Fat Gripz for Grip Strength

[LatFlare]

Anyone have experience with these things? http://www.fatgripz.com/

For those not familiar, they are rubber cylinder things that fit around the bar/dumbell, making it wider and therefore harder to grip.

I have tried a few things with them and and so far am finding:
- chin/pullups/rows/pretty much any pull >>> are much harder with the fat grips so you can't do nearly as many reps or move as much weight, however they do hit your forearms really hard BUT because you can't lift as much you have to do your work with the grips for your grip, and then with out the grips to train the actual lift to your actual capacity.

- Pushes (bench/dip/OHP) - not really harder but can feel the hands working a bit harder.

I also have a set of grippers which I have at my desk and use throughout the day while i'm at work to improve my grip strength and over the last few weeks have definitely noticed some gains as a result of this combination.

What are your experiences/thoughts on these or other methods to improve grip strength?

 

[Ice 9 Cobra]

forums.sherdog.com/forums/f13/you-all-have-pussy-hands-v2-0-a-686378/

There's also a really great article on levering but I am too lazy to do two goggle searches in a row

 

[LatFlare]

Excellent, thank you

 

[mister who]

$40 seems pretty steep. Considering you can buy two sets of Captains of Crush for that much.

 

[JRT6]

I got the fat gripz and fat gripz extreme and since I use them every single training session except squat and DL they are well worth the money.

 

[CRZA]

I got the fat gripz and fat gripz extreme and since I use them every single training session except squat and DL they are well worth the money.

Gave you noticed any good effects from the use?

 

[JRT6]

Gave you noticed any good effects from the use?

Oh yeah. On push they really help with my arthritic elbows and shoulders and on pull I have an insane grip now. I can do chins and pulls with the regular gripz with about half the added weight I use on straight grip.

 

[pottro563]

I use them all the time. double overhand DL, all DB work, shrugs, rows, curls, and light bench work. Price is steep as all hell, but I like them.

 

[Thorgrim]

Depending if you have the equipment. Really big carabiners you would find on ab straps, hook a pair of 10-15lb kettlebells to a pair of gym rings or pull up bar, hold onto the bells and do pull-ups. Just came up with that an hour ago, works great.

 

[Ice 9 Cobra]

What does the fat gripz offer that $5 of pipe insulation couldn't? Durability?

 

[Thorgrim]

What does the fat gripz offer that $5 of pipe insulation couldn't? Durability?

I've used pipe insulation as a bar pad for squats, they get torn up quickly. You could wrap electric tape around them but still would have too much give IMO.

 

[1v1]

Would you say get these instead of regular grippers for grip strength? Do these things work that well? Do you think they're worth the high price tag?

 

[LatFlare]

Would you say get these instead of regular grippers for grip strength? Do these things work that well? Do you think they're worth the high price tag?

According to the thread in post #2 thick bars and grippers are two separate aspects of developing grip strength, so I would say do both.

Thick grips make your hands work a lot harder and a couple of people here (myself included) also find them beneficial for push work, although pushes do not work as hard as pulls obviously.

I have no regrets about the purchase. They are just a couple of pieces of thick rubber so unless someone steals them or I lose them, its not a purchase I'll likely need to make again any time soon.

 

[1v1]

According to the thread in post #2 thick bars and grippers are two separate aspects of developing grip strength, so I would say do both.

Thick grips make your hands work a lot harder and a couple of people here (myself included) also find them beneficial for push work, although pushes do not work as hard as pulls obviously.

I have no regrets about the purchase. They are just a couple of pieces of thick rubber so unless someone steals them or I lose them, its not a purchase I'll likely need to make again any time soon.

The only reason I would use these is to increase my grip strength for wrestling. Would you still recommend them?

 

[Cratos]

Save the money and do static deadlift holds and heavy DB rows.

 

[LatFlare]

The only reason I would use these is to increase my grip strength for wrestling. Would you still recommend them?

Sorry man I'm not a wrestler so I couldn't tell you, the main reason i started this thread was to get advice from others who had used them, or had used other methods of improving grip strength, not to give the advice.

Check out that other thread maybe, plenty of info in there.

 

[eastNYgoon138]

Fat Gripz are a good investment. $30, lightweight, don't take up much room in your gym bag and you can make a fat bar wherever, whenever you want. A lot of strong lifters use fat bar training to build their grip. Use em on all your warm up sets.

 

[JRT6]

I debated over buying the extreme grips but believe me they were worth every penny. My original pair of regular gripz got worn loose and after I sent fatgripz a photo of them the company replaced them for free. On thing I learned is don't leave them on a bar when not in use or they'll stretch.

 

[Mr Mojo Lane]

I was using them during warm-up sets, and I thought they were great. They do a good job at making the hands work harder, while gripping, than the forearms. This is especially true the smaller your hands are compared to other people. I only use the FGz on warm up sets up pulls and shrugs, but they really do smoke my grip strength. When I was heavy into training with them, which was only 2-3 months along with gripper training, I found that I was over training my grip. Keep in mind that I am training my grip almost every day because of MA training and even leg day, since I like to throw in 1-2 sets of weighted lunges. I am going to start back on these, but I will not add in the gripper.

 

[ironwolf]

I have a few pairs (they are DIRT cheap here in china....like 8 bucks), I used them when I was coming back from a back injury. I used them for deads, I figured if I was lifting less weight, I may as well improve another area (grip strength).

I still use them for deads and chins, never tried with bench but I will now. Before I moved overseas, I actually had a fat bar that I used regularily, these are almost as good for what I use them for.