Gripper training methods

[Terry Conjugate Iron]

8 hours ago, DevilErik said:

Damn how come?

They charge everything that comes outside of Europe. I had a metal I won shipped from russia and they charged me 8 euro for it. It's not a great amount but for something I won at a contest? That's ridiculous. And that's one of the many examples I have. Especially if the package includes say, brand new grippers from Cannon etc. They'll look it up, check the price per item and charge me a lot of money. So for a say 150 dollar package I'd pay around 50 bucks 

[Terry Conjugate Iron]

8 hours ago, DevilErik said:

Yeah man setting a gripper can feel like setting up for a bench press haha

I used to grab and close, now I'm like... Stretch the skin in my palm with the dog leg, split pinky in half with the other handle, extend and/or supinate forearm, check wind velocity haha

[DevilErik]

1 hour ago, Terry Conjugate Iron said:

They charge everything that comes outside of Europe. I had a metal I won shipped from russia and they charged me 8 euro for it. It's not a great amount but for something I won at a contest? That's ridiculous. And that's one of the many examples I have. Especially if the package includes say, brand new grippers from Cannon etc. They'll look it up, check the price per item and charge me a lot of money. So for a say 150 dollar package I'd pay around 50 bucks 

Wtf that is weird as hell.

[Terry Conjugate Iron]

2 hours ago, DevilErik said:

Wtf that is weird as hell.

Yep and it changed July of this year I think. Didn't use to be like that. Luckily I was able to track down the CoCs from Rogue Europe and some from the Gods of Grip website. Before they exited Europe last year. 

[DevilErik]

19 minutes ago, Terry Conjugate Iron said:

Yep and it changed July of this year I think. Didn't use to be like that. Luckily I was able to track down the CoCs from Rogue Europe and some from the Gods of Grip website. Before they exited Europe last year. 

Good you to hear you were able to get some nice grippers.

[Terry Conjugate Iron]

3 hours ago, DevilErik said:

Good you to hear you were able to get some nice grippers.

Yeah it was very important to get something that has been long established. Wanted to be able to compare all my other brands to a product of high standards

[Blacksmith513]

Got my Vulcan on the way... Got lucky, they said they had only two left and not sure when they will have more. Also bought an extra orange spring... I'll have two orange and one crom for when I'm stronger to use on the Vulcan and Wrist Developer... Also got the steel benders starter kit. now there is only 1 Vulcan left.

I'm excited to try using the Vulcan. I think between that, and the COC grippers and better knowledge, 2022 is gonna be my year to start setting records.  

[Dylan]

I would say no set is best and with high volume just because stretch is best. Length is strength. Tendons and muscles will grow more and stronger with the heavy stretch. Variety is key though can't be a 1 trick and expect it to be a long-term strategy. Make sure to close the gripper spring side down too.

Working around 60% always good. Change wrist angle, easy variety. Hits things differently. Builds the wrist. Think big. Have vision. "Full body" training always been the best so "full arm" or "full forearm" training is best. If you want to train your close, train with a string tied to a weight (over shooting the 1 1/8" close down to a mm or so) or do sledge lever stuff with a .75 inch or .5 or .25 inch bar. Overshooting the amount your hand has to close will carry over. Lots of things to do, don't limit yourself just do more. Volume. 40 - 90% max within each exercise each workout! 60% is the best middle area, great for repping it out. Starting with the high %, working the 60% range then doing a bunch of 40% work is a strategy.

Details not important honestly. Everyone just over analyzes it.

[DevilErik]

Please DO NOT change your wrist angle with grippers this can give you SERIOUS carpal tunnel and destroy your nerves.

There is a reason why armwrestlers only do this with ULTRA light grippers.

Also nothing is going to help you more than just doing grippers.

Grippers are super specific.

Just train grippers and hit your wrists,pinch and thick bar on seperate days.

Also volume is specific as well we all have different recovery rates.

Joe Sullivan one of if not the best sledgehammer leverer on the planet says that training all angles of the wrist with all intensities is best.

Edited December 22, 2021 by DevilErik

[Terry Conjugate Iron]

On 12/4/2021 at 1:30 PM, DevilErik said:

Yeah man setting a gripper can feel like setting up for a bench press haha

To me, using grippers for roughly 2 years, it's more complicated than the bench press haha 

[DevilErik]

1 hour ago, Terry Conjugate Iron said:

To me, using grippers for roughly 2 years, it's more complicated than the bench press haha 

My set is even shittier than my bench so that makes sense lol.

