Practicing Grip

[mightyjoe]

Getting Started with Practicing Grip

1) You need to pick an area of grip you'd like to progress at and in this example

I'll use Torsion Spring Grippers.

2) You need to have goals in mind (written down) for steady progression, examples will follow.

3) To reiterate, these are "Practice" sessions, NOT workouts as most are probably use to.

4) These practice sessions are spread out through ones day.

5) You perform 1 set of 3-5 reps per session. No matter how tempting DO NOT perform no

more than 3-5 reps. Remember, you're Practicing, not working out!

6) Warm-ups are not necessary but can be used. In the example for grippers, I highly recommend

a Power Ball from Wade @ GSS followed by either free squats or push ups. As your day progresses

warm ups are probably not necessary as most of your joints are lubricated, body core temp is higher,

and there's a slim chance of injury due to the percentage levels I use for practice sessions (60-80%).

7) There's several ways to go about determining your Practice regimens for your individual progress

and here's the approach I used during my research:

You'll start off by Practicing every day. If possible perform a Practice session ( 1 set of 3-5 reps)

every 2 hours, for example, after you're up and going it would look something like this: 10:00 am,

12:00 pm, 2:00 pm, 4:00 pm, 6:00 pm, 8:00 pm, etc. A good stopping point is several hours before ones bedtime.

I also DO NOT recommend performing a Practice session right out of bed. This is a good way to tweek something

or get injured.

IMPORTANT POINT: Paying close attention to your body is crucial with "Practicing Grip"! The reason is because

this how you'll determine your Practice schedule and if you need more or less. Here's a good starting point starting with more

and tapering as needed to progress.

Let's say your goal gripper is a #3 COC gripper. Remembering you stay around 60-80% of your max effort during

a Practice session. You have to go by what you're feeling and NOT what others say you should be doing. I'm not being harsh here

on anyone either but every single individual is unique and different in many ways. So what you have to do is determine (by feel)

if you're using the right gripper for your Practice sessions. For example, with a goal gripper being a #3, a #2 gripper may be

your gripper of choice at first, BUT a #1.5 may also be your gripper of choice. Here's what to FEEL for: When you've done your

last rep for your set it should feel nearly as easy as your first. If you're struggling to get your last rep or 2 you have the wrong

gripper in your hand. Which brings up another IMPORTANT POINT. DO NOT perform your reps back to back. Do one rep right hand, one rep left hand

and so forth until you've completed 3 to 5 reps per hand. In a sense you're doing singles. 1 set of 3-5 reps seems easier to remember.

Hope there's no confusion here. If so, I'll correct it in future posts.

One problem I ran into was gripper variances in determining which gripper I should be using. I did learn that it's optimal

to use calibrated grippers in your quest for progress because often times there's huge jumps between even the same numbered

grippers. BTW, a gripper that calibrates #150 and another gripper of the same handle spread that calibrates #153 is HUGE. Three

pounds may not seem like much, but when it comes to grippers it's a lot and I've seen 3-10 pound differences between #3 grippers, sometimes

MORE. The same can be said for #2 & #4 grippers also. I'm going by what I've seen calibrated the most if you're wondering.

Bottom line is you should feel just as strong when you're done as when you started.

Now, let's say you start to FEEL weaker after week one? This is when you start tapering. You can begin by Practicing every

3 hours per day instead of every 2 hours. If after tapering to more than every 4 hours this is when you start Practicing 6 days a week.

If progress stalls you Practice 5 days a week, If still stalled, 4 days a week or every other day. There's really nothing set in stone

when it comes to figuring out your individual schedule. The only thing that doesn't change is the 1 set of 3-5 reps. Determining

frequency for YOURSELF is what you have to adjust to your OWN progress. This is because each individual is different and what may be

too much Practice for one person, may not be enough for the next person. If anyone is confused on this aspect of "Practicing Grip"

please speak up now so I can try and explain it better if needed.

This is probably a good stopping point because I'm out of time and there's no sense in moving on until I know

there's no confusion on my part.

I appreciate everyone's patience and I hope this helps your future progress in Grip. If grippers is not your goal and you need

an idea on how to Practice other areas of Grip during your day we can go over this as well but keep in mind I can only do so much as

time allows but I will do my best.

[aaronb41]

Thank you Joe!

This clears up all of my questions about practicing grip with grippers. I can't wait to get started practicing grip!

Thank you!

Aaron

[Knucks]

I've used this concept to improve my chin ups. I first read about it in a book by Pavel Tsatsouline. He called it greasing the groove.

