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Sybersnott

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Hello everone,

My name is Levi and someone mentioned this forum on the bodybuilding forum I am joined on. I figured I'd give it a try. I've gotten into lifting pretty seriously now and I plan to start rock climbing.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey whats up people,

My name is Jason, im 23 5'6 163^/lbs (i was heavier but money issues messed up my diet, but soon that will be fixed) and i found out about this place at deFranco's training website. Right now im Doing bodybuilding with aspects of Powerlifting and Olympic Lifts. I also do GPP work, like strong man stuff on my off days. Im also into Martial arts: Karate, Judo (haven't started yet but plan to), and Muay thai/kickboxing. Im really enthusiastic about learning much from you guys and look forward to readin all yo stuff....and hopefully steal some secrets >= )

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Army (age 52) 5'10" 200lb live in Hermosa Beach Ca.

Goal close the COC #3 . Have recently aquired a few grip tools. 37.5 blob. 120lb kettlebell, HG gripper series,#3 COC . I also made a secret weapon and have a decent wrist roller with 2 ", 120 lbs on it at present. Started sledge levering at the urging of one of a forum members. Always had a keen interest in hand conditioning and Iron palm training and did a little grip work to supplement my training over the years. I make my own Dit Da Jow and other chinese medicines. I have been swinging (Meel) Iranian clubs for many years as well as gada.

I have been lurking for about three weeks and have read and thought about the contents provided. This is a great strating point for a guy like myself. I recently had double knee replacements and wanted to set a few new goals. Just had my 52nd birthday in May and thought closing the three was a good goal over the next year. (May take longer) . It is all about trying to reach your individual potential. Just got my open water Scub Cert. in May. Look forward to learning. Army Maguire

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My name is Matthew Villani, I'm a 21 year old student at Penn State, and I've been into grip training for about a year, and in general strength training since about 2001 (unless you count helping my dad load up firewood when I was younger by carrying large, awkward logs about 100 feet or more). Some of you may know me from GripperMania. Early on my goals were to close the RB-WTG, but more and more I'm realizing that I probably WILL NOT achieve that goal, I've made my goals more realistic and now have smaller goals before achieving my ultimate goal. Right now I'm dominating my IM#1 with either hand, and working on my BBM, I have maybe a few millimeters to go. My IM#2 is my next goal. After that my goal is my BBGM, then my IM#3, then certification, and then the Mash Monster grippers, and eventually the IM#4. Once I've gotten the IM#4, I'll start working on the BBP, and then if I achieve that goal, the BBWC, BBG and beyond. But at this point I think the best I'm going to be closing at my peak is probably the IM#4, which is still amazing. Only after buying an IM#4 and failing to fully chest crush it did I truly realize the immense power that the grip champions of the grip world have (best I can chest crush is my hard IM#3 and my BBE). Does the goal of closing the IM#4 and the BB Pro sometime in the future sound realistic or are my goals still insane?

Other forms of grip training that I do are plate pinching (best is four ten-pound plates for a 20-count), the Ironmind Pinch Block (havent maxed out yet on it), middle finger deadlifts (using weights attatched to a short chain, the "handles" being two giant chain-links), and wrist work. My goal with the plate pinching is to eventually do the 2x45, and even the insane 3x35. Do these sound realistic?

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Hello everyone. This first parragraph I'll just say some stuff about me, and ask a question. Then, I'll type some of the dumbest things you've probably heard, but they're true to some extent!! (you'll see!).

I'm 22 (almost 23) and have recently become obsessed with grip strength. I have never worked out or anything.. well, once, for about 3 months and not seriously. I'm 5'10" and was always fat.. I topped 250-260. Recently I started doing cardio and south beach diet, and I'm at 200lbs now. I'm inspired. I wanna be strong. But not strong as in "big muscles", but as in... dunno, just strong. I like the idea of training forearms/grip more than the rest of the body. I ordered and got the TRAINER and NO. 1 grippers. My embarassing grip only allowed me to close the Trainer, with my right hand. I got it about a week ago. I think I can close it with my left one now, and can rep it at least 10 times with my right. I tried last night and got to 1/4" on the No. 1 .. andlike 1/2" or more on my left (my left sucks!). I also ordered The Mastery of Hand Strength, to see if I can learn some how-to's on getting grip.. After reading it, I might get KTA too, I've read awesome feedback on it. My question is: can a guy like me, with no natural strength, actually get a good grip? Or are all COC's guys who were already very strong? .. If the answer is to my dissapointment, I guess I'll be happy if I can close the #2 within a year. (I think I should be closing the No. 1 in less than 2 months, to play it safe, but I'm aiming to close it in 2-3 weeks).

