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My griplog 2.0 (A renewed quest for gripstrength)


Geralt

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Intro 
Around July last year I asked the administrators to close down my log. Basically I lost motivation for keeping it up. I had the feeling I was going nowhere, training around in circles etc. I decided to lose a little weight, since I felt a bit 'chubby', in the sense of my weight wasn't adding any strength etc. I lost weight (roughly 10kg) focused more on general fitness and healthy food and now I am stable around 98kg/216 lbs. Quit doing (for me) heavier weighttraining and in general I felt less beaten up from squats and deadlifts etc.

Also picked up my other hobby drumming again beginning of this year and in February I decided to pick up a new instrument and am now learning to play the guitar. This year I hope to reach the age of 40, which makes me rethink a little bit of what I am doing and what sparks my motivation en enjoyment besides work familylife and work. I witnessed a guy getting sick at my work who unfortunately deceased earlier last week duo to cancer. I see more people around getting health problems, it's probably what you notice more when getting older. I don't want to take everything for granted anymore and enjoy life more intense, live in the present etc. Me and my wife we also started decluttering our lives/home and I found some more insights for myself on aspects of minimalism. I redid our attic a bit, threw away a LOT of stuff and now I have a great 'zen' like space to enjoy working in my own way on my musical creativity. I believe it's good now and then to reflect on who you are, what you are doing, where you want to go and how to achieve this.

Gripwise I always kept an eye on the IM#3 cert as my primary goal. After refinding motivation again I trained more specialised on this goal and like everytime I came very close to a better strengthbase, but when I almost reached the desired strengthlevel a few weeks ago, I stagnated and experienced a fallback. Perhaps it's just meant to be like that, some guys just stay more stabile, others like me go every which way in strength. I did find a better method for me in working towards better CCS strenght, so it did bring me good things.

Yesterday I had a video chat with @Chez and I also kept close contact with @anwnate, we try to keep each other motivated and everybody experiences his own things in life. It is nice that this hobby brought me this. I also visited the Red Nail cert of @Joefreyearlier this year, all little things when talking to these guys to make me think about how I train and what it brings me.

I can't say I was doing the same every time and expected different results, but I have to be realistic that I will never be that guy who casually picks up a 153lbs #3 and CCS it easypeasy. Nope, not going to happen. But, stubborn as I am, I will knock this goal off. Simple as that. I want to start a new log, found motivation for this. I am going to knock off some minigoals this year. Here are my minigoals for now.

1. Attend SJ4. I will be making a trip to the US with my family this year and stay a few days with @anwnate. Before and after that, we will visit a few other places of the East coast and         Florida. It's going to be awesome.
2. After that, accomplish the MM2 cert. I want to start climbing the MM ladder and see where it brings me.

I don't have the biggest intentions of killing it bigtime in SJ4, There are a few things I need to take care of first, which are likely to hinder my training a bit coming period, besides busy work (Daughter perhaps needs surgery and I have some 'nice' things lined up also, this is hopefully all taken care off before our trip), so I really have to see when and where I can train with a good flow of energy. For now, it's just meeting up with all you great guys who will be attending the comp also and coming home after the trip with a newborn passion for griptraining.

I just wanted to write down this story as start of my log. Like my intention was in my first log, if other people can benefit from my training/mistakes/experiences, which can spark them joy and aid in training, it's good for me. 

Strength status and implements which I measured it with

Grippers CCS: 145lbs - 149lbs area, from there and up it's very variable;
Grippers MMS (20mm blockset) from 158 and up, lost some power due to wider set work. Recently deep closed my 169lbs Elite;
Open hand: 185kg Trapbar with Fatgripz, other implement depending on setup;
1HP Flask between 35 and 40kg (max 88lbs)

Regular strength training I am still tweaking now for setup. 

 

Edited by Geralt
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I'm there with ya buddy, gotta scratch and claw for every ounce of a PR. Took me 2 years to gain a 4lb pr on rt. So be it... i still wont quit.

You'll get the cert tho in time. Think of how much sweeter itll be to you after years of toil and frustration. Let that be your motivation.

Edited by jvance
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Good to have u back logging again buddy!

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"Grip-ology is the study of pressure and time. That's all it takes really...pressure...and time. That, and a big goddamn poster." - "Red"

Just keep applying that pressure man. 

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Well then. 

Trapbar with Fatgripz
50kg x 5, 90kg x 5, 135kg x 2, 145kg x 2, 155kg x 2, (removed Fatgripz) 175kg  2 x 2. 

