Quest For Gripstrength Starting With Gripper #3

[Geralt]

Did an extra gripperworkout with light squats last Sunday, did some nice tsg work, Vulcan was depleted after that day before's session.

Monday April 14th: Pulling work, chinups, standing barbell rows and plate curls.

Tonight: Pushing work, narrowgrip benchpress lying tricepextensions and squats. Gripper IM#1 some speedcloses CCS. 3 x 3.

[Geralt]

Took some quality time today for training, since we had absolutely no plans today. Prove the best training days for me, no watching on the clock etc.

Ended up training for almost 3 hours (just took my sweet time for everything).

Core of my training:

Grippers (after warming up, up till IM#3) :

3 x 1 Deep set attempts on IM#3.5, all missed but the gap is getting smaller and smaller:

2 x 1 Ghp8 attempts:

The Ghp8 is rated @ 176lbs, the 3.5 is a little bit harder in the close so I guestimate it around 178 - 180 lbs.

Despite having do no closes this is necessary effort for working up to higher grippers. Felt strong in the crush.

BBE @ 169lbs 1 x 1 closed;

Several Ghp7 (155 lbs) and IM#3 closes from blockset (25mm / 20 mm).

In between the Ghp7 and #3 closes I performed gripmachine work at 5 cm / 50mm/ 1,9 inch handlewidth @ 100 kg.

This fatigued the crush of course very fast but made the sweep for the grippers feel very easy.

Open handstrength

Several dumbbell lifts with Fatgripz Extreme, up till 53 kg and holds with lighter weight. The FG open up a little on the handle so it's a solid thickhandle like this.

Wrists

Several standing wristcurls both flexors and extensors.

Leverwork;

Plate curls, managed one sloppy 15kg plate curl but was to tired for that. Several sets with 10kg. I don't have the right plates for this.

Going to look for a solution since I like them very much.

Also standing overhead presses with 65, 60 and 50 kg. These felt great, although 65 kg is my max now. Shoulders are also a weak point so step by step it's getting better. The less I do the better it seems to get.

In a nutshell.

[Anthony C.]

Damn geralt, you are awful close on the ghp 8 and 3.5. I personally think you're ready for 3 cert right now.

I noticed you said you deep set them. Got any tips for setting strength? That's definitely my weakness.

[Chez]

Very close attempts Geralt. Those grippers will go down soon. Keep working hard.

[Geralt]

Damn geralt, you are awful close on the ghp 8 and 3.5. I personally think you're ready for 3 cert right now.

I noticed you said you deep set them. Got any tips for setting strength? That's definitely my weakness.

Well, setting these grippers is also a hard task for me. Best things to keep an eye on for a good set in my experience is keeping the dogleg in place, so a solid thumbbase will come in handy and an explosive 'pressing in' of the other handle, combined with solid 'fingerwalking'. Setting just takes practise. I am still a believer for myself in choked gripperwork, because setting a hard gripper and put effort in the close are two different things. I am putting a choker now around my Ghp8 and IM#3.5 because I miss them by just a small bit. The set I practise with the Vulcan. Above level 16 this thing is a real pain in the neck to close, but it will pay you back in long term. And gripmachine work can do it. In the end, there are some many things that can prove beneficial, just as long as you keep at and not stray from your chosen path. Btw, when you see David Horne setting a big gripper and Steve Gardener, they pull the handle in because they keep the gripper in a different angle. For me that's an awkward position, but no hurt in trying everything. Maybe you can look that technique up and maybe it feels better for you.

I am working on getting ready for the cert also but as I said before, I don't want to waste everybody's time by going for the cert when it's a 'maybe I can do it' attempt. I want it to be a mathematical certainty when I go for the cert.

Very close attempts Geralt. Those grippers will go down soon. Keep working hard.

Thnx Chez, the other week I actually closed the Ghp8 from deep set. However I missed it yesterday because of the IM3.5 attempts. Two or more hard attempts mostly take away the sharpness for my 'top closes'.

Edited April 21, 2014 by Geralt

[1stCoC]

Gerald, just a thought. You seem like you are aggressive in your training.... fine ,but you mention of elbows ,and tennis type elbow problem stem from overuse stress by the leverage exercises you listed in your workout. Those exact things that I did in my earlier years wrecked my elbows. Please consider perhaps less grinding exercises.

[Geralt]

Gerald, just a thought. You seem like you are aggressive in your training.... fine ,but you mention of elbows ,and tennis type elbow problem stem from overuse stress by the leverage exercises you listed in your workout. Those exact things that I did in my earlier years wrecked my elbows. Please consider perhaps less grinding exercises.

