Malice's Grip Training Ver. 2.0

[Malice]

Here's the week 1 progress video. You can't tell by the angle but it got down to about 1/4". That's about 1/16" less than last week but nowhere near my best this week. On Wednesday I got it down to about 3/16" in the workout but I can never replicate it at home since my hands get a much better warm up at work.

[macaz]

Nice. That is kind of like where I am with my 2.5 (@146). Some Day soon It will happen.

[Malice]

I went to Play it Again Sports to pick up 5 used10's to start working on lifting but they only had new ones so I got them. I'll take them to work tonight and knock off the coating and start adding that to the thumb regimen. I'm hoping I'll be able to pull 4 with chalk cuz I got 3 with sweaty hands and the coating on at the store.

[Malice]

4/18/11

Grippers

Goal gripper attempt with 3.5

#3(20mm block)-5x1-all closed righty, 2 closed lefty

#2.5(overcrush)-5x13-20 seconds

Stared off horrible with only getting the 3.5 to about 5/16" righty which is getting progressivly worse for some reason. Lefty was down to 7/16" which is exactly the same as when I started. Working with the #3 was better than Wednesday and Saturday though. Managed 2 handle grinding singles lefty so that's good. Overcrushes with the 2.5 went great. I got 15 seconds both hands first 3 times before my trap/delt on one side or the other would cramp. On the 4th lefty handles started bouncing at 13 seconds. For the last one I had to wait about 15 minutes to get some work done so I want for broke and got 20 seconds righty and 18 seconds lefty! I think I want to try a penny pinch one of these days with the 2.5.

Thumbs

Pinched 3 dimes for four sets of 10 seconds. I couldn't lift 4 dimes cuz the outside two just flopped out on the bottom. I did notice however, that the hubs on the plates sticks out further than the outside so none of the plates will lie flat against each other. Maybe that's part of the issue.

Now that I'm home from work I'm going to order a 2.5 from Wade so I can file it down.

[Malice]

4/20/11

Supposed to be a day off grippers so I can get a good shot at the 3.5 on Saturday after some squats but decided to try it tonight anyway once and got it down to about 1/4". I'm happy with that considering how my hands felt.

I also took my 5 dimes in to grind down the hubs so they would sit flat against each other in order to help me lift them. The outer edges as well as the flat side are out of whack too so they don't sit perfect but I still am not strong enough to pull 4 dimes loose yet. I taped them together to try it and barely got air lefty and close to full deadlift righty so I have an idea where I'm at strength wise with it right now. When I left work I did farmers carries with 3 dimes in one hand and 2 in the other. Went half way to the car then switched hands. I'd say about 10 seconds each hand with 3 dimes.

Got home and decided to work stub and shallow hub. I finally pulled over 40 lbs. with the shallow hub which puts me less than 10 pounds below my goal for August so I'm super excited about that. I'm still a ways away with the stub but got a 2.5 lb. PR both hands so that's good progress.

[barbe705]

to work on the 5 dimes you could use a piece of pvc to hold them together rather than tape. it's easier to set up and break down. to move from 3 to 4 you can put 3 dimes on with a 5 in the middle. it makes 35# and the thickness is close to 4. then when you want to go from 4 to 5 you can do the same again to get 45#. once you've got the 5 dimes on pvc you can work it loose. the pvc makes life a lot easier since you can cheat it up. and, if you put pony clamps on it they don't go flying everywhere if you drop it.

[Cannon]

to work on the 5 dimes you could use a piece of pvc to hold them together rather than tape. it's easier to set up and break down. to move from 3 to 4 you can put 3 dimes on with a 5 in the middle. it makes 35# and the thickness is close to 4. then when you want to go from 4 to 5 you can do the same again to get 45#. once you've got the 5 dimes on pvc you can work it loose. the pvc makes life a lot easier since you can cheat it up. and, if you put pony clamps on it they don't go flying everywhere if you drop it.

Good idea! I've been close to 5 dimes for years but never managed a full lift. I bet this would get me over the hump.

