Humbled

[Ericc]

After years of using straps for bodybuilding routines I was introduced to kettlebells and realized the disservice I had done to myself. I had no grip. My routine has changed drasticly in the past year with kettlebells,strongman workouts, manual labor workouts and now the COC#1 (And starting next week the Rolling Thunder!). I had thought that my grip was getting quite strong with weekly suuitcase walks, farmer walks and high rep kettlebell snatches and swings, most recently with 100 reps in 5 mins with the 53lbs kettlebell and high rep swings with the 88lb. However when I received the COC#1 for Christmas I was surprised to find I couldn't close it all the way. Hahahah...I handed it to a skinning cusomer at work today and he closed it no problem! Even though he had trouble holding the 88lb kettlebell in both hands. As I mentioned I was quickly humbled and inspired as well to take my gripping even further.

Any suggestions?

Should I order the trainer and take a few steps back?

I'm hoping the Rolling Thunder my help me bridge the gap but it may not help with crush strength as I think I have found with the farmers walk.

Thanks for any help of advice.

Eric

[jomcgui]

with the 88# Kb do snatches but don't rack them on the way down. Bottoms up press the 53# kb.

[big bri]

you have to remember that they say there's 3 different types of grip strength: supporting, pinch, and crushing grip. supporting strength is your ability to grip and hold a barbell or kettlebell or RT. a strong supporting grip doesn't necessarily mean you'd have a strong crushing grip. there may be some carryover but for instance a 500 lb deadlifter can't necessarily close the #3. for me, if i want to close bigger grippers i need to train the grippers. if i want to pull more on the rolling thunder i will train the rolling thunder. for me there's not a whole lot of carryover between the two. so train the #1 for a while and you'll get it and then you can move on to the #2! good luck my friend

[Sybersnott]

you have to remember that they say there's 3 different types of grip strength: supporting, pinch, and crushing grip.

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Don't forget wrist strength!

[mt-tom]

Ericc-

I know how you feel. I'm getting closer to where I want to be grip strength-wise, but my newly acquired 24kg kettlebell has me feeling quite humbled. I can't even imagine what high swings on an 88 lber would be like!

Tom

[Steve B.]

Tom,

Also try bottoms up presses with the KB for general grip and wrist strength and one i call a KB hammer curl/clean.Held to the outside of your leg curl it hammer curl style with the ball straight out in front of you up to your shoulder.When the strict movement gets difficult i put a very small swing into it to get to the shoulder.Then back down slow.Your wrist and forearm will be screaming.I only use the 16kg right now for this one.

Edited December 30, 2005 by Steve B.

[Muscle Turtle]

Just curious, but has anyone considered making up a list of movements for supporting? wrist? crush? and pinch strength???

Is negatives with a gripper crush strength or supporting?

just curious..

[Ericc]

Thanks everyone....great advice!

I love the bottom up clean & press...one of my favorite kettlebell moves. One bright part of my training today was bottom up cleaning and press the 24kg for the first time today. Only with my right though...left is still shy of full lock out. That's what surpised me so much about the #1. I have bottom up clean the 28kg bell and felt my grip was coming along well. I have to say that as humbled as I was, the more inspired as well. I love the grippers!

Eric

[Janne]

Thanks everyone....great advice!

I love the bottom up clean & press...one of my favorite kettlebell moves. One bright part of my training today was bottom up cleaning and press the 24kg for the first time today. Only with my right though...left is still shy of full lock out. That's what surpised me so much about the #1. I have bottom up clean the 28kg bell and felt my grip was coming along well. I have to say that as humbled as I was, the more inspired as well. I love the grippers!

Eric

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Read and Succeed. You have taken the first step.

[FatBoy]

Try forcing the gripper closed with both hands and then hold it closed(with one hand) for as long as you can. This will help you increase your closing strength.

[bencrush]

Good to have you here Ericc. There are a million ways to skin the gripper cat.

You could buy a Trainer and do 1,000s of reps with it daily. Or you could buy a #2 and do negatives with it in addition to some attempts with your #1 throughout the day.

Read through some workout logs. There are many, many strong people here. And everyone will have something that is useful to your strength progress.

[mobsterone]

I work with a bunch of strength athletes (the company I own sponsors strongman events) and the complaint is the same: support strength is ok at best but they cannot do some events as well as they'd expect. One guy here (Welshdragon) has a 3 he can't shut yet can log press 406lbs and do a good weight on the silver dollar lift (380-kilos plus). Others are the same inc Terry Holland who qualified to go to the WSM.

What I tell them and what you'll be told here is that at the very top level most of the guys have little or nothing between them in terms of overall strength. Sure they'll have their best lifts and events but overall - the same. the guy that wins has the least weaknesses. For a few it's grip and yet it doesn't take much at all to bring their grip up to par.

Exercises they can use.

Deadlift holds and hangs are one, farmers walk for weight and time is another, grippers and pinches are another. Occasional trips into tearing books etc is ok for shows and exhibitions and with their core strength and basic high levels it doesn't take long for them to bring their game up.

Now if I could get Dale to teach me how to press 400 I'd be set!!

[heatwave13]

Ericc, I know how you feel. I was making progress in all my lifts, but, at the same time, I was really lacking a true grip, so I decided to tackle the problem. Better late than never, I suppose. Currently, I can close the number 2 gripper at anytime and, looking back, although it was a very long struggle for me, I noticed a few key ideas that helped me increase my grip. The most obvious is to keep working with the gripper, frequently. Several days per week I would get the gripper that you're trying to close and just do a few hard reps with it several times throughout the day. For me, I took my #2 and every hour, I would try a few hard reps. I took it to work with me, did it at home, in the evening, etc. The next day, I would get the next hardest gripper and do negatives with it in the same fashion. In no time at all, I slammed the #2.

Other things that helped my grip were heavy deadlifts and kettlebell work (53lb). The bottoms up press worked quite well. Keep it up, be consistent, and watch your grip increase in strength.