Genetic's workout!

[Guest]

Here is my training routine.

First, a bit of personal background to put everything into perspective.

I am 6’ 3’’ 171pounds(78Kg) with a normal body fat of between 7% and 9%. I am medium boned with relatively long bony fingers. My forearms measure 9’’ cold.

I started doing direct grip work on the 04-08-2001. I stared with grippers on the 15-09-2001. When I started with the grippers I could only close the no 1 for one. On the 04-11-2001 I can close the no 1 for 16 left and 15 right. I closed the no 2 for one on 16-10-2001.

I do only on set of each exercise and I always take it to absolute positive failure. If the exercise permits it I go past positive failure and go thru to negative failure. My aim is 10 reps per exercise with the 10th or 11th rep ending in positive failure. I follow Arthur Jones’s rep cadence of first 3-4 reps done with perfect form, slow and controlled, 4th-10th reps fast positive with good form to produce max power. All the negative or lowering/ opening phases are done very slow- 10 sec if that isn’t possible any more just as slow as possible.

Most of the exercises have nothing to do with grip (I do apologize) but in order to get the small muscles as strong as possible you need to get the big muscles as strong as possible (the body always try’s to achieve equilibrium) thus I feel I need to mention them at least once.

I only exercise once a week with a workout A and B. I would prefer doing two workouts a week but my work situation doesn’t permit this.

A- Full Squat (ass to heels), Bench, Pull over, Full Weighted chin ups (collar bone to bar), Shoulder press, Standing calf raises,Modified bicep curl, Side bends, Wrist curls front and back, Grippers- No1 to positive failure then on to full negative failure.

B- Full Squat, Full Weighted chin ups, Weighted dips, Stiff legged dead lift, Shoulder press, Modified bicep curl,Incline weighted Crunches, Plate curls, Dumbbell grip exercise- sit on a bench with a dumbbell between your legs, grip, lift 3’’ to 4’’ of the floor and lower it by rolling it down the fingers until it rests in the fingertips, put it down, re-grip, role down, re-grip until negative failure is reached.  

For those of you that are interested I will progressively post workout reports (only on the exercises relating to grip).

[Guest]

10-11-01

Today’s workout went well. Improved with all my lifts.

Grip work consisted of plate curls and my dumbbell exercise as described in my original post.

Dumbbell exercise is done in a negative only manner until it drops uncontrollably out of my hand.

Used 38 Kg (83.6 pounds) for 10reps and my time was 1min5sec.

I time all my sets. This is to make sure that if I made progress that it wasn’t just because of me speeding up and using momentum to assist the lift.

Plate curls- used a 10 Kg (22 pounds) plate (not Olympic or York plate’s) for 6reps 31sec to absolute positive failure. This doesn’t seem much but it’s an improvement from my previous set of plate curls. This is a dam hard exercise but it really works the muscles in the forearm but more importantly the muscles in the hand itself.

Improving from workout to workout is what I aim for. I don’t allow my workouts to become static. I always lift a little bit more weight from one workout to the next making sure my set time doesn’t become shorter and shorter. It needs to be slower or almost exactly the same as before.

More weight, same reps, same time = stronger muscles!

Same weight, more reps, same time=stronger muscles!

Same weight, same reps, more time=stronger muscles!

Triple progression

[Guest]

:0 Oops! small measuring mistake. My wrist's measure 9 inches and my forearms measure 11 1/2 inches cold.  :p

[Guest steiner1014]

Geneticman:  I find your workout scheme very interesting...it resembles my own a bit.   I like the fact that there is someone else out there who believes in FULL range of motion when it comes to squats....there are far too many monkeys out there half squatting 400 lbs and claiming "I squat 400 lbs"...Ya right buddy!!!   Interesting that you also do plate curls...I just posted a topic on the board relating to how great plate curls are for the grip.   I am a firm believer in major negative reps with the #3 COC Gripper...I will see if this gets me stronger or not....Take care....

                                               STEIN

[Guest]

Thanks for the comments Stein! I went to the gym today and did a squat to 90 degrees (where most people stop) and law and behold I could squat 420pounds for 10 and this was after my normal full workout. Ha, ha how funny! ???  ???

But now for today’s grip work.

I did my normal one set to positive failure in the wrist curl and grippers.

Front wrist curls were done with 20Kg for 10 reps and a time of 0-57sec. Back was done with 10kg for 8 reps and 0-50 sec. This is very bad compared to some of the people on this board but hey one day I will compare to you guys. There was a improvement to my last workout so I am as happy as a pig in Palestine!

