Heavy Pulling

Mikhail Koklyaev

Let's call it what it is, every man worth his salt wants a strong, powerful grip.  Not only is a vice-like grip practical, by allowing you to deadlift, clean, row, and carry incredibly heavy loads, but it's damn impressive as well.  Watch any great powerlifter, olympic lifter, or strongman, they all have monstrous forearms, and the ability to hold onto bars and objects and no normal man can hold.

So, how do we build this kind of bone-crushing grip strength?  Simple, lift heavy shit.  There are plenty of grip-specific machines and gadgets that claim to improve your grip.  You could spend time doing wrist curls and reverse curls and all that crap.  But who has time to spend working one of the smallest muscle groups in the human body?  The reality is, if you want incredible grip strength, you need to deadlift heavy, carry heavy objects like kettlbells and dumbbells, and do cleans and snatch-grip work that will tax your grip strength WITHOUT lifting straps.



One of my favorite techniques for building my grip strength is using a double overhand grip when deadlifting until I absolutely can't hold onto the bar anymore.  At this point, when the rest of my body is capable of lifting the weight but my grip just can't hold it with a double overhand grip, I switch to an alternating grip, but never use straps.  While straps are great for heavy, consistent Olympic lifting due to the toll that Olympic lifting takes on the hands and grip, and for doing heavy deadlifts with a greater focus on the upper back, they are not appropriate if your goal is to build your grip.

Double overhand grip on speed deads

Here is an outline of my heavy lower body session today with a breakdown of each one of my deadlift sets, including warmup, to show you how I train my grip and my core completely raw until the loads get to near-maximal levels.

Heavy Lower Body Day

Foam Rolling
General Warmup
Dynamic Warmup

Lateral Band Walks
Band Rows
Band Good Mornings
Bodyweight Squats

Power
Light Barbell Snatches--3x3 at 135 lbs

Strength
Conventional Deadlifts--3x3 at 9 RPE
Double Overhand Grip, No Belt
135--1x5
225--1x5
275--1x3
315--1x1

Pis killing farmer's carries

365--1x1
Alternating Grip, No Belt
390--1x1
Alternating Grip, Belt On
415--3x3 PR (Previous best since end of football season was 410 for 3x3 Sumo style which I am stronger at)

Assistance
Squats--5x10 at 65% of estimated 1RM
*235 for 5x10*

Supplemental Lift
Snatch Grip RDLs--3x8

Conditioning/Muscle Building--2 Rounds
Bodyweight Step Ups--12 each leg
Dead Stop Rows--10
Hanging Leg Raises--Failure

Abs
Front Plank--2x1:10
Side Plank--1x50 seconds each