Where your grips at?
–fresh from f00k
As most of us have probably learned grips are essential for Jiu-Jitsu, especially when training with the gi. It’s just as important to apply to your game as flexibility is. We need it pretty much for everything; passing, sweeping, submissions, and defending. And just like flexibility, grip strengthening comes with consistent practice.
Ever since I started jiu-jitsu, I remember Dan the Man had crazy strong grips, which is probably why his ezekiel choke is so good. I could never break his grips, so I asked him about it and he told me he used to drum a lot back in the day… along with other things concerning high speed internet. WAKA! All joking aside, he developed strong grips from drumming that transferred well to jiu-jitsu. Jimmy is another person who has strong grips. You can tell by the way he can do rope climbs w/o feet, faster than someone w/ feet!
For those of us that start off with negative grip experience, we gotta learn the hard way. There’s things you can do like rope climbs, pull ups w/the gi, and using grip strengthener tools to get those bone crushing grips you want.
Practice, practice, practice! When you first start off your knuckles are gonna be super sore, but it’s all for a good cause. If you don’t have apple bottom calluses on your knuckles you’re probably not gripping hard enough.
Having good strong grips can help you get faster grips and just go, rather than fooling around trying to get the perfect grip before you start to pass or something. Good grips will also help you with everyday activities!
