Teemu's Grip Log

[lifesnotfair]

I'm sorry, I kinda read you had it choked at 3mm, I just read it was from parallel TO 3mm, my bad!

Great work!

[Teemu I]

I'm sorry, I kinda read you had it choked at 3mm, I just read it was from parallel TO 3mm, my bad!

Great work!

No problem buddy. Since you brought it up, there's not much point to choke gripper beyond 10 mm. At least with hose clamp that is. If you choke even a hard gripper like #4 to 5 mm using a hose clamp around the handles, the resistance becomes ridiculously easy to handle, which obviously isn't the purpose. I've found that 10 mm is the optimal distance to start working on the hard gripper.

[mbcx6pmw]

Glad you are well again Teemu. The spread on that new #3 looks huge in the video.

I saw one of your country's finest exports the other night, Children of Bodom

[Teemu I]

Glad you are well again Teemu. The spread on that new #3 looks huge in the video.

I saw one of your country's finest exports the other night, Children of Bodom

Thanks man!

So you liked Children of Bodom? Cool.

[mbcx6pmw]

So you liked Children of Bodom? Cool.

Yeah, are you a fan yourself? I have this image of all Scandinavians as liking metal and dressing as vikings in their spare time, but it may not be strictly true

I think this was the 3rd time I've seen them, was the 'unholy alliance' tour with slayer so they only got a fairly short slot. They didn't play much off Hatebreeder, which is my fave album of theirs, but was still cool.

[Teemu I]

So you liked Children of Bodom? Cool.

Yeah, are you a fan yourself? I have this image of all Scandinavians as liking metal and dressing as vikings in their spare time, but it may not be strictly true

I think this was the 3rd time I've seen them, was the 'unholy alliance' tour with slayer so they only got a fairly short slot. They didn't play much off Hatebreeder, which is my fave album of theirs, but was still cool.

I'm not actually a biggest fan myself, but I think they are OK and I'm glad they are known abroad.

[coc3]

teemu, how long do you rest between workouts?

[Teemu I]

teemu, how long do you rest between workouts?

As can be seen in my log. But under normal circumstances I try to train grip 3 times a week.

[Martin_Arildsson]

So you liked Children of Bodom? Cool.

Yeah, are you a fan yourself? I have this image of all Scandinavians as liking metal and dressing as vikings in their spare time, but it may not be strictly true

I think this was the 3rd time I've seen them, was the 'unholy alliance' tour with slayer so they only got a fairly short slot. They didn't play much off Hatebreeder, which is my fave album of theirs, but was still cool.

I'm not actually a biggest fan myself, but I think they are OK and I'm glad they are known abroad.

I'm going to the Unholy Alliance now on friday in Sweden! I'm really looking forward to Lamb of God!

Teemu: MSN!

Edited November 15, 2006 by Martin_Arildsson

[Mikael Siversson]

Glad you are well again Teemu. The spread on that new #3 looks huge in the video.

I saw one of your country's finest exports the other night, Children of Bodom

The Finns are producing some excellent music. Nightwish being a prime example.

[mbcx6pmw]

I'm going to the Unholy Alliance now on friday in Sweden! I'm really looking forward to Lamb of God!

Teemu: MSN!

Sweet, you'll enjoy I'm sure. LoG were excellent live, very heavy. And of course In Flames were cool as always

[Teemu I]

18.11.2006: Grippers+IGDA+dynamic thumb (grip workout on the road)

1. BBSE choked at parallel

- 5 crappy attempts, I'll have to go back somewhat next time

- rest was 3 minutes between singles

2. IGDA at CCS width, spring positions 3,5,9, tension 213,2 lbs

- 13 explosive singles with 3 sec OC's

- rest was 1 minute between singles

3. Dynamic thumb with rubber ball

- 10 singles with 5 sec OC's

I've had better days than this.

Edited November 18, 2006 by Teemu I

[Teemu I]

19.11.2006: Blobette, wrists

I intend to train my grip daily for some time now, maybe for 3 weeks to toughen up my hands after the break and to make future training sessions easier. We'll see how it turns out.

Blobette lifts from the floor, 15,5 kg

4 x 5, aiming at 3 sec holds each rep, right hand was good for that on 3 sets, I even got a few decent reps with my left hand but did use index finger assistance on the reps I couldn't make honestly and turned them into negatives.

Wrist curls

Went back in weight as I expected to struggle with these. Target for today was to get 3 sets of 5 reps with 72,5 kg's

1 x 5 x 72,5 kg Hard!

1 x 4 x 72,5 kg Really a struggle.

1 x 3 x 72,5 kg Crappy form

Barbell reverse wrist curls one hand at a time

1 x 10 x 20 kg both hands

1 x 8 x 20 kg both hands

Levering two 5 kg sledgehammers from the ground to shoulder and back to the ground

5 progressively heavier singles. Saw some progress with these.. I wonder how on earth was that possible???

(I'm measuring my progress with these marking the spot where I end up each time with rubber bands)

Wrist curling was tough today and Blobette sure hit my thumbs hard!

[Teemu I]

20.11.2006: Brookfield style-Blobette workout

Weight for Blobette 15,5kg. I did a whole punch of stuff with that Blobette today: regular lifts from the floor, passing it from hand to hand in the air, assisted reps from the floor, holds for time and bouncing it from the soft mattress (cheat lifts). I didn't count reps or didn't time anything, just played around with it until my forearms could not take it anymore. I call this a Brookfield style- Blobette workout, because he recommends training block weights sort of this way. It's fun for a change not to be so particular about all the small details (allthough that's a necessity in the long run). I just kept pounding away at it, even tried to clean it with my right hand a couple of times. With no success, but it's all part of the fun, maybe I'll be able to clean that weight with it after some time.

