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Training all areas of grip at once


Martin Gaisser

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Just wondering which areas of grip people have been able to combine and still make good progress.  I know a few guys train just about everything but at much lower volume and slower progress.  Also if you've had success with multiple areas what order did you train them in so one didn't hinder the other as much.  I've mainly only done one thing at a time that being bending and grippers.  I did have a little overlap with the two but not for long.  As I'm starting back training I still want to train my bending and grippers some but am thinking I want to put my main focus on finally lifting my blob and the inch.  After I achieve those goals I'd like to pick back up heavy on the bending and grippers with some pinch work as well since I've never trained that area.  Also if there are any specific exercises that you think helped contribute to your success I'd love to hear about them.  Or if there are any exercises that carry over to all areas of grip post those as well.  I know everyone is different and there are a million opinions but I'd like to see where most agree and try using some of that in my training.

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I have had by far my best results training everything at once - but then again I have never done serious specialized training on any one thing for any length of time so I have no idea what I might have achieved had I done things that way.  The few times I tried doing "one thing" I always ended up hurt.   But I do think I am unusual in this regard.

Edited by climber511
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I've always felt specializing/orientating training towards grippers and bending was doable.  Never trained both in the same workout and never bent more than twice a week.  Progress was made - but I'm not sure such a regime would work as well with other aspects of grip (particularly pinch).

I'd be interested to others experiences trying to specialise in 2 or 3 areas at once.

 

 

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Thick bar and pinch seem to go together nicely for me.  Never had any luck training any form of grip when bending seriously.  I guess it would work if you were doing one session a week of just maintenance bending with easy stock to keep your technique dialed in.  I was never able to adhere to that though.

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47 minutes ago, Mike Rinderle said:

Thick bar and pinch seem to go together nicely for me.  Never had any luck training any form of grip when bending seriously.  I guess it would work if you were doing one session a week of just maintenance bending with easy stock to keep your technique dialed in.  I was never able to adhere to that though.

Yea me either Mike once I got the bending bug I just said screw everything else. Lol.  There’s nothing like feeling a piece of steel bend in your hands.  It’s very satisfying and rewarding for me. I did test myself a couple times with grippers while I was bending and I retained most of my strength.  My best gains with grippers came from a very abbreviated routine so that might have had something to do with it.  Did you ever mess around with the blob or the inch much?  Sorry my memory is pretty pitiful.  I’m sure it’s just age and nothing stupid I ever did.  Lol. 

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Thick bar and pinch have always been a good combination for me as well. I also found that I was able progress (slowly) with pinch while bending. Also, while bending, I never really wanted to train grippers, but that was mainly due to how I felt. I have heard of others who have made great progress while doing both. 

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I'm still taking an everything approach (small gains across broad spectrum vs fast progress on a narrow focus). I'm back to experimenting again with volume holds and higher reps. Time will tell but it's important to believe in the plan and visualize success.

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I train all the major areas of grip (crush, pinch, thick bar, wrist). I treat it like how a body builder breaks out workouts by body part (chest, back, legs). So I do a workout that is just pinch, just crush etc. I pay attention to how I space the workouts just like a bodybuilder as well putting things that don't conflict near each other and things that do further apart. Pinch followed by grippers works great for me while I need to space apart thickbar and grippers for example. 

I don't bend anymore. I use to and it was super hard for me to balance with grip. They both beat up the hands so it was hard to recover. I only dabbled in bending though. Since my true passion is grip, I decided to just focus on it.   

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2 hours ago, Martin Gaisser said:

Yea me either Mike once I got the bending bug I just said screw everything else. Lol.  There’s nothing like feeling a piece of steel bend in your hands.  It’s very satisfying and rewarding for me. I did test myself a couple times with grippers while I was bending and I retained most of my strength.  My best gains with grippers came from a very abbreviated routine so that might have had something to do with it.  Did you ever mess around with the blob or the inch much?  Sorry my memory is pretty pitiful.  I’m sure it’s just age and nothing stupid I ever did.  Lol. 

Haha!  I'm actually concentrating on thick bar and pinch right now with the goals of: lifting the Inch, fatman blob, 400lb axle, and 220lb 2hp.  I hate training grippers... so I don't.  Haven't trained them seriously in over 6 years.  I find that heavy deads keep my gripper numvers pretty solid between 150 and 160 without training them.  I can still close a number 3 out of the package mms.  I'll have to train them a bit right before nationals, but I'm not looking forward to it.  :angry:

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57 minutes ago, Chez said:

"I only dabbled in bending though."

Yeah, what a wuss, can't even do the gold nail ... ;)

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41 minutes ago, Mike Rinderle said:

Haha!  I'm actually concentrating on thick bar and pinch right now with the goals of: lifting the Inch, fatman blob, 400lb axle, and 220lb 2hp.  I hate training grippers... so I don't.  Haven't trained them seriously in over 6 years.  I find that heavy deads keep my gripper numvers pretty solid between 150 and 160 without training them.  I can still close a number 3 out of the package mms.  I'll have to train them a bit right before nationals, but I'm not looking forward to it.  :angry:

Sweet!!!  I know you got it your a beast man!  Conquer that shiz!!!  :rock

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Grippers followed by regular pinch works best for me on same day. 2 - 3 days after grippers thickbar. Keypinch, wrist work every other day

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I train thick bar and pinch on Monday, grippers and sledgehammer on Wednesday and thick bar and pinch again on Friday. I do revolving thick bar handles on the Monday workout and non revolving axle type thick bar on Friday. For the pinch work I will be using either a flask or a Saxon bar or Saxon dumbbell made for my by Lucas Raymond. All sessions are very abbreviated lasting no longer than 30 minutes. For grippers it’s tops 4 sets followed by all kinds of sledge levering. I also finish my Monday and Friday thick/pinch day with some form of biceps curls and reverse curl for upper arm strength. After  every workout I do I follow it with a few sets of push ups and bodyweight rows as a finisher. Very simple and very affective. 

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My main focus is on performing well in grip sport contests, which requires well-rounded grip strength. So I make sure to train all major aspects of hand and wrist strength each week. If my focus was more on accomplishing specific feats, I would likely choose to specialize.

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