Jonathan McMillan Posted December 13, 2002 Share Posted December 13, 2002 After looking at Sybersnott's thread on his current plan with the SW it got me thinking about how I want to formalize my training on the Coc's as right now I'm doing them by instinct a style of training that got me no where in other areas of strength. So here goes: Monday: Heavy training day. I'm going to go for a few attempts with the #2 (I'm an inch away from closing the thing). I would like to work up to a minimum of 10 single attempts. Followed by some work with my modified Hardy Handshake (negatives once I make the handle longer) Wednesday: Light day. Mega singles with the trainer 40-50. Friday: Medium. Train with the #1 for several closes, work up to over 10 singles. I might have to switch these days to off days from my barbell training as that is taking me long enough without adding a 1/2hr of Coc training -so that would be Tues, Thurs and Sat. Jon@han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sybersnott Posted December 15, 2002 Share Posted December 15, 2002 Jonathan, You should make your HEAVY day Friday, that way you'll have enough rest time for Monday's training. Some people will probably disagree with me on this; try it and see what happens. You can always go back if you don't see any positive gains. ALWAYS vary your grip training... that seems to be the best method for making grip gains! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mg6680 Posted December 15, 2002 Share Posted December 15, 2002 Its taken me several months to figure out how progress w/my grip training. I made good gains the first 2 or 3 months then it started to slow down (several diff routines, purchased lots of equip, etc, etc). For me, specific grip training is done 2x a week..Some of my full body workouts contribute to grip too. Here's mine: Mon - DL/back....COC's/Neg w/super gripper. Weds - Chest/shoulders.....Plate pinching/wrist rolling. Fri - Legs....No grip work This program gives me thurs-sun to rest. Occassionally I might add another COC day on thurs. I need the rest, mabye you dont. My regular workouts include thick bar work too. I guess my whole point is to keep it simple. As I am fairly new to serious grip training, I just want to develop a good hand strength base over the next several months. If you want to get strong w/the grippers focus on them, but keep it simple. Keep a good journal and simply try to better your last workout by reps, sets, weight, time, etc. If you stay focused and stick w/a particular program for more than 1 or 2 weeks (learn from me) it you will get stronger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McMillan Posted December 15, 2002 Author Share Posted December 15, 2002 Thanks fo rthe input guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jon@han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearcat 74 Posted December 15, 2002 Share Posted December 15, 2002 I'll not disagree with Snott, people have different days that they are stronger. My routine looks like this. Mon: Heavy day, work up to singles at the 4, strapholds, blob work, over crushes. Tues: Tx10x2 #1x8x1 Wed: Same as Tues Thurs: Work up to a single at the 4, one overcrush with the 3 Fri: Same as Tues Sat & Sun: off That's my basic routine. I change it prety reguarly in terms of reps and sets. Like Snott said, you can always change............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sybersnott Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 When I talk about changing a routine, there are many factors to consider. Lots of trainees can perform an "everyday" grip routine and be just fine AND make progress! I am not one of those people. I need to have AT LEAST one day's rest from grip training. I was offering Jonathan a two day rest if he did his heavy day on Friday. Then when Monday rolled around he could start again; he would have two days instead of just one. AGAIN: this may or may not work for you... try it and see. And, as always, vary your routine somewhat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSW Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 Heath, You can do a single on the #4? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McMillan Posted December 16, 2002 Author Share Posted December 16, 2002 Sybersnott, I prefer doing the two day rest before my heavy day in my other training, so I assume it will be the same for gripper training for me. Having the heavy day on Friday would only give one day rest (thurs) until the hard workout. I've decided to do the Coc's on off days for barbell training so my first medium workout was this past Saturday: Trainer: 3 singles each hand #1: 4 single attempts each hand (want to work up to at least 10, damn left hand can't seem to shut the gripper all the way) Trainer: 3 singles Of course that day I brought some steel rods into work and maybe my hands were tired from that. Jon@han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearcat 74 Posted December 16, 2002 Share Posted December 16, 2002 Heath, You can do a single on the #4? No, and I didn't mean to imply that. I have been close, very close, then training setbacks have gotten in the way, mostly stupidity. I am slowly making my way back....