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What Is Your Grip History


speedy

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I think it would be interesting to here/read people taking us back to when they first got into gripping and how they ended up here.

I'll start:

For me it literally goes back to when I was in single digits (I am 40 now at 2014). My mother was a housekeeper and professional cook for these rich families and a lot of the time would take me with her to work instead of hiring a baby sitter. So entertaining myself usually resulted in TV, their piano, or just going through their stuff but trying not to make a mess.

I first saw a pair of plastic handle grippers at my mother's best friends apartment in NYC in her son's room which led to nothing but later I was at one of my mom's jobs where I found a pair of plastic handle grippers to which I remember my mom saying "Do you want a pair like that" and I do remember her taking me to a sport shop and we bought them:I couldn't even close them. Which is kind of funny if you think about the grippers I can close today.

I had those things for pretty much most of my life. I had bought new grippers here and there because I thought they were cool: all plastic handle grippers. Some with finger groove, others with padding and so on but I always had these first ones which later my father inherited from me after I got into COC's.

My gripping got to the point I would do endless reps on them when I was bored. Then jumping ahead many years later I was either married or dating my ex-wife at the time (not sure which), and I was going through a Maxim magazine and in there was a small article about something I never heard of before. COC also known as Captains of Crush grippers and they described them as the Ferrari of hand grippers (which if you read my reviews on Amazon is my title of my COC reviews). I was intrigued, and shortly after that article I was on their website and was eager to get my hands on them.

I am really not sure if I got the #1 or the Trainer or both. But I do remember the #1 at the time was a challenge and the Trainer was so easy I regretted buying it. I also later learned that a fitness store (no longer around) used to sell them store front. In fact, I used to impress the people at the store there when I pretended to know nothing about them and close the #1 in front of them with ease (which took some time) while the fit owner couldn't do it (I believe there was only T 1 & 3 I don't even think there was a #2 COC yet at this time).

From there I bounced between workout methodologies and always in some shape or form always came back to my grippers no matter what I was into.

To shorten this long winded story I eventually bought a ton of different gripping products to which I later sold, and eventually found my nitch of incorporating grip workouts within existing exercises I was already doing to kill 2 birds with one stone sort of speak. In time I found this place, and later Grippermania which years later shutdown.

After all this time I still come back here for the fact is I literally been into gripping since I was in single digits.

Your turn.

Edited by Iman74
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Great idea!

My father had those store bought plastic handle grippers for as long as I can remember.

He was a hobby powerlifter and gymathlete. Rather strong tho!

I remember sitting next to him on his bed, looking at him rep those plastic grippers for hundreds of reps per set.

One day he was passing 300 reps and the spring snapped :D I got so impressed!

Since then I was very much in love with grip strength and grippers.

When I got alittle older, 10 yrs old maybe, I started closing those grippers for a few reps on and off, nothing serious but once in a while I'd go and borrow his grippers.

I did this for a few years but then forgot about them.

Years later I was with my wife and a friend at a futuristic science museum and we tried different gadgets there.

One of those were a handle you could squeeze and the screen showed the poundage you were able to produce.

I remember my friend was ~100kg bw and much stronger than me cause he trained gym 4-5 times per week and I did nothing of the sort, I still beat him by a small margin. :)

He then started talking about captains of crush and how Magnus Samuelsson was the strongest gripper guy there was.

After that my life went on in its usual bad way and I went to jail.

Depressed and with low self esteem after just being released from prison I was browsing the internet and all of a sudden I came to think about our showdown on the crush machine a few years earlier and what he said about Magnus Samuelsson.

I googled Magnus and grip, got the name of the grippers, searched for it on youtube and I fell in love so hard!

I then started searching for places to buy captains of crush but I only found RBs.

The owner of the store said that they were the same as coc so I bought 3 of them!

When they came in the mail I started training 100%. I read everything I could about grippers and grip.

The day when they arrived I made this account!

I found David Wigren and Martin Arildsson on a swedish forum and they mentored me! :D thanks dewds!

They got me hooked on all aspects of grip and bending.

I had found my passion in life and was no longer in trouble with the law!

Grip saved me from a really bad future!

This was one of my first ever sessions on grippers;

RB160 4x3 both hands but my left got alittle assistance from my right hand.

(3weeks earlier, first session, 1(Lefty) 2(Righty) x2, 2lefty 3 righty with alittle cheating.)

