Road to the CoC3#

[SteinWillems1]

Right:

Warmup Trainer, #1

Coc #2 5 reps ccs

Coc #2.5, 8 reps ccs

Coc #2.5 6 reps ccs

Coc # 2.5 4 reps ccs

Coc #2 12 reps ccs

Left

Warmup

# trainer, #1

 Coc #1.5 5 reps ccs

Coc #2 7 reps ccs

Coc #2 6 reps ccs

Coc #2 4 reps ccs

Cox#2 3 reps ccs

 

[Alex K]

Wow, that's incredible, crazy muscle endurance on that CoC#2.5 CCS. What is your status quo on the CoC#3?

[SteinWillems1]

16 hours ago, Alexander Koss said:

Wow, that's incredible, crazy muscle endurance on that CoC#2.5 CCS. What is your status quo on the CoC#3?

Last week I closed the coc 3 with a deep set. I haven't tried ccs on the #3. I will do that in the near future

[SteinWillems1]

I am on  a holiday so its a little bit improvising. Besides grippers I did bodyweight lunges, trx rows and pushups and bi and triceps extension with the trx

Warmup hg100, #1, #1.5.

Right
Ccs 5x5 coc# 2.5
Set 6 10 reps ccs coc #2

Left

Set1 Coc #2 6 reps ccs
Set 2-5 #2 4 reps ccs
Set 6 12 reps ccs coc # 1.5

[Vinnie]

It seems you are doing mostly volume in the 2 to 2.5 range, even though you can MMS close a 3.  I'm sure this is not a bad thing, but if you also did some lower-rep sets at higher difficulty that might move you along a little more.  Are your grippers rated?  Or even in your mind, do you have an idea of their relative difficulty?  I don't know if you have the right assortment of grippers to do what I have been doing, but if you do, you might sometimes want to do single reps of increasing difficulty until failure for at least some workouts. 

Example:  warm up with trainer for 10, 1 or 1.5 for 10, 2 for 5 or 6; then do a single or double with a 2.5; then do single reps with progressively harder grippers until you fail one.  So in my case, after the warmups, I will do one rep with a 2.5 rated 132 (pounds); one rep with a Tetting rated 140; one rep with a COC 3 rated 143 or 145; one rep with a COC3 rated 152 or a Grip Genie rated 155 (which is actually an easier gripper than the 152), one rep with a Baraban rated 155 (harder than the others), and then an attempt at my COC 3.5 rated 165 (have never gotten that one yet).  After that, a couple of doubles with the 140 or 143, triples with the 132 or 140, then done and do some expand bands then or later in the day.  These are just the grippers I have; I didn't choose those numbers for a reason, they are just what's in my collection.

I used to do something more like you do, and I stalled closing RGC 150.  I switched it up more like I just described, in part due to advice from Chez, and I got up over 160 RGC within a couple more months.  I'm stalled again now in the 160-162 range, but I weigh only 80kg and I'm 52, so I may just be at my body's limit or close to it.

Usually I have done all of the above mostly MMS.  Recently I am starting to get interested in CCS, and I have always been interested in TNS just for kicks, so sometimes I throw some of that in the mix.  Recently I CCS closed my 143-rated COC 3, but then failed trying to get it on vid lol.

I don't think just working CCS will get you to the 3 CCS as quickly by itself as you can do it if you add some max closes MMS with harder grippers.

Edited July 22, 2021 by Vinnie

[SteinWillems1]

4 hours ago, Vinnie said:

It seems you are doing mostly volume in the 2 to 2.5 range, even though you can MMS close a 3.  I'm sure this is not a bad thing, but if you also did some lower-rep sets at higher difficulty that might move you along a little more.  Are your grippers rated?  Or even in your mind, do you have an idea of their relative difficulty?  I don't know if you have the right assortment of grippers to do what I have been doing, but if you do, you might sometimes want to do single reps of increasing difficulty until failure for at least some workouts. 

