Grip strength is one of the most important contributors to a successful weight lifting practice.
There are a few types which will be discussed later, as well as the best way to improve it.
Grip strength, or hand strength involves your hands, fingers, palms, wrists and forearms.
Any weakness in those body parts will limit your ability to lift, and to do other sports such as wrestling or rock climbing.
When your hand strength is high, you will be able to lift correctly, using an incredible amount of power behind the lift.
The four types of grip strength that were alluded to before are crushing grip (such as a handshake), supporting (maintaining the crushing grip), pinch grip strength (grabbing a weight between your thumb and forefinger) and wrist strength (measured by lifting a chair by a leg with one hand and keeping it level while lifting it up and down).
These grips are not improved as once thought, by sitting in front of the television and utilizing a "gripping" exerciser.
The forearms are one of the muscle groups that must be progressively overloaded in order to build muscle and gain strength.
Because of this, they should only be worked twice a week.
Because these muscles are central to so many exercises, you need to be aware of what exercises you are doing when, and what muscles they are working.
You may only need to specifically work your forearms once a week as they are touched upon during other exercises.
There are ways to "artificially" improve your grip strength until you have built up and improved upon your own muscles.
Some weightlifters use straps, chalk or sprays and talcs made specifically for grip improvement.
If you want to use straps, they should be fixed firmly around your wrists and then wrapped around the bar so that you can lift more weight without relying so strongly on grip strength.
This will not help to improve your grip strength, but will help work out and strengthen your back muscles.
Straps are designed for and should only be used during a dead lift or while doing heavy bent over rows.
Gloves should never be used during weightlifting.
They will make your grip thicker because of the padding and you will not be able to feel the bar.
As you work the many muscle groups involved in your grip strength, you will see an improvement in your weightlifting abilities.
Keep in mind though that your hands will be stronger than ever, try not to "impress" anyone by breaking their hands in a handshake!