which would you rather have

[tekkenfan]

being very strong or having a super strong marcelo garcia like grip

for grappling i feel everyone tries tog et stronger doing squats dead lifts ect which obviously is great and will make you better but i find nobody tries to greatly improve their grip game and guys who dont do gi its hard to develop a super strong grip by just training i feel i admit i havent even touched the gi since i got my black belt and i didnt have a super gi heavy style anyway outside of some passing and de la riva collar and sleeve guard

 

[Smato_rules]

A guy with a 500+lb deadlift will have a monster grip, but I do see your point.

 

[yetanother]

Hand size helps with grips. It helps a lot if you can connect fingers when grabbing wrists.

 

[EGDM]

One thing that helped me quite a lot starting out was grip strength and endurance from having done years of TMA sword work. (I also have big hands.) Even as a rank white belt the competitors in my gym had a hell of a time breaking grips, and I didn't feel like I was trying that hard. I obviously didn't know what to DO with the grips, but that's a different issue.

In the 10 years since I started BJJ I've developed some arthritis so I avoid any grips like loop chokes that tend to shear sideways across the fingers. I still frequently grab people's wrists instead of the gi and they have no idea how to respond.

 

[tekkenfan]

A guy with a 500+lb deadlift will have a monster grip, but I do see your point.

guys like askren maia and even khabib arnt super strong guys compared to others but their grip is god like insane which is why they are able to latch onto singles and work them down or stay glued to people

 

[tekkenfan]

One thing that helped me quite a lot starting out was grip strength and endurance from having done years of TMA sword work. (I also have big hands.) Even as a rank white belt the competitors in my gym had a hell of a time breaking grips, and I didn't feel like I was trying that hard. I obviously didn't know what to DO with the grips, but that's a different issue.

In the 10 years since I started BJJ I've developed some arthritis so I avoid any grips like loop chokes that tend to shear sideways across the fingers. I still frequently grab people's wrists instead of the gi and they have no idea how to respond.

i think im gonna buy some small grip machines to squeeze to work around house do some gi pull ups ect i feel my grip should be better than what it is not that its necessarily bad but i wana dominate with it. everyone back in the day 2007-2010 when they would roll with garcia everyone said "its like being put in handcuffs when he gets wrist control on you" yeah.. thats the type of control i wana work towards lol

 

[shunyata]

Just pick up flooring or roofing as a career and you'll be fine.

Grip and lift all day is the only way to go.

Rockclimbing will do it too.

 

[tekkenfan]

Just pick up flooring or roofing as a career and you'll be fine.

Grip and lift all day is the only way to go.

Rockclimbing will do it too.

guy iv been teaching for training with for 13 years now is a old school bb 135 pound guy who did drywall his whole life and his collar grip is so strong that guys like bruno and caro terra cant get their posture from clsoed when he gets it its insane wish i had that

 

[shunyata]

guy iv been teaching for training with for 13 years now is a old school bb 135 pound guy who did drywall his whole life and his collar grip is so strong that guys like bruno and caro terra cant get their posture from clsoed when he gets it its insane wish i had that

I know a flooring dude who's absolutely ripped. Jacked forearms, back, and shoulders. Does not work out at all in a gym sense. Another friend is a strength coach and is always trying to get this dude to come to his gym.

Lifts stack of flooring all day, hauls around a buffer he loads into his truck then takes out, walks up stairs with it, etc.

Just lift things with no handles all day long.

I worked in massage therapy for a few years, and between that and a judo background, I've got a collar grip that.......... while it's certainly not unbreakable I've heard stitching in the lapel snap when people try to strip that grip.

 

[tekkenfan]

I know a flooring dude who's absolutely ripped. Jacked forearms, back, and shoulders. Does not work out at all in a gym sense. Another friend is a strength coach and is always trying to get this dude to come to his gym.

Lifts stack of flooring all day, hauls around a buffer he loads into his truck then takes out, walks up stairs with it, etc.

Just lift things with no handles all day long.

