Grip strength, how much is enough?

[Mr_White]

A strong grip has benefits way beyond splits, especially for the defensive minded. I would consider closing a #2 to be the minimum strength I would want for life's tasks

Dang, #2 as minimum seems like a really high standard. I've never been a terribly strong person though. No disagreement on strong grip's general defensive benefits. Sometimes I feel like I ought to get back to the Captains, but my arms and hands feel like they have enough going on already. When I overdid it before, I was working the 1.5 and changed from doing it twice a week to three times a week. Didn't feel like it would be too much, then ouch, it was suddenly too much apparently.

Karl Rehn covered this issue at the 2014 Rangemaster Tactical Conference. His position was that the currently popular "thumbs forward" grip is highly reliant on strong crush strength in the support hand. (For this reason, the crossed thumbs grip that Cooper originally advocated, might be better for low grip strength shooters.) As far as actual levels, I think Karl recommended 120 lbs for males and 80 lbs for females.

That position doesn't seem right to me. I started shooting with the crossed thumbs grip and experienced improvement as soon as I went to thumbs forward. I'm sure I had a lot less grip strength at the time. The benefit of the thumbs forward grip is that it gets maximum skin to gun contact, which leads to controlling the recoil through friction, and consistent and predictable movement of the gun in recoil since the gun's grip is fully surrounded with hands. The foundation of the grip is not dependent on a lot of strength, and I think more grip strength is going to help any grip, whether it is thumbs forward or crossed thumbs.

[Peally]

Man, I probably couldn't close a #1 if you handed it to me (I shoot thumbs forward too). Grip strength needs to be to the point where your gun isn't falling out of your hands when you shoot and you can basically control it. More helps, but it's certainly not required to shoot well.

If you took the time to improve a good grip with a killer grip compared to taking the same time to refine trigger control the latter would be much more likely to help you out IMO

[breakingtime91]

So this thread was extremely helpful for me. I had been just shooting my glock with a firm hand shake amount of pressure. yesterday I decided to crush the grip as much as I could and man what a difference in how I could track my front sight.

[LSP552]

I will also add, I think the lighter your gun, the more grip strength you need. That may be common sense, but I see a much bigger difference in how I shoot a glock when I crush the grip vs. just a "firm handshake" grip compared to a heavy, all steel gun like a 1911 where I get some improvement from a crush grip, but the difference isn't nearly as much. Crushing the grip is absolutely necessary if you want to shoot at your peak regardless of the handgun, but i think you'll see a light weight pistol really push a shooter around more if they aren't gripping it right.

I agree with this. I can't use the same grip pressure on a G17 that I can get by with on 226 and expect the level of control and consistency. I think the Glock's reputation for being grip sensitive is directly related to lack of tolerance on grip pressure variation.

[SLG]

Dang, #2 as minimum seems like a really high standard.

Most people can't do a .7 draw from concealment either:-) I didn't mean it as some kind of a true "standard", just my baseline for my needs. Not a scientifically arrived at number either.

[SLG]

Man, I probably couldn't close a #1 if you handed it to me (I shoot thumbs forward too). Grip strength needs to be to the point where your gun isn't falling out of your hands when you shoot and you can basically control it. More helps, but it's certainly not required to shoot well.

If you took the time to improve a good grip with a killer grip compared to taking the same time to refine trigger control the latter would be much more likely to help you out IMO

I guess that depends on your definition of "shoot well".

[Peally]

Certainly true. You also have to take into account an average grip's maximum may not even be meeting a Vogel grip's relaxed minimum. Grip is a pretty relative concept.

[SLG]

Certainly true. You also have to take into account an average grip's maximum may not even be meeting a Vogel grip's relaxed minimum. Grip is a pretty relative concept.

But it isn't relative in this thread, since we're discussing CoC. A guy still using the trainer model doesn't have the same crush grip as a guy closing the 5. It's true that a guy who can close the 5 may not need or want to use all that power when shooting, but he's certainly going to be using way above the T model, if he wants to be fast and accurate. He'll also fatigue slower or not at all, compared to the T guy who needs to use a lot of his relative strength.

When I switched to .40 from 9mm in 2008, I got wore out pretty quickly shooting high volume .40, where I used to go 1000 rds a day with the 9 and never feel it. I was mentally tired before I was physically tired. Now that my grip strength is greater (and my pistol grip is smaller), I can go 1000 rds a day of .40 with no issue. With the same splits that I used to be able to pull with the 9.

In my opinion, grip strength, and the ability to use that strength (small enough grip) is a huge factor in shooting at the level I practice to be at.

[JHC]

The small enough grip thing is interesting. In 2010 when I first started experimenting with adjustable grips on Gen 4s and a M&P I was pretty sure I shot the Large options better at first (Rather long fingers but not great crush strength)
Over time that didn't hold up and I have seen how fingers winching in closer to the palms keeps my grip anchored better for longer strings of fire.
I think I'd missed that factor for many years earlier having been a slave to the 2 shot hammer or controlled pair.
(Thank you PF btw)

[GunRacer]

In my opinion, grip strength is hugely beneficial to shooting pistols well. Much has been said already and I don't have much more to contribute about that. Although, I will give you my two cents on overuse injures since that has come up several times now.

I'm an advocate of CoC grippers, however they WILL give you tendonitis if you use them incorrectly. I advise one set to failure with the heaviest gripper you can fully close 8-10 times.

If you use grippers on a regular basis you absolutely have to train your extensor muscles as well. If you don't you will have problems. Only training your crushing grip is like only training your biceps at the expense of your triceps. Not a good idea.

I don't think the expander bands work that well. I've been using a Sidewinder Xtreme #3 and I'm very impressed. It works [I]great[I] for toning your extensors.

In addition to CoC's and a Sidewinder I recommend farmer's walks with heavy kettlebells and wrist curls. Be sure to give your forearms a day to recover between workouts and whatever you do.... do not mindlessly click out high reps with grippers! That's how you get screwed up. Been there, done that.

By the way, I tend to think of friction as free grip strength. Regardless of your crushing strength, a solid thumbs forward grip combined with grip lotion and/or sandpaper will absolutely benefit your shooting.

Grip hard and prosper, my friends.