Teemu's Grip Log

[Teemu I]

I like what you're doing with the thumbs, too. I think it's a really good addition!

I think so too. My thumbs are now quickly catching up and regaining the strength I've obviously lost during the last months because I haven't worked them.

Thanks Matt and Hugo!

[ewokhugo]

hey temmu! please let me know your P.B (gripper closed) .

i decided not to put narrow grippers, just curious to know whats your p.b ...3.80? i asked u at the thread i made ,u probably dont notice it:-)

[Teemu I]

hey temmu! please let me know your P.B (gripper closed) .

i decided not to put narrow grippers, just curious to know whats your p.b ...3.80? i asked u at the thread i made ,u probably dont notice it:-)

I think my PR on regular spread grippers should go up soon. So far the 3,80 has stopped me at 1 mm from beeing closed, but I expect it to fall within this summer. But so far this is my PR on regular spread grippers:

CoC #3.5 / 86 kg / 190 lbs / rating = 3.68

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cfD-duDcxBI

Edited July 9, 2008 by Teemu I

[Teemu I]

Week 2, workout 2

12 ext. handle negs, went pretty well. Was able to improve the duration and quality on most reps. This should help me to get ready for SW workouts.

6 x 1 minisets of 5 negs with pony clamp. Doubled the amount of rubber bands. Thumb strength seems to go up fast now with these negs.

All together a good workout.

[Martin_Arildsson]

Hey dude! I want to borrow your 3.68 gripper!

I'd like to do a cross check with an already RGC calibrated gripper.

[Teemu I]

Hey dude! I want to borrow your 3.68 gripper!

I'd like to do a cross check with an already RGC calibrated gripper.

Hey buddy, would be happy to if it was mine. It's Matti's gripper, maybe you could ask him if that's the gripper you specifically want?

[burkhardmacht]

Hey dude! I want to borrow your 3.68 gripper!

I'd like to do a cross check with an already RGC calibrated gripper.

Hey buddy, would be happy to if it was mine. It's Matti's gripper, maybe you could ask him if that's the gripper you specifically want?

Matti should bring it to the Euros - so Martin can take a look/or squeeze it! @Martin:

[Martin_Arildsson]

Hey dude! I want to borrow your 3.68 gripper!

I'd like to do a cross check with an already RGC calibrated gripper.

Hey buddy, would be happy to if it was mine. It's Matti's gripper, maybe you could ask him if that's the gripper you specifically want?

Matti should bring it to the Euros - so Martin can take a look/or squeeze it! @Martin:

Haha Sorry dude!

Teemu, I think I'll wait. I got alot more grippers that I need to check. I also ordered some more grippers last week! BBE to BBPro

[Teemu I]

Eccentric training, Week 3, workout 1:

Going up on the volume again: 8 gripper negs with both hands. I was using a 197 lbs BBSE with both hands this time. Glad to notice the quality improving during the first 4 negs.

For thumb work, I did 7 minisets of negs, forcing the pony clamp closed 5 times each time using more resistance than last week. Thumb strength is probably now better than it has ever been, atleast if I use the performance on this clamp as a measure. I was closer to holding the clamp closed with both hands despite the added resistance.

[ewokhugo]

Teemu:i am glad u are improving all the time! small steps in the right direction will make your shorth term goal a reality.

[Teemu I]

Thanks Hugo, I atleast hope that I'm really improving and not just hallusinating.

Week 3, workout 2

Todays' task was to do 13 ext. handle negs. Well, I couldn't. I tore both my palms open on the fifth neg. There's just no way to keep on going after missing huge chunks of skin. Damn, until that I felt I was doing great. I see this as another very good reason to get that SW as soon as possible. I'm just glad this doesn't effect my thumb work in any way.

5 x 1 minisets of 5 negs with pony clamp. Added to the amount of rubber bands again. Did well on these once again.

All together, not very pleased with this workout. By the time I had to give up on the ext. handle negs, I was nowhere near reaching the point where I need to be pushing myself to make the progress happen.

