Malice's Grip Training Ver. 2.0

[Malice]

11/23/11

Today was axle deadlift day on 5/3/1 and during warm-ups my hands were feeling so good that I decided to attempt a PR during the warm-up sets. I also decided to try doing sumo since I've heard a few people say pulling sumo is easier on their grip using the axle.

DO Axle Deadlifts

105x3

155x3

210x3

270x1, 315x1, 350x1 (sumo) PR

240x3

270x5-grip started to give out on 5th rep.

Pullups (narrow, neutral grip with FatGripz)

2-stopped here because my left shoulder wasn't having it today.

Axle Bent-over Rows

105x5

135x5

155x5

185x5

185x5-my grip was toast at this point and I barely got the last rep.

BlobZilla (Iso's x6 seconds)

5x1

[macaz]

350! Awesome Russ.

[Malice]

11/26/11

PL Squats

45x10

135x5

185x5

220x3

250x3

285x10 (PR by default)-I've never tried more than 8 with 285

I stopped on the last set at 10 so I wouldn't be too gassed out to max on reps @225

High bar squats (225 max reps)

6-my lower back was tight so I stopped at 6. Pretty pissed about this but there's no reason to risk injury.

Good Mornings

45x10

95x10

135x10

135x10

135x12 (PR)

Grippers

Rich 3.5 (choked to 11/16")

5x1-one close righty (PR), none lefty

#2 (choked to 1") with 2 second overcrush

5x3 both hands

2hp (58mm)

50x10 second hold

120x10 second hold

140x1

150x1

155x1

160x1

165x1

170x1 (PR) on my 2hp

I'm not sure if I'm happy with this or not. Granted it was after grippers and I haven't pulled 2hp in quite a while and it was a PR...barely, but I thought I would get more than this. Oh well, a PR is a PR so it's still good I guess.

BlobZilla (Iso's x6 seconds)

5x1

All in all I'd say this was an OK workout. I got PR's on squats and good mornings but it was more by default since on both exercises I've just never tried to do that many reps with that weight even though I know I can and have been able to do more for a long time. I'm pretty disappointed that my lower back was a bit tight because I wanted to go for max reps with 225 again but after about 6 reps my lower back was just not having it.

[Malice]

Here's an idea I was messing around with for displaying my gripper certifications. I've had a few people ask how hard the gripper was to close for the different certs so I figured I'd just use a shadow box and put a gripper in it that is about the same strength level as the one used for the cert attempt. For the Mash Monster 1 cert I have a MM1 replica that feels pretty much identical to the actual cert gripper so that's the one that is in the shadow box with the cert. I'll do the same with MM2, etc.

My original idea was to use a normal wooden frame with a hook underneath to hang the gripper from but this I think will work better because there's less chance of losing the gripper or it getting separated from the cert.

Here's the Mash Monster level 1 cert display:

[macaz]

Thats a great idea.

[Malice]

11/28/11

Boulders and Grip

Seated Axle overhead press (5/3/1+)

65x10

105x5

130x5

145x3

160x2

Defranco Shoulder Shocker

25# plate, 12.5# DB

3x12

Grippers

Warm-up

T x20

#1.5x10

#2x5

#2.5 (choked to 1") explosive singles w/2 sec. overcrush

5x1

#2 (choked to 1") triples w/2 sec. overcrush

5x3

BlobZilla (Iso's x6 seconds)

5x1

1hp-wide pinch

5x10's loose x2 both hands

6 dimes trainer

3x1 both hands

+2.5x1 both hands

+5x hop both hands

I stopped here because it was hurting my thumbs too much between the joints. It feels like it's trying to pull the skin off my thumb and becomes more of a pain tolerance issue than anything else so I'm going to stop training this width for a while. I'll go back to working 5 dimes with weight added since it's closer to the width of BlobZilla and doesn't hurt the thumbs.

