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Why I'm Not Fond Of Grippers Anymore


Volko Krull

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well.. i guess im crazy. because i pretty much dig anything grip related, or anything that involves testing ones grip strength. even the areas of grip i suck at.

and while some believe that grippers dont help with overall hand strength. i believe that if overall hand strength is what you have, then grippers shouldnt be any more of a problem for you than pinch or thickbar.

pinch and thickbar are simple things to do. if you have strong hands, you will be able to walk up and do relatively well on those things. i've put grippers in some strong hands and seen them struggle to close a 2.5 because the technique was not there. what makes grippers so polarizing is the technique mastery it takes.

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well.. i guess im crazy. because i pretty much dig anything grip related, or anything that involves testing ones grip strength. even the areas of grip i suck at.

and while some believe that grippers dont help with overall hand strength. i believe that if overall hand strength is what you have, then grippers shouldnt be any more of a problem for you than pinch or thickbar.

pinch and thickbar are simple things to do. if you have strong hands, you will be able to walk up and do relatively well on those things. i've put grippers in some strong hands and seen them struggle to close a 2.5 because the technique was not there. what makes grippers so polarizing is the technique mastery it takes.

Yeah but there's techniques to pretty much every area of grip sport. For example, the increase people experienced in the euro pinch after having a session with Climber511.
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I don't think that applicability to the real world is a valid "measure" of an athletic activity.

Even though I do think that gripper training has carryover to everyday tasks, that aside, how often do ppl run with a ball or skate around with wooden sticks trying to hit a small object or throw an object at someone who is hitting it with a wooden stick "in real life" ? Not very often.

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Im sure this wasnt what the thread starter intended but all this gripper talk is making me wanna go crush some grippers

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Honestly who gives a shit. Lets all grip along;)

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Ivan - I'm going to have to disagree with you on this. Grippers (at least Torsion Spring Grippers) are not necessary to build a good grip - sure they can help - but TSGs could easily be replaced by other things with good results. I seriously dislike TSGs and I don't believe I'm a Troll.


oh yeah!! Hello Chris!! pleased to argue with you :grin:

Let us take two athletes

- one does grippers (e.g. closes 3.5 gripper from 20 mm block), pinching and thick bars

- other one does pinch and thick bars, AND is squeamish with grippers (e.g. closes #3 gripper from deep set as a carryover from his "basic" grip training - thick bars and pinching).

Let they have relatively same level of pinch and supporting, or give even a 5% handicap to second squeamish one.

We give them a 1" V-bar, David Horne's Rim top, adjustable thick bar top, eagle loops for middle finger deadlift, olympic bar for overhand no-hook grip deadlift and dinnie rings. How do you think - who will lift more?

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Grippers do make the hands stronger... For anything. And if we did as much inverted closes as regular closes, you would see more real world results. Like a grip machine... Works the hand very well.. A lot of useable strength.

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Ivan - I'm going to have to disagree with you on this. Grippers (at least Torsion Spring Grippers) are not necessary to build a good grip - sure they can help - but TSGs could easily be replaced by other things with good results. I seriously dislike TSGs and I don't believe I'm a Troll.

oh yeah!! Hello Chris!! pleased to argue with you :grin:

Let us take two athletes

- one does grippers (e.g. closes 3.5 gripper from 20 mm block), pinching and thick bars

- other one does pinch and thick bars, AND is squeamish with grippers (e.g. closes #3 gripper from deep set as a carryover from his "basic" grip training - thick bars and pinching).

Let they have relatively same level of pinch and supporting, or give even a 5% handicap to second squeamish one.

We give them a 1" V-bar, David Horne's Rim top, adjustable thick bar top, eagle loops for middle finger deadlift, olympic bar for overhand no-hook grip deadlift and dinnie rings. How do you think - who will lift more?

Ivan - nothing much to argue about. Of course TSG grippers will help but I think the same results can be achieved with something like an Ivanko Super Gripper - finger curls, well designed grip machine etc. And choked closes on TSGs will build support strength as well as parallel or 20mm block sets. I don't think its the "setting" process that is doing the strength development. My best choked from parallel close is a COC #4 (195+) and my best block set is ............... well much less (156#). So is my actual crushing strength low or do I simply have a terrible set?

