Jons Gripper Log

[JAU1985]

Well I decided to start my own grip log here to keep track of my gripper workouts and progress in grip strength. I train both hands equally whenever I do grip. This log won't be just gripper training but also pinch and open hand stuff like the Rolling Thunder.

Todays Gripper Workout:

Trainer Warmup, 1x10

#1 Warmup, 1x5

#1.5, Overcrushes, 5x1

#2, singles. I didn't keep track of how many I did but I was able to close the gripper with both hands for the first time ever, my right is still stronger than my left (left handed guy) so I think I need to do some wrist work.

Contrast bath to finish up, felt good. Going to do some extensor work with my IM expand your hand bands after I finish making this post.

If my hands are feeling good I'll do some more tomorrow.

I do know I need to practice my set and find my sweet spot, a few of my #2 closes were much easier than the others, no doubt because I was able to get better sets.

Thanks for reading guys.

[JAU1985]

Today I decided to do a bit of work. Iwarmed up with my #1 for a set of five reps each hand then did some singles with my #2 after getting some advice from Paul Knight and Teemu. Working on my set right now and thinking I'll choke my #2 and work it every second day because my sweep is good it's the crush I need to work on.

[JAU1985]

Wrist is EFFED UP! Taking a break from grip, ordered a Powerball for rehab. Once it's feeling better I'll be coming back and working on reps with the #1 and 1.5 then getting back to the #2.

[Kormaz]

Good stuff Jon, once you get that set right, things fall into place Hope your wrist injury doesnt set you back for too long

[IROC-Z]

How's the wrist feeling man?

I hope all is well.

[JAU1985]

Wrist is feeling much better, still a pain when it comes to grippers but everything else seems to be fine, closing my #2 on the regular now with my right hand and coming pretty darn close with my 2.5 now as well. I can deadlift without pain, I can do everything pretty much without pain, except for grippers. I think I will be turning this log into a Bending log...

Well my FBBC Beginners bending package came in today so I did some bending.

First I got the St. Croix Forge horse shoe that comes with the package (no idea the strength), almost blacked out twice in the process because I held my hits long but I got 'er done. Here it is:

http://i29.tinypic.com/11b3fnp.jpg

Then I bent a 1/4" x 7" Hex in single wraps (suede)

http://i30.tinypic.com/jihlap.jpg

Made my attempt at a Bastard in doubles... I kinked it... barely, you could JUST see a GLIMPSE of sunlight when you rolled it on a flat surface, so no point posting that. I give myself 6-8 weeks before I can get 'er in one session.

Later this evening I took my chances with a 1/4" x 7" Square piece in the dreaded double wraps, this thing was HARD but I got it... kinda, the problem was I bent it off center because I was bloody tired and my left hand isn't as strong as the right because of the past wrist injury. I could have probably finished it but alas, too far off center and no real point in trying to crush it down. Oh well, I was sweating bullets and it gave me a great work out.

http://i31.tinypic.com/2qm3t6w.jpg

I also bent various pieces of 1/4" round stock and 3/16" DU and Reverse style but no point in posting that easy stuff.

All in all, I love this stuff, my wrist is totally pain free in bending and it's feeling even stronger since my trip to Winnipeg. Going to rest for a few days and hit the other 1/4" x 7" square that I have. Would be smart to mark the center of my stock before bends from now on too.

[John Eaton]

Nice bending Jon

[JAU1985]

Thanks John, it means a lot. Already ordered another 160 pieces from FBBC and may just have to order even more, those 1/4" Squares are hard buggers, I think I need more 1/4" square and hex stock to work my way up to the Bastard. Man... I absolutely love this stuff, 70% of my paychecks will now be going towards the future college tuition's of John Beatty's children

[bencrush]

Very good on the bending front!

[huntca]

Good job man! I'll be keeping up with this one.

[JAU1985]

Worked on my Reverse style today and did a bit more DO work.

