Quest For Gripstrength Starting With Gripper #3

[anwnate]

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

Nice work! Loved the coffee clip! My first training vid will be a while coming...after the plumber gets out of here, 2 more rooms get painted...maybe Thurs? Not holding my breath.

[Forever]

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

Great Vid Geralt...your on your way. TNS 2.5 and #3 block work. Keep going. You and anwnate are on your way to becoming some #3 COC's

[Geralt]

This morning 3 x 3 CCS filed IM#1 speedcloses.

- stretching -

Did some pushups yesterday evening, ab wheel work and stretching with elastic bands. I did a lot of boxsquats last weekend and my legs felt pretty sore for the last days. Apart from the overall training on gripperday I am really going to cut back general training now I focus on this. I think that will pay off.

[Geralt]

Focus on MMS strength today.

After warming up to/with Ghp7 @ 155 lbs:

Several BBE @169 attempts, most closed/but just, MMS closing strength a bit down but that's ok since I will wave back up. (I hope)

Choked BBE for focus on crush purely, several high effort closes;

Vulcan level 18 choked to parallel, several attempts;

MM2 replica blocksets;

Some IM#3 blockset work.

Light shoulderpresses and light armwork. In between gripperwork Box squats. Not on full strength today but tomorrow and the day after that not much room for training. Next week a lot a walking with the kids since they have a yearly four day march from school. So that's pretty much everything I'll be doing with the kids besides work.

Next week TNS work, weak after that choked #3.5 and Ghp8, then TNS work, etc.

Btw, RoyZ and I have planned a grip get together soon, so it will be nice to have some fun together with training.

Edited May 10, 2014 by Geralt

[Geralt]

Maybe training tomorrow. Busy week with four days of evening marches with the children. Next to work that was enough.

Unfortunately my neighbour passed away this week because of cancer. She leaves besides her partner and stepson, two lovely young daughters behind.

Heartbreaking. She's at home now and I said goodbye this morning with my girls. I have absolutely no desire to train whatsoever today.

[Royz]

Maybe training tomorrow. Busy week with four days of evening marches with the children. Next to work that was enough.

Unfortunately my neighbour passed away this week because of cancer. She leaves besides her partner and stepson, two lovely young daughters behind.

Heartbreaking. She's at home now and I said goodbye this morning with my girls. I have absolutely no desire to train whatsoever today.

That's tragic. That would leave anyone without desire to train. Good luck Geralt.

[Geralt]

Maybe training tomorrow. Busy week with four days of evening marches with the children. Next to work that was enough.

Unfortunately my neighbour passed away this week because of cancer. She leaves besides her partner and stepson, two lovely young daughters behind.

Heartbreaking. She's at home now and I said goodbye this morning with my girls. I have absolutely no desire to train whatsoever today.

That's tragic. That would leave anyone without desire to train. Good luck Geralt.

Thnx Roy. This afternoon however I did some work around the house and since my hands felt good and we're planning a day from away home tomorrow I figured why not give it a try with grippers only.

Grippers done in between painting my gardenshed.

After warming up:

Choker work: Several IM3.5 attempts and holds;

Ghp8 attempts and holds;

BBE attempts and holds.

Ghp7 1.5" blockset, 155lbs;

IM3 1.5" blockset which I barely missed, this is a new 3 from CPW rated at 153 lbs;

Both grippers feel very stiff!

Vulcan level 10 3 x 3 CCS;

Vulcan V1 level 3 (lowest springsetting with gold spring)

1 x 15 TNS;

1 x 10 TNS

1 x 7 TNS

These are very hard for me because of the immense handle width! The pointing finger and middle finger really have to do hard work.

Left hand is getting better very slowly, got a IM3 @149lbs closed deep set for the first time again.

Ended lefty with IM1 (filed) 1 x 50 TNS.

Maybe tomorrow some assistance work for thumbs and wrists.

Edited May 17, 2014 by Geralt

[Geralt]

Ok. Short update. I am still here, doing my work. I cut most training back to just some lighter work when I feel up to it. Enough work to be done around the house so I have to make choices. It's comes at the right time since I am concentrating on grippers now. Doing heavy all over body stuff just costs to much time at this moment and to much recovery time. Regarding gripwork, training once a week for good gains is the max for me, I think every 8 - 10 days would be even better.

My right arm injury feels better but is still there. It's the same injury I had when I got into grip back in 2008. Seen a plastic surgeon last monday and he thinks it has to do with my shoulder and bodyform, maybe even going back to how my hip position is now. Monday I am going to see a chiropractor. I can't do heavy bicep work, but pressing etc. is no problem. It's a trapped nerve I think.

Yesterday some tricep-and shoulderpressing / abs. Sunday grip maybe.