[Malice]

November 2011 in review

Here's an overview of some of my PR's that I accomplished in November. I started out with some good strength and conditioning work but managed to mangle my left shoulder pretty good at the beginning of the month so that took the wind out of my sails a bit. It's feeling pretty good now though so hopefully I'll be able to consistently add more upper body S+C work soon.

The month started off on a huge positive with a successful certification attempt with the Mash Monster level 2!! This is a great achievement as I've been looking forward to this for a long time.

Grippers

Mash Monster level 2

Rich 3.5 choked to 11/16"

Big Nasty #4 CCS down to 1"

#2 CCS x27 reps

#2 MMS x35 reps

IMTUG 5 x22 reps righty, 15 reps lefty

Pinch

BlobZilla with 27.5 lbs. on the deloader

2x35's+13.5 lbs. added

Thickbar

Rolling Thunder-172 lbs. lefty

DO Axle deadlift-350 lbs.

Weight lifting

PL Squats-285x10

High bar squats-225x25

DO deadlifts-225x20

Good Mornings-135x12

I'm hoping my left shoulder will be feeling good enough to start doing some reverse bending again this month. I'll start with some 60D's and probably just try to work up to doing some light volume a couple times a week without doing the crushdown. The crush is what really stresses my shoulders and right now is much stronger than my reverse kink so I think I'll be ok not doing it for a while.

I plan on really hitting several strength and conditioning workouts each week to start increasing my work capacity and cardio conditioning. That was my limiting factor on squats and deads for max reps. It'll also really help with the fat cutting. I'm also hoping that my shoulders will be good enough to let me start some light db benching so I can start training bench again soon and attack those goals as well.

[khfm865]

Blimey, Russ. Nice month!

[Forever]

Here's an idea I was messing around with for displaying my gripper certifications. I've had a few people ask how hard the gripper was to close for the different certs so I figured I'd just use a shadow box and put a gripper in it that is about the same strength level as the one used for the cert attempt. For the Mash Monster 1 cert I have a MM1 replica that feels pretty much identical to the actual cert gripper so that's the one that is in the shadow box with the cert. I'll do the same with MM2, etc.

My original idea was to use a normal wooden frame with a hook underneath to hang the gripper from but this I think will work better because there's less chance of losing the gripper or it getting separated from the cert.

Here's the Mash Monster level 1 cert display:

Great display brother, way to go this year

[Malice]

Blimey, Russ. Nice month!

Thanks brother! Going back through the month and doing a review like this is very valuable because I was feeling like I made no progress and was feeling a bit demotivated but looking back I can see exactly where I progressed and where I need to work more.

[Malice]

12/1/11

Grippers

Warm-up

Trainer x20

#1.5x10

#2x5

#2.5x1

Rich 3.5 (choked to 11/16")

6x1-3 closes (PR)

174# 3.5 CCS

2x1-down to 5/16" R, 1/2" L-(PR)

I know I said that this month was going to be all choker work but I just had the urge to test myself CCS with my 3.5 and was happy to get it down this low. I think last time I tried it was about 1" from closed so this is pretty good progress.

[Malice]

12/4/11

DO Axle sumo deadlifts

105x5

195x5

285x1

352x1 (PR)

360x1 (PR)

This wasn't meant to be a full workout today just a PR attempt. Daniel decided to one up me after my 350# pull by pulling 351.8# so I had to try to set the bar higher. It was only my 2nd time ever pulling sumo so my technique is still off a bit but it felt pretty good and plenty light. Grip wise I think 360 is about my max for now but I'd like to get another 5 lbs. by the end of the year so I'll be hitting thick bar pretty heavy over the next few weeks.

[macaz]

Great lifts Russ. Man your videos made me want to hit my Axle today. Unfortunately the axle is too big for inside my small workout room in the study.

The garage was 4 degrees this morning. I wonder how much I could pull if I wet my hands 1st then froze em on the bar. Be interesting but I need someone with warm water to get me off the bar.