Reversed 4 pieces of 3/16" CRS Square stock (two 7" and two 6" I believe) then finished them off DO real easy. I didn't crush one down to show how far I brought it using reverse... you really feel that in your top gripping hands wrist from the torque, boy I tell you whut!

http://i31.tinypic.com/142d3zq.jpg

http://i31.tinypic.com/2r738cl.jpg

I got a wicked blister on my hand that broke from the reverse style because my suede wraps kept rubbing against my thumb area, now I've got this giant raw skin patch that I'm tending to. I think from now on I'll use my leather wraps with the smooth surface when I train Reverse to keep this from happening again... or maybe it's a flaw in my technique?

Then I hit some of these thick bolts that came in my FBBC beginners package in the DO style with double wraps. Not sure what kind they are so I am currently checking what they are via the website....aaaaand they are 5/16" x 6" Grade 2 bolts but they were shorter, about 5" because I cut the heads and the threaded ends off with a grinder that my dad let me borrow (I did this to all of my bolts today). I marked the centers but dammit they all bent way off center. Just like the 1/4" Square yesterday, I think it's my weaker left hand / wrist that's causing me the problems bending harder stock properly. Maybe I should just take a break from bending and everything all together until the wrist is 110%... hell, maybe I should have done that from the beginning? I'm stubborn

Anyhow, here are the bolts:

http://i32.tinypic.com/29zy14w.jpg

Finished off the night with another 1/4" x 7" Hex, DO in single suede wraps that went down faster than it did yesterday, no point in posting that since it looks no different than the one I posted last night.

I'm waiting for $265 CAD to clear in Paypal... you get one guess where that money is going.

Edited September 4, 2009 by SND85

[Magnus]

Well, I know for dirn-skippy FACT it ain't going to FBBC...now let's see...

[JAU1985]

No, not a cent is going to FBBC

I just showed my 10 year old nephew Sage how to bend double overhand and he hit a 3/16" x 5.5" round piece and bent it, then used my crush pads to finish it off. Haha, it is so awesome and I'm proud of him. Now he wants to hang it up on his wall

[JAU1985]

Bending, Grippers, and Bench pressing tonight.

Bending:

Started off with two pieces of 1/4" x 6" round CRS stock from FBBC, both were peanuts... kinda burned my finger slightly on one by accident because it was so hot.

Then some of the 1/4" Bolts I got in my Beginners bag, the heads and threaded ends were cut off and because I'm an idiot I did not list their grade, but after checking my bag I realize they must be grade 5 bolts because I bent all the "easier" pieces and these were a real pain, I couldn't crush any of them down. Today my crush just wasn't where it should be, so today was basically working on my kink... not by choice.

Bolt Bends (All in single suedes, except for the 5/16")

1/4" x 4 and 1/4" G5 (two of them)

http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/xx198/s...pt-07-09001.jpg

1/4" X 5 and 1/4" G5

http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/xx198/s...pt-07-09002.jpg

1/4" x 5.5" G5 (I guess the 5.5" G5 bolts are the ones I forgot to cut)

http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/xx198/s...pt-07-09003.jpg

5/16" x 5" G2 Bolt (these buggers are still giving me a hard time in getting a near center bend, it's all the same, next time around I won't cut the heads and threaded ends off them, or any of my bolts)

http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/xx198/s...pt-07-09004.jpg

1/4" x 7" Square CRS - This bugger went down faster than the first one I bent and it was a lot closer to center this time (only 1/2" off), because of this I was able to crush it down to less than 2" between the insides of the ends. This was in double wraps... man the Square 1/4" is soooo much harder than the Hex or Round that I need double wraps right now.

http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/xx198/s...pt-07-09005.jpg

After the Square went down quicker than the first I bent I told myself that this evening I was either going to Kink a Bastard or Black out trying, after about 40 hits (single wraps) and an entirely sore upper body I gave up. I am not sure what pisses me off more, the fact that I didn't kink it or the fact that I pussied out and quit before I blacked out. Either way I was disappointed in myself and called myself a pussy for about five minutes afterwards.

I FELT SO WEAK BENDING TODAY!!!! :angry: :angry:

Grippers:

All my gripper training has been right handed as of late, working around my left wrist... and I need to pick up on it, I've been lazy the last month to be honest, sporadically training.

COC#1.5 - Five TNS singles to Warm up

COC#2 - 10x1 MMS, all closed easily with a few seconds overcrush.

COC#2 TNS - Two attempts, just a hair away on both attempts.

