Get a Grip
Universal Truths
People with good grip live longer
People with bad grip drop apparatuses
Small forearms can’t support big watches. Real men wear big watches.
Building a powerful grip is a must have attribute. Not just for SFAS, but for life. As a biomarker, there is a ton of literature that demonstrates that grip strength strong correlates to longevity. (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6778477/ ) To be clear, you can’t be a sedentary fat-ass with just a strong grip. Your ability to grip your Xbox controller and retrieve Flaming Hot Cheetos doesn’t correlate to high performance. High grip strength correlates to concurrent overall strength, upper limb function, and bone mineral density. So the grip strength is likely secondary to the other stuff, but the literature is clear, nonetheless. At SFAS, grip strength, or lack thereof, is often cited as the primary limiting factor to Team Week performance. I have seen grip strength play a significant role in the Nasty Nick during Gate Week. There are multiple obstacles that tax your grip, and they seem to be perfectly spaced so that you never really fully recover. There are several rope climbs and some sneaky monkey bars. The pullups during the PRT aren’t really an issue as you’re pretty fresh at that point and the bars are standard size, so it’s not much of a concern early on.
And there is a growing discussion about the Combat Fitness Test, in particular the duffel bag lift. This event was introduced specifically to replicate extracting a wounded comrade and originally incorporated a Rescue Randy. It is now tested with a duffel bag facsimile of similar weight, about 180 pounds. Many Candidates are reporting that failing this event will earn you a visit from the Reaper. It is both parts technique and strength, but proper grip is integral to both elements. So grip strength is yet again proving to be a critical attribute for Gate Week.
But Team Week? Holy shit, are you go going to get tested. You will likely have a low carry event every day. Everything from rope and rope handles to metal-handled ammo cans, to tubular nylon, to metal poles, and the slippery-as-whale-snot water cans. You will be absolutely tested. Even on high carry events, you have to pick that thing up off the ground and get it to the high-carry position, so you will be testing your grip all day long. Gloves will help, some gloves more than others. But gloves are the icing, you need some cake to but that icing on. Beef cake. Gloves will mostly protect the skin, but that strength is another matter. So a powerful grip is absolutely essential. Dropping a water can used to be a warning and a notation for Cadre, but more and more reports are emerging of Candidates being outright dropped for a ‘safety violation’ for a single dropped can. I support a safety violation for a dropped apparatus…those things can weight near 1,000 pounds. But a water can? Drop a can, drop a Candidate. Grip is important.
So building grip strength is a critical SFAS prep. We addressed this in SUAR, but only as a tangential programming element. We believe that with all of the bar work in the strength sessions, rope work in the skills sessions, and pullups in your warmups, that you should get adequate stimulus to be in a strong position, no pun intended. But the concern is still there, the reports are still coming, so we thought we should address it specifically. If for nothing else than peace of mind. I’m not certain that we should categorize the type of grip strength that we need to focus on for SFAS. Is it static (holding a heavy weight) or dynamic (crushing)? Is it strength or endurance? Is it concentric or is it eccentric? I think this might be slicing the onion a little too thin. For our purposes, I think we should just conclude that we need to be strong and that translates best as stronger for longer (think of a low carry event
We should think about the biological system for grip, namely the hand, the wrist, and the forearm. All three are important for maintain good SFAS grip and I find that when I neglect my wrists (like my ankles) all of my lifts suffer. So I incorporate lots of wrist and hand mobility stuff into my warmups. I find that the wrist mobility exercises are simple and feel great, so they are great way to start my mobility/warmup routine, especially on days when I’m struggling to get started. High ROI, and low barrier to entry. The perfect start to a good workout. I do a circuit of wrist rotations in each direction followed by open handed and close handed flexion and extension, to include targeting my fingers specifically. It looks superfluous and a little bit pretentious, but it absolutely helps me. If it’s stupid and it works, then it’s not stupid.
Next is a good circuit of hand ad forearm strength work. I think that you can cover all of your bases with five exercises, beyond your regular barbell work. I think that a wrist curl (palm up) and a wrist extension (palm down) get you the bulk of your forearm work. Grab a dumbbell or a barbell and work the heaviest weight that you can for 4 sets of 15 reps. Then I would work hand strength and use a dumbbell and do finger flexion wrist curls, where the weight “rolls” to the fingertips. You could do these as part of your wrist curls, but you can probably move significantly more weight with your forearms versus your fingers, so the load has to be right. The last two exercises are the functional ones that you’re probably familiar with. Dead hangs and farmer’s carries. Just mount the pull-up bar and dead hang. No pull-ups, just hang. Do 3 sets of max time. Finally, do farmer’s carries. If you can get water cans, all the better, but dumbbells or plates are fine. Do these walking. The little added stimulus of hip and leg movement and shifting weight is helpful. Do these for as long as you can. Rest. Do them again. Do five sets of max time.
So the ordering is important. The wrist rotations and hand flexing primes your CNS and warms the muscles for movement. The wrist curls and flexion should be ‘significant’ weight. You forearms should be fully pumped. The finger flexion curls are a little lighter. The deadhangs are just bodyweight. The farmers carries are about 30-40% x BW, but the time is what matters. It’s the interplay between time under load and rest. You want to simulate the anticipated work/rest cycle at SFAS…which is lots of work with minimal rest. You should struggle to grip your water bottle when you’re done. Do this circuit once or twice a week (depending on your recovery) and depending on your Big 6 Lifts progress. I do not recommend lifting straps, but I don’t have a big dog in the fight. If you find yourself needing the extra support because your pulling big numbers, then so be it.
I’ve experimented with the different grips for deadlifts and there is definitely something to be said for the hook grip. But I’m not pulling enough weigh that my grip is the limiting factor. And I’m not convinced that the hook grip translates very well to soft handles like a rope or tubular nylon. So the hook grip is good, but don’t expect the same efficacy to translate to an apparatus.
Finally, I would strongly recommend some little spring-loaded grip trainers. Order a couple of sets and leave them in your car. Every time you stop at a light, bang out a set. Get another set for your office or workplace and crank out a set every 45 minutes. Maintain eye contact with a coworker while you do it. Establish dominance. Get a set for the house and do them while you’re watching TV or during the very limited time that you are wasting on another screen. The point is to condition yours4elf to just always be working the forearms. Within a few months you’ll be able to pull the head off a chicken inadvertently. With great power comes great responsibility. If you wanted to be extra, you could get some mountain climbing finger boards. I have the standard board and some jugs that I throw over a pullup bar and they’re great for travel.
So we end with where we began. Grip is good. You need it to live long. You most definitely need it for SFAS. More than you know and likely more than you can adequately prepare for. Your grip will fail, so it’s a matter of extending the point of failure and training to recover quickly. And learning to deal with that burn and pump. Your training should emulate these conditions. And you need powerful forearms to support a proper watch. Not some effete smart watch so you can text your boyfriend and scroll through your Taylor Swift playlist. But a chunk of polished stainless steel, with a unidirectional bezel to measure the air in your tanks, and some radioactive hands. Proper.
