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Gripper advice


Aleksandar Milosevic

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I need some gripper advice.

Since one of my goals is closing the #3 this year, and I know it's possible, I just want to get some advice, equipment wise.

So the situation is like this, I currently have the strength of about 60 kg/132 lb in my right and a tad lower in my left hand on the Robert Baraban adjustable without training grippers seriously, and I can't close my #2 with my left hand, while being able to close it with my right for 1-3 reps wider than CCS. Strength is not the issue, it's the neural pathways in my weaker arm, which I need to develop with reps. Since the only TSG that I have is the #2, I'm in the market to buy 3 more grippers.

One that's weaker than #2 that I can use for reps with my left hand (3-5 reps ideally and working to about 10 reps) and instant 8-10 reps with my right. I'd like it to be challenging for my left, but doable. 

One that's stronger than #2, and to me it seems like the #2.5 is the logical choice there, but I've heard that GHP or HG could be used for this too.

Last one is going to be either a #3 or something slightly weaker, so I'd have two grippers between #2 and #3.

I'm open to all ideas, and all combinations, CoC, GHP, HG etc. but I'd like to get the best bang for my buck, like a bundle or whatever. I'm also open to buying used grippers, I don't really care about them as a some kind of relic etc. just a training tool.

Thank you all in advance and I hope my question isn't too complicated. I know that if my #2 was rated would help out immensely, but it's not. 

 

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I think ironmind does 3 packs for a little discount,  or they used to.

 

I'd go with a 1 or 1.5, a 2.5 and the 3 you want.

I always enjoyed doing high reps, I felt it helps build size in the forearms more, so maybe the 1 would be better than the 1.5 for you?

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4 hours ago, Fist of Fury said:

GHP4
HG250
COC#2.5
GHP7 (or Tetting GM)

This seems pretty good, but why go the GHP 7 route instead of CoC 3, which is my goal?

 

 

4 hours ago, king crusher said:

I think ironmind does 3 packs for a little discount,  or they used to.

 

I'd go with a 1 or 1.5, a 2.5 and the 3 you want.

I always enjoyed doing high reps, I felt it helps build size in the forearms more, so maybe the 1 would be better than the 1.5 for you?

Thanks King, that was my idea too. My forearm size is pretty good, and I can rep my Robert Baraban adjustable. I need a gripper that's in the range of 3-10 reps, beneath #2, so something like #1.5 or GHP 4 seems the logical choice.

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2.5 for sure.  A #1 to cut for beyond the range at this pt as well.  A strap for strap holds.  And, a #3 for negatives.

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11 hours ago, Aleksandar Milosevic said:

This seems pretty good, but why go the GHP 7 route instead of CoC 3, which is my goal?

 

 

Thanks King, that was my idea too. My forearm size is pretty good, and I can rep my Robert Baraban adjustable. I need a gripper that's in the range of 3-10 reps, beneath #2, so something like #1.5 or GHP 4 seems the logical choice.

Becuase they are generally easier than COC#3's these days.

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I'd just get a Vulcan gripper, it's way more bang for your buck and if you get the orange training spring there's good carry over to captains of crush. An yes I'm a grip coach so people can take this as plugging if they want but people spend so much money on equipment where as the knowledge of a good coach is way more worthwhile and cost effective. You really don't need much equipment to get a really strong grip, cert the #3 etc For gripsport its essential and if you want to treat yourself to some new kit then absolutely go ahead but most would go much further much quicker with a good coach and its really not expensive compared to grip equipment (which I'm definitely guilty of spending wayyy too much money on in the past myself!).

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2 hours ago, Paul Savage said:

I'd just get a Vulcan gripper, it's way more bang for your buck and if you get the orange training spring there's good carry over to captains of crush. An yes I'm a grip coach so people can take this as plugging if they want but people spend so much money on equipment where as the knowledge of a good coach is way more worthwhile and cost effective. You really don't need much equipment to get a really strong grip, cert the #3 etc For gripsport its essential and if you want to treat yourself to some new kit then absolutely go ahead but most would go much further much quicker with a good coach and its really not expensive compared to grip equipment (which I'm definitely guilty of spending wayyy too much money on in the past myself!).

His goal is to close a COC #3.  So, as a grip coach, you advise him to purchase a Vulcan gripper when he already has a RB adjustable?  

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I am thankful for your responses, and I want to answer to everyone, but won't quote everyone, it would be a mess.

About the rep thing and size - my training will contain both volume and intensity, programming is not the problem, since it's my profession. I gain forearm size at a rate of about 1 cm per month, I'm gonna have 38 cm/15 inch forearms at 89 kg/196 lbs in two or three months (36 cm now). So for me, gaining muscle is not an issue at all, and for reps, I have my adjustable, for pump purposes and just repping out. And people need to realize that every person responds differently to training stimulus, and what Laine does might not work for someone else. Laine gave me instructions for my RT training, which I followed to the letter, and I wasn't satisfied with the effort to gain ratio, but I'm immensely thankful to Laine, who's in my opinion the strongest grip athlete in the world helping me with no interest.