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McMillan Posted December 18, 2002 Author Share Posted December 18, 2002 Today was my first attempt with the heavy day as I outlined, felt pretty good as follows: storebought gripper x10 each hand rapid fire. Trainer 5 singles alternating left then right until completed with no other rest. #1 attempt with left (2mm away or less), grind the handle with my right. #2 left and right an inch away #2 " " "" Stuck my finger between the handles for the next attempts and was able to make contact so around 1/2 from shutting for 3 more attempts. #1 for two more singles with each hand with the right only shutting fully. It's so weird as my left hand is my dominant hand and it is stronger in more open handed grip feats then my right. Jon@han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnimalCage Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 Jonathan, I've seen a very general pattern of consistency with my dominant right hand being stronger. So explain why my right hand completely failed at the Super Grip Comp? I couldn't even close a #1 with it, where normally I can rep a #2. In attempting to break a gripper tie, and subsequent events, I was all lefty. That was bizarre. I guess there's no telling what any one day will bring. Let us know how the heavy day may have affected the next workout or two. I'm on the same-each-day plan, and may need some variety soon. Heath, I see you start the week with a heavy day. Have you been doing this routine for a while, and found it to be effective? Thanks, Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearcat 74 Posted December 18, 2002 Share Posted December 18, 2002 Alan, Monday has been my heavy day since I first started an actual routine. It works well for me, I just throw in a set here and there between upper body work sets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McMillan Posted December 19, 2002 Author Share Posted December 19, 2002 Today Thursday I did my first light day in the routine, here's how it went: Store bought gripper: x10 rapid fire squeezes. Trainer: x10 alternating left then right with a handle grind a few minutes rest then x10 " " I ended up doing 5 sets of 10 alternating singles with each hand. The soft tissue in my hands is red and inflamed but should heal up by Saturdays medium day. I don't think Mondays training was enough of a stimulus for the skin and non contractile tissue, but hopefully once I get to the 10 rep side of things it will. Jon@han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the swiss Posted December 20, 2002 Share Posted December 20, 2002 Like Heath, I like to do my heavy day on monday, when I'm recovered (i rest on week-ends). I do all the hard-on-tendons exercises on monday, and I've always done that. That is the day that I feel the strongest. the other days, i focus on general grip training, be it strength on "non-dangerous" exercises, or maybe endurance, or experimentation. plus the climbing. train hard david Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McMillan Posted December 21, 2002 Author Share Posted December 21, 2002 Well I screwed up my recovery for todays (sat) medium day of CoC training. Last night I was visiting my friend and I brought the grippers over so of course we had to all try them and I got a bit more rom with the #2, actually felt pressure on my finger inside the handles for judging distance. All this effort on Friday toasted my hands, but I gave my routine the college try just the same so here's how it went: Store bought gripper x10 rapid fire reps each hand. Trainer x1 rep each hand. Trainer x1 " " I felt like quitting already my hands were quite sore and inflammed. #1 x1 attempt each hand, notice the word attempt. My hands were toast I couldn't shut . x1 attempt again x1 attempt again. this followed by 3 more single attempts with a forced shut with assistance with the other hand. Oh well maybe next week will go better without the extra heavy day before my medium day Jon@han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sybersnott Posted December 22, 2002 Share Posted December 22, 2002 ..... "rapid fire reps"..... Sorry Jonathan, but I HATE that term (and I hate all the reps your doing). Perhaps it's time to change your routine again? ??? HINT: take out the reps this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McMillan Posted December 22, 2002 Author Share Posted December 22, 2002 Sybersnott, The store bought gripper is a joke, I'm just using it to warm up my hand, as far as the "reps" with my Coc training they are all singles. How can I possibly decrease the reps below 1??? Jon@han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McMillan Posted December 28, 2002 Author Share Posted December 28, 2002 Didn't report this Tuesday's heavy day. It was kindof dissapointing I was struggling with the #1 with my left hand as per usual anymore