Throw it in the box, the box of terms that are vague and nondescript. Yep “grip strength” can go into the box with “functional training”, “core training”, “hardcore training”, yea, I could go on and on. I know, it seems like it would be simple enough, how strong are your hands? But even legendary hand strength expert, John Brookfield, classified grip strength into three categories of; crush, pinch, and wrist. So, we can’t even say that “grip strength” is an accurate description as there are multiple types that will not carry over to every task.
Having trained Strongman for a few years I would say grip strength is even more complicated as items like stones require their own hand strength because you can’t pinch or crush, there is a unique isometric open hand strength required. “Grip strength” is so hard to quantify as many different “grip challenges” require unique skills like bending nails, tearing phone books, or a host of other typical “grip tests”. Yet, from my days of training Strongman I was very fortunate enough to train alongside a Met-Rx World’s Strongest Man competitor, Kevin Nee.
Sandbag Training-Grip Lessons from Strongman!
Besides being a tremendous athlete, Kevin was always gracious in teaching others about strength. I remember he was poking fun at himself as not being able to close the #1 Ironmind gripper, yet he was able to farmer’s walk 400 pound implements and lift stones far over 400 pounds. Kevin may have been exaggerating a bit, but not much about his hand gripper strength. Does this mean Kevin didn’t have strong hands? Hmmm.
How in the world does this relate to sandbag training? Much is made about the ability of sandbag training to improve hand strength. Improving hand strength is a good thing and often relates to using more muscles of the upper body as well (just try it squeeze your fist tight and see how many muscles become active). Better hand strength is functional in every day life as well and may be able to reduce injuries of the upper arm chain. However, how does sandbag training accomplish all this?
Most will tell you that just grabbing onto a giant duffel bag does accomplishes this goal. Well, yes and no. Does it help, sure it does, is it the best or the only way to improve hand strength? No, not at all!
Yes, gripping directly onto the Ultimate Sandbag will improve hand strength and that is why we use a non-abrasive material that won’t rip the skin of your knuckles. However, grabbing the handles can also surprisingly improve hand strength. YES! That is the biggest myth about hand strength, handles mean weaker hands, NOT! Let me explain.
Building Better Grip with Ultimate Sandbag Training
Anecdotally there are a bunch of athletes that have tremendous hand strength that use handle implements all the time and not even thick handles! Olympic lifters have tremendous hand strength from trying to accelerate huge weights off the ground. Powerlifters similarly have great hand strength from big deadlifts and heavy dumbbells. The last group people often forget and will relate to our Ultimate Sandbag Training program very well and that is gymnasts. Especially male gymnasts build big hand strength from hours training on rings and high bars. The ability to move at fast speeds and awkward angles with quick gripping actions is an often overlooked aspects of building hand strength.
With our Ultimate Sandbag Training program we can accomplish all these goals in much easier to progress and perform movements. When we try to lift heavier (all relative to the individual) Ultimate Sandbags in movements like cleans there is no weight in the handle so the weight drops away from us. This means we need a hard grip to balance the pull of the weight away from the body and still accelerate the weight into position. When we work in repetitions or other patterns the deceleration of the weight downwards also takes a great deal of grip strength as the Ultimate Sandbag again will want to pull and jerk on the body. It is up to the hands to help the upper body resist this pull.
Our rotational training in the Ultimate Sandbag Training program can be seen as similar to the effect of the high bars. While the Ultimate Sandbag is moving around and across the body the grip is constantly changing on the hands especially when you consider the shifting internal load of the Ultimate Sandbag and the dimension, the grip can be torched quickly!
Here is an example of some of these Ultimate Sandbag Training drills in action.
I hope it is becoming quickly evident that the features of the Ultimate Sandbag and our program goes well beyond what most people consider. When people ask us about homemade sandbags I tell them “you can do all that with our Ultimate Sandbag, plus about 300 more drills.” Or when people say “there shouldn’t be handles on a sandbag”, I question their realization of what sandbag training really should be and that is why we are pushing harder in our Dynamic Variable Resistance Training program!
If I could have a car with air conditioning, satellite radio, 4-wheel drive, or one that had no features and just got me from point A to B would I not be foolish to take the car that had more options available? Options give us the ability to build better progressions, variations, and overall programs.
At first I was frustrated when people questioned why our Ultimate Sandbag is designed the way it is, but it made me realize how important the role of education is in everything we do. If talking about these issues helps people gain better understanding of Ultimate Sandbag training then we need to educate people so that you can get better results from your training. I don’t know, if I could make my workouts more efficient, it is a hard option to pass up. We will continue to demonstrate how Ultimate Sandbag Training can bring your fitness to new heights and may be far more versatile than you ever imagined!
