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Starting Point / Potential


PeterSweden

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I've trained grippers in periods for maybe 2-2,5 years spread out over almost 5 years.

When I started grip training i managed doing a few sets of three reps with my rb160. It must be like coc1,5 or something.

I think my rb180 was like a coc2 and I got it to paralell.

Where did you start? At what level?

The reason I'm asking is because I've got a friend, my best friend in fact, that could close a 153 lbs coc3 mms the first time he tried grippers.

He also managed three TNSreps easily on my coc2,5 a few days after.

I've now gotten him hooked on grippers and he uses mine when we train on mondays and fridays.

We're 2,5 weeks, 5 sessions, from those first closes that I mentioned above.

Yesterday he missed my ghp8 177lbs by maybe 6mm.

Im thinking he might be the new Jonathan Vogt.

What Do you think?

There are people that do not believe me when I tell them how strong he is from the start.

I don't really care, cause most of them are petty and jealous.

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Strong for sure. I am average I think and started with a #2. 2.5 came a few weeks later.

Sounds like the guy will be a phenom.

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The guy is strong for sure....................but I don't know if that means he has a big "upside". If for example he has been working very hard for years at construction - mechanic - block layer etc he may be close to his potential already - I don't know if this is true of course. But if he's a computer jockey then he may well be able to improve for a long time to come. There is a big skill factor to grippers that he probably hasn't developed yet so he can without a doubt still get better - just no way to know yet exactly how much better he may get.

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The guy is strong for sure....................but I don't know if that means he has a big "upside". If for example he has been working very hard for years at construction - mechanic - block layer etc he may be close to his potential already - I don't know if this is true of course. But if he's a computer jockey then he may well be able to improve for a long time to come. There is a big skill factor to grippers that he probably hasn't developed yet so he can without a doubt still get better - just no way to know yet exactly how much better he may get.

He is 27 yrs old and has a semi-hard manual work now.

He hasn't been working hard with his body for many years.

He is big, 193cm and 117kg.

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The guy is strong for sure....................but I don't know if that means he has a big "upside". If for example he has been working very hard for years at construction - mechanic - block layer etc he may be close to his potential already - I don't know if this is true of course. But if he's a computer jockey then he may well be able to improve for a long time to come. There is a big skill factor to grippers that he probably hasn't developed yet so he can without a doubt still get better - just no way to know yet exactly how much better he may get.

He is 27 yrs old and has a semi-hard manual work now.

He hasn't been working hard with his body for many years.

He is big, 193cm and 117kg.

Looks like someone to keep an eye on then :)

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Chez closed a #3 within 2 weeks of picking up a gripper. Considering he's since closed a #4, I'd say this guy has a bright gripper future ahead of him.

Well, i'll just be turning in my man card now.

It's not where you start, it's where you end up.

A man's perseverance is what sets him apart.

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I don't know exactly where I was when I started (and I'm glad about that because I think it's bad to start with not being able to close grippers). If I had to guess I'd say I could probably have closed an avarage COC#1 for one or maybe two reps. I'm in the low 140's right now.

I've trained grippers in periods for maybe 2-2,5 years spread out over almost 5 years.
When I started grip training i managed doing a few sets of three reps with my rb160. It must be like coc1,5 or something.
I think my rb180 was like a coc2 and I got it to paralell.

Where did you start? At what level?

The reason I'm asking is because I've got a friend, my best friend in fact, that could close a 153 lbs coc3 mms the first time he tried grippers.
He also managed three TNSreps easily on my coc2,5 a few days after.
I've now gotten him hooked on grippers and he uses mine when we train on mondays and fridays.
We're 2,5 weeks, 5 sessions, from those first closes that I mentioned above.
Yesterday he missed my ghp8 177lbs by maybe 6mm.

Im thinking he might be the new Jonathan Vogt.
What Do you think?

There are people that do not believe me when I tell them how strong he is from the start.
I don't really care, cause most of them are petty and jealous.

That guy must be very strong. I've heard about people closing #3's on the first attempts before but all of them have been very strong people that spend most of their time in the gym. If he's not doing that he's definitely a freak of nature and should start to train seriously.

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He is strong in every aspect that I've seen.

He did 105kg benchpress first time he tried it too.

Tested him on my used RT and 80kg came up quite easily.

We're gonna try europinch and blockweights after our session on friday.

We're having a grip together, 5 guys coming over.

