Thumb strength

[Steve]

I’ve been doing grippers for about a week now and even though I closed the CoC2 first time,I soon realised the number 3 is a different ball game,my thumb strength seems quite weak when setting the 3 so I’ve included some thumb exercises on a pony clamp 10 sets of 10 second holds,guys am I on the right tracks here I could do with some advice on making my thumbs for setting stronger,cheers.

[Fist of Fury]

Only setting grippers will make your setting stronger and better. Not only about strength, it's also technical, you need to get the technique down, then become strong with that technique. It's very specific.

Thumbs are best trained by doing pinching exercises on various objects, block weights, pinch blocks and such. Also some thick bar training will help you, getting better open hand strength is good when you're walking the fingers on the handle when setting the gripper.

Strong arms, shoulders, chest and upper back is also important.

Thumb pad size will increase with gripper training.

[Steve]

Thanks for this I will incorporate some of this training definitely,my setting could be better my set slips a lot from my thumb pad highly frustrating.

[Fist of Fury]

2 hours ago, Steve said:

Thanks for this I will incorporate some of this training definitely,my setting could be better my set slips a lot from my thumb pad highly frustrating.

Use lighter grippers for high reps. Bodybuild your hand muscles and they will get bigger and stronger. Gripper will stay in position easier, always use chalk as well.

[Steve]

Much appreciated will do that could do with some Beefy hands

[mcalpine1986]

On 2/13/2021 at 2:51 PM, Fist of Fury said:

Only setting grippers will make your setting stronger and better. Not only about strength, it's also technical, you need to get the technique down, then become strong with that technique. It's very specific.

Thumbs are best trained by doing pinching exercises on various objects, block weights, pinch blocks and such. Also some thick bar training will help you, getting better open hand strength is good when you're walking the fingers on the handle when setting the gripper.

Strong arms, shoulders, chest and upper back is also important.

Thumb pad size will increase with gripper training.

Great post. Ive never heard anyone say grippers increase thumb pad size though, care to elaborate?

[Fist of Fury]

7 minutes ago, Hopefully said:

I assume he means grip training. Just a mistake, that's all.

No I mean gripper training. Would have said so if I meant something else :D

It works your muscles in the hand the same way you work any other muscle in any other exercise. Thenar muscles in the hand along with flexor muscles in the forearm are the muscles that gets the most work from gripper training.

[mcalpine1986]

14 hours ago, Fist of Fury said:

No I mean gripper training. Would have said so if I meant something else

It works your muscles in the hand the same way you work any other muscle in any other exercise. Thenar muscles in the hand along with flexor muscles in the forearm are the muscles that gets the most work from gripper training.

Grippers sure work the hypothenar well and the forearms pretty good but i dont find they hit the thenar or thumb pad much at all. Not enough to grow it anyway. 

I suppose if you thumb pad is huge to start with when you first start training grippers you would use it more in grippers closes so maybe more of a size builder then. 

 

Edited February 17, 2021 by mcalpine1986

[Fist of Fury]

2 hours ago, mcalpine1986 said:

Grippers sure work the hypothenar well and the forearms pretty good but i dont find they hit the thenar or thumb pad much at all. Not enough to grow it anyway. 

I suppose if you thumb pad is huge to start with when you first start training grippers you would use it more in grippers closes so maybe more of a size builder then. 

 

It's the primary muscles that gets worked with gripper training. Why do you think all big gripper closers have big and thick hands for? It's because they have trained grippers and are strong with them.

When you have worked more with grippers and gained some you might notice a change. If you stay at the same workload and the same level all the time, of course you're not going to notice any improvement. Just like with any exercise.

[mcalpine1986]

1 hour ago, Fist of Fury said:

It's the primary muscles that gets worked with gripper training. Why do you think all big gripper closers have big and thick hands for? It's because they have trained grippers and are strong with them.

When you have worked more with grippers and gained some you might notice a change. If you stay at the same workload and the same level all the time, of course you're not going to notice any improvement. Just like with any exercise.

Grippers build the hands no doubt but you specifically said thumb pad. Grippers dont hit the thumb much at all. To me its Not the best thumb builder. 

 

[Fist of Fury]

2 hours ago, mcalpine1986 said:

Grippers build the hands no doubt but you specifically said thumb pad. Grippers dont hit the thumb much at all. To me its Not the best thumb builder. 

 

It builds the thenar muscles which is what you refer to as "thumb pad". Sorry you haven't experienced any gains but this is not even debatable, this is what you train when you're squeezing grippers. Your thenar muscles primarily.

I never said it's the best "thumb pad" builder. But if you want to become good at closing grippers you should train grippers. Don't think for a second that something like the TTK will be a better option. Something like that will only be acessory work it will never be better than actual training with grippers. Don't try to find short cuts because there is none.