[mightyjoe]

I've used this concept to improve my chin ups. I first read about it in a book by Pavel Tsatsouline. He called it greasing the groove.

Thanks for the response Knucks!

Stay tuned because I'm going to make a connection between "greasing the groove"

and the CNS that Pavel never did (through my own research not someone else's).

I'm also going to demonstrate why I believe that the majority of the Grip Community

is over training their grip and how Practice along with a working knowledge of the

Central Nervous System and it's relationship to muscular force output can make all

the difference in progressing or not.

One thing that should be mentioned here is that the latest research in these areas

is contrary to what most athletes have been taught about strength training. Most fascinating

research I've ever studied. "No Pain No Gain" mentality is ancient technology nowadays.

Muscles are not the problem as they have found out, it's all in the nerves. Yes! Your nervous

system is what governs the forces your muscles output. The most interesting thing is the inputs

to your CNS that limit you. MORE on this later!

Out of time again...

Edited May 15, 2011 by Mighty Joe

[rico300zx]

Great last post Joe, im eatin all this up.

Parris

[macaz]

I agree about the nervous system regulating what you put out. Usually the nervous system holds back to keep from injury. In times of life or death people can have tremendous strength.

PCP (I’m not recommending drugs) can make a person's CNS not hold back and give them strength uninhibited to the point they can break their own bones.

I worked at the medical examiners office back in the late 90s and I noticed that people on PCP also thought they could breathe under water and ended up drowning more often than one would expect. Drowning or getting themselves shot by the police seemed to be the two ways fools on PCP would end up dying... But that is off the point.

[mightyjoe]

In my last post I meant to post my new saying,

Instead of "No Pain, No Gain".

"No Pain, MORE Gain".

[mightyjoe]

Working on my next post concerning the SAID Principle and how it ties in with

"Practicing Grip" or neuromuscular facilitation[/b] also known as "Greasing the Groove".

Stay tuned for the next few days!

Thanks for your patience!!!

[Pryderi]

Nice post Joe.

Hope all is well.

[rico300zx]

What happened. This was a great thread? Dissent anyone have anything to report back? Well I was practicing grip and after about 3 days using 80% maybe 3 times a day I felt burned out and sore on the grip pressure point s, I had to mentally work myself up to go practice? What do you think Joe , to much weight? to often?

[truth1ness]

If anything this concept complements both of them nicely such

as using PRACTICE Grip as maintenance after RRBT or KTA.

Mighty Joe, I just wanted to clarify, is following "Practice Grip" using grippers something to be used for more advanced folks that have either completed those programs or built up tendon strength already to handle daily gripper training or can this be used by someone just starting out with grippers?

Also, did you post any followup articles on this, you mentioned going more into the science of this method but I couldn't find if you had done that.

[mightyjoe]

If anything this concept complements both of them nicely such

as using PRACTICE Grip as maintenance after RRBT or KTA.

Mighty Joe, I just wanted to clarify, is following "Practice Grip" using grippers something to be used for more advanced folks that have either completed those programs or built up tendon strength already to handle daily gripper training or can this be used by someone just starting out with grippers?

Also, did you post any followup articles on this, you mentioned going more into the science of this method but I couldn't find if you had done that.

This was an experiment I did back in 2011 and I didn't have enough free time to do any follow up on the science behind

the whole concept. I used to do quite a bit of experiments and research on grip strength but the last few years have been

plagued it seems with obstacles that pop up in life and it just so happens to be obstacles that have had priority over my

experiments/research. I'm currently taking a kinesiology class and this takes up quite a bit of my free time specially during

the week days and evenings.

To answer your question though. Practicing Grip was designed for those already with an established foundation in grip.

As a beginner or newbie just about any training you do will initially produce great results but keep in mind this initial explosion

in progress is all neural and comes to an abrupt halt usually within 12 weeks. This is when one has to re-evaluate and map out

a new plan for additional progress.

As for Parris, he was obviously staying too high on the percentage scale of his max effort numbers. Practicing is different

than training. What you did was too taxing and you ended up (as you said) burned out. Practicing grip daily is staying within

a percentage of your 1RM numbers depending on how you feel and what you did the day prior. Some days are better than others.

Seeing that you're obviously new to grip training (judging from your questions) be aware that as you get better and stronger,

progress will become more and more difficult to achieve and don't ever fall into the trap of thinking that you need twice the training load

as when you initially started to keep progressing. This is primitive and outdated thinking!

Hope this answers your question!

[truth1ness]

Thanks Mighty Joe!