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Alex's grip log - journey from the start


Alex K

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Today's workout report:

I've switched to more frequent workouts for now, seems like a fun thing to do! Although I feel probably at around 90-95% peak strength at this training frequency, it's a decent way to train with reduced volume and feels pretty beneficial. Here's how the training went:

  • GHP7 (143) 38mm GHP Block - 3 reps, last rep my set slightly slipped, so it was hard to tell if the close was good. Strength wise felt very confident! 
  • GHP7 (143) 38mm GHP Block - 2.95 reps, very close to 3! Last rep was less than 0.5mm away from touchdown.
  • GHP7 (143) 38mm GHP Block - 2 reps
  • GHP7 (143) 30mm Silarukov Block - 2 reps
  • GHP7 (143) 30mm Silarukov Block - 2 reps
  • Lefty: Same sets (3xGHP Block, 2xSilarukov Block), with the SG Fe (140). First two were a good close, last two were close attempts.
Edited by Alexander Koss
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Yesterday's training report:

Continuing the frequent workout trend, I did the following:

  • CoC#3 CCS close (finally), but very unclear close and pinkie slip at the end due to a poor set after a long CCS break, so it's more of a 50/50 situation.
  • CoC#3 CCS attempt (very close, <0.5mm left), this time with good technique but after too little of a break
  • CoC#3 38mm GHP Block for 2 reps attempt, second rep was about 2mm shy.
  • CoC#3 30mm Silarukov Block for 2-3 reps

Going to work on that CoC#3 CCS further to make it a secure close, but it will take some time to get a bit stronger :)

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Today's workout report:

  • CoC#3 (150) CCS attempt x2, both very close
  • GHP7 (unrated, lighter than my main one) 38mm GHP Block - 3 reps
  • GHP7 (same one) CCS - 1 rep
  • GHP7 CCS attempt 
  • GHP7 30mm Silarukov Block - 3 reps
  • Lefty: CCS attempts of the #3 and GHP7

Quick workout today, so nothing super exciting, but the grind must go on! I might switch to posting every two workouts to not flood the thread with super frequent workouts :D

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Quick training highlight from today

Did a small workout yesterday as well, with a few CoC#3 CCS attempts, getting closer and closer! First one missed by a fraction of a mm.

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Training update:

  • CoC#3 CCS attempt, closest so far, the gap between the handles at the end was barely visible.
  • SG Cobalt (157) 38mm GHP Block - 1 rep, felt veeery hard after the #3 CCS attempt, but the handles touched!
  • BeefBuilder GM (150ish) 38mm GHP Block - 1 rep
  • BeefBuilder GM - 4-5 micro-reps

 

The Beefs are very fun to work with, they feel great. I am approaching the CCS close of my CoC#3 step by step, hopefully, those handles will touch soon :)

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Today's workout highlights:

A big milestone was achieved today, twice! Now it's time to continue gaining strength (during a mini-cut phase, which might be difficult :D), and get ready for even tougher grippers!

Edited by Alexander Koss
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Two epic workouts in a row:

I travelled back home to Moldova over winter break, and took with me the 2, 2.5, 3 and 3.5 along with some other things to warm up with and train. I did a workout yesterday, and today, the very next day! Workout reports do not include the warm ups:

Yesterday:

  • CoC#3.5 (164) Silarukov Block 20mm side close
  • CoC#3.5 Silarukov Block 20mm side close
  • CoC#2.5 No Set reps, practicing the technique 
  • CoC#3 (150) MMS and Silarukov Block 30mm side close lefty

Today:

  • CoC#3 CCS close
  • CoC#3 CCS close (once again!)
  • CoC#3.5 Silarukov Block 20mm side close + second rep attempt, down to 3-5mm
  • CoC#3 27 micro reps (5-10mm) - this one was just crazy, especially considering the previous sets and workout yesterday, very happy with this workout! :) 

Here’s my vacation stack:

85F83568-CFFC-4CBB-BEC2-15087A52DE5B.thumb.jpeg.111f7451381b0015c42e057808400de8.jpeg

 

Edited by Alexander Koss
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New year‘s eve workout: 🍾

  • CoC#3 (150) CCS 1 rep
  • CoC#3.5 (164) 7 micro reps (5mm)
  • CoC#3 BS 20mm 4 reps
  • CoC#2.5 (126) 30 reps (10-15mm)
  • CoC#2.5 50 micro reps (5mm)

Happy new year everyone! :) 

Edited by Alexander Koss
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  • 2 weeks later...

