Decided To Completely Focus On Grip

[wscorpion]

Hi all,

I've decided to focus more on grip training and less on strongman training.

This also means I will have to completely change my way of training.

I'm still new when it comes to grip training, therefore I would like to make sure I have all possible exercises which can be tested in events.

I can come up with the following:

- Bending (Reverse, DU, DO)

- 1HP & 2HP (50-60mm width)

- 1 hand lift / one hand deadlift

- Wide pinch (blob's and stuff)

- plate pinch

- V-bar lifts

- crush grip (grippers)

- 2" bar lifts (1 hand / 2 hands)

My biggest problems are the lifts where much weight is lifted, like V-bar and the 1 hand lift.

I've always trained my complete body, but for some reason my upper body is much stronger then my lower back and hips. This results in strange results when you take a look at power lifting for example.

Here are my current PR's with the most common lifts:

Bench Press: 122.5kg (275lbs)

Push Press: 105kg (236lbs)

Strict Military Press: 90kg (202.5lbs)

Squat: 172.5kg (388lbs)

Deadlift: 170kg (382lbs)

(All lifts are without any gear btw, so no suits, no wraps, no straps and most of the times not even a belt).

My bodyweight: approx. 89.5kg (200lbs)

My height: 1.82m (6 feet)

My PR's for some of the grip exercises I have been training:

- 2" dumbbell lift 60kg (135lbs)

- DO bending 6.5" Red Nail

- Reverse bending 5.5" G5

- 2HP (54mm width) 61.5kg (138lbs)

- 1HP (54mm width) 26.5kg (60lbs)

- 1 hand deadlift 115kg (259lbs)

I started pinching yesterday so it's still to early to give a true PR, and I started training grippers about a week ago, so it's too early to tell more about that as well.

I'm fairly happy with most of my results for grip exercises, but especially the one hand lifts need to improve very very much before I will be able to compete in a contest.

I know my biggest problem with the 1HL is not my grip, but my back. For example, when I use straps to do a 1HL as well, I can hardly lift more weight then the 115kg I do without straps. My back is the problem here.

Maybe I have a terrible technique, or perhaps my back is just weak, but I want to improve this as far as I can as you can imagine.

I've found that I have the best progression by doing only a few reps per set with very heavy weights.

So finally the questions :

- What would be the most useful assistance exercises for me to improve my 1HL's?

- If I want to focus purely on the events used in a grip contest, what would be the exercises to mainly focus on? I can imagine some exercises will have rollover to others.

- Any other suggestions are always welcome

If I can built a reasonable strength within the next year I would like to compete in the German contest hosted by Thorsten

Thanks in advance for the replies.

Btw, for those who feel I should use the search function, I've read so many articles, schema's, books etc. from dieselcrew to gripboard, from grippermania to the black book of training secrets, David Horne's site, etc, but I still feel nothing really helps with my specific problem (the 1HL's).

- Mark

[Bearcat 74]

Do not stop training your body for strength. As your body becomes stronger your grip becomes stronger.

[wscorpion]

Do not stop training your body for strength. As your body becomes stronger your grip becomes stronger.

I wasn't going to. But I will probably stick to the 4 main exercises for overall strength (Bench press, deadlift, squat, push press).

I can train them once a week and still progress, so there's room for more specialized exercises

Edited June 11, 2007 by White Scorpion

[climber511]

Your grip strength is not bad at all! Whatever you do, do NOT quit working your overall body strength. As for your 1 hand deadlift - 259# isn't bad at all if you're talking about an Olympic bar. The one hand lift using the handle is a completely different story of course. Why would you want to wait to enter a contest - get signed up and go have some fun and meet everyone. You aren't supposed to wait until you think you can win before you enter contests. My advice is to work everything, from your toes to your fingertips - the weakest link will always be what stops you - so don't have any weak points.

[Damien]

Looking at your pulling strength, one-arm lifting 115k shouldn't be a problem.

Remember to keep the non-lifting hand on the opposite this to stabilize the spine and help with the lifting.

Also, if you're talking about one-arm lifts with the oly bar, just pull it to a bit above knee height, not lockout.

[wscorpion]

Your grip strength is not bad at all! Whatever you do, do NOT quit working your overall body strength. As for your 1 hand deadlift - 259# isn't bad at all if you're talking about an Olympic bar. The one hand lift using the handle is a completely different story of course. Why would you want to wait to enter a contest - get signed up and go have some fun and meet everyone. You aren't supposed to wait until you think you can win before you enter contests. My advice is to work everything, from your toes to your fingertips - the weakest link will always be what stops you - so don't have any weak points.

Actually it doesn't matter whether I use an olympic bar directly or a handle with a chain attached. Both won't come any higher then 115kg

I know I should work everything, and I will, but I just need to improve those damn 1HL's...

As for entering a contest, well it IS the world top you are competing against in that contest, and personally I wouldn't even dream about entering a contest vs Magnus Samuelsson, Mariusz Pudzianowski and others while on this level, so why would I do so with a grip contest? Ok, there are less gripfreaks then there are overal strongman, but still it is the top of the world!

Personally I also feel it's kind of unrespectful to compete in such a contest with the greatest of the grip world while I'm only training grip for a few months now. Heck, I'm training the normal lifts for just about 6 months now (after a 4 year period of rest).

