Grip strength is increasingly important in obstacle course racing, and can often be a key determining factor in whether you fail or succeed at a given obstacle. Races are frequently including more technical obstacles, such as spinning wheels, ninja rings, offset monkey bars, and ever expanding and complicated rigs to traverse.
So here are 10 awesome exercises that you can do, at home or in the gym, to get on the way to dominating any obstacle that you come across.
Before We Start
Equipment
All you need for these exercises is access to a pull up bar. Your local gym should have one, or your local play park if you don't mind doing these exercises outside.
You can of course buy a pull up bar, which you can find fairly cheap online. The one I use in the video was from Amazon, and can be found here. It should comfortably support up to 150kg, doesn't require any screws or fixings, and the grips are reasonably comfortable. As long as your palms are facing the correct direction, the bar tightens into the door frame as you are using it. Just make sure you are facing the right way each time you use it!
Optionally, one of the exercises requires dumbbells or weight plates. If you don't have these, then you can substitute in anything heavy and/or difficult to grip, e.g. buckets full of sand or water, bags full of books, weighted shopping bags, anything.
Disclaimer
When performed correctly, these exercises are completely safe and great for improving grip strength and upper body strength. However, mandatory disclaimer: The following exercises are undertaken at your own risk, and obstacleman.com does not accept any responsibility for any injury caused as a result.
Video
Beginner Exercises
#1 - Static Hang
- Simply hang from the bar for as long as you can, slowly working up to several minutes.
- Aim to hang for slightly longer each time you do it.
- Great starting point if you can't yet do a pull up. Many of the longer rigs or monkey bars you'll find in races will require you to hold on for upwards of 2mins, so simply the ability to hang for this amount of time is vital.
#2 - Negatives
- Jump straight up into the top position of a pull up.
- Lower yourself back down slowly. The slower the better.
- (Suggestion) 4 sets of 7-10 reps or until failure.
- If you can't yet do pull ups, then negatives are a fantastic way to work up to it. Even if you can comfortably do pull ups, then performing negatives as slowly as you possibly can is still a great exercise.
#3 - Pull Ups
- Palms facing away from you on the bar, slightly wider than shoulder width apart.
- Slowly pull yourself up, until your chin is above the bar.
- Control your descent and repeat.
- Feel free to vary the width of your grip. Wider grip means your back is used more, narrower grip means your arms are used more.
- (Suggestion) 4 sets of 7-10 reps or until failure. If this is too easy, either increase the reps or add a weighted belt.
- As well as improving your grip, regular pull ups will increase your upper body strength, and strength to weight ratio.
#4 - Farmer's Walks
- Hold a *heavy dumbbell in each hand.
- Walk back and forth along a set distance while gripping the weights.
- *Heavy is obviously a relative term, start off with what you are comfortable with and then slowly increase. Very roughly: if you can easily carry them 10 x 10 metres, then likely too light. If you can't carry them 5 x 10 metres, then likely too heavy.
- If you don't have dumbbells, then you can use weight plates, weighted buckets, weighted shopping bags, etc. Anything that is heavy and/or difficult to grip.
- Try to use the same space each time, so that you can gauge your progress based on how many times you can walk back and forth until you need to put the weights down.
- Be careful when picking up and putting down the weights, especially once you have progressed to a heavier load.
Intermediate Exercises
#5 - Frenchies
- Set up the same as a pull up.
- Pause at the halfway point of the pull up (arms at 90 degrees), and hold this position for 3-5 secs.
- Continue to the top of the pull up, and again hold this position for 3-5 secs.
- Lower to the halfway point again, and hold for 3-5 secs.
- Continue to the bottom of the pull up, and hold for 3-5 secs.
- Repeat movement pausing at the bottom, halfway, and top of the pull up.
- (Suggestion) 4 sets of 4-6 reps or until failure. If this is too easy, either increase the reps or add a weighted belt.
#6 - Towel Pull Ups
- Wrap a towel or rope around the pull up bar.
- Perform pull ups while gripping on to the towel or rope.
- (Suggestion) 4 sets of 4-6 reps or until failure. If this is too easy, either increase the reps or add a weighted belt.
- Perfect exercise for improving your ability on the rig obstacles that feature various ropes, chains, grips etc.
#7 - Fingertip Pull Ups
- Perform pull ups while hanging from only your fingertips.
- Using the pull up bar is fine, though might be a little awkward. If you can find a ledge, wall, or have access to a climbing fingerboard, then perfect.
- (Suggestion) 4 sets of 4-6 reps or until failure. If this is too easy, either increase the reps or add a weighted belt.
Advanced Exercises
#8 - Toes to Sky
- Hang from the pull up bar, with your hands slightly wider than shoulder width apart.
- Tighten your abs and core, and lift your legs upwards.
- Touch the bar with your toes, and then slowly lower your legs back down to the starting position.
- Go slowly, keeping your core engaged to minimise any swinging motion.
- (Suggestion) 4 sets of 7-10 reps or until failure. If this is too easy, increase the number of reps.
- Great exercise for working on your core as well as grip strength.
#9 - Single Arm Hang
- Hang from the pull up bar
- Release one hand and tap the side of your leg, while continuing to hang on with the other hand.
- Repeat the same with the other hand to complete 1 rep.
- (Suggestion) 4 sets of 4-6 reps or until failure. If this is too easy, either increase the reps or add a weighted belt.
- Great for improving your ability at monkey bars and hang tough rings.
#10 - Climbing / Descending
- Using only your upper body, ascend and descend multiple pull up bars or a ladder.
- If you only have one bar, an alternative exercise is to reach up with one hand and tap the wall about a foot above the bar. Then repeat with the other hand.
- You can also get specialist climbing or hang boards that can replicate this, or try popping along to your nearest bouldering centre. "Bouldering" is basically climbing without ropes or equipment, and is pretty good fun!
Addendum
If you can successfully complete all of the above exercises, then you will be in a good position for tackling any obstacle that comes up during a race. If you know of any other good grip related exercises, or have some of your own training exercises you would like to share, feel free to add them in the comments below.
You can also supplement these exercises with a grip trainer (shown in the main image for this post). Definitely not a substitute for the above exercises, but a useful addition, and you can easily use it while watching TV or reading a book. Again, you can get one of these fairly cheap online:
And again, the link for the pull up bar that I use in the video and can recommend: