Sixgun's Hand & Arm Strength Workout's

[Dave H]

I will try to keep this up with current workouts as well as excerpts from the past. I workout on Monday, Wednesday Friday and Saturday. Monday and Friday I call my General Conditioning days. I do things like Legs, Presses, Rows, lite Barbell & Wrist-curls and other things.

Wednesday and Saturday are my hard days. These are the days I pound it! I consider myself an ArmSport Specialist and these are the days I hammer things like heavy EZ-curls, heavy Wrist-curls, Table-curls, Plate-curls. Also, Saturday is the day we pull if there are those around to pull with (Pull meaning armwrestle - not Deadlift). If there are no one to pull with, then I do my arm & hand routine with movements that are armwrestling specific.

Sixgun...

[Dave H]

Wed, 4 August 04

EZ-Curls;

60x3,3. 80x 3,3. 100x 3,3. 130x 3,5,7,7,5,3,3,3 = 36 reps.

D.B. Wrist-curls; *50'sx 20-20, 20-20, 20-20 = 60 reps each hand.

**S. A. DB-curls; 50'sx 7-7, 15-15, 7-7 = 29 reps each hand.

***S.I.DB.W-curls; *50'sx 20-20, 20-20, 20-20 = 60 reps each.

Rev. EZ-curls; 80x 20, 20, 20 = 60 reps.

All curls are as strict as I can. I do use some movement on the heavy EZ-curls, but never bend the knees.

*When gripping heavy, I will not go heavy in any Wrist-curl movement. I just stay with a basic lite pump routine. Also, 20-20 represents 20 reps right hand-20 reps left hand. Right hand is always the first number.

**Standing Alternate Dumb-bell curls

***Standing Inside Dumb-bell Wrist-curls

[Dave H]

Monday, 20 July, 04

Leg-curl; 85x 20,20. 110x 7.

Leg-Ext; 85x 20,20. 110x 7

Toe rise/Leg Press;* 295x 20/5, 20/5, 20/5.

BO.DB.Row's;** 60'sx 20-20, 20-20, 20-20.

BB-Press;*** 110x 20,20,20.

C.G.Bench; 135x 20,20,20.

S.S.Rises; 20'sx 20-20,20-20,20-20.

N-lift; 50x 20,20,20.

Grip workout;

New #2

1-1,1-1,2-2,2-2,3-3,3-3,3-3,3-3,1-1,1-1,2-2, ect,ect, for 100 rep total. This was done in-between sets of my regular workout.

Total workout time, 1 hour, 25 minutes. with radio on playing Classic Rock.

BO.DB.Row's=Bentover Dumb-bell rows.

BB-press=Barbell-press

C.G.Bench=Close Grip Bench

S.S. rise=Side Shoulder rise.

N-lift=neck lift

*Done on an old Vertical Leg-press. You lay on your back and push the weight stack straight up. Not like a sled. This is just like an up-side down squat. The closest thing you can get to a squat.

**Bent Over Dumb-bell rows.

***Barbell Press.

[Sean Dockery]

Nice work Dave.

This should be a fun log to watch. I'm sure you've got some great training insights old dog that you are.

[Dave H]

Saturday, 7 August, 04

Did the cards this workout for the Hammer-curls off Preacher-Bench. This is just one of the things I do to keep my workouts fun and competitive. With cards, I take a deck of playing cards, shuffle them good and lay the deck face-down. Then I turn the top card over. Whatever it is, that's how many reps I do with each hand (working sets only - not warm-up sets). 2's are 2 reps, ect. Jacks are 11 reps, Queen's are 12 reps, King's 13 reps and Ace's are 14 reps. Then I just listen to Classic rock, and curl until I have had my fill. Then I move on to the rest of my workout.

H-curls/P-bench; 30'sx 5-5,5-5. 50'sx 5-5, 5-5. 70'sx 3-3, 8-8, 14-14, 7-7,

2-2, 9-9, 7-7, 3-3. (Total volume on working sets=53 reps) All reps - including warm-ups are explosive from a full postion starting from the bottom. That is to say that I start all reps at the bottom and explode upward. When the DB Clanks against the bottom post on the bench, I then have a full stretch on my arm. Once the DB has came to a stop, I explode upward using the wrist , forearm, biceps and rear-shoulders - just as I would if I were back-loading someone in a match. With the larger DB's I have found that I must be careful and move my head out of the way at the top of the movement, because they are so long that I have nailed myself many times on the cheek, nose and fore-head.

DB. W-curls; 50'sx 20-20, 20-20, 20-20. (During this cycle, I was gripping very hard on my grip nights with a lot of reps. So, when I'm gripping hard, I don't Wrist-curl or Plate-curl heavy (I call Wrist Plate-curls simply "Plate-curls". That's what I have always known them as and I'm going to continue to call them Plate-curls.)

Plate-curls; 25x 20-20, 20-20, 20-20.

Table-curls: 50x 20-20. 80x (cards) 5-5, 7-7, 12-12, 2-2, 2-2, 8-8, 14-14, 5-5.

Total volume of working sets =55 reps.

Brick-lifting. 30 bricks, lift off table, hold for about 3 seconds and and sit back down. 3x 5,5,5.

These are all armwrestling specific movements and this is the workout I do on Saturdays when i have no one to pull with.

[Jonathan McMillan]

Please keep this log up!!!

can you describe how you are performing your brick lift? ie. 9 bricks across the rest piled on top etc.

Jon@han

[Dave H]

Yea, I stack 10 across. You know, standing on end, side-by-side. And then I stack the others on top of each other. I got it from Gary Brown - aka - Garythedino on this board. There are pictures of him doing it on some web sites. He holds a record in Brick lifting but I'm not allowed to say what it is on the Board. PM him or me and one of us will tell you what his record is.

Sixgun...

[Dave H]

Friday, 10 July, 04

L-curls; 85x 20-20, 20-20. 110x 10,10.

L-ext; 85x 20-20, 20-20. 110x 10,10.

Toe-rises/L-press; 295x 20/10, 20/10, 20/10.

B.O.DB.-rows; 60'sx 20-20, 20-20, 20-20.

BB-press; 110x 20,20,20.

C.G.B-press; 135x 20,20,20. NOTE: All Close-grip Bench presses are done with an EZ-curl bar. I forgot to mention that at the beginning of this log.

S.I.DB.W-curls; 50'sx 20-20, 20-20, 20-20.

Grip workout-Done in-between sets of my regular workout.

o1 #3 (These are what I call Penny-holds. I get a set on the gripper and then place a penny between the handles and close. If the grippers open just a hair, the penny falls out. I have found that i have to squeeze harder through out the intire hold to get a good count. In stead of reps, the count is in a seconds.)

10-10, 15-15, 25-25, 42-42, 45-45, 24-47 (right hand slipped and penny fell. Oh well) 35-35, 27-27, 25-25, 25-25.

Edited October 1, 2004 by sixgun

[Clay Edgin]

Sixgun, I noticed you like doing sets of 20 reps. Do you ever increase the weight on a regular basis or do you just basically use the same weight each time?

[Dave H]

Clay,

It depends. On Monday and Friday I just kind of keep the weight the same. I consider these nights just a general conditioning night. But on the Arm & Hand workouts, if I'm climbing, I always increase the weight when I hit 20 reps. Then I work on that weight until I hit 20 and increase again, ect, ect. That's how I got to heavy sets of 20's with certain movements. Some people like to increase weight before they get to such a high rep volume, but the way I do it, I still get strong - because I'm increasing the weight - but I also build a lot of endurance strength. And I really enjoy high-rep training. And I'm the type who must like what I do, so I always try to make my workouts enjoyable for myself.

Thanks for asking.

Sixgun...

[Dave H]

Clay,

Also, I take a max every so often in most of my lifts, just so I know where I am in over-all strength.

Sixgun...

Edited October 1, 2004 by sixgun

[nagual]

Can I ask you what exactly it is what you like about high rep training?

I'm asking because I'm trying to get myself motivated for more endurance type training, and I really hate high rep training to failure.

Do you go to concentric failure on each set btw?

I seem to recall you liked doing cheat curls aswell...

[Dave H]

Well,

First of all, I don't train to failure. I just do 20 reps. That's no where near failure for me with the weight I use, so I really can't answer your questions about training to failure. I don't know if I would like to do that all the time either. But I do high -reps because I have found that it DOES make me stronger. Way back when I was moving up from 50 pound DB's to 60 pound DB's in the Hammer-curl, the first night I moved to the 60 pounder I took a few max efforts. I could only get the 60 for about 5 reps. I tried to get an 80 pounder and could not curl it. 7 months later when I got the 60 for 20 reps for the fist time, I rested about 10 minutes and took another crack at the 80 and got it for 8 reps. Just by training with the 60 up to 20 reps made me strong enough to curl the 80 - 8 times. When I could curl 70 pounders 20 times, I could curl a 90 pounder between 5-10 reps. When I get 20 reps with a weight, I add 10 pounds and start again. And I have moved myself up in strength like that for years. So I know that High-reps does make ME stronger. Also, it gives me an endurance and tuffness to work 8-10 hours a day on my job and still come home and workout four times a week with HEAVY weights for a lot of REPs. I love 20-reps stuff. I love everything about it. The way it makes me feel, the strength it gives me, the endurance and power. I live to work - wheather it's on the job or in the gym. And the harder the better.

Hope this helps you

Sixgun...

Edited October 2, 2004 by sixgun

[nagual]

That's interesting. It's mostly the failure part of high reps that annoy me since it's so hard to tell when you actually reach failure, and it get's tedious. Having a set number you shoot for seems a lot better. I'll have to start experimenting a bit. Right now my plan is to have a "feedback" set at the end of each workout, where I shoot for as many reps as I can with a weight of about 50% of my 1RM.

[Dave H]

Sounds good, buddy.

Sixgun...

[Dave H]

Wed, 6 Oct, 04 8:45 pm

Got home from work late. Feeling stressed and very tired from the hours I'm putting in at work and the new house I'm building. The final walk-through with the builder is Friday. (Thank God! - Cause I'm beat!) After that, they turn over the keys and then we can move in. We are going to start moving Saturday morning (No rest for the busy). But tonight I need a workout despite being worn out, stressed and angry.

And by the way, if the A@*-hole in the blue Monte Carlo is reading this...You're damn luck I couldn't catch you tonight! (For those of you on The GripBoard - I'm just writing the entries in this version of my log as I wrote them in my hand written log in the basement. Writing helps me vent just as lifting does.)

Light workout tonight. Just too tired to hammer it.

EZ-curl: (Warm-ups) 70x 5, 5, 5. (Working sets with cards) 100x 3, 7, 2, 14, 3, 6, 8. = a volume of 47 reps.

DB.W-curls: 50'sx 20-20, 20-20, 20-20.

Standing Alternate DB-curl's: 50'sx 20-20, 20-20, 20-20.

Standing Inside DB.W-curls: 50'sx 20-20, 20-20, 20-20.

Bullworker (side-pressure) 20, 20, 20.

Sit-up's: 20 ( no weight), 20x 50#'s, 20x 75#'s

Went upstairs, ate a few spoon fulls of Chicken Stir-fry, washed it down with a beer and hit the sack.

Edited October 7, 2004 by sixgun

[jad]

Sixgun, could you describe the bullworker? I've heard of the exercise before but I have no idea what it is. Thanks

[Dave H]

It's actually a training implement. It is made up of two handles and compression spring. If you type in "Bullworker" into your search engine it will take you to the website. They are very old - meaning they have been around for a long time. I had me first one in high school.

Sixgun...

[jad]

Thanks, will do.

[Dave H]

Saturday, 10 Oct, 04

Skipped Friday workout. Had the day off and we started moving. Still moving today but I must have a workout. I'm going to take a few hours and do it. All the big stuff is moved anyway.

Hammer-curls/P-bench; (Warm-up's) 50'sx 5-5, 5-5. 70'sx (working sets/cards) 3-3, 6-6, 9-9, 7-7, 9-9, 10-10 = 44 reps total volume.

Center-loaded BB.W-curls: (Warm-ups) 105x 5,5. 155x 5,10,15,10,5.

Plate Wrist-curls - skipped today. Last week made my fingers way too sore and my crush-gripping suffered for two workouts. No Plate Wrist-curls today.

Table-curls; 80x 20, 20, 20.

Bullworker; 20,20,20.

Afterward my son and I pulled a little on the A/Wing table. My Back-load, Top-roll and Side-pressure felt really strong! But they always do after a workout! My son has a very strong hook, but today my Top-roll was opening up his hook very easy. We pulled for maybe 30 minutes. Technique will only take you so far. A/Wing is sport of strength of the hands & arms. I don't care what technique you are using, someone else is using one as well. So the bottom line is... you better be strong enough to finish! If you are not strong enough to push or pull that other guy down, then he's not going down! You are!

Edited October 10, 2004 by sixgun

[Dave H]

I moved into a new house last week and I'm still living out of boxes. My gym equipment is in the new garage buried under a ton of boxes that contain most of our house-hold goods. Did not work out any during that past week. I hope to get things into the basement this weekend and get back on track. In the meantime, here is a "Blast-From-The-Blast" from my training log dating back to about one year ago.

Wednesday, 29 Oct 04

I'm feeling really good tonight and I plan on hitting it hard. Much volume with heavy weights. Must make those tendons scream! Cause them to swell, baby! Cause then I know I'm going to get strong!

EZ-curl; (warm-ups) 40x 5. 60x 5. 80x 5. (Doing the Walking Sets tonight for my working sets) *115x 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 = 55 reps!

DB. W-curls; (warm-ups) 60'sx 5-5. 80'sx 5-5. (Walking Sets for working sets) **100'sx 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1=55!

Standing DB-curls: ***50'sx 20-20, 20-20, 20-20.

Standing Inside DB W-curls; 50's 20-20, 20-20, 20-20.

Bricklift; 20 Brick's; ****3x 10, 10, 10.

*It takes me about 15 seconds from the time I set the bar back on the blocks to turn around, walk 5 paces, touch the wall, walk back to the bar, pick it up and start again. Just enough time to keep the set going.

