Road To 1200

[KRC]

Damn dude, good lifts. My theory (note: I am NOT an engineer, lol) is that lighter handles at a given calculated poundage are actually *harder* than a heavier hammer at the same calculated poundage due to the longer lever arm and thus a more unstable hammer head. I never really have a problem with keeping the hammer parallel to the ground but the side to side wobble is where I get in trouble. Theoretically that increases as the hammer is further from your hand. So, I'd predict that 250 (25") on a 10lb hammer is good for at least 252-275 (20"-23") on a 12.

Thanks for the comments on my lifts. I'd like a little more out of the deadlift, but I figure that will come as I continue to drop weight. Still hoping to end up around 230-235 and stay there for a while.

Yeah it's gonna be great to compete with Clay at the grip comp. Word on the street is that he's going to be doing that USPA meet too... From what I hear USPA is one of the more reputable feds with a big presence in CA, you should get membership.

[KRC]

Been a while. Finally got the head and chest cold/flu everyone's been having. My years-long streak of not being sick is over

3.18.13

Squat: 2x5 @ 275

Bench: 3x5 @ 205

Deadlift: 3x1 @ 315

RT: 3x10 @ 75

V2: 2x10 @ Level 8

TSG Set: 1x1 @ GHP7

Gonna ease back into things this week, get some decent volume in next week and then rest for the PL Meet.

[KRC]

3.19.13

2HP: 3x10 @ 105

Hammer DL work

My regular pinch training (i.e. no more than 3 reps per set) was not going well so I decided to go for high-rep work for the 4 weeks leading up to the comp. Last night felt good.

[daniel reinard]

Why wasn't the 3 rep work going so well on pinch?

Btw, were you planning on doing a training day before the comp? I know Brett and Stephen wanted one. I'm pretty busy so can't plan one, unfortunately.

[KRC]

I don't think it was enough time with my hands on the device, really. I've never really found a hand position that felt really solid and i think that's due to just not enough reps. leading up to this week I only touched the 2HP once a week, and that was for very low volume. I think I'm still enough of a beginner that layin on the volume--on the device--is probably the best course.

Don't think the training day will work. Got the meet in 3 weeks and am starting getting ready for the move after that, but if I get some time and the urge I'll let those dudes know.

[daniel reinard]

Ok right on. I agree more reps sounds good. My better 2HP gains have always been had when doing it 2x a week. Once a week got me consistant near max but it didn't push it up any. That has been the case for any pinch work. Maybe try 2x a week.

[KRC]

Sounds good man. And congrats on some good lifts with what looked like far from ideal circumstances at the comp last weekend. 212 is huge man!

My plan for the rest of the year is to work thick bar 2-3x/week and pinch both 2-3x/week at medium intensity and volume after/during my regular lifting workouts, pretty much all the time as they are both big weaknesses for me. I'll throw in hammers or some other variable whenever I feel like it but not too intense.

Then, if a comp comes up do some sort of peaking program for like 6 weeks prior. That way I get a good deal of work year round on my weaknesses and build up to improve performance specifically on comp events. Sound good?

[daniel reinard]

Thanks man. Yeah sounds good. The good thing about if higher frequency becomes too much you can just skip a day to rest. Sometimes I have to skip some days when overtraining is setting in. It's no big deal if it's just one day in the weeks program, not like skipping a day when you only lift it once a week.

[KRC]

Right on. It'll be a nice change from higher intensity/low rep stuff too.

Emailed the meet director at Wild Iron today to clarify on some rules in the rule book and he wrote back that the "meet is full" which means it's not happening for me. This is the second time in a row that I've sent in $ and contacted the meet director after only to find out that sign up was limited without any advertisement of that fact on the USPA website. Once in September and now for a meet in April, both in the USPA. They should really make it clear that they are capping entrants. ....

There's another in the AAPF in Santa Barbara in June but it's literally three days before I drive across country so I don't think that's gonna happen, though if all my stuff is squared away I might do it.

I guess it's good that I get to put all my energy into focusing on the grip comp: time to win that damn sledge event!

Training from tonite:

Squat: 2x5 @ 285

OHP: 3x5 @ 115

Lat Pulldowns: 3x10 @ 100

V2: 2x8 @ Level 9

TSG: 1xF @ GHP 7

Someone who's casually into grip picked this up and gave it a squeeze, couldn't get it, asked if I could so I gave it a go and was maybe 5mm close to closing it? Funny how gripper strength really doesn't diminish that much; I haven't done hardly any gripper stuff at all in a long time.

Haven't pressed in ages and it felt weird. Lat pulldowns felt amazingly good on my upper back.

[Stephen Ruby]

Man sorry to hear that the contest didn't work out. Hopefully you can find a meet on the east coast and get that 1200 total.