About the GHP vs CoC - As far as I realize, GHP is a bit wider, is a bit higher quality, has a more linear difficulty. But since the goal is #3, shouldn't I maybe stick to CoC, since they all have the same spread, spring behavior, knurling, handle size? Did anyone here train more with the GHP grippers, and certed #3, and if yes, did you find it's not a big deal to transfer the strength? And yes, I like training my reps with a very wide set, I let the gripper open up completely, it gives me a feeling of domination, as funny as it sounds, and it makes me work harder + I hit the entire range of motion. I always liked the varied knurling on the GHP + the whole look of it, it just screams quality.

Paul's advice - Paul, thank you for the advice, and I agree 100% with you. I am getting consistently stronger with my Robert Baraban, at the moment my strength is at #2.5, but it doesn't translate to TSG properly, since I struggle with my 2, because of the last part of the close that's torsion based, so I need reps which put me in that situation, for neural pathway development. Thank you for your advice, and as I said, the goal is #3. My biggest issue with training my crush is the lack of concrete goal, so certing the #3, or at least closing it gives me a reason to train it, since I see no benefits in training my crush besides it occasionally being fun + helping my bottom's up KB performance.

Wannagrip's advice makes the most sense to me, but I'd probably get a #1.5 for the rep work, since my #2 feels like a toy until I get to the final part of the close and I think I'd just murder the #1 for 10+ reps out of the box, which isn't a challenge. And I'd probably train my 1.5 till I can get 10+ reps with both hands, than file it so I put it back in the 3-5 range (I don't know if it makes it so much harder?). 

So to me, the most rational approach, considering the cost, effort, training opportunities etc. is to just get the IronMind bundle which contains 3 grippers of my choice (1.5, 2.5, 3) + the silver bullet, to make my training interesting, and so I can organize some competitions with the equipment I have (Rolling thunder, pinch block, hub, silver bullet) to popularize grip sport in my country. But feel free to give some more input, I'm gonna make my final decision tomorrow.

And again, thank you all, if it wasn't for this site and the people here, I wouldn't have discovered an activity I enjoy the most in my training!






 

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2 hours ago, jchapman said:

His goal is to close a COC #3.  So, as a grip coach, you advise him to purchase a Vulcan gripper when he already has a RB adjustable?  

Never tried the rb adjustable so can't comment on it but specifically the Vulcan v2 with orange spring carries over well so yes I'd definitely recommend it, especially bang for buck wise as can go very light to up over #3 level. I've went from trainer to #4, have coached Rebecca Roberts to best crush grip going an near #3 ccs in two years again from trainer (meaning my methods work but take it or leave it). Just trying to help out as i wasted lots of money for too many years on kit and especially getting far too many grippers!

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For parallel set I find COC's much harder than GHP and Tetting becuase they have smoother knurling, they don't stay in position as easily as Tetting and GHP. However, the truth is that grippers vary, two grippers can have the exact same rating but feel very different.

I think it's better to have MM0 as goal before COC cert. You can do MM0 with GHP7 as well.

If you can close the #2.5 I would not recommend you to spend any time with the #1 and #1.5. You'll be better off working with various #2's and a HG250 for reps.

 

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8 minutes ago, Paul Savage said:

Never tried the rb adjustable so can't comment on it but specifically the Vulcan v2 with orange spring carries over well so yes I'd definitely recommend it, especially bang for buck wise as can go very light to up over #3 level. I've went from trainer to #4, have coached Rebecca Roberts to best crush grip going an near #3 ccs in two years again from trainer (meaning my methods work but take it or leave it). Just trying to help out as i wasted lots of money for too many years on kit and especially getting far too many grippers!

The RB adjustable is nearly identical to the Vulcan.  

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Paul, I understand where you're coming from, and I don't doubt your results. Coaching wise, I don't need help, since I have 4 years of college education in strength and conditioning + 10 years of training experience at 25. I just needed help regarding tools to reach my goal, and I have zero doubt that I'm able to reach it, if I persevere in training, that's why I gotta vary the methods used and have a bigger toolbox, to keep it interesting and mentally stimulating. Training is equal parts mental, physical and technical, with varying degrees of importance to an individual.

Fist, I can close an equivalent of the coc #2.5 on the adjustable, which is around 60 kilograms, but it translates into about 1-3 reps on the actual #2, and I wouldn't be able to close the #2.5. I think I'd have to be at a higher level on the adjustable to be able to close a #2.5. I feel like the carryover is about 75-80% for me. And yeah, I'm going for the MM0 first, since it's simply logical. I feel like #1.5 would be challenging for a couple of weeks to rep, then I'm gonna file it, and start doing reps with #2. The knurling on my #2 is very good for me, I wouldn't need more, since I'm also a physical therapist, and I gotta keep my palms in a fair state (as much as it's possible). 

