Importance of Grip Strength in Strongman

Picture this: You have built the posterior chain of a bulldozer. Your deadlift lock-out is explosive, your back is wide enough to block out the sun, and your mental fortitude is unshakable. You walk up to the Farmer’s Walk handles, pick them up, and feel great—for about three seconds. Then, your fingers start to peel open. The weight hasn’t crushed your back; it has simply slipped through your hands.

This is the tragedy of neglected grip strength. Unlike powerlifting, where straps can save you on a max deadlift, Strongman is a sport where your hands are the primary interface with awkward, thick, and unforgiving implements. If your grip fails, the lift fails. Period.

While many athletes treat grip work as an afterthought, data from experts like Stronger by Science suggests it should be a primary focus. From transferring force efficiently to predicting your overall health longevity, your grip is the foundation upon which your Strongman house is built.

Here is why your handshake needs to be as strong as your squat, and exactly how to get it there.

5 Key Takeaways: The Grip Strength Cheat Sheet

Before we dive deep into the mechanics, here are the five most critical facts regarding the importance of grip strength in Strongman:

Grip is the Primary Link: You cannot lift what you cannot hold. Grip strength acts as the force transfer link between your body’s power and the implement. A weak link creates “energy leaks,” forcing your larger muscles to work harder to compensate for instability.
Size Matters (In Forearms): Grip isn’t magic; it’s mechanics. The flexor digitorum superficialis and profundus are the main engines of grip. Research shows a direct correlation between forearm hypertrophy (muscle size) and maximum grip force.
Specificity is King: A strong crushing grip (handshake) does not guarantee a strong pinch grip. You might crush a dynamometer test but fail on a thick axle bar. As noted by Mountain Tactical Institute, you must train the specific grip required by the event.
It Predicts More Than Lifts: Grip strength is a surprisingly accurate biomarker for general health. Studies indicate it predicts cardiovascular health and all-cause mortality better than blood pressure in some contexts.
Endurance vs. Power: Strongman demands a unique blend. You need the power to lift a max stone but the endurance to hold Farmer’s handles for 60 seconds. These require different training protocols.

Why Grip Strength is the Foundation of Strongman Performance

In the world of Strongman, grip strength is often the “silent killer” of PRs. It is underestimated because it is rarely the prime mover, but it is almost always the limiting factor.

Think of your body as a high-performance engine and your hands as the tires. It doesn’t matter how much horsepower (back and leg strength) you have; if the tires (grip) can’t gain traction on the road (the implement), you aren’t going anywhere.

When your grip is secure, your nervous system allows your larger muscle groups to fire at maximum capacity. This is a phenomenon known as neural irradiation. When you squeeze something as hard as possible, the tension radiates up your arm, into your shoulder, and across your back, creating a stable platform for heavy lifting. Conversely, when your brain senses your grip is slipping, it inhibits neural drive to the rest of your muscles as a protective mechanism. A weak grip literally makes your back and legs weaker.

Anatomy of Grip: Which Muscles Control Strongman Strength?

To build a monster grip, you have to know what you are building. It’s not just one “forearm muscle.” It is a complex orchestra of tissues working in concert.

According to anatomical breakdowns by Cyvigor and others, the heavy lifters are the Flexor Digitorum Superficialis and the Flexor Digitorum Profundus. These muscles run along the underside of your forearm and are responsible for curling your fingers. They are massive compared to the other hand muscles—roughly four to seven times larger than the thumb muscles. If you want a grip that won’t quit, these are the muscles you need to hypertrophy (grow).

However, you can’t ignore the thumb. The Flexor Pollicis Longus controls thumb flexion and is crucial for “locking in” a grip, especially on thick bars or during hook grip.

Interestingly, scientific analysis shows that intrinsic hand muscles (the small muscles inside the hand itself) play a surprisingly small role in raw power compared to the forearm flexors. This means squeezing stress balls might be good for rehab, but if you want to carry 400 lbs per hand, you need to be doing heavy flexion exercises that target the meat of the forearm.

Grip Training Methods for Competitive Strongman Athletes

So, how do we translate anatomy into training? You need to categorize your grip training because, as research suggests, grip is highly specific. The correlation between a max pinch grip and a max crushing grip is shockingly low (around r=0.40). Being good at one doesn’t make you good at the other.

For Strongman, you need to cycle through three primary types of grip training:

Crushing Grip: The ability to close your hand against resistance (e.g., closing a heavy gripper or holding a barbell). This is your foundational strength.
Support Grip: The ability to hold a static load for time. This is the “bread and butter” of Strongman—think Farmer’s Walks, Frame Carries, and deadlift holds.
Pinch Grip: The ability to hold weight between your fingers and thumb without the bar touching your palm. This is crucial for events like the Hercules Hold or manipulating awkward objects like Atlas Stones.

A balanced program might look like this: Heavy Farmer’s Walks for support grip on Monday, Plate Pinches for pinch strength on Wednesday, and heavy barbell holds or gripper work for crushing strength on Friday.

The Science Behind Grip Strength and Athletic Performance

Science backs up what old-school strongmen have known for decades. PMC Research on Olympic weightlifters has found significant correlations between grip strength and Snatch performance. The dynamics of controlling a bar moving at high velocity require immense hand strength.

