A fighter who uses a pinch grip tie is doing an over-under body lock. It is an action that uses a clinch hold as the fighters are both upright and grappling with each other. The pinch grip tie is an extended move of the over-under position, but the attacking fighter has both his hands locked tightly behind the back of his opponent.
Usually, the pinch grip tie is a neutral position. It means both fighters can be using the pinch grip tie on each other at the same time, but they are also struggling to get a stronger grip as a preparation for taking a more decisive position of dominance. The neutrality of the position lies in the fact that the fighters have the same hold on each other.
In the case where one of the fighters is ready to assume a different attacking position, he should have his hands locked and gripping each other palm-to-palm grip, palm-to-wrist grip, or fingers-to-fingers. He can use the pinch grip tie to throw down his opponent, but normally both fighters try to get a better and firmer hold on each other double using either the collar tie or double under hooks.
Fighters can make their pinch grip tie more powerful by improving their grip strength. They use a gi, which is a piece of garment that they slung over the pull bars and do pull-up exercises. They should sling the gi over the bars, making sure that the lapels are out, and then pull themselves up by gripping the latter.
As the lapels are thin, it appears easier said than done, and it is tough to hold a firm grip on them when doing a series of pull-ups. Fighters should lift themselves by gripping the lapels, then moving side to side, left to right. It is considered a successful exercise if they can do 12 of these pull-ups on the gi lapels continuously.
Two variations of this pinch grip tie strengthening exercise are doing pull-ups on the main material of the gi, and then pull-ups grabbing on to the gi’s turned up sleeves. The last is good practice for the spider grip guard.