Plate Pinch
What Is A Plate Pinch?
Plate pinch is a simple grip strength exercise that can be added into your arm training workouts to improve strength and muscular endurance in your hands, wrists, and forearms.
You might not spend as much time thinking about grip strength as you do the big compound lifts, but it's important to have some grip strength exercises in your training plan. Training grip strengthens your hands, wrists, and forearms which will allow you to hold heavier weights for longer.
Grip strength training directly translates to pull ups, kettlebell exercises, and barbell work (especially pulling and rowing exercises for the back). By improving your grip strength you will extend the amount of time you can hold on to weights without fatiguing. Grip and forearm strength training can also help prevent overuse injuries for people who use their hands all day at work.
Plate pinches are a simple exercise that you can do in any gym, since all you need is a weight plate. Add one or two grip and forearm exercises to the end of your workouts once or twice a week to improve your grip endurance, so you can lift heavier or add more reps on other exercises without your grip strength being the limiting factor.
Check out some other forearm and grip exercises: Farmers Walk, Wrist Curls, Wrist Extensions
Commonly Asked Questions About Plate Pinch
A plate pinch is a grip strength exercise performed by holding a weight plate between the thumb and fingers for as long as you can. Plate pinches train the strength and muscular endurance of your hands, wrists, and forearms so you can use heavier weights or do more reps when you use a barbell or pull up bar for other strength exercises.
Plate pinch is a good exercise for forearm strength, because it trains the muscles of your hands, fingers, wrists, and forearms. The challenge of holding a weight plate between your fingers fatigues the forearms and builds strength and endurance that translates into other resistance training exercises.
The challenge of plate pinches is endurance, so they should be measured by time rather than reps. Start with 20-30 seconds, repeated four times. Then build up to 60 seconds or as long as you can do.
Plate Pinch Tips
Start with a lighter weight and change to a heavier weight once you can do a plate pinch for 30 seconds.
Using two lighter weights in the same hand is more challenging than using one heavier plate (for example, two 5kg plates is harder than one 10kg plate).
Brace your core and glutes throughout the plate pinch to stabilise your body.
If you can’t hold a plate pinch for 30 seconds, do repeated sets of shorter time duration to build your grip strength.
How To Do A Plate Pinch
Select the plate you want to use and rest it on the floor next to you on its edge.
Grip the outside edge of the plate with your fingers on the outside and thumb closest to your body.
Stand up with the plate hanging down by your side.
Brace your core and glutes to keep your body stable throughout the exercise.
Pinch the plate as hard as you can during the exercise.
When you need to let go of the plate, lower it to the floor with control.
Repeat on the other side.
If you’re not sure if any of the above exercises are suitable for you, please consult your doctor before you start it. Need guidance on how to perform the exercise? Ask a personal trainer at your gym.