and my hands were just too achy to make any volume increase in my #2 attempts, only 3 singles tried this week. Meanwhile today at work I had a kickbutt medium day workout with my grippers. Started with 2 singles with the trainer then 20 singles with the #1 and all were full closes!!!! I finally admitted to myself that I need to set the gripper in my hand, otherwise I just don't have the crushing force available at the end of closing the grippers. I'm pretty damn happy with this workout -even though I sliced off a callus/blister on my right ring finger. Hopefully this is a sign for things to come and wasn't just a fluke workout. Jon@han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sybersnott Posted December 29, 2002 Share Posted December 29, 2002 Jonathan, On those hard closures with a gripper you CAN'T close yet... have you thought about "cheat closes"? This is simply done by having the gripper in your hand, pressing it against your leg/hip and forcing it shut, then pulling it away to perform a gripper negative? I'm doing this with my IMPOSSIBLE BBE. I cheat it shut, and the force of the gripper fights my hand closing it. This is great on a gripper you can't quite put away (close). Try it. It will hurt ya, but hey, like I always say, "Pain is good....". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McMillan Posted December 29, 2002 Author Share Posted December 29, 2002 Sybersnott, I've tried the force closing of the #2 gripper but the damn thing pops right open once the assistance pressure is released. I actually haven't tried the thigh technique -I just overlapped my gripping hand with my other hand for assistance. It is quite nasty on the hands isn't it!!! One of these daze I'll give a try at purchasing some BB grippers but I think my next gripper will be the Ivanko Supergripper. Jon@han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McMillan Posted December 31, 2002 Author Share Posted December 31, 2002 Well it's tuesday again and New Eve so this was my last heavy day of Coc training for the year This workout went much better then last week, started off with one close of the trainer each hand then one close of the #1 with each hand. Then I started to work on the #2: 1 attempt each hand about the same distance from closing as last week. I then taped a block of 9 pennies to the inside handle and then tried to close through them as hard as I could for a count of 5 for 6 attempts with a rest of about a minute or so. Finished the workout with some work on my modifited Hardy handshake. 5 reps with a five second hold with 10lbs. Then a finaly 5 reps with five second holds with 15lbs. Had to assist my right hand as I had taped up the hole in my hand from my callus tear and it didn't have the strength to roll the gripper into a proper set for crushing Jon@han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McMillan Posted January 2, 2003 Author Share Posted January 2, 2003 Well it's Thurs so I brought my Trainer to work with me for my easy day. Just did 100 singles with each hand with only some mild irritation to the skin and soft tissues, the back of my hands felt a little tight but not bad. As long as my hands are ready for Saturday, hope to get some more singles in with the #1, maybe I'll hit 30? Jon@han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McMillan Posted January 5, 2003 Author Share Posted January 5, 2003 Well Saturdays workout went pretty good for my medium Coc training. Started with 2 singles with the trainer then went to work on the #1. Cranked out 25 singles with each hand, however I had taped up a nasty blister on my left pinky (from thurs workout it swelled up after posting I didn't have any damage done ) so it seemed to effect my squeezing at the close of the gripper with my left hand. About half of them were done with my right hand supporting my left arm...I wonder if this was psychological?? Jon@han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McMillan Posted January 8, 2003 Author Share Posted January 8, 2003 I woke up at 1400 today after working a nightshift and did my heavy Coc training day, here's how it went: T: 1 rep #1: 1 rep felt heavy -hands were slippery from heat rub so I chalked up #2: 1 attempt at closing then I taped a stack of 7 pennies to the inner handle. managed 10 closes and overcrushes to the pennies for 5 seconds. I then finished with work on my modified HH: 5 reps with 10lbs with a 5 second hold 5 reps with 16.5lbs with a 5 second hold!!!!!! All in all I'm very VERY happy with this Jon@han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McMillan Posted January 9, 2003 Author Share Posted January 9, 2003 It's Thurs so Light training day with the trainer ended up doing 100 singles again in less then 1/2hr. I did them in groups of 10 alternating left then right until the 10 singles were done with each hand then I would rest a minute or so then do another block of singles. My hands are kindof shredded..have to see if they'll be ok for Sat. medium training. Jon@han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.