RB180 3x8sec Crush holds just beyond paralell..

RB210 3x3sec crush holds, paralella handles.

RB180 cheatclose and Held shut 3x5sec.

RB130 (Lefty)30-(righty)35, (lefty)20-(righty)30

I love grip! Its nice to find something to be passionate about, a real hobby!

Edited by PeterSweden
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I was born in Soviet Union and I was on a basketball team as a kid, and I remember they tested us on a dynamometer and some kind of pulmonary device, and I was younger than most guys there and my dyno score was most likely the worst on the team. Years later I had cheap ass plastic grippers from Everlast, and I wondered there has to be something stronger, and I stumbled into Ivanko Supergripper at Paragon Sporting Goods, which is a fancy sporting goods store. I still have that ISG. Some of you probably remember in the late 90's Brooks Kubik amd Dinosaur Training was big, and he mentioned training your grip. I became a member here in the early days of gb though I rarely post.

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I started bodybuilding at the age of 13 after reading Arnolds first book. Thins then i was obsessed. Dieting was never my strength, and my stucture was not good enough too place good in competitions. Around 2004 i switched to westside style powerlifting. After i partly ruptured my biceps at work ( bouncer ) i switched my deadlift grip to double over hand. I pulled 280 kg at that time. To strenghten my grip i orderd a few COS's ( Trainer - # 2,5 ). I could close the #2 back then. I did not use them a lot back then. After some health problems and injuriys my powerlifting focus switched a litle more to kettlebells and becoming healthy and loose weight. In spring 2013 i ruptured my rotator cuff. I had three surgerys bur they couldn't repair it anymore. In spring 2014 i remembered my COC's. I needed a new goal. I could still do a few reps with the 1,5. I set the goal to cert for the #3. I am injured at the moment but i hope to restart training with full force in january 2015.

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As many of you, I grew up watching worlds strongest man. I was always obsessed with feats of strength, but any attempt at weight training didn't last. I too bounced to make a living, and that lifestyle took a toll. After three years, and plenty of injuries, I left it for traveling. I ended up getting a job sailing large wooden schooners in key west and the east coast. Part of the culture of sailing aboard 150' traditional sailboats is "one-up-man ship". Plenty of drunk'n feats of strength almost all revolving around grip.

I was strong as a bull at that point. Handling thick lines all day made my grip tough. I ended up rising to mate and getting a 100ton captains license very quickly. I became known as the guy that used to hand over hand the 1" wire to the top of the mast 110' up!, the guy that could do pinky pull-ups, or one middle finger pull-up!.....

What I didn't mention was the first ship I worked on, the captain that hired me, ended up being my wife! Sailing does little to assist relationships, so after a few years, we "swallowed the anchor"! And moved ashore. I began building wooden boats, and now I'm known as one of a very few to restore the surviving wooden tallships. This means that I've had a nine pound hammer in hand daily for the nine years at the shipyard! This I assume is what has built my foundation for grip strength. I now run the shipyard, and all of the projects. I just won a contract this week to completely restore a 110' wooden ship for the state of Massachusetts. $6m over the next four years. Ha, I'm thinking of using a coc2 to test the grip of any new hires. That would be pretty funny to see.

Back to the grip part of the story... My back, elbows, shoulders, knees have suffered badly from the nature of my work. Lots of unbalanced lifting. Grip has turned into my new obsession, and doesn't tax any of my old injuries yet. I am slowly getting back into shape, I do yoga three times a week and stick to a strict diet to keep joint pain at bay. Hopefully grip training will be a gateway to getting back into shape.

This Board is amazing at helping new guys. I would not have been interested had it not been for everyone here.

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Good topic!

Chops if you don't mind me asking, what was your weight when you did pull ups with your pinky and/or middle finger?

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Lived on the boats and dont remember having a scale. I would say just over 175. I am about 190 now. Havent tried them in years.

You ever tried them? I am thinking of getting eagle loops and getting back to pullups that way. My shoulders arent in great shape anymore though.


I should add that these pullups were holding onto 1/2"-3/4" line. Not on a bar.

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Chops,

Tried them before but can't remember if I did the middle finger definately not pinky. But I remember doing two fingers for reps (4 to 7 reps)

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I'm disappointed there aren't more stories, so I'll dive in even though I'm not as strong as most of the grippers here. Hopefully more will join in.

