One Of These Days

[Cannon]

*PLINK*

That is the beautiful sound of the handles smacking together on my CoC2! I SLAMMED that sucker shut, no question. For a second I thought I had grabbed my CoC1 by accident. So, I wanted to start a log here to track my progress from CoC2 to CoC3.

Yesterday, I read an article by gripping powerhouse Heath Sexton which had some incredible advice for positioning the gripper for maximum crushing force. I believe this alone closed the gap for me.

I got from CoC1 to CoC2 in 1 month using a workout suggested in an article by Clay Edgin. I really enjoyed that workout, and may do another cycle of that in the future. However, I have chosen to adopt Heath's recommended workout number 1. We'll try that for at least 6 weeks and see where it goes.

Monday night workout:

1 set, 10 reps, HG100

1 set, 8 reps, HG150

2 sets, 5 reps, CoC1

4 attempts, CoC2, forced in and turned into a negative. (I got 3 closes with my right, and am still missing by a HAIR on the left.)

1 set, 3 reps, strapholds, 2.5lbs, 7-10 secs each

I finally got to use my new straphold setup as well. I took a thin piece of metal banding for strapping pallets and riveted to the canvas strap I was using before. Holy cow, what a difference. If anyone out there is using anything cloth for a straphold, switch to metal. It was all I could do to keep this thing from falling with only 2.5lbs hanging there.

HG300, CoC3, here I come!

[Teemu I]

Careful With That Axe Eugene said:

*PLINK*

That is the beautiful sound of the handles smacking together on my CoC2! I SLAMMED that sucker shut, no question. For a second I thought I had grabbed my CoC1 by accident. So, I wanted to start a log here to track my progress from CoC2 to CoC3.

Yesterday, I read an article by gripping powerhouse Heath Sexton which had some incredible advice for positioning the gripper for maximum crushing force. I believe this alone closed the gap for me.

I got from CoC1 to CoC2 in 1 month using a workout suggested in an article by Clay Edgin. I really enjoyed that workout, and may do another cycle of that in the future. However, I have chosen to adopt Heath's recommended workout number 1. We'll try that for at least 6 weeks and see where it goes.

Monday night workout:

1 set, 10 reps, HG100

1 set, 8 reps, HG150

2 sets, 5 reps, CoC1

4 attempts, CoC2, forced in and turned into a negative. (I got 3 closes with my right, and am still missing by a HAIR on the left.)

1 set, 3 reps, strapholds, 2.5lbs, 7-10 secs each

I finally got to use my new straphold setup as well. I took a thin piece of metal banding for strapping pallets and riveted to the canvas strap I was using before. Holy cow, what a difference. If anyone out there is using anything cloth for a straphold, switch to metal. It was all I could do to keep this thing from falling with only 2.5lbs hanging there.

HG300, CoC3, here I come!

Develop a mindset of a killer and you'll be grinding that #3 in no-time! 

[TelegraphKey]

"One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces!!!!"

[Cannon]

Tuesday: Levering and Pinching

Levering warmup, front levers, rear levers, levers to face, all light.

(My sledges are just 36" pipe clamps with all the clamping parts at one end. To add weight, I clamp a plate in the end.)

Levers to face:

1 set, 3 reps, sledge+2.5lbs

1 set, 1 reps, sledge+5lbs

1 set, 3 reps, sledge+5lbs

1 set, 2 reps, sledge+5lbs

Pinching 2x25s

RLRLRL

RLRLRL

RLRLRL

Pinching 2x25s +5lbs

(negatives, helped it up and held it)

RLRLRL

HUB 25

RLRLRL

HUB 27.5

RLRLR (missed last left)

HUB 25

RL (because I missed a 27.5)

Pinching Yoke - 46lbs

(This is two 36 inch 2x4s screwed and glued together with weights hung on both ends for balance. Pinch in the middle and lift. Got the idea from Brookfield's book. I love this exercise.)

3 sets, 3 reps, 7-10 seconds ea.

Did this workout quick because I was short on time. Really worked up a sweat!

[pdoire]

Congrats on that #2 close!!

[Cannon]

Thursday night workout

Warmup

2 attempts at HG300, turned into a negative. (I feel like my CoC2 is a beast, or my HG300 is weak. My HG300 attempts are already at about 1/8".)

3 singles, CoC1, turned into HUGE overcrush.

1 straphold, HG200, 2.5lbs.