Thank you for the reply Richard, well received. You are right on the aggressive part, I take my training serious. That said, I have indeed grinded out workouts which caused injuries. I know what causes some problems to show up now and than. It's difficult to continue making progress with certain training regimen, so sometime I need to trigger myself with more aggressive/harder workouts to push progress over that bump. This is not something I keep on doing. Mostly when in a good flow I train dropsets or multiple reps with semi hard grippers.

For guys who read this log: these are my biggest injury errors:

- Lots of (weighted) pullups in greasing the groove, this injury keeps playing up now and then and took the longest period to heal, as in years;

- Negatives with secret weapon;

- Training thickbar on everything. For my body thickbartraining is good, only in static holds and lifts. So not with curls etc. to stressful

on the joints and tendons.

Edited April 21, 2014 by Geralt

[slazbob]

Injuries and pesky pain is the down side of what we do. Do your best to stay healthy.

[Anthony C.]

Thank you for the advice on setting dude. I've been messaging people and just trying to gather what info i can on the matter. Just got a vulcan and man that baby is tough. As for the injuries, i too realized i can't do thick bar for everything. I try to really limit what i use the fat gripz on and go for quality now.

[Geralt]

Did some DL work yesterday evening since a long time.

Started off with high rackpulls, up to 507 lbs.

Than switched to regular DL work and some Sumo, just for the feel. Ended up with 170 kg / 375 lbs. I am weak in the start, so that's my focus.

However, I don't want the DL work to interfere with my grippers so I need to look when and how I am going to do my DL sessions again.

That said, I ordered a new #3 last week from CPW. I asked Matt to rate it but put some tape of the rating tag so that I don't see it.

Going to see where I am CCS wise with this gripper. When I can CCS it I am going to set things in motion for the certification. Going to take a good

rest when it arrives before attempting the test 'cert'.

[Geralt]

As cheerful everybody is on lots of PR's, I'm here on the friggin sh.t trail once again. Took lots of rest, started amped up tonight for grippers but couldn't get the CNS burning. Did sets of squats but the energy just wasn't there. I had to test some grippers to see if this was just mental and all but there just wasn't serious strength there. So didn't bother even trying CCS work. I quit. Couldn't bother to do other stuff. Best highlights were a BBE close (missed a 20mm blockset after that one) and some Ghp7 closes from parallel. This is not where I want to be when I am starting to think about going for the cert. Bloody strength is all over the place.

Got an IM#3 from CPW last week which I wanted to try for a test cert but I am keeping it the way I received it for now.

And so this quest continues.

Edited April 28, 2014 by Geralt

[Tom Scibelli]

As cheerful everybody is on lots of PR's, I'm here on the friggin sh.t trail once again. Took lots of rest, started amped up tonight for grippers but couldn't get the CNS burning. Did sets of squats but the energy just wasn't there. I had to test some grippers to see if this was just mental and all but there just wasn't serious strength there. So didn't bother even trying CCS work. I quit. Couldn't bother to do other stuff. Best highlights were a BBE close (missed a 20mm blockset after that one) and some Ghp7 closes from parallel. This is not where I want to be when I am starting to think about going for the cert. Bloody strength is all over the place.

Got an IM#3 from CPW last week which I wanted to try for a test cert but I am keeping it the way I received it for now.

And so this quest continues.

Don't loose hope Geralt, everybody has off days.

[Geralt]

As cheerful everybody is on lots of PR's, I'm here on the friggin sh.t trail once again. Took lots of rest, started amped up tonight for grippers but couldn't get the CNS burning. Did sets of squats but the energy just wasn't there. I had to test some grippers to see if this was just mental and all but there just wasn't serious strength there. So didn't bother even trying CCS work. I quit. Couldn't bother to do other stuff. Best highlights were a BBE close (missed a 20mm blockset after that one) and some Ghp7 closes from parallel. This is not where I want to be when I am starting to think about going for the cert. Bloody strength is all over the place.

Got an IM#3 from CPW last week which I wanted to try for a test cert but I am keeping it the way I received it for now.

And so this quest continues.

Don't loose hope Geralt, everybody has off days.

Thnx dude, I know, but I am sometimes totally in the dark on how the approach my body. It seems I'm just not made for strength feats but I will get this no matter what. The credit card set is a freakin' annoying set for me. An old injury is playing up on my 'strong' arm, which has nothing to do with the griptraining, but I got it from an awkward movement in daily life .Going to see a specialist again soon. Been there earlier and that helped. Probably will need more rest between training at this point. I sometimes have these moment where my hands feel perfectly strong but those are never the moments where it's possible to pull out some grippers and perform a session on the spot .