Hopefully you can break some prs at the grip contest at least. Its going to be close with the hammer deadlift me you and daniel are close to same strength level. Yet I read daniels last thread and he had some stellar performances by just guys around his gym so could get cool surprise. I think thats going to be a fun event. I also need to focus on pinch and thickbar and have been busy and injured a bit so haven't done any since I last worked out with daniel.

Heard you re going to try high volume but read that others like singles etc, grip is definitely a strange sport to train for. My strength is all over the place since I'm new to it and don't know what works for me yet.

Edited March 21, 2013 by Stephen Ruby

[daniel reinard]

Sucks they took money and is already full. Makes you wonder how many people they screw with by doing that.

[KRC]

I should clarify that although both times the check was sent, it was either ripped up or sent back to me after I was notified that the meet was full.

grip is definitely a strange sport to train for.

I hear you loud and clear here man. I have done a LOT of experimentation for programming and technique, most of which I ended up abandoning. Just part of the game i guess. I think the relative lack of exposure grip sport has is a factor, plus the hands/forearms are totally different animals from other body parts. That's why the GB is such a great resource; it's pretty much the only place where guys that have been there before share knowledge. It is a lot of trial and error but that makes it fun, I suppose. You eventually find out what works for YOU.

[KRC]

3.27.13

Trainings kind of fallen off the rails lately. Not being able to enter the meet after prepping mentally for it threw me for a loop. Gonna have some fun in the gym, do different things and not put any pressure on myself until the Grip comp and get back into it after that.

Squats: bunch of sets of 3 and 5 with 185 and 225. Back was ornery. Played around with high bar and between high and low.

Incline Bench: lots of sets with 135. First time doing incline since high school.

V2: 3x8 @ Level 10

RT: 4x8 @ 82.5

[daniel reinard]

3.27.13

Gonna have some fun in the gym, do different things and not put any pressure on myself until the Grip comp and get back into it after that.

First time doing incline since high school.

Good idea man. Fiddle around, wing it, and have fun. I got my best gains that way, actually. I'm currently doing that now between the cactus comp and mine. Also just tried incline presses again for a change of pace. Kinda funny to see others on a similar track of shaking things up.

[KRC]

4.3.13

Incline: sets of 10 up to 1x8 @ 145

DB Row: 3x12 @ 65

Incline DB Press: 2x20 @ 30

Pulldowns: 3x12 @ 100

BB OHP: 3x12 @ 65

Band Tricep Pressdowns: 2x50

V2: 4x6 @ Level 11

RT: 5x7 @ 92.5

Lots of volume, lots of reps at low weights is way harder than it seems, lol. OHP at that insanely light weight was ... hard. Incline bench still awkward.

[KRC]

4.4.13

2HP: 3x7 @ 122.5

Bunch of hammer dl holds.

ME up to 14"

Not bad for having done basically nothing in two weeks I guess. I think 15 or 16" will be very close to/at my true max for this one. We'll see how the other three events affect the lift.

EDIT: not sure what happened to the YT embedding but there's the link.

[Stephen Ruby]

16 inches would be really solid man that lift looked easy for you and considering you have not been focusing it is solid.

I hit 21 inches today on the 10# and got a solid hover on 22 inch but forgot to measure that one out to height

I'm thinking that is around 16-17 inches or so on the 12 so it should be close I'm little sporadic on this lift at the moment since been trying more bending recently.

David wigren has done 25 inches on the 11lb hammer so I figure that is a possible goal for the 10lb for starters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArRhuYwoW2M

What number are you doing the holds with? Ive been trying out isos also with over my max and still feel it on my wrist even though its not moving at all I can drag it forward a bit kind of like walking with it trying to get it to hover even an inch. The holds I feel really help though daniel got me to try those the first time and I think those help a lot since you really feel the burn and helps with the endurance and control.

Edited April 6, 2013 by Stephen Ruby

[daniel reinard]

for the embedding if it doesn't work I edit the post with the bigger editor. click the light switch button in the top left to switch to code mode. The link line needs an extra set of [ ] brackets. Put the [ at the very front and the ] after the first url in the code line. might have to fiddle with it a tad. I've only done it once but got it to work. I think the above is what I did.

[KRC]

4.8.13

Deadlift (off 4" Blocks): 5x2 @ 275

Snatch Grip DL (from floor): 2x8 @ 115

DB Row: 3x10 @ 70

DB Shrugs: 2x20 @ 85

Up Down Planks: lots of reps

RT: 8x5 @ 95

V2: 5x6 @ Level 11

Trying to acclimate myself to this kind of high rep training because starting next Monday I will be working with Brandon Lilly, running a cycle of his Cube Method. Really, really pumped; I've heard great things about results people have been getting, and Brandon seems like a smart guy with a ton of experience.

Snatch DL's were basically impossible to get into proper position for (i.e. flat back), but I did what I could and the weight was very light. I imagine my mid-back and hamstrings will be inconceivably sore tomorrow.