If you want the gripper to stay in your hand, train grippers, then train grippers, after that, train some more grippers etc.

[mcalpine1986]

2 minutes ago, Fist of Fury said:

It builds the thenar muscles which is what you refer to as "thumb pad". Sorry you haven't experienced any gains but this is not even debatable, this is what you train when you're squeezing grippers. Your thenar muscles primarily.

I never said it's the best "thumb pad" builder. But if you want to become good at closing grippers you should train grippers. Don't think for a second that something like the TTK will be a better option. Something like that will only be acessory work it will never be better than actual training with grippers. Don't try to find short cuts because there is none.

If you want the gripper to stay in your hand, train grippers, then train grippers, after that, train some more grippers etc.

My thumb pads are building nicely from all the pinch and thick bar i do. 

I was just curious as to why you thought grippers would increase it. 

Thanks for the info.

[Fist of Fury]

9 minutes ago, mcalpine1986 said:

My thumb pads are building nicely from all the pinch and thick bar i do. 

I was just curious as to why you thought grippers would increase it. 

Thanks for the info.

And how is that helping your gripper closes, have you experienced any gains from doing all the pinch and thick bar work?

I always train specificly for what I intend to be better at. Gripper training will train your thenar muscles the same way squatting will train your legs, with other words very effectively. Now that doesn't mean you will become a great pincher by training grippers. But it will give you muscles and a better potential to become good at it. Same way as trining pinch or thick bar will for grippers. But you always need to specialize to be good at either of those. More so with grippers and pinch since it's more technical than thick bar is (which there is almost no technique at all to).

I went from slim hands not closing #1 to having to buy new gloves closing #3. None of the gloves I had prior to gripper training fit my hands anymore. Except for a few that was already too big from the beginning  

Also, gripper training gave me the best gains for thick bar I ever had. That plus bicep training, but that has a lot to do with all the fingers not just the thumb of course.

[mcalpine1986]

2 minutes ago, Fist of Fury said:

And how is that helping your gripper closes, have you experienced any gains from doing all the pinch and thick bar work?

I always train specificly for what I intend to be better at. Gripper training will train your thenar muscles the same way squatting will train your legs, with other words very effectively. Now that doesn't mean you will become a great pincher by training grippers. But it will give you muscles and a better potential to become good at it. Same way as trining pinch or thick bar will for grippers. But you always need to specialize to be good at either of those. More so with grippers and pinch since it's more technical than thick bar is (which there is almost no technique at all to).

I went from slim hands not closing #1 to having to buy new gloves closing #3. None of the gloves I had prior to gripper training fit my hands anymore. Except for a few that was already too big from the beginning  

Also, gripper training gave me the best gains for thick bar I ever had. That plus bicep training, but that has a lot to do with all the fingers not just the thumb of course.

Actually yes, i have had gains. I rarely train grippers but when i test them they have got stronger anyway from pinch and thick bar training.  My dyno readings have went up as well. My hands have got thicker as well. 

There is always going to be a certain carryover with any grip based work to other events. Grippers are great for finger strength but Thumb strength, Not so much. 

 

 

[Lennix]

11 minutes ago, Fist of Fury said:

And how is that helping your gripper closes, have you experienced any gains from doing all the pinch and thick bar work?

I always train specificly for what I intend to be better at. Gripper training will train your thenar muscles the same way squatting will train your legs, with other words very effectively. Now that doesn't mean you will become a great pincher by training grippers. But it will give you muscles and a better potential to become good at it. Same way as trining pinch or thick bar will for grippers. But you always need to specialize to be good at either of those. More so with grippers and pinch since it's more technical than thick bar is (which there is almost no technique at all to).

I went from slim hands not closing #1 to having to buy new gloves closing #3. None of the gloves I had prior to gripper training fit my hands anymore. Except for a few that was already too big from the beginning  

Also, gripper training gave me the best gains for thick bar I ever had. That plus bicep training, but that has a lot to do with all the fingers not just the thumb of course.

I got a lot better on grippers training everything but grippers. When I started to train for the SGO in Juli I was 1mm off CCSing my #3 and closed it like 3 times and when I returned to grippers somewhere in February I could close it CCS the first time I tried grippers and in like 4 workouts I could do it for doubles.

I believe that the mass that everything else built up made me a lot stronger and grippers benefitted greatly from that.

[Fist of Fury]

15 minutes ago, mcalpine1986 said:

Actually yes, i have had gains. I rarely train grippers but when i test them they have got stronger anyway from pinch and thick bar training.  My dyno readings have went up as well. My hands have got thicker as well. 

There is always going to be a certain carryover with any grip based work to other events. Grippers are great for finger strength but Thumb strength, Not so much. 

