert more force with each training session.

3. Self Resisted Finger and Wrist Extensions

During any natural movement in the body, muscles on both sides of the joint co-contract in a pattern, specific to the goal of the movement. This co-contraction serves to optimize performance and prevent injury. During the power grip the flexors of the fingers and the hand are the agonists (the muscles performing the movement), but the strength of the extensors of the fingers may affect the level of force the flexors can produce (5).

Legendary strongman John Brookfield notes that: “Some of you who are at sticking point with your hand strength right now, will notice a huge difference if you start to train the extensors (6)." The exercises shown are inspired by the self resisted finger extension exercises in “The Grip Masters Manual” by John Brookfield.

Start position: There are four components to this exercise. Resistance is placed at each joint of the finger and at the back of the hand. See pictures 1-4 below.

1+2: Resistance applied to the distal joint and middle joint of the little finger.

3+4: Resistance applied to the proximal joint of the little finger and the back of the hand.

Action: In each position try to extend the little finger with high effort, but resist with the other hand so no movement occur. You are creating a near maximal isometric contraction of the finger extensors. Extend with maximal effort for 10 seconds in each of the three first positions. Go through the little finger, ring finger, middle finger and index finger in this fashion. Finish with 10 seconds in position 4 (back of hand). Repeat with the other hand. There should be no rest between sets.

As far as your regular routine goes, there is no way around training with a thick bar if your goal is to optimize your grip strength. I am sure that you have heard this before, but I want to share a little biomechanics that helped me understand, why training with a thick bar is such a powerful tool to develop grip strength.

At the picture below, I am gripping the end of a regular Olympic bar. The sleeve is thicker than the regular bar, but not super thick. Notice the center of the sleeve and imagine a plumb line extending from the centre of the bar and towards the floor.

Notice the distance from the first joint of the finger to the plumb line. Also, notice that this plumb line falls to the right of the second joint of the finger. These distances between the plumb line and the first and the second finger joints means that the bar creates and torque around these joints, a torque that tends to open the hand.

I could only get this particular angle of the shoot, if was gripping the end of the bar. Therefore I don’t have a similar picture, where I am holding the regular bar. But I am sure that you can imagine how the discussed distances from the plumb line and to the first and the second joint of the finger would be smaller. Thus, even though the load is the same, the torques around the joints is smaller, with a regular bar compared to a fat bar. Therefore is requires less strength of the fingers to maintain the grip.

However, most often (if not always) we can’t lift as much weight with a thick bar as we can with a regular Olympic bar (7). Thus, by only training with a thick bar all other muscles than the grip muscles are under stimulated. Therefore training with the thick bar should always be used in combination with training with the regular bar.

One way to incorporate the thick bar training is to use a thick bar exclusively in the early phases of a cycle and then shift to training with the regular bar later in the cycle.

References:

1. http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Main/captainsofcrush.html
2. Enoka R. Voluntary Movement. Neuromechanics of Human Movement, 4th Ed. Chapter 7, p 298. Human Kinetics. 2008
3. Mueller E. His Training Methods. Goerner The Mighty, Chapter 6, p 92-96. www.superstrengthbooks.com
4. Espana Romero V, Ortega FB, Vicente-Rodriquez G, Artero EG, Rey JP, Ruiz JR. Elbow position affects handgrip strength in adolescents: validity and reliability of Jamar, DynEx, and TKK dynamometers. J Strength Cond Res. 24(1):272-7. 2010.
5. Li Z-M, Zatsiorsky VM, Latash ML. The effect of finger extensor mechanism on the flexor force during isometric tasks. 34(8):1097-1102.  Journal of Biomechanics.
6. Brookfield J. Advanced Lower Arm and Grip Training. Gripmasters Manual. Chapter 2, p63. Ironmind Enterprises, Inc. 2002.
7. Ratamess NA, Faigenbaum AD, Mangine GT, Hoffmann JR, Kang J. Acute muscular strength assessment using free weight bars of different thickness. J Strength Cond Res. 21(1):240-4. 2007

Pictures shot at Advantage 4 Athletes in cooperation with Personalbest.ca.