arande2 Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Hello. Quick story: Freshman year (HS) I got a Trainer and up to some time sophomore year I progressed to closing a #2 a few times right hand (yes, I did sledge, pinch, bands, bar hangs, etc, too). Then I layed off for a while. I tried it again (now in between junior/senior year) and I am about the same, close to a #2.5 close right hand. My question here pertains to the use of grippers for functional grip strength. Yes, grippers ONLY is not the way to go - it IS all around. It never seemed I got any better at gripping things from progressing on grippers. What is with that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnus Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Different strokes for different folks. Grippers always gave great carryover to other aspects of grip for me. Others might find them kinda useless. Everybody's different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiteck88 Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Often when you grip things, you use your fingertips. In grippertraining you train the ability of the middle part of your finger to close the gipper. I have experienced a much better one hand deadlift after grippertraining (100kg) and a much stronger thumb after setting the gripper a million times. When i want to train a more functional grip with grippers i use lighter grippers and place them in unnatural positions in my hand (often grip near fingertips). If you depend to much on setting the gripper properly and in the same way each time, then you wont get much functional strength. I believe that what you do often, you get good at, so developing a functional grip requires much variety in your training. So the best way of training fuctional, is doing something functional. Best of luck Christopher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arande2 Posted June 15, 2010 Author Share Posted June 15, 2010 (edited) Perfect answers! The main concept I picked up on that I need to incorporate in my training is DIVERSITY (variety). I have been training with dumbbells and bar hangs mostly during my 'gripper hiatus.' I weigh 260 (120kg) and can't do a one-hand bar hang for more than a few seconds. I feel kinda weak. Ahh well, I'll get better. Bettah.. Bettuh. Edited June 15, 2010 by Arande Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rookie Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Diversity is how I see it to, and it will only make you a skilled craftsmen at your craft being versitile.I definetly need more of that in my training to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IROC-Z Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 I believe that training all aspects of grip (wrists included)is the best way to go, but having said that - I've found that for me, training with only grippers for a few weeks at a time does seem to have some carryover to pinch strength. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Personally I find gripper training great for shutting grippers but doesn't carryover a great deal to other stuff for me, My training partner is way behind me on grippers and yet his functional grip on strongman stuff is as good or better than mine on some things.Variety is definetly the key to overall grip strength. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tselegala Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Sometimes youre overall grip does not improve because you are neglecting a weak point, i.e your thumb strength. So youre fingers become very strong but youre grip is limited by youre thumb so overall there is little or no improvment...There are many muscles involved with gripping...you need to do many different thing to improve...just quick thoughts.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arande2 Posted June 17, 2010 Author Share Posted June 17, 2010 I have been incorpating variety into my training now and I can tell this is what I needed to do. EXTREME thank you! In the past, I decided not to drop my extra fat because of muscle and strength, but now I've decided to drop from 270lb (currently at 250) and keep going until I'm where I wanna be (I am guessing around 200-220), but I am trying to maintain the muscle/strength as best I can. It's going to be my last year of high school, so I might as well. How will weight loss affect my grip? I assume if I keep working at grip with vehemence during the weight loss, I can maintain the strength or increase it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tselegala Posted June 18, 2010 Share Posted June 18, 2010 I have been incorpating variety into my training now and I can tell this is what I needed to do. EXTREME thank you! In the past, I decided not to drop my extra fat because of muscle and strength, but now I've decided to drop from 270lb (currently at 250) and keep going until I'm where I wanna be (I am guessing around 200-220), but I am trying to maintain the muscle/strength as best I can. It's going to be my last year of high school, so I might as well. How will weight loss affect my grip? I assume if I keep working at grip with vehemence during the weight loss, I can maintain the strength or increase it. If you look at the last few posts of the 650 deadlift race thread in the strength and power forum you will see what dropping the weight did for me…but eventually your strength comes back. Grip strength is back for me now and bending strength is at an all time high. Deadlifting and squatting is another story though but I took a break from those lifts for now…my personal view on the matter is that having the extra fat and being very strong is not as good as being lean and not as strong for a little while…basically loosing the excess baggage is totally worth it. But I was a little depressed about losing the strength anyways…who wouldn’t be. It may be quite hard to maintain strength as you lose weight…I’m not even sure it’s possible unless you have a very bad diet and all you do is eat better. But think of it as taking a few steps back to leap ahead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arande2 Posted June 19, 2010 Author Share Posted June 19, 2010 I see. That is a good way to put it. So far I have not noticed strength loss, but we'll see. I am getting better with bodyweight exercises at least - that is good motivation for me. Specifically, I wasn't able to hold myself from a bar with one hand up until last week. Then I got a couple seconds with my right hand. Today I was a lot better than that (5-8 secs with each hand). Three months ago TWO-hand hangs were a challenge (I could do them, but it was hard). I am hoping to be able to get to one-hand holds for at least a minute or two and then with weight. Yeah, it's worth a bit of strength loss (at first) to be rid of the excess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amaury Posted June 21, 2010 Share Posted June 21, 2010 When lookin at the anatomy of the hand/wrist it is easy to understand why grippers alone are not enough to developp allround lower arm strength. By the way, there is no 'functional' strength: a muscle is strong or not. If you feel that grippers don't develop 'functional' strength, it is just that they don't develop correctly all the muscles in your lower arm. IMO the expression 'allround strength (development)' is preferable to 'functional strength'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
student Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 When lookin at the anatomy of the hand/wrist it is easy to understand why grippers alone are not enough to developp allround lower arm strength. By the way, there is no 'functional' strength: a muscle is strong or not. If you feel that grippers don't develop 'functional' strength, it is just that they don't develop correctly all the muscles in your lower arm. IMO the expression 'allround strength (development)' is preferable to 'functional strength'. Very true. Spend some time looking at the muscles of the forearm and hand and their actions. For example look at the difference between the flexor digitorum superficialis and profundus and where they insert on the phlanges. These are the two strongest flexors of the fingers. The FDS inserts on the middle phanlnx and the FDP on the distal phalanx. Functional is a dirty word. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Styles Posted June 22, 2010 Share Posted June 22, 2010 Grip strength won't be hurt much by weight loss. If I was training grip for "useful" strength, I'd never use grippers. The movement is too specific and does not transfer well to real activities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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