However, Strongman is unique. A study on Strongman athletes found that while Farmer’s Walk grip strength was important, it had a correlation of roughly r=0.69 with overall performance. Why not higher? Because Strongman is diverse. A massive grip helps you on the deadlift, but it won’t help you flip a tire or press a log if your posterior chain is weak.

The takeaway from the data is clear: Grip is a necessary condition for success, but not sufficient on its own. It is a gatekeeper skill. If you don’t have it, you can’t compete. If you do have it, you earn the right to use your other muscles.

Measuring Grip Strength: How to Test Your Current Ability

If you walk into a clinical setting, they will hand you a hydraulic hand dynamometer. You squeeze it, a needle moves, and they tell you your grip strength.

For a Strongman, this number is useful but incomplete. It measures isometric crushing strength in a very specific position. It doesn’t tell you if you can hold onto a spinning Conan’s Wheel handle while your lungs are burning.

To truly test your Strongman readiness, you need sport-specific metrics:

Max Duration Hold: Pick up a pair of Farmer’s handles loaded to bodyweight. Can you hold them for 60 seconds?
Thick Bar Deadlift: Test your max double-overhand deadlift on an axle bar. This tests your thumb strength and “open hand” strength, which is vital for events where you can’t fully close your hand.

Monitor these numbers. If your deadlift is going up but your axle hold is going down, you are building an imbalance that will eventually cause a dropped lift in competition.

Specific Grip Training for Strongman: Farmer’s Walk, Deadlifts, and Loaded Carries

If you want to get better at Strongman, you have to train like a Strongman. Resources like Elite FTS and Westside Barbell emphasize applying grip training to the “Big Three” grip events:

1. Farmer’s Walk

This is the king of grip tests. The mistake most athletes make is only training for speed. You must also train for time under tension. Occasionally, try “over-crushing” the handles—squeezing them harder than necessary—to build a reserve of strength.

Pro Tip: Use “Fat Grips” on your warm-up sets. This forces your open-hand strength to work overtime. When you take them off for your working sets, the standard handles will feel like toothpicks.

2. Deadlifts

Should you use straps? Yes, but strategically. If you strap up for every single set, your grip will lag. If you never use straps, your back strength will eventually outpace your hands, and your deadlift training will suffer.

The Strategy: Perform all warm-up sets double-overhand (no mixed grip, no straps) until your hands literally cannot hold the bar. Then, add straps for your heaviest working sets. This ensures you get grip volume without sacrificing maximal strength work.

3. Atlas Stones and Loading

Stones require a unique type of clamping strength involving the chest and forearms. “Tacky” (sticky resin) is used in competition, but you should train without it occasionally to build raw squeezing power.

The Drill: Bear hugs with a heavy sandbag or keg train the same crushing/clamping mechanic required for stones, building the pectoral and forearm connection.

Grip Strength and Long-Term Health: The Cardiovascular Connection

Here is a bonus that has nothing to do with lifting trophies and everything to do with living long enough to enjoy them.

A major UK Biobank study, involving over 500,000 people, dropped a bombshell: Grip strength is a better predictor of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease than systolic blood pressure. For every 5kg decrease in grip strength, the risk of early death jumps significantly.

Why? Because grip strength is a proxy for overall neuromuscular health and muscle mass. If you are training hard enough to build a vice-like grip, you are likely doing the other things (lifting heavy, staying active) that keep a human being alive and resilient. So, when you train your grip, you aren’t just training for the podium; you’re training for life.

FAQ: Common Questions on Strongman Grip

Why is grip strength so critical in strongman compared to other strength sports? In powerlifting, you can strap up for rows and use a mixed grip for deadlifts. In Strongman, you are often forbidden from using straps in events like the Farmer’s Walk, Hercules Hold, or Conan’s Wheel. Furthermore, many implements (stones, sandbags, logs) have no handles at all, requiring raw crushing power to simply keep the object off the ground.

Can you improve grip strength quickly? It’s a mix. As noted by Speediance, you can see rapid improvements in grip endurance (holding things longer) within 2-4 weeks. However, increasing maximal crushing strength requires hypertrophy (growth) of the forearm muscles, which takes months of consistent volume.

What’s the best way to measure grip strength for strongman training? Forget the little plastic hand squeezers. The best test is the implement itself. Test for max time (e.g., how long can I hold 100kg per hand?) and max weight (e.g., what is the heaviest axle deadlift I can pull double-overhand?).

Should strongmen use straps during training? Avoid the “all or nothing” mindset. If you are doing a max deadlift for back strength, use straps so your grip doesn’t limit the lift. However, you should do all your warm-ups strapless, and include dedicated accessory work where grip is the only goal.

How does grip strength relate to other measures of strength? Grip correlates strongly with pulling power (deadlifts, rows) but poorly with pressing power (overhead press). The Athletes Guild notes that grip in Strongman is often more about endurance—being able to hold 300lbs while running 50 feet is what wins trophies.

What are the best grip exercises for strongman? Farmer’s Walks are non-negotiable. Axle Deadlifts (double overhand) build open-hand strength. Plate Pinches build thumb strength crucial for wide implements. Towel Pull-ups are excellent for building the crushing strength needed for rope pulls.

How do different handle thicknesses affect grip training? Handle thickness changes everything. A thick “axle” bar forces your hand open, making the lift significantly harder and putting more stress on the thumb and fingertips. Training with thick bars makes standard bars feel incredibly easy by comparison.