Now here is the one that I am jumping up and down for. I closed the #2 for 3 1/2 reps left and right today. WOOO HOOOO!!!!!  :0      :p    

When I got the #2 I thought that it was going to take a very long time before I could close the #2 for one! One month after closing it for 1 rep and presto, 3 solid reps with the #2. I then went on to close the #1 for 9 ½. I hope I can close the #2 for 4 in two weeks time!

Today I forced my #3 closed just to see what it feels like and I noticed my dogleg side of the gripper is 3mm longer than my non dogleg side. This is going to make this gripper an absolute B_itch to close- COOL. Nothing like a challenge!!

See yall next week!

[Guest]

Today’s workout was hard! I really pushed myself with squats and by the time I got to grip work I was fried.  

But I bit the bullet and did what I set out to do and that is to improve on the previous week.

My dumbbell exercise. Used 38Kg (84pounds) one hand at a time. My previous set (2 weeks ago) I could only handle this weight in a negative only fashion. I couldn’t even do one positive rep and believe me I tried. This week I improved dramatically. I managed 2 positive reps. If you consider the fact that you are 40% stronger negatively than positively you can see what an enormous improvement this is. I also went on and did 10 negative reps to failure for a time of 1min-16 sec. Not only did I improve with the reps but I added 11sec to my time under load.

Plate curls AAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH! They’re hard!!! :0

Used the same weight (10kg plate 22pounds) as last time. Due to the fact that you use plates to do the exercise progressive loading is impossible so I aim for more reps and same or longer time. I managed 10reps for 40sec which is an improvement from last time (30sec 6reps). I do the plate curls with my fingers doing all the work. It seems like some people do them like a bicep curl but instead of a dumbbell they use a plate. I grip the plate in the same way- thumb on top fingers on the bottom but there is no elbow movement. I close my elbow and hold my wrist with the other hand for support. I then let my fingers go down without moving the palm of my hand. When my fingers reach their lowest position I then curl the weight up to a vertical position with no elbow or palm movement just the fingers. I tried it in the bicep curl approach and it works my hand very differently but by the time I tried it my biceps and forearms were completely screwed so my assessment could be far off the mark. ???

But now I need to rest. It’s a couple of hours after my workout and I am still shaking. This means the intensity was very, very high- Excellent!

:p Totsiens tot volgende week. (Translate- See yall next week) Ha Ha :p

Ps- Just for fun I did a pinch grip. Used 2- 25Kg plates =50kg (110 pounds). The grip width, with these plates is 5 and half inches. I managed 30 sec using both hands. ???

[Guest]

Today’s workout was hard! I really pushed myself with squats and by the time I got to grip work I was fried.  

But I bit the bullet and did what I set out to do and that is to improve on the previous week.

My dumbbell exercise. Used 38Kg (84pounds) one hand at a time. My previous set (2 weeks ago) I could only handle this weight in a negative only fashion. I couldn’t even do one positive rep and believe me I tried. This week I improved dramatically. I managed 2 positive reps. If you consider the fact that you are 40% stronger negatively than positively you can see what an enormous improvement this is. I also went on and did 10 negative reps to failure for a time of 1min-16 sec. Not only did I improve with the reps but I added 11sec to my time under load.

Plate curls AAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH! They’re hard!!! :0

Used the same weight (10kg plate 22pounds) as last time. Due to the fact that you use plates to do the exercise progressive loading is impossible so I aim for more reps and same or longer time. I managed 10reps for 40sec which is an improvement from last time (30sec 6reps). I do the plate curls with my fingers doing all the work. It seems like some people do them like a bicep curl but instead of a dumbbell they use a plate. I grip the plate in the same way- thumb on top fingers on the bottom but there is no elbow movement. I close my elbow and hold my wrist with the other hand for support. I then let my fingers go down without moving the palm of my hand. When my fingers reach their lowest position I then curl the weight up to a vertical position with no elbow or palm movement just the fingers. I tried it in the bicep curl approach and it works my hand very differently but by the time I tried it my biceps and forearms were completely screwed so my assessment could be far off the mark. ???

But now I need to rest. It’s a couple of hours after my workout and I am still shaking. This means the intensity was very, very high- Excellent!

:p Totsiens tot volgende week. (Translate- See yall next week) Ha Ha :p

Ps- Just for fun I did a pinch grip. Used 2- 25Kg plates =50kg (110 pounds). The grip width, with these plates is 5 and half inches. I managed 30 sec using both hands. ???

[Guest]

Test!