Archive for the ‘Grip Exercises’ Category

Get A Grip On Yourself!

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Do you want to develop a strong grip? If you do, then what about doing some great hand grip exercises? These will give you a grip on life, with all puns intended. There are many reasons why grips are needed in every day life. It also depends on what kind of a job a person is doing. Often that might involve a lot of gripping. Here are some of those examples:

  • Workers in the building industry need a strong grip to handle heavy machinery.
  • Typists need a firm grip
  • Athletes often get injured in the wrist and then they require an improved grip.
  • Hairdressers need a relaxed yet steady grip on their scissors!

Thus there are quite a few reasons why you need a strong grip. Or maybe you just want a strong handshake to be able to impress people. An impressive handshake is very important.
Thus, there is even hand grip exercise equipment to improve one’s grip. Other than that there are many exercises which involve making the fingers stronger. The grip of a person depends on how strong those fingers are. Also important are the tendons and the muscles. All these need to be in great shape for a great grip.

Types of hand grip workouts:

Here are quite a few exercises which would help you develop the dream grip which you always wanted in yourself:

  • This is the first thing that you must start with when you are doing any kind of hand grip exercises. This can even prevent the dreaded carpal tunnel syndrome which can affect so many people.
  • One of the basic equipment needed is a hand gripper. Take it in your right hand and then squeeze it. Do so until you cannot go on squeezing any more. Maintain the position for sometime and then let go. Repeat this for ten times and then go on to the other hand.
  • Another kind of hand grip exercise equipment is the barbell. Hold it firmly and then sit on a chair. Keep your forearms on the thighs and the palms should face outward. Now allow the weight to roll onto the knee. Do this till you are gripping it with the first and second knuckles.

Thus there are various easy exercises with which you can improve your hand grip and that too, really fast.

Another positive thing is that there is a close relationship between hypertension and hand grip isometrics. The latter is very useful in being able to lower the level of blood pressure and that too quite noticeably. It makes the carotid artery much more relaxed and help along with the medicines that people take for their blood pressure. Thus you can do Isometric Handgrip Exercises to keep yourself healthy, wealthy and wise!

Chin Up And Get A Great Body

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Are you wondering what the Reverse Grip Chinups are for? It is for those who want to develop some really amazing muscles on the back. Some awesome back muscles are surely to die for. Again, the chin ups must be done properly. And if they are done in the right manner then  it is a really great and useful exercise. This is because there are many different back muscles which are involved in doing this exercise. Do this the right way and get a back like a Hollywood star!

Here are the steps to a proper chin up:

  • get the pull bar and grip it in such a manner so that the palms are faced towards you. Also the grip should be really close to your face.
  • Now both your hands are holding the bar in front of your face. Get your torso in a curved position so that your chest is out. Your lower back must be curved as well. In this way you should start doing the Reverse Grip Chinups Exercise.
  • Now push your torso in an upward direction until the pull bar touches the upper part of your chest. Pull upon your shoulders to achieve this. Your back muscles should be squeezed hard in this position. As you are pulling up, exhale heavily. While being pushed up, your upper body should be still and straight.
  • Maintain a second in that position. After this bring your torso down to the original point. Now inhale. Do this as many times as you are instructed by your supervisor. Remember that this must be done under supervision to prevent error.

How to do this with some body weight:

The advantage of doing this with body weight is the fact that this will help you develop not only your back muscles but also your biceps. This is like killing two birds with one stone. To do this you will have to grab the bar in a way that the palms are facing you. You will have to dangle from the bar. To make it easy you can bend the knees as well. Now, start to pull your body up till your neck is touching the bar. Now slowly go down to the original position. Now to make the Reverse Grip Bodyweight Chinups more difficult, you can put a dumbbell between both your legs. This is a great way to challenge yourself.

For the modification you can used a weight belt. While it will not be as difficult as having a dumbbell, it will still be more challenging because you are adding more weight to it.

The variations of this are chin ups and also the lateral pull downs. Both are helpful in their own way.
So what are you waiting for? Go start your Reverse Grip Chinups right now!

Pull Up And Get Into Shape!

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

What is the point of doing a Wide Grip Pull Up when you can do so many other things? Of course there is a point to doing it. First of all, the exercise is really useful to the lat muscles, and not the biceps for a change. Usually one can do the wide grip pull ups just like the usual pull ups since both are similar. To do this, you must first get yourself a bar which is pretty hardy. It should also have a good grip overhead. Your hands should be wide apart at a distance which is roughly twice the length of your shoulders.
Since your hands will be spread out in this fashion, you will be able to work really hard on your lats. Your body should now be hanging from the bar. Your arms should also be straight. Now you must start pulling yourself upward. Your chest should be touching the bar and your chin should go above it. The trick is to pull your elbows in an upward direction while you are doing the wide grip pull up to front.