Edited December 26, 2021 by DevilErik

[Fist of Fury]

On 12/26/2021 at 10:06 PM, Terry Conjugate Iron said:

To me, using grippers for roughly 2 years, it's more complicated than the bench press haha 

Closing the #3 takes a while for most people. I'd say usually 2-4 years for most normal people.

So it might not be as complicated as you think.

[DevilErik]

22 minutes ago, Fist of Fury said:

Closing the #3 takes a while for most people. I'd say usually 2-4 years for most normal people.

So it might not be as complicated as you think.

I wholeheartedly agree with this.

Most people that close a no.3 within a year or even less have a tremendous strength base already.

It's usually people with elite numbers in the gym or people that are elite powerlifters/strongmen.

I closed the second highest setting on my ivanko after 9 months of using it(I don't have a strength base).

I lost all of my strength and basically had to rebuild from scratch.

Me being this strong from the start either has to do with me having hands that are 22 cm long and very wide or I am just genetically gifted when it comes to grippers.

I usually don't really compare myself to others because I am someone that is weaker wih a set than without one.

I am already an anomaly in the first place so I have no idea how to compare myself to people that primarily train MMS for example.

Edited December 31, 2021 by DevilErik

[DevilErik]

 I literally lost ALL of my strength after getting injured.

I was set back to the strength level I had the very first time I ever touched a gripper.

So I don't really count those 9 months.

So with all that being said I have been training with grippers for a year and 4 months in January and I am a hair away from no set closing a no.3 so I guess that is pretty good.

 

 

[Terry Conjugate Iron]

16 hours ago, Fist of Fury said:

Closing the #3 takes a while for most people. I'd say usually 2-4 years for most normal people.

So it might not be as complicated as you think.

I thought it'd be easier when I got it January of 21 (happy new year by the way). Cause I closed the 2.5 in the second attempt. Took it out of the package and within 5 mins it was closed. And with a decent parallel set. 

I'm not saying that the 3 and the 2.5 are the same in resistance level but later that week I tried the 3 for the first time and I got I'd say around 1cm or less. 

Almost a year later I'm at around 5mm. Which is insane if you think of all the training and the work I've put into it. Of course I don't just focus on grip. My hands are tired pretty much every day of the week from doing all kinds of things in the gym. I think that realistically it'll take me another year to completely close it. 

If not longer. Year and a half. 

So yeah, the more time goes by, the more I realize what you're saying. It really takes a long time to cover those few millimeters. And it makes me realize what monsters are out there in regards of strength. 

Your response initiated a full blown confession haha 

[Terry Conjugate Iron]

16 hours ago, DevilErik said:

I wholeheartedly agree with this.

Most people that close a no.3 within a year or even less have a tremendous strength base already.

It's usually people with elite numbers in the gym or people that are elite powerlifters/strongmen.

I closed the second highest setting on my ivanko after 9 months of using it(I don't have a strength base).

I lost all of my strength and basically had to rebuild from scratch.

Me being this strong from the start either has to do with me having hands that are 22 cm long and very wide or I am just genetically gifted when it comes to grippers.

I usually don't really compare myself to others because I am someone that is weaker wih a set than without one.

I am already an anomaly in the first place so I have no idea how to compare myself to people that primarily train MMS for example.

I agree on what you said about elite powerlifters and strongmen. They have immense grip strength. I've witnessed it first hand 

[Jermiah Merciconah]

I think when i first got my Ironmind gripper set in March 2021 i closed it for the first time with an MMS in early april, You're not wrong about strongman grip stuff carrying over

[Fist of Fury]

7 hours ago, Terry Conjugate Iron said:

I thought it'd be easier when I got it January of 21 (happy new year by the way). Cause I closed the 2.5 in the second attempt. Took it out of the package and within 5 mins it was closed. And with a decent parallel set. 

I'm not saying that the 3 and the 2.5 are the same in resistance level but later that week I tried the 3 for the first time and I got I'd say around 1cm or less. 

Almost a year later I'm at around 5mm. Which is insane if you think of all the training and the work I've put into it. Of course I don't just focus on grip. My hands are tired pretty much every day of the week from doing all kinds of things in the gym. I think that realistically it'll take me another year to completely close it. 

If not longer. Year and a half. 

So yeah, the more time goes by, the more I realize what you're saying. It really takes a long time to cover those few millimeters. And it makes me realize what monsters are out there in regards of strength. 

Your response initiated a full blown confession haha 

Try spend more time working in that specific range of the close. Maybe add in some beyond the range training also. More TUT in that range, if you get stuck at the same place all the time, the solution is usually to work more in that range. You probably already have the muscle for it but your hands need to adapt to the final range of the close.

Although, 5 mm is quite a lot with torsion spring grippers. But gains can come fast if you add more volume.