Only downside is that he is alittle lazy and not very motivated to train much.

Grippers have bitten him tho!

Gonna keep motivating him.

Well, i'll just be turning in my man card now.

Jahaha :))

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Chez closed a #3 within 2 weeks of picking up a gripper. Considering he's since closed a #4, I'd say this guy has a bright gripper future ahead of him.

Well, i'll just be turning in my man card now.

It's not where you start, it's where you end up.

A man's perseverance is what sets him apart.

I've got plenty of that. Could use some genetic help lol.

Peter, keep us updated on what this cyborg is up to.

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Chez closed a #3 within 2 weeks of picking up a gripper. Considering he's since closed a #4, I'd say this guy has a bright gripper future ahead of him.

Well, i'll just be turning in my man card now.

It's not where you start, it's where you end up.

A man's perseverance is what sets him apart.

I've got plenty of that. Could use some genetic help lol.

Peter, keep us updated on what this cyborg is up to.

He said he would update atleast once a week on instagram.

He already has a few vids there.

Man he did CCS my 140 lbs coc3.

Forgot that.

Saw it on his insta now.

The card isnt passed clean through cause he's not used to setting and stuff.

Edited by PeterSweden
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It's not where you start, it's where you end up.

A man's perseverance is what sets him apart.

Yeah, this.

I was about 1/2" from closing a #2 when I started training grip. I have always been into "athletics" but not strength training. More like basketball, cross country, track, that kind of thing. During the timeframe from 2006 to 2012 when I did most of my grip training, it was daily workouts of blood and grit and determination. I scarcely missed a single planned workout in 6 years and I feel I got to a pretty high level on grippers. I think I'm still the lightest Mash Monster by almost 15 pounds. During that whole time, I think my max gripper close actually exceeded by max bench press. Not that comparing those two numbers is anything like apples to apples, but just trying to make the point that it's not like I was overall strong. Very very average. But I trained grippers really hard and with a lot of passion and I think I maximized what was possible for me.

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It's not where you start, it's where you end up.

A man's perseverance is what sets him apart.

Yeah, this.

I was about 1/2" from closing a #2 when I started training grip. I have always been into "athletics" but not strength training. More like basketball, cross country, track, that kind of thing. During the timeframe from 2006 to 2012 when I did most of my grip training, it was daily workouts of blood and grit and determination. I scarcely missed a single planned workout in 6 years and I feel I got to a pretty high level on grippers. I think I'm still the lightest Mash Monster by almost 15 pounds. During that whole time, I think my max gripper close actually exceeded by max bench press. Not that comparing those two numbers is anything like apples to apples, but just trying to make the point that it's not like I was overall strong. Very very average. But I trained grippers really hard and with a lot of passion and I think I maximized what was possible for me.

Ok! :)

Did you get my mail about rated grippers?

We could need on in the low 160 and one in the high 160 to low 170.

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PETTER.BLOMQV for those who use instagram and want to follow him.

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I got a similar story. Had a bunch of grippers with me and a friend of mine closed a SM 130lb with a no set, easy. He has never touched a gripper before and works as a painter. He trains about one year now (gym) so has nowhere reached his potential yet. To bad that the next gripper I had with me was an Elite 186lb which he close beyond parallel with a no set. Next time I see him I will give him a 150lb gripper. See if he can close it with a no set.

It's great to see somebody who has so much potential. I also hope to get him into grip.

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It's always interesting to see what guys can do with grippers. I'm especially interested in no set performances by "average guys." Plus, it's usually how they tend to attempt a gripper. Or with a very shallow "set" with the other hand. I've seen some extremes over the last 15 years that I've tested coworkers on the grippers. The biggest outliers were:

  • Guy 1: 5'5" and 255lbs. In his 20s. Had a 565lb deadlift. Mid-400s paused bench in comp. Wrestled in high school and "felt" to me like he had a good grip (we had wrestled occasionally when I was a defensive tactics instructor) when he grabbed me or anyone else. He failed completely and miserably to no set close a #1. Only managed to close a Trainer after I spent about 10 minutes working with him on positioning the gripper in his hand. I didn't measure his hands, but they weren't "Burger King hands." If you don't know what I mean by that - I don't like you. :grin:
  • Guy 2: 6'1" and 165lbs. In his 30s. Had a 275lb deadlift. And a mid-150lb bench. Not a big weight trainer, obviously. But the first time he tried my grippers (and he assured me he had never touched a gripper other than a store-bought when he was a kid), he smashed (all no set) my Trainer, #1, Master, #2, and Super Master on the first attempt. That Super Master was never RGC rated. But it was pretty solid. At least in the high 120s.
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When I first started grippers (sporadically) about ten years ago, I could do one, maybe two reps with the #1. It took me well-over a year to close the #2, which was later rated at 107lbs. Most of these were closes from 30-40mm.