[Malice]

12/5/11

I'm running another cycle of 5/3/1 using that protocol for the first power exercise followed by accessory lifts in the 8-10 rep range for hypertrophy. I'm using 170 for my OH Press max this cycle which I think is a little low but it felt good on my shoulders and I'd rather go lighter than too heavy.

Axle Overhead Press-555

65x5

85x5

100x5

115x5

130x13

Defranco Shoulder Shocker

25 lb. plate, 15 lb. DB's

3x10 (PR)

Reverse Pull-aparts-green band

40,30,30

Shoulder dislocations-red band

3x10

[Malice]

12/5/11

I'm running another cycle of 5/3/1 using that protocol for the first power exercise followed by accessory lifts in the 8-10 rep range for hypertrophy. I'm using 170 for my OH Press max this cycle which I think is a little low but it felt good on my shoulders and I'd rather go lighter than too heavy.

Axle Overhead Press-555

65x5

85x5

100x5

115x5

130x13

Defranco Shoulder Shocker

25 lb. plate, 15 lb. DB's

3x10 (PR)

Reverse Pull-aparts-green band

40,30,30

Shoulder dislocations-red band

3x10

I need to add the gripper workout I did at work tonight.

Grippers

Warm-up

Tx20

1.5x10

2x5

2.5x1

174# 3.5 (choked to 1")

5x1-3 closes righty, none lefty.

I was really expecting to get all closes tonight but for some reason my strength really went bye bye fast. I still got a couple and they were solid so I'll take it. When I was putting the choker on it I just grabbed the gripper in my left hand and smashed it down plenty far enough to slide the choker onto the handles and it hit me then how easy this 3.5 feels now compared to the first several times I choked it back when I had to push it against something and use bodyweight to help close it enough to choke down.

[Malice]

12/6/11

PL Squats-555

135x5

185x5

225x5

260x5

295x12 (PR)-stopped due to conditioning, not strength

Axle RDL

95x10

115x10

135x10-stopped here because I was nauseous

Today I'm still sick and had no strength but decided to knock out squats anyway. It's also really cold so I just couldn't keep warmed up but squats were still ok. I kept waiting for my strength to give out on the last set of squats but I just kept rocketing out of the hole until my conditioning gave way again and I had to stop due to not being able to breathe anymore.

[bencrush]

Great job on the big Axle PR increase! 10lbs is a big jump all at once. Excellent work! One step closer to an Elite total buddy.

[Malice]

Great job on the big Axle PR increase! 10lbs is a big jump all at once. Excellent work! One step closer to an Elite total buddy.

Thanks Ben!!

12/7/11

Bench, finally...and grippers

My shoulders were feeling pretty good so I decided to try some very, very light benching to see how it would feel. I just knocked out 3 sets of 40 reps to really get the blood flowing to them and keep the weight light and it felt pretty good. I also had the best pump in my boobs and triceps that I've had in a LONG time.

Bench

45x40

95x40

115x40

Grippers

Warm-up

Trainer x20

#1.5x15

#2x5

#2.5x1

Rich 3.5 (choked to 3/4")

6x1-3 closes righty (PR), none lefty but pretty close

This is a big PR because last week I wasn't very close to closing this righty at 3/4" so I'm happy with this!

#3 (choked to 1") explosive singles with 2 second overcrush-45 seconds rest between reps

5x1 both hands. These felt great and I was surprised how powerfully I was able to close this lefty.

[Chez]

Good stuff buddy. congrats on your recent PRs. Do you leave the #3.5 in a choker even when you don't train. I'm curious because I may try some choker work with my #3.5 and I'm worried that it will break the choker.

[Malice]

Good stuff buddy. congrats on your recent PRs. Do you leave the #3.5 in a choker even when you don't train. I'm curious because I may try some choker work with my #3.5 and I'm worried that it will break the choker.

No, I take the choker off when I finish a workout.

