Bill Piche Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Our grip training group was having a "session" and another co-worker walked in. We first handed him the #3 and his knuckles when CRACK. HAH! We handed him the #2 and he closed it right handed. He does no training and I asked him if he did any manual labor outside of his desk jockey work and he said no. My buddy is up to nearly 18 reps with the #2. He's less than 1/8" from the #3. He's working to close that HARD last gap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roark Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Does your co-worker have unusual muscularity in the forearms? Must be a natural! Many years ago I took some of the old Ironman (not Iron Mind) grippers to work. What was similar to the #1 was almost closed by a slender built man who looked as though he would have a struggle deadlifting it! One football player who could squat 600 made no dent on the hardest of the Ironman grippers (I think it is harder than the current COC #3. That bothered him A LOT that he could not close it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Piche Posted January 4, 2002 Author Share Posted January 4, 2002 Not really. He looks ordinary! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueshadow Posted January 5, 2002 Share Posted January 5, 2002 Wannagrip, ask the guy what he eats for breakfast, willya!? Maybe it'll help me! I'm about 1/4" away from closing the 2 right now! Considering I've only been seriously training on them since Oct of last year, I'm kinda proud of myself so far! JJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Szimanski Posted January 5, 2002 Share Posted January 5, 2002 Wannagrip, you 'forgot' to let everyone know your office is down wind from a nuclear station! John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crushjunior Posted January 6, 2002 Share Posted January 6, 2002 Weird, I've handed my No. 1 (forget about the No. 2) to about a dozen people and nobody came within 1/2 inch of closing. Most people were more like an inch away. A masseuse gave it a shot and she was the worst of all, barely budged it. However she has small hands so I didn't think she would do well. Big hands seem to help a lot on the COC's. I think it really helps if you can close your thumb around the other fingers on the last bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 6, 2002 Share Posted January 6, 2002 I believe Pedro Alberni did 7 reps with the #2 the first time he touched it. His father also closed the #2 with no training, and his brother closed the master w/no training. Oddly enough, he also has a friend who closed the #2 w/no training. He's got the genetics. Michael Falkov Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roark Posted January 6, 2002 Share Posted January 6, 2002 Wannagrip's post is leading me to this thought: Because someone is strong enough to perform a feat does not indicate that advice from that person is valid. Wannagrip's office friend closed the #2 on his first ever try. His advice on training for closing the #2 would, apparently, and no dis- respect is meant, consist of outlining how he walked into the office and grabbed it. Someone once asked me for advice on nutrition. I told him what I know about nutrition can be stored, in duplicate inside the shell of a freeze-dried walnut. I could have told him anything and he would have accepted it because he falsely thought that because I have some knowledge on the iron's history, that I would also know other aspects. Frankly, I suspect some of the folks writing about nutrition should make the same acknowledgement, and stop misleading young beginners. My point is that advice of someone with natural ability is useless. As Jones used to say, you do not ask a racehorse how to train a racehorse. I'll be going to the Arnold Classic in a few weeks and there will be some beautiful young models there with fabulous bodies. The Good Lord gave them those bodies, and their advice on how to attain such a shape is of little value. If you and I are handed a trainer for the first ever try, and you close it, but I do not, are you then a coach? I am not saying that wannagrip's friend would offer advice, but if he did, and he did not reveal the fact that he closed it on the first try, then some would listen to whatever advice he offered, thinking he had 'earned' that level of strength. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Piche Posted January 6, 2002 Author Share Posted January 6, 2002 Well, this guy is clueless on any aspect of training. And, couldn't hold the gripper twice the same way. JOE! Now I know why you are going to the Arnold. You could also ask many of those girls who their plastic surgeon is!! :hehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tou Posted January 6, 2002 Share Posted January 6, 2002 Brute overall strength comes into play when someone closes a gripper at the first try. The #1 and #2 were no contest when I received them. I shut the #1 for 15 reps with ease. A couple of months later, I closed the #2 for 5 reps out of the bag. That was not the case with the #3 as I'm still sweating on it. I'm not a strength monster but I think that heavy deadlift lockouts and wrist curls gave me a good grip base. My hands were already strong when I got the grippers. A friend of mine saw my grippers on my desk and grabbed one of them to give it a try. Without positionning the gripper properly, he squeezed it to 1/2. This gripper was my #3. He closed the #1 and #2 with ease. This guy never trained with weights but I wouldn't mess with him. However, I have yet to find a "normal" guy to close my #1. Many have tried and none came close. This includes all the gym dudes that want to look like Ronnie Coleman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest baldy Posted January 6, 2002 Share Posted January 6, 2002 A good friend of mine came over to my house a few months ago to try out some grip work. He just wanted to see how he could do, because he said he used to wrist curl a lot. I was amazed at what he accomplished that day. He has no closing range on a gripper (he couldn't get the handles to touch on my #2, and my #1 gave him a little trouble), but his sweep range was phenomenal for someone who has never trained grip. He took my #4 slightly past parallel, and pulled 120 lbs on my GREX 621 using the 3/4" handles. He then did some heavy negatives (180 lbs on GREX 3/4" handles) with relative ease. Next, he tried plate curling (the only thing he wasn't good at) and failed at 25 lbs. After that, he pinched gripped 35's and rowed the weight from the floor to his waist for 2 reps. That was the first time he had ever tried pinching (never had heard of it before). He levered an 8lb sledge easily. He did 140lbs on both 2" vertical bar and Rolling Thunder (was starting to get tired, I guess). Lastly, he folded a 60d nail into a 'U' using the same technique Tom Black uses on the videos from his website. My friend is about 6' tall and weighs 250lbs. He works at the same factory I do in the maintenance department, so he does a lot of work with his hands turning wrenches, lifting a lot, etc. He told me that his dad could lever a 16lb sledge with a straight arm from the floor up over his head and then down to his nose, and just to look at my friend he looks like he has good genetics for a gorilla. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest StrongerthanArne Posted January 6, 2002 Share Posted January 6, 2002 2001 WSM winner Svend Karlsen, has reportedly a very strong sweep range on grippers as well. I was told he took a #3 to 1/4'' and then tried a #4 which he also took to 1/4''. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roark Posted January 6, 2002 Share Posted January 6, 2002 Wannagrip, It's Dr. Roark, Plastic Surgeon, to you sir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest softhands Posted January 6, 2002 Share Posted January 6, 2002 Well this wa where I left off, At the job I just left I had two co-workers out of about 25 who tried my grippers close, on the first try, the I.M. no2.Both of them did no training what so ever and were on the small side. But both of them had worked in the machining/metal working trades a number of years and used their hands extensively at this. Insidentaly I just about stopped training this last year as it seemed to make it very hard to do my job and train my grip. Now I dont have the job so its back to the grippers. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tou Posted January 7, 2002 Share Posted January 7, 2002 The knight is mine softhands. Pick another avatar. LOL Keep it if you want ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.