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Volko, you have some real solid reasoning! In truth a human needs less crushing strength in life to hold , manipulate and transfer body power than to crush anything. Perhaps a combo of a crush with an iso hold at the end in varying ranges would be idea. Try some 3" block, or blob lifts or borrow a Pops gripper that can work the thumb in a choke pinch position, adjusted for range of motion ,and do static holds as well! I like grippers but they truly are only a part of grip strength. Good luck !

Thank you, Richard. :)

I don't think that applicability to the real world is a valid "measure" of an athletic activity. Even though I do think that gripper training has carryover to everyday tasks, that aside, how often do ppl run with a ball or skate around with wooden sticks trying to hit a small object or throw an object at someone who is hitting it with a wooden stick "in real life" ? Not very often.

I agree with you that "functionality" cannot assess the value of an athletic activity. However, I train (very primarily so) to be strong and healthy, not to achieve something specific inside of my training.

Im sure this wasnt what the thread starter intended but all this gripper talk is making me wanna go crush some grippers

I definitely didn't mean to discourage anyone. :D

this is at no one directly: it is also not in good taste to agrue that areas of grip you do no accel at are less "functional" than the ones you are good at.

I very much agree with that.

Edited by Volko Krull
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Imho, I hate grippers & the whole setting thingy... but if they're an event in an upcoming competition I train em!

I usually don't add them in until a few weeks out from the event & try to develop some kind of technique.

Oh & btw, in addition to thickbar & pinch" Sledgehammer work "is an awesome hand, finger & wrist developer imo!!

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All this talking about functional strength is pointless to me.

Deadlifting 1000,benching 700,closing a 4,lift the inch and other stuff is completely useless in everyday life.

Walking in the park is all an average man needs.

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All this talking about functional strength is pointless to me.

Deadlifting 1000,benching 700,closing a 4,lift the inch and other stuff is completely useless in everyday life.

Walking in the park is all an average man needs.

You're forgetting something though...

THIS IS SPARTA!

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All this talking about functional strength is pointless to me.

Deadlifting 1000,benching 700,closing a 4,lift the inch and other stuff is completely useless in everyday life.

Walking in the park is all an average man needs.

You're forgetting something though...

THIS IS SPARTA!

I missed something :huh: .

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From the movie, 300... Maybe that wasn't a "thing" over there. Haha.

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On 20/3/2014 at 2:20 PM, Mephistopholes said:

From the movie, 300... Maybe that wasn't a "thing" over there. Haha.

Lol.

Edited by CANCRUSHER
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All this talking about functional strength is pointless to me. Deadlifting 1000,benching 700,closing a 4,lift the inch and other stuff is completely useless in everyday life. Walking in the park is all an average man needs.

I mostly disagree. While it is certainly true that the modern man doesn't need to meet any great physical requirements anymore,

the ability to perform great feats of strength is far from useless and there is, in my humble opinion, such a thing as functional strength.

I think this already follows from the way one can condition one's cns to exert strength in certain situations. The world outside the door is

filled with objects that are large, cumbersome, hard to grasp, unbalanced. Lifting such objects is a requirement the cns can adapt to (not to mention the stabilizing muscles), which means that two men with the same physique can be of different ability when it comes to exerting strength in real-life situations.

A lot of factors come into play: experience, toughness of the skin, pain tolerance etc.

Someone who can deadlift 400 lbs is strong and will be strong in real-word situations, nothing else is even possible; but he will not be as strong as someone how can similarly deadlift a 400 lbs stone., a 400 lbs barrel or a 400 lbs animal carcass. An olympic barbell is designed to be grasped by the hands and perfectly balanced (the load is symmetrical in respect to all three planes), the aforementioned objects are neither.

Edited by Volko Krull
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Is that Italian?

Something similar.Thats a quote from a pretty famous dude down here.

Please dont ask me more lol

Haha fair. I got the "de Giuseppe Simone" part.