Hopefully, I think I'll just go that route, and the silver bullet bundle just seals the deal. And yes, having the object that you wish to conquer in your hands is invaluable for motivation purposes. 

Everything would be way, way easier if I was in the US now, but the way I'm ordering it now, it's gonna arrive at my friends house and she's gonna bring it to me when she comes in February, so it cannot be too heavy etc.

And yes, if I understand correctly, the sweep is the initial motion of the gripper? If that's it, I feel very strong in that movement, when the gripper isn't even set.

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1 minute ago, Hopefully said:

Yeah sweep is the initial movement or the first part of the close if you will. It wasn't an issue for me until the ghp6 and up, it's much harder then imo. But I have short fingers so I would guess that's what it's about mostly. 

I have had the same experience.

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My hand is 20 cm/7.87 inches, I don't know if that's small or not, but my palm is very thick, wide and muscular, especially the thumb area. My fingers don't look like they belong to my palm, it looks kinda funny.

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57 minutes ago, Hopefully said:

The Vulcan is from UK though 

It's also the original product and not a knock-off :) 

They are very different in feel. The original is much harder.

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The adjustable gripper is a great idea, but you can’t get that ramp up at the end like a torsion gripper. 

Its a process getting the no.3 closed...just build your reps up with the 1.5  5-7 reps with that should knock off the no.2 

same with the no.2 -probably going to need 10-15 reps with that to get the 2.5

hard singles are fine, two... but you need a lot of different ratings to keep progress. 

If you are going to keep training with the adjustable gripper I would do singles on that and over crush the crap out of it to help the carry -over. I still feel they train you the opposite way you’re are trying to get;  hard to easy vs easy to hard.

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6 minutes ago, slazbob said:

The adjustable gripper is a great idea, but you can’t get that ramp up at the end like a torsion gripper. 

Its a process getting the no.3 closed...just build your reps up with the 1.5  5-7 reps with that should knock off the no.2 

same with the no.2 -probably going to need 10-15 reps with that to get the 2.5

hard singles are fine, two... but you need a lot of different ratings to keep progress. 

If you are going to keep training with the adjustable gripper I would do singles on that and over crush the crap out of it to help the carry -over. I still feel they train you the opposite way you’re are trying to get;  hard to easy vs easy to hard.

You hit the nail on the head. That's exactly my plan, building my technique and control with the TSG, and building my maximum strength and power with the adjustable and #2.5 + #3 negatives and holds. But volume work is going to be 70-80% of the total work load.

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23 minutes ago, slazbob said:

The adjustable gripper is a great idea, but you can’t get that ramp up at the end like a torsion gripper. 

Its a process getting the no.3 closed...just build your reps up with the 1.5  5-7 reps with that should knock off the no.2 

same with the no.2 -probably going to need 10-15 reps with that to get the 2.5

hard singles are fine, two... but you need a lot of different ratings to keep progress. 

If you are going to keep training with the adjustable gripper I would do singles on that and over crush the crap out of it to help the carry -over. I still feel they train you the opposite way you’re are trying to get;  hard to easy vs easy to hard.

With the heavier springs yes (though still has good carry over), with the lighter orange spring it's a lot more similar to coc so more specific. You can add in beyond the range clicker work if the close is an issue but there's more to closing big grippers than just gripper training (especially for wider sets, ccs cert etc) and honestly you don't need to do a huge amount of gripper training to get to coc #3. This is one mistake I made in the past was training grippers way too much.

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46 minutes ago, Paul Savage said:

With the heavier springs yes (though still has good carry over), with the lighter orange spring it's a lot more similar to coc so more specific. You can add in beyond the range clicker work if the close is an issue but there's more to closing big grippers than just gripper training (especially for wider sets, ccs cert etc) and honestly you don't need to do a huge amount of gripper training to get to coc #3. This is one mistake I made in the past was training grippers way too much.

I have my Vulcan filed and didn’t really get what I wanted out of it. But it has a place in grip work...helping your set and sweep. You can use it for speed at the close as well. I can’t agree about the no.3 not taking a lot of training; if you have a good base, then, yeah you can probably get it with a good program or plan. But most have to work hard at it.

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1 hour ago, slazbob said:

I have my Vulcan filed and didn’t really get what I wanted out of it. But it has a place in grip work...helping your set and sweep. You can use it for speed at the close as well. I can’t agree about the no.3 not taking a lot of training; if you have a good base, then, yeah you can probably get it with a good program or plan. But most have to work hard at it.