**I do a set in one hand, pass the DB to the other hand, do a set, then set it down, stand and walk to the wall, come back, sit down and start again. About 20-25 seconds between sets for these.

***Biceps a little fried. Cheated the last 8 or so reps up. That's ok, though.

**** A rep is and lift, hold for maybe 3-5 seconds and sit down. That's one rep.

I feel great. Hit some good, strong numbers in everything tonight. Soon, I need to move down to about 90 pounds in the EZ-curl and set a rep-max! Maybe at the end of the month.

Edited October 16, 2004 by sixgun

[Dave H]

Things still are not together in my basement gym of the new house. This is another "Blast From The Past".

(I'm going to go for a 1-rep max tonight in the Vertigal Leg-press. We'll see how it goes:)

L-curls; 85x 20, 20, 20.

L-ext; 85x 20, 20, 20.

T-rises/L-press; 135x 5/5, 185x5/5, 225x 5/5 295x 5/1. 355x 5/1, 405x 5/1,

455x 5/1, 5/1, 5/1*.

BO.DB-Rows; 80'sx 20-20, 20-20, 20-20.

M-press; 110x 20, 20, 20.

C.G. B-press (with EZ-curl bar); 135x 20, 20, 20.

Side shoulder-rises; 20x 20, 20, 20.

Neck-lift; 50x 20, 20, 20.

Sit-ups; no weightx 20, 25#'sx 20, 50#'sx 20.

Hypers; 20, 20, 20.

*All reps - as always - was all the way down until top of thighs are smashed against the chest. Then I pushed back up until legs are fully extended. For those of you who do not know what a Ver. Leg-press is, it's a plate-loaded leg-press and you lay underneath it. Place the feet up against the push-platform and push straight up. This is not on an incline as a sled is where one can push a lot of weight. This is the best thing to a squat as you can get!. It's really an up-side down squat. I think it is better than a squat because there is no heavy bar causing downward pressure on the spine - which causes so many back problems in lifters. I am 48 years and have NO back pain What So Ever! And my legs are strong enough to do anything I want them to do.

Grip workout.

Watching on the stop-watch. A double every minute with the new #2 for 1 hour.

I just watched my watch and every minute at the top of the minute I placed the #2 in my hand and mashed a double, swiched hands and did it with the left. It took maybe 15 seconds total for both hands. Waited 45 seconds, did it again. That gave me a total volume of 120 reps per hand with the 04 #2.

[Dave H]

Another "Blast From The Past".

Saturday, 3-20-04

H-curls/P-bench: (warm-ups) 50'sx 3-3, 5-5. 60'sx 3-3, 5-5.

(working sets/ low-hand cards*) 70'sx 5-5, 4-4, 5-5, 3-3, 2-2, 6-6, 9-9, 2-2. = 36 reps total volume

Center-plate loaded BB. W-curls: (warm-ups) 105x 5, 5. (working sets) 155x 3,5,8,10,8,5,3.

Plate W-curls: (low-hand cards*) 35x 3-3, 5-5, 8-8, 2-2, 6-6.

Table-curls: 100x 5-5, 7-7, 5-5.

Bullworker: 5, 10, 15, 10, 5.

*When I do low-hand cards, I only do cards that are 9 and down. I only do this when I'm feeling a little ragged or the weight is heavier than normal. Anyway, this ended up being a good workout and I felt really great afterward.

[Dave H]

Finally have my new gym put together and I had my first official workout today. A full workout with my full Saturday Armwrestling routine. However, I must say that I am worn out from working, moving and putting things together for the last two and a half weeks. And wouldn't you know it. I choose to do the card-routine tonight and as it would turn out, it was just a night for the high-cards! But hey, that's what builds character, right?!

H-curls/P-bench; (warm-ups) 30'sx 3-3, 3-3. 50'sx 3-3, 3-3.

(working sets/cards) 60'sx 3-3, 14-14, 13-13, 8-8, 9-9, 12-12.

DB. W-curls; (warm-ups) 50'sx 3-3, 3-3. (working sets/cards) 70'sx 3-3, 9-9, 14-14, 2-2, 12-12, 5-5.

Plate wrist-curls; none

Table-curls; (warm-ups) 50'sx 3-3, 3-3. (working sets/cards) 80'sx 3-3, 4-4, 6-6, 9-9, 7-7.

Bullworker (for side-pressure/ cards) 8,10,14,14,4.

Was whipped after this workout. Tendons were screaming in the wrists, forearms and elbows. That's the way I like it, though. Now, I have to study a little tonight on Charles Dickens and then I'm going to have a few beers- maybe a lot of beers -and then hit the sack.

Sixgun...

Edited October 31, 2004 by sixgun

[ulgrim]

"DB. W-curls; (warm-ups) 60'sx 5-5. 80'sx 5-5. (Walking Sets for working sets) **100'sx 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1=55!"

very nice