How Much Is The Last Part Of The #3?

[Gluteus Maximus]

Yeah guys. F T S. Be like Bo and...

(ref. cuban bee's post)

Edited March 28, 2005 by Gluteus Maximus

[Sybersnott]

Crunch all the numbers you want, in the end either you can close it or you can't.

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Straight and to the point!

[LAHotSauce]

Much thanks for the advice, but last night I got angry and decided to just squeeze the thing within a hairs breath of salvation (steadied)...

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Anger, when properly channeled, can be of great benefit. Especially on the grippers.

Remember this: the gripper is NOT YOUR FRIEND. It doesn't care whether or not you can close it. And it doesn't care whether or not you get stronger (or weaker).

Some of the best gripper workouts I've ever had came from the fact I wanted to kill the gripper. I would chest crush it, two-hand negative close it, cheat it shut using whatever method I could find and then muster all my power to try to keep it closed or near closed as possible.

DON'T WORK WITH A GRIPPER YOU CAN MASTER. Work with one that is slightly beyond your mastery. Throw everything into trying to close it!

And one more thing... don't worry about undue pressure on your hands. That's what you want. You WANT that incredible pressure on your hands!

O.K., class is over.

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GREAT ADVICE!! I Like that!

Next time my wife and I get in an argument, I'm gonna grab that #2 like it's her...............

Nah, I'll just try it to take out my frustration.

[josé adalton]

On 3/28/2005 at 5:44 PM, 3djim said:

You can get a good idea about how much extra force is necessary to close a gripper for a given "last handle spread increment", say 1/2", by estimating:

1) f1 = force to close using a hypothetical " target" spread, say 3.1" for the #3

2) f2 = force to close using a handle spread of 2.6"

3) subtracting: deltaF = f1 - f2

Torsion spring theory says FTC is approximately proportional to sweep angle (and thus handle spread), so we should expect deltaF to be approximately constant.

For the CoC#3, assume hypothetical values for the gripper parameters to be:

Handle spread = 3.1"

Depth (handle "set" along wire leg from coil center) = .74"

Handle length = 3.75"

Handle diameter = .75"

Wire diameter = .283"

Coil inside diameter = .9"

These assumed values give an approximate FTC of ~ 285lbs, which is what we know as the CoC target. The above parameters are only reasonably assumed and close to actual measured values on a #3 I once owned. I do not know exactly what the manufacturing values are. However, the above values are close enough for the following experiment.

I ran the numbers and got the following values, keeping all the parameters constant except handle spread:

Handle Spread FTC deltaF

3.1" 285

2.6" 235 50

2.1" 188 47

1.6" 141 47

1.1" 96 45

0.6" 52 44

The deltaF values are nearly constant and supports theory.

So, to give my opinion for an answer to Dude:

The last 1/2" might require you to develop your crushing strength by another 50lbs at the crushing angle of your hand for this stage. This is almost the same as crushing the first 1/2" on a 3.1" spread gripper, HOWEVER that extra 50lbs will feel like a ton since you are starting at 235lbs! Also, hand angles between bones are different for starting and finsishing stages, so a "feel test" might be deceptive. Recall, perhaps, how hard it was to get that extra 50lbs bench press from an already tough current max.

So, that's the answer? Does somebody have a more straightforward answer to that question?

[Mitch Jones]

19 minutes ago, josé adalton said:

So, that's the answer? Does somebody have a more straightforward answer to that question?

This was probably before the current method of rating grippers was established and was the best answer at the time. After all this was 18 years ago. Maybe somebody with an rgc setup would experiment with a few grippers to compare the rating at fully closed and 1/2 inch. but with so many variables with different springs, i don't know if a good answer is even possible. Sounds interesting either way.

[Nuttgens]

2 hours ago, josé adalton said:

So, that's the answer? Does somebody have a more straightforward answer to that question?

I think @C8Myotome has messed around a bit with measuring different points of a close he might have an idea. 

[C8Myotome]

11 hours ago, Nuttgens said:

I think @C8Myotome has messed around a bit with measuring different points of a close he might have an idea. 

Well this is an 18 year old thread and the original post asked about last "1/2" of a 3, not specifically the last 1/2" as some interpreted that as.

I do have an RGC device but have not got around to measuring grippers at various points and then plotting that data. Besides, grippers with different spreads and spring sizes are going to function differently.

I did come up with a formula to estimate RGC at various points under the assumption that the increase is fairly linear, which it may or may not be, but is enough to provide an idea of how heavy a gripper is at different points, just to put into perspective that for example say you are only able to close a 150 RGC #3 halfway, but your true 1RM is a 75 RGC gripper, then that would explain why you could only close the 150 halfway, & so on...this is just to give you an idea of what RGC you are stopping at when you are a few mm away from closing a gripper and so on, you can find how to use that formula here: again it is an estimate, but it has proved accurate when calculating what points of a gripper i stopped at vs my true training max at the time

 

[Hubgeezer]

On 4/5/2023 at 5:58 AM, C8Myotome said:

Well this is an 18 year old thread and 

…The hardest part is the last 1/8th of an inch.

[Cannon]

I can put some numbers to this when I get a chance.

[C8Myotome]

7 hours ago, Hubgeezer said:

…The hardest part is the last 1/8th of an inch.

The last angstrom is the hardest part

[DoctorOfCrush]

Unfortunately, the handles, nor anything for that matter, never really touch…

*said in the most pedantic tone possible*

[Apneaa]

The further you curl the fingers, the harder it is for the muscle fibers to generate contraction and shorten even further, both from a nervous system view and a physical anatomy standpoint, you are at the most disadvantageous point in the end range of any gripper.

Add to that the fact that it's at that range that you have to work the hardest to stabilize the handle, and you probably can make an argument that the last % of closes are the hardest to achieve