[Terry Conjugate Iron]

1 hour ago, Fist of Fury said:

Try spend more time working in that specific range of the close. Maybe add in some beyond the range training also. More TUT in that range, if you get stuck at the same place all the time, the solution is usually to work more in that range. You probably already have the muscle for it but your hands need to adapt to the final range of the close.

Although, 5 mm is quite a lot with torsion spring grippers. But gains can come fast if you add more volume.

Appreciate the input! No idea what TUT means lol sorry... 

I usually train grip like I train with weights.

1 session with heavy singles but not with my goal gripper. As in, not maxing out. But I'll do 10-15 singles per hand with say my 250 grippers. 

1 session where I hit my peak gripper which is the 2.5 and I can usually close for like 5-7 singles with parallel sets. And then I'll go down to the unrated 250s and do sets of 3-5 reps per hand. Luckily my left can also close the 2.5 at this point so they're kinda similar in strength. 

1 session where I'll attempt some of my 300 grippers, in which I'm REALLY close. Literally a hair. 1mm or so. And then I'll go down to the 250s and 200s for reps. Add a little volume to it. 

It's also my set up. I was SO close to completing the attempt with the 300 last week. Damn... Lol

So I'm trying to work on my set up a lot as well. I do deliberate closes. I'm good at slow reps. Not great at fast closes though 

[Fist of Fury]

46 minutes ago, Terry Conjugate Iron said:

Appreciate the input! No idea what TUT means lol sorry... 

I usually train grip like I train with weights.

1 session with heavy singles but not with my goal gripper. As in, not maxing out. But I'll do 10-15 singles per hand with say my 250 grippers. 

1 session where I hit my peak gripper which is the 2.5 and I can usually close for like 5-7 singles with parallel sets. And then I'll go down to the unrated 250s and do sets of 3-5 reps per hand. Luckily my left can also close the 2.5 at this point so they're kinda similar in strength. 

1 session where I'll attempt some of my 300 grippers, in which I'm REALLY close. Literally a hair. 1mm or so. And then I'll go down to the 250s and 200s for reps. Add a little volume to it. 

It's also my set up. I was SO close to completing the attempt with the 300 last week. Damn... Lol

So I'm trying to work on my set up a lot as well. I do deliberate closes. I'm good at slow reps. Not great at fast closes though 

TUT = Time Under Tension.

Try holding the grippers closed for a longer time in your workouts. You can do this by doing more reps or simply by holding it shut for longer time on each close. Preferably do a mixture of both.

[Blacksmith513]

9 minutes ago, Fist of Fury said:

TUT = Time Under Tension.

Try holding the grippers closed for a longer time in your workouts. You can do this by doing more reps or simply by holding it shut for longer time on each close. Preferably do a mixture of both.

this...  I'm the last one to get advice from, because my progress has been slow.. BUT this.. If think if you improved at closing grippers fast and holding them shut for time.. You'll be owning the 300 in no time. 

[DevilErik]

I'd say using attempts and reps is the most consistent method.

I have tried everything from reps to holds.

I went from not being able to close my 250 lbs (unrated) gripper on Monday to closing it for 6 singles today. (5 minute breaks in between singles)

This was after my 4 close attempts on my 300 LBS (unrated) gripper

Working with a gripper you can't close is super beneficial.

Edited January 1, 2022 by DevilErik

[Nuttgens]

16 minutes ago, DevilErik said:

I'd say using attempts and reps is the most consistent method.

I have tried everything from reps to holds.

I went from not being able to close my 250 lbs (unrated) gripper on Monday to closing it for 6 singles today. (5 minute breaks in between singles)

This was after my 4 close attempts on my 300 LBS (unrated) gripper

Working with a gripper you can't close is super beneficial.

I think it really changes person to person. I know when I was really close to closing my coc 3 I would do lots of attempts and I was getting nowhere. Then I bought a hg300 and stopped doing attempts and got more rep work in with the hg300 and I was back to making progress.

I like having a gripper I can rep like 4-5 times and work on adding reps to my sets.

[DevilErik]

12 minutes ago, Nuttgens said:

I think it really changes person to person. I know when I was really close to closing my coc 3 I would do lots of attempts and I was getting nowhere. Then I bought a hg300 and stopped doing attempts and got more rep work in with the hg300 and I was back to making progress.

I like having a gripper I can rep like 4-5 times and work on adding reps to my sets.

I agree with you I should've said:"The most consistent method for me".

[Nuttgens]

1 minute ago, DevilErik said:

I agree with you I should've said:"The most consistent method for me".

Yeah and to be honest I think most people are more like you and I am the weird one. Most people are surprised with the amount of volume I do on grippers.