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Gripping and hand health


Shal9097

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There was a recent topic about Ronnie Coleman trying to close a coc#3. It made me think about the way he is now, only able to walk with crutches. Now he is an extreme case, but I’ve wondered for a while now what all of this above average grip work will do to my hands when I get older. I was hoping some grip veterans could share their stories about hand health after all of this grip abuse, with regards to arthritis and general function. 

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I am 70 now.  Lots of construction type work my whole life,  several years of racing dirt bikes, many years of shooting very heavy bows (like bows and arrows), 35 or 36 years of rock climbing,  16 years of Grip Sport.  My hands are fine - maybe a very small amount of arthritis but no real problems at all  I still have good dexterity and overall function - very little pain considering what all I've asked of them.  I do very little in the way of care for them - stretching and massage at times is about all.  I believe part of it is I never overdid it on grippers - I know that heavy gripper training did make my hands hurt - nothing else really did - plus I never really liked grippers so I never did all that much with them.

Maybe I'm just lucky - I don't seem to suffer from arthritis very much - nothing severe at all.  Lots of general wear and tear and tons of old injuries  I have to deal with.  I just muddle on.  

Edited by climber511
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9 minutes ago, climber511 said:

I am 70 now.  Lots of construction type work my whole life,  several years of racing dirt bikes, many years of shooting very heavy bows (like bows and arrows), 35 or 36 years of rock climbing,  16 years of Grip Sport.  My hands are fine - maybe a very small amount of arthritis but no real problems at all  I still have good dexterity and overall function - very little pain considering what all I've asked of them.  I do very little in the way of care for them - stretching and massage at times is about all.  I believe part of it is I never overdid it on grippers - I know that heavy gripper training did make my hands hurt - nothing else really did - plus I never really liked grippers so I never did all that much with them.

Maybe I'm just lucky - I don't seem to suffer from arthritis very much - nothing severe at all.  Lots of general wear and tear and tons of old injuries  I have to deal with.  I just muddle on.  

I’m a nurse, so these things interest me quite a bit. What I’ve noticed in my patients, as far as general mobility goes, the ones that keep moving around keep moving into older age. Move it or lose it. I am just getting into grip sport and I am hoping all of this stuff helps keep my hands moving when I’m older instead of slowing them down

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And as far as grippers go, they seem to increase inflammation in my hands and forearms more than any other forms of training. I think that once I can cert on the #3, I’m going to back off on grippers and start working on pinch and other general hand strength. Right now all I think about is the #3 lol

Edited by Shal9097
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I am 65. Beginning at Age 23, I have worked in an office, and other than yard work, did nothing with my hands (or virtually any exercise except four years of running) until the Age of 44.

Beginning at Age 44, slowly added grip gadgets and exercises. For years on the IronMind Hub, pushed it hard, to the point of blowing out tendons on fingers. Never did bending, because intuitively, it seemed bad. Pounded my hands in my early 50s with negatives on grippers that set me back some (it was the Number 4 that was the foolish move on the negatives, it only took a few reps to cause the heel of the hand to be in pain for 3 months).

Today? I can honestly say that the part of my body that bothers me the least, by far the least, are my hands.

I have never iced or massaged my hands in my life.

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2 hours ago, Shal9097 said:

There was a recent topic about Ronnie Coleman trying to close a coc#3. It made me think about the way he is now, only able to walk with crutches. Now he is an extreme case, but I’ve wondered for a while now what all of this above average grip work will do to my hands when I get older. I was hoping some grip veterans could share their stories about hand health after all of this grip abuse, with regards to arthritis and general function. 

Ronnie Coleman’s issues are probably more of a matter of drug abuse than actual training. 

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Ronnie coleman was never a grip athlete, he was a body builder which is about as far as one can get from health. 

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9 minutes ago, Climber028 said:

Ronnie coleman was never a grip athlete, he was a body builder which is about as far as one can get from health. 

100% truth. Total destruction of his body was done. Very sad.

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So with constant heavy, high volume Gripper workouts (with deload weeks every 4th or 5th week), am I going to be in trouble when I hit 40? 50? I’m 25 now. 

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6 minutes ago, ChimpGrip said:

So with constant heavy, high volume Gripper workouts (with deload weeks every 4th or 5th week), am I going to be in trouble when I hit 40? 50? I’m 25 now. 

That’s subjective and impossible to answer.  No 2 people are alike. Some may, some may not. I have zero pain or discomfort from grippers or anything else grip related. Some do. You will not know until it happens. Just train smart and prehab as much as you can to prevent injury. I would not worry about it too much. 

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8 hours ago, Joseph Sullivan said:

That’s subjective and impossible to answer.  No 2 people are alike. Some may, some may not. I have zero pain or discomfort from grippers or anything else grip related. Some do. You will not know until it happens. Just train smart and prehab as much as you can to prevent injury. I would not worry about it too much. 

I agree with Joe. But look, ChimpGrip, two guys of Medicare Age have addressed the issue and their hands are fine. But neither one of them went the “constant heavy high volume Gripper workouts” path. However, both of them were closing Number 3’s in contests as Senior Citizens. The last time I bested the current World’s Strongest Man in the Silver Bullet in a grip contest? Martins Licis was 24, and I was 61. My record was 3-2 against him over a four year period in that event. 

Sorry guys, but I had to throw in that idiotic fact now that Martins is WSM. When you get to be my age, it gets more and more difficult to brag about anything.

