Evan's Grip Strength And Bodyweight Training

[Evan Raftopoulos]

I will be posting here some of my training vids. I already have a training log on blogger since April 2015. I have been training every day for the past 55 days. During the past couple of months I went from 165 to 156 lb. I do a combination of Grip Sport, bouldering, anw obstacle course training, body wt exercises, arm wrestling training, some boxing and a little bit of powerlifting. I feel stronger than ever. For those who don't know me I'm 31 originally from the island of Cyprus living in the US the past 11 years.

This is from today's training after bouldering. 1 arm dead hang +75 lb for 34 sec:

[JoshW]

Glad to see you finally logging man.

[Evan Raftopoulos]

Glad to see you finally logging man.

thanks Josh, I’ve been posting my training all over the board lately and I thought it might be a good idea to keep everything together here instead. I'm not planning on posting everything I do here though. Just a place to share what I feel like sharing.

Edited August 9, 2015 by Evan Raftopoulos

[JoshW]

Whatever I do strength wise that day I just post on my log, sometimes videos when it's worth sharing but mostly just a brief outline, it's useful for when I need to look back at what I've been doing and if others want to know how I train etc

[Evan Raftopoulos]

training from today(ninja warrior gym and bouldering gym)

bad recording for the first set of floating board pullups, you can't see my hands

(full report of my training is at my blog)

Edited August 10, 2015 by Evan Raftopoulos

[Evan Raftopoulos]

I believe 231 and 241 lifts are good ( 10 or more inches/world of grip rules). 251 does not seem to be a good lift.The 241 is a PR.

I didn't feel strong with crush today but I was happy with how far I closed the choked mm2

[Evan Raftopoulos]

I think if the 251 was good it would have been unofficial WR for 74K

[Evan Raftopoulos]

303 lift is good and new PR at 194% BW

[Evan Raftopoulos]

haven't tried these in a while

[Evan Raftopoulos]

did bouldering for about an hr, rim lift and then I tried deadlift with eagle loops for the first time

I would have gone a bit heavier but it was past midnight and the gym was closed. Next time.

[Evan Raftopoulos]

did many things today including chest flyes machine elbow 90 /wrists flexed 205lb (full capacity) focusing on explosiveness, devon larratt hook tarining at preacher curl bench with up to 100 lb dumbbell, wirst curls with up to 100 lb dumbbell (neutral to flexion), choker closes GM 154 from 20mm and some body wt training at the end with fatgripz

[Evan Raftopoulos]

worked with the 2" and 2.5 crusher. This is the 2.5, best attempt 138.5 with my R (sorry the vid is a bit blurry)

(loading pin +crusher =11lb)

did some one arm deadhangs with fatgripz right after.

does anyone know what the longest one arm dead hang with fatgripz is?

Also worked with my 41 lb blob, almost lifted it from the ground, I'm able to hold it up for about 1-2 sec but not lift it from the ground yet.

Working now with the levertop, orbigrip, and grippers as I'm typing this.

Edited August 15, 2015 by Evan Raftopoulos

[JoshW]

Hey evan do you do any shoulder press either with db or barbell?

Trainings looking very solid and well rounded by the way mate.

[Evan Raftopoulos]

Hey evan do you do any shoulder press either with db or barbell?

Trainings looking very solid and well rounded by the way mate.

thanks Josh, I haven't been doing any shoulder press, from "regular" lifts I've been doing bench press flat or decline ,deadlift or rack lift with or without fatgripz and squats. These have not been my main focus though, I do each once a week at most. I've been doing a lot of handstands for time and sometimes handstand pushups on the parallettes.I tried shoulder press couple months ago I think 60-65kg and my back was too sore from one arm deadlifts and the overhead press aggravated it.Since then I haven't tried it again but I'm willing to give it a try again. Before last Spring I haven't been doing any heavy lifting at the gym since my early twenties.

how is your training going? I see your goal is shoulder press 100kg? that sounds like a lot of wt brother! I'm sure I'm nowhere near that.

[JoshW]

Sounds reasonable, I've had back problems and cuff problems from heavy shoulders but since I've focussed on it alone and dropped bench for now sort of I feel a lot better!