Now, this has _some_ true to it, but it just sounded funny in my head, so I have to type it in here. It'll make me look silly, but who cares. =P

Wanna know what got me really interested in gripping? The phrase "Heath Sexton mashes a Beef Builder Elite"... seriously, that's one cool-sounding sentence. Lets analize it.

First two words, Heath Sexton. That's one cool sounding name... Heath, sounds like heat, like it's gonna burn you... and SEX-ton... needs no explination what that sounds like (wont say anymore in respect to that person). That's a mean name. I wish it were mine. "Mashes"... you guys could use the word "closes", but no, always use MASH.. which sounds like "destroys!" or "crushes!"... by using that word, when I imagine the guy's hand closing the gripper, I think of a hydraulic machine closing it. Wow. The word "a" is ignored when initials are used, so we'll ignore it here too. BEEF! Beef is a word that's used to describe something big, like BEEFY! And Beef also reminds me of the big toughguy in Back to the Future.. although maybe he was called Biff, but whatever, sounds the same. Builder - need I say anything? .. and Elite... yeah, a guy who "mashes" this grippers sure is elite. Elite is, like, beyond cool... right? Damn, I need to see my name on a sentence like that. But my name is nowhere near as cool, and when people refer to crappy grippers like the ones I could close, they'd probably not even use the word "mashes!", but maybe "puts the handlets together..." or something that makes it sound weak. =(

Sorry if I wasted anyone's time. =)

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Oops!! I'm really sorry, just now I noticed there is a place for newbies to post! If a mod can move this thread, it would be great. I hope this doesn't piss anyone off. =|

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You can have a strong grip without being overall strong, but if you're really serious, train the whole body. You don't need to spend endless hours in a gym. If you stick to the big movements, you can get a lot done in 30-45 minutes & it will definitely help you lose weight & keep it off.

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I'd echo that. Training the whole body will certainly help your grip. Many people train grip as it's the weak-link in the chain of strength. Picking up a simple full-body, compound lift work out routine is easy and you'll appreciate the results more than just training grip alone. Also, heavy lifting stimulates the bodies “I must recover” response, speeding up your recovery from just grip training.

You’ll find a lot of people on this board train “to be strong” more so than for looks. There’s nothing weird there at all. I work with a body builder, and he’s embarrassingly weak in almost all areas that require any form of stabilization or core strength. He trains to look strong, I train to be strong. They are opposites, but they both help the other.

A lot of people start where you are. If you aren’t in the manual labor field, you probably have average hand strength. That’s expected. The only goal is to surpass yourself and make your self stronger. With motivation and direction, you will surpass yourself.

I too trained with the thought of, “Eric Godfrey, Certified Captain of Crush”. It feels great to obtain a goal.

Heath Sexton is a fairly cool name.

Again, start a basic weight training regime with shoulder presses, pull ups, deadlifts and squats, and it will help your gripping. You don’t want to become lopsided. A strong mind needs a strong body, and a strong body needs strong hands. Leaving any weaknesses in that equation and your certainly missing something.

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Thanks a lot. I have been lurking around for a while and noticed that with this post, I kindof broke almost every rule of the forum. The only thing I got right, is the fact that I talked about myself, where I'm at, and asked a question. *sigh*

I wouldnt be surprised if this is locked. I'm sorry, I have now read some of the FAQ and guidelines and I'll try not to break the rules again. Sucks being a newbie to a board. I get it wrong everytime!

But if I can continue to talk... John: the thing is, currently I'm still doing 45 mins of cardio 6 days a week... and I'm scared of stopping! I don't wanna gain the fat again. So I have a problem, because I'm afraid of quitting the cardio, but if I do all this cardio + weights + grips, I'd be needing like 2+ hours a day to train... so I'm still trying to figure out what's best. Oh, and I'm doing pushups, I started 3 weeks ago. As of yesterday, I'm doing 3 sets of 20 (personal record.. started with 10, then 12, then 15, now 20). I do them just because I've always felt my chest strength stinks.. I could benchpress barely over 100lbs. :P And had never done 10 straight pushups till a week ago. I probably wont see a lot of gains from them, but I just like doing them, and I can do them anywhere, like @ home before a shower.