Edited July 17, 2008 by Teemu I

[Teemu I]

Week 4, workout 1

Going up on the volume once again: 10 gripper negs with both hands, fighting to the bitter end on each single. I was using a 197 lbs BBSE with right hand and MM3dup with left hand.

Was able to improve on the quality, especially with the right hand. In any case it was plain horrible to fight through all the pain.

Palms held together pretty well with athletic tape. There was some palm pain, however.

For thumb work, I did 6 minisets of negs (forcing the clamp closed 5 times each time) using a pony clamp. Was able to add more resistance again and fight it pretty good.

There’s some signs of progress, but I doubt it would still be enough for the #4 close. Well, it’s a matter of patience now.

I got the SW ready, but still need to transport it in some way to get it here.

Edited July 21, 2008 by Teemu I

[lifesnotfair]

Great work as always Teemu, 10 negatives with that 197lb BBSE, wow. Keep it up mate!

[Teemu I]

Great work as always Teemu, 10 negatives with that 197lb BBSE, wow. Keep it up mate!

Thanks man, the pain almost stopped me from going on after 6 negs, but I psyched up to grind through the rest. It hurt!

[Teemu I]

Week 5, workout 1

11 negs with Super Elite and MM3dup.

Crappy, crappy, crappy! Sweep wore me out so badly I couldn't believe it. Was not even able to force all the negs closed today no matter what, that started happening after 7 negs with right hand. Lefty was doing better today I guess. Can't think of an explanation for this, except that this was just a crappier day than usual.

Thumb work as usual, but weaker.

[gazza]

Teemu

Crappy workouts are just those crappy workouts i recently had what i consider one of my crappiest workouts ever on bending i was sent some stainless stock by booyah and failed on it miserably funny thing is i know that my stock is harder i was just to overtrained on the day and the conditions were not right because since then ive finished that stock mike sent me i was just pissed i couldnt do it on the day but the lesson ive learned like yourself on the bigger grippers is that as you get near your potential there can be as many crappy workouts as there are good ones we just have to keep a positive mind and keep on plugging away no matter how disheartend we might feel i can imagine that kinney had his share of disapiontments on the way to the 4 but he just kept after it.

I am convinced once you reach a certain level wether it be big grippers,bending whatever the mind is the key that keeps the progress comeing the progress just slows abit thats all

I recently started to train a friend at work and hes really taken to the grippers 3 weeks training he closed my shaved 2 so he ordered his own as i dont know were mine sits difficulty wise and i told him it could be easy,medium or hard relative to other 2s so he ordered one and closed it out of the package i then borrowed a couple of 3s of my friend maxwell an easy one and a medium to hardish one hes a couple of millimeters from closeing the easy one this with now about 5 weeks training and is close is almost a no set he just sets the griper so his pinky is on it and goes for it i told him he could do a ccs cert by christmas if he kept at it.

Whilst i have been training the above mate i decided to have a little go at the grippers myself and was pleased on 1st try of a gripper in over nearly 2 yrs i was able to close and hold an rb210 both hands quite easilly of coarse this is meaning less as the gripper might be easy or hard compared to others i was also easilly able to close and hold my friends brand new 2 quite easilly both hands i then tried the 2 3s from maxwell big shock i can close and hold both these grippers for 5-10secs but i cannot sweep them which shows to me that all the bending has given me a goodish level of holding strength but does not do much in my case for the sweep this was irritateing to me as it shows me that my hands are week in a start and sweep position so ive decided to do something about it.

I have just had a grip machine and a secret weapon with ball bearing made so its ultra smooth[maxwell maximus1]had a go of it yesterday anyway i have decided to train on these 2 machines excluseivally and then test myself on the grippers occassionally every 1-2 mths i think this is how kinney trained at times i have already noticed my sweep improving in just a week useing these machines i would be interested in your feedback as i rate you as one of the best on grippers and you have jusat yourself aquired a secret weapon so i am interested in seeing how this will further increase your gripper strength.

regards.............gazza.........

