Re:Raising the American Weakling
by Bartweiss on Tuesday February 14, 2017 @11:36AM
(#13644755)
Thanks for this. I was baffled to see so many comments explaining how to "fix your grip strength".
It's not a bad thing to do, as a climber I care a lot about grip strength, but it's not a significant total-health goal. Grip strength is highly predictive partly because people don't train it, and so it represents overall fitness and muscle development. Working hand strength in isolation just breaks that predictive relationship without producing the overall health improvements that come from an active life and whole-body fitness.
It's not a bad thing to do, as a climber I care a lot about grip strength, but it's not a significant total-health goal. Grip strength is highly predictive partly because people don't train it, and so it represents overall fitness and muscle development. Working hand strength in isolation just breaks that predictive relationship without producing the overall health improvements that come from an active life and whole-body fitness.