When I wrote about ways to help improve grip for shooting, I forgot to mention a few things.

Extend the Index Finger

When we grip things in our daily life, we normally grip with our whole hand: all fingers and thumb involved. Think about how you’d grip a baseball bat or a hammer.

Of course, some things we might grip differently when we know we need a lighter grip, like how we might extend a pinky when we hold a champagne flute.

Think about how you grip a handgun. Your strong hand isn’t wrapped around the grip of the gun, but rather your index finger is extended. Where does your grip come from then? The last 3 fingers: middle, ring, pinky. Your weak/support hand may not extend its index finger, but still it’s grip must primarily come from those bottom fingers as well because it’s that pinky that really applies the counter-torque in grip technique.

Interestingly, this falls very well into the notion of “ki finger” (Google if you’re curious for more on that topic).

So when you work on your grip exercises, certainly work on whole-hand grip. But add variations where you extend your index finger (just point it straight out, like you’re making a “gun” with your hand/fingers) so you really add emphasis to your bottom 3 fingers in your grip work.

Mind Thumb Placement

When I’m at the gym, I no longer do direct work for my grip. It’s mainly an economy issue, because at least right now my grip is not something that back progress in my main lifts. I work to ensure I get grip work in everything I do where I can. That is, squats really won’t help with grip work, but deadlifts do. I get a lot of work on my grip when doing things like pull-ups and lat pulldowns. The trick is to ensure you are gripping hard and proper throughout the whole of that exercise; don’t let your fingers slip down to where they are barely hooking onto the bar, but grip and squeeze hard and make gripping part of the greater movement. Economy.

When you do this, try to see what you can do about your thumb placement. Now doing a max effort movement like a deadlift, you might just need to grip in whatever way is strongest. But when you’re doing assistance work, like say lat pulldowns, you can fiddle with your grip to work it. Note where your thumb wraps onto your fingers. If you’re like most people, your thumb likely overlaps your index and/or middle finger(s). This is a strong grip. Instead, try shifting your thumb over so it overlaps your ring or pinky finger. Try it right now. Make a fist with your thumb falling “naturally” over your index/middle finger and clench hard; feel where and what muscles tighten up. Relax, shift the thumb over to your ring finger, and clench again. Feels different? Different forearm muscles involved? That’s what you want: those wrist flexors.

A simple shift in where your thumb closes makes a difference. This isn’t to say that’s where the thumb should be placed when gripping the gun and shooting, but for strengthening purposes, it’s useful.