Grabbing and Seizing

by Atomic Athletic on Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 2:21pm

Explosive grip strength is one of those intense desires for many athletes.  Football players, rugby players, wrestlers, and most martial artists desire the most explosive and strong gripping ability.  Yet, how does one train the hand for explosive grip?

Old discussions of Olympic weightlifting used to include the “dive style” of snatching and cleaning a weight.  This method relied on the white muscle fibers, the explosive ones, to maximize gripping ability.  It is an interesting and largely lost technique today.  This is probably a good thing.  While the descriptions of it seem to indicate great grip strength concepts and training methods, I don't think it would be good for the spine.

Now, turn to the world of martial arts.  In China and Okinawa, we see use of the Stone Padlock.  One of the training techniques involves tossing and catching.  While the stone padlock is an awesome tool for working your explosive grabbing and seizing type of grip strength, I have also been working with various barbell plates.  While limited in scope, compared to the padlocks, they do offer some great and interesting explosive grip training.  I first saw mention of the training technique in an old Iron Man magazine from the early 1970s.

If you are looking for a simple, yet highly effective way to train your grip, dexterity, and coordination look no further than your weight tree. Barbell plates can be used for more than just loading the bar for creative individuals. I'm talking about Plate Flipping, Tossing & Catching.

TIPS FOR PLATE FLIPPING, TOSSING & CATCHING

1.Use a variety of plates.  I have played around with: Iron Grip plates, York Standard size plates (both contoured and flat pancake style), wide lip and narrow (sometimes called “slim line”) iron Olympic plates, a variety of bumper plates. Using these different sizes and styles will keep your dexterity and coordination sharp.

2.In the case of iron plates, practice outside in a grassy or sandy area.  If you are pushing yourself, you will drop them. As you go up in plate weight and size your explosive grip strength will increase.

3.Put aside hubris.  If you want to save your knuckles, bumper plates are your friend.  My favorite bumper to train with right now is a 25 pound solid rubber disk.  The larger size diameter and grip surface seem to have the additional benefit of working the hands somewhat like a thick bar.  Here is a picture of exactly what I am referring to: http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=BPB25LB

Enjoy your new grip training techniques.

Also be sure to check out our Frightning Forearms & Grip DVD.

http://www.atomicathletic.com/store/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=VID111

Live strong,

Roger LaPointe