I've been a desk jockey most of my life. I'm on the small side at 5'7" and not known for my strength. I started a few years ago with the CoC T and #.5 and #1. I didn't think I'd ever be able to close the #1, but I did, thanks in part to Piche's workout and Jedd's guidance. I remember bringing the #1 to work and only one person could close it (along with the incentive that anybody that could close it could leave work early). A large co-worker said something was wrong when he couldn't close it. I agreed...that he wasn't strong enough. Some people I give hints on how to close the grippers. With him, I didn't. It was too funny watching him stomp off. Since then I've been given multiple doses of humility...

After recently dealing with a pain in my forearm that went on for longer than I care to admit, I finally found out, after 2.5 hours in an MRI machine that I had a partially ruptured distal bicep tendon. The doctor said he'd only seen two in twenty plus years as an orthopedic doctor. Yay me! (Note heavy dose of sarcasm.) Once I realized what was wrong, I went heavy on the rest. I've been back for a few months and I now regularly close the #1.5 for time. I am very close on closing the #2 - I've been close for way too long.

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Keep it up Don, just make sure you listen to your body. Something that has helped me when I used to train with grippers specifically is train with something harder than your goal. So for your situation you are training for the #2. Now if you go to Cannon's site and see the chart of the grippers I would train with negatives on something harder than a #2: which according to his chart is http://cannonpowerworks.com/collections/strength-advancedGHP Level 5.

I found when I was training for something harder than the goal itself, and testing myself every 3 months or so on the goal itself, that my improvements were significant. While my training barely contains grippers (mostly negatives on the side of my bed with a #2.5), I found it really makes an improvement. So taking my suggestion, do a force close with a GHP 5 and hold it as long as you can. Goal should be about 10-seconds. Keep that up for about 3 days a week and every few months or so when you are fresh and feel beastly do a close on the #2 and see how much closer you are.

I have used the same philosophy for my pull-up goal. I was peaking at 8 dead-hang pull-ups for months. I researched here and there and then remembered my philosophy and take that plus some ideas I got into weighted pull-ups. By keeping my reps/sets small and adding weight every 2 weeks, by the time I reached to 50lbs attached I surpassed my limit of 8 with complete ease.

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Thank you Iman. I happen to have quite a few grippers in the range around and above the #2. So far they've been pretty useless. I've been doing closes from light to heavy. I'll add even heavier with some force closes.

I also have been playing with a 30lb 'mini-blob'. I was able to pick it up for the first time last week. I've been working my thumb pad with the blob and a modified clamp.

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I'm disappointed there aren't more stories, so I'll dive in even though I'm not as strong as most of the grippers here. Hopefully more will join in.

I've been a desk jockey most of my life. I'm on the small side at 5'7" and not known for my strength. I started a few years ago with the CoC T and #.5 and #1. I didn't think I'd ever be able to close the #1, but I did, thanks in part to Piche's workout and Jedd's guidance. I remember bringing the #1 to work and only one person could close it (along with the incentive that anybody that could close it could leave work early). A large co-worker said something was wrong when he couldn't close it. I agreed...that he wasn't strong enough. Some people I give hints on how to close the grippers. With him, I didn't. It was too funny watching him stomp off. Since then I've been given multiple doses of humility...

After recently dealing with a pain in my forearm that went on for longer than I care to admit, I finally found out, after 2.5 hours in an MRI machine that I had a partially ruptured distal bicep tendon. The doctor said he'd only seen two in twenty plus years as an orthopedic doctor. Yay me! (Note heavy dose of sarcasm.) Once I realized what was wrong, I went heavy on the rest. I've been back for a few months and I now regularly close the #1.5 for time. I am very close on closing the #2 - I've been close for way too long.

I agree! More people should join in :)

A tip for you;

I've tried everything there is for grippers and progress was always slow.

This is the only reasonable thing that gave me good gains :D

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May aswell tell everyone abit more about myself.

When i was 10 or 11 i watched rocky 4 for the first time, inspired by the film i started working out, hundreds of sit ups and push ups each night. I got my first weight set a few years later and was quite into bodybuilding by the age of 14. I saw on the youtube paul knight using grippers so i decided to buy myself some heavy grips as they were all i could find. Closed the HG150 and 200 out the box and messed about with them for a few years but when i was 16 or 17 i got the 250, 300 and 350. Took me a while to close the 250 and 300 but i managed it and then when i was 17 i brought the captains of crush. the #3 felt like a brick, could not even set it let alone crush it alittle! A few years of heavy squats, deads and bench and training and consistant training with the number 3 brought my gripper strength up.

