Grip Strength

[Mills75]

I just purchased an eagle catcher and two hand held grip workers in order to strengthen my fingers,wrists,hands,and
forearms..I haven't got my own set of kami training jars
as of yet but i will also eventually get those even though we have some at my schools dojo..I want to know if these
tools are known to increase grip strength dramitically if worked hard as I do everyday..and I would like to know if anyone has any training methods to compliment these tools
and increase grip strength..I lift wieghts often also to increase strength and bone density and so on but if anyone
has any golden known training methods for power that they swear by I would love to know this info...

thanks...
Jeff

[Stryke]

As far as grip strentgh involving weight Id suggest Rack pulls of a very heavy weight and holding it for thirty seconds or so , repeat a few times , burns your forearms , a better one is to pullups while hanging onto a towel over a bar , if you can hang on till youve maxed out on pull ups your doing well .

as for conditioning knuckles , Im not that much into it , i think a heavy bag is enough if you can work up to punching without any wraps etc your fine IMHO

[Deep Sea]

burns your forearms

Try standing on a chair with a piece of wood dowel in your hands. One end of the dowel tied to one end of a line. At the other end there is a 5# or 10# weight just touching the floor. Using both wrists, roll the string to bring the weight all the way up, and then same for all the way down. Repeat until done. Good for the old grip.

[Sonnon]

Forgive me the obvious... Go to Circular Strength Training Magazine for hundreds of free articles, exercises, programs and photos:

www.circularstrengthmag.com

[Halford]

it presupposes that theseare the only way to condition hands.This topic or poll has been discussed and since it is an either/or selection, I cannot answer this poll or take part in it for these reasons. But I will say that makiwara work will allow a greater use of the hand,fist,fingers,wrists,etc. than the simpler thrusting into the sand.

[Mills75]

thanks guys for the great tips and i will definetly try all of them as they all seem to have great benefits for conditioning thanks...

[KZMiller]

Rock climbing. Indoor gym. Preferably one with an overhang.

Kami

[Dana Sheets]

Specifically mung bean bags for starters. Two of them made out of the legs of old gi pants works very well for me.

A little dit da jao before I start and after I'm done.

10 sets of the list below striking with each fist. The fist that is not striking is flexed into a closed fist. The fist striking hits the bag in a very relaxed way.

flat front of hand slap
flat back of hand slap
palm heel
blade edge of hand
bushiken
fingertips (eagle claw)
hiraken (leopard paw)
kakushiken (crane's beak)
shoken

The nice thing about striking the canvass bag is that your skin stays soft and your fingernails & cuticles don't get all hardened.

I also take the same bean bags, stand in a stance (sanching, horse, bow, cat) and toss them up , over and around - grabbing them/intercepting them with the hands.

After mung beans comes corn, after corn comes pebbles, after pebbles comes iron shot. However for myself I've found that the mung beans work nicely. Also the dust of the mung beans is supposed to have medicinal properties.

I also train with kami/mayonaise jars while doing sanchin stepping.

[Halford]

IIn previous posts and on other forums I have mentioned various ways of 'conditioning' hands which is for most of us a personal project,rather than a group affair,usually. The old saying is,"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink"(especially if his cup of tea is full and needs to be emptied,ala Bruce Lee). You can tell people how to condition hands and you can show them,but they have to do the work and only a few really do!

[cxt]

You might check out (I think) ironmind.com

Its a web-site for strength training folks. Some of the grip equipment and materials work quite well.

The company is called Iron mind.

[Griffin]

I'm suprised nobody brought up one of Uechi's most impressive practitioners. Nakahoto (sp) (deep apologies of incorrect.) Sensei suggests doing push-ups on your fingers. I remember summer camp '88, seeing him doing push-ups on 2 fingers. He appologized, because he would do them on 1 finger when he was younger. An incredible man, with obviously, incredibly strong fingers.

[Halford]

Gripping and clawing seem to be slightly different from thrusting and extending the fingers. Violinists seem to have a great grip,or some of them,and they have been known to defeat muscle men at wrist-hand wrestling(there's a difference in these also).

[Mills75]

wow i have to admit i didn't expect so many great responses and I thank you sincerely.. I do train my grip every single day and try to improve not only that aspect but all aspects of condtioning in other areas..i'm rather new to Uechi but I already love it not only for it's self defense but all the great people and history and traditions and values of it..It's a blessing and I want to make a way of life out of it..So again thanks for the great tips funny how something like working on ones grip can turn into a nice and insightful conversation and to Dana Sheets the very pretty and i'm sure tough when need be thank you and I visited the womens karate tour site which is very good..I read some about your teacher Mr. Kaiser who is a Renshi Rokudan as my teacher Dr.Rinchuse is..Also at our dojo we have a member of the womens karate tour in Mary Ann Benedict though I haven't met her in person yet..Thanks all and best wishes..

[Halford]

You can also use other type balls, such as, rubber,etc, Another old exercise and one that you don'/t see many doing these days,but still works wonders, is to take a full newspaper sheet,page,like the NYOO YOK Timez,Wall St. Journal,etc. and then with one hand ball it up. You can startin the middle of the page but the harder part is to start from the edge. Do this several times with several sheets of newsprint. You can unroll it and smooth it out and then reuse it also. Try tearing up your old bills, junk mails, junk mail catalogs,etc. and see how you do! I have other things you can do for grip but these should get you started. You don't always need the most sophisticated equipment to do things, you know! Then graduate to your old telephone books!

[jaybo]

One thing that I've found that increased my grip strength was cutting an old towel into strips and wrapping them around dumbbells and barbells when lifting.

The fatter grip causes the smaller muscles to work harder and hence an increase in grip results, or at least I've found. Then w/ the increase in grip, you can lift heavier and then repeat the cycle. Using a slow count on the negative of the lift also adds to the intensity. I use the 321 approach....3 seconds to lower the weight, 2 second pause, then one second to lift/push the weight.

Hope this helps.

jaybo