Grip and Forearm Exercises

Each week I want to provide a small set of exercises to assist in certain muscle groups of the body. I truly believe that education of movement is vital for any strength coach and athlete looking to better themselves or their players. Today I want to focus on grip and forearm strength. Now, this does not always have to be about power development because speed work can also be implemented into forearm exercises.

Grip strength plays an important role for many athletes, but it is very commonly overlooked in many sports. Some obvious sports where you could see the importance is in baseball, hockey and tennis because they all have some element of an object in hand. But athletes who are on a strength program (hopefully all of them) will need grip strength in most of their weight room exercises. I have began to notice clients who are unable to perform a lift or consecutively finish a fixed amount of reps because they have little to no grip strength. In the following I offered a few exercises that will improve grip strength and avoid or fix the problem I have seen. These exercises can be used in a circuit or implemented into your own complexes. (This can also be applicable for tactical strength and conditioning).

Here are a few exercises you can perform to increase your grip/forearm strength.

Exercise	Reps	Sets
Tennis Ball Squeeze	20	3
Farmer’s Carry	50 m walk	3
Wrist Curl/Extension	10 each arm	3
Towel Pull/Chin Ups	6-10	3

The Tennis Ball Squeeze can be done 1 hand at a time or both hands depending on what is available to you. I use this exercise for speed work to get all 20 reps done as fast as possible or slowly and squeeze with 2 second contractions.

The Farmer’s Carry can be done 1 hand or both hands at a time. I would recommend starting with 2 hands if you have never done these before in order to have more stability. Dumbbells are a great choice for this exercise, but they can also be done with weight plates.

Wrist Curl/Extension can be done 1 hand at a time or both using a dumbbell. If using both hands, be careful not to let one hand dominate the majority of the load lifted (which is why I go 1 at a time).

Towel Pull/Chin Ups do not solely focus on forearm strength, but I have found it helpful to add this element to pull ups in order to work on your grip strength. If you are efficient in your movements to be able to perform repetitive chin ups or pull ups then this is something you might add to your program. Throw a small towel over each end of the bar and grab the towel like you would a drink.