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I'm having a hard time setting grippers..


Blacksmith513

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I've been doing grippers for over a year now and haven't really progressed. When i'm fresh I can close a 1.5, but most days i struggle with the 1.  Thats basically where i was when i started. I bought a .5 and thats helping.  I can no set close it easy, same with the 1 and struggle a little with the 1.5 when my hands are fresh.  This weekend I watched Jedd Johnson's videos on setting a gripper. It makes sense, but I have  a harder time closing a set gripper than a no set close... It must just be a matter of technique?  I know this question has been asked a million times but I'd love some advice. Thanks

 

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Yes it's a matter of technique. Just stick with and follow the instructions you have from videos like you mentioned. Also check out Paul Knight's "how to set a gripper" video on youtube.

Just stick with it and keep practicing and you'll get the technique down eventually. It's an awkward movement, very specific, it's not like anything else you do in life. So that's why you need to practice it a lot to get good at it.

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As a first step video yourself closing grippers and compare it to the videos mentioned there could be something you are doing that you don't notice. Also you could try doing strict setting with the easier gripper even though you can no set close it just to get the correct feel / placement. You could also post it here someone may be able to give you some advice after watching your technique.

You mention that you have not made much progress. Could it be your training? over or under training are you just working grippers or other forms of strength training as well? The set does require some strength in a pinch type grip even though using the gripper does help I think training of the pinch is also needed. (at least for me).

 

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Thanks,  I'm going to stick to the trainer and .5 for a while until I get it down pat. I just bought a rotating handle, hub and block, so it may be good to dial back on grippers for a while..  

I will also make a video and post it here..  I do think my programming is horrible as i try to tackle too many goals at once. I do way to much and progress slow at all of them. 

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You shouldn't be where you started after one year of gripper training. That's really strange unless you're really overtrained. You probably need to be more careful with recovery. Do some extensor work and make sure you get sufficient recovery.

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I did way to much the first 6 months or so on top of my regular routine.  I should add I do a lot of sledge levering  too and got good results from it.  If i told everyone here everything i used to cram into an hour work out, you'd all slap me. 

I just practiced setting the grippers again an hour ago and I managed to set the 1 and close it pretty comfortably. Then set the .5  and did it for reps. I'm going to GTG with them every other day for the next few weeks Mainly the .5 and Trainer.

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It's nothing wrong with doing a lot of different exercises but maybe try to space them out over one week in a smart manner would be better. If you do too much volume only in one day you might have a hard time recovering.

In my opinion it's better to train your hands every day rather than just train them twice a week and do nothing for the other five days. If you train like that and do it the right way you will have an easier time recovering. But you need to have a basic plan, so you don't train too hard and too much if you do that.

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Just an update, after only a week.  I can just about comfortably set and close the 1. But i'm going to still stay with the .5. I find sometimes the gripper wants to roll in my hand still. 

I basically mixed the way I could no set close the .5 and some of Jedd Johnsons advice and i found a way to comfortably set it. 

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Do you have any videos or your closes?

Also don’t stress the set too much I don’t have a great set usually set too wide and the palm handle is quite low in my hand I find it slips if I try to go higher. I have still been able to make fairly consistent progress. At less than a year into training grip and grippers I am probably not the best person to take advice from though. 
good luck on your training though hope you can keep on progressing.

Edited by Nuttgens
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Hello!

I wanted to add a couple of things about setting the gripper (coming from someone that had issues to improve his set as well):

You should improve your upper body muscles, chest-arms-back-shoulders. Get stronger with bodyweight exercises, or with barbell training. 

About the frecuency, I personally tried twice and once a week for grippers, and that allows me to be recovered the next session. The rest of the week I do different types of grip (a day for pinch, a day for the dinnie lift, a day for thickbar or vertical bar). I also try to place the grippers as the first grip movement of the week since it's the one I want to improve the most.

In addition, the rep scheme that I used when I started was to find out how many reps could I perform with a light gripper, in your case the trainer, and try to reach a goal of reps in one session before to move on to the next of your collection, for example, to hit 4 sets of 10 with the trainer and then do the same with the 0,5 and so on.

Finally, about the rep style that would be useful to improve your setting technique, I tried to do the setting technique in every rep. Which is way different to set the gripper once, and then do mini reps. So in a set of 5, you should set the gripper again for each set.

Well, chalk could help you as well, of course, and a proper warmup for the gripper session!

I hope it helps 🤘

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Thank you so much, I have been doing gymnastic rings for years, i've always sucked at pull ups but i''m loosing weight and getting good at them.. I also am working on doing shouldering with my 180lbs sandbag.

I just bought some chalk too because I ordered the rolling grip thing, hub, forearm roller and block from grip genie. Last week was my first week with them, low volume of course, but I'm looking forward to pulling numbers like everyone here. I feel like grip is something i'm going to be real good at.

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