Example:  warm up with trainer for 10, 1 or 1.5 for 10, 2 for 5 or 6; then do a single or double with a 2.5; then do single reps with progressively harder grippers until you fail one.  So in my case, after the warmups, I will do one rep with a 2.5 rated 132 (pounds); one rep with a Tetting rated 140; one rep with a COC 3 rated 143 or 145; one rep with a COC3 rated 152 or a Grip Genie rated 155 (which is actually an easier gripper than the 152), one rep with a Baraban rated 155 (harder than the others), and then an attempt at my COC 3.5 rated 165 (have never gotten that one yet).  After that, a couple of doubles with the 140 or 143, triples with the 132 or 140, then done and do some expand bands then or later in the day.  These are just the grippers I have; I didn't choose those numbers for a reason, they are just what's in my collection.

I used to do something more like you do, and I stalled closing RGC 150.  I switched it up more like I just described, in part due to advice from Chez, and I got up over 160 RGC within a couple more months.  I'm stalled again now in the 160-162 range, but I weigh only 80kg and I'm 52, so I may just be at my body's limit or close to it.

Usually I have done all of the above mostly MMS.  Recently I am starting to get interested in CCS, and I have always been interested in TNS just for kicks, so sometimes I throw some of that in the mix.  Recently I CCS closed my 143-rated COC 3, but then failed trying to get it on vid lol.

I don't think just working CCS will get you to the 3 CCS as quickly by itself as you can do it if you add some max closes MMS with harder grippers.

Thank you very much! I will take your advise and work with it, my grippers are not rated but i do have a ghp 7 and an #3. I am going to get myself some rated gripper so I can follow my progression better. 

[Bigfoot Grip]

17 hours ago, Vinnie said:

It seems you are doing mostly volume in the 2 to 2.5 range, even though you can MMS close a 3.  I'm sure this is not a bad thing, but if you also did some lower-rep sets at higher difficulty that might move you along a little more.  Are your grippers rated?  Or even in your mind, do you have an idea of their relative difficulty?  I don't know if you have the right assortment of grippers to do what I have been doing, but if you do, you might sometimes want to do single reps of increasing difficulty until failure for at least some workouts. 

Example:  warm up with trainer for 10, 1 or 1.5 for 10, 2 for 5 or 6; then do a single or double with a 2.5; then do single reps with progressively harder grippers until you fail one.  So in my case, after the warmups, I will do one rep with a 2.5 rated 132 (pounds); one rep with a Tetting rated 140; one rep with a COC 3 rated 143 or 145; one rep with a COC3 rated 152 or a Grip Genie rated 155 (which is actually an easier gripper than the 152), one rep with a Baraban rated 155 (harder than the others), and then an attempt at my COC 3.5 rated 165 (have never gotten that one yet).  After that, a couple of doubles with the 140 or 143, triples with the 132 or 140, then done and do some expand bands then or later in the day.  These are just the grippers I have; I didn't choose those numbers for a reason, they are just what's in my collection.

I used to do something more like you do, and I stalled closing RGC 150.  I switched it up more like I just described, in part due to advice from Chez, and I got up over 160 RGC within a couple more months.  I'm stalled again now in the 160-162 range, but I weigh only 80kg and I'm 52, so I may just be at my body's limit or close to it.

Usually I have done all of the above mostly MMS.  Recently I am starting to get interested in CCS, and I have always been interested in TNS just for kicks, so sometimes I throw some of that in the mix.  Recently I CCS closed my 143-rated COC 3, but then failed trying to get it on vid lol.

I don't think just working CCS will get you to the 3 CCS as quickly by itself as you can do it if you add some max closes MMS with harder grippers.

The last sentence I needed to hear. I've been training only the CCS style and occasionaly run a peaking cycle to see where I'm at on the silver bullet. It makes sense to incorporate some overloads via MMS. Thanks for the pointers Vinnie!

[SteinWillems1]

I am still on holiday so i dont have my ghp 7 or #3 gripper with me to train mms. 