Edited August 11, 2006 by Careful With That Axe Eugene

[Timmy]

Try given plate flips a go - and maybe plate snatches.

[Cannon]

Monday Night Workout

Brought my gripper on vacation so I don't miss a workout 

However, I spent one day off playing with the grippers (the family wanted to try them), and then spent yesterday working on a deck. Lots of mixing concrete, and there happened to be an 8lb sledge hanging around, so I did a few sledge levers to my face. I was kind of surprised I could do the 8lb with very good form.

Monday night workout:

1 set, 10 reps, HG100

1 set, 8 reps, HG200

2 sets, 5 reps, CoC1

4 attempts, HG300, forced in and turned into a negative.

1 set, 3 reps, strapholds, HG200, 2.5lbs, 7-10 secs each

[Cannon]

Vacation workout

Well, my Tuesday and Thursday workouts kind of became vacation workouts. Lots of manual labor. Sore arms, sore abs, sore back, and sore wrists and hands. Whew, who knew this stuff was hard!? I managed to lever the 8lb sledge a few more times, in between hitting things. Carried boards and beams pinch-style whenever possible. I also bent a few lag screws. They were ~3/8" by 6". They seemed pretty soft, but I could really feel it in weird parts of my arms and back. Must be bending muscles I haven't used much. And, now my parents have beautiful stairs on their beautiful new deck!

Back to a regular workout on Monday.

Timmy

I still want to try plate flips. Maybe Tuesday when I'm back home with all my equipment.

[Chrisx9118]

Looking good man.

[Cannon]

Thanks, Chris! I feel strong. The grippers are closing!

Monday Night

1 set, 10 reps, HG150

1 set, 8 reps, HG200

2 sets, 5 reps, CoC1

1 set, 4 reps, CoC2 -- I continue to make progress on this gripper. I had all 4 successful attempts with the right and 1 successful close on the left. The other 3 on the left were forced into a negative.

1 set, 3 reps, CoC1 strapholds, 7 seconds each, 2.5lbs.

I feel like I will close my HG300 soon. I'm only about <1/8" off right now.

[pdoire]

Careful With That Axe Eugene said:

1 set, 10 reps, HG150

1 set, 8 reps, HG200

2 sets, 5 reps, CoC1

I think this may be too much warmup..it is 28 reps in total. Lower that to maybe between 8 light, 3-5 medium and one good hard one...then try your workout.

Just my two cents.

OC's help too! 

[Cannon]

1 set, 10 reps, HG150

1 set, 8 reps, HG200

2 sets, 5 reps, CoC1

I think this may be too much warmup..it is 28 reps in total. Lower that to maybe between 8 light, 3-5 medium and one good hard one...then try your workout.

Just my two cents.

OC's help too!

Hey, thanks for the feedback. I stole this workout from an article that Heath wrote, but I'm not against making changes. So, in your mind, the workout should look more like:

1 set, 8 reps, light gripper

1 set, 3-5 reps, medium gripper

1 set, 1 rep, hard gripper

Then the goal gripper attempts, forced negatives, and strapholds?

I love overcrushes. I was doing them previous to closing the 2 on a workout by Clay. I agree they should be in this workout. Heath's workout was a two-day rotation and it seemed the 1st gripping day was about more volume and the second gripping day is very brief, but heavy. Would I do overcrushes AND strapholds on the same night?

Edited August 22, 2006 by Careful With That Axe Eugene

[ouzo12]

Careful With That Axe Eugene said:

*PLINK*

Plink? you are REALLY Pink Floyd fanatic : " *plink* *plink* * plink`* ... Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air

And deep beneath the rolling waves in labyrinths of coral caves "

that is the beautiful sound of ECHOES from meddle  

[Cannon]

1 set, 10 reps, HG150

1 set, 8 reps, HG200

2 sets, 5 reps, CoC1

I think this may be too much warmup..it is 28 reps in total. Lower that to maybe between 8 light, 3-5 medium and one good hard one...then try your workout.

Just my two cents.

OC's help too!

Oops, I just double-checked and there are OCs in the workout

Here is the proposed workout from Heath's article:

Monday: Tx10, 1x8, 2x5, 3-4 attempts at goal gripper, forced in and turned into a negative, 3 strapholds 7-10 secs each

Tuesday: Wrist work some pinching

Wednesday: off

Thursday: 2 attempts at goal gripper turned into negative, 3 singles weaker gripper turned to an overcrush, 1 straphold

Friday: off

Saturday: off

Sunday: off

Obviously, I adjusted Monday to fit the grippers I own and my own progress, but would you change anything else?

