Two Questions About Weight Vs. Performance

[Cannon]

I have wondered this for a while now. Two questions:

1) Has anyone closed an RGC-rated gripper at or above their bodyweight?

2) Has anyone UNDER 170lbs ever closed a gripper OVER 160lbs?

For the first question, the couple of names that come to mind are Teemu, Tommy, and possibly Derek Graybill. Teemu's Mash Monster bio says he weighs 85kb/187lbs and he is on the best calibrated gripper close list at 190lbs. For Tommy, who knows how many calibrated grippers he has tried and I think he is up around 200lbs bodyweight. He closed a 184# gripper at the Capitol Grip Cup, but anyone know how much he weighs? Derek I believe was around 170lbs and he is on the calibrated gripper close at 157#. So I don't think he ever accomplished this, but I would be interested to find out. Teemu might be the only one here, assuming he was still 85kg when he closed the 190# gripper. Gabriel is closing big grippers, but I think he is also over 200lbs. Anyone know?

For the second question, Derek is the only person I can think of, but I don't think he ever closed a gripper above 160lbs. He was pretty active in the calibrated gripper thread while he was training and I think we would have updated. I also don't think he was under 170lbs for very long.

Just curious

[climber511]

I haven't seen Tommy is a few years but I would have guessed him at maybe 170# - certainly no where close to 200 - at least back then.

[Shoggoth]

I haven't seen Tommy is a few years but I would have guessed him at maybe 170# - certainly no where close to 200 - at least back then.

I would guess Tommy to be at around the 170-180# body weight as well.

[Malice]

And here I thought I was doing good until I realized I was barely squeezing at or just above half my body weight

[tselegala]

I don’t really get how grip strength has anything to do with bodyweight especially RGC calibrated weights for grippers ; i mean should we have grip weight classes? not flushing this idea or curiosity you have at all, I’ve had many such curiosities. But I think it would be quite unfortunate to bust your butt to finally close the 4 and then someone turns around and says or thinks ‘’yeah but you weigh 250 lbs’’…not as good as him cuz he weighs 170lbs…like I never thought of Samuelsson to be have an advantage over me on grippers cuz he weighs almost 100lbs more, he would maybe on the truck pull but grippers?…I dunno… with this stuff we do I think you can either be strong or not regardless of BW, I mean, it’s just hands and forearms.

[cemery]

After gaining about 40 lbs or so from weight training, all of my grip lifts got stronger. Bodyweight makes a difference.

[Magnus]

I'm pretty sure Derek closed more than his BW.

[climber511]

Big people are stronger than smaller people - well muscular ones anyway if they have both trained in similar ways for similar goals. If you look at competition results for all the strength sports (including grip)- the heavyweight class is overall stronger every time. You always have the outliers of course like Tommy, Andrew Duriant, or Bob Sundin etc but in general bigger is stronger in absolute terms. In terms of strength to body weight ratio - the small to middle sized guys come out the best. Only you can decide if weighing 300# or whatever to lift more weight is worth it to you - as usual it's all about your personal goals.

Edited July 7, 2010 by climber511

[Mun]

I don’t really get how grip strength has anything to do with bodyweight especially RGC calibrated weights for grippers ; i mean should we have grip weight classes? not flushing this idea or curiosity you have at all, I’ve had many such curiosities. But I think it would be quite unfortunate to bust your butt to finally close the 4 and then someone turns around and says or thinks ‘’yeah but you weigh 250 lbs’’…not as good as him cuz he weighs 170lbs…like I never thought of Samuelsson to be have an advantage over me on grippers cuz he weighs almost 100lbs more, he would maybe on the truck pull but grippers?…I dunno… with this stuff we do I think you can either be strong or not regardless of BW, I mean, it’s just hands and forearms.

Grip weight classes wouldn't be a bad idea actually hmmm. Weight does make a difference, there's no question about that.

[Cannon]

Thanks for the replies.

I was interested in the first question because I closed my 158# MM1 when I was 155lbs. I weighed about the same for my official MM1 attempt. Now at 162lbs, I'm still missing a 164# Elite by a couple millimeters. But I'm also losing weight again lately.

The second question I put out there not to raise the question of weight classes, but rather because of a comment my wife made. I was talking to her about my frustration with closing that 164# Elite---it's been my goal gripper for about 14 months now! She asked, "What are other people your size doing?" She was just trying to make me feel better, but it got me thinking about what is possible for a 160lbs person. As Chris suggests, my next grip gain will probably come from adding muscle to my body overall. Which, I'm working on general strength so we'll see what happens. I don't think I need to weigh 300lbs to get this thing closed, but after 14mos I question whether it's possible at my current weight. 14mos ago I would have said, "no way it matters!"

Just some junk I've been thinking about. No epiphanies here; I just think I've overlooked general training too long thinking that I can plow away on grippers and get there.