Seated shoulderpress in squatcage from supports at shoulder height (fast up, 2 second down)
bar x 10, 30kg x 10, 40kg x 10, 50kg x 5, 60kg x 5.

Logbar hanging in squatrack, horizontal rows wide grip with feet on bench (fast up, 2 second down) 
3 sets till failure. 

Gripmachine (plateloader) handles set at app. 25mm width (fast up, 2 second down)
80kg 3 x 10, this caused quite a burn, my lower arms were still aching because of wristcurls last Thursday. 

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Curious how this would go gripwise, since I trained plateloader and fatgripz last Monday, but I held up pretty well. If I can up my MMS strength a bit in this set up this should transfer to stronger hands for grippers also in other sets. Man's gotta do something for working around plateauing. 

Backsquats
bar x 10, 50kg x 10, 60kg x 10, 70kg x 8, 80kg x 8, 90kg x 6, 100kg x 3 x 3 x 5; 
Grippers (all reps 20mm block)
Warming up with Vulcan, filed IM#2 x 10, Ghp6 x 5, RB240 x 3. Top down: BBE (162 and very stiff sweep)  x 0 (missed it slightly) IM#3 (153 and stiff sweep) x 2 (but just), IM#3 (149) x 2, IM#3 (142) x 4.
Pressing movements
Incline bench warming up, after this 3 sets till failure with one arm 24kg kettlebell benchpresses. Very different and pretty hard on the triceps. 
Pinch
Various pinching movements, Flask lifts with towel till the flask was wiped so clean because of that, that lifting it wasn't possible anymore. 

Finished with what the audience was waiting for all that time: Curls for the girls in the squatrack. 


 

Edited by Geralt
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good stuff dude. Up that gripper volume. You can handle it. 

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1 hour ago, Chez said:

good stuff dude. Up that gripper volume. You can handle it. 

Thnx, I could have done more , but I also want to train grip Monday again. Plateloader and deadliftz again. Figuring it out as I go. If my next gripperworkout also works 'OK' at least, than I will ad more CCS practise also. 

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Great to see you logging again. 👍

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I'am very happy to see you back Buddy !

I know that you're a very motivated and strong person. You'll not stay long at the bottom of the MM ladder, I'm pretty sure !

Keep up the hard work Geralt !

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Thank you guys!

08.00AM training. 
Luckily my left lowerarm felt better, last Saturday I had been playing guitar a lot all afternoon and Sunday I discovered that my lack of technique in playing had caused me to much force in pressing the snares down with the fretting hand. I would not be the first to experience tennis elbow because of this. Trying to play guitar everyday and griptraining can be a bit taxing I guess, but today's work seemed to balance it out. I do work my extensors with expand your hand bands etc. 

Trapbar with Fatgripz
50kg x 10, 90kg x 10, 135kg x 5, 145kg x 3, 155kg x 3, (removed Fatgripz) 155kg 3 x 5. Wasn't concentrated enough on the last set and somehow I pinched my lowerback on the last set (tilted a bit to the left last rep).  Although I feel my lower back now, I luckily enough set the weight down soon enough before real damage was done. I like my trapbar very much, but the only disadvantage is that the handles are not knurled, so the fatgripz tend to start sliding with heavier weight. 

Seated shoulderpress in squatcage from supports at shoulder height (fast up, 2 second down)
bar x 10, 30kg x 10, 40kg x 10, 50kg x 5, 60kg x 3 x 5. 

Logbar hanging in squatrack, horizontal rows wide grip with feet on bench (fast up, 2 second down) 
3 sets till failure. 

Gripmachine (plateloader) handles set at app. 25mm width (fast up, 2 second down)
82,5kg 2 x 10, 2 x 8, 1 x 4. It is very hard to compare with other guys with these kind of machines because the weight is very depended on how the closes are performed. I pull the bar up with my fingertips and squeeze it all the way up, without jerking it up with thumb movement. I feel this is what can have more carryover to grippers when done correct, because hand twisting and bodypositioning cannot help in the gripperclose. A plateloader can be manipulated with body repositioning during the close. 

 

IMG_3919.JPG

Edited by Geralt
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Squats, felt lazy throughout the day and squatting didn't make that better, just couldn't fire up. Still pushed through but due to my (better feeling by now) back I decided to go for more reps instead of more weight.  Working sets 4 x 10 @90kg/198lbs. Seemed like this sucked all of my energy out of me. 

