Bill Piche Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 Most people that I have shown my grippers to think that a set is cheating also. This goes from middle school kids, to mechanics, coaches, and plain buisness people. Like jad after some explaining they then see that the gripper gets harder as it is closed. ← So, without provacation, they pipe right up (those that have never trained) and say "that's cheating!" and they know exactly how to hold the gripper right from the start? Without any instruction from you? None of these people have trained with weights either? Maybe they are just dumb in Iowa? Edit: In all the times I have shown grippers to someone, not once have they said the word "cheating" when I set it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearcat 74 Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 Only 1 straight out said cheating, the rest have been: "hey why are you doing that?" "What's the purpose of pulling it in like that?" "All that does is make it easier" "I don't see why you have to do that" and I actually did have one person say, "well, that's cheating squeezing it in with both hands and letting go and then closing it." Things along those lines. Most of these people have lifted at one point or another, but no grip stuff. I showed them off more when I was working with them, I had them in my bag in the weight room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearcat 74 Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 I understand that there's a kind of sport around grippers and everything; but something doesn't sit well , with me, whipping out a gripper in the first place, let alone 'putting it a certain way. The whole point is having strong hands- right? ← I carried around my Inch replica for awhile in my gym bag, and then I just realized that grippers were easier to carry. Plus I trained with grippers a lot then. I think no set stuff is much more impressive than a set, but I admit I like closing heavy grippers and the best way for me to do that is with a set. When I squat, I don't just run out out of the rack and start banging out reps. I set myself up, sort of how I look at grippers............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluteus Maximus Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 "I carried around my Inch replica for awhile in my gym bag, and then I just realized that grippers were easier to carry. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Browne Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 don't think you'll anyone will be pinching a 3 closed...... I recall a post by a member named Tou. He posted that when he certified on the #3, there was another guy named Lemieux that certified at the same time. Tou posted that Lemieux closed his #3 with straight fingers, no set, in a pinch fashion. This was about 2 years ago. Tou and Lemieux are French Canadiens and Tou posted Lemieux participated in the Canadien Strongman circuit. Tou was/is a member in good standing and he was a class act when he was active on the board ← That sound physically impossible. Against his thumb? That's the only way you could keep both finger joints straight. And how would you even keep the gripper in place, steady? Sorry, sounds like a crock. ← You say crock, I say pinch Milo issue June 2003 page 88, Quote, "Patrick closes the No.3 Captains of Crush gripper with both his right and left hands, using just the ends of his fingers" end quote. Sounds like a pinch close to me, as Tou described it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Piche Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 I'm glad you gave up carrying the Inch in your gym bag Heath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nagual Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 (edited) don't think you'll anyone will be pinching a 3 closed...... I recall a post by a member named Tou. He posted that when he certified on the #3, there was another guy named Lemieux that certified at the same time. Tou posted that Lemieux closed his #3 with straight fingers, no set, in a pinch fashion. This was about 2 years ago. Tou and Lemieux are French Canadiens and Tou posted Lemieux participated in the Canadien Strongman circuit. Tou was/is a member in good standing and he was a class act when he was active on the board ← That sound physically impossible. Against his thumb? That's the only way you could keep both finger joints straight. And how would you even keep the gripper in place, steady? Sorry, sounds like a crock. ← You say crock, I say pinch Milo issue June 2003 page 88, Quote, "Patrick closes the No.3 Captains of Crush gripper with both his right and left hands, using just the ends of his fingers" end quote. Sounds like a pinch close to me, as Tou described it ← What exactly does that mean? Is the gripper in his palm? Then he must have huge hands. IF it infact is with STRAIGHT fingers, which isn't stated. And it still wouldn't be a pinch, since then the thumb would be out of the equation. Try doing a pinch with even a sports store gripper and you see what I mean. Sure, you might be able to pinch THAT gripper, but will you be able to keep it in place with one hand? Most likely not, it will wriggle/pop out of your hand. Now try that with a harder gripper, let alone a #3. That is, even if anyone