A month after my 18th birthday i went to South africa for 40 days with nothing but a #3 and a hose clamp, trained every few days with this, also did lots of wood chopping, atlas stones with a 70kg boulder. Note i also went from 66kg to 76kg in this time so when i came back i had bulked up and toughned up, but also relaxed and had a few steaks. I came back from south africa, bent a few horseshoes and finally closed the #3 shortly after my 18th birthday! Now im chasing other goals! Settled down now at a comfortable 77kg, 24.2lbs heavier than july.

Not as impressive grip history as some of the others but enjoy anyway guys, bit more about me.

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Feels like many of us owe Paul Knight a big thanks for alot things in grip :D

Gripper setting technique and inspiration for me foremost!

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Feels like many of us owe Paul Knight a big thanks for alot things in grip :D

Gripper setting technique and inspiration for me foremost!

Yes sirrr!! inspirational guy.

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Not grip history....

Watched a video on YouTube of Wiggy bending some nails. I said "I can do that, how hard can it be?" Turns out I couldnt. So now I had to challenge myself. I trained until I could bend those nails. Then trained more and more and more. I promised myself I would be one of the best. So, I'm still training. My grip strength is carry over from bending. Not special or crazy but strong enough to close some grippers. That's the very very short story.

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Started lifting about 55 years ago.

Started climbing about 30 years ago

Started Grip Sport about a decade ago

Managed a few things along the way - and have fun doing it still.

The whole story is WAY too long

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Started grip training year 2007 because one dude said that IM#3 cert is harder thing than 300kg bench with bench shirt. I didn´t know what is gripper but I have benched over 200kg raw. I ordered IM#3 & 4 and when they arrived I could´t close IM#3 (10mm open). This woke up my interest because then I was just snapped my pectoralis major at raw bench and I needed something to do during my rehabilitation.

13610113.t.jpg

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Ahh damn Juha! You have to warn us before you post pics like that! :D

I know a couple who have snapped their pecs like that and only one of them got an operation, the other one didnt.

Did you go to the emergency Room right away when it snapped?

Did you feel anything before it snapped? Training with sore muscles or some pain a long time?

How heavy was the weight that hurt you?

Are you back to full recovery?

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Ahh damn Juha! You have to warn us before you post pics like that! :D

I know a couple who have snapped their pecs like that and only one of them got an operation, the other one didnt.

Did you go to the emergency Room right away when it snapped?

Did you feel anything before it snapped? Training with sore muscles or some pain a long time?

How heavy was the weight that hurt you?

Are you back to full recovery?

1st I went public hospital and all we know that it´s same as nothing. Ultrasound showed only 2-3cm tear in my pec. Puplic doctor said that I must rest two weeks and after that start rehabilitation with rubber band. I didn´t believe that shit and I contacted one of Finnish best sport surgeon and his group did to me magnetic resonance imaging. My pectoralis major was ruptured to two pieces (96%) and tendon was separated from my humerus. They operated me and after that I had to go trough over year lasting difficult rehabilitation.

Weight was at bench 200kg and accident happened at 2nd rep negative lowering.

I´m not anymore as strong as I used to be. Now I have benched 1RM 200kg at gym and 180kg at official raw contest. But they did excellent job with my pectoralis. It has lasted already seven years.

When I was at my best shape before accident I benched 10x190kg. Now only 10x160kg because in my mind stayed lasting mark of my accident. I still can here that horrible sound when pectoralis teared. It sounds like jeans were teared but much louder sound.

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Mine tearing dropped me, felt like nothing id ever felt before. Only been 3 years post op for me... Still weaker on my injured side.

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Great to hear that you are back to normal!

Those negatives are dangerous :(

Public hospitals are shit.

Bicykle repairers who moonlights as doctors.

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WoW Juha :S Glad to see you back strong and healthy :rock You are an inspirer and I love it :rock Stay healthy and strong and continue becoming stronger. I should visit you one day and learn from you! My left shoulder ruptured last year in end of December and stopped training from then till this week, I started again. My shoulder hurts now a bit, but I hope it's only the soreness of weak muscles. Stupid me bent hard stuff and military pressing too yesturday :p What other things helped you in rehabilation?

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