The following is a guest post by Meghan Callaway, creator of the Ultimate Pull-Up Program.
When it comes to women’s fitness, hamstring and glute training is a hugely popular trend, and I don’t see this changing any time soon. Aside from the obvious physique-oriented goals that many females are looking to achieve, having a strong backside is extremely important for improving overall performance in the gym, sports, and in daily life. Unfortunately, an abundance of people are being held back from strengthening and developing their posterior chain to their full potential, and for a reason that is overlooked by many: A weak grip.
While most people train their grip strength muscles for aesthetic reasons as they want to increase the size and muscular definition of their forearms, having a strong grip is hugely beneficial for many other reasons, including dramatically improving your ability to strengthen and develop your backside because you can hold onto bigger weights, for longer. While I don’t like to speak in black and white terms, most females do neglect their grip strength, and this weak link is preventing them from achieving their full glute and hamstring strengthening and building potential.
If your grip is weak, you will not be able to lift as much weight, perform as many reps, and you might be more prone to breakdowns in form. In this article, I am going to provide some different solutions that will help you improve your grip strength. In addition to this, until your grip strength is up to par, I’m going to provide many different lower body exercise options that will help you strengthen and develop your hamstrings and glutes while working-around around your grip. I’ll also talk about how you can program your training and organize your workouts so your grip training does not interfere with your performance during the rest of your exercises.
Grip Strength
Some of my favorite techniques for improving grip strength are inspired by Stu McGill’s latest book, The Gift Of Injury. Here are some of my go-to exercises for improving grip strength, and how I like to coach them.
Plate Pinches
Plate pinches develop grip strength, and also shoulder and scapular stability (your shoulders and scapulae remain in a fixed position). If this exercise is being performed unilaterally, plate pinches also develop anti-lateral flexion core stability as your muscles must work to prevent the lateral flexion of your spine.
Coaching Notes:
- Get into an athletic stance. Your feet should be hip to shoulder width apart, and you should have a slight bend in your knees.
- Form a tripod base by keeping the weight on the mid to back of your feet, and keeping your toes down, particularly your big and baby toes. These parts of your feet should remain in contact with the floor for the duration of the exercise. Pretend that you are suctioning or screwing your feet to the ground.
- Grab onto one or more weight plates. Obviously the thicker the plates, and the more resistance you are using, the more challenging the exercise will be.
- Also, engage your lats, muscles in your arms, and even your lower body. Remember, gripping is a full body movement.
- Now “pinch” this weight for the duration of the set.
- For the duration of the exercise, your head, torso and hips should remain in a stacked position. Do not allow your lower back to hyperextend, ribcage to flare, torso or hips to rotate, or body to lean to one side (will usually be on the side that the resistance is being held).
- For the duration of the exercise, maintain regular breathing.
Prescription:
3-5 sets of a 10-30 second hold (can be performed bilaterally or unilaterally)
Bottoms-Up Kettlebell Exercises
Bottoms-up kettlebell variations are a very underrated approach for improving forearm and grip strength, and can be done with vertical and horizontal pressing movements, loaded carries, and even some lower body exercises. You can be creative. Bottoms-up kettlebell variations also improve upper body strength, shoulder and scapular controlled mobility (or stability if the shoulders and scapulae remain in a fixed position), and are often a great option for people who are dealing with shoulder issues.
Single Arm Bottoms-Up Floor Press
Single arm bottoms-up floor presses develop forearm and grip strength, upper body strength, shoulder and scapular controlled mobility, and lumbo-pelvic stability. Single arm bottoms-up floor presses are also a terrific core stability exercise as your muscles must work to prevent your spine from rotating and hyperextending.
Coaching Notes:
- Lie on your back on a mat, and bend your knees. Place your feet so they are approximately hip to shoulder width apart. Your shins should be in a relatively vertical position.
- Grab onto a kettlebell by the horns.
- Now extend your elbow and press the kettlebell in a vertical path over your armpit/chest.
- Lower the weight with control. Pretend that you are “rowing” the weight down. In the bottom position, your elbowshould remain at approximately a 45 degree angle with your torso.
