Types of grip in Crossfit and weightlifting

Although you may not believe it, grip is essential in both Cross Training and weightlifting, and you have to work on it in order to be a better athlete. We can define grip as the way we hold the bar or some other object or simply the position of our hands to support our weight, whether static or moving.

And depending on the grip we use, we will achieve greater resistance when lifting weight or greater protection for our hands, especially in movements that are repeated constantly and with intensity, such as kipping pull-ups.

When practicing Cross Training there are different types of grip depending on the element we are using or the exercise to be performed.

Weightlifting Grips

Pronated grip:

This is the one in which the palms of the hands face us. It is the most commonly used and common, either with a more open grip, that is, with the arms further apart, or more closed, with the hands closer together.

Supine grip:

This is the position in which the palms of the hands face away from us, outwards. It is not very common, and is used mainly in accessory movements or exercises.

Mixed grip:

This grip is one in which one hand is in a prone position and the other in a supine position. It is a grip that is often used during deadlifts. With this position we achieve greater stability of the bar because the forces in both cases turn to the center. But you have to be careful when using it because it can also cause injuries to the biceps.

Trigger grip or hook grip:

This grip will be essential as you increase the weight on the bar. With the trigger grip, you can hold the bar better, preventing it from slipping. To do this, place all four fingers on the bar and hold the thumb underneath with the index finger and even the middle finger. By doing this grip, which is very unnatural and which you should practice from the beginning, even with an empty bar, you will get a much better grip in movements such as the snatch, the clean, or the deadlift.

You should start practicing the trigger grip with an empty bar to get your hand used to catching that finger. Constant use from the warm-up will make your body normalize it.

Pull-up bar grips

When hanging from a pull-up bar, depending on which muscles we want to focus on, we will use the aforementioned pronated grip or supinated grip. Likewise, depending on the opening of the hands, we will focus more on some areas or others.

It's not very common, or rather it's quite rare, but there are athletes who manage to do kipping pull-ups with a mixed grip.

Suicide Grab:

This grip is performed by placing the five fingers of the hand on the bar, that is, we do not close our hand on the bar but rather we hold on to it or, better said, we hang from it.

Obviously, it has this name for a reason, and it is because the probability of accidentally letting go and falling is quite high. This will be more likely to happen in series with many repetitions and in which fatigue plays a trick on you.

With the suicide grip we achieve less friction in the hand, but we reiterate that its use is highly discouraged. You could use it and it could be effective for doing strict prone pull-ups.

Grip for the rings

If we use a normal grip on rings, as it would come naturally to us over time, the only thing we will achieve is damaging our hands and reducing our effectiveness in the movements. That is why we use a special grip on rings, the false grip.

False grip:

Another one that is quite unnatural, to do it we put our hand in the handle, making our wrist rest on it, and we turn so that the whole area of ​​the octopus under the thumb supports our body on the flannel. With this movement our hand will embrace the ring from much lower down.

As we say, it is not very natural but it is tremendously effective when it comes to achieving your ring muscle ups, since your hands are in a slightly higher position and you achieve better movement.

Ways to improve your grip

The first way to improve any grip is to practice it , especially those that are not natural like the hook grip or the false grip.

Another way to improve your grip is to simply hang from the bar . This will give you better resistance and get your hands and forearms used to that position.

You can improve your grip by doing exercises such as the farmer's walk with kettlebells or axle bars (with a larger diameter in the grip area).

Finally, it may be interesting to practice the grip with your fingers. To do this, simply try picking up discs placed vertically on the floor with the tips of your fingers. Start with the 5kg ones and you will see that the difficulty is exponential!