[Cannon]

ouzo12 said:

Careful With That Axe Eugene said:

*PLINK*

Plink? you are REALLY Pink Floyd fanatic : " *plink* *plink* * plink`* ... Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air

And deep beneath the rolling waves in labyrinths of coral caves "

that is the beautiful sound of ECHOES from meddle

INDEED. 

[Cannon]

Tuesday Night

Tuesday is my momentary lapse of squeezin...pinch and lever day.

Lever warmup

+5lb lever to face

Wrists were REALLY sore. I think from levering the 8lb sledge too much on vacation. Oops. I gave the wrists a little rest after this.

Tried plate flips, 25lb plate. Went okay.

HUB25

RLRL

HUB27.5

RLRLRL

2x25s

RLRL

2x25s plus 5lbs

RLRL

46lb pinching yoke

3 sets, 3 reps, 10 sec each.

[pdoire]

I am following Heaths other workout...didn't realize you were on his first one. Follow it and Good Luck!

[Cannon]

pdoire said:

I am following Heaths other workout...didn't realize you were on his first one. Follow it and Good Luck!

Thanks! Also, thanks anyway for the critique and the feedback. I'm constantly trying to learn and train smarter! I'll take any advice I can get  

[Cannon]

Thursday Workout

I just went on my lunch break and did an INTENSE grip workout in a park. People stared a little, which I thought was funny. I think they couldn't figure out what I could be doing so intensely, when from a distance, I wasn't clearly doing anything.

Warmup

HG150x8

CoC1x3

Goal Gripper Attempts, HG300

R (about 3mm)

L (about 3mm)

R (about 1mm) Arrg! I'll get it soon! Next workout..?

L (about 2mm)

R (about 2mm)

L (about 2mm)

R (about 2mm)

L (about 3mm)

1 Straphold, CoC1, 10secs, brutal, 2.5lbs.

I think I will try 5lbs next time and hope for 5 secs or so.

4 CoC1 Overcrushes, TNS, vicious grinding, ~7secs.

I also think I will go to the HG250 (HG200? Can't remember which one of mine is slightly harder than my 1) for OCs next workout. If I keep grinding my CoC1 like this, it will effectively be filed.

[Cannon]

Hold on here...

I just looked at a ruler, and my millimeters above are way off. The goal gripper attempts were:

Goal Gripper Attempts, HG300

R (about 2mm)

L (about 2mm)

R (about <1mm)

L (about 1mm)

R (about 1mm)

L (about 1mm)

R (about 1mm)

L (about 1-2mm)

[Cannon]

Saturday

I closed my HG300!  

I am in the process of moving my workouts to weekends, so I wasn't quite ready to do a full workout today after Thursday's workout. However, I figured I would warm up and try and capture some closes on camera. Of course, the HG300 close was the only quasi-blurry photo, but oh well.

Time to get more grippers! One of these days, I'm going to close that CoC3!

[Cannon]

Sunday Workout

Another PR today. I finally tried chalk with my Blob30. That was the key. I previously could not get it off the ground. Chalk made a world of difference.

Did some holds for time, right and left, about 7-10secs.

Passed the blob around my body for a PR of 3 revolutions. Two total sets of that.

Dropped it on my ankle a little; that hurt.

Did one snatch with the right and couldn't get the left. Too tired!

I found it was definitely easier to have the more rounded side towards my fingers, although I could pick it up both ways. Whew--really tiring on the hands!

Yeeaaowww! ROCK THE AWESOME GRIPPING POWER! 

[JoeGrip]

Nice man. Time to play some catch.

[Cannon]

Just talked to Warren Tetting for a while. What a great guy. I'm visiting his shop on Saturday to pick up a BBSM and a BBE. I figured I would skip on the BBGM and get a CoC3 instead. He also said that a telegraph key is an invaluable tool for building the thumb pad and that a plate loaded machine for negatives is very helpful. I don't think I can spring for those right now, but it's good to know that Warren is just across town.

Warren gave lots of training and suppliment advice. I didn't even ask, he just wanted to share.

He also recommended KTA. Pretty good endorsement for the program there.

Again, what a wonderful guy!