Those guys devoted their lives to it!

Looking at your pulling strength, one-arm lifting 115k shouldn't be a problem.

Remember to keep the non-lifting hand on the opposite this to stabilize the spine and help with the lifting.

Also, if you're talking about one-arm lifts with the oly bar, just pull it to a bit above knee height, not lockout.

That's exactly my problem, my spine. apparently from the day I was born i have a S-form in my spine. It never really bothered me, but I'm sure it is the cause of my "instability" problem with lifts off the floor. It just doesn't feel right.

Maybe learning the technique correctly would also help, since I feel I can hardly stabilize my spine with my other hand.

My back and abs should be strong enough, I think, but if I look at what I pull with a stifflegged deadlift, it's almost the same as with a conventional deadlift...

Any ideas about this?

Edited June 11, 2007 by White Scorpion

[makey98]

Don't focus entirely on grip, it won't work.

[makey98]

Don't focus entirely on grip, it won't work. The strongest grippers on this board are also some of the strongest at lifting, strongman, ect. It is not a coincidence.

You may make some gains if you specialize in different grip areas, but it is always a trade off if you are not increasing the strength of your entire body. If you focus entirely on grip some areas of your grip will improve, and some other exercises will weaken or stall, until you reach the limit of what your hands can accomplish at your current whole body strength level. I think it is some kind of safety valve that your body has. As a simliar example, your body won't let you have 20 inch forearms with 15 inch biceps, kind of thing.

[thearm95]

I think you should focus on core training, the muscles all around the midsection, with a 1hDL you will have more back stability, and will be able focus more strength onto the grip. Good core strength influences other lifts as well - squats, DLs especially.

[wscorpion]

Like I said before, I want to focus on grip, not train grip only.

- A powerlifter will focus mainly on the 3 basic exercises along with some assistance for those exercises. He won't use many isolation exercises.

- A strongman will focus on the 4 basic exercises, the olympic exercises like clean's, assistance exercises and event training

- A bodybuilder will focus on exercises for every body part, along with the isolation exercises to focus on the shape of his muscles.

As far as I can see, someone who will focus on grip will concentrate on the main exercises, along with static holds, odd lifts, preferably deadlift with a DO grip and / or on thick bars, grippers, pinches, etc.

Of course you can't just train grip and forget about everything else, it would be similar to a bodybuilder who will only train his upper body and neglecting his legs.

But I do believe you can focus on grip training if your goal is to get as good as possible for most of the grip events.

For me, a scheme for grip would look something like this:

Monday:

Bench Press

Military Press

Fly's

Incline Bench Press

gripper training

Tuesday:

2 HP

1 HP

DO bending

Braced bending

Wednesday:

Stifflegged deadlift

Bent over row

Chins

Deadlift

1HL / v-bar

static holds

Thursday:

Levering

Reverse bending

DU bending

wrist curls

weighted crunches

Side Bends

Friday:

Leg extension

Leg curl

Squat

Lunges

Goodmornings

Grippers

Saturday / Sunday

Rest

With this scheme I would focus on grip and all exercises important to grip, yet train the complete body as we all agree I should do.

Please let me know what you think of it.

[makey98]

White Scorpion, sorry if I misunderstood, I somehow thought you were going to stop DL and squatting ect. I think that the workout above is pretty good. It seems like quite a bit to have stiffleg DL and DL and Good mornings and Fly's and Incline bench. I personally would cut that stuff out. Just my opinion.

However, what I think you are trying to accomplish won't give you the best results. I have made VERY slow gains in grip over time, but I think that part of my lack of quick progress was due to the fact that I tried to get "good' at everything. I think that a better way to make progress would be to cycle emphasis on different grip exercises. If your goal is to be competetive at next years contest, then I would stick with your core workout listed above and set specific goals in all the exercises below that you want to improve. Obviously all of these events have some carryover so you will benefit from all lifts. I would pick some basic goals and work on each one specifically for a couple months or weeks, whatever you feel is best. Example below

Bending (Reverse, DU, DO)-bending is hard on your hands and body, so I would keep that a seperate cycle.

- 1HP & 2HP (50-60mm width) - goal = 160lbs?- work on thin pinching for 4-6 weeks or until you reach your goal or plateau

- plate pinch- set goals and work on them

- 1 hand lift / one hand deadlift

2" bar lifts (1 hand / 2 hands) - these two are similar, set a goal and work on them for a cycle

- Wide pinch (blob's and stuff)- maybe try KTA2 (blob) - it is a 5 week program (that includes rest) - you might try this before your 2HP cycle because it has been reported that people have seen excellent carryover in thin pinching....

-- V-bar lifts

- crush grip (grippers) - same as above...

I think that your goal would be two maintain your other lifts on your off cycle, then when contest time comes around, take a couple of weeks and test yourself to find your approximate PR's and work on achieving your best lifts in a psuedo contest format...one after another.... Just my best advice. Good luck.

[wscorpion]

Thanks for your reply, I will think about a new scheme for the grip part since I believe you have a good point there

I never tried focussing on one specific thing per cycle, except what I did with DO bending, and I must admit it felt really good and I had a nice progression with it....

I think Fly's is a nice assistance exercise for DO bending, stifflegged DL and normal Deadlift are just necessary for my back IMO.