Nowadays, my best is a 136lb. #2.5 (MMS) and a 111lb. GHP5 (CCS), though, I don't spend much time with CCS.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Today he almost closed the 177lbs ghp8 mms. 2mm off. He struggle with the set when grippers go past 160lbs.

Then he closed 140lbs coc3 twice CCS.

2mm from CCSing 157lbs coc3!!!!

Then CCSing 146lbs coc3 twice.

There is no stoppning him!!

Also he tried 1hp on my euro and lifted 40kg both left and right.

Got 42,5kg half way up to lockout too.

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Yeah wow your friend is a monster! Does he do any work involving his hands by any chance?

To answer the question a #2 starting out and it was not easy.

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It's not where you start, it's where you end up.

A man's perseverance is what sets him apart.

Yeah, this.

I was about 1/2" from closing a #2 when I started training grip. I have always been into "athletics" but not strength training. More like basketball, cross country, track, that kind of thing. During the timeframe from 2006 to 2012 when I did most of my grip training, it was daily workouts of blood and grit and determination. I scarcely missed a single planned workout in 6 years and I feel I got to a pretty high level on grippers. I think I'm still the lightest Mash Monster by almost 15 pounds. During that whole time, I think my max gripper close actually exceeded by max bench press. Not that comparing those two numbers is anything like apples to apples, but just trying to make the point that it's not like I was overall strong. Very very average. But I trained grippers really hard and with a lot of passion and I think I maximized what was possible for me.

thanks for sharing Matt, I 've been thinking about this a lot in the past few months and wondering if it's even possible for lighter guys (165 or less) to go past MM1. You basically have to close grippers heavier than your bw. My max close was an RB 260 rated 155 but I only did that once and couple months ago which I was at my peak with grippers, now trying to move up again. I'm not gonna try the MM1 unless I can close my 156 and 160 MM rep consistently. That's gonna be my goal for next year, this year is almost over!

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Yeah wow your friend is a monster! Does he do any work involving his hands by any chance?

To answer the question a #2 starting out and it was not easy.

He does manual Labour but its not especially heavy.

His career has mostly been desk jobs up til a year ago.

Also, he stood on the scale a couple of days ago.

He does not weigh 117 like I thought, he weighs 128kg

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In 2004 I bought a number 1 and could do something like 8 reps out of the package. I promptly ordered a #2 and failed to close it out of the package by 3 or 4 mm but closed it within the Month.

Fast forward almost 12 years and I have only closed a 144 lb #3 a handful of times (MMS)...progress can be slow at times lol!

I, like Ben, have carried around my grippers to the workplace and had mostly everyone that would give them a try in the last decade or so attempt them. Number 1 closers were too frequent for me to recall a number, but so far I've had 4 people close my number 2 with no training, one of those guys repped it with apparent ease (mind was blown lol)...His name was Kevin and he was a very big guy though...6' 4" 400lbs.

2 of those closers were in their late 40's with absolutely no weight training. The fourth closer, Steve, in his early 20's at the time bought more grippers since and continued training grip...albeit mostly just grippers. He has no set closed a number 3 which I estimate to RGC in the upper 140's. Steve was the only guy who didn't have a background in manual labor but was an avid weight trainer.

I think another interesting thing to note is a very good friend of mine whose name I won't type here was over a 500 lb bencher, near 700 lb deadlifter and squatter...and a national champion freestyle wrestler in his youth struggled with a #1...badly...the first time I gave him mine to try....though he has since mms closed various number 3's...years later.

I guess the moral is it isn't where you start the journey that counts but where you end up.

But yeah, to answer your question your friend is a beast lol!

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First time he tries 1h pinch..

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gt-I3XCHD4E

This is after lots of gripper training and using a pony clamp til failure 3-4 times.

Its 27,5kg euro + 4x2,5kg + 2x1,25kg = 40kg.

If he hadn't been exhausted he would have looked out 42,5kg too. It only got half way up.

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