[Geralt]

Grippers only today, was a bit shot because of lots of gardenwork yesterday.

Medium grippers:

Several sets of 20mm blockset doubles with Ghp7 @155 lbs;

Few sets of 20 mm blockset doubles with IM#3.

Vulcan level 14, 1.5" blockset 1 x 2 with overcrushes.

Had a talk this week through FB with Theo Burggraaff, the first Dutchman who certed the #3 in 2005 I believe.

He sent me a friend request and he's a very nice gent. Talked a little bit, he now lives in Bali, Indonesia. He isn't into grip anymore but maybe will

start with it sometime again. He mentioned that he couldn't remember what he exactly did for the cert, but pointed out that he worked his pinky and ringfinger with blockweights, which should aid in CCS work.

With that in mind, I fumbled a bit today with inverted gripperwork. I must say, it's a hell of a difference to keep a gripper closed this way, so purely the last two fingers. Did several sets of 10, 6 and 4 with the Vulcan with orange spring. I choked it to parallel so not to have to much trouble and fiddling with the sets.

I can recommend this for sure because it definitely works those fingers more than the regular gripperwork. I am going to incorporate this for sure.

Ended with a few thickbar dumbbell holds with Fatgripz Extreme @ 45 kg.

Edited May 25, 2014 by Geralt

[Geralt]

Visited a chiropractor this afternoon, she really popped my limbs. Shoulder, elbow and back got a good treatment. It seems a nerve is trapped on several places in the right shoulder and arm and it will take a few sessions to clear this. I hope this helps to get rid of my lower arm pain when flexing my bicep.

Tonight some pushing work.

[Geralt]

Quickie tonight.

Tonight squats, working 4 x 10 @ 180 lbs

Light dumbbell rows, they felt good, seeing my right arm nerve entrapment. Think it's getting better.

Grippers filed IM#1: 2 x 3 Speed sets CCS;

filed IM#2: 3 x 3 MMS speedcloses with overcrush.

[Geralt]

Light squats after warming up, 5 x 3 speed squats, gripperwork in between light bench and dips.

Grippers after warming up (not maxing out with 'topgrippers' for a short time)

IM#3 (149 lbs) 1 x 1 close mms;

IM#3 (153 lbs) 1 x 1 close mms;

MM2 replica (app. around 163 lbs) 3 x 2 closes 21 mm blockset (filmed only the last set for fun. Speed got a little out of the closes already)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlgktO5bdPA&feature=youtu.be

IM#3 (149 lbs) 1 x 2 closes 21mm blockset;

Inverted grippercloses, several sets with Vulcan w. orange spring and IM#1 holds. It's a bit figuring out how to really work the ringfinger and pinky with also placing the handle in where it should be when doing a wide set with the gripper the normal way.

Thumbscrews, several sets.

Some light 76mm rolling handle lifts. Got a little uncomfortable with my right shoulder, it's playing a bit up after last treatment at the chiro.

Gripmachine, several sets, working up to 100 kg with 55mm / 2.12 inch or so width between the handles.

Hands were toasted.

Deadlifts, for the first time since months again, ended with 3 x 5 @ 150kg / 330 lbs.

Sat. 21th of February, Roy Wolfs will meet up with me for a nice griptrainingsession. Looking forward to it!

Edited May 31, 2014 by Geralt

[Royz]

Hey dude FEBRUARY?

Let's just keep it at 21th of june .

Looking forward to it too. First dutch miniature grip get together!

[Geralt]

Hey dude FEBRUARY?

Let's just keep it at 21th of june .

Looking forward to it too. First dutch miniature grip get together!

How the hell did I type that? Haha yeah let's keep it at that lol

[Geralt]

@Home after a few days campingtrip with the family. Enjoyed it very much. I am continuing to take a break from training until at least wednesday. I can use the recovery. See where I am at then. Had some chats with Nathaniel Brous and we both agreed that doing a lot at this point isn't going to help. So it's recovery. Next session will be a intense one nonetheless. After that I will take rest again until my meet with Roy from the GB here so we can have a nice session.

Also, ordered a BB Grandmaster (rated) and a Megalodon from Cannon Powerworks. Should be here somewhere end this week / beginning of next week.

The BB Grandmaster may come out on the low side, so that's good for concentrating on 70 - 80% range blocksetwork. I need a gripper somewhere between IM#2.5 and IM#3. This one should fill that gap nicely. It will help my lefty (off hand) for nailing the #3 for good. Closed the #3 offhand but want it to be solid.

Anyhow, it is nice in hindsight seeing it all coming together. There was a time I could only dream of closing the #3 with my strong hand and now I am working on certing the damn thing and I also will be consistently closing it offhand. It's a path with many many many downward-spiralling but consistency will get me there. And some nice people around for motivating me now and than.

