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Balanced approach to training weaker and dominant hand??


TheParacordist

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Just starting with grip training and have been doing a lot of reading. I've read the IronMind approach to gripper improvement and I'm left wondering how it works when you have one hand weaker than the other. To ask my question as simply as possible, do you pursue improvement with each hand independently, or do both hands to the level / reps / resistance max of the weaker hand until it "catches up" to the dominant hand? I n my case, my left hand can't close the COC trainer, but my right hand can close it a couple times. Do I make the Trainer the goal grip for the left hand, and begin training the right hand for the goal of the No. 0.5? OR do I match the gripper/reps I attain with my left hand with my right (thereby under exerting with my right until the left catches up)?

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2 minutes ago, TheParacordist said:

Just starting with grip training and have been doing a lot of reading. I've read the IronMind approach to gripper improvement and I'm left wondering how it works when you have one hand weaker than the other. To ask my question as simply as possible, do you pursue improvement with each hand independently, or do both hands to the level / reps / resistance max of the weaker hand until it "catches up" to the dominant hand? I n my case, my left hand can't close the COC trainer, but my right hand can close it a couple times. Do I make the Trainer the goal grip for the left hand, and begin training the right hand for the goal of the No. 0.5? OR do I match the gripper/reps I attain with my left hand with my right (thereby under exerting with my right until the left catches up)?

As far as grippers, the left hand will always have more difficulty closing than the right due to the way the spring is wound. You may be as strong on both gripper wise because of this extra effort needed to close with the left hand. As far as everything else? If it truly is weaker than the other on lifts, just do more sets with the most weight you can handle as close to what you can for your strong hand. You don’t want any weaknesses.

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1 minute ago, Joseph Sullivan said:

As far as grippers, the left hand will always have more difficulty closing than the right due to the way the spring is wound. You may be as strong on both gripper wise because of this extra effort needed to close with the left hand. As far as everything else? If it truly is weaker than the other on lifts, just do more sets with the most weight you can handle as close to what you can for your strong hand. You don’t want any weaknesses.

So I should push both hands to the next levels; even if that level is different for each hand. Thanks for the quick reply.

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14 minutes ago, TheParacordist said:

So I should push both hands to the next levels; even if that level is different for each hand. Thanks for the quick reply.

100% of course. You don’t want a weakness. There may always be a difference between the hands, but it doesn’t have to be so great with proper training.

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I like to train both my hands fairly equally on all my single hand lifts (rolling handles, pinch blocks, hubs, grippers). I always do my weak hand first an every attempt. Even if it’s failed the previous weight. I always try to keep it close in strength to my strong hand. If I’m not going for a PR or training for a comp I usually train to my weak hand. This approach helps keep my body in balance and also helps improve my two hand lifts (axle and saxon bar) without lifting on them directly.

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I train each hand "independently" of each other so each one can reach it's potential in said lift.

My right hand is stronger on some lifts and my left on others. Some of it is due to genetics and some to previous injuries. I've injured both writs and b/c of the type of injuries are different my left wrist is definitely stronger. However, my left thumb seems to have extra skin on it and when I'm doing something like rolling thunder or FBBC's pro dumbbell  my right hand is way stronger than my left b/c the skin on my left gets pinched and once it starts to hurt it feels like someone is squeezing my skin with a pair of pliers and it just keeps getting more painful with each lift. But I don't let that hold me back from working my right hand. I end up doing extra reps and heavier weights with my right as I would never get very strong with it if I stopped when my left hand started hurting. With time my left hand has gotten less painful and some day it may balance out but not quite there yet. Until it balances out I use different weight. E.g., with Rolling Thunder I have two loading pins set up, one for my left and one for my right hand.

Crazy thing is with pinching blobs the pain in my left thumb isn't nearly as bad as it use to be and now my left hand is stronger than my right. Which was definitely not the case 6 months ago.

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15 hours ago, TheParacordist said:

Just starting with grip training and have been doing a lot of reading. I've read the IronMind approach to gripper improvement and I'm left wondering how it works when you have one hand weaker than the other. To ask my question as simply as possible, do you pursue improvement with each hand independently, or do both hands to the level / reps / resistance max of the weaker hand until it "catches up" to the dominant hand? I n my case, my left hand can't close the COC trainer, but my right hand can close it a couple times. Do I make the Trainer the goal grip for the left hand, and begin training the right hand for the goal of the No. 0.5? OR do I match the gripper/reps I attain with my left hand with my right (thereby under exerting with my right until the left catches up)?

Turn around the gripper so that dog leg will be at your fingers when you train left hand. In that fashion you can develope both hands equaly. I think this is recomendable especialy for beginners when it is much easier to develope strength.