I did the following workout

Warm up # T, #1, #1.5

Right

Set 1 #2 2 ccs  reps
Set 2# 2.5 9 ccs reps
Set 3 #2.5 6 ccs reps
Set 4 #2.5 5  ccs reps
Set 5 #2.5 4 ccs reps
Set 6 #2 13 ccs reps


Left

Set 1 #2 7 ccs reps
Set 2 #2 6 ccs reps
Set 3 #2 5 ccs reps
Set 4 #2 5 ccs reps
Set 5 #2 5 ccs reps
Set 6 #1.5 13 ccs reps

I also did pushups, lunges, trx rows, curls and extensions

[SteinWillems1]

Warm up # T, #1,

Right

Set 1# 2.5 2ccs reps
Set 2#2.5 1 ccs reps
Set 3 #3 ds close
Set 4 #3 ds close
Set 5 #2.5 5 ccs reps
Set 6# 2.5 5 ccs reps
Set 7 #2.5 5 ccs reps
Set 8 # 2.5 5 ccs reps
Set 9 # 2.5 5 ccs reps


Left

Set 1 #2 5 ccs reps
Set 2 #2 5 ccs reps
Set 3 #2 5 ccs reps
Set 4 #2 4 ccs reps
Set 5 #2 4 ccs reps
Set 6#2 4 ccs reps
Set 7 #2 4 ccs reps
Set 8 #1.5  14 ccs reps

I also did zercher squats, expand hand bands and behind the back wrist curls

[SteinWillems1]

I am back from holiday so i can train with weights again

[SteinWillems1]

I have been bulking up to 122 kg at the moment, i have the feeling that its hard to become stronger in grippers in a caloric deficit/ plateau. I have the feeling that I always have to be in a pretty big caloric surplus to gain grip strenght, what is you guys opinion/ experiences on this? 

[Fist of Fury]

1 hour ago, SteinWillems1 said:

I have been bulking up to 122 kg at the moment, i have the feeling that its hard to become stronger in grippers in a caloric deficit/ plateau. I have the feeling that I always have to be in a pretty big caloric surplus to gain grip strenght, what is you guys opinion/ experiences on this? 

Same. It's really annoying to be honest.

[Alex K]

1 hour ago, SteinWillems1 said:

I have been bulking up to 122 kg at the moment, i have the feeling that its hard to become stronger in grippers in a caloric deficit/ plateau. I have the feeling that I always have to be in a pretty big caloric surplus to gain grip strenght, what is you guys opinion/ experiences on this? 

I have also bulked up to 88kg due to not wishing to waste grip strength potential  but I guess I have found a small cheat code.

I started a small micro-cut (basically, just removed a bit of junk food and sweets from my diet, nothing extreme). I noticed an interesting dynamic in my grip training during this time: While in a caloric deficit (small one) I do feel less energetic and my hands just doesn't feel as "squeeze-ready" as they typically are.  However, if I have a very decent meal an hour or two prior to my grip workout (especially fast carbs and sweets/sugars), I feel decent and seem to continue progressing, although maybe at a slower rate, haven't done it over a long period of time yet. Although total calories might be a bit below maintenance, the workout will feel good. This could potentially be attributed to me being still rather new to grip (a bit over 6 months), but in a way I feel the same about gym stuff which I have been doing for a longer period of time. 

[SteinWillems1]

Warm up # T, #1,

Right

Set 1# 2.5 5 ccs reps
Set 2#3 1  ccs rep miss
Set 3 #3 ds miss
Set 4 #2.5  5 ccs reps close
Set 5 # 2 13 ccs reps close


Left

Set 1 #2.5 1 ccs reps
Set 2 #2 5 ccs reps
Set 3 #2 5 ccs reps
Set 4 #2 4 ccs reps
Set 5 #2 4 ccs reps
 

Felt pretty weak today, do you guys also have that? The feeling that a 2.5 feels like a 3?

[Alex K]

1 hour ago, SteinWillems1 said:

Felt pretty weak today, do you guys also have that? The feeling that a 2.5 feels like a 3?