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Strong is a journey - not just a destination. Train your whole body - it will make your hands stronger by far in the long run - don't specilise too soon - build a base of overall forearm, wrist, and hand strength before focusing on any one thing. Focusing too soon is just inviting an injury.

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Thank you bender!

The thing is, I'm so far behind, it's hard not to get disappointed! Pull-ups? If that is holding to a bar, and lifting myself up there, then I have NEVER done one. Again - being fat and never having trained, did not help. But I'm getting a bit stronger and lighter in weight recently, like I said in my other posts, like I'm setting new personal records for pushups and stuff.

It seems that most people gain muscle, and THEN they start working on strength. Everytime I think of that, I realize it''ll take quite some time to achieve that, because I don't have the muscles yet... is it dumb to start working on "tendon strength" (that's how I've seen people calling it) without the muscles? ... And by the way, funny that you mention that I should work out my shoulders, I remember that was my weakest point by far, when I trained for a few months. I have the weakest shoulders ever! And chest too. My biceps/triceps/back workouts seemed kinda good for a guy who never lifted weights and does NO manual labour.

On another note: what the heck is a "negative"?? Is it a crush with the gripper upside down? If so, it makes no sense to me, because people use higher grippers for them. I find negatives to be much harder than holding it normally!? :blink :

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Hey man, welcome to the board, sounds like you really turned your life around man.

Training your whole body is important. Simple exercises to begin with. Big exercises, with barbells, dumbbells, and bodyweight. Pushups are a great exercise, stick with them for sure, that's what got me started on physical fitness.

Definetely build up a good base of hand strength. The beginners program in the faq section is a good example.

A negative is when you say "cheat" the gripper shut and then fight the opening of it. A good way to cheat is to try to close the gripper, and then press it against your leg or something hard to close it the rest of the way.

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I tried the #1 again today. I was doing some reps on the T yesterday and I like to keep a day off, but I just couldn't resist. I got to 1/4" or maybe 1/5" of an inch. The bad news? I cheat-closed it (help from left hand), and I could not hold it closed. I could held it closer than 1/4" for a while though, maybe 1/8". How many of this "negatives" are advisable? I mean, I assume you don't really REP these, but try to hold them for a while? I don't practise holding them :(

I wish I would've signed up here first. I even went to a doctor today! My left wrist hurts a bit. The thing is, about 10 days ago I picked some workout equipment that is thrown in my backyard. I picked the "z"-shaped bar (dunno the name of it), and I wanted to do some forearm workouts. For some reason, I decided to do the following exercise: it's just like bicep curls, but grabbing the thing upside down, with pams facing down. I've never really worked out before, and I tried with 70lbs. My wrist hasn't stopped hurting till today and the doc says it's a tendon. Voltaren for me, for a week. Ouch. And I haven't even got a real grip =(

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Hi all! Its great to be here at the grip board!

My name is Sam Solomi, i am 17 years old and have been training as a whole since i was 15. I am 5'8'' 240lbs or so at around 16% body fat. I have only recently developed an interest in grip power though. I have been training grip for around 6months now and thankfully it is coming on pretty well. I can almost close my #3 and can do it braced. Some other reasonable feats of strength i have achieved include lifting a 60mm handle DB weighing 105kg (232lbs) aswell as DB rowing 70kg for 5 on this same thick handle.

I suck badly at pinching, bending and tearing but i am trying to improve these all the time!

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Hey there.

My name is Jamie and I am currently on a work assignment in Baltimore. I moved here from Ontario, Canada with my pregnant wife and toddler son. I am about to turn 40, (Everybody seeems obliged to remind of this fact ) am 5' 10" and weigh 185.

I started grip and wrist training 3 weeks ago on my doctor's advice as a therapy due to bad wrists from years in martial arts and boxing. I use the Twist yo Wrist, Trainer and #1 grippers from Iron Mind and I am waiting for the Armory Fore-arm Blaster to arrive as well as the giant Snow Ball, again from Iron Mind.

I can close the #1 ( barely) in either hand and have been rolling up 15 lbs on the Twist yo Wrist. I must admit, this is getting addictive. I enjoy the burn and it is convenient to say the least. No gym membership or expensive equipment to buy.

I currently train 2 times a week and work to failure. My wrists and fore arms feel great, even though it has been less than a month. It is amazing how quickly the strength comes back initially.

There is an amazing amount of experience and talent in this board and I plan on keeping a keen eye here to learn as much as possible.

