Textbook Ironmind Gripper Routine (to The Letter)

[thearm95]

Hi all

I've been on this board for a while now but have never posted any of my workouts here. I've been training MMS pretty much exclusively for a while now (6 months +), and can MMS the '06 #3 with the right hand and the #2.5 with my left. I've recently strained my LH ring finger tearing cards and whilst this has made MMS painful, CCS is no problem for some reason. So I started training CCS, and after getting the IM Somm'r magic catalogue in the mail, I thought I might give the routine therein a serious and honest go as an experiment.

So, basically the routine Ironmind have recommended is, 3 sets of between 2 and 9 reps for each hand, using a wide set - I'm assuming they mean CCS or wider so I'm using CCS. I'm doing grippers twice a week.

So I'm offering myself up as a guinea pig, as I'm probably an intermediate gripper closer, have plenty of general training under my belt and am presently training the rest of the body hard as well, particularly the big movements like squats.

One consideration is that I'm also doing wrist curls, dynamic ISG pinch, and extensors, but I reckon these could only help.

this might only be a temporary log...we'll see.

For the purpose of this log, I'm only posting gripper work here, my full log is in Grippermania

Sessions so far:

3/7/07

Grippers CCS (reps continuous but credit card inserted at start of each rep):

Gx15, Sx10, Tx5, #1x5, (R only: #1.5x1)

L:

#1.5x5

#1.5x4

#1.5x3

R:

#2x2

#2x3

#2x0

------------------------

6/7/07

Grippers CCS (reps continuous but credit card inserted at start of each rep):

Gx15, Sx10, Tx5, #1x5, (R only: #1.5x1)

L:

#1.5x6

#1.5x5

#1.5x3

R:

#2x3

#2x3

RB180x1

----------------------

10/7/07

Grippers CCS (reps continuous but credit card inserted at start of each rep):

Gx15, Sx10, Tx5, #1x5, (R only: #1.5x1)

L:

#1.5x7

#1.5x6

#1.5x5

R:

#2x4 (may have got a 5th but not sure so won’t count it)

#2x3 (as above, may have got a 4th)

#2x1 (I think I got the set a bit out on this)

I've definitely gained some strength in the first three sessions.

Edited July 10, 2007 by thearm95

[thearm95]

13/7/07

Grippers CCS (reps continuous but credit card inserted at start of each rep):

Gx15, Sx10, Tx5, #1x3, (R only: #1.5x1)

L:

#1.5x6

#1.5x2

R:

#2x2

#2x0

Abysmal. Not a good session at all, just felt weak. Was late at night after a long day and I felt a bit tired, but I really thought I’d do better than that. I’ll be fresh on Wednesday however and that will be interesting.

[thearm95]

17/7/07

Grippers CCS (reps continuous but credit card inserted at start of each rep):

G:15, Sx10, Tx5, #1x5, (R only: #1.5x1)

L:

#1.5x7

#1.5x3

R:

#2x2

#2x2

again, this was crap but this time I don’t know why, I was fresh, recovered, felt ready prior to gripping.

So far on this routine I’ve pretty much gone nowhere, but still it is early days, hopefully there will be some sort of delayed effect a bit further on. I’m still a bit confused though.

[thearm95]

20/7/07

Grippers CCS (reps continuous but credit card inserted at start of each rep):

G:15, Sx10, Tx5, #1x5, (R only: #1.5x1)

R:

#2x3 +2 more reps that were extremely close

#2x2

L:

#1.5x7

#1.5x3

certainly stronger than Tuesday, 2 sets only might be better. The reps that did close were closed with much more force and authority than the last two workouts. Hopefully I might be on the way up again.

Edited July 20, 2007 by thearm95

[tja]

Good work there! I got interested in trying the CCS after reading your log. It's really a lot harder - I manage 10 MMS reps with RB 160 but could only get 4 CCS singles! What's your hand size by the way?

[thearm95]

Good work there! I got interested in trying the CCS after reading your log. It's really a lot harder - I manage 10 MMS reps with RB 160 but could only get 4 CCS singles! What's your hand size by the way?

thanks, yeah for me CCS is like 3/4 of a gripper harder (on the IM scale) than MMS! My best CCS and TNS is RB180 for a single. My hands are 7 7/8 (if I measured correctly) and I can get my thumb and middle finger to touch on the RT handle if I really stretch the hand around.

Anyway tonight's attempt at gripping wasn't too good - RH got the #2 for only 1 rep CCS.

Unfortunately I'm going to have to abandon this log as well as gripping for a while I think, because last workout I hurt my left tricep tendon from the isometric bicep/tricep tension whilst closing #2 RIGHT handed! . I've had tricep tendon probs for a while now but this made it a lot worse. The tricep tendon has been quite sore all week, and I think I subconciously held back on gripping in attempting this session. I'll be back hopefully sooner than later...

[mobsterone]

Not to sound too unkind but training properly (CCS over MMS) has meant you strained something... Wow.