even has the strength to pinch the same poundage as a #3 close represents. And it would be a dynamic pinch that would end at a narrow pinch hold. I'll believe it when I see it. Edited April 2, 2005 by nagual Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gluteus Maximus Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 (edited) Hey man, If some Frenchman out there has really strong pinch strength to shut a #3 with it- cool. Right? Edited April 2, 2005 by Gluteus Maximus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonny Posted April 3, 2005 Share Posted April 3, 2005 Most people that I have shown my grippers to think that a set is cheating also. This goes from middle school kids, to mechanics, coaches, and plain buisness people. Like jad after some explaining they then see that the gripper gets harder as it is closed. ← I remember showing my COC #2 to a friend at work. I closed it for him using a set and he automatically said, "You're cheating with your other hand dude!!" I let him give it a try and told him he could set it as far as he wanted, when he felt the resistance even with the set, he retracted his accusations he had made to me about my "cheating!" My hands are just under 7 inches and I rarely train no-set these days, I can close the #2 at will but I've mastered the set and have found my own personal "sweet spot!" I think it's safe to say that if you can close a gripper using a set, you're probably pretty close to a no set close with the next lowest gripper!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deaner Posted April 3, 2005 Share Posted April 3, 2005 If I wanna impress people, I just drop my shorts. If I wanna train grip I use a set. Training with a set improves your no-set more than training no-set would improve your set closes, and no-set increases risk of injury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonny Posted April 3, 2005 Share Posted April 3, 2005 If I wanna impress people, I just drop my shorts. If I wanna train grip I use a set. Training with a set improves your no-set more than training no-set would improve your set closes, and no-set increases risk of injury. ← Well put, I totally agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nagual Posted April 3, 2005 Share Posted April 3, 2005 Hey man,If some Frenchman out there has really strong pinch strength to shut a #3 with it- cool. Right? ← Well, if that would infact be the case, it would be more than cool. It would be UberCool. It's just that all the "facts" I've seen does not indicate that. And we are not talking "really strong pinch strength" in that case. Because of the reasons I mentioned, we are talking super-human pinch strength. It seems more likely, from what I've read, that it was basically some sort of noset close. Which is still a great accomplishment, no doubt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Piche Posted April 3, 2005 Share Posted April 3, 2005 If I wanna impress people, I just drop my shorts. This was pretty darn funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clay Edgin Posted April 3, 2005 Share Posted April 3, 2005 I interpreted "closing the #3 with straight fingers" to mean that his hand was completely open and he closed it without a set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Browne Posted April 3, 2005 Share Posted April 3, 2005 I interpreted "closing the #3 with straight fingers" to mean that his hand was completely open and he closed it without a set. ← The way Tou describes it, Lemieux used straight fingers without wrapping his fingers around the handle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazza Posted April 3, 2005 Share Posted April 3, 2005 Bill You say that you are more prone to injury with no set closes,would you antribute that to a weekness in the hand at extreme opening/pressure at the beginning of the close mixed with a near/limit gripper. The tendons being more used to setting over the years so they develope a strength curve.Maybe muscle/tendon imbalance. A smallish hand. Or a mixture of all three. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Piche Posted April 3, 2005 Share Posted April 3, 2005 BillYou say that you are more prone to injury with no set closes,would you antribute that to a weekness in the hand at extreme opening/pressure at the beginning of the close mixed with a near/limit gripper. The tendons being more used to setting over the years so they develope a strength curve.Maybe muscle/tendon imbalance. A smallish hand. Or a mixture of all three. ← No. I didn't mean I was more prone to injury personally. I've never been injured doing a no set. I do feel with a smaller hand that the no-set can likely be more injurous the way it feels with the stretch of the hand (those without big hands). It's might be analagous to doing an benches with a cambered bar? Stretch of tendons and ligaments beyond what their normal use range is under high load spells a higher probability of injury IMO. Doesn't matter what exercise. Develop a strength curve? Huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazza Posted April 3, 2005 Share Posted April 3, 2005 Bill What i mean by strength curve Is if you/person had been used to closing a gripper with a set,wouldn,t the muscles/tendons be used to that range and then when the person changed to a noset after a long