After coffee:
Grippers (all 20m blockset)
Vulcan light setting 1 x 20 
IM#2 1 x 8,
Ghp6 (126) 1 x 3,
RB240 (135) 1 x 3,
MM2 replica (150, early ramping up) 1 x 2 (barely),
IM#3 (149) 1 x 2 (barely),
Ghp7 (155) wide set 1 x 1; 
Creditcard sets, 2 minutes rest in between
Ghp6 1 x 1, IM#2.5 2 x 1, Silarukov 120kg 1 x 1, IM#2.5 1 x 1. 

The blockset is what keeps the reps low in the higher grippers, but I feel it's getting better, despite the gripwork on Monday. So for gripsessions with
2 / 3 days rest, this is good. I want to keep this up for another week and then one week rest and test with a gripper in the 160 - 170 range. 

Pinch went very bad, just couldn't get any decent weight up. 

Finished with One arm kettlebell benchpresses and BW dips. 

Purely punched the clock with this one. 

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Some single leg squats (pistols) for warming up. Back´s not feeling good for lifting. 
Horizontal pulls/rows with logbar and abs. 

Plateloader / gripmachine single hand
Warming up few sets 20kg x 10 @ 25mm width; 
30kg 1 x 6; 
40kg 1 x 5; 
50kg 1 x 3;
60kg 1 x 3; 
63kg 2 x 3. 63kg = 138lbs = 90% (roughly) of 70kg / 155 lbs which I take as max CCS close single. 70kg would equate a 155 lbs CCS close. 
I take the 25mm blockset as a reference, since this resistance is linear which is not the case with grippers. I think this can be good to measure progress, since 70kg this way is very tough, although I didn't try that since I want to stick to this intensity. 

I place the palm of the hand even a bit deeper than the dogleg of the gripper and I pull the weight up with the tip of my fingers, bending my body a bit forward, to eliminate all unwanted jerking movements. I filmed the closes and they were performed clean, so form is okay. 

Pinch (one hand Flask)
Felt better than last week. 
20 kg   both hands 2 x 5; 
25 kg   both hands 1 x 3; 
30 kg    L 1 x 1, R 1 x 2; 
32.5 kg L 1 x 1; 
35 kg    R 2 x 1; 
37.5 kg R 1 x 1 (although the descent was dictated more by gravity)
Secret volume pinchwork thingy both hands. 
 

 

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Yesterday bench, I haven't done flat bench for long, worksets of 3 x 3 @ 90kg. I suck at benching (my pushing sucks in general, compared to my pulls). 

Today
Grippers (all 20mm blockset)  after working in the garden, so took that as a warming up. 
Vulcan lightest setting gold spring 1 x 20;
IM#2    1 x 5; 
IM#2.5 1 x 3; 
BBGM (filed, 137rgc) 1 x 1; 
IM#3 (142) 1 x 1; 
IM#3 (149) 2 x 2, missed 3th rep everytime by a very small bit , 1 x 1, missed second rep by a hair. 

Left hand was weak still a little bit tweaky after over doing it with pinch weeks ago. Kept it at IM#2.5 triples and doubles. 

Note so far with my schedule: It's going fine, since I do gripwork twice a week. 5 reps MMS @ 149 would be very nice and a lifetime PR! I take this as a shorter term goal. But it will be a fight for every extra rep....

Pinch
Flask some volume work with lighter weights, nothing special. Working towards that 40kg lift. If I could get that at SJ4 I would be content. 

Wristwork
Standard one side loaded dumbbell, radial, ulnar, pronation and supination. 

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Warming up with pistols and single leg rear foot elevated squats with bodyweight. 

Plateloader/Gripmachine @25mm width
20kg 1 x 10; 
30kg 1 x 5;
40kg 1 x 3; 
50kg 1 x 1;
65kg 3 x 1; 
Again, set up is everything, I could just simply grab the weight with optimal handpositioning but i really keep the weight at the spot where the handle would be when extending for CCS. This means having the weight on my fingertips which makes it really to make that deadstart. You could call it 'hand deadlifts'. 
65kg 2 x 3 negatives (assist up and 21,22 down) 

Tried a 126lbs Ghp6 CCS afterwards but couldn't close it, I was toast. So it hits my hands and lowerarms in the right spot.  

Pinch
Volume work with lighter weight with Flask. focused on squeezing with all fingers, I noticed I didn't activate my pinky and ringfinger optimal. No idea if this has carryover to heavier lifting but everything should count. 

Back
Horizontal pull ups with neutral grip, one arm rows and seated rows, focus on good contraction and slow eccentrics. 