[Teemu I]

Teemu

Crappy workouts are just those crappy workouts i recently had what i consider one of my crappiest workouts ever on bending i was sent some stainless stock by booyah and failed on it miserably funny thing is i know that my stock is harder i was just to overtrained on the day and the conditions were not right because since then ive finished that stock mike sent me i was just pissed i couldnt do it on the day but the lesson ive learned like yourself on the bigger grippers is that as you get near your potential there can be as many crappy workouts as there are good ones we just have to keep a positive mind and keep on plugging away no matter how disheartend we might feel i can imagine that kinney had his share of disapiontments on the way to the 4 but he just kept after it.

I am convinced once you reach a certain level wether it be big grippers,bending whatever the mind is the key that keeps the progress comeing the progress just slows abit thats all

I recently started to train a friend at work and hes really taken to the grippers 3 weeks training he closed my shaved 2 so he ordered his own as i dont know were mine sits difficulty wise and i told him it could be easy,medium or hard relative to other 2s so he ordered one and closed it out of the package i then borrowed a couple of 3s of my friend maxwell an easy one and a medium to hardish one hes a couple of millimeters from closeing the easy one this with now about 5 weeks training and is close is almost a no set he just sets the griper so his pinky is on it and goes for it i told him he could do a ccs cert by christmas if he kept at it.

Whilst i have been training the above mate i decided to have a little go at the grippers myself and was pleased on 1st try of a gripper in over nearly 2 yrs i was able to close and hold an rb210 both hands quite easilly of coarse this is meaning less as the gripper might be easy or hard compared to others i was also easilly able to close and hold my friends brand new 2 quite easilly both hands i then tried the 2 3s from maxwell big shock i can close and hold both these grippers for 5-10secs but i cannot sweep them which shows to me that all the bending has given me a goodish level of holding strength but does not do much in my case for the sweep this was irritateing to me as it shows me that my hands are week in a start and sweep position so ive decided to do something about it.

I have just had a grip machine and a secret weapon with ball bearing made so its ultra smooth[maxwell maximus1]had a go of it yesterday anyway i have decided to train on these 2 machines excluseivally and then test myself on the grippers occassionally every 1-2 mths i think this is how kinney trained at times i have already noticed my sweep improving in just a week useing these machines i would be interested in your feedback as i rate you as one of the best on grippers and you have jusat yourself aquired a secret weapon so i am interested in seeing how this will further increase your gripper strength.

regards.............gazza.........

Gazza, thank you very much for your thoughts and a very thorough feedback, much appreciated!

You are of course very much right about those bad days just happening and the only thing you can do about it is just to keep on pounding away no matter what. I do whine sometimes but it's just that I get temporarily frustrated when things aren't going my way, but I always make sure to take that frustration and use it as a motivator to psyche up for the next workout, I don't ever get discouraged for the long run as I know I will win the battle in the end just by enduring through all the pain and hard work. Mind always wins! I see no reason at all why I would not be able to close #4's in the end as long as I keep on doing what I'm doing. Eventually my hands will have to adapt.

It is interesting to hear about your experience with grippers and that you have noticed where your strength lies and what is your weakness. I have pretty much felt the same way, but going on the 6th week of my program doing nothing but heavy negatives I feel my sweep has already gotten stronger. I trained on my Secret weapon for the first time on friday and trained on it today as well. I'm pretty sure this will work it's magic and make my crush stronger throughout the whole ROM. I'm sure the same will happen to you and I'm greatly interested hearing how your gripper performance will improve through you current training on the machines. I'm not that surprised to hear how strong you are when it comes to close and hold and expect great gripper closes from you as you get your sweep as strong as well. Keep me posted how it goes!

I will write more about my experiences training on the Secret weapon as time goes by and let you know how it goes, in the meantime check out my blog for my first thoughts about it. There's a pic of the machine as well.

Thanks for the nice words and encouragement as well! Best of luck with your training as well, not that you need any.

[lifesnotfair]

Nice writeup, hopefully it'll make you even stronger, which is scary already!!

[Teemu I]

Thanks! I'm positive it will bring good results. Just finished doing 13 negs on it and the feel on the forearms is again great. I can't think of a reason why it would not work in the long run. I will evaluate my progress after some time and write about my experiences more then.