 

 

Thumb strength for grippers is for grippers, it's something different when you're doing something else. When you learn how to use your thumb for grippers, thats when you will see improvement. 

And your hands will get more muscle. I never trained pinch to any significant extent (think it's boring). But my hands are fairly thick anyways, only from gripper training.

[Fist of Fury]

7 minutes ago, Hopefully said:

Basically all your progress on grippers (from my perspective) past the beginning stage can be attributed to not training grippers at all and focusing on everything else. It's interesting.

Yes adding muscle mass will make you stronger  

Should be added I'm personally a pretty good example of how effective gripper training can be because I'm a weak person and before I started grip training I didn't train at all, I was just sitting still basically and I was in a very bad shape. Thus I also had a very low starting point, so I've been able to witness how much 5-6 years of gripper training has affected me.

If you're already strong and have been training for a long while, your hands might already have reached a certain level of development and it can be hard to get further from there. That was not the case for me since I was really weak and untrained when I started. I had to gain on all levels both mass and neurological.

[mcalpine1986]

25 minutes ago, Lennix said:

I got a lot better on grippers training everything but grippers. When I started to train for the SGO in Juli I was 1mm off CCSing my #3 and closed it like 3 times and when I returned to grippers somewhere in February I could close it CCS the first time I tried grippers and in like 4 workouts I could do it for doubles.

I believe that the mass that everything else built up made me a lot stronger and grippers benefitted greatly from that.

Its Not surprising with how strong you are on thick bar and pinch you had such great carryover to grippers.

Would you say that grippers alone build the thumb pad muscle? 

[Fist of Fury]

Just now, mcalpine1986 said:

Its Not surprising with how strong you are on thick bar and pinch you had such great carryover to grippers.

Would you say that grippers alone build the thumb pad muscle? 

How would he know if he trains everything?

Just saying   

[mcalpine1986]

5 minutes ago, Fist of Fury said:

How would he know if he trains everything?

Just saying   

I was just asking his opinion. You say you trained thick bar as well as grippers. Maybe thick bar increased your thumb pad not grippers.

[Lennix]

1 hour ago, mcalpine1986 said:

Its Not surprising with how strong you are on thick bar and pinch you had such great carryover to grippers.

Would you say that grippers alone build the thumb pad muscle? 

I wouldn't know as Fist pointed out, but my guess is that pinch and thickbar works the thumb better then grippers. I've never felt grippers make my thumbs tired at all, in recent days ive trained grippers and pinch on the same day because you can still do heavy pinch before and after without results being worse. 

[mcalpine1986]

15 minutes ago, Lennix said:

I wouldn't know as Fist pointed out, but my guess is that pinch and thickbar works the thumb better then grippers. I've never felt grippers make my thumbs tired at all, in recent days ive trained grippers and pinch on the same day because you can still do heavy pinch before and after without results being worse. 

Thank for the input ive seen quite a few people say the same, or at least doing grippers before pinch wont affect pinch as they dont hit the thumbs much at all.

Kody burns also said he trains grippers before pinch in his interview on here. It seems a good way to train.

 

[mcalpine1986]

16 minutes ago, Hopefully said:

I exhaust my crush strength with pinch, if I really go for it at least XD maybe it's a sign of fingertip weakness or something, weak cns maybe

Could be a bit of both, grippers are pretty cns heavy but if you stay lighter on grippers i can see it having benefit to pinch by really warming the fingers up. 

Itll work for some no doubt, ive yet to try it, i might have to give it a go. 

[slazbob]

On 2/13/2021 at 9:24 AM, Steve said:

I’ve been doing grippers for about a week now and even though I closed the CoC2 first time,I soon realised the number 3 is a different ball game,my thumb strength seems quite weak when setting the 3 so I’ve included some thumb exercises on a pony clamp 10 sets of 10 second holds,guys am I on the right tracks here I could do with some advice on making my thumbs for setting stronger,cheers.

If you have a grip machine you can add strength and some size with it. Richard Sorin used to do them ; you pinch the handles together. Might be the best thumb exercise out there.

with a TTK you can get really good results, too, but you have to lift it off the table while pinching...just the end you’re holding, of course... then squeeze while holding it up. Then you have a better freedom of motion this way. 

[Busa]

I like using a Vulcan gripper to help improve my set due to the sweep, micro loading & with slightly longer handles (5mm) allowing the setting hand to take up more room thus training it to a greater degree.  I see any pinch work in helping with setting, the little IMTUG can work the thumb well. I also have the pinch plates for normal grippers that work well. Not tried it but the cheap plastic grippers have often been used for pinch work.

As for the TTK have read a post on here that used a modified version which let the pinch plates pivot maybe that gives you the freedom of motion that lifting it up also does.