Exercises for building grip strength at home?
Longtime lurker here - a couple months ago I set myself a goal of being able to do pull ups and have been working up to them by doing bar hangs. I do 5 sets of set time increments, alongside my regular run and outdoor gym use 3 times a week.
I feel like my back and upper arms are getting stronger and I was really stoked to find I could hang stabley with my shoulders back engaged and even pull myself up a fraction!
However, I simply cannot hold it for more than 15 seconds. In the beginning my grip was wrong (giving me blisters because I was wrapping my palm around the bar) so I changed that and have done it correctly ever since, but my hands simply cannot hold it even if my arms and back are fine. I've been stuck on 15 seconds for about a month now and I've even had to cut it down to 10 seconds a few times, even with breaks and stretching.
I'm feeling disheartened because I'm on the heavier side and it makes me feel like I'm just too fat to be exercising. Working out at the outdoor gym is already stressful enough because people stare, and though I've lost a couple kilos over the last few months from running, being active, watching my diet etc. it's really humiliating to see people smirk at me for not being able to hold myself up for very long.
Does anyone have any suggestions for exercises I can do at home so I can build up my grip strength please?