Using weights:

First of all, do what you generally do while doing pull ups.

  • Grab the bar and this time with an overhand wide grip.
  • Start pulling your body in an upwards direction. Do it till your hands reach the level of your neck. This is a very useful wide grip pull up technique.
  • Now slowly start lowering yourself until, both your hands and your body are stretched up.
  • Repeat this exercise.
  • However, this is where the difference comes in. instead of just doing the normal pull up what you can do is add some more weight. This will be the  weighted wide grip pull up. You can either put a dumbbell between between your legs. Or that could even be substituted by a dip belt. This will make you be able to challenge yourself a lot.
  • Remember that while the grip should be wide, it should not be too wide. This is because you will not be able to move yourself up properly.

What are the benefits?

It is one of the best back exercises available and can be done very simply. It will also be able to work the other muscles of your body. It focuses on more than one muscle group and obviously that includes the lat muscles as well. The other muscles benefiting are:

  • biceps
  • forearms
  • and the middle back muscles too.

Thus the wide grip pull ups benefits are numerous, to say the least. It is quite a difficult task for those who are just starting out. However, it can be mastered with some practice. If you continue to work hard at it, it should happen. Another thing which you could do is some basic start up exercises before going on to the difficult ones like these.

Working On Close Grip Exercises

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

The Close Grip Pulldowns is a kind of exercise which is done in isolation to focus on one particular part of the body. The best way to do this is by using cables which are single handed. The point here is not to use too much of weight. The main thing is to take the handles and pull it down all the way. And then to yank them apart as much as you can.
One point that you should remember while doing the exercise is that you should keep the back as straight and rigid as possible. Your back has to be like that especially when you are pulling down the cables all the way to your chest. If you do it this way then you can focus on the middle part of the chest as well as the lower lat region.

Modifications to the close grip pull down:

This is a slight modification to the usual kind of pull down that you are accustomed to doing. This is why it is called the reverse close grip pulldowns. First of all, you have to sit at the machine. And then hold the bar in an underhand manner. It should be the length of a shoulder. Also, the palms should be facing you. Now it is very simple. Just pull the bar down till it has reached the mid way point of your chest. Now let the bar slowly return to its original position. Repeat this.

Are you looking to exercise your lat muscles? If you are then this is just for you! Other than the lat this version of the pull down also works the biceps. So it is like killing two birds with a stone. Here are the steps:

  • Hold the bar with your palms facing each other. You will need to be working on a lat pull down machine.
  • Now, you have to try and pull the elbows down rather than focusing on pulling your body up slowly. Your elbows must get exercised. Also try squeezing your shoulder blades together.

This is the close grip lat pulldowns and it does great things for the body.

Tips and tricks:

When you are doing the close grip pull downs, there are certain things that you should keep in mind. These will make your life easier while doing the exercises.

First of all, when you are doing the exercises, break it up as a part of two movements. First hold the bar with your arms stretched above your head. The shrug your shoulders and then do just the opposite. As in let them shrug down. However, the arms should remain all straight.

Do this a few times and you will see that when you are doing the close grip pulldowns to the front
, it has become a little more convenient for you.

Do this for a few months and watch the magic grow upon you slowly! You will feel a difference within as well.

Be Healthy And Happy!

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

It is always good to be active. Too may people lose out a lot on life by being couch potatoes. If you want to look good, then you have to do some exercises like the Reverse Grip Bench Press  here. As we all know, the biceps are the most popular part of any body building exercise. Who does not like having those massive bulging biceps which grabs the attention of everyone around? However, one often tends to forget that the clue to bog biceps often lie in the triceps. So if you want big biceps you have to focus on the triceps as well.
However developing the triceps can be a really big challenge. This is because most of the exercises only deal with a certain part of the triceps and hence most of it remains under developed. Therefore if you really want to work at this, then there is nothing better than the reverse grip. Here is how one does it: The reverse grip bench press triceps will be given a good haul.

  • Lie on a bench
  • not squeeze the blades of your shoulders.
  • Hold the bar so that the palms are facing up.
  • Now pick up the bar and keep your elbows in. near your sides.
  • Now bring the bar down to the lower part of your chest.
  • Do four sets this with six times in each sets.