Edited June 9, 2014 by Geralt

[Geralt]

Grippers after warming up (all closed unless noted otherwise)

(Squats sets up to 245 lbs in between)

IM#3 (153lbs cpw) 1 x 1 wider than parallel;

MM2 replica 1 x 1 22mm blockset;

BBE (169lbs cpw) 2 x 1 MMS, but no paused sets. Need to work on that.

IM#3 not rated, guessing around 150 - 152 lbs 1 x 4, 1 x 3, 1 x 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0K3PvTpe-Q&feature=youtu.be

Inverted gripper closes with pinky and ring fingers only, varying from IM#1 tot choked Vulcan with orange spring. Several sets .

Thumbscrews varying spring settings with choked Vulcan.

After that narrow grip benching and some tricepwork. My treatment with the Chiro has made my right shoulder a bit sore / painful so I don't want to aggravate that.

[Geralt]

Trained in the precinct since a long time. Need to start warking again with a DL/Squat program. I just want it to interfere with my grippers since that is going better. Choices choices haha

Deadlift (need to get used to the thicker bar, my 30 mm bar is slightly thinner, the 50mm bars feel more sturdy) conventional:

60kg 1 x 10;

100kg 1 x 8

120kg 1 x 6

150kg 3 x 3

Hamstringcurls, 4 x 10 with increasing weightstack. Weight conversion no idea how it translates but the resistance felt good.

Legextensions 4 x 10, switched the Hamstring and leg extensions as supersets.

Calves machine 3 x 10, really tensioning the calves in the end.

Seated cable row 4 x 10 really focus on lat activation;

Seated pull downs behind the neck 3 x 10;

Biceps isolation machine, this is where my right arm is playing up so quit that.

Took two light kettlebells and did leverwork with these for the wrists.

Got two new grippers today! Silvis Megalodon and 137lbs BBGM from Cannonpowerworks. Last one a good workinghorse for blocksetreps and a nice step up for my offhand. I can close my 149lbs #3 on a good day offhand but the BBGM will make for a good workinggripper. Good good good. Now to leave them hanging on the wall till next saturday :-(

[Geralt]

Squats

bar 1 x 10;

50kg 1 x 10;

70kg 1 x 10;

90kg 2 x 10;

80kg 1 x 10;

70kg 1 x 10.

I know, but it gave me a good pump. Got to save some energy for Saturday lol

After today's last chiro session I tried chinup. Took it really easy.

Chinup's ladder 1,2,3,4,5,6,5,4,3,2,1. (BW 231 lbs / 105kg);

Benchpress speedwork with narrow grip

50kg 1 x 10;

60kg 1 x 10;

70kg 1 x 6

80kg 3 x 3 as explosive as possible. Shoulder started hurting a bit. Bit that's a muscle thingy. Need to massage that out.

[Geralt]

Yesterday I had a grip get together with Roy Wolfs here from the Gripboard. He came over to Apeldoorn by train and I picked him up.

We had a nice chat in the sun at my place and after a few of my wife's 'hamburger of the house' specialties it was time for some training.

First training together always is a bit of scanning of what works for both sides, but that went fine.

Roy made some notes for himself, I didn't so I'm writing down what I can remember. Roy brought some nice implements like the rolling thunder and the IM hub, and some of his grippers. I had never used the RT and hub before so it was nice to experience how those feel.

We started with benching and Roy soon out-benched me, since my right arm injury just hurts to much at shoulder level. Chiro helped a bit but it's still there. I am looking for a good way to overcome this. this really holds me back, because my left arm had no trouble with more weight, whereas my right arm just stayed a bit behind during pressing. Obvious to see Roy has more lifting experience, he's a strong guy. Funny to see someone my size on my benchsetup which looks ridiculously small with a 1.96mtr tall guy on it lol

Roy can't do grippers because of his injury (yes we're a bit sad actually) so I started off with grippers. Only can say I started off too soon with the working grippers. Went up with CCS up to BBGM (137 lbs) which I closed fairly easy, but I just should have done a few more closes with that one. In between bench I tried several 3's CCS but missed them all by quite a bit. This is a bit of a letdown for me since I need to some closes under my belt just to know I'm ready for certing. This annoyed me very much. Closed some #3's with smaller sets but didn't feel like doing much gripperwork at that moment. anymore.

On to the plateloader, Roy was very curious how that one would feel. The plateloader felt surprisingly good for him without pain so we stacked some more weight and played around with the handle width. I ended this one with a one handed 100kg time hold which felt surprisingly 'easy'.

