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How to close the No.4 and beyond


Guest NickMcKinless

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Hello Everybody,

I was going to reply to the post about the No.3 not being world class but I thought it might be of more interest if I told everyone how to close the no.4 gripper.

I have to warn you that this is a feat that cannot be done by just anyone, unlike say the 'new' number 3 (honestly, I've used the old number 3 circa 1993 and they are harder but not that much).

To close a no.4 you must have single mindedness, desire, no injuries and few distractions (ie. family, friends, parties etc).

Your training must include using a machine that directly duplicates the action of a no.4 gripper that you are trying to close. I don't believe this has been done yet but it IS possible and will be the key proponent in your task.

Now simply train your crushing strength as often as you can using few other exercises. Train the rest of your body with just one or two basic and brief movements like, squats and presses. You don't want to over tax your body with pointless exercises. Remember your goal is to get amazing at crushing.

Your actual crushing workouts should emphasise quality over quantity but should also build on volume too. Twice a day training might eventually be possible IF you have the time (and if this is your primary goal then you will have the time) and will power. A light/medium/heavy approach to training would aid your transition into more of the volume training I've mentioned. When adding weight to your top single crush on the machine add small increments that you can barely feel being added(does this sound familiar yet). Once every couple of months you could try the real no.4 to see how it goes and I would certainly use an easier gripper for your other workouts as long as it is close in dimension to the no.4 you wish to close.  I personally though wouldn't touch the no.4 until you are above the pressure needed to shut it on your machine. Failure can be difficult to overcome.

Your workout might look like this once you're in full bore training :

1. Squat,abs

2.am.crush with medium weights     pm.crush w/heavy wts

3.pm.crush w/light weights

4.am.crush to maximum

5.Deadlift and one upper body exercise

6.rest day

7.am.crush w/medium wts      pm.crush w/light wts

This is just one example and is hypothetical in nature. Actually this whole post is meant to be taken light heartedly. I believe that this is almost exactly what Joe Kinney did to close the no.4. He squatted and trained his crushing ability and that's it! He built a machine and trained very hard on it. I'm sure he had other committments but basically his focus and desire was to close the no.4. He did it his way and it worked. My way is similar and it would work.

Personally I have no desire to shut the no.4 gripper right now. I have many other things happenning and have far more interesting (for me) grip goals and feats I wish to accomplish. However, I think it can be shut if someone gets 'into it' and nothing else.

This is nothing more than another post to get you thinking about the other possibilities that are there to be trained and taken to new levels. The title is just to get your attention and I'm sure it did.

Thanks all,

Nick

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Guest AghastGrip

Great insights Nick. I hope this inspires some more people to go after the #4.  Have you ever given the #4 a squeeze? If so, how close did you come?

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Guest GHillman

Nick-

That makes intuitive sense. Specialize, concentrate your efforts, limit peripheral demands on your system. I'd be concerned, though, about the risk of injury--call it overuse injury, injury due to unbalanced development, whatever. I know that Joe Kinney had to shut down his grip training after he closed the #4 due to the pain. Do you think this degree of concentration inevitably leads to injury, if you push it? A related question:  if you had to pick grip exercise to complement the intense crushing work--primarily as an injury-preventive measure--what would it be?

Thanks. I've long considered this type of specialization, but have been deterred by the potential downside.

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I don't know about Joe Kinney's personal injuries that meant he had to stop training his crushing strength but the only injury you could get, I think, would be tendon strain from overtraining. Perhaps to complement this training heavy partial range deadlifts would be good as they are also very demanding and require you to squeeze very hard. Not a direct crush but similar to holding a gripper shut in a static contraction.

If it's from overuse then quite simply cut back. You have to really listen to the first sign of a tweak or twinge as it is a possible injury. Also be wary of introducing new exercises with very heavy weights particulary those that stress maximum contraction.

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Nick, it is possible to injure your elbow from too much strength while closing the hand, but not enough strength for opening it.  Kind of like shin splints, or an injured rotator cuff.

You could also injure your fingers from the force puching against them, this might have happened to Mr. Kinney since his training was severe including negatives and forced reps.

I hope you are doing you finger extensions everybody,

Michael Falkov

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Sine a month' i was feeling a sharp pain in my right elbow when I closed the grieppers. I took three weeks off and I caem back to the grippers today. I broke all of my personnal easyly. I crushed my #1 45 consecutive reps with my right hand and 35 left. My best was 35 right and 28 left. This was done after some very tough sets on the #2. The key for me is periodization, on and off.

Keep training hrad !

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  • 2 weeks later...

Nick,

How close are you on the #4?  I'm real interested.  Hey, call my hotline (877-571-7486), and leave your name and number and let's chat a bit, o.k.?

Sybersnott

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Sybersnott, I'm way off the no.4 but it really isn't my focus at the moment. I'm training for the British Grip Champs and that invloves 6 equally important grip events.

However, after this I might put some serious effort into the no.4 with a specialisation routine.

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  • 1 month later...

Rockblaster, that is exaclty how Joe Kinney trained for the #4.  He did many, many (50 reps per hand) negatives on his home built "Secret Weapon".  He also used a home made two handed plate loaded gripper.  He would raise the weight with both hands,let go with one, and presto, a severe negative.  Hope this helps, if you have any more questions, or need some more clarification, let me know if I can help.

JD

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Guest rockblaster

JD79,

I have a plate-loaded gripper (not the Secret Weapon but a standard style) and I have started to use it intensely and religiously.  Strictly negatives.  I guess I will need to make my negatives around 50 as well.  Thanks for the info.

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Hey RB, be careful with negatives and overdoing it.  One thing to remember about Joe Kinney.  Yes, he did close the #4 which is amazing, but after that he was pretty much ruined.  I think I have even heard that he is in so much pain that he can't shut the #2.  Slow and easy does it man.  I don't think you need to do 50 reps a hand, but if you can handle it and dont feel any ill effects, then go for it.  I know it wouldn't work for me, but you know what works for you.  This is not meant to try and get you to change your approach, its more of a disclaimer.  Train hard, but also, train smart and for the long haul.

JD

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Guest rockblaster

That's good advice, JD.  I will take that to heart when I train.  I will keep my negatives moderate--just to prevent any injury.  By the way, did Joe Kinney do 50 negatives per workout day or is this a weekly total?  I sent Mr. Kinney a letter because I wish to buy one of his Secret Weapon machines to add to my standard plate-loader that I have now.  Do you know of anyone who wants to sell one?

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Rock Blaster, no, I am talking about 50 negatives per hand per workout.  I think he may have only done it once a week though.  Maybe someone else can chime in.

JD

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Yes, 50 per hand and then a gripper workout with the same volume of negatives.  How he was able to recover given the description of HOW he did the negatives (fight every last inch) is beyond me.  

The only reason I can even fathom is his prior training to this was I believe ONE HUNDRED negatives PER hand EVERY day on the grippers.  

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