Edited April 28, 2014 by Geralt

[slazbob]

High reps will give you a boost, and get you out of a funk. No .2 and 2.5 ..have fun destroying them for a few workouts... It will do the trick.

[Geralt]

High reps will give you a boost, and get you out of a funk. No .2 and 2.5 ..have fun destroying them for a few workouts... It will do the trick.

Thnx for the tip brother. Maybe I keep the bow a bit to tensed sometimes. Most strength programs cycle back and forth and here I am expecting linear progression all the time. I'll be plugging away my regular training and take this into consideration. Appreciate it.

[slazbob]

High reps will give you a boost, and get you out of a funk. No .2 and 2.5 ..have fun destroying them for a few workouts... It will do the trick.

Thnx for the tip brother. Maybe I keep the bow a bit to tensed sometimes. Most strength programs cycle back and forth and here I am expecting linear progression all the time. I'll be plugging away my regular training and take this into consideration. Appreciate it.

You're welcome.

[Chez]

You will figure it out buddy. I think the most important thing to do is to have faith. When I have a bad day or hit a plateau I continue to grind out the workouts and think about how to overcome it for next time. Keep positive and good things will happen.

Edited April 29, 2014 by Chez

[Geralt]

Thnx Chez. Every now and than I have this kind of throwbacks and they can really irritate and dissapoint me. Everybody has throwbacks, I just sometimes don't follow my body very well. Everything is in right order and I go in tense and with high expectations to smash some CCS sets and then it's totally the opposite.

That said, that sh.t can really annoy me but that's because I am dedicated. Like Mike said on FB, there is a difference between fixated and focussed and he's right on that. That said, when the end is in sight and the next moment it slips through the fingers it's easy to get fixated.

But that's why I appreciate everybody's input here. So cheers and thanks for that guys.

[Geralt]

Did some finishing work yesterday since I was frustrated the day before which left an unsatisfied feeling. So attacked lighter grippers and did some open handstrength stuff together with narrow grip benching.

After warming up:

IM#2.5 several 25mm blocksets (Ghp block)

Vulcan level 14 25mm blockset doubles;

Vulcan level 12 25mm blockset reps;

IM#2 repwork.

Thickbarwork: Got an actual PR, lifted one handed a dumbbell @62 kg, with Fatgripz Extreme.

I don't focus on that kind of stuff but it seems I have some unmarked territory to discover with thickbar. I filmed it but forgot to show the weights on the other side of the dumbbell. It's no extreme big stuff but it's still a heavy lift. I need to work on my lefty, it's way behind in every aspect.

Rest of the week rest, maybe tomorrow backtraining if I feel right. Busy with lots of other stuff at work.

[anwnate]

Geralt Hulshof and myself will be contacting IronMind for our #3 certs on Thursday, June 26th, 2014. Publicly stating this. Two new Captains of Crush will be achieved in early July.

[Geralt]

Geralt Hulshof and myself will be contacting IronMind for our #3 certs on Thursday, June 26th, 2014. Publicly stating this. Two new Captains of Crush will be achieved in early July.

Path will be , the outcome can be or whatever result comes out, we will strive and work hard for making it happen.

[Royz]

Hey exciting news! Best of luck to both of you!

[Geralt]

Thnx guys!

Thanks guys, I need to find a good balance in resting up and keeping my MMS strength where it is.

The general approach will be be one week MMS focus (blocksets 20-25mm blocksets) and the other week wide set work.

During the week where I rest up I will do some very light CCS work for getting the feel more natural.

With the gripper sessions I will do other overall body strength training, in between gripsessions I am going to ditch other training to fully benefit recovery.

[David Mitti]

Geralt Hulshof and myself will be contacting IronMind for our #3 certs on Thursday, June 26th, 2014. Publicly stating this. Two new Captains of Crush will be achieved in early July.

YES!!!!

Go get it guys!

[Geralt]

First session of this 8 week cycle...doing my best! Focus this one on TNS work with IM#2.5 and finished of with some heavier grippers. Training wider sets with this. Next week heavy MMS work. And so it starts.

Also, good PR on open hand strength, lifted one handed dumbbell with Fatgripz Extreme, measuring 2.8 inch / 71mm in thickness. Lifted 62,7 kg. Got lift better but hands were shot because of grippers. FG's are not my main focus however. Good assistance work for now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RukYmIsS5A