My Grip Training Log - 2010 Edition

[MVillani1985]

I used to have workout logs here and on Grippermania, I had one that started in 2005 on Grippermania and in 2006 here, but it seems they're lost forever. I might not post all of my workouts here, but I usually change my mind pretty quick on those things. For my main workout log, it's on a forum called TalkPA where I'm Altoona Man, my blog, which is essentially an online version of my pen and paper workout journal, covers everything. I don't remember the rules about posting links and such, but I don't want to risk being banned for being a spammer, so I'll just play it safe.

As it stands right now, there are six main workouts that I do: "Thursday" Grip Workouts (all grip stuff and grip related stuff that isn't gripper training, usually done on Thursday), "Sunday" Grip Workouts (the workout I call my "bread and butter workout", which is simply my gripper workouts, usually done on Sundays), Bench Press Workouts (benching, of course, but also plate pinch work afterwards, usually done between the Thursday and Sunday workouts, but not always, also the only one I always do at the gym), Home Dumbbell Workouts (my original workout that I created in 2001 and my original "bread and butter" workout with few changes over the years, now I do it every other week, usually on Monday or Tuesday, but despite the name, I sometimes do it at the gym, my assistance stuff at the end varies depending on whether it's at home or the gym), Rock Lifting Workouts (like the name says, I simply lift a stone that weighs around 200 lbs, and I carry it around the yard as much as I can, but at the end I always replace it in its original spot, I do this every other week on Mondays or Tuesdays, alternating weeks with my Home Dumbbell Workout), and Tuneup Tuesdays (usually done on Tuesday, but it can be done on anyday, a short version usually done on Fridays is called Fixup Friday, a catch-all name for anything from tuneup work to max attempts, sometimes both in the same workout). I only do limited deadlifting and squatting due to issues with my sciatic nerve.

In my next post, I'll write out the different blueprints for my grip workouts (which is what I'll be posting here, mainly because everything else is borderline shameful, partly due to injuries from 2006 to 2009 that kept coming back, for example, I don't even know if I can even bench press my bodyweight once, my weight hovers around or just below 250 usually). Also, I'm most focused on my grip strength, the only part of strength training I seem to do good at, and I figured - what better place to ask for grip advice than the Gripboard?

Edited March 12, 2010 by MVillani1985

[MVillani1985]

Sunday Grip Workouts - if it's done on another day, say Saturday, I put in parenthesis (done on Saturday)

I created this workout when fooling around in 2005 and 2006 to find the right workout for me. Eventually, I read about Nathan Holle's workout, and tried out something similar, and this is the result. Originally, the grip workout was one long collection of grip exercises until I eventually in mid-2008 split them into Sunday and Thursday workouts because it became a nearly two hour workout.

Heavy Grip Workout - four sets with a gripper I can either barely close with a deep set (MMS or a little wider) or just barely miss. Here's an example, let's say I'm using the BB Super Master both hands. Sometimes I use an intermediate set, which is about halfway between a cardless CCS and MMS.

1R. Closed and held for 7 seconds using a deep set

1L. Got it down to 1/2", using a deep set

2R. Closed? and held for 8 seconds using a deep set ("Closed?" means I don't know if I closed it or not, but if I did miss it, it was no more than a piece of paper)

2L. Got it down to 2/3", using a deep set

3R. Closed and held for 14 seconds using an intermediate set, overcrush

3L. Got it down to 1/3", using a deep set

4R. Closed and held for 15 seconds using a deep set, overcrush

4L. Got it down to 1/2", using a deep set

Light Grip Workout - three sets with a gripper that I can easily close, testing both my no-set range and a cooldown, sometimes using a shallow set (CCS width without the card), let's say I'm using the Ironmind #2 with my right and the BB Master with my left here. If I use a different gripper for each hand, I specify the gripper each time, as redundant as that may look.