I worked in massage therapy for a few years, and between that and a judo background, I've got a collar grip that.......... while it's certainly not unbreakable I've heard stitching in the lapel snap when people try to strip that grip.

im to lazy t do that kinda work lol

 

[EGDM]

i think im gonna buy some small grip machines to squeeze

One thing I'll note about "grip strength" is that finger compression is only maybe half of the effect. Your ability to move weight in/out/up/down with your wrist is equally important, and there's a surprising amount of technique involved in holding a brutally hard grip witth your fingers while keeping your wrist and arm relaxed enough so you can be responsive and actually manipulate a combative partner. Also, people in BJJ tend to have index/thumb dominant squeezes, but the best grip for wrist control is to contract diagonally across your hand from your ring/pinky fingers to the base of your thumb. This is one of the few places where my Aikido practice really helped in BJJ.

 

[yetanother]

people in BJJ tend to have index/thumb dominant squeezes, but the best grip for wrist control is to contract diagonally across your hand from your ring/pinky fingers to the base of your thumb.

How does that help? I use a middle finger thumb squee because I can close the grip. Against a lot of people I could close the index/thumb too. The pinky is an inferior small weak finger why would I want to use it?

 

[EGDM]

How does that help? I use a middle finger thumb squee because I can close the grip. Against a lot of people I could close the index/thumb too. The pinky is an inferior small weak finger why would I want to use it?

Your ring finger actually contributes the largest amount of power to your grip because of the way it closes your palm, particularly on an object large around which you can't fully wrap your hand. Index-thumb "teacup grips" are weak in a way quickly revealed by practical experimentation. In order to control someone's wrist you want to maximize the contact of your palm against your opponent. Grab your opponent on a diagonal so that their forearm bones lie in a line between your index knuckle and the heel of your hand, not perpendicular to your fingers. Gripping this way allows you to use your fingers as a fulcrum to create leverage across the diagonal of your palm. You can absorb and neutralize much of their movement into length of your radius and ulna, and additionally recruit your wrist flexion muscles into your grip so the load isn't borne only by your fingers.

There are very good mechanical reasons why swords are held this way:

and not this way:

The same principles apply to wrist control.

 

[yetanother]

There are very good mechanical reasons why swords are held this way:

Grabbing my own wrist I think I hold wrists that way on the picture. I have big enough hands that I can wrap my hand and connect the fingers. Not sure how people grab wrist differently.

 

[EGDM]

Grabbing my own wrist I think I hold wrists that way on the picture. I have big enough hands that I can wrap my hand and connect the fingers. Not sure how people grab wrist differently.

Most people grab perpendicular to the target like how you'd hold a baseball bat. Maybe we're just be suffering from imperfect internet communication.

 

[Daz2300]

One of my BB coaches who's also decades of Aikido experience stresses exactly the type of grip with the lower fingers EGDM is talking about. He has ridiculous nogi hand-fighting and wrist control skills from the Aikido.

On a related note about the pinky finger when bridging from Side Control he really focuses on turning your hand palm-up so you're engaging down through it, your shoulder and hip as a whole connected chain. Its super-powerful and once your arm is connected against them will be way more effective for moving them. It also is the best way i've found to pry somebody's face off my hip using the blade of my wrist around their brows and forehead as they Bernardo Faria Over/Under pass.

 

[QingTian]

Recently someone noted how I have strong grips as he tried to break my lapel grip. Actually my grip was tested to be average strength (for the average American no less, not just grapplers) and I have medium hands at best. Oh and this guy is two weight classes higher.

There is a lot you can do with technique for gripping, so I think I'll choose raw strength thanks.

 

[tekkenfan]

One thing I'll note about "grip strength" is that finger compression is only maybe half of the effect. Your ability to move weight in/out/up/down with your wrist is equally important, and there's a surprising amount of technique involved in holding a brutally hard grip witth your fingers while keeping your wrist and arm relaxed enough so you can be responsive and actually manipulate a combative partner. Also, people in BJJ tend to have index/thumb dominant squeezes, but the best grip for wrist control is to contract diagonally across your hand from your ring/pinky fingers to the base of your thumb. This is one of the few places where my Aikido practice really helped in BJJ.

and how would you go about making that better

 

[tekkenfan]

i feel that since were in a grappling art and what better skill to have than great grip strength guys like maia askren really inspire not very athletic strong looking at all and not to say they arnt strong dudes but their grips are insane and its how they are able to latch into people and stay glued

 

[yetanother]

i feel that since were in a grappling art and what better skill to have than great grip strength guys like maia askren really inspire not very athletic strong looking at all and not to say they arnt strong dudes but their grips are insane and its how they are able to latch into people and stay glued

A strong squeeze and a strong hand grips are different things.