My forearms were fried to begin with. Really sore. Normally I wouldn't even think about training grip, but now I will just force my grip strength to adat to the demands and really push it for three weeks. I think I have enough experience to know when it just gets too heavy and when I'm taking too great risks.

I know I've focused too much on grippers. My PR on those is still that MMS close of BBE. I think I suck at block weights, my best Blobette lift from the floor so far is still that 17,7 kg's or 39 lbs I did a while ago. So I can't call my grip balanced. Thumb strength or a lack of it might be slowing my progress down on the grippers as well. I find it really hard to even set my BBSE, let alone my #4, setting the grippers requires thumb/pinch strength plus my sweep needs to get stronger. Of course the overall hand strength gain that is to be expected from Blobette work will help with everything else. I bet Brookfield doesn't praise block weights for nothing.

Edited November 20, 2006 by Teemu I

[tspinillo]

Nice stuff. The block will will pay off in spades. Your whole hand is working. Just remember to keep your "form" with the grippers.

[Teemu I]

Nice stuff. The block will will pay off in spades. Your whole hand is working. Just remember to keep your "form" with the grippers.

Thanks. I'm thinking I should work grippers on a "maintenance level" for now. I expect to see some progress on those as well as soon as I go back to them more intensively, if I make some significant progress on blobette work first.

Now, I need to keep my head together and be patient, as I'm going to go through this 3 week overloading period and everything will go downhill during these weeks.

Edited November 20, 2006 by Teemu I

[lifesnotfair]

What do you mean, that your progress with the grippers has slowed down? Remember you took like 3 full weeks off with that flu! Keep punishing the BBSE!!

[Teemu I]

What do you mean, that your progress with the grippers has slowed down? Remember you took like 3 full weeks off with that flu! Keep punishing the BBSE!!

My progress had slowed down before that break. I have given this a thought lately and I've come to a conclusion that my crappy thumb strength and lack of strength in the hand open position will keep me from MMS closing BBSE, even if I could close it in a choker. My overall hand strength isn't good enough and it does effect my gripper performance. I have hard time setting grippers above Elite properly. Thumb side handle escapes from the optimal position. I also feel that while choker work is really great way to train your close, my sweep isn't strong enough to pull the finger side handle far enough with three fingers.

To fix things I'll try to get significantly stronger on the Blobette work and I'll have to start working on the severe negatives more again.

This all may sound like all I care is grippers. Well that is not a case. It's just that I think I've specialized long enough on grippers and I feel there is a need to change things up to bring up the other aspects of grip as well. That will help with grippers as well, eventually. Even if I am a gripper nut, I like everything else grip related as well and want to get stronger overall.

Edited November 21, 2006 by Teemu I

[lifesnotfair]

I understand. I don't have a blob or blobette, but I'm doing one hand pinch with a custom set up. I just started with it a few workouts ago, I'm hoping it helps my overall hand strength too. And what do you mean your sweep aint strong enough? You can TNS a #3!!

[Teemu I]

I understand. I don't have a blob or blobette, but I'm doing one hand pinch with a custom set up. I just started with it a few workouts ago, I'm hoping it helps my overall hand strength too. And what do you mean your sweep aint strong enough? You can TNS a #3!!

That doesn't help much with BBSE or #4. My sweep isn't strong enough for those, yet. By the time I get the handles of BBSE to parallel, I've lost all my strength and I'm not able to put the full force to the close. Does this make sense to you?

Edited November 21, 2006 by Teemu I

[Teemu I]

21.11.2006: Grippers, choker work+negs+negs for the thumb

Another day of forearm torture. Fear and doubt creeps into the mind, when your strength goes down at the speed of light and your forearms are sore to begin with.

1. BBSE choked at parallel

5 attempts each hand, not much to talk about, but that is given.

2. Extended handle negatives with BB Pro

10 reps, fighting the opening through the full range of motion.

3. Negatives for the thumb, using a large pony clamp with rubber bands as extra resistance.

10 reps, all of them forced in 3 times. This sure killed my thumbs.

This is the fourth day of this daily training-regime I'm on. I wonder if I have to take a one day off on the weekend. I sure hope that this will pay off after rest, that is the fourth week

[Teemu I]

22.11.2006

I had to take this day off. Even thought of gripping hurts.

[PowerHouse]

I understand. I don't have a blob or blobette, but I'm doing one hand pinch with a custom set up. I just started with it a few workouts ago, I'm hoping it helps my overall hand strength too. And what do you mean your sweep aint strong enough? You can TNS a #3!!

That doesn't help much with BBSE or #4. My sweep isn't strong enough for those, yet. By the time I get the handles of BBSE to parallel, I've lost all my strength and I'm not able to put the full force to the close. Does this make sense to you?

I have the EXACT same problem although it is with the BBSM. I feel if I can set it properly I would be able to close it. My thumb needs some serious work thats why I started doing blockweights and thickbar.

Damn, I wish I had worked on my thumbs sooner...

Edited November 22, 2006 by PowerHouse

[lifesnotfair]

I'm working static pinch and TTK once a week each.

Teemu: hoe wide is the Blobette? I'm curious because I've been using a 3" setup for static pinch. Maybe I should widen it up a bit? With another plate it'd be maybe 3.75". I have a session tomorrow, will experiment and see.

[CoC#3]

Teemu, very nice log bro. Your grippers are very strong.

I like using the BB Pro aswell for extended handle negs. It is a quality gripper.

I would suggest a lot of thickbar work for helping your sweep. Soemthing else which has helped my sweep is doing a TNS close with the #4 to half way to closed. Maybe you could try this?