1R. Did two reps with the Ironmind #2 using a table no set, overcrush

1L. Closed and held the BeefBuilder Master using no set, overcrush

2R. Did four reps with the Ironmind #2 using no set, huge overcrush, ground the handles

2L. Closed and held the BeefBuilder Master using no set, overcrush

3R. Did three reps with the Ironmind #2 using no set, overcrush

3L. Closed and held the BeefBuilder Master using a shallow set, overcrush

There is a second format where I do two TNS or NS sets with the Ironmind #1 of at least five reps and do three heavy sets and two light sets afterwards, I do this every fourth Sunday workout, but I'm slowly phasing it out because it seems almost useless nowadays since I'm once agains testing the wide set and no set stuff with the light workout portion (it once was two of the normal and two of this, then three normal and two this, it'll probably be phased out before 2012 entirely).

Thursday Grip Workouts - same deal, if it's done on Tuesday, for example I'll say (done on Tuesday), this is the other half of my original "Grip Workout". Here's an example based on what I'm doing now.

Lifted the 15 lb anvil by the horn three times each hand, did some wrist work (this is a warmup for me, I need a heavier anvil so I can do more than just warm up with it)

Pinch Block (specifically the Ironmind Blockbuster Pinch Grip Block), currently loaded to 42.5 lbs but I'll likely move up to 45 lbs very soon. I use the same weight each hand because it's a pain to switch in the middle of a set, so I sometimes make my left hand use a weight that's a little too hard for it or my right hand use a weight that's a little easy for it.

1R. Lifted and held for 31 seconds

1L. Lifted and held for 14 seconds

2R. Lifted and held for 45 seconds

2L. Lifted and held for 21 secodns

3R. Lifted and held for 46 seconds

3L. Lifted and held for 18 seconds

Or, let's say I decided to put on 50 lbs just for fun one day (to show what happens when I don't do that great)

1R. Lifted and held for 7 seconds

1L. FAILED

2R. Lifted and held for 12 seconds

2L. Lifted and held for a split second

3R. Lifted and held for 6 seconds

3L. FAILED

Chest Crushes, currently with the Ironmind #4, I usually don't do this many reps but instead move up when I can do a lot, but the jump between the #4 and the Pro is HUGE

1. 18 reps, 12 clicked

2. 25 reps, 15 clicked

3. 27 reps, 16 clicked

Wrist roller (specifically the "Twist Yo Wrist"), currently loaded to 50 lbs, I usually do 3 or 4 sets with it, once I can do 4 comfortably, I add 2.5 lbs and go back to doing 3 sets.

At the end of any workout I do, these ones, a Tuneup Tuesday, a bench workout, home dumbbell, rock lifting, even a joke workout, I give a grade, like this.

Grade: B-

Post workout commentary: Here I put in my post workout commentary

My grades range anywhere from extra credit grades like A++ (highest I ever gave was A++++), but anything above A+ is super rare, I also give borderline grades like A/B, B/C, C/D, D/F, and F/0, with the lowest passing grade being D/F. While I do the A B C D F scale, I also have 0 below that five or six workouts since 2008 have gotten a "0" (a straight F is worth 50% to me), and even negative grades. I have graded three of my workouts "-1" before and one a "-2", and technically I can grade as low as "-100". My friends tell me that I grade myself brutally, with workouts that I gave myself a 0 on being ones they said they'd give a C, but my scale puts "C" as meeting all my expectations, to get above that, I have to exceed my standards.

Edited March 12, 2010 by MVillani1985

[MVillani1985]

I just set myself a new PR after a great workout with the BB Super Master, closing it with wider sets than I usually use 4 out of 4 times (meaning I'm 7 for 7 the last 7 times I tried it), and then afterwards I attempted the BB Grand Master and got it surprisingly easily. That's one goal I can cross off of my list. Next gripper to fall - the CoC#3. I tried the #3 today and got it almost to 1/4", let's say 3/16", and for fun I tried the Elite, I'm still an inch away from that thing yet.

[MVillani1985]

During my week off, I got myself a cheap-o levering hammer (an adjustable dumbbell that I'm using for a cheap version of the Heavy Hammer II). Tomorrow I'm going to be back to working out and on Thursday I'll be back to doing grip workouts.

