CLUBBELL GRIPPING QUESTION

[SCRAPPER]

Scott,

I was doing some Swipes today with Holly and noticed that her grip was slipping towards the knob with each rep. :shock: I told her to choke up but she said her hands were too sweaty to maintain the exact position on the handle that would let her perform the Swipe with good form.

Should she stop, wipe the sweat from her hands, and resume? Grip tighter to prevent further slippage?

Any thoughts?

SCRAPPER

[Scott Sonnon]

There are many people who ask about this. The answer is that we are as strong as our weakest link… our grip. Everything begins and ends with it. The point of Clubbells is to strengthen from the weakest link upwards, rather than try and drag the slacking aspects of one’s fitness along behind. Also consider that cerebrally the hands receive the greatest allocation of grey matter – neurological drive – or “nerve force” in old-time strongman speak – derives primarily from grip familiarity.

With Clubbells, you don't need to have some separate allocation of training time for "grip-work". Grip work is inherently stimulated like no other equipment with Clubbell training, if you don't modify the delicate balance of the neck's friction coefficient (the special "crinkle-coated" grip texture is the ultimate balance!)

Go as long as you can without failure, and stop. Each time you do this, you’ll see a neurological adaptation in the very next session. I know this will sound oxymoronic, but actually over-grip causes slippage. Context-sensitive dynamic grip work actually gives you greater grip security than tighter gripping. Grip it as lightly as possible whenever possible.

Wrist sweatbands work wonders too. :wink:

[SCRAPPER]

Interesting about the overgrip issue. I was kindof already doing this by allowing my hands to relax just a little bit during parts of the Swipe and then gripping the hell out of it. Definitely makes it easier to go for the longer sets.

I'll buy wristbands ONLY if I can get the matching headband to go with them. :lol:

SCRAP

[Jarlo Ilano]

Reading throught the clubbell book, it is advised to "always handle clubbells like you intent to squeeze the hande into pulp".

Is this only for certain exercises?

Jarlo

[Doug Szolek]

Jarlo,

yes, the crush grip is to be used only during the most taxing portions of each exercise, when the Clubbell is fighting the hardest to get out of your hand. Any other time it should be just enough to hold on. This way, you won't fry your grip any sooner than you have to and you won't train an overuse injury.