Jump to content

Do Negatives Work For You?


Jordan Rechsteiner

Recommended Posts

The title says it all. I want to know what success (if any) you have had with negatives and how do you incorporate them into your training. As for me, I have never had much luck with them and use them only a little bit prior to using a bigger gripper for conditioning purposes. I don't have the apparent success that Joe Kinney and Euclides had with it.

-Jordan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have rarely tried them till this point. They are painful and really beat up the hand. I like just progressively moving up gripper difficulty in the 1-3 mms range. Meaning when I get 3 mms reps on a gripper I start working on a harder gripper for a single. I also move my set wider on a grippers that I can already rep 3 times. I use the drop set method in my training. Start with the hardest grippers I can close in the 1-3 rep range and then closing lighter ones in the rep range until my workout is over.

Edited by Chez
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

They have worked for me. I use them nearly every workout, always with a gripper I cannot close. Sometimes my negative gripper is one I am close to closing (SE), other times it is a gripper I am quite a ways off on (#4). Sometimes I do an equal number of negatives and over crushes, other times it is just one or two negatives and mostly overcrushes or choked grippers. Lately I have been using a grip machine with two hand closes and one hand negatives ala Joe Kinney and making good progress.

I started using negatives with KTA about 9 years ago and they have been an integral part of my training ever since. I know that if I start doing more than 15 negatives at a time several times a week, I start having tendonitis problems, so that is my limit. I hope this helps, Jordan.

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've seen the most benefit from doing negatives on a filed gripper that I can almost hold shut. Singles in the 5-7 range.

"Severe" negatives: All I got was this lousy bruised palm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It worked out very good for me. It got me from closing a BBSE to totally dominate it with both hands and also closing #4. And that was under two months.

What I did at that time was to work up to a max single, and then switch over to do 3-5 singles with a filed #4. If I remember correctly I did it once a week. So it wasn't much volume at all. I had to keep the volume down as otherwise it wouldn't let me recover enough until the next workout.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

work up to a max single, and then switch over to do 3-5 singles with a filed #4.

This is what I did from getting to within 3-5mm of my goal gripper to closing it with a 20mm block in 4 weeks. Obviously not with a #4 but with the closest gripper I can't close yet.

What I'm doing right now is taking the goal gripper, plus the two higher grippers and doing negatives once a week in decreasing volume.

Week One: BBGM - 4 negatives/4 OC's (10 second OC)

Week Two: GHP 7 - 3 negatives/3 OC's (12 second OC)

Week Three: IM #3 - 2 negatives/2 OC's (14 second OC)

Week Four: Lay off grippers all week, go for PR w/o Negatives later in the week.

Repeat the cycle after 4 weeks, adding 1 rep each day until I close the goal gripper used for Neg's in week one. I like using grippers I can at least get to parallel for negatives. Massive negatives (with a gripper 1 full level or higher above my current PR) hasn't done anything for me.

Still haven't closed the GM yet, but I've noticeably improved and am hoping to close it within 3-4 weeks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you all very much you all. :) This is quite helpful. I was also curious about using a filed #4 for my extended handled (3/4" pipe over the handle) and that answers that question as well. I've also heard that if you want to be good with the CCS to do a CCS before doing that negative for optimal carryover, what do you all think about that?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

Yes they have for me. Not only the hold itself, but fighting the gripper as it opens is where the negative is for me personally. My hands have been getting conditioned well by the heavier tensions.

I use the RB adjustable and set it on a tension equivalent to the #3, cheat it shut,hold and fight the release. I do this 3 days a week and only 3 negative reps per day ( I'm a drummer and this is quite taxing on my hands hence the 3 reps a day). 60 second rest between holds/reps.

I have seen some huge differences in strength. I can CCS and deep set my #2 with hardly any effort and i am a few millimetres shy of deep settings #2.5

Edited by Joey_grips
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nope. All they've done for me is make my old wrist injury flare up again. Which sucksssss.

However, if you're going to do them, it seems to me the best (safest) way to do them would be to just close a bigger gripper as far in as you can by just squeezing it, and then fight it from opening, instead of doing the "cheat close" method that most people do... That only seems to lead to injury.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They really hampered my progress, but I had only been training with grippers for a few months when I tried negatives. I could close a #2, but was trying to do negatives with a 3.5. Stupid. It hurt for months.

That's not to say I wouldn't have had more success with negatives if I had more experience at the time. I just don't know, and don't intend to find out. Grippers 3 to 4 times a month along with 1 to 2 days a week general strength training is what works best for me so far.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've tried negatives in the past and got nothing.

I've been thinking about adding them back in with a filed gripper that I could close fresh. I think that would help add some volume but, hopefully reduce the chance of injury.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't do negatives, but I do use heavier isometric holds on TTK for example.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Negatives have worked for me in the past. However, for me it depends alot more on how I do them than just doing them. Heavy Negs using alot of force from the other hand usually just ends in injuries for me. I don't use them often but some of my training protocols do use them in very specifically applied formats. Generally pre-fatigued states so that not such a large gripper need be used and chance of injury much much lower. Something to keep in mind if you are trying to emulate Kinney's method, watch how he does them on the gripper in the video. Never see him do a chest crush, he basically closes it as far as he can then pushes the finger side against his thigh to force it in a little further. Try that sometime, you will likely find as I did that you can't force it in too much further cause it hurts that way. Prolly a good thing.

- Aaron

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Squats and gripper closes have very little to do with each other. Some people see benefits from negatives, some do not. :)

All movement and tension is dictated, directed, and ultimately caused by the nervous system... last time I checked the nervous system runs through out the entire body.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've seen the most benefit from doing negatives on a filed gripper that I can almost hold shut. Singles in the 5-7 range.

"Severe" negatives: All I got was this lousy bruised palm.

I am going to update my answer to "no". Negatives have not worked for me. If I look at the times I was the strongest on grippers, there is no connection to negatives. The winner seems to be multiple sets of 3-5 reps on a gripper about 75% of max.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used Negatives as part of an experimental program during August and I think they helped out in redeveloping a foundation for myself. I had really gotten off-track with my grippers, and that was something I needed to do.

What I suggest to my guys is to try something for a couple of weeks and re-test the max. If you feel stronger than before or are closing bigger grippers, then what you were doing probably worked.

I also have always believed in working the end range as much as possible, so I think there would be a loss of return on investment working a Neg all the way to the fully open position.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't do negatives, but I do use heavier isometric holds on TTK for example.

+1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't do negatives, but I do use heavier isometric holds on TTK for example.

+1

+1... I actually just put that into my rotation of training exercises two or so weeks ago... I also added an improvement by taping something 1/2inch to the stationary handle and doing isometrics... also something 1 inch width so I get to work the entire range from a parallel set isometrically

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I read my past post on this and need to update it, too. I've since backed off the heavy negatives. I just don't seem to recover as well as I used to and my elbow tendonitis gets worse with heavy negatives. I made some really good gains in the past using heavy negatives, but now I only do them about once every two weeks or so, and even then it is more of close attempt with slight assistence from my leg or other hand - low reps.

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy policies.