Training update:

Due to slightly overtraining on the bench press back in December I've experienced some discomfort in my right shoulder, which seems to be caused by tendon overuse. Sadly, this also translates in gripper training, because the shoulder muscles do get engaged a little when attempting a PR for example. So I might be giving it a small break to be fully recovered again and continue the training as soon as everything is back in perfect condition! :)

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Light gripper workout report:

  • A few closes of the Silarukov 130 (unrated, around 160-165) with my right, and some attempts left.
  • Tetting GM (145-150) - few closes right and left
  • Extensor bands - red and green combined, sets of 15

I noticed that extensor training does help a lot with eliminating unnecessary strain on the elbows, so I started actively doing it again!

 

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Fresh workout update:

I’ve been addressing my right elbow and shoulder tendon overuse and have come to the conclusion that the main cause of harm was not resting enough on the bench press and going for max weight way too often. Grippers seem to have nothing to do with it really, or at least not directly, since I don’t feel pain of any sort when closing them, and none afterwards.🙂

So I decided to throw in another nice workout, and here’s how it went:

  • Warm up: CoC#1.5-#2.5 reps from various sets
  • CoC#3 CCS close - very confident close, which I was happy about!
  • CoC#3 lefty CCS attempt - a few mm left to go
  • BeefBuilder GM CCS close
  • Silarukov 130kg (around 155-160 rgc, narrower spread of ~50mm) - lefty MMS close
  • GHP7 CCS close
  • CoC#3 lefty GHP 38mm BS close/attempt, very hard to tell since I wasn’t recording (quick workout), probably touch n’ go
Edited by Alexander Koss
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You'll definitely get to where you need to be even with the injury, Ironic thing about my right hand injury is i came back alot stronger from it

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Final workout report before a long and necessary break:

  • BeefBuilder Elite (171) DS close
  • CoC#3 (150) CCS close - very confident and easy
  • CoC#3 (150) CCS close - after a break of just below a minute!
  • SG Cobalt (157) MMS 2x Pause-Reps 

After talking to a professional regarding pains around my elbow and shoulder, I was informed that it is most likely linked to tendon issues, hence the classic tennis elbow, currently still in a rather milder form. The suggestion was for me to drop all kinds of grip work for as long as possible to allow the tendons and everything to recover and adapt. So, sadly, I'll have to pause my grip workouts for at least a few weeks, and try to rapidly recover.

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4 hours ago, Alexander Koss said:

Final workout report before a long and necessary break:

  • BeefBuilder Elite (171) DS close
  • CoC#3 (150) CCS close - very confident and easy
  • CoC#3 (150) CCS close - after a break of just below a minute!
  • SG Cobalt (157) MMS 2x Pause-Reps 

After talking to a professional regarding pains around my elbow and shoulder, I was informed that it is most likely linked to tendon issues, hence the classic tennis elbow, currently still in a rather milder form. The suggestion was for me to drop all kinds of grip work for as long as possible to allow the tendons and everything to recover and adapt. So, sadly, I'll have to pause my grip workouts for at least a few weeks, and try to rapidly recover.

Nice work man! 171 is strong.

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Today's lefty-only workout report:

So, since my right is out of business for some time, and I also can't use it to set grippers at the moment (mainly not to mess with the already overused tendon and let it recover faster), I will keep doing some grippers with my left, and only no set work. Workout went simple:

  • CoC#2 - tons of No Set reps
  • GHP6 (131) - No Set close followed by an infinite number of attempts

I will use this recovery time to try and close the gap between my left and right a little bit more! :)

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I am back! Time for grip training:

As of recently I felt like my elbow has recovered, and I tried to train some grip yesterday. Shoulder still needs some time, but that shouldn't hurt my grip training. Yesterday I did a few heavy closes with the GHP8, some CoC#3 CCS closes/attempts, and my forearms and elbows felt healthy, so I'm going to get back into training!

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Nice , you will nail it soon

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Nice, you will nail it soon

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Today's workout report:

I did a lot of grippers throughout the week without a system, really. Just closing some occasionally, mainly for fun. Did a day or two of rest, to go for the GM-150 and do some heavy grippers. :)

  • 3x Attempts on the GM-150, left and right: first two were a bit messy, poor technique and palm placement (both around the 100kg mark). Third attempt was better technique-wise, got 104kg. Left got 100kg on the 3rd attempt. I believe I could've managed to get a bit more had I done it correctly the first attempt.
  • GHP8 close from around 20mm (widest so far with the GHP8) - after the GM I was happy to hit that!
  • CoC#3 for tons of MMS reps and sets. Probably 4-5 sets, first set was around 7 very solid reps.