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Grippers, all 20mm blockset width
Vulcan 1 x 20, 1 x 10 both second notch; 
IM#2 1 x 8; 
IM#2.5 1 x 3; 
BBGM (137, filed) 1 x 1; 
IM#3 (142, filed) 1 x 1; 
Working: IM#3 (149) 1 x 3 (missed 4th by a HAIR), 1 x 3, 1 x 2. 

Pinch Flask
Many triples and working up to singles, one good lift 37.5 kg, which is good for me now, with two times pinch per week. Same as my gripperwork! (Small hurray)

Some pull ups (man why is everything so freakin heavy when you don't maintain that exercise)
Curls for the...hm. Garage was empty further. Curls for the grippers then. 

 

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Busy week, update now for whole week. Had school's 4 days marches with my youngest daughter and been running in and out the hospital for long now since my oldest daughter has a pain in her stomach area they couldn't explain. Finally diagnosed after so long and within two weeks she will have surgery. This was all very exciting in first place for her but it was also starting to jeopardise our travelplans. She was constantly in a lot of pain. So since that stress factor has been terminated as it seems since the surgery is pretty standard, it will be allright. Very glad. In a nutshell. 

Monday May 15th
Plateloader/gripmachine, closes at 25mm width, two singles 70kg, which felt very heavy. The deadstart is sooo tricky in the way I set up my fingers. Couldn't get it moving anymore after this, so did 3 x 3 negatives (2 second eccentrics). 

Put my Fatgripz Extreme on a dumbbell and tried some open hand stuff. Felt pretty tough after the plateloader work, only got good sets with 45kg/99lbs. I thought I could pull 60kg, what was I thinking lol
Pulling movements, chins and rows. 

WednesdayMay 17th
Quick quick...Bench, working up to 2 x 3 @ 90kg, 1 x 5 @ 90kg, 1 x 3 @ 90kg. Bodyweight dips afterwards. 

Tonight
Work, groceries, sportsmassage, dinner and immediately last evening of walking with my kiddo. Still felt good so why not do grippers as I do every Friday. Felt good!
After warming up (all MMS): 
137 lbs BBGM (filed) 1 x 1 very easy close; 
BBE (162) 1 x 1 felt pretty good! Grinded the handles!
Ghp7 (155) 2 x 2 felt good. Had to work for the second close; 
IM#3 (149) wide set close. Easy....
Kept the working sets pretty short, since I work grip twice per week now. Don't want to overdo it. 

Plateloader work seems to be paying off. Either that or simply doing more gripwork. Who can tell. 
Ended with pinchwork with the Flask. 

Next week some more pressure and then a week backing off, 

You see how strange grip works. I had a very busy week. Still do tomorrow, so I feel this a bit in stresslevel. Monday went 'meh', specially considering thickbarwork. Then tonight, I smash my Elite. Completely in the dark here. 

Edited by Geralt
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On 5/19/2017 at 4:46 PM, Geralt said:

BBE (162) 1 x 1 felt pretty good! Grinded the handles!

Keep it up dude. Great Job!

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@Chez Thanks man. Closed heavier in the past, but not while training this frequent for grip. So baseline is improving. 

Today Plateloader (25mm handlewidth)
Up to 70kg hoist, not completely from the fingertips as I wanted, but it still felt pretty heavy. 

Grippers
3 x 2 IM#3 (142) 1.5" blocksets

Thickbar
Fatgripz Extreme dumbbell lifts up to 55kg, felt better than last week. 

Ended with Chinups, seated rows and light abs. 
 

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Log fell behind last week. Very short write up to catch up:


May 24th
Bench, worksets with 209 lbs. Slowly getting back to 225 with short workouts with low reps. 
Dips @bw

Friday May 26th
Grippers, up to 169lbs Elite attempt, closed my 162lbs Elite (but just) and lighter work with my filed 137lbs BBGM. A true Beefbuilder night. 
With the extra gripwork I do on Monday I got good results, but although I am stronger at base level now, I do feel I am going to hit a plateau soon (or just did). Just see how far I can take this without regression. 
Also thickbar and I got inspired by Adam Glass in doing bodyweight hangs with one hand on a chinningbar, while holding and cleaning a 24kg kettlebell and do presses. Got up to 3 reps, and did a few sets afterwards, but didn't get much higher in reps. So that's a one hand hang of roughly 125kg in total (275lbs) for around 10 seconds, after that it gets to painful. Fun to see where I stood. 

Today
Finally my daugther got surgery today after almost half a year of having pain. Now for her to recover and a very relieving idea this is dealt with I hope. 