You don’t even have to train smart, you just can’t train stupid, or you won’t make it to Medicare Age.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Hubgeezer said:

I agree with Joe. But look, ChimpGrip, two guys of Medicare Age have addressed the issue and their hands are fine. But neither one of them went the “constant heavy high volume Gripper workouts” path. However, both of them were closing Number 3’s in contests as Senior Citizens. The last time I bested the current World’s Strongest Man in the Silver Bullet in a grip contest? Martins Licis was 24, and I was 61. My record was 3-2 against him over a four year period in that event. 

Sorry guys, but I had to throw in that idiotic fact now that Martins is WSM. When you get to be my age, it gets more and more difficult to brag about anything.

You don’t even have to train smart, you just can’t train stupid, or you won’t make it to Medicare Age.

 

 

Haha me too man! I am ahead of him on LBH..... I wasn’t gonna say anything, but you opened the door..... Hahaha 

60889BAA-7E09-4796-8484-700455D85692.png

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I was super radical for years from what the "norm" is/was. It was the only way with my crappy genetics I could get any sort of respectable (at the time) grip strength. Hence, RRBT and KTA were born.  You name it, I did it.    That was 19 years ago or so.  I suffer no adverse effects today and what I did was radical even by today's standards.

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3 minutes ago, Wannagrip said:

I was super radical for years from what the "norm" is/was. It was the only way with my crappy genetics I could get any sort of respectable (at the time) grip strength. Hence, RRBT and KTA were born.  You name it, I did it.    That was 19 years ago or so.  I suffer no adverse effects today and what I did was radical even by today's standards.

I think that doing this stuff in the right way will actually do the opposite of what chimp grimp is asking as evidenced by some of the older gripsters. It actually staves off arthritis and joint degeneration and gives a great surplus of strength that, even if there are degenerative changes ( and there will be) the affects of them may go unnoticed secondary to the surplus. 

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Just now, Joseph Sullivan said:

I think that doing this stuff in the right way will actually do the opposite of what chimp grimp is asking as evidenced by some of the older gripsters. It actually staves off arthritis and joint degeneration and gives a great surplus of strength that, even if there are degenerative changes ( and there will be) the affects of them may go unnoticed secondary to the surplus. 

A basis of both programs and what was more radical is literally doing grip every day.  The oldest example being the jacked Blacksmith.  Dave Morton was an electrician and using pliers for hours on end.  And, then there was the dude who was an early COC who did the #2 for hundreds of reps as he plowed his fields (sorry, can't remember his name).  I wrote an article for IronMind on what the various COC's did.

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5 minutes ago, Wannagrip said:

A basis of both programs and what was more radical is literally doing grip every day.  The oldest example being the jacked Blacksmith.  Dave Morton was an electrician and using pliers for hours on end.  And, then there was the dude who was an early COC who did the #2 for hundreds of reps as he plowed his fields (sorry, can't remember his name).  I wrote an article for IronMind on what the various COC's did.

That’s a great idea! When I’m on my rider mower, just slam the 2 Over and over and over! What a way to pass the time! 

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1 minute ago, Joseph Sullivan said:

That’s a great idea! When I’m on my rider mower, just slam the 2 Over and over and over! What a way to pass the time! 

His total volume was HUGE like 100s of singles.  Wait...Kevin Fulton.

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12 hours ago, Joseph Sullivan said:

Haha me too man! I am ahead of him on LBH..... I wasn’t gonna say anything, but you opened the door..... Hahaha 

60889BAA-7E09-4796-8484-700455D85692.png

Thats great haha. Awesome lift too.

Edited by Viceversus
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My dad is 60 and has worked with his hands his whole life.  He is still strong as an ox and has incredible strength and dexterity in his hands.  I have witnessed him thoroughly abuse his hands and remember an employee accidentally shooting a framing nail through dad's hand (with a nail gun).  He removed the nail with a pair of snips and went to go get a tetanus shot.  He still works everyday in the trades and is stronger and has more mobility (including total body mobility) than most people half his age. Last year he fell off of a 6-ft stepladder.  He took 2 days off (1 day just to deal with the insurance company) and went back to work.  It is true, use it or lose it.  

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I have definitely suffered from extended soreness in my hands and wrists from varied grip training (not all that much gripper training) and light bending and snapping. In my case it does seem to go away when I take time off from grip. I am 47 and have not trained grip nearly as hard as many on this board. I think genetics, etc. probably plays a significant factor.

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I have lots of pain and arthritis in my hands.  I'm guessing very little of it is from training grip.  I definitely think some of it was from the intense bending I did, but the vast majority is from a multitude of injuries over the years: broken fingers from basketball, football, and drunken volleyball; along with multiple knuckle dislocations and hand breaks from guys attacking my hands with hockey helmets.

I can't imagine we're helping our hand health, but I doubt we're doing a ton of damage either.

Like Chris, the only thing that seemed to really mess me up was grippers when I was hitting them hard and often.

 

Edited by Mike Rinderle
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  • 4 months later...

I'm late coming to this thread, but I'm a 68-year-old rock climber who has climbed in the Red River Gorge for 26 years. Highest difficulty has been 5.12c sport for those of you who are climbers. I've never had a real problem. Minor finger tweaks. No arthritis.

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I hate to be the downer, but might we be seeing survivorship bias here?

 

I reckon if a man wrecked his hands training grip to the point he's debilitated and no longer training...well, he's probably not hanging around a grip forum. 

I used to be halfway serious about BJJ, and would have to take time off for injuries and then start back. Until one time when I never started back. But if you look on the mats and see a few old guys rolling and think "BJ J  must be good for the body." What you don't see is guys like me that quit because the doc said to get ready for a spinal fusion.  I don't hang around BJJ forums anymore either.

Having said that, I'm a grip novice but I believe in use it or lose it and motion is lotion. So I'm heartened to hear of so many older guys with healthy hands. 

Edited by Leozinho
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