What's leading you to want to do assistance work for your grip? Are you having trouble holding on to your deadlifts?
What's leading you to want to do assistance work for your grip? Are you having trouble holding on to your deadlifts?
Like Wolf said: Why? Are you using a double over hand grip (no hook) for all your sets? That should be all the grip work you need.
All sets meaning warmups and work set.
I'm interested in this as well (grip failing at 245 lbs on the deadlift).
I had, when I did SS first, after that I tried following Ross Enamaits 50 day template. Now I've started SS novice program again, and now my grip is fine. I actually just want a beast grip and popeye forearms, thats all. But let's say I have problem with holding on to my deads. Are the use of grippers good assistance exercises?
I'm not familiar with Ross Enamait's 50 Day Program, and a quick google search yielded a lot of people talking about it, but not much info on what it actually is, so I remain unfamiliar.
That said, unless you're having trouble holding on to your deadlifts, I wouldn't worry about assistance exercises just yet. Use a double overhand (not hook) grip for as long as you possibly can. If/When you feel grip being a limiting factor in your pulls, switch your work set only to an alternate or hook grip. This, along with the rest of the program (including chins), will develop your grip strength and forearms well.
Prior to getting back into barbell training, I boxed for many years, and used CoC for wrist strength & stability (closing the #2.5 for several reps each hand). This pre-existing grip strength did make hanging onto heavy worksets in the deadlift much easier (I don't have to hook or alternate up to 415x3).
I used to keep a CoC in my car and crank out reps at red lights...no serious programming. I've never had wrist/forearm tendonitis issues, but I could see them arising if you were stupid about grip work while doing SS.
I grip train with the IronMind claw curl and I pinch grip Power System bumper plates on an ez-curl bar, 2 sets of 5 for the former and a timed 30 second hold for the latter. This started about years ago and then I couldn't double overhand with 275. Now I can for 3 reps with no problem. I haven't tested the upper limits of that capacity but I know that the grip work helped that to happen. My reasons for the grip training was for the MA I do that involves a few techniques for grabbing and pinching, crushing, or tearing loose skin and other danglies that present themselves rather than improving my deadlift capacity. But that was a side effect. Along with having noticed my wrist grew from 7 1/2" to 7 3/4" in my dotage.
It involves holding on to a lot of dumbbells so I think I got my grip work from there.
The program is basically a fighter-conditioning program with workout templates that you can combine with any martial art of your preference, or just follow the template as it is. It's a lot of sandbags, medicine balls, bodyweight exercises(pistolsquats, plyometric pushups, glute-hams, burpees etc.) running, etc. I think the program it good in the sense of full body involvement. But the exercises do not allow for properly increased incremental loading so actually improving in something might be difficult to notice. I did notice better lactic acid resistance during my muay thai-sessions though.
Alright, I suppose I'll skip the grippers and keep on deadlifting.