[BroodingMoon]

Congrats for meeting a goal, that #3 needs to watch out!

[MVillani1985]

Congrats for meeting a goal, that #3 needs to watch out!

Thanks, BroodingMoon. I've got that #3 set in my sights and I'm going to someday just SLAM that thing shut. Since I was last here, I set two new PRs: I chest crushed the BB Pro for one time last week (just barely clicked that thing, but after two miss attempts, my third and fourth were successful), and just now I slew the five 10 lb plates inch lifting them. I just can't get over how despite being the same weight, the five 10s are so wide that it makes the two 25s that I normally train with seem like pure child's play. My next goal is the two 45s using my right hand, but that'll take time (I can do two 35s for a 32 count currently, but I can't even break two 45s off the ground at all with one hand, though I have a PR of 82 count with two hands).

Edited March 28, 2010 by MVillani1985

[BroodingMoon]

Congrats for meeting a goal, that #3 needs to watch out!

Thanks, BroodingMoon. I've got that #3 set in my sights and I'm going to someday just SLAM that thing shut. Since I was last here, I set two new PRs: I chest crushed the BB Pro for one time last week (just barely clicked that thing, but after two miss attempts, my third and fourth were successful), and just now I slew the five 10 lb plates inch lifting them. I just can't get over how despite being the same weight, the five 10s are so wide that it makes the two 25s that I normally train with seem like pure child's play. My next goal is the two 45s using my right hand, but that'll take time (I can do two 35s for a 32 count currently, but I can't even break two 45s off the ground at all with one hand, though I have a PR of 82 count with two hands).

Excellent stuff man! I think the five 10s also feel harder because there is less friction plate to plate than there is hand to plate, so the ones in the middle always want to drop out! I like to put a piece of pipe through two 45s and add weight to it that way for singles. Then after I've maxed out I do holds like you do. You're way ahead of me though

[MVillani1985]

Update! Yesterday I had a disastrious workout, but I managed to salvage something BIG from it. I pinch lifted two 45s with one hand for the very first time, the cornerstone mark of plate pinch strength. I'm stunned that I got this before I did the #3 given that I've always been a bit weak with my pinch grip strength. However, all that I was able to was basically get it up and then immediately set it down with the whole thing lasting a quick seven count before crashing back to the ground, so it wasn't a completely controlled lift and hold but it was still a pinch lift off the ground of two 45s. Definitely a big step in the right direction for me. Hard to believe that I did this on the same day that I had a disastrous bench press workout (it was so bad that my warmup set looked sloppy enough that some people thought I was a gym newbie and suggested I stick with the same weight I had on until I explained that it was just a warmup so I wasn't paying attention to perfect form, just warming up fast and powerful, then the entire main workout itself was a nightmare I just wanted to wake up from). Amazing how I found this hidden gem buried in what was for me the worst bench press workout that I had ever done in my entire life that I can remember not counting the first one I had ever did or the reorientation workout 11 months after my injury from April 2008.

Edited April 8, 2010 by MVillani1985

[MANTHOS]

Congratulations for the 45s pinch! It's huge!!

[MVillani1985]

Thanks, it's especially huge to me because pinch gripping has always been a weak spot of mine. But I've noticed since I've been getting good at pinch grip training that gripper training (especially working with a set) has gotten much easier, as my ring and pinky fingers seem to get more involved. Next goal - Two 45s left-handed plus three 25s with my right hand. But if I got the two 45s, the three 25s should be attainable sometime soon.

[bencrush]

Great job on that (2)45s pinch!

[MVillani1985]

Thanks. I did it again today just to make sure last week was no fluke, and I did it again, holding it even longer (but still not with 100% control, but getting close). Feels good to have made that monster milestone. I also did the five 10s once again, which was only a touch easier than the two 45s for me.

Now, time to slay that #3, I'm almost there. Just gotta break through those final two milimeters.

