Difficulty: Intermediate

Category: Grip

Also Known As:

  • N/A

Pre-requisite Moves:

The Football Grip is a widely used variant to many inverted moves. The elbows help maintain extra points of contact while bringing the center of the body closer to the pole, allowing you to perform moves from the midsection-down with at least two points of contact.

How to Get into the Football Grip

Move Steps

For a right-handed hold, your right arm would be on bottom.

For a left-handed hold, your left arm would be on bottom.

 

  1. From an inverted position, place your top arm along the pole, pressing the pole firmly into the inside of your forearm with your elbow bent. This should feel like the top arm of a forearm grip shelf, only higher. The pole should be close to your chest, and your top hand on the outside of the pole.
  2. Move your bottom arm so that the pole is pressed along the outside of the forearm. This should feel like the bottom arm of an anchor grip. Your bottom hand should be on the inside of the pole, close to your cheek.
  3. From there, you can gently release any other points of contact and perform moves with your lower body.

Safety Tips

  • Don’t hang loosely from your shoulders in this move. Your shoulders should be down and back, away from the ear. You should feel strong down your back, lats, and shoulders when you are engaging these muscles.

This move previously appeared in our Guide to Grips and Holds article.

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