period of set closes surely the muscles/tendons would have to adapt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zakath Posted April 4, 2005 Share Posted April 4, 2005 (edited) I personally feel that if it is strength I want I should train parallell setting, that way I grow much stronger much faster in all fingers. Using no-set only gets me to plateaus where my natural build hinders my progress, and It's like training open hand strength only for the pinkie, if I would want that I could do some thickbar work instead that trains all fingers roughly equally. To sum it up, main reason I don't like no-set is that my progress is way to slow there EDIT: I forgot to mention that I have a healed up injury coming from no-set (I think), and every time I've tried no-set again the injury comes back... Edited April 4, 2005 by Zakath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digdogz Posted April 4, 2005 Share Posted April 4, 2005 Right, Reading all thats gone before, here goes with my 2 cents: I have under 7" hands, I have always set the gripper. When I started reading more on the Gripboard about no-set work I tried it out and found that I could shut the #1 and RB160 with my dominant hand in this fashion. I agree with whats said before, if you can shut a #2 or so with a set then theoretically for some it means you have the strength to shut the gripper below some with a no-set. I'm sure their are exceptions to the rule but this seems to be a general rule prehaps?? I am a ways off of no-setting the #2 but at the same time am working on a real hard RB240 right now. Maybe when I can shut this with a set I'll stand a better chance with a no-set of the #2....time will tell.... Wish I had 10" paws it wouldn't be an issue but as others have said, and I agree, don't sweat the small stuff! We'll all get there in the end. Digz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdoire Posted April 4, 2005 Author Share Posted April 4, 2005 BillWhat i mean by strength curve Is if you/person had been used to closing a gripper with a set,wouldn,t the muscles/tendons be used to that range and then when the person changed to a noset after a long period of set closes surely the muscles/tendons would have to adapt. ← I think if the "setter" was also doing negs, and holding them all the way out, there would be less of an adaptation period, if any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAMMERHEAD Posted April 4, 2005 Share Posted April 4, 2005 I, like Oldguy's son, set grippers natrually. Nobody showed me how, it just seemed to make sense. I got a buddy at work who's training to close the #2. I tried showing him how to set a gripper but it ended up being bad advice for him. His hands are just too big to set a gripper. When he sets a gripper his fingers get in the way at the close. There's nothing wrong with a set. Unless your ordering a custom gripper form Warren, the gripper isn't desinged for your hand size. A set just makes the gripper fit your hand. -HH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdav Posted April 4, 2005 Share Posted April 4, 2005 (edited) I have to set just because my hands are only 7.5". I Basically just set it to where I can get a good grip and go for it. It's wider than a credit card but I figure it's more impresive to do a no-set since you have to squeeze a further distance but then again the hard part is at the end of the gripper. I don't really set the grippers to much though because i am the only person I know that trains my grip exclusively And I don't ever show anyone my progress except my wife and I really don't care if I can close them or not as long As I have a strong grip..... that will be a different story when I close the # 3 though. Edited April 4, 2005 by jdav Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathas Posted April 4, 2005 Share Posted April 4, 2005 I got a buddy at work who's training to close the #2. I tried showing him how to set a gripper but it ended up being bad advice for him. His hands are just too big to set a gripper. When he sets a gripper his fingers get in the way at the close. ← I have that issue as well. Not necessarily that my hands are too large (just a little over 8", which isn't all that large) but that no matter how many videos I watch/study, when I try to do the same thing my setting hand gets in the way and makes things more awkward. So I use my setting hand to place the gripper in my sweet spot, and that's about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zakath Posted April 4, 2005 Share Posted April 4, 2005 I, like Oldguy's son, set grippers natrually. Nobody showed me how, it just seemed to make sense.I got a buddy at work who's training to close the #2. I tried showing him how to set a gripper but it ended up being bad advice for him. His hands are just too big to set a gripper. When he sets a gripper his fingers get in the way at the close. There's nothing wrong with a set. Unless your ordering a custom gripper form Warren, the gripper isn't desinged for your hand size. A set just makes the gripper fit your hand. -HH ← If the fingers get between the handles it is because you the handle is too close to the wrist, that problem is non-existent with a "higher" placement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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