[Malice]

to work on the 5 dimes you could use a piece of pvc to hold them together rather than tape. it's easier to set up and break down. to move from 3 to 4 you can put 3 dimes on with a 5 in the middle. it makes 35# and the thickness is close to 4. then when you want to go from 4 to 5 you can do the same again to get 45#. once you've got the 5 dimes on pvc you can work it loose. the pvc makes life a lot easier since you can cheat it up. and, if you put pony clamps on it they don't go flying everywhere if you drop it.

This is what I plan on doing. I just used the tape as a quick deal as a quick fix deal at work to see what would happen.

[Forever]

4/20/11

Supposed to be a day off grippers so I can get a good shot at the 3.5 on Saturday after some squats but decided to try it tonight anyway once and got it down to about 1/4". I'm happy with that considering how my hands felt.

I also took my 5 dimes in to grind down the hubs so they would sit flat against each other in order to help me lift them. The outer edges as well as the flat side are out of whack too so they don't sit perfect but I still am not strong enough to pull 4 dimes loose yet. I taped them together to try it and barely got air lefty and close to full deadlift righty so I have an idea where I'm at strength wise with it right now. When I left work I did farmers carries with 3 dimes in one hand and 2 in the other. Went half way to the car then switched hands. I'd say about 10 seconds each hand with 3 dimes.

Got home and decided to work stub and shallow hub. I finally pulled over 40 lbs. with the shallow hub which puts me less than 10 pounds below my goal for August so I'm super excited about that. I'm still a ways away with the stub but got a 2.5 lb. PR both hands so that's good progress.

Nice, good solid pr's

[Malice]

My new 2.5 arrived from Wade today so I set up the camera to get a video of me opening the package and TNSing it both hands. Unfortunately the battery died about 8 seconds in and didn't get much of anything...grrrrr

Other than a little sharper knurling than my other CoC's it's nothing special. I can't tell if it's easier or harder than my other one but it doesn't matter since I'm going to file it for btr overcrushes.

[Malice]

4/23/11

Thumbs (GripTopz)

Half Coin-Did several pulls and managed to get 5 lbs. more than the first time I used it. It's been at Dave's the last 2 weeks so I haven't had a chance to try it since then. I traded the stub for this the other day and we'll trade for something else next weekend.

Shallow Hub-several pulls up to my max righty and got a 2.5 lb. PR lefty.

I'm definitely starting to find my groove with these and so far I'm less than 10 lbs. away from my goals for August on 2 of the 3 GripTopz events that will be at WSH.

I also did a farmers walk with 2 dimes each hand from the car to the Grip Pit in the house. I'll hit some TTK later cuz right now my daughter wants me to cuddle with her since she's sick and has an ear infection. Cuddle time comes before grip time

[Malice]

Tried to get in a little cardio thday but, well you can see how it went...

http://i.imgur.com/D1NCG.gif

[Cannon]

Tried to get in a little cardio thday but, well you can see how it went...

http://i.imgur.com/D1NCG.gif

That is laugh-out-loud funny!

[Malice]

4/25/11

Greased the groove with grippers, shallow hub and half coin.

[Malice]

4/26/11

Grippers-grease the groove

#2.5(25mm block)-5x1

GripTopz-grease the groove with 85% of max

Shallow hub-5x1

Half coin-7x1

Got the rubber for my 2hp so hopefully I'll get it all cut out tomorrow.

[bencrush]

Good work Russ! I submitted the idea to a business owner friend of mine (does grip equipment) that he ought to carry grip equipment like Grip Topz and then lease it out to people. Short-term for contest promoters and long-term for training.

[Cannon]

Here's the week 1 progress video. You can't tell by the angle but it got down to about 1/4". That's about 1/16" less than last week but nowhere near my best this week. On Wednesday I got it down to about 3/16" in the workout but I can never replicate it at home since my hands get a much better warm up at work.

Man, you're quick with that block. Great attempt. I should practice that more. When I have to place anything between the handles, it's like trying to parallel park a Suburban. Not smooth.

[Malice]

If I'm not quick with the block on the 3.5 my hand would explode...lol. It can backfire sometimes though. At WSH last year on one attempt with the 20mm block with the Vulcan I actually squeezed before pulling the block out and was like WTF?! Luckily I still managed the close but it was definitely a blooper moment.