What are the benefits of this exercise:

This exercises has quite a few advantages which would be really helpful to you. Here they are:

  • This focuses the weight on the lateral head of the triceps.
  • It is making your pec muscles go in for a real hard workout.
  • This exercise needs you to be coordinated as well. Therefore you should not use to heavy a weight.
  • Another of the reverse grip bench press benefits is that it focuses individually on each of the parts of the triceps so that nothing remains under developed.There are certain moves in this exercise which also tackles the upper part of the chest. This is because it also helps in building up the chest muscles of the body and giving the chest a real shape and definition.Again lie down on a bench  and hold the hold in such a way that the palms are towards you. Now slowly lift up the bar and bring it closer to your chest. Have a supervisor be there for safety. Now take a deep breath and bring the bar low to your chest. Since you will be lying in such a flat position, this reverse grip bench press upper chest also has a lot of benefits. The arm motion causes this to happen.Always be careful when you are doing this exercise so that you may come out of it with a great and well defined body and not injuries which will last you for life and for good.

All About The Close Grip Press Up

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

You may be thinking that having huge arms is the same as having huge biceps. However that is not true. This is when you will need close grip press ups to develop your triceps. This is because triceps count more than biceps to make your arms look bigger than never before. This is calculated to do precisely that.  A major part of your arms are actually made up of your triceps and thus it is imperative that you develop those with the help of these exercises.
There is a theory which says that only 35% of your arms are made up if biceps while the rest, which is 65% is made up of the triceps. Thus you need to work so much harder for this. For the best results, you can do this about three times in one week.

Here are the steps to do it right:

  • First of all, lie down on the bench.
  • Keep your feet flat on the ground on both sides of the bench.
  • Now you must grab the bar with both hands. The grip of each hand should be equal.
  • Now pick up the bar and push it up, even above your chest.
  • Now bring down the bar and bring it to a point which is around 3-4 inches off your chest.
  • While doing close grip press exercise always have the elbows tucked inside. Never let the arms dangle loose as this will cause major injuries to you.
  • Now bring the bar back upwards.This exercise is not only good for your triceps, but your shoulders and chest too.

What are the benefits?

One of the major advantages of doing this is that you can pick up more weight than what you usually can. That is while doing the usual bench press exercises. Another useful fact is that it is great for being able to build up some really strong chest muscles as well. This is in spite of the fact that the exercise usually only helps in the triceps and their development.

There is some equipment that you will need in case you want to do the Close Grip Press. It is usually similar to what you are using for the usual bench press exercise. You would need a flat bench and should be suited to your body. Then you will have to get a barbell and the amount of weight that your body can support and maintain. Don’t have too much weight or you might injure yourself in the process.

It is all about doing the right thing in the right way. If you put in a little heart and soul into doing what you are doing then it should be great! Close Grip Press will give you such an amazing structure and body that will make all heads turn.

A Grip On The Forearm

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

Usually a lot of people want to go about developing the biceps and the triceps. In the process a lot of them leave out the very important forearm grip exercises.  The forearms are usually neglected and forgotten in the rush to get massive biceps. But unless these are developed alongside, huge biceps with teeny forearms look very stupid and hence you need to exercise those as well.

Here are a few of those :

  • one way of doing it is by getting a bucket of sand. Push your hand in to the sand and then start expanding and contracting your fingers. And that too, as much as you can. Keep on doing this for a few minutes and then you will see that the muscles in your forearm are burning. Devote around three minutes to each hand.
  • The second type is the tennis ball. It is very simple. Just keep gripping the tennis ball and you can do it while you are concentrating on other things too. A lot of doctors recommend this. Even many sports stars do this.
  • Another great one of those forearm grip exercises is by using the barbell. Keep it at the level of your knees. Now stand next to it and grip the middle of the bar. Do it with one hand and after that pick it up. Now allow it to slip down under the stand. Hold it for as long your strength permits.
  • Reverse curls is another way to give your forearms a really wicked workout. Do the reverse curls with the barbell. It will really tire you out but this is amazing for the forearms. If you are ready for some hard work then  go ahead and do it.

Some great exercises for hand grips:

There are some hand grip exercises which you should do as well. This will complement all the forearm exercises that you have been doing. There is no point in doing some heavy grip exercises to develop the forearm and then have no grip on the arms. So some Hand Grip Exercises will be ideal as well.

There are great grip exercises that you can do using things like a baseball bat or any object that is quite heavy. Hold the object and that too in a very firm grip. After that let the thing drop down on the ground. Once that is done, get down and pick it up. Do this about ten times and then go on to the next arm. This is great if you do not have any equipment for the hand grip exercises. These will do just fine.

With all these exercises lined up your way, you should soon be having some heavy duty arms and forearms with a great grip to go with it!