- You can either stop right before your upper arm touches the floor, or you can touch your upper arm to the floor at the end of each rep.
- As for the non-working arm, keep it in an extended position as this prevents you from “cheating” and using your non-working arm in place of all of your core muscles to stabilize your pelvis and spine.
- For the duration of the exercise, your head, torso and hips should remain in a stacked position. Do not allow your lower back to hyperextend, ribs to flare, or torso or hips to rotate.
Prescription:
3 sets of 8-12 reps. Do a warm-up set using 50% of your working weight.
Tall Kneeling Bottoms Up Overhead Press
This exercise develops forearm and grip strength, upper body strength, shoulder and scapular controlled mobility, and lumbo-pelvic stability.
Coaching Notes:
- Get into a tall kneeling stance. Your head, torso, hips and knees should be in a stacked position, and your knees roughly hip width apart, or slightly wider. Your body should remain in this position for the duration of the exercise.
- Grab onto a kettlebell, and hold it by the horns.
- Now extend your elbow and press the kettlebell overhead. When you extend your arm, do so by engaging your delts and extending your elbow, not by shrugging your shoulder, hyperextending your lower back, flaring your ribcage, or leaning to the side.
- Lower the weight with control. Pretend that you are “rowing” it down. In the bottom position, your elbowshould remain at approximately a 45 degree angle with your torso.
Prescription:
3 sets of 8-12 reps. Do a warm-up set using 50% of your working weight.
Loaded Carries
Loaded carries are a great tool for developing grip strength. Most loaded carry variations are not overly technically demanding so they can be performed by people of most fitness levels and abilities. Loaded carries also mimic many everyday activities, so they are, pardon the term, functional.
Trap Bar Loaded Carries
Trap bar carries are great as you will likely be able to use significantly more weight than during most other loaded carry variations. In addition to improving grip strength, trap bar carries also develop shoulder and scapular stability (both remain in a fixed position), and lumbo-pelvic stability. If you do not have access to a trap bar, you can perform this exercise using dumbbells, kettlebells, or even milk/water jugs.
Coaching Notes:
- Set up a trap bar. Select a resistance that allows you to maintain proper form. This includes picking up the weight. In short, you need to deadlift the weight into the starting position. If you cannot do so from the floor without your form deteriorating, elevate the weight on blocks/bumper plates. No matter where you are starting from, be sure to pick up the weight properly.
- Keep your arms rigid, and drive them into your sides. Pretend that you are trying to crush something in your armpits. All of the above will help stabilize your upper body and will keep the weight from swinging.
- While maintaining this full body position, walk 25-50 meters. If you are required to turn around, this will be the most challenging component of the exercise as the weights will be more prone to swinging.
- For the duration of the exercise, your head, torso, and hips should remain in a stacked position, and your hips should remain level. Do not allow your lower back to hyperextend, or ribs to flare, and do not allow your body to lean to the side.
- For the duration of the exercise, maintain regular breathing.
Prescription:
3-5 sets of a 25-50m carry. Do 1-2 warm-up sets using 50% of your working weight.
Pull-Up Regressions
Pull-up regressions are very beneficial for improving grip strength. These exercises also develop pull-up specific technique, shoulder and scapular controlled mobility, and lumbo-pelvic stability.
Basic Hangs
This pull-up regression will help you learn how to support your bodyweight from the bottom position of a pull-up.
Coaching Notes:
- Set your grip so your palms are facing away from you (pronated), and are slightly greater than shoulder width apart. You can also use a neutral grip where your palms are facing one another.
- Initiate the movement by using the muscles in your mid and upper back, and bring each shoulder blade in towards the spine and down towards the opposite hip. Do not initiate the movement with your arms. Hold this position.
- Your elbows should be close to fully extended, but not hyperextended.
- For the duration of the exercise, your head, torso, and hips should remain in a stacked position. Do not allow your lower back to hyperextend, or ribs to flare.
- For the duration of the exercise, maintain regular breathing.
Prescription:
3-5 sets of a 5-30 second hold.
Scapula Pull-Ups
This pull-up regression strengthens the muscles that are responsible for the controlled mobility of the scapulae, and teaches you how to initiate the pulling movement of pull-ups.