[Malice]

12/9/11

Grippers

Warm-up

Trainer x20

#1.5x10

#2x5

#2.5x1

174# 3.5 (choked to 1")

10x1

8 full closes righty (PR), none lefty but several were very close

174# 3.5 (1" block set)

2x1

no closes either hand, down to about 1/8" righty

This ended up being a very gratifying workout. I got a huge PR with this gripper choked to 1" since on Monday I was only able to get a couple closes with it set here. On the 2nd attempt however, I hurt my right wrist again. I exploded real hard into the close and something got tweaked in my wrist and it hurt pretty bad for the rest of the workout. Obviously it didn't affect performance since about 6 of the closes were what I'd call Hulk Smashes. It'll be interesting to see how I do with 1" block set attempts with fresh hands and a non hurting wrist.

[Malice]

12/12/11

I'm pretty happy with this workout today. It was cold and rainy so I wasn't sure how strong I'd be so I just bundled up in sweats and got to work. Last week I got 130x13 on OH Press and I'm happy that today I got the same amount of reps with an extra 10#. It's still a ways from what I've done in the past but it's starting to come back so that's good. It calculates out to about a 200 lb. max so that's decent and my left shoulder didn't hurt at all so that's even better. I noticed that my sticking point is when my arms are about parallel to the floor which tells me my triceps are the weak point so I'll be doing a lot of tricep work since no doubt this will also be the weak point when I start benching with weight again.

I also got a little PR on the shoulder shocker by toughing out 11 reps on the last set with the 15 lb. dumbbells. I never would have thought 15 lbs. would EVER feel heavy but these non-stop circuits are brutal and I always end up with a crazy pump in my shoulders and traps.

Axle Overhead Press-333

65x10

85x5

110x3

125x3

140x13 (200)

Defranco Shoulder Shocker

25 lb. plate, 15 lb. DB's

10,10,11 (PR)

Band Pull-Aparts-green band

50,30,20

Shoulder Dislocations-red band

15,15,15

Grippers

Warm-up

Trainer x10,10

#1.5x10

#2x5

174# 3.5 (1" block set)

Got it down to 1/8" again but my wrist is so sore I couldn't really give it my all. The set hurt and the squeeze was torture so I think it's time to back off grippers for the rest of the year.

[Malice]

12/13/11

It's a beautiful rainy day today and between that and deadlifts it just doesn't get much better than that! Sumo Axle Deads felt great today but after the last set with 9 reps I just didn't have anything left in the tank to pull more than 385 conventional with the oly bar.

DO Axle Deadlifts-sumo-333

125x5

175x3

225x3

255x3

290x9 (PR) (376)

Last time I pulled on the axle I only got 270x5 so this is a HUGE PR for the axle reps.

DO oly bar conventional deadlifts

135x5

225x3

315x1

385x1

I was planning on going up to about 425 but I just had nothing left so I stopped here.

I ran out of time so I didn't get to do bent over rows or good mornings so I'll do them later this week.

[Malice]

I've been talking to Daniel a lot about bending over the last couple days and even though my right wrist is killing me I decided to knock out a blue nail reverse. It went down pretty easily even though I was afraid to hit it and just eased into it. I also looked closer to a piece of steel I got from Aaron over a year ago that I thought was 1/4x6 but was a beast (for me) and I've only ever been able to put maybe a half degree of wobble in. It turns out it's actually larger than 1/4 and is either 17/64 or 9/32 so I'll take it to work tomorrow and measure it with my calipers to see what it actually is. My goal for next year is to kill a red nail reverse so I can't wait for my wrist to get feeling better so I can start getting to some serious bending.

[Malice]

I measured the bar I got from Aaron and it's 9/32x6". Now I don't feel like such a puss not being able to kink it...lol. I wanted to see how much of a difference cutting stock down would make when bending reverse so I cut a blue nail down to 5" and bent it reverse to about 40 degrees. I don't have a protractor so I eyeballed it. It was definitely harder but that might be because it was hard to hold that short and was hard to bend beyond where I did because my hands were touching. Anyway, I then finished with a full blue nail and crushed it at the finish. Wrist felt goot but again I didn't really hit it just slowly squeezed into it.