I'm excited to gain strength again, rehab is probably done, shoulder has been taken care of as well by the medics (no trauma, luckily, everything's healed up). I'll probably also start training Pinch/Rolling a bit more to improve overall hand strength!

In the meantime I've turned into a small-scale collector, gathered lots of interesting grippers, might make a video someday :D

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Today's high intensity GHP workout:

As the title suggests, I was in a bit of a hurry, so I decided to do a higher-that-usual intensity workout :D The sets were done with minimal resting time, so the rep numbers might look a little odd. Ended up with a great pump though!

Here's how it went:

  • GHP7 (143) Block Set 38mm x4 right, x2 left -> PR!
  • GHP7 (143) Block Set 30mm x4 right, x2 left
  • GHP6 (131) Block Set 38mm x8 right, x4 left
  • GHP5 (unrated, around 110) CCS x6 right and left

I am currently cutting a little bit to get leaner, went down from 92kgs to around 87kgs by now, which is a 5kg (11 lbs) weight drop! I'm very happy to keep progressing in grippers at this time, although it might be slowed down by the cut grippers still seem to be moving forward, slow and steady! :)

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Last workout(s) report:

In the previous week I have been training low volume every day or every other day just for fun. Decided to take a two day break to recover a bit more and hit grippers yesterday with a tiny workout :)

  • CoC#3 CCS x1 rep - still managed to do it during the weight cut!
  • GHP8 DS 1 baby rep
  • GHP7 and GHP6 intense DS rep work
  • CoC#2.5 CCS technique practice with both hands for some reps
  • CoC#2 NoSet practice, also many reps each hand
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  • 2 weeks later...

Training update:

I have still been training grippers, now on a much more focused basis. The cut is now also coming to a small halt, which means I can try and maintain my weight or slow down the cut even further and start moving forwards again. I am currently training towards the following goals:

  • GHP8 38mm Block Set certification
  • CoC#3 official certification

As of now I believe I could reach those goals simultaneously, my MMS and DS are much stronger than my CCS closes due to having a not very large hand, but have already closed my CoC#3 home-rated around 149-150 numerous times (also in past workouts). However, new requirements seem to demand a very wide set for the card, which decreases leverage a lot, so the journey to the CoC#3 cert will take a longer time. As soon as I CCS close my CoC#3 rated #158 I will apply for the cert!

As for the GHP Cert: I have closed my CoC#3.5 rated 164 from a Block Set of 20mm a few times, and for a max of 3 reps from a MMS. My GHP8 however has a very hard sweep, which makes setting incredibly hard, so my PR on it is just a DS close. It's also rated harder, around 170 according to my last measurements. If I happen to find a few older GHPs (which I am looking for in terms of expanding my private collection as well :)), things might speed up, because the older GHP8's seem to have been a bit lighter, and according to reports of people, had a slightly lighter sweep and set. So I'm very excited about this.

Due to limited free time at the moment I won't be posting all of the trainings, but will keep updating my log with current progress!

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Gripper progress is coming back again:

The past few workouts I changed my technique a little bit, doing heavy grippers and adding finisher sets with grippers up to CoC#2 level. From the heavy attempts I did:

  • CoC#3 (148-150ish): CCS Pause close, first one ever! By that I mean a super clean CCS with the card passing through the handles with zero bend and slowly. An attempt that would 100% be accepted by IM. I was always a bit scared to do it since you only get 1-2 good attempts per workout, and opening up the handles so wide means risking a "close miss" which might set the mood for the workout :D but today it did the opposite! Before I always rushed the CCS a bit. Too bad I didn't film the attempt, might do it in the upcoming times.
  • GHP7 (143): CCS Pause close, also a great milestone! Finally, after the cut, I am getting stronger than I was at a weight of around 93kg (205lbs), I weight around 86kg (190lbs) now!
  • Silarukov 130kg (unrated, 155ish): Mini-Reps, heavy finisher
  • The rest is tons of chaotic pump work and heavy efforts on lighter grippers with my forearms being pretty pumped!

 

At this point I also want to mention that the current political situation has impacted me and my close friends and family a lot (I come from Moldova, a neighbor of Ukraine). Seeing the places I grew up visiting with my parents getting blown up is devastating, but it can't be compared to currently living in the war zone. I wish for this to be over as soon as possible, and to my friends in the Ukraine to stay strong and take great care! 🇺🇦

Edited by Alexander Koss
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