COC#2.5 - Six attempts, First five were closer than the last, sixth was a total fail because of a bad set and lack of chalk. I closed in front of a Mirror to see how close I was and the closest one was 3/16" or so away, maybe even less. If I up my grippers to 3x a week I should get the 2.5 with a MMS in a couple weeks.

Got a wooden sledgehammer shaft and shaved it down to fit plates, I did some levering with a 5lb plate, nothing major just messed around a little. I view my wrists as my weak link in all things related to lower arm strength so I'm working on improving it, slowly to avoid any future injury.

Bench:

Well, to be honest I just started benching for the first time in my life this year and ended up hurting my shoulder in something non related to training, so I won't even bother posting the numbers since I'm getting back into it for the first time in about 5 months. It's just far to embarrassing for someone my size. All I will say is I worked Flat and Decline, once I'm not embarrassed by my numbers I'll start posting the actual bench workouts.

Edited September 8, 2009 by SND85

[JAU1985]

Some minor bending today, since I've pretty much run through my FBBC beginners bag I only have 3 bolts left, three bastards, 5 pieces of 1/4" round stock, and most of my 3/16" stock, I started taping my 3/16" pieces in pairs and triplets and bending those. Most of my bending today was 7" and 6" pieces of 3/16" wrapped in tape and bent DO using single and double wraps. Single wraps for the two pieces was easy but when I put three together, I couldn't even kink without doubles. Maybe I'm bending too much? Well, when the 280 pieces I'm ordering from FBBC get here I'll limit my bending to 2x per week, one day for DO training, and one day for Reverse training.

Damn this stuff is addictive.

[JAU1985]

Forgot to post this workout from Thursday

Trained some pinch thursday. I've got an old barbell end that's been welded into a loading pin for oly type plates for where I work. I usually load 10's on it and use it for wide pinching (going for five 10's eventually) and load larger 45lb Yorks that aren't so thick for 2hp training with added smaller plates on each side.

Pinched two 25's with my right hand for single lifts and a few second holds at the top.

Tried two 35's of the same thickness... MAJOR FAIL! Need to try break make space between the plates ground next week when I'm fresh.

Pinched four 10's with the my loading pin set up pretty easy, tried for five 10's but again, that was a MAJOR FAIL, I need to work on my WIDE pinch strength. Hopefully the Hex block from a 70lb Dumbbell I'm buying from Caolan will help with that. I think it along with two 50lb Body Solid kettlebells and a 20lb Kettlebell I got for the RKC Armbar rotator cuff stretch will be here sometime next week hopefully.

Pinched 118lbs on the 2hp set up with the same loading pin, it was pretty hard. Only pulled it twice, I know I've done more in the past. I think the problem was a combination of the wider York 45's that I used opposed to the narrower ones that I usually use, and forearm fatigue from basically a week straight of Grip training in one form or another and the same goes for bending. Again I'll try this lift with the proper York 45's and fresh forearms.

I was able to Hula the two 25lb Yorks today for six or so reps, this means my left wrist is getting better, slowly but surely. I've started taking 500mg Motrin to help with the swelling and will be taking a lot of Glucosamine Chondroitin sulfate to help speed it up even faster, I think part of the pain is my joints.

After that I worked the four 10's some more after unloading the 2hp weights until I was completely fatigued in my right forearm. Still taking it easy on my left wrist. Going to keep up the stretching, motrin, glucosamine pills with a similar rub and see if I can close my COC Trainer or #1 next Friday.

Today I did some light 2.5" FBBC dumbbell lifting with my right hand, only went for 80lbs max, just lifts and timed holds, then I did some cleans and push presses with it. Did the same with my left hand, due to the recovering wrist I went light with 35lbs and everything felt good. Pinched 30lbs with my FBBC pinch block on the left hand and didn't feel any pain. That was enough for today, I don't want to push anything with my left hand for a few more weeks.

[JAU1985]

Got my cheat kinked bastard today but bent off center, double wraps. Couldn't crush it down because it was off center even with a cheat kink... I think it was because it was a teeny tiny kink I didn't want it to be huge just enough to get some power into one direction for the bend, kinda weak showing but I got it bent at least. Changed my technique a bit today which I felt helped me, I've always held my bars right under my chin DO with my head up, today I held the thing a lot lower: around the collar bone area and used my chin to hold it down and the bastard went. It was hard but it went. Still weak and I'm still a ways off from a cert quality bend but getting over that mental barrier of bending the sumbitch helps me.