Coaching Notes:
- Set your grip so your palms are facing away from you (pronated), and are slightly greater than shoulder width apart. You may also use a neutral grip where your palms are facing one another.
- Without bending your elbows or initiating the movement with your arms, use the muscles in your shoulder blade area and draw your shoulder bladesin towards the spine and down towards the opposite hip, and lift your body a few inches. Pause in the top position, really contract these muscles, and then lower yourself to the starting position with control.
- On the lowering portion of this movement, your shoulder blades will perform the reverse movements as they did on the way up.
- In the bottom position, your elbows should be close to fully extended, but not hyperextended.
- For the duration of the exercise, your head, torso, and hips should remain in a stacked position. Do not allow your lower back to hyperextend, or ribs to flare.
Fat Gripz
Fat Gripz are a very basic, and relatively inexpensive piece of equipment that are great for improving grip strength. You can add Fat Gripz to a pull-up bar and can perform pull-up regressions or actual pull-ups, and they can be added to many exercises that are performed with dumbbells, barbells, and on occasion, kettlebells.
Lower-Body (Grip-Friendly) Exercises
Make no mistake, while you are working to improve your grip strength, you can still focus on enhancing the strength and development of your hamstrings and glutes. Here are some awesome exercises you can perform. These exercises are extremely effective, and demand less grip strength than many other lower body variations. Even after your grip strength has improved, I still highly recommend performing these exercises, but you may opt to make them your accessory movements, and not your main exercises.
Here are some of my favorite hip hinging variations:
Single Leg RDL’s
Single leg deadlifts are one of my favorite hip hinging movements as they strengthen and develop the hamstrings and glutes, develop lumbo-pelvic stability, and improve balance. While your grip muscles will be in play, due to the unilateral nature of the exercise, you will not be holding onto as much weight per hand.
Negative RDL’s
Negative deadlifts strengthen and develop the hamstrings and glutes, and can be performed with a barbell, trap bar, dumbbells, one or two kettlebells, or even a band. The intentionally slow eccentric component of the movement makes this exercise more challenging, thus less resistance is required.
Trap Bar Deadlifts
While trap bar deadlifts are taxing on the grip muscles, particularly as the resistance and/or rep range increases, many people find that the thinner width and neutral grip positioning of the handles makes holding the weight significantly easier than the traditional barbell, or dumbbells.
Kettlebell Deadlifts With Complete Reset On Floor (or on blocks)
This deadlifting strategy is less taxing on the grip muscles as the complete reset on the floor (or on blocks) between reps gives the grip muscles a bit of a break. As you are touching the kettlebells to the ground, you need to be sure that you are able to do so while maintaining good hip hinging form. If you can’t touch the kettlebells to the ground without compromising your form, you can elevate the weights on bumper plates, or blocks, and can perform block pulls. You can perform this exercise using two kettlebells and can adopt a conventional stance, you can hold one kettlebell in the center of your body and can adopt a sumo stance, or you can hold one kettlebell on one side of your body, and can perform suitcase deadlifts.
Band/Cable Pull-throughs
This hip hinging variation is highly underrated for strengthening and developing the posterior chain muscles. You have the option of performing this exercise using a band or cable, and you can opt for whatever attachment allows you to have the best grip.
Single Leg Deficit Hip Thrusts
While heavy barbell hip thrusts seem to be getting most of the accolades, I often prefer to perform single leg hip thrust variations. In this variation, you will elevate your shoulders on a box or bench, and your feet on another box or bench. Doing so will allow you to move through a greater range of motion. However, it’s extremely important that you use a range of motion where you can maintain proper form. Make sure that you do not allow your lower back to hyperextend or ribs to flare.
Here are some exercises that involve more knee flexion than the exercises I described above.
Bosu Glute Hamstring Raises
While I am not a huge fan of how most people use the Bosu, this piece of equipment is a fantastic anchor for performing glute hamstring raises, and I find this variation to be even more taxing than the glute hamstring raise machine. Make sure that you do not allow your lower back to hyperextend or ribs to flare.
