Fitness
Fitness Training
How to train grip strength for Red Bull Gym Clash and beyond
Whether you want to crush HYROX or stay functional as you age, building resilient grip is the ultimate performance level-up. Ida Mathilde Steensgaard explains how to build hand and forearm strength.
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Your grip strength reveals more about you than you might realise. If you train regularly, you know it's essential for exercises like pull-ups, farmers' carries, bent-over rows and, of course, the king of all compound moves: the deadlift. But, did you also know that both how long you can hold a grip and the force you can generate aren't just measures of strength? They're also key indicators of your overall health and longevity.
This insight emerged from a study of 140,000 people, which found that grip strength was a more accurate predictor of lifespan than many traditional biomarkers, including blood pressure. Further research reinforced this link, showing that stronger grip strength significantly increased the likelihood of living past 100. In the study, centenarians were found to be more than twice as likely to have had higher grip strength.
If you want to add life to your years, while also helping shave crucial minutes off your HYROX and Red Bull Gym Clash times time is a welcome bonus, it pays to spend more time gripping it than just ripping it.
Test your grip strength and more this year at Red Bull Gym Clash. Find out more here
Better grip strength means better health – genuinely
© Stefan Voitl/Red Bull Content Pool
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What is grip strength and why does it matter?
"Grip strength is your ability to hold, control and generate force through your hands and forearms," explains Danish HYROX and OCR athlete Ida Mathilde Steensgard, who has stood on over 100 podiums in her career. "It's important for exercises like carrying, hanging, pulling and lifting under fatigue."
As the force generated by the muscles of the hand and forearm – including the flexor digitorum superficialis and profundus, flexor pollicis longus, thenar and hypothenar muscles, as well as wrist flexors and extensors – grip strength is crucial to movements that involve holding and squeezing, like pull-ups, chin-ups and farmer’s carries.
Ida Mathilde Steensgaard's OCR experience means she has incredible grip
© Jesper Gronnemark/Red Bull Content Pool
Despite what many think, having functional grip strength isn't just about crushing a dynamometer, giving a firm handshake at work or repping three sets of 10 on a heavy deadlift. Not only will you improve your mind-muscle connection during certain exercises like kettlebell swings (while also building greater forearm strength and unilateral stability), but research has also found links between lower grip strength and lower bone mineral density, malnutrition, cognitive impairment and depression.
To help redress the balance, a simple at-home way to check your grip strength is to squeeze a tennis ball, stress ball, or water bottle as hard as you can for a few seconds. Generally speaking, aiming for a maximal squeeze for 30 seconds is a good benchmark of grip strength.
Ida Mathilde Steensgaard has moved into the HYROX Elite 15
© Brian Ching See Wing/Red Bull Content Pool
Most people only train grip passively – just from lifting. It's good to vary different kinds of grip training, incorporating both hand and forearm strength
Who is Ida Mathilde Steensgaard?
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Grip strength across different sports and workouts
For Steensgaard, a mix of "loaded carries, dead hangs, rope pulls, dead hangs in different grips and heavy pulls" help her to train her grip for demands in OCR and HYROX. These, she says, "transfer directly to obstacles, sleds and functional lifts."
As Steensgaard explains, how you build your grip strength comes down to what you're actually training for. "For OCR, I focus more on hanging endurance and awkward grips on ropes or rigs, which often require more technique and specific hand or finger strength,” she explains. "For HYROX, it's more about sustained farmers' carries and endurance grip under high heart rate."
Steensgaard also bolts on specific grip work after upper-body days and "cycles intensity, so my forearms stay strong both in power and endurance."
Hangs are a great way of building grip strength quickly
© Jose Duch/Red Bull Content Pool
Farmers' Carry is one of the truest tests of grip strength
© Leo Francis/Red Bull Content Pool
More HYROX and fitness stories to check out
What are the key exercises or techniques you focus on to develop grip strength and why do you think they're so effective across different fitness disciplines?
I prioritise loaded bouldering in a climbing gym. In normal gyms, exercises such like carries (KB, plates or bars), dead hangs, towel or rope pulls, hanging in different grips, heavy pulls and endurance grip in positions that transfer directly to obstacles, sleds and functional lifts.
How do you adapt your grip training for different competitions like OCR versus HYROX, or other functional fitness events?
For OCR, I focus more on hanging endurance and awkward grips such as ropes and rigs, which often require more technique and specific hand and finger strength. For HYROX, it's more about sustained farmers' carries and endurance grip under a high heart rate.
What are the most common mistakes you see people make when training grip strength and how can they avoid them?
Most people generally only train grip passively – just from lifting. It's good to vary the different kinds of grip training, both incorporating hand and forearm strength, endurance and dedicated, progressive work that builds resilient forearms and hands.
Ida Mathilde Steensgaard in action at the Hyrox World Championship 2025
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
Grip strength is your ability to hold, control and generate force through your hands and forearms. It’s important for exercises like carrying, hanging, pulling and lifting under fatigue
How do you incorporate grip work into your overall training program without overtraining your hands and forearms?
I place grip-specific work after key HYROX specific sessions and on upper-body days I keep volume controlled and cycle intensity, so my forearms stay strong both in power and endurance. Keep in climbing every second week as well, because it's fun!
Are there any unusual or unexpected methods you've found helpful for building grip strength that might surprise athletes in functional fitness?
Bouldering, towel pull-ups and even simple dead hangs between sets of pull-ups. Also, long sled pull work or heavier farmers' carries at competition weights.
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Tips for safe and effective grip training
Inevitably, not all grip strength is created equally. "Most people generally only train their grip passively from lifting, but it's good to vary the different kinds of grip training by incorporating hand and forearm strength, endurance and progressive work that builds resilient forearms and hands," says Steensgaard.
For those not competing at an elite level, you can still build resilient hands and forearms with simple, practical exercises: farmers' carries for 30–60s, wrist curls or reverse curls for 12–15 reps and finger squeezes with a stress ball for 15–20 reps. These moves not only boost grip strength and endurance, but also help prevent injury, reduce over training and make warm-ups more effective before lifting or sports.
Ida Mathilde Steensgaard takes students through rope climbing technique
© Davide Spiridione/Red Bull Content Pool
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Ida Mathilde Steensgaard's top exercises for grip strength
Dead Hangs: 30–60 seconds
- Find a sturdy overhead bar and grip it with an overhand, shoulder-width grip.
- Lift your feet off the floor, hanging freely with straight arms.
- Keep your shoulders 'active' by pulling them down and away from your ears, rather than letting your head sink into your shoulders.
Farmers' Carries: 30–60 seconds
- Hold a heavy dumbbell or kettlebell in each hand while standing tall, with your chest out and shoulders back.
- Take short, controlled steps and walk in a straight line, keeping your core braced to prevent the weights from swinging.
- Maintain a neutral spine and a firm grip until the time is up, then hinge at the hips to safely place the weights down.
Towel Pull-ups: 8–12 reps or 20–30 second hang
- Drape two towels over a pull-up bar, grabbing one in each hand with a vertical crush grip.
- Squeeze the fabric as hard as possible and pull your chest toward the bar, keeping your elbows tucked in.
- If a full pull-up is too difficult, simply perform a dead hang while holding the towels to build hand-specific strength.
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