[gumpster]

Interesting questions there Cannon. I can't answer them but it made me wonder where I might fit in. I weigh between 155-160lbs and have closed a #3 (unfortunately I don't know what it calibrates at).

[Teemu I]

Matt, I was probably a bit under 187 lbs when I closed 190 lbs gripper.

[rico300zx]

what gripper calibrates at 240?

rico

[Teemu I]

what gripper calibrates at 240?

rico

Mutant #4's.

[Guest Bullitt]

There have been weight classes at grip events for awhile now. Not at all of them, but a bunch.

I think overall lean mass and strength helps other grip events more than grippers. Obviously, it's easier to pull a 400lb axle if your 300# and can pull 700 on an oly bar than if you weigh 220 and your max is 420. Also, the larger guys tend to have bigger hands than the smaller guys (usually), which helps more than mass by far in my opinion. So who knows if it's hand size or overall mass that is actually helping the most? I have bigger than average hands, and I weighed in about 250 or so when I was closing my 178 3.5 regularly. So, 72 lbs was as close to bodyweight as I ever got. Thanks for making me feel like a sissy Matt!

Bigger usually equals stronger, but if you are closing a 3 or above at any bodyweight, you have a damn strong grip.

[bencrush]

If anyone knows the COC that weighs 135lbs they could ask him if he ever had his #3 calibrated. That ought to be an eye opener!

[rico300zx]

Bullitt had a pretty easy #3 at the CGC many of the guys closed it.

Rico

[Cannon]

The second question I put out there not to raise the question of weight classes, but rather because of a comment my wife made. I was talking to her about my frustration with closing that 164# Elite---it's been my goal gripper for about 14 months now! She asked, "What are other people your size doing?" She was just trying to make me feel better, but it got me thinking about what is possible for a 160lbs person. As Chris suggests, my next grip gain will probably come from adding muscle to my body overall. Which, I'm working on general strength so we'll see what happens. I don't think I need to weigh 300lbs to get this thing closed, but after 14mos I question whether it's possible at my current weight. 14mos ago I would have said, "no way it matters!"

I feel like this comment that Teemu made in his log gets to the point of what I was wondering about above.

I firmly believe that I progressed with grippers to the point I couldn't make progress anymore, without getting stronger overall. I believe I got (almost) everything out of my forearms.

[rico300zx]

The second question I put out there not to raise the question of weight classes, but rather because of a comment my wife made. I was talking to her about my frustration with closing that 164# Elite---it's been my goal gripper for about 14 months now! She asked, "What are other people your size doing?" She was just trying to make me feel better, but it got me thinking about what is possible for a 160lbs person. As Chris suggests, my next grip gain will probably come from adding muscle to my body overall. Which, I'm working on general strength so we'll see what happens. I don't think I need to weigh 300lbs to get this thing closed, but after 14mos I question whether it's possible at my current weight. 14mos ago I would have said, "no way it matters!"

I feel like this comment that Teemu made in his log gets to the point of what I was wondering about above.

I firmly believe that I progressed with grippers to the point I couldn't make progress anymore, without getting stronger overall. I believe I got (almost) everything out of my forearms.

I sorta believe this but I can't really say I'm there yet my body weight is 240 so I know there's a lot more in me but by the time I have time to really train the way id like, I may have missed my prime. But at 240 I feel I do have some advantage but I worked my but off to get to this weight naturally. After my shoulder surgery about 7 years ago I was only about 175 or 180.

Rico

[Bob Lipinski]

Grip vs. bodyweight isn't as straightforw as the powerlifts-

The more you weigh, the easier a squat or bench will be, all other things being equal. Better leverages, more "cushn for the pushn", shorter ROM. Not so much with grip. I think if someone bothered to gather a huge amount of stats, grip strength in general would correlate with overall pulling strength. Most guys who can pull 500-600 and do chins with 70-120+bodyweight can work up to a #3 close with little or no problem. Again, considering handsize, other leverages, etc. being equal.

And some guys are freaks, ie Helsep, Holle, etc. I bet if they added 300 pounds to their deadlift they would be a hell of alot better all around grip guys though.

[The Natural]

I think if someone bothered to gather a huge amount of stats, grip strength in general would correlate with overall pulling strength.

To be interesting, the study would need to collect datums of only pulls done with straps, and even then it would have limitations. Given that a successful pull without straps depends heavily on grip strength, any correlation between grip strength and pulling strength could in fact turn out to be a very unremarkable and obvious correlation masquerading as an interesting one.

[Autolupus]

I think if someone bothered to gather a huge amount of stats, grip strength in general would correlate with overall pulling strength.

To be interesting, the study would need to collect datums of only pulls done with straps, and even then it would have limitations. Given that a successful pull without straps depends heavily on grip strength, any correlation between grip strength and pulling strength could in fact turn out to be a very unremarkable and obvious correlation masquerading as an interesting one.

Try data!

But yes the correlation between pulling and grip strength does seem an obvious one.