In the past month, I've really been spending the time outside of the wods to work on my biggest "goat": my grip.
When I got my 44 pull-up PR a little over a month ago, I wondered if my grip was the limiting factor to develop my pull-ups. A few days later, I tested my how long I could hang from the bar without letting go. I got 1 minute and 15 seconds. Now, I don't know how long 44 pull-ups takes me to do, but I guessing it takes me pretty close to that 1 min 15 second mark. Or at least close enough to the time where my grip starts to slip making pull-ups way more difficult.
2-3 times a week since then, I've been doing addition sets of bar hangs, farmers walks with dumbells, kettlebells, and rubber plates, and holding both heavy and light bars with 2 hands, even with 1 hand.
Within 1.5 weeks, my max bar hold time increased to 1:30. Last week, I got 1:40
Today, I held on for 1 minute 53 seconds! My goal is to build up to at least 3 minutes. I think that would be a pretty good standard.
How's your grip? See how long you can hold onto the bar, and if it is the limiting factor in your pull-ups, give it some extra work 2-3 x a week. The great thing about additional grip training is you can get so much benefit out of it without over taxing your body and risking recovery. It won't just help your pull-ups, it will help every single movement in which you have to hold onto a bar, including heavy deadlifts)
(also if you tend to rip your hand during workouts even when taking care of your hand, most times it happens because your grip gives out, causing you to move your hand to a less than ideal position, and then doing pull-ups from this new position. Want to rip less? Get a stronger grip!)