Wrapped up todays workout with 6 x 5 negs for the thumb, using a pony clamp + rubber bands.

Great workout and I'm really looking forward to the next.

[gazza]

Teemu

I have just read your report on your first workout with your secret weapon and by the way thats a nice looking machine you have there i know it will take all the abuse you can throw at it and keep on comeing back for more it will be a great aid in your quest for the 4.

My secret weapon also has thinner handles than the grippers i had mine made out of 5.8inch round bar i am also getting another one made with hexagonal handles which will increase the pain factor and cause the hands to adapt even more

I might even make one with interchangerble screw in handles thick,thin,round,hexagonal,BTR etc i am also toying with the idea of makeing a base plate that has interchangable springs that you can hook upto the handle so you can use the springs resistance instead of weights so that you get a pullback effect.

I had mine made with a bearing so its ultra smooth the bearing outer race can also move sideways so i allowed a 5degree movement either side so that instead of the lower handle just comeing straight up it has 5degrees of play either side so i can use it to simulate a grind and make the hand work even harder theres a pic in my gallery.

You can also get a different effect from your machine by useing a smaller loading pin which will allow the bottom handle to open up even more mine is 5inches between the handles with a standard pin thats wider than any gripper i am liable to close it really stretches the thumb and makes it work hard.

Another thing you can do is you can face the other way and grip the handle this way so that the lower handle is pulling down on the 2 top fingers insted of the bottom fingers this hits the hand differently and i think this will help also.

[Teemu I]

Thursday 7.8.2008

Week 6, workout 2

18 negs on the SW scheduled.

Warmup on the Vulcan, then wide spread #3.5 (rating 3.54) CCS close just for the fun of it.

Then on to the business.I experimented a little with the loads on SW. Last time I was using 35 kg.

1. 45 kg

-managed to slow it down a bit with right, 1 rep

-way too much for the left, 1 rep

2. 40 kg

- 9 reps with both hands, then it started to come down too fast

3. 35 kg

-8 reps with both hands, went OK.

Managed the planned 18 reps, some of which with heavier loads than last time. I consider this a pretty good workout. Skin just refused to stay in one piece.. Only finger that did not loose skin on my right hand was pinky. On the left hand I managed to keep index and middle finger from tearing. I endured the workout to the end with the help of tape, thin leather gloves and awful lot of psyching up.

Thumb work with pony clamp, rubber bands used as extra resistance:

6 x 5, tough negs. Went really well.

Total time spent on this workout was 2.5 hours. I did not screw around but this was how long it took with all the taping and retaping.

I'd be amazed if I would not see any gains through this in the long run. Just yesterday I was thinking that OMG if I ever manage to use 50 kg or more on this. Now it doesn't seem that distant after all, as most of the reps done with 40 kg were of good quality. Now I have a goal of beeing able to add 20 kg and manage qood quality negs with that much weight (55 kg). When I get there I'm certainly stronger than I am now.

Edited August 7, 2008 by Teemu I

[ewokhugo]

Incredible the amount of time (2.5 hours) .its obvious u are enjoying your new toy big time(i am very happy for u):-)

Juts (very) curious to know ... ever think about picking matti´s #4 and try to close it ?(before the end of the 10 week cycle on negatives)?

[Benedikt Farsmann]

That's high intensity In my decent experiance skin tear is sometimes holding me back from reaching the maximum. I've never used one but If so, may gloves help you on the secret weapon?

By the way, what's your experiance with the Rolling Thunder?

[ewokhugo]

Klesen: fell free to watch Temmu's videos at youtube. u will find some R.T videos there/read the previous posts here , Temmu did R.T work a couple of times.

[Teemu I]

Incredible the amount of time (2.5 hours) .its obvious u are enjoying your new toy big time(i am very happy for u):-)

Juts (very) curious to know ... ever think about picking matti´s #4 and try to close it ?(before the end of the 10 week cycle on negatives)?

No, I will wait until the end of the program, then rest a week or so, train a bit differently for a couple of weeks, then test myself. Or that has been the plan, who knows if I make some changes along the way.