Here it is:

http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/xx198/s...nkedBastard.jpg

Warmed up with some 1/4" x 7" round CRS before the bastard, bent some easy bolts too, nothing special.

Grippers, right hand:

#2 singles with MMS, 20 Closes, all overcrushed... easy. I remember when I used to have trouble with this thing.

#2.5 singles with MMS, 10 attempts, I think the 7th was closed due to a perfect set and release and the rest were VERY close, my buddy judging said it was but I didn't feel the handles touch, he said it looked closed but I think it was paper thin. I'll just keep working until there is no doubt and I can overcrush it for a second or two and feel for myself.

[JAU1985]

Took a shot at another Bastard today without any cheat kink, it took me about 5 or 6 minutes to get it this far, in double wraps... needless to say; weak. Something I need to work on.

http://i30.tinypic.com/hugi9x.jpg

[bencrush]

Took a shot at another Bastard today without any cheat kink, it took me about 5 or 6 minutes to get it this far, in double wraps... needless to say; weak. Something I need to work on.

http://i30.tinypic.com/hugi9x.jpg

Not weak at all man! Nice work on getting the Bastard that far Soon its obit will be in the paper.

[mwhities]

Took a shot at another Bastard today without any cheat kink, it took me about 5 or 6 minutes to get it this far, in double wraps... needless to say; weak. Something I need to work on.

http://i30.tinypic.com/hugi9x.jpg

Dewd! Great bending, ohh and I'm back, kinda. I'm starting gripping again. hurting my hand/wrist that one time took it out of me. I did some grip work two nights ago. #1.5 for 3X10. Felt great.

Keep it up man.

Michael

[JAU1985]

Trained some Pressing today with the 200lb log my cousin made, clean and jerk's basically, not strict pressing.

135lbs on a Barbell, C&J - 3x5 - Warmup

200lb Log C&J - 20x1, Singles, lifting, cleaning from my waist to my chest, and push pressing

Grippers:

COC 1.5 - 2x5 TNS

COC 2 - 10x1 MMS

COC 2.5 - 5x1 MMS - As Steve and Frank would say, VVN

Then I took a twenty minute long break and gave the 2.5 a shot again for two singles, I felt like the first one was closed, and my cousin said it "looked closed" to him, so I recorded a video with my digital camera to bring home, pause, take a screen shot of, then invert the colors and this is what I get:

http://i25.tinypic.com/n1wgmu.jpg

Looks closed to me because it's gray between the handles and white on either end, but I could be wrong. I got the inversion of the picture idea from Cannon when he gave his own thumbs down on one of his MM cert videos. What do you guys think, Closed? I'll try upload the video to youtube tonight while I'm sleeping to post tomorrow.

So what do you guys think, closed?

After the Grippers I did some levering with my shaved down sledge shaft, some plates, and pony clamp. Stretched my forearms out and had a scoop of Whey protein.

[JAU1985]

Two more video screen shot pictures, non inverted of the gripper close:

http://jonathan.one-arm.com/wp-content/upl...OC2.5close1.jpg

http://jonathan.one-arm.com/wp-content/upl...-2.5-Closex.jpg

[Guest Bullitt]

Two more video screen shot pictures, non inverted of the gripper close:

http://jonathan.one-arm.com/wp-content/upl...OC2.5close1.jpg

http://jonathan.one-arm.com/wp-content/upl...-2.5-Closex.jpg

CLOSED!

[Magnus]

That's definitely closed :rock

Good log pressing, too.

[JAU1985]

Thanks guy, I posted this thread before I checked my Log but you can see the video of it by clicking here:

http://www.gripboard.com/index.php?showtopic=33065

And thanks Frank, I know it would be much cooler if I was strict pressing the thing but I'm just not that strong yet. I've just recently started benching and overhead pressing, I think I'll get stronger quicker. I've set a few PR's lately, I think it may be the bending and my CNS getting stronger, who knows but I love it.