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Undertraining?


Guest Daniel J

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Guest Daniel J

I have had my adjustable gripper for a month now and not really made any 1rm gains on it as of yet. I am only training once per week due mostly to the horror stories I have read about overtraining, and because my current workout involves quite a tax on my grip.

So then it's ok to train more, like twice a week?

(I figure I would rather learn from others experiences than have to be one who screws up first THEN gets results)

thanks all

Dan

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Guest 68-1005097157

    I'll use this thread as an excuse to bring up a point which I think should be made.  For all those people who use grippers more than once a week, why? [Note: I am not talking about active recovery or brief specialization routines to meet a short-term goal or shake things up, but two or more genuine workouts with the grippers every single week]  If your goal is to develop powerful crushing strength, why not do grippers on one day and then another crushing exercise (ideally with a different volume, too) on the other day?  Brookfield gives several excellent exercises for crushing, including wire cutting (as described in Barbender's recent post), potato crushing (if you're really strong) and pliers lifting - put water in a bucket, loop some sturdy cloth around the handle, and lift it via a pair of pliers (deadlifts, hammer curls, timed holds, ...)

    My point is that if crushing grip is important enough to you to merit a twice-weekly or more intense workout, than why not develop a well-rounded crush and ensure you don't overtrain by using a non-gripper exercise on the 2nd day?  Another problem is that the crushing strength you will enjoy from a gripper-only routine will neglect to a large extent the highly functional open-handed crush, useful for crushing an apple, having a rock-hard handshake, and so forth.

    If your only goal at all times is to close the next level gripper, than that's fine, but in my opinion, you are not truly training grip.

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Doc,

I think you nailed it on the head with the summation of your post - most people who train with the grippers frequently are focusing on them. For better or worse, the grippers are quite addictive - seeing those final few mm's closed is a great achievement. A lot of the threads on the grip-board concern the grippers (apart from the "gripper free" week we had a while ago) and it's quite easy to get carried away with them as the be-all and end-all of grip work. However, I do think that most of us do try to develop the all round crushing grip you mention, with pinching, vertical bars holds, fat bar work etc. If you look at some of the different lifts of some of the members (Mobsterone's dumbell lifting, Tom Black's hammers and steel-bending, David Horne's anything) this is born out. I think the question was quite specific, and maybe Dan could enlighten us - is using the gripper the only grip work you do?

Chris McCarthy

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Guest kINGPIN

That is in a way right but, if I were to build up to closing the #3 or the #4, how then will I not have a strong crushing grip?   The majority of people on here do not just work with grippers, but, if they were too then working on them twice a week would be a personal preference.  If they can do it and still make gains then thats good.  If they are capable of more then they are still right to use them as much as they can get away with.  As for open hand strength, if you can close the #4 to parallel then I would say that you had pretty good open hand strength.  There are a hundred different exercises for this but IMHO people should not concentrate on too much at once.  My aim is to close the #3, because of this I train them first and am now following with wrist rolling and one handed thick bar deads.  I am on no specialization routine, it is just personal preference of exercises.  I am always making gains so I stick to using them twice a week because up until now I can get away with it.

Daniel, as you can see from this post I train twice a week, I consider myself as having poor genetics and a poor recovery ability yet my hands an wrists recover well every time even after severe negatives.  Don't be scared to experiment.  Everyone is different and so must train differently.  You are not going to screw up, there is no wrong or right way just give it a shot and see how you feel- if it works use it- keep doing what you always do, and get what you always get.

Just my opinions

Andy

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Guest Daniel J

In response to the questions, I do other grip work but not no a regular, religious type basis. I throw Highland Games stuff and I need to have some ability to grab the things or practice is kinda wasted. I felt that the gripper would be the most direct way to improve my "hold onto a handle" grip that is necessary in throwing the 56lb weight. ( I am happy to say that my grip is indeed my weak point, NOT my squats-whew!)

Maybe there are better solutions to the hanging on problem but the gripper seems a pretty good one for now. ?

Dan

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