Grip Strength - Once You Got It Does It "keep"

[Bill Piche]

Discussion point: Once you get to a "high level' of grip strength, does it tend to "stay" even or "return" quickly with not training as hard, etc.

Thoughts?

[Joefrey]

My opinion is : like when you loose weight (fat), if you loose quickly, you're more subject to regain quickly. When you gain strength quickly, which is often the case when you're novice, then with no sustained training, you loose quickly. Whith years of training - I would say from the first time I close a COC3 - I can now grab any of my COC3s and close it without a warm-up. I think it's a question of tendons, ligaments, joints and bone strength which take more time to strenghten than muscles. Once it's done, you don't loose so much strength if you don't train for let's say 1 or 2 months.

Edited November 26, 2010 by Joefrey

[Bill Piche]

My opinion is : like when you loose weight (fat), if you loose quickly, you're more subject to regain quickly. When you gain strength quickly, which is often the case when you're novice, then with no sustained training, you loose quickly. Whith years of training - I would say from the first time I close a COC3 - I can now grab any of my COC3s and close it without a warm-up. I think it's a question of tendons, ligaments, joints and bone strength which take more time to strenghten than muscles. Once it's done, you don't loose so much strength if you don't train for let's say 1 or 2 months.

I agree and this is what I have experienced. I have been under the bar since 1979 and it's fairly easy to keep quite a bit of muscle without a HUGE effort. My static strength is much greater than dynamic now on exercises like bench.

[GatorGrip]

BRING IT ON Mighty Joe - Regardless if there are slight disagreements we will get to see what has consistently worked for yourself and others over the span of time. Then we can pick and choose to taylor our programs and techniques to fit our own needs to reach our personal goals in the strenth arena.

[Hubgeezer]

I keep meaning to say WELCOME BACK GATOR

[Magnus]

For me, grippers don't. Everything else does. I can still close a #3.5, but not rep it like I used to. But, now I can lift the Inch, Fatman, etc, so things have more or less flopped. Seems like manual labor favors the open-handed end of things.

[knyaz]

tendons, ligaments, joints and bone strength seem to stay strong if they are strong...

as for me

I can still close the 2.5 even though ive been slacking with grip and grippers, that gripper strength basically stayed the same

my deadlift strength is still there, as well as kettlbell movements like the BUP and holds

Blobs strngth seems to fall but with some training that can be regained as well

I think that for most people once their GRip is Strong it can stay that way even with light training.

[bencrush]

Discussion point: Once you get to a "high level' of grip strength, does it tend to "stay" even or "return" quickly with not training as hard, etc.

Thoughts?

I'd say grip strength definitely "stays" for quite a while in some cases. I just tested my gripper and Mouse Pinch (2HP) strength after a 4-month layoff (no grippers at all in 4 months, and no other grip training) and had pretty positive results. My gripper strength went down significantly (169lb Super Elite on the 25th was my max righty - down from an all-time max of 185lbs righty) but my 2HP (Mouse Pinch) actually went UP 7lbs from my all-time PR. This was completely turned around from what I expected. My pinch is always weak, so I figured it would lose the most percentage. My grippers always feel pretty good - even when I'm "off" I was closing my 169lb Super Elite regularly. I think my strength will "return" very quickly on grippers. I don't think I lost much or any on 2" vbar either because I tested that too.

[twoism82]

"muscle memory" and all that I suppose. It's much easier to regain what you had before than to gain what you didn't have before. I remember somebody remarking (sorry no source apart from interwebs!) saying that he lifted weights for ten years and then had a two year break. he said it took him three months after that to get completely back to where he was. one of the things that keeps me motivated is that it looks like even if you do lose it, it's much easier to regain again than to start afresh.

so for the topic i'd say that you may lose it (slowly), but if you got back on it i don't think you'd have a lot of trouble getting back to where you were within reason.

[The Mac]

What happened to the extra comments I wonder? Any information can be good infomation.

[Rick Browne]

What happened to the extra comments I wonder? Any information can be good infomation.

I would not be so concerned about them. The thread will more than likely find it's own way......

[Bill Piche]

This thread was a simple one related to all lifting not just grip. It was not intended to start a debate although some seem to always want to debate.

By the way, I'd just like to point out that I don't read other sites as I don't have time.

[climber511]

Does strength stick? I never really take any large chunks of time off - I just change focus is all so I really can't answer what happens with a long layoff from working out except when ill or on vacation but my vacations are usually harder than my workouts. I think we develop a sort of "base" strength that sticks well - from there we can build up to a sort of "peaking phase" that is not sustainable over long periods of time. Of course that stair steps up over time as training continues over the years.

[ox3782]

I have not trained grip in 15 months.I could could close my 180lb 3.5 before the layoff and now my max is 165 BB Elite.My strength also returns very quickly once training resumes.Another factor to consider is my job I always use my hands.

[anson]

Discussion point: Once you get to a "high level' of grip strength, does it tend to "stay" even or "return" quickly with not training as hard, etc.

Thoughts?

Yes, this has been my experience, with some brief fine tuning you can get back to where you were years earlier. I think grip strength has a lot to do with neurological efficiency, and connective tissue strength.

[daniel reinard]

Connective tissue can takes weeks to recover when muscle takes days, and while it takes longer it also keeps longer. I'm sure that plays a big role in hand strength. I'm also a believer that once you stay with training long enough you can walk away from it and come back to that level much easier than someone who say only trained for 6 months and stopped.

An example from me would be I rock climbed for about a year, walked away from it for 3 years and when I got back into it, it took maybe 2-3 months to get back to that level. My tendons took quite a shock and took those last 2 months to get used to it again, the muscles took maybe the first 2 months to get back.

[Forever]

I have not trained any grip whatsoever in a little over 3 years and trained at most 2 years, am closing my #3 easier than ever ...took a few months to get it back, I guess it's best to say "when you are strong, you are just strong"