What's your #1 Grip Exercise?

[Mike ODonnell]

Also suitcase bar lifts (1 arm) are fun for working individual hand grips.....or 1 arm hangs from a p/u bar.....

[Derek Simonds]

Originally Posted by John Alston

Anyone have any experience with these? am thinking about adding them to my paltry home gym
http://fatgripz.com/

Mine just showed up in the mail. Very interesting they are a hard semi flexible plastic that doesn't seem to compress too much. I am going to do some stuff with them in the morning. First glance I am concerned about their longevity and second when they were made it looks like they were molded and then someone took a knife and cut the opening so that you can slip it around a bar.

They do feel good so it should be fun to use them.

[John Alston]

Hmm, ok, please share how they seem to hold up. What'er the dimensions?

[Derek Simonds]

Dang I forgot to measure. They fit perfectly inside both sets of my DB's. One set is the solid cast style like you can buy anywhere and the other is a gym style set with metal handle and rubber covered weights made by Troy I think. I am nursing a pulled rhomboid so I didn't do anything crazy with them this morning. I cranked out 4 sets of 12 Zottman Curlz with the ole Fat Gripz and you no what it was tough. My forearms were on fire when I was done. So first run through they felt great in my hand and they worked for something simple, I am looking forward to good things with them.

My buddy had a hard time pulling them off the DB's when we were done so the fit is tight and secure.

[Frank Needham]

About 30 years ago I used to paddle a whole bunch. Holding a racing paddle in your hands and pulling with it for a 10k flatwater race will crispify your hands, wrists and forearms, not to mention the rest of you. To this day I have great grip strength from the time I spent racing. I highly recommend it if you have access.

[Dave Lemanczyk]

If I could only do one thingfor my grip it would be long distance bear crawls on a grass field. Doing them myself, I have noticed considerable overall improvement in my lower arms. Essentially it's because my hands are acting as my feet with the bear crawl. Pretty easy, no equipment necessary but it is a definite conditioner. Not for everybody.

For your side question on hand balancing...I have a strong feeling that bear crawls would carry over to hand balancing. The connecting factor is that both the bear crawl and the hand balance require the hands to act as weight bearers. I figure the stronger your body becomes weight bearing, the more improvement you can make hand balancing.

One last thing...I think hand balancing is incredible training but anyone who goes for it should definitely have a prerequisite level of upper body/core conditioning. There's a progression for everything. Hope this helps you.

[John Alston]

Originally Posted by Derek Simonds

Dang I forgot to measure. They fit perfectly inside both sets of my DB's. One set is the solid cast style like you can buy anywhere and the other is a gym style set with metal handle and rubber covered weights made by Troy I think. I am nursing a pulled rhomboid so I didn't do anything crazy with them this .

so they fit in hex cast dbs. Good to know.

[Derek Simonds]

Official dimensions are 5" long and 2 1/8" wide.

[John Alston]

I thought this was a family board... oh wait. Thanks for the info!

[Aaron Gainer]

Farmers walk with thicker dumbbells or farmers handles!!