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On 3/20/2014 at 7:20 PM, Volko Krull said:
On 3/20/2014 at 12:46 PM, CANCRUSHER said:
All this talking about functional strength is pointless to me. Deadlifting 1000,benching 700,closing a 4,lift the inch and other stuff is completely useless in everyday life. Walking in the park is all an average man needs.

I mostly disagree. While it is certainly true that the modern man doesn't need to meet any great physical requirements anymore,

the ability to perform great feats of strength is far from useless and there is, in my humble opinion, such a thing as functional strength.

I think this already follows from the way one can condition one's cns to exert strength in certain situations. The world outside the door is

filled with objects that are large, cumbersome, hard to grasp, unbalanced. Lifting such objects is a requirement the cns can adapt to (not to mention the stabilizing muscles), which means that two men with the same physique can be of different ability when it comes to exerting strength in real-life situations.

A lot of factors come into play: experience, toughness of the skin, pain tolerance etc.

Someone who can deadlift 400 lbs is strong and will be strong in real-word situations, nothing else is even possible; but he will not be as strong as someone how can similarly deadlift a 400 lbs stone., a 400 lbs barrel or a 400 lbs animal carcass. An olympic barbell is designed to be grasped by the hands and perfectly balanced (the load is symmetrical in respect to all three planes), the aforementioned objects are neither.

 

Edited by CANCRUSHER
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Being strong is a nice thing to have. Making yourself stronger through training is a great adventure. No matter how strong you get, you may not be able to handle any physical challenge that comes your way... And that's life.

"Chance favors the prepared mind."

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All this talking about functional strength is pointless to me. Deadlifting 1000,benching 700,closing a 4,lift the inch and other stuff is completely useless in everyday life. Walking in the park is all an average man needs.

I mostly disagree. While it is certainly true that the modern man doesn't need to meet any great physical requirements anymore,

the ability to perform great feats of strength is far from useless and there is, in my humble opinion, such a thing as functional strength.

I think this already follows from the way one can condition one's cns to exert strength in certain situations. The world outside the door is

filled with objects that are large, cumbersome, hard to grasp, unbalanced. Lifting such objects is a requirement the cns can adapt to (not to mention the stabilizing muscles), which means that two men with the same physique can be of different ability when it comes to exerting strength in real-life situations.

A lot of factors come into play: experience, toughness of the skin, pain tolerance etc.

Someone who can deadlift 400 lbs is strong and will be strong in real-word situations, nothing else is even possible; but he will not be as strong as someone how can similarly deadlift a 400 lbs stone., a 400 lbs barrel or a 400 lbs animal carcass. An olympic barbell is designed to be grasped by the hands and perfectly balanced (the load is symmetrical in respect to all three planes), the aforementioned objects are neither.

Tell me if you know someone that have to pick up 400 lbs stone or a 400 lbs carcass for a living.

Meat Lumpers lift and carry Carcasses that routinely weigh 250lbs and occasionally more. I am a Systems Furniture Installer and I install Fire rated Lateral Files that vary in weight from 600 for a small file to 1400lbs for a large file. I put the Files in place with one other man, and in most instances we lower the file on its side onto a flat cart and then tip it up (imagine the fingal fingers is Worlds strongest man) into place...both my partner and myself have decent deadlifts, which only help us not hurt us.

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Guys i am 19 years old and i got a 600 deadlift,400 bench and 500 squat.I also closed the 4 and the ghp 9 and trust me when i tell you that nothing makes me feel better than being big and strong.But is a fact that strength is not something you need in everyday life.I know tons of guys that are ridiculously weak but still happier than me.

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Being happy is different. If they're happy being weak, as you say, then being strong isn't something that makes them click.

Some are not happy that way... And want to be strong. No, you don't need strength everyday in life...but it's nice to have when you need it.

I was moving a big couch (the one's with two recliners in it) it was very heavy... And we had to bring it over a banister and down the steps; I was on the bottom and the other guy lost his grip! I had this couch crushing my head against the wall- if I wasn't able to press it up off my head, at an awkward angle, it would've been bad! It was sliding down to my neck and would have pinned me for sure.

So, nice to have...and always a real life need.

Edited by slazbob
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