Summary
Mike Bledsoe, Doug Larson, and Kenny Kane of Barbell Shrugged are joined by Dr. Andy Galpin to discuss grip strength training for CrossFit, Olympic weightlifting, and general fitness. They explore how grip deficiencies cascade through the kinetic chain, causing shoulder instability, neck pain, and performance leaks. The conversation covers the importance of pinky engagement for lat activation, proper wrist flexion positioning during pull-ups and farmer's walks, and Tommy Kono's approach of training without hook grip up to 60% to build raw grip strength. Galpin shares research showing grip strength is a significant predictor of mortality, and that grip training can decrease resting blood pressure — a finding that originated from studies on fighter pilots who gripped the controls harder and maintained blood pressure better under G-forces. They set standards of 1-2 minutes hanging from a bar and body weight per hand for farmer's walks over 50 feet. Training methods discussed include fat grips, towel pull-ups, rope hangs and climbs, landmine rows for open-grip work, varied pull-up grips (pronated, supinated, neutral), and band-wrapped kettlebell carries for unstable grip challenges.
Key Points
- Grip deficiencies cascade through the kinetic chain — poor finger placement can cause shoulder instability, neck pain, and 10%+ performance leaks
- Driving the pinky knuckle into the weighted object activates the lats and immediately improves stability through the spine
- Proper wrist flexion (knuckles on top of the bar, not wrist extended) is critical for pull-up and farmer's walk performance
- Tommy Kono recommended training without hook grip up to 60% of working weight to build raw grip strength for competition
- Grip strength is a significant predictor of mortality, correlating with leg strength, VO2 max, and lean body mass
- Grip training reduces resting blood pressure — discovered from fighter pilots who gripped controls harder and maintained consciousness under G-forces
- Standards: 1 minute hanging is minimum, 2 minutes is strong; body weight per hand for farmer's walks over 50 feet is solid, 1.5x body weight is elite
- Variety matters: train with fat grips, towels, ropes, landmine rows, and varied pull-up grips to develop well-rounded grip strength beyond just bar work
Key Moments
How grip position cascades through the entire kinetic chain
Poor finger placement on a bar can leak 10% of performance and cause shoulder and neck pain. Fixing grip position often resolves issues that appear to be in completely different parts of the body.
"it's like well I can't improve my aerodyne performance or something. Well let's look at your hand position. You're out of place, you're leaking ten percent, now we just fix one thing and all of a sudden it gets fixed."
Pinky engagement cue: instant lat activation for pulling and swings
Driving the pinky knuckle into the outside of a kettlebell or weighted object instantly activates the lats and improves spinal stability. This subtle cue changes the entire kinetic chain from the hand up.
"one of the easiest and quickest ways to get somebody to learn to use their lats during any kind of pulling is to say, okay, make sure you're pulling hard with your pinky. Oftentimes, that's going to cause the rotation of the shoulder, cause the lat to go in"
Grip training lowers blood pressure — discovered from fighter pilots
Andy Galpin explains that grip training can decrease resting blood pressure in as little as four weeks, with a protocol as simple as maximal squeezes for 5-6 seconds, repeated 3-5 times, 2-3 times per day. The research originated from fighter pilots who gripped controls harder under G-forces and maintained consciousness.
"the guys that were gripping the steering wheel really hard were not passing out as much. And so he's like, well, that's really interesting. And then he started to figure out, okay, what's actually happening is when they grip it really hard, they maintain blood pressure better so they don't pass out."
Grip strength standards for hanging and farmer's walks
One minute hanging from a bar is the minimum standard, two minutes is strong. For farmer's walks, body weight per hand for 50 feet is solid, and body weight and a half per hand is elite level.
"The standard for Farmer's Walk, if you can have body weight per hand and walk for 50 feet, that's pretty good. Body weight and a half for 50 feet is pretty dang strong."
