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How to reach peak grip strength?


Lennix

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In powerlifting the usual strategy (ex sheiko) is to lower the volume but keep intensity up before the 1RM test/contests and perhaps take 2 days of before. 

How does this work in gripsport? What's the strategy to execute before trying a certification? Is there any use of trying to peak for a PR? When it's time for a grip contest? 

 

Is peaking neccessary in gripsport? 

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For me the best amount of rest seems to be 3-4 weeks. However this is different for different people. With some implements like pinch and wrist levering I think it's too long for me, I would rest max 1 week for that. Grippers seems to be the best after 3-4 weeks of rest, after working out very hard for months.

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My belief is I would rather have one more day of rest than I need than one day less than I need.  I've never really tried to peak for one event but for Grip Sport contests this is what I have always done.  For a Saturday contest.  I do a very hard all over Grip workout using the contest events - just like a real contest - the Saturday before -- lots of intensity but short.  Then the only other thing I do is a very light overall body routine with lots of stretching on Tuesday - otherwise I rest all week - I do some Original Strength as a warmup the day of the meet - ( I have not found squats etc just before a Grip contest to be helpful for me) - then I'm ready to go.  I take the week off after the contest - some walking or aerobics.  The the following Saturday I'm usually good for a PR in something.

I used something very different for Olympic Lifting or Highland Games contests.

I do think everyone is very different in this aspect - some needing more rest - some needing less.  Even though I am now 70 I have found this is still what works best for me.

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20 hours ago, Fist of Fury said:

For me the best amount of rest seems to be 3-4 weeks. However this is different for different people. With some implements like pinch and wrist levering I think it's too long for me, I would rest max 1 week for that. Grippers seems to be the best after 3-4 weeks of rest, after working out very hard for months.

3-4 weeks? wow that's along time to rest, how to you proceed when your rest is over? 2-3 light sessions before trying goalgripper? 

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I prefer doing 14-21 days off from very heavy grip stuff, but I do light and explosive grip/forearm exercises up to 5 days before the cert/comp. 

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Contest is on saturday Jedd and I will run through the contest events on tuesday and then take the rest of the week off. This has seemed to work best for us in the past 6 years. 

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9 minutes ago, Lucasraymond said:

Contest is on saturday Jedd and I will run through the contest events on tuesday and then take the rest of the week off. This has seemed to work best for us in the past 6 years. 

Using competion weights? Or lighter

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4 hours ago, Lennix said:

3-4 weeks? wow that's along time to rest, how to you proceed when your rest is over? 2-3 light sessions before trying goalgripper? 

Rest means rest.

I don't compete, if I did, this would be the way I would do it.

Train grippers very hard and also train pinch and thickbar, if it's one handed thickbar event I would focus on one hand only and do gripper with the other. If it's the axle I would just train it once per week and trying to get my deadlift as strong as possible.

Gripper strength is so incredibly CNS dependant, so in order to get a true max performance the CNS must be really peaked, which it can't be every day. So for me it works better to have a stronger base with grippers. Expect the worst and still be strong would be the best option for me. If I'd keep training grippers close to the competition I know it would hurt the other events.

I would rest completely for 6 days before the competiton, I would do light extensor work and such, only to get a little blood flow going.

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1 hour ago, Lucasraymond said:

Contest is on saturday Jedd and I will run through the contest events on tuesday and then take the rest of the week off. This has seemed to work best for us in the past 6 years. 

So 3 days of rest before competition and last training with what you need to be good at during competition. Sounds like the way powerlifters does it. 

39 minutes ago, Fist of Fury said:

Rest means rest.

I don't compete, if I did, this would be the way I would do it.

Train grippers very hard and also train pinch and thickbar, if it's one handed thickbar event I would focus on one hand only and do gripper with the other. If it's the axle I would just train it once per week and trying to get my deadlift as strong as possible.

Gripper strength is so incredibly CNS dependant, so in order to get a true max performance the CNS must be really peaked, which it can't be every day. So for me it works better to have a stronger base with grippers. Expect the worst and still be strong would be the best option for me. If I'd keep training grippers close to the competition I know it would hurt the other events.

I would rest completely for 6 days before the competiton, I would do light extensor work and such, only to get a little blood flow going.

Grippers is surely CNS dependant interesting that you feel you need 3-4 weeks to recover your CNS system. Speculating I would think for my own 4-5 days of full recovery to get it to max. with 2-3 weeks of lower volume before to get it to peak.. Resting 3-4 weeks I feel that I would have lost the feeling to set a heavy gripper correctly. So before you hit 1rm PBs you rest 3-4 weeks? 

