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Ideas For Grip Machines


Teemu I

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I'd like to share and discuss a few ideas I have. I don't claim these to be all original ideas but more like something that have matured through all that I've seen and through my own training.

Now this first idea is not the innovation I am greatly excited about, but still thought to share it. Lately I have been thinking about just setting a steel bar to appropriate height and then use a loading pin together with revolving handle to mimic the action of a grip machine but without the restraints machine has. I would think revolving handle would be of some benefit. Also the fact that you would be able to extend your wrist more during the close would be perfect when looking for gripper specific crushing strength. Now this is a cheap thing to do and I probably will set this up when I return to training for grippers.

Now my second idea, if I get this type of machine built that I am going to describe here I think it would be good. The fact that you can and most likely will cheat somewhat with almost any standard grip machines by shrugging or pulling upwards with your body is a reason why I haven't purchased or had a grip machine made just yet. If I had all the necessary tools to build a prototype machine that would help to prevent this cheating, I would have already done that myself. My idea (again, not so original as Kinney's original SW already addressed this issue in a way, but my idea is more evolved) to prevent this cheating would be to force you to push down against the resistance provided by two compression springs that would be placed under the ends of the upper handle of the grip machine. This would be built so that full close on this machine would not be possible unless you really pushed it down hard. In addition to preventing cheating, this would be more similar to torsion spring grippers in a way as I believe from my experience that there is always more palm pressure with TSG's as there is with any grip machines.

Now the obvious difficulty with this design would be to find suitable compression springs that would provide appropriate level of resistance for the upper handle. I think this could be made adjustable somehow, maybe with just some different length solid pieces inside the uprights that would be the stoppers for the springs. I would want it to provide enough resistance to resemble what it feels like to hold bigger grippers such as hard #4's or even BB Pro's closed. I did a lot of extended handle eccentrics with BB Pro in the past when I was at my best with grippers and was deep set closing 201 lbs #4, I noticed back then how beaten my palm got with those extended handle negatives but never came even close to feeling even any mild discomfort when I was doing eccentrics with my SW. My opinion about that fact is that this feel of great pressure HAS to be there if you want to come even close to simulating how a big gripper feels like.

Maybe a similar feel to grip machine could be achieved with upper handle that has extension springs on top, but I just have harder time visualizing how it could be built on a guillotine type machine. :) For SW, this could be made very easily I think! Most likely I will make an SW or have one made that has an extension spring for the upper handle that is of course not fixed but moves.

A real high-tech grip machine would have pressure measurement sensors showing you how much pressure you are applying against the upper handle. Ideally whatever weight you are using on the grip machine you would have to be applying similar pressure against the upper handle with your palm and if you are not, you are in fact cheating.

I would love to see someone to put these ideas to use and come up with a grip machine that would force you to really apply pressure against the upper handle with your palm.

I would like to hear what some of the highly skilled DIY-guys think of all this. :) Aaron Corcorran? Anyone else?

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Yep, that is exactly what I meant for Secret Weapon! :) Fish scale would be great if you could calculate how much the number it shows would mean against the palm.

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Yep, that is exactly what I meant for Secret Weapon! :) Fish scale would be great if you could calculate how much the number it shows would mean against the palm.

I think it could be measured with, for example, 50mm wide strap and weights like RGC.

Thinking more it would be even more cool if that spring attach to winch so force would be totally adjustable :)

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Thinking more it would be even more cool if that spring attach to winch so force would be totally adjustable :)

Maybe not.

Handles should have limited range of motion so you need to move both handles to make close.

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Yep, that is exactly what I meant for Secret Weapon! :) Fish scale would be great if you could calculate how much the number it shows would mean against the palm.

I think it could be measured with, for example, 50mm wide strap and weights like RGC.

Well, that would be simple I think. So simple I forgot about it. :D
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Very interesting idea. I have a number of different new designs for grip equipment in my to be built backlog list but not anything quite like that. I'm really enjoying one of the new pieces that I finally had a chance to prototype though. Very simple and allows for increased resistance in the eccentric aspect of a torsion gripper close. So you can close a gripper concentrically comfortably then fight it out with a higher resistance or just fight to keep it closed with a much higher resistance. Arthur Jones of Nautilus had some great insight on this type of training in the Nautilus training bulletins. It is awesome.

Best of luck,

- Aaron

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Aaron, that sounds like a really great idea. I am curious what that looks like. Hard to imagine it.

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Aaron, that sounds like a really great idea. I am curious what that looks like. Hard to imagine it.

If I get a chance, I will make a short vid of it in action for you. Send me a PM with your email address and I can send you a link and we can potentially discuss some other options.

- Aaron

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Very cool idea Teemu... I was thinking, if there was a way to put springs on the bottom handle too, then it would even more realistically mimic a gripper close, as it would get harder to crush the closer the handles get, and then your adjustable weight would determine the strength of it...

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gallery_16203_1350_54910.jpg

Something like this?

I don't get it, couldn't you just push down with your body weight.

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With a normal SW you could see if one was pulling up if the person was standing on a scale. So say you weigh 200# and when holding the lever handle you suddenly are 350# you are pulling up 150# with the body. If you were only squeezing with the hand only then the scale would stay the same.

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gallery_16203_1350_54910.jpg

Something like this?

I don't get it, couldn't you just push down with your body weight.

If you read my original post starting this thread, you would know that I said that is exactly the problem with any regular grip machine. Of course that is what you try to do, but problem is the tendency to cheat on these and do it too lightly. Plus if you push down with body, I say nobody is pushing down hard enough to really simulate what a real heavy TSG feels in terms of palm pressure.

One more thing. Nobody has the body awareness to make this body weight push down consistent. This does make a difference to your training. A huge difference, it doesn't matter if you are using grip machine to try to get just plain stronger or use the SW for gripper specific training.

Let's say you add something like 5-10 lbs to grip machine from your previous workout. There is no way anyone can tell if they are also pushing down exactly that much harder without any of the aforementioned improvements on these machines. Now did your grip get stronger or did you just use more body to get those handles together without the intent to do so? It is guesswork and that is what should be avoided with all strength training. There has to be means to measure everything.

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With a normal SW you could see if one was pulling up if the person was standing on a scale. So say you weigh 200# and when holding the lever handle you suddenly are 350# you are pulling up 150# with the body. If you were only squeezing with the hand only then the scale would stay the same.

That is one way and I have done that to get an idea how much I was cheating a few times. Yes, this will prevent cheating, but it will not create as much pressure to palm as a TSG or improved SW like suggested above would. So, in my opinion why not make better machines to work with in the first place? :)
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I think you guys are over thinking this to much

Here's my vid I made up for the Kinney thread, i'm sure you saw it. With this weight how could anyone cheat , I find it really hard to lift up with 2 hands. How on earth could I cheat with one? When its really heavy there is no pushing down there's no pulling up, there is only your hand squeezing equally from all sides.

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How about doing it in a push up way? I mean put your legs on a chair and your hands on the grip machine and attempt it. I don't think you'll have any body leverage that way

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How about doing it in a push up way? I mean put your legs on a chair and your hands on the grip machine and attempt it. I don't think you'll have any body leverage that way

No offence man but that sounds a bit too crossfitesque. ;) Intense contraction of the abdominals would help with gripping harder but...
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Nonetheless, you'll acheive your goal of avoiding your body as a leverage :-)

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