Grip strength is a must in both Judo and Brazilian Jujitsu. A stronger grip simply means a stronger overall game. If you are stronger than your opponent then you instantly have an advantage over them. I like to perform a range of forearm and finger circuits that will not only have your forearms screaming but also seriously increase the strength of your Judo game.
You can choose whenever you like to perform these grip strength circuits. Some of these circuits are more suited to when you are working out, at home or in the dojo. It all depends on where you are training at the time. If you are doing these circuits at the gym I suggest you do them at the end of your workout and if you are going to complete these on a Judo day I would advise you to do them after Judo practice, (unless of course you want to fight with extremely fatigued forearms.)
Obviously there may be some pieces of equipment that you do not have but you can swap and change some of the exercises to suit you and your individual needs.
The whole aim of these circuits is to not only increase the strength of your forearms and fingers, but also raise the lactic acid buffer. Lactic acid occurs when you exercise at a high intensity and it feel like your muscles are on fire and very lethargic. Put simply the muscle or muscles that are full of lactic acid will fell like they weigh 100 pounds.
These grip strength circuits are designed to put as much lactic acid into your forearms as possible which will assist in raising the lactic acid buffer. If you complete these 2-3 times a week you will begin to see that your forearms can not only last longer when training, but you can grip harder and break grips easier than before.
Here are a few of my favourite forearm and finger strengthening circuits. I have a variety of circuits that can be completed either at home, gym or dojo.
Circuit 1:
1 Minute Wrist roller
1 Minute Dead Hang (hang off a chin up bar)
Repeat 2 rounds
Circuit 2:
30 Seconds Farmers Walk
30 Seconds Pinch Grip Farmers Walk
30 seconds Dead hang
Repeat 3 rounds
Circuit 3:
Place a newspaper on the floor and time how long it takes you to crush up ten pages using only one hand. Repeat three or four rounds and record your best time. Rest between one and two minutes between sets.
Circuit 4:
Perform an intense round of grip fighting. Be out the front for 2 minutes but get a fresh partner every 30 seconds. This is the best way to build not only forearm and grip strength, but also help you use it in a very sports specific way.
I always recommend my athletes to train their forearms on a regular basis because if you can grip your opponent gi really hard your opponent will get an uneasy feeling that they are in for a hard fight.
To find out more about proper and effective strength training for Judo then head to www.judostrength.com
How else can I Â get a strong grip?
If you train in a gi you will already begin to build up stronger forearms but you can also do exercises in the gym such as towel or gi chin-ups, towel or gi seated rows, rope climbs, farmers walks and just simply hanging off a fat chin up bar. There are a few exercises contraptions designed to build your forearm strength including the famous captains of crush, fat grips and the grip master.
The captains of crush aim to strengthen your forearms by getting you to squeeze two small bits of metal together but I think the best forearm strengthening contraptions are either the fat grips or the grip master. The fat grips are a pretty simple design and can be made at home. Just wrap a bit of foam or PVC piping insulation around a bar to make the bar fatter. Then perform dead lifts, chin-ups and seated rows using the fatter bar. This will force you to grip the bar harder giving you a tremendous forearm pump
The grip master is another great tool but is more of an individual finger strengtheners opposed to forearm strength. The grip master asks you to hold it in the palm of your hand and with each finger, begin pushing down on a spring loaded button. This is a great little bit of equipment and is great to carry in the car and do at stop signs or when you are stuck in traffic jams.
If you can implement some of these exercises into your strength program you will begin to see results pretty quickly. It is important to constantly push your forearms to the limit because there is going to be a competition some day in the near future where having stronger forearms won you the fight.