TRX Alternating Hamstring Curls
This challenging TRX exercise strengthens the hamstrings, and glutes. Make sure that you do not allow your lower back to hyperextend or ribs to flare. Extend your knee to a range where you can maintain proper form, and really be sure to control the eccentric movement. Position your full arms and hands on your torso, not on the ground.
Single Leg Hip Lift With Bottoms-Up Press, And Leg Lowering
This single leg isometric glute bridge variation strengthens the glutes, develops anti-extension and anti-rotational core stability, and improves upper body and grip strength. Your glutes must work isometrically to prevent your hips from collapsing, your anterior core muscles must work to prevent your spine from overextending and rotating, and your forearms and grip muscles must work to keep the kettlebell in the bottoms-up position. Make sure that you do not allow your lower back to hyperextend or ribs to flare. Extend your leg to a range where you can maintain proper form. “Row” the weight down.
Programming Considerations
If you are serious about achieving your peak potential, both in terms of strengthening and developing your hamstrings and glutes, and improving your grip strength, proper program design and implementation are essential. In order to maximize the effectiveness of your lower body exercises, you should strive to use as much weight as possible for your chosen rep range (leave 1-2 reps in the tank after each set), and you must use extremely good form.
If you perform exercises that tax your grip before you train your lower body, while your grip strength will improve, it will come at the expense of your lower body strength and development. Conversely, if you tire out your gripping muscles by performing lower body exercises before you tackle the grip specific muscles, you might not reach your grip specific goals.
In order to avoid these pitfalls, here are several programming options you can use:
– Train your lower body and grip exercises on separate days – Your grip muscles should be fresh when you are performing any lower body exercises that are particularly taxing on your grip muscles. If you are going to be performing lower body exercises that demand a significant amount of grip strength, for instance, barbell or trap bar deadlift variations, or exercises where you are holding onto heavy dumbbells, train these exercises on a separate day from your grip work. Ideally, train your lower body on day 1, and your grip muscles one or two days later. So for example, you might train your legs on a Monday and Thursday, and grip strength on a Tuesday and Friday.
– Train your lower body first and do your grip exercises after – If you want to train your lower body and grip muscles on the same day, perform your lower body exercises first and your grip specific exercises after. If you only train 2-3 days per week, this might be a good option for you.
– Train your upper body first and grip exercises after – While the focus of this article is on the lower body, in order to maximize the effectiveness of your upper body training, your grip muscles should be fresh. If you plan on training your upper body and grip strength muscles in the same workout, perform your upper body exercises first and grip specific exercises after. Keep in mind that some of your upper body exercises will also improve your grip strength. For instance, pull-ups/pull-up regressions strengthen the upper body and improve grip strength. The same can be said for bottoms-up kettlebell variations.
It is important to note that while I am providing you with some general guidelines, you definitely need to figure out what works best for you. Take your schedule, training goals, how well your body recovers, into consideration, and devise a plan that works best for you. This will likely take some trial and error.
Author Bio:
Meghan Callaway is a strength coach in Vancouver, Canada with over 15 years of experience coaching a wide array of clients from elite athletes, to post-physical therapy rehabilitative strength training, as well as everyday people who want to feel, perform, and function at a higher level.
Meghan is the creator of the Ultimate Pull-Up Program, and believes that working out should be fun, mentally and physically rewarding, and empowering. Her pull-up program is currently being followed by over 1000 women and men from over 45 countries worldwide.
When Meghan was 28, she was in a bad car accident, and this led to over 5 years of severe discomfort, full body issues, and a significant amount of mental, physical, and financial stress. She never thought she’d be able to work out again, or even move properly, and she spent these 5 years going from doctor to doctor until she finally found somebody who could tell her what was causing all of her symptoms and injuries. Despite many low points and moments of doubt, Meghan persevered until she found a solution, and learned a tremendous amount about herself, and lessons, in the process. This was Meghan’s turning point, and truly made her appreciate her health and simply the ability to feel good more than ever.
Meghan has an extensive athletic background and has played competitive soccer for 27 years, and also grew up playing ice hockey and baseball on boys teams.
Connect with Meghan on her website, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
