Right, the Irish Kettlebell Sport Championships were just held.

I did good in the jerk (24kg's x 78reps) but then dropped the bell in the snatch after only 53.

Here's the snatch clip:


For the sake of my ego, here's the jerk clip:


But anyhow, back to the point.

As you saw the hand just let go, and the bell shot out the back. In training I always recognise the signs that the grip is about to give and can usually judge when to switch. On this day none of the usual pains and aches preceded the hand failure, it just swung back and returned empty.

I'm guessing it's to do with the residual fatigue from the earlier jerk set.

So the question is:

What do you guys do to ensure the hand doesn't give out.

Thanks

Dave

There are some common exercises that are used with KB Sport athletes.

Fedorenko for example, emphasizes heavy 1 hand Swings at end of training (after Snatch set(s)); use a weight heavier than the weight you snatch or intend to snatch.

Typically can be 3 ,up to 5 sets per hand of 30+ reps with heavy KB, or can be 1 very long set for max time/reps.

That is not one I use very much.

My preferred method is to do heavy 1 arm DL while standing on 2 boxes. Basically a Straight Leg DL with heavy KB, 4 sets of at least 15 reps per hand with 1 min break between sets. This simultaneoulsy strengthens low back endurance while working the grip

Another great method is to Dead Hang from a Pull-up bar, try 1-2 sets of 2 min with BW only and build up from there.

One or a combo of these will surely help your snatch #s.

-Steve

Hi Steve,

I was leaning towards the heavy swings idea myself. Previously I would set a Tabata timer and knock out heavy swings doing a full 4 min tabata on each arm.

But I will try the deadlifts, building lower back endurance can never be a bad thing.

So here' what I'm thinking:
Alternating between the heavy swings and RDL's depending on the day.
Hanging from the pull up bar I can do as a "grease the groove" as I'm always on the floor teaching I can just "hang out" while my guys do a bit of work.

Is it worth wrapping a towel around the pull up bar, or getting some pvc pipe to increase the diameter?

Thanks

Dave

I've done A LOT of grip training and can tell you what I've found.

Work for strength, not so much endurance. Sounds odd, but it seems to work.

Exercises with towels are king. Towel pull ups, towel swings, towel farmers walks (my current favorite).

In my experience, grip is very easy to overtrain and does not recover as quickly as we think. Proceed slowly.

Extended snatch sets 7-8 minutes per arm with a lighter bell, and snatching with cotton gloves as assistance, not main course.
You can also add an extra swing or 2, if your shoulders are battered from the main snatch sets.
Heavy swings I feel are also very good, because the path of the bell is similar to the drop of the snatch.
Bar hangs like Steve says are also a Russian favorite.

I have an exercise that seems to work. I'm new to KBs, and I only own a few KBs at the moment, so I found if I hold the two heaviest KBs in one hand, and perform deadlifts, that gives my grip a solid workout.

I apologize if I'm stating the obvious, but the thumb-over-finger grip (I call it the oil filter wrench grip) puts the onus on physiological leverage more than (or, better stated, in combination with) muscular strength.

Are you utilizing the thumb-over-forefinger grip?