[KRC]

Stephen, I posted a super long response about hammer technique but it was right around the time when the GB was down and so it never got posted apparently. Are you measuring from the front (pointer finger side) or rear (pinky finger side) of your palm? Either way good lifting man. How's your training going now that we're so close to the comp?

Gonna be a real fun event, and hopefully we'll see more stand-alone hammer events come up in comps nationwide.

4.10.13

Floor Press DE: 8x3 @ 145

Incline DB Press: 3x15 @ 40

Band Pressdowns: 100

DB Mil Press: 2x10 @ 30

DB Flies: 2x10 @ 20

Abs

Still using light weights to feed into the program's true beginning next week. My forearms are so short that a floor press basically = a regular bench press in terms of where the bar hits the chest. During the floor press It's maybe a little bit off the chest, and that's with basically no arch. First time doing flies since high school, lol.

V2: 4x5 @ Level 12 Rep-PR

RT: 3x5 @ 97.5 both hands.

Things felt unusually good on the RT so I went for a PR.

1 - 97.5

1 - 107.5

1 - 117.5

1 - 127.5 (2.5lb PR)

1 - 132.5 (7.5lb PR)

Fx3 - 137.5

Pretty surprised here. I think high-volume (as opposed to high-rep) is treating me very well here. Doing sets of 10+ wth a low intensity weight gave me a 5lb PR that was a struggle over 6 weeks, opposed to much higher volume, but mostly sets of 5-8 yielding a 7.5lb PR over that previous PR, and over less time. Thick bar is such a huge weakness for me, gonna keep RT 3x/week after my lifting indefinitely.

[daniel reinard]

Congrats on the PRs man!

[Stephen Ruby]

Nice job on the pr's man more of those to come this year for sure. How do you like snatch deadlifts? I thought of working them in since the weight will be lighter and I'm still weary of doing deadlifts since I threw my back out late last year a bit-doing powercleans though-
Also will be interested to hear how the cube program works for you it looks very promising and heard a lot of lifters seeing huge results from it.

I was measuring from the front of the hand with a rubber band I used to measure from the back until they decided to measure from the front those were my best lifts so far. My thickbar/wrist strength is doing well-compared to earlier- gripper is little weaker then earlier this year due to minor overuse problem but I"m still around 165ish range pretty comfortably-based on my elite-. I have neglected two hand pinch a bit but have worked single hand both wide and narrow and few two hand sessions. It should be fun in general I'm just hoping to learn and have a good time and put some numbers up to improve for next year where I want to compete at Aaron's contest and Daniels again. More excited to see what everyone else can do especially clay-first grip contest in several years and is one of the best grip athletes ever- and daniel -since I think he is going to surprise a lot of people at nationals-

Yeah it would be cool to have more wrist type hammer events in general I think they are a really reliable way to test wrist strength which gets overlooked in a lot of contests. I think strong wrists are important for overall lower arm development. Just working these deadlifts has improved both my DO bending and DU bending. I hit prs on both of those a week ago or so even with a banged up left shoulder. These sledge deadlifts will be something I continue to do for sure.

Edited April 11, 2013 by Stephen Ruby

[KRC]

4.15.13 - CUBE W1 DL Reps

Deficit Deadlifts (1"): 2x5 @ 255

Block Pulls (4"): 2x3 @ 275

SSB Narrow Stance Squats: 3x8 @ 185

Walking Lunges (no GHR as written): 2x20

Back Raises: 50 total

Abs

Way harder than it looked. Hobbled out already very sore.

Never used a SSB before; that thing is weird, really, really hits the upper back. Was planning on doing one last grip session before the comp Saturday but bailed due to elbow and wrist pain in my RH that has been getting progressively worse.

[KRC]

4.17.13 - CUBE W1 BP Max

Floor Press: 5x2 @ 195

Flat Bench: 3x10 @ 165 (last set written as AMAP, failed right at 10)

Lat Pulls: 3x12 @ 100

Band Pressdowns: 100

DB Shrugs: 3x15 @ 90

Military Press: 3x12 @ 75

Abs

Another deceptively tough workout. Failed at the last prescribed rep for both the flat bench and military press. It's crazy pressing after all that other work.

[KRC]

4.19.13 - CUBE W1 SQ Speed

Dynamic Squats: 8x3 @ 225

Rev. Band Squat: 1x2 @ 295

Olympic Squat: 5x5 @ 155/175/195/215/235

Leg Press: 4x15 @ 225

Reverse Hyper: 3x12 @ 70

Pretty rough going today. Hams and especially glutes were still very sore today. Got a little pain in my back above my right glute which is especially sore.

Also, tried my shoes again for the first time in a few years which I think was a mistake. Shoes (at least this brand) just aren't for me.

Eating big tonite and resting for the comp tomorrow.