[MVillani1985]

I won't be doing a full workout today, but I noticed that I tend to get stuff better on days when I'm going for a max. I'm going to take another stab at my #3, and this time, I hope I can get it. Also, later today I'm going to do the workout I usually do, since I doesn't conflict with this one (I'm doing some upside-down gripper training).

[MVillani1985]

I got the RB400 and it's a great chest crush gripper for me. It feels like a 4.4 or so, right in between my #4 and my Pro. What I noticed is that instead of struggling to get one rep out of three sets or slamming away and getting rep after rep, I'm getting about 6-10 reps with 2-5 clicking. I hope I'm not cheating by counting reps that went basically all the way, I didn't hear or feel them click, but I'm pretty sure the handles grazed against each other for a brief moment or so. I count those as clicks. But for reps, it has to go at least 33% of the way to count as anything. It's a huge adjustment, going from maybe 30-40 reps, 20-25 clicked with the #4 to 6-10 reps, 2-5 clicked with the RB400, but it beats 4-5 reps, 0-1 clicked with the Pro.

Edited April 21, 2010 by MVillani1985

[MVillani1985]

Really sweet news everyone, I met two big goals of mine. I could do this but never got around to it before, the three 35s with two hands, as people have said before it's easy, but not quite as easy as some had said, but of course these are guys that are grip legends. Then after that, I decided for fun to go after the three 45s with two hands, and got it, just BARELY, but still got it. Apparently my strong suit is becoming pinch grip.

[MVillani1985]

I'm STILL working on that stupid #3. A goal that for a long time seemed like a shoe-in for the first big goal of 2010 to be met stil has yet to be met, that evil #3 (as I've began calling it lately) is beginning to drive me bonkers.

Edited May 11, 2010 by MVillani1985

[MVillani1985]

I DID IT! I FINALLY DID IT! I closed the #3! Not only did I do it, but I did it a second time. I also came very close to closing it the other two attempts I did, so my first two attempts ended in a close (at least I'm pretty sure it was shut, enough that I counted it), the other two times it looked like I got it down to 1 mm. Also, I came super close to left hand closing the BBSM and I also no-set closed the BBSM with my right hand for the very first time. Next goal: Close the BBSM with my left hand and close the BBE with my right hand.

[JohanB]

[Joefrey]

That's nice !! Well done !

[FrankyBoy]

Congrats, feels good I bet!

[MVillani1985]

Thanks for all the congrats everyone. Actually for me "good" does not even begin to describe the feeling. Each yearly goal I have here has an unwritten time limit, for example, this one was to be done by my birthday (May 22) and I did it. Next goals are to close the BBSM with my left hand before the first day of summer and close the BB Elite with my right hand by Labor Day. Are those reasonable goals? Also, I want to chest crush the BB World Class by Halloween, but I have an inhumanly wide BBWC, so that might be a problem.

[MANTHOS]

Congratulations for your #3 close!

[MVillani1985]

Just closed the #3 four out of four times this week, plus I shut the BBSM with my left hand two out of four times. Felt great. I'm going to start working on the Elite next week. Current goal - close it by Labor Day, I hope that isn't too unreasonable.

Edited May 22, 2010 by MVillani1985

[MVillani1985]

I just two-finger closed the #2 gripper. Felt great to do. I also closed the BBGM with a wide set, about CCS width but without the card (essentially saying that my GM is worlds behind my #3, which I can only close with an MMS), also as we both know, I can no-set close the Super Master, not sure how wide of set I can close my MM1 replica with, but I assume wider than MMS but not quite CCS. Also, I've graduated to chest crushing the Pro, although I'm doing better than when I first attempted it and got the RB400 because it was too much to overcome, it still wasn't easy, but I did improve from doing 14 reps, 1 clicked (4r0c, 5r1c, 5r0c) to 17 reps, 5 clicked (5r1c, 6r2c, 6r2c), this made apparent that I've got a long way to go before I'm even where I can think about seriously trying to chest crush the World Class.

[MVillani1985]

I came fairly close to shutting my BB Elite on the first workout with it yesterday. My goal of shutting the BB Elite by Labor Day seems more and more realistic.