I wasn't saying you don't have to work hard I was saying you don't have to do a lot of specific gripper training. A lot don't focus enough on full body training and just getting strong overall, and getting the base hand strength is really the key. A lot hammer away at the grippers but don't train much else, where as putting a 3 month plan of solid full body strength training together with a lot pinch and thickbar training (along with overhand deadlifts, bare handed rows and shrugs etc) would build the base up a lot more, and actually you can PB on grippers as soon as you come back but that's a thing a lot of people do is that they always go really heavy with grippers (heavy singles, negatives etc). I've found you really don't need to and it makes no logical sense either when you think it through. If I just do heavy singles on deadlift for a month will my deadlift go up? Yes, I'll definitely put up more weight baring injury, but did I get stronger? Or did I just get better at deadlifting? And would I keep putting bigger numbers up if I did this year round? No, because I'm just getting more practiced, not getting stronger, once im well practiced, I'm unlikely to see further progress, and infact I might get weaker and go backwards. This is no different with grippers, you need rep work with lighter grippers to gain muscle size and strength. Yes of course you need to do heavy singles at times but only when ready to peak, base building is where the real strength is built.

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28 minutes ago, Paul Savage said:

I wasn't saying you don't have to work hard I was saying you don't have to do a lot of specific gripper training. A lot don't focus enough on full body training and just getting strong overall, and getting the base hand strength is really the key. A lot hammer away at the grippers but don't train much else, where as putting a 3 month plan of solid full body strength training together with a lot pinch and thickbar training (along with overhand deadlifts, bare handed rows and shrugs etc) would build the base up a lot more, and actually you can PB on grippers as soon as you come back but that's a thing a lot of people do is that they always go really heavy with grippers (heavy singles, negatives etc). I've found you really don't need to and it makes no logical sense either when you think it through. If I just do heavy singles on deadlift for a month will my deadlift go up? Yes, I'll definitely put up more weight baring injury, but did I get stronger? Or did I just get better at deadlifting? And would I keep putting bigger numbers up if I did this year round? No, because I'm just getting more practiced, not getting stronger, once im well practiced, I'm unlikely to see further progress, and infact I might get weaker and go backwards. This is no different with grippers, you need rep work with lighter grippers to gain muscle size and strength. Yes of course you need to do heavy singles at times but only when ready to peak, base building is where the real strength is built.

The dead lift to gripper analogy needs a little more work.  To generate more force in the dead lift, the body primarily calls upon more motor units.  It is a multijoint movement involving a lot of muscle mass.  Closing grippers is much more of a fine motor skill.  There are relatively few motor units involved, so in order to apply more force, the body increases the rate of impulse to the motor units.  This is often referred to as rate coding.  Gripper strength is much more dependent on developing the neural pathways, or skill development, than the dead lift.

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1 hour ago, Paul Savage said:

I wasn't saying you don't have to work hard I was saying you don't have to do a lot of specific gripper training. A lot don't focus enough on full body training and just getting strong overall, and getting the base hand strength is really the key. A lot hammer away at the grippers but don't train much else, where as putting a 3 month plan of solid full body strength training together with a lot pinch and thickbar training (along with overhand deadlifts, bare handed rows and shrugs etc) would build the base up a lot more, and actually you can PB on grippers as soon as you come back but that's a thing a lot of people do is that they always go really heavy with grippers (heavy singles, negatives etc). I've found you really don't need to and it makes no logical sense either when you think it through. If I just do heavy singles on deadlift for a month will my deadlift go up? Yes, I'll definitely put up more weight baring injury, but did I get stronger? Or did I just get better at deadlifting? And would I keep putting bigger numbers up if I did this year round? No, because I'm just getting more practiced, not getting stronger, once im well practiced, I'm unlikely to see further progress, and infact I might get weaker and go backwards. This is no different with grippers, you need rep work with lighter grippers to gain muscle size and strength. Yes of course you need to do heavy singles at times but only when ready to peak, base building is where the real strength is built.

I personally only do light rep work for a healthy break...not to build mass in an area that doesn’t have much muscle. Sometimes we get in to a habit of hard singles and failure is always in our workouts...the rep work just gives some positive reinforcement and good feels. But make no mistake about it... we do the reps because the failure to close a gripper that you closed last workout makes you question your strength, your workouts, and your recovery. 

Overall body work will be helpful to anyone...but a guy who does nothing but grippers will beat a guy all day who focuses on other aspects. The hands want to hold on to things more than crush things...you have to make it a gripper hand. 

A lot of trainers try and have people change their workouts all the time to avoid plateaus, even if they don’t need it...I say do it till it fails you; allow your body to maximize time in a program so it gets the full benefits. If you get weaker from doing the same things, it’s boardom and a drop in motivation. IMO 

i don’t try to peak at anything...If I had to be at my best by a certain date I’d just train hard as much as I could....by peak, it means I can’t go any higher...and I don’t want to think that way.

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