[Malice]

4/27/11

Grippers-grease the groove

#2(TNS)-5x1

GripTopz-grease the groove with 85% of max

Shallow hub-5x1

Half coin-5x1

Also did a few experimental pulls when I finished cutting the inserts for my 2hp (58mm). I only have some 10 lb. oly plates so did a few singles with 95 lbs. then did a few singles with 60-70 lbs. one handed.

[mfin77]

Those griptopZ look fun, how do u like them..I am looking into buying them

[Malice]

Those griptopZ look fun, how do u like them..I am looking into buying them

I like them cuz they give different events to train thumbs each workout and I REALLY need to strengthen my thumbs A LOT. It keeps the workouts from getting monotonous doing the same thing.

[Malice]

4/30/11

Decided to do squats before this weeks 3.5 attempt.

Squats

135x10

165x10

185x10

210x20

Dave used my phone go get vid of me trying the 174 lb. 3.5 and I got it down to 1/16"!!!!! Unfortunately I can't find where the damn video is in my phone Definitely a great gripper day today!

Took the new, slick 2hp over too so we could experiment with widths. With all the inserts in it's 58mm and I managed a PR of 163 lbs. Most I've ever previously pulled was 160 lbs. last year at WSH. Pretty good on a new, unseasoned device. It was a little wide and uncomfortable on my hands so we narrowed it up and for me 52mm was more comfortable but I was tired and only got 163 up about half way. I'd say that's a good width for me though. We also did some 2" vbar and I got 250 lbs. but didn't have any more today.

After the workout we knocked back a protein shake and started talking about bending. I've only ever done a 1/4x6 HRS and couldn't budge a G2 or 1/4x6 CRS so Dave gave me some tips and wrapped up a G2 for me. Visualizing what he said as I was preparing for a failed DO attempt while thinking there's no way steel can bend like this, it bent so fast my knuckles actually slammed together . Then he wrapped up a 60D and I DO'd it almost as easily . He then wrapped up a 60D cut down to 5 1/2" and I managed that eventually but it was a bitch and a half. It was kinda rough on the hands during the crush down. I'm addicted AGAIN to bending so we are talking about buying a big box of 60D's to work volume after our Saturday workouts. Once we can slam them easily every time we will start working 5.5" 60D's and only hit max bends once in a while. I still have the piece of FBBC 1/4x6 I got from Aaron last year that I was never able to even kink but my hands/forearms are smoked so I'll save that for down the road when I'm more consistent with bending. Bending definitely hits the forearms in a different place than any other grip stuff I've done so far.

[bencrush]

Sounds like a heck of a workout Russ! Very strong on the 174lb gripper and you'll hammer it shut very soon.

[Malice]

Thanks Ben. The squats before seemed to help. I've never done that before grippers but I'm a believer now.

On a side note...I'm happy to report no DOMS at all from the squats yesterday! I credit doing a crap load of bodyweight squats during the week to get my legs prepared for the abuse.

[Malice]

5/2/11

GripTopz

Stub-several pulls to a huge 10 lb. PR

Half Coin-several pulls to my max and got air with an extra 2.5 lbs.

Grippers

Goal attempt(3.5)-about 3/16" righty when pinky slipped off, aboyt 1/4" lefty. Happy with this!

MM1 replica-164 lbs.(MMS)-4x1-one close each hand.

3.5(choked to 5/8")-5x1-all closes righty, none lefty

Thumbs

TTK(negs)

Full range(12.5 lbs.)-5x1

50-70mm(15 lbs.)-5x1

I'm VERY happy with the huge 10 lb. PR on the stub considering I didn't have it to work with last week! This puts me 6 lbs. below my goal for August so I see a new goal on the horizon. I'm happy with the 3.5 attempt today but the workout sucked cuz my left forearm got achy quick where I was feeling it after bending. I'm thinking definitely another day of rest from now on. On TTK I decided to do part of the workout with a full range of motion and the second half with a narrower range of motion to work the width I'll be using for 2hp. It felt good so I'm going to try this for a while.