I do have a quick question for fun.

I notice that the #4 Captains of Crush gripper has only had a handful of people sucessfully close it. However, there is available a gripper called the Super Galaxy from Beef Builder that seems to be substantially stiffer if the poundage level is measured equivalently.

Has any one been sucessful at closing this gripper or are they just an interesting conversation piece?

Safe training.

Jamie

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Hello

My name is Robert. I recently began grip training to complement my regular weigth training program and I think bending bolts, nails, etc. is awesome. I live in Plantation, Fl. If anyone is looking for a challenging training partner send me an email.

robert

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Hi,

I am DLT. I am 13 and i lift weights, practice weird exercises, and wrestle. Ant i want to be able to do a rafter pull up and a flag pole stand thingy

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I've already made a few posts on the GripBoard, but I might as well introduce myself.

I'm 20 years old, 6' and 200lbs. I've been lifting bodybuilding style for years, but started lifting for strength at the start of 2006. Since then, I've put on about 25lbs.

I was pointed in this direction while discussing CoC grippers at another site and am very impressed by this community. I've had the CoC trainer and #1 for a while, and could close the #1 for one rep before this year. After all the deadlifting and other grip-related exercises I've done, I found one day that I could close the #1 for a decent amount of reps. Now I'm working on the #2 and that's my only grip-related goal for the moment. I don't want to be just another newbie that proclaims that his goal is to close the #4 just because he thought it would be cool -- I will close the #2 and I'll see where I go from there.

Thanks in advance for the experience that this is going to be.

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I do have a quick question for fun.

I notice that the #4 Captains of Crush gripper has only had a handful of people sucessfully close it. However, there is available a gripper called the Super Galaxy from Beef Builder that seems to be substantially stiffer if the poundage level is measured equivalently.

Has any one been sucessful at closing this gripper or are they just an interesting conversation piece?

Safe training.

Jamie

Nobody's even come close to closing the Super Galaxy, and it may never be closed. If it is closed, it'll be something talked about for several generations. I'd say comparing the #4 to the BBSG is like comparing the #1 to the #4.

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Hello all. I was one of those lifters who made excuses and neglected grip and forearm training. Got into grip training when I got some CoC (trainer and #1) last xmas. I currently train with them 2-3 times a week but may up the frequency a bit. Not sure quite how to fit it around regular weight training though. Can close the #1 for 3-4 reps and 25 is my best on the trainer. Hopefully I'll soon be ready to order a #2. Just recently got a 'formulator' for forearm training and at the moment am training with this immediately after grippers. I also do bar hangs and farmer's walks (not always practical in my gym when it's busy!) to improve holding strength. I came to this site after a fair bit of reading around on grip and forearm training. I note many posters are certified CoC and Mash monsters so I look forward to learning a lot here!

Edited by Noob Saibot
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Hi all,

My name is Daniel. 22yrs, 6'2" 200Lb. From austraila.

I've just started grip training a few weeks ago but had been into powerlifting during highschool.

I read about the Thomas Inch bell while roaming the internet. I have quite large hands so i thought i'd have an advantage with this lift. I bought a pvc tube 2.75" OD, and on a screw lock dumbell best lift was 65KG or 143lb.

I've now have 2.44" OD steel pipe 4" long. Best lift is 80kg or 176lb.

My goal is to deadlift the inch. After that the long term goal is 91kg/200lb with 3" thick grip . . . or at least the 2.75".

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all,

My name's Rj and I live in Chicago. I'm 20 yrs old and a pre-med student @ uic. I started looking into grip training because I always felt I had a weak grip for a gymnast. Started seriously training with Coc grippers about six months ago. Current stats are 5'8 height and 150lbs bw. Currently force out 10reps rh & 6reps lh w/ ironmind#1 ( :cry ). My one year goal is to close the #3 for reps, hopefully.. I look forward to participating on this forum. From what I've been reading, you guys are monsters when it comes to grip strength and knowledge, so I'm gonna go ahead and apologize in advance for the rookie questions that I'm liable to ask :D

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Hi yall my name is Evan and im 16 years old. Im just getting into the gripping world because I think it will be very beneficial to my wrestling career. Ive closed the COC #1 with both hands but not with any consistency due to an injury. Im also intrested in the old time feats of strength like tearing a deck of cards in half, bending horse shoes, and other stuff like that. If anyone knows a good workout for me to really get into grip training Id really appreciate the help.

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