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50 minutes ago, Goran Paulinič said:

Turn around the gripper so that dog leg will be at your fingers when you train left hand. In that fashion you can develope both hands equaly. I think this is recomendable especialy for beginners when it is much easier to develope strength.

It doesn't work like that. Doesn't matter which handle you place in your fingers or palm. You'll have to turn the gripper upside down (invert it) for it to work like you want. If you do that you have also shifted to another exercise as far as I'm concerned.

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Just now, Fist of Fury said:

It doesn't work like that. Doesn't matter which handle you place in your fingers or palm. You'll have to turn the gripper upside down (invert it) for it to work like you want. If you do that you have also shifted to another exercise as far as I'm concerned.

It works for me. Maybe it works at the beginning of trainning. Later when you have inbalance maybe it doesn't matter. But I am a beginner and when I flip a gripper in left hand as mentioned I see huge difference in difficulty.

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14 minutes ago, Goran Paulinič said:

It works for me. Maybe it works at the beginning of trainning. Later when you have inbalance maybe it doesn't matter. But I am a beginner and when I flip a gripper in left hand as mentioned I see huge difference in difficulty.

It doesn't work for anyone, it's physics, it's the way it works. If you feel it's working better for you it's all in your head :)

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30 minutes ago, Fist of Fury said:

It doesn't work like that. Doesn't matter which handle you place in your fingers or palm. You'll have to turn the gripper upside down (invert it) for it to work like you want. If you do that you have also shifted to another exercise as far as I'm concerned.

I agree.

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Ofcourse it is physics. Even crushing with small hands is physics but we all know that approach for big and small handed men is different. Angles between palm, fingers and handles are super important. If it is just "physics" why then we all put dog leg on palm side? It is just physics, put it whatever you like but...

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This shit is far from researched. Simple is to say: "physics" or "it is a matter of strength for all regardless of whatever." It is all anecdotal and little researched.

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48 minutes ago, Goran Paulinič said:

Ofcourse it is physics. Even crushing with small hands is physics but we all know that approach for big and small handed men is different. Angles between palm, fingers and handles are super important. If it is just "physics" why then we all put dog leg on palm side? It is just physics, put it whatever you like but...

It doesn't differ from left to right hand, because it doesn't change the way the spring is wound. I couldn't care less what peoples opinions are because it's simply not how it works physically.

You're not changing the way the spring is wound by flipping the gripper handles. Simple as that.

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1 hour ago, Hopefully said:

I have nothing to say about the technical side of it, but I have seen others suggest the same. Teemu Ilvesniemi for example, according to him he also saw a big difference. 

Placebo is of course a powerful thing though. 

There's nothing that supports this claim and it's not what I'm talking about.

However, regarding the dogleg thing, I'm fairly certain where it comes from. I think some people has probably had some grippers where the handles are not completely mounted equal to each other. Maybe very little, so little that it's barely even visible when you close the gripper. But if the gripper is a very hard one this will definitely make a difference in the feel when you close it. So I actually think the "dogleg" thing comes from there.

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I've always been really intrigued by handedness and the neurological implications. Right handed = left brain dominance in most explanations and the opposite for left handedness. 

What happens if you close a gripper in front of a mirror and look only at the mirror while you do so, does is it confuse the neurological link and reverse the connection so to speak?

I've never tested anything like that myself but it would be interesting to see if it has any impact on force output.

Edited by Raymond
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3 hours ago, Raymond said:

I've always been really intrigued by handedness and the neurological implications. Right handed = left brain dominance in most explanations and the opposite for left handedness. 

What happens if you close a gripper in front of a mirror and look only at the mirror while you do so, does is it confuse the neurological link and reverse the connection so to speak?

I've never tested anything like that myself but it would be interesting to see if it has any impact on force output.

Try it. But I doubt. The feeling of a gripper in left hand stays. All you can do is to literary confuse yorself. :) And that cannot be good.

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6 hours ago, Goran Paulinič said:

Try it. But I doubt. The feeling of a gripper in left hand stays. All you can do is to literary confuse yorself. :) And that cannot be good.

I believe it would be confusing while you do it but then when you go back to doing it normally it could help focus and maybe lead to better neuromuscular facilitation so you can train the groove. It could be a complete waste of time too.

I've seen people who've had split brain surgery where the connection between the hemispheres is severed doing puzzles and it's like there's two different people doing the puzzle. The dominant hand will often push the non dominant hand away so it can take over and solve the puzzle unhindered. So there really is two separate systems for each side of the body and being weaker with one hand is a lot more complex than a simple strength imbalance.

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