I think grip is one of the most mood and energy dependent sports (at least gripper training for sure, I don't have much experience in other fields of grip). I guess it comes down to rest and recovery the most. Sometimes I feel recovered while in actuality I'm at 80% or so 

What I try to do most of the time when I catch a weaker day is abort the workout as early as possible and wait 1 more day for optimal recovery and strength

[Fist of Fury]

7 hours ago, SteinWillems1 said:

Warm up # T, #1,

Right

Set 1# 2.5 5 ccs reps
Set 2#3 1  ccs rep miss
Set 3 #3 ds miss
Set 4 #2.5  5 ccs reps close
Set 5 # 2 13 ccs reps close


Left

Set 1 #2.5 1 ccs reps
Set 2 #2 5 ccs reps
Set 3 #2 5 ccs reps
Set 4 #2 4 ccs reps
Set 5 #2 4 ccs reps
 

Felt pretty weak today, do you guys also have that? The feeling that a 2.5 feels like a 3?

It happens. Grippers are extremely CNS dependant. If you're not 100% you will notice it. Your hands could be 100% fresh but if your CNS is tired from other stuff you can still have a really bad gripper workout.

[SteinWillems1]

Took a little bit more then a month off due to some injuries, this gripper road goes with ups and downs

 

Today I did some reps with the 2.5 

[Terry Conjugate Iron]

On 8/5/2021 at 2:01 AM, Fist of Fury said:

It happens. Grippers are extremely CNS dependant. If you're not 100% you will notice it. Your hands could be 100% fresh but if your CNS is tired from other stuff you can still have a really bad gripper workout.

I can attest to that. Training powerlifting and grip at the same time forces you to pick your sessions a little better. I remember a few weeks ago I went home and decided I felt great. Tried to do 5-8 single attempts with the #2.5 which I recently closed with a CCS quite easily. I couldn't bring the handles to parallel lol... Grip goes first when you're tired. 

[SteinWillems1]

Did some grippers today

 

3 sets of 3 ccs reps #2.5

3 sets of 2 ccs reps # 2.5

Same with the #2 left

Also did some wrist curls and pony pinches

I have been cutting down from 125 kg to 103 kg so i lost some strenght.

Now I will try to maintain this weight and chase the #3 with around 105kg BW

[Vinnie]

On 8/4/2021 at 3:32 PM, Alexander Koss said:

What I try to do most of the time when I catch a weaker day is abort the workout as early as possible and wait 1 more day for optimal recovery and strength

I do this, too.

[Vinnie]

1 hour ago, SteinWillems1 said:

I have been cutting down from 125 kg to 103 kg so i lost some strenght.

Wow, huge cut!

[SteinWillems1]

35 minutes ago, Vinnie said:

Wow, huge cut!

Yeah I know, I wanted to cut down so that I feel myself alot fitter. On the other hand I dont't like it makes me weaker. I always have the feeling I have to be in a huge caloric surplus to gain grip strenght. 

On the other hand, crushing grip is really specific and CNS dependant, so when I train smart I hope I can get the certification while maintaining around 105 kg BW:)

[SteinWillems1]

42 minutes ago, Vinnie said:

Wow, huge cut!

Were you in a huge caloric surplus whilest in prepararion for the cert?

[Vinnie]

1 minute ago, SteinWillems1 said:

Were you in a huge caloric surplus whilest in prepararion for the cert?

No.  I mean, I was around 180 pounds plus or minus a pound or two, and I do sometimes cut to 175, so I was closer to my max than sometimes.

I will say this:  When I go to comps, especially arm lifting where I need to be under 176 instead of under 183 for grip, I usually have to fast or dehydrate for the last day to be sure to hit weight, and I end up around 174 or 175 that morning, and then I eat a HUGE breakfast right after weigh-in, like three McDonalds breakfasts full of carbs and sugars etc.  And then I PR all day.  That's how it usually goes, anyway.  SO there may be something to the caloric surplus even though that is not my strategy per se.  Makes sense that bigger is stronger though - that's why there are weight classes in the first place!

[SteinWillems1]

Did grippers today, after warming up some ccs with the  #2.5 right handed #2 ccs with the left, pony pinch, hand band extensions and behind the back wristcurls

I am going to change up my routine and try only gripper workouts with some forearms 2 times a week and and full body strenght 2 times a week.