Basically hang around in the hospital from 07.00 am to 15.00 pm so by the time we got home and after a lot of phonecalls etc I was pretty drained. Still got some light gripwork in and some armwork. Ditched the plateloader for today. 

Legwork, one legged squats (pistols) and rear foot elevated split squats; 
IM#2.5:  2 x 2, 4 x 1 all CCS, 2 x 5 MMS. All sets with one minute rest in between. 
Chins and light bicepwork.
 

 

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Wednesday Bench, again 209 lbs worksets, 1 x 4, 3 x 3, followed up by narrow benchpress from supports to really attack the triceps. Looks like they are the weak spot, since I am shaking quite a bit during benching. Followed up by light pinch work with the flask and 3 x 1 minute 24kg kettlebell swings. 

Today
Grippers didn't were up to par. I could feel that I had done too much gripwork this week. 
Worked up to 153lbs IM#3 which I tried for reps, but only could get 1.9 reps from MMS. Did a few forced rep sets and ended with 2 x 2 @ 144 lbs #3. 
finished since with (mounted) 2.3" (or so) wristroller for 4 fun, worked up to 50kg. 

 

 

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This morning grippers and pinch only. Lots of gardenwork in the freakin hot sun done, my body felt beaten up yesterday evening. BBQ did some good heh

Grippers (around 85 - 90%) all 25mm block
Vulcan first notches both sides 1 x 20; 
Vulcan both second notches 1 x 10; 
IM#2.5 1 x 3; 
Ghp6 (126) 1 x 3; 
RB240 (135) 1 x 1; 
IM#3 (144) 1 x 1, felt a bit harder than expected, but there was only one rest day in between so took a 142lbs #3 since I was aiming for doubles. 
IM#3 (filed 142) 3 x 2. 

Pinch (flask) one hand lifts
singles up to 35 kg, then 1 x 2 35kg. 
Ended with 3 x 1 25kg holds for time. 25 secs, 15 secs, barely 10 secs. 

Recovery now from grip till Friday, then new session. 

Edited by Geralt
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Monday May 5th a day off from work because of Pentecost plus nice weather, so i decided to do some workout stuff outside in the morning. 

Trapbar (since several weeks) up to 155 kg, felt easy, but don't want to rush it, so turned last set into a farmerswalk into the garden with a 10kg weighted vest added. 
I should do these more often. Less weight is needed and it gives a great workout. 

Mounted 2.36" / 6cm wristroller, up to 50kg several rolls up and down. Nice pump. 

Bench worksets up to 90kg / 198.5 lbs 2 x 8, 1 x 6
Bench narrow press from supports light-ish  4 x 5 @70kg. Slow eccentric movement. Killer. 

For fun attempt at 100 reps @20kg bar bicepcurls, got up to 75 decent reps. 
 

Today

Grippers (20mm block)
149lbs IM#3 2 x 3;
144lbs IM#3 1 x 3; 
142lbs IM#3 1 x 3; 
137lbs (filed)BBGM 1 x 3. 

Rolling Thunder 
Haven't used this implement for a long time. 
Worksets 3 x 3 @70kg / 154lbs.

Bench      
85kg 5 x 5.                                

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Got the whole travelpackage, tickets and reservations today, it's really gonna happen soon. SJ4 is around the corner. 

Going to reset the intensity and build it up, I have around 7 trainingsessions if all goes well and then it's vacation and rest till SJ4. 

Deficit trapbar deadlifts up to 150kg 3 x 3;  
Gripmachine/plateloader, medium intensity up to 50kg 3 x 3 single hand @25mm width; 
Exchanged the gripmachine with rear foot elevated split squats 3 x 10;
Chin ups explosive up and very slow down 3 x 5; 
Pinch Flask in between the chin up sets, up till 3 x 30kg;
Seated cable rows. 
 

 

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Wednesday 14th

Bench up to 95kg worksets 3 x 3 and assistance work, narrow bench lockouts and dips. 

Today

Stupid thing is I somehow was under the impression last weeks that the grippers for SJ4 were 1.5" blockset which ofcourse isn't 30mm.I focused last period on 20mm and 25mm and thought to change that up to 1.5" blocksets last weeks. We'll see though lol make me a 30mm block. Won't make much difference anymore for training though. 

Grippers worksets 3 x 3 @25mm blockset IM#3 (filed 142); 
Rolling thunder 3 x 3 70kg, 1 x 1 72.5kg full lift to see how that felt.  Keeping it as assistance exercise till SJ4 and hope it has some carry over to the Crusher; 1 x 20 15kg dumbbell curls. 

I think I found a good intensity for gripwork with the split I am doing. 

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