In between we did some other training like barbell rows and tricep work. Roy took out his Rolling thunder and we played around with this one.

We went up in weight quite quickly, maybe a bit too soon and I hit a wall with 80 kg, 75 kg was a good lift. I believe Roy pulled 80 kg finally.

We switched to the IM Hub. Strange thing to get the feel in. I got 20 kg and Roy lifted 15 kg finally, it depends a bit on how we placed the thumb. Need to look into that what is allowed and what not. Funny thing however.

We than switched to 2HP with the Europinch set @49/50 mm. Hands were clearly getting tired so we only got air under 75 kg but no full lift.

We used some sports tape around the thumbwebbing for protection. My setup isn't finished like I would like it to be so in future I want to look for wooden spacers.

Than used Roy's pinchcurl block (homemade) but it caused to much pain when curling with my right arm. Damnit! Roy went up to 10 kg which feels quite heavy with this thing! Also a good implement to remember making for myself.

Ended finally with Roy's wrist roller which we mounted on a barbell on my squatstands. Finished off the arms completely. Need to make a good one for myself also. What a great finisher.

Talked a lot, did a lot and most importantly had a lot of fun. Gripper wise I clearly wasn't focused enough and went through the motions to quickly. That said, I had a blast that day.

[Anthony C.]

Great write-up, geralt. Sounds like each of you took a lot of knowledge from this training session. Good to see you guys trying different and new equipment out to see what feels right and what doesn't. For someone using the RT for the first time, that was quite the pull. You'll probably be able to knock off the crushed to dust challenge fairly easy if you applied direct training to it!

[Geralt]

Thnx dude.

Roy had done some work already with it in the past and got 80kg while he hadn't done any training with it lately. 90 kg (CTD) should be very much doable, although little increases in weight can make the setup stay nailed to the ground. When fresh I should get 80 - 82,5 kg for sure. That said, the RT has quite a hefty pricetag I must say. CCS's just weren't to be meant yesterday. Nothing to do about that. Seeing the work that we did yesterday it's always a bummer to know that you have to wait at least 5 or 6 days with direct gripwork (for me preferably 8 or 10) till the hands have had a decent recovery to dust off and try again.

[Royz]

Hey Geralt,

Great write up. It was a fun day. I thought it interesting to see that we were pretty evenly matched with most gripstuff, beside the crushing obviously. But since you haven't done much direct training for thickbar or pinch I think you have more natural ability for this stuff. Once you're cert is behind you it should be very interesting to see what you can really do!

[Chez]

Sounds like you guys had a good session. Training sessions are a great way to stay motivated and learn from another gripster. Good stuff.

[Geralt]

Ok. Deadline Nathan and I agreed stops here. Nathan and I signed up for the #3 cert. Tried a few CCS's today, since last Saturday went a bit dissapointing, I wasn't concentrated enough and rushed in. Since today was our deadline, I decided to see where I stand now, although I know my hands aren't completely rested up since last Saturday. I got some nice work in, although I missed my CCS attempts by a hair.

My following logs will be more detailed, but today it came down to:

After warming up R (IM#1 up till MM2 replica mms)

Unrated #3 (feels in the higher range compared to my rated ones) CCS x 1, missed by a hair;

Rated #3 @ 149 lbs, 2 x 1, CCS, missed by a hair, second attempt dogleg slipped .

This is okay, since CCS needs 100% recovery and I wasn't at that level yet.

BBGM @ 137 lbs CCS x 1 closed.

IM#3 1.5" blockset, closed. Easy. Blocksets 1.5" fall in a complete other hand positioning of the gripper for me. CCS is basically TNS for me.

BBGM several 25mm blocksets.

Several choked inverted grippercloses with Vulcan for pinky and ring finger.

Lefty coming along nicely, although I am going to split gripper workouts in left and right from here. Lefty needs more concentration.

Working: MM2 replica negative holds and BBGM @137lbs blockset singles with overcrush. this is a good workin gripper!

Slight problem: Right arm has this nagging nerve entrapment which doesn't prove a problem with crushing, but it does with curling. going from specialist to specialist for that. Working on it. Tried some very light reverse curls, this worked ok, I discussed this with my chiro.

Concreto: Applied for the #3 certification with Ironmind! I am aiming on planning my cert after the vacation season over here.

September 6th will be my 37th birthday. I hope I can certify on that date. Of course depending on who will be my referee etc.

This will be a good date to work for.

Nathaniel, thank you for your motivational help and support. I wish you a good cert! I will follow you soon this year!

[Anthony C.]

Yeah geralt! You got it man, you've been training for this for a long time and you're gonna get it, I know you will. Good luck with healing up that injury, too. Sometimes all you need is the right doctor.