"Towel holds" for grip strength

[Simon.]

I've seen people around here say if one's having grip problems he should do some barbell holds at the end of his workouts...
How about -=towel holds=-? I just tried and it's brutal, I can't hold myself for more than about 12 seconds :/
Wouldn't those be better than barbell holds because here you use your thumb as well?
Anyway I never did see anyone write how exactly is one supposed to do this... 3 sets of the max time you can hold on? Will doing this every other day be ok?

[Matthew]

Have you tried towel pullups?

[Simon.]

Well yes but my grip won't allow me to do more than 4-5 :/ (my max is 14)

[von_Hayes]

I also use the rope (for tricep ext.) place it over the power rack bar on top and do pull ups like that.

[Matthew]

Then work your way up to doing more, just like any other exercise. You don't have to use them, it's just a suggestion.

[Q.]

Originally posted by mAtThEw:
Have you tried towel pullups?

Most every time I drop one!

[GqArtguy]

Surprisingly, its been my experience, and that of other people much stronger than me, that there is little carryover from thick bar work to regular bar work. Mostly due to the fact that you cant hold very much in the thick bar to have any decent carryover. For example, I could hold a thick bar with 225lb for about 30sec but I could hold well into the 400's with a regular bar. So unless you have a specific reason to train with a thick bar, youd be better off trying to increase your regular support grip.

If you want to use your thumb when holding onto something, use a hook grip.

[Mister X]

If you want grip training info, I would suggest checking out The Gripboard:

http://www.gripboard.com/

Also, I'm a fan of Iron Mind's "captains of crush" grippers. People say there's no crossover from crush grip to supporting grip, but I know my fingers aren't giving out on curls & deads like they used to.