Yes I'm training for a 100kg press! I'm currently at 70kg paused strict and a BW push press of 75kg but that was a while ago if I focussed on bringing up my front squat and my fast twitch fibres in my shoulders I should be good for 80kg push press. But it's a long way to go before I get 100kg!

[Evan Raftopoulos]

today I did squats up to 344 lb x 4 but I doubt that I went past 60 degrees at the hips. In between sets I did attempts on the 2.5 crusher, I went up to 144lb but I don't think I got to fully locked position. My 138.5 lift from yesterday is better. Also did a few partial and negative pullups on 2inch pinch block.

The gym closed early today so I continued my training at the gym parking lot. Did some choker work with grippers up to 3.5. I used my other hand to assist with stabilizing the gripper. I know this is very very far from actually MMSing a 3.5 but I'm happy with my progress.

this is the progression

GM 159, 20mm choked 8-9 sec assisted hold
Elite 165, 17mm choked 3 sec assisted hold
CoC 3.5 -179, 13 mm choked assisted close attempt, sorry for the loud grunting, I gave it my all

I was also able to hold my 41 lb blob for ~4 sec.

Edited August 16, 2015 by Evan Raftopoulos

[Evan Raftopoulos]

from today's training

[Evan Raftopoulos]

[Evan Raftopoulos]

For the most part I trained 2 hand pinch today with a 2" block I got from a friend here 2-3 weeks ago. Last time I tried this I was at 147lb today I was able to go up to 162 lb. I think that this is mostly due to improvement in technique and becoming more comfortable with pinch grip lifts. Any feedback on technique is appreciated. Would like to experiment with a euro device to see if this grip width is optimal for me.

block/pin = 12lb

current bw =156

Also did one arm deadlifts with the 2" crusher up to 165, and then a few one arm chin up attempts with it (partials).

Earlier at work I did some wrist curls from neutral to flexion with up to 25lb plate.

EJ's mm2 replica 156lb arrived today and very excited about it as it seems to be the perfect trainer for MM1.

Edited August 18, 2015 by Evan Raftopoulos

[Evan Raftopoulos]

August 18, 2015

one arm deadlifts 2.5 crusher up to 141.5 lb

Rim lift up to 173lb

one arm pulldowns with 2.5 crusher up to 120lb x 4 each side

tried this at the end of my workout

worked a bit with my 41 lb blob, got very close to lifting it from the ground

Edited August 19, 2015 by Evan Raftopoulos

[Evan Raftopoulos]

part of today's training

GM 156lb hold for time (wasn't fuly closed)

wrist developer attempts, still not sure what the levels are with the orange spring. Almost had it at 5-4and also attempted 5-5. Any feedback on technique is welcome. It seemed to me that at higher levels this is testing more the connective tissue capacities in the webbing of the thumb vs just strength.

OAC x 3:

also worked a bit with the RB 60MM handle one arm deadlifts, that thing is very slippery and spins a lot, went up to 140lb.

Levertop up to ~65 lb strict form L and R

20 lb with coin lift

[Evan Raftopoulos]

latest attempt on the 2.5 crusher tonight. 141lb

[Evan Raftopoulos]

one arm lock-offs

[Evan Raftopoulos]

had to stop the lock-offs because my abs were burning, my arms could tolerate longer.

Edited August 21, 2015 by Evan Raftopoulos

[Evan Raftopoulos]

Went to the gym around 1000pm with only 3 hrs of sleep the night before. It was one of those days that I had to push myself to get to the gym and I'm happy I did.

I started with j deadlifts with eagle loops. Did total of 7 sets up to 605 lb. First time I'm lifting something so heavy (almost x4 body wt)

also did

-table curls up to 90 lb dumbbell x 8 L and R, elbows mostly stayed in lock position and I was leaning forward and back (bicep isos)

- pronation at cable machine with towel (top roll training)

- 10 muscle ups focusing on explosiveness, they felt very easy

- in the parking lot I worked a bit with the wrist developer up to level 12 orange spring and some grippers mostly my off hand and CCS attempts with Coc 2.5 (got very close).