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3 - 4 days of rest seems to work best for me.  I've tried up to 8 days, but that didn't go well.  I lost some strength and felt stiff on everything.  I've also gone with no rest.  Decided to do a contest the day after a workout on short notice.  That actually went better than taking 8 days off.    3 to 4 seems to be the sweet spot I've arrived at through trial and error for me.

About 30 minutes before the contest gets going, I'll make sure to get a big serving of caffiene in me and 5 minutes or so before the first event I will do some squats or bench press.  That combo usually gets the CNS primed to fire for me.  I have overdone it on the caffeine.  Especially when I was newer to gripsport and had a lot of nerves before the first event.  It makes it really hard to get a good gripper set when you are jittery and sweaty from nerves and too much caffeine!  HAHAHA  I try to limit myself to a big coffee the morning of a contest and then a monster energy drink about 20 - 30 minutes before first event.  I will drink a couple more throughout the day if it is a long contest.

I can't imagine taking 3-4 weeks off before a contest.  Most of the science out there says you start losing strength at around 8 - 10 days off of training.  While grippers are very CNS related as to performance, they really aren't hammering your CNS from an overall standpoint.  It's not like you are squatting or deadlifting heavy weight 2 - 3 times a week.  I can't really think of a grip workout or contest I wasn't completely recovered from in a week or less.  Usually a couple days.  There's a big difference between an event like grippers being CNS dependent and training for the event being taxing on the CNS.  In the grand scheme of strength sports, grip taining is not super taxing on your CNS.  You may need a well rested CNS to do well on a gripper close in a comp, but you aren't going to fry your CNS by training on a hand gripper.  It just doesn't work that way. 

Speaking of people going too far to prime their CNS before a comp.  I once went to a powerlifting meet and this guy was bouncing all over the place before squats.  I overheard him telling someone he was there with that he had taken a bunch of clen that morning for the first time to "really amp up his CNS."  The contest was tested, but I was a nobody and really only competing with myself so I just said whatever and worried about my performance.  Guy bombed out in squats.  He actually got the squat completed the first two attempts, but stepped toward the rack before the signal on the first one and lost his balance and stumbled back on the second one.  He was AMPED UP alright.  He missed the third one.  Inexplicably he raised the weight on every attempt.  So he had the rest of the day to feel bad about himself and deal with the Clen-jitters and palpitations.  Serves him right for cheating.  hehe 

 

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4 hours ago, Lennix said:

So 3 days of rest before competition and last training with what you need to be good at during competition. Sounds like the way powerlifters does it. 

Grippers is surely CNS dependant interesting that you feel you need 3-4 weeks to recover your CNS system. Speculating I would think for my own 4-5 days of full recovery to get it to max. with 2-3 weeks of lower volume before to get it to peak.. Resting 3-4 weeks I feel that I would have lost the feeling to set a heavy gripper correctly. So before you hit 1rm PBs you rest 3-4 weeks? 

I didn't mean it like that. What I meant was that it's so random if my CNS are firing good or not that I rather focus on building up a higher base for grippers. If I would try to peak with grippers close to a competition it would slow down my gains on the other implements.

Biggest PR's I've done has been after RRBT and KTA, so yes, 4-5 weeks of rest. Bad technique yes but nevertheless bigger PR's than ever, in terms of numbers.

Something to think of for you. If you look at most contests it's usually not the strongest gripper guy who wins the entire contest. Some time it is but I would say, based on results I've seen that it's mostly people who have a decent gripper close but are very good at other events who is going to win.

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1 hour ago, Mike Rinderle said:

3 - 4 days of rest seems to work best for me.  I've tried up to 8 days, but that didn't go well.  I lost some strength and felt stiff on everything.  I've also gone with no rest.  Decided to do a contest the day after a workout on short notice.  That actually went better than taking 8 days off.    3 to 4 seems to be the sweet spot I've arrived at through trial and error for me.

About 30 minutes before the contest gets going, I'll make sure to get a big serving of caffiene in me and 5 minutes or so before the first event I will do some squats or bench press.  That combo usually gets the CNS primed to fire for me.  I have overdone it on the caffeine.  Especially when I was newer to gripsport and had a lot of nerves before the first event.  It makes it really hard to get a good gripper set when you are jittery and sweaty from nerves and too much caffeine!  HAHAHA  I try to limit myself to a big coffee the morning of a contest and then a monster energy drink about 20 - 30 minutes before first event.  I will drink a couple more throughout the day if it is a long contest.

