Old School Coc Training?

[DeanRedzic]

Hey guys,

I dont know if 'old school' is the best way to put it...

but I want to get back to doing reps on the COC grippers.

I have done KTA with some success, but I was looking for a more rep oriented strength. (yes KTA did help with reps, but not as much as I imagined)

I started doing mondays and thurdays 3 sets till failure on the #1 and then 2 sets of 5 on the #2 (any more sets on the #2 and I cant complete 5 reps). This program seems to be burning me out as well....although my #1 endurance has gone up, my #2 is come and go.

I am basically looking for a more solid program that will give me a great gripper strength base, and bang out many reps.

any body use a rep based gripper training program?

Dean

[superfeemiman]

If you are doing 3 sets to failure on the #1 before you do the #2 then you are probably burning yourself out before. If you have an ever-increasing load on the #1 reps it's probably going to take awhile before you can increase in #2 reps.

[aquilonian]

Hey guys,

I dont know if 'old school' is the best way to put it...

but I want to get back to doing reps on the COC grippers.

I have done KTA with some success, but I was looking for a more rep oriented strength. (yes KTA did help with reps, but not as much as I imagined)

I started doing mondays and thurdays 3 sets till failure on the #1 and then 2 sets of 5 on the #2 (any more sets on the #2 and I cant complete 5 reps). This program seems to be burning me out as well....although my #1 endurance has gone up, my #2 is come and go.

I am basically looking for a more solid program that will give me a great gripper strength base, and bang out many reps.

any body use a rep based gripper training program?

Dean

Agree with Superfeemiman

With the grippers, off the top of my head I can think of two things. first...

2 sets of 5-6 reps on the #2 with a 10sec hold at the end. then....

2 sets of 12 reps on the #1 with a 10 sec hold at the end. then....

2 sets of 40-50 SLOOOOOW reps on a "store bought" easy gripper. (these burn)

The 10 second hold increases the time under max-tension for the grippers. the second thing is this...

1-2 sets of SLOW reps on the #1. tempo is 2 seconds to close then 1 second to SQUEEZE/OVERCRUSH, and finally 2 seconds to open. So you would count... "one-onethousand, two-onethousand, squeeeezzee, one-onethousand, two-onethousand" then repeat. right now you might get about 5-8 reps this way. then....

1-2 sets of SLOW reps like before but with a TRAINER. you might get anywhere from 10-20 reps like this (These not only burn but will make your thumbpad burn as well.)

THESE slow reps have to be done with max-effort at all times, every centimeter of the movement. dont just open slowly. FIGHT yourself during the easy parts when opening and closing. To see what I mean try doing it with an empty hand. close it and open it slowly. Figthing yourself HARD, and TENSING your muscles the whole way. Kinda like some muscle control exercise. when the gripper closes SQUEEZE HARD. then open, fighting yourself the whole way HARD. Towards the end of the set, you wont be fighting with yourself anymore, you will just be fighting to stay in there. Fight, fight and fight, and right when the gripper is about to kick your butt, let go slowly. dont let it take you to failure.

well just some ideas. Both these methods also tend to "build" the forearms. and you thought you couldn't do it with grippers.

GO FOR IT!

[Wes]

I used to do just 4-6 sets of max reps on the #3 and it did help some but honestly singles with a gripper that was a high percentage of your max was much more effective IMO.

[DeanRedzic]

aquilonian:

would this be once a week? twice a week?

thanks for the help so far

[crobb1320]

do you do extensor training?it helped me alot.i usually do grippers 2 times a week.i like to warm up with a stress ball and then my imtugs.i will do reps on my 1 and 1.5 usually 1 set of 7 and one of 5 or so. then i do do max attempts on my 2 and 2.5 closed or not,usually 3-5 attempts. and then extensor bands,usually 3 sets of 15. dexterity balls 2 minutes each hand. it has worked for me pretty well,a couple months ago i couldn't close the 2,and now i can,about 3/8" away on the 2.5. i don't know if this helps,but good luck with your training.

[aquilonian]

aquilonian:

would this be once a week? twice a week?

thanks for the help so far

Honestly the best answer for that would be simply WHEN YOUR MUSCLES ARE READY. Be honest and gauge yourself. you can tell better than anyone.

Thats a hard question to answer but I will try. Depends on Yout "tolerance to excercise". Typically about 2-3 days per week (including all other grip work not just grippers).

If you have a low tolerance to exercise you might want to go down to 1 day per week to 1day every 8-10 days. again including all gripwork

If you have a hight tolerance to exercise you might want to go to about 4-5 days of grip work per week. If its really high maybe even twice per day.

Play around and experiment. Its your body, mess with it and have fun. Fit it into your routine you have now. If you ever get tired of thinking about sets and reps and "thinking" or "muscle control" you can give these classics a try:

5 sets of 5 reps with a 5-10 second hold/overcrush on the last rep

or if that was not enough for you try 10 sets of 5 with a 5-10 second hold at the end.

I hope you dont think I am trying to give a copeout but the truth of the matter is YOU ARE YOUR BEST COACH.

let me know how it goes and give it some time. Reps work the best but the gains take some time to come.

GOOD LUCK!!

[DeanRedzic]

Not a cop out at all.

Reading many different training methods and logs for grip, I come across more and more variations and different amounts of time off. Everyone IS different.

And one thing is for sure I need to slowely ramp up my training.

thanks for your help!

aquilonian:

would this be once a week? twice a week?

thanks for the help so far

Honestly the best answer for that would be simply WHEN YOUR MUSCLES ARE READY. Be honest and gauge yourself. you can tell better than anyone.

Thats a hard question to answer but I will try. Depends on Yout "tolerance to excercise". Typically about 2-3 days per week (including all other grip work not just grippers).

If you have a low tolerance to exercise you might want to go down to 1 day per week to 1day every 8-10 days. again including all gripwork

If you have a hight tolerance to exercise you might want to go to about 4-5 days of grip work per week. If its really high maybe even twice per day.

Play around and experiment. Its your body, mess with it and have fun. Fit it into your routine you have now. If you ever get tired of thinking about sets and reps and "thinking" or "muscle control" you can give these classics a try:

5 sets of 5 reps with a 5-10 second hold/overcrush on the last rep

or if that was not enough for you try 10 sets of 5 with a 5-10 second hold at the end.

I hope you dont think I am trying to give a copeout but the truth of the matter is YOU ARE YOUR BEST COACH.

let me know how it goes and give it some time. Reps work the best but the gains take some time to come.

GOOD LUCK!!

[Sean Dockery]

Heath Sexton had some success with a progression he stole from Ditillo. It went something like, 3x3, 3x4, 3x5, 5x2, 5x3, 5x4, 5x5...move up a gripper....repeat. He was closing the gripper from parallel and re-setting the gripper for each rep. I've did something similar with no sets. It may not increase your 1RM real quick, but your sweep will certainly improve. Also, depending on your primary goal with the gripper increasing 1RM on a gripper may not be that important to you. Working reps will benefit other aspects of the total hand strength equation.