I can't imagine taking 3-4 weeks off before a contest.  Most of the science out there says you start losing strength at around 8 - 10 days off of training.  While grippers are very CNS related as to performance, they really aren't hammering your CNS from an overall standpoint.  It's not like you are squatting or deadlifting heavy weight 2 - 3 times a week.  I can't really think of a grip workout or contest I wasn't completely recovered from in a week or less.  Usually a couple days.  There's a big difference between an event like grippers being CNS dependent and training for the event being taxing on the CNS.  In the grand scheme of strength sports, grip taining is not super taxing on your CNS.  You may need a well rested CNS to do well on a gripper close in a comp, but you aren't going to fry your CNS by training on a hand gripper.  It just doesn't work that way. 

Speaking of people going too far to prime their CNS before a comp.  I once went to a powerlifting meet and this guy was bouncing all over the place before squats.  I overheard him telling someone he was there with that he had taken a bunch of clen that morning for the first time to "really amp up his CNS."  The contest was tested, but I was a nobody and really only competing with myself so I just said whatever and worried about my performance.  Guy bombed out in squats.  He actually got the squat completed the first two attempts, but stepped toward the rack before the signal on the first one and lost his balance and stumbled back on the second one.  He was AMPED UP alright.  He missed the third one.  Inexplicably he raised the weight on every attempt.  So he had the rest of the day to feel bad about himself and deal with the Clen-jitters and palpitations.  Serves him right for cheating.  hehe 

 

Yet WSM winner Magnus Samuelsson says his grip was always the strongest 1 month after he had stopped training it :D

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23 minutes ago, Fist of Fury said:

 

Something to think of for you. If you look at most contests it's usually not the strongest gripper guy who wins the entire contest. Some time it is but I would say, based on results I've seen that it's mostly people who have a decent gripper close but are very good at other events who is going to win.

^^ This. Grippers least important aspect of a contest placement. Particularly true with the North American scoring system. 

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23 minutes ago, Fist of Fury said:

Yet WSM winner Magnus Samuelsson says his grip was always the strongest 1 month after he had stopped training it :D

Maybe specific grip training.  But ol Magnus got a chit ton of grip training when doing his strongman training.  lol

My biggest close in a contest (169.9 w/ 20mm block set) came when I hadn't touched a gripper in two years.  But I was pulling 615 lbs at the time.  Heavy deads are a great way totrain grippers without training grippers.  I'm sure Magnus didn't stop picking up heavy stuff a month out from a contest.

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4 minutes ago, AdamTGlass said:

^^ This. Grippers least important aspect of a contest placement. Particularly true with the North American scoring system. 

Agreed.  I think it is because the guys who are really good on grippers have to focus so much on grippers and everything else suffers a little.  I can get pretty good contest results training everything but grippers.  When I focused on grippers, I did real well at grippers and not much else. 

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36 minutes ago, Fist of Fury said:

I didn't mean it like that. What I meant was that it's so random if my CNS are firing good or not that I rather focus on building up a higher base for grippers. If I would try to peak with grippers close to a competition it would slow down my gains on the other implements.

Biggest PR's I've done has been after RRBT and KTA, so yes, 4-5 weeks of rest. Bad technique yes but nevertheless bigger PR's than ever, in terms of numbers.

Something to think of for you. If you look at most contests it's usually not the strongest gripper guy who wins the entire contest. Some time it is but I would say, based on results I've seen that it's mostly people who have a decent gripper close but are very good at other events who is going to win.

Thanks for the insight! Easiest way for me to get my CNS is putting on my lifting belt. Gets my pulse going immediately. It's one of the cues I have before heavy lifts so my body know what's up lol. 

Yea the gripper part is mostly for closes at home and was curious if it differed between the way people prepare! 

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13 minutes ago, Mike Rinderle said:

Maybe specific grip training.  But ol Magnus got a chit ton of grip training when doing his strongman training.  lol

My biggest close in a contest (169.9 w/ 20mm block set) came when I hadn't touched a gripper in two years.  But I was pulling 615 lbs at the time.  Heavy deads are a great way totrain grippers without training grippers.  I'm sure Magnus didn't stop picking up heavy stuff a month out from a contest.

Yes sure, another interesting thing is that he seemed to like a lot of reps (high reps). I've seen others do the same, like Eddie Hall, doing crazy high reps on shoulder press. Different ways for different people. Normally recovery should take a bit longer if you do a lot of high reps.

@Lennix the most important factor for me, when it comes to have a nice and fresh CNS is to get plenty of good and deep sleep for several weeks in consecution. Unfortunately I rarely get that. When I do, however, my gripper strength always feels the best, same for bending. For some reason it doesn't feel like it affects pinch and thick bar as much.

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8 hours ago, db2000 said:

Using competion weights? Or lighter

Competition but less volume

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