Jones1874 Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 For the last 5 months the only exercises ive been doing for lower arms are curls with a homemade ironmind stacker and reverse curls. about a week ago i tried my COC #2 just for the fun of it, and closed it with ease, cold. what a surprise that was! i havent picked up a gripper in months. when i was training with grippers it took me about 3 months to close that same #2, and even then after a warm up, sometimes i would get it and sometimes i wouldnt. i love doing curls with my homemade stacker, i think its a great exercise that every grip enthusiast should be doing. not only have i improved my wrist strength a LOT since i started doing them, but my crushing strength has gone up alot aswell. i was aware that my finger flexors were seriously being tested in this position, but i didnt really stop to think if it would carry over to crushing grip.. as for numbers, their probably weak to those around here, but im certainly pleased with them. my best so far is 9kg for 11reps (left hand) and 7kg for 15reps (right hand). id be pleased when my wrist strength at that angle when i can rep 10kgs with both hands, but im always going to strive to do more. had to post this to get some feedback and reasons why the gripper strength has shot right up from doing this exercise. thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANCRUSHER Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 For the last 5 months the only exercises ive been doing for lower arms are curls with a homemade ironmind stacker and reverse curls. about a week ago i tried my COC #2 just for the fun of it, and closed it with ease, cold. what a surprise that was! i havent picked up a gripper in months. when i was training with grippers it took me about 3 months to close that same #2, and even then after a warm up, sometimes i would get it and sometimes i wouldnt. i love doing curls with my homemade stacker, i think its a great exercise that every grip enthusiast should be doing. not only have i improved my wrist strength a LOT since i started doing them, but my crushing strength has gone up alot aswell. i was aware that my finger flexors were seriously being tested in this position, but i didnt really stop to think if it would carry over to crushing grip.. as for numbers, their probably weak to those around here, but im certainly pleased with them. my best so far is 9kg for 11reps (left hand) and 7kg for 15reps (right hand). id be pleased when my wrist strength at that angle when i can rep 10kgs with both hands, but im always going to strive to do more. had to post this to get some feedback and reasons why the gripper strength has shot right up from doing this exercise. thanks. I am getting obsessed with plate curls,my goal is the 20 kg plate and my best lift is a 15 kg plate with 2 kg attached with magnets. I think they have carryover with TSG because put a lot of stress not only on wrists but on fingertips also. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jones1874 Posted July 4, 2013 Author Share Posted July 4, 2013 That's a good effort right there. I'm not training with singles or doubles or anything like that. I'm aiming for 5-20 reps. I think it will build up the tendons and ligaments better, but each to their own.. different goals etc. As it stands, I don't see much point now in training grippers. not unless you want to get good at them. The carryover from plate curls seems to good to waste energy on using grippers specifically. You get a lot if bang for your buck with plate curls.. finger strength, wrist strength and crushing strength. There's a reason why Brookfield got so strong with the basic stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba29 Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 For the last 5 months the only exercises ive been doing for lower arms are curls with a homemade ironmind stacker and reverse curls. about a week ago i tried my COC #2 just for the fun of it, and closed it with ease, cold. what a surprise that was! i havent picked up a gripper in months. when i was training with grippers it took me about 3 months to close that same #2, and even then after a warm up, sometimes i would get it and sometimes i wouldnt. i love doing curls with my homemade stacker, i think its a great exercise that every grip enthusiast should be doing. not only have i improved my wrist strength a LOT since i started doing them, but my crushing strength has gone up alot aswell. i was aware that my finger flexors were seriously being tested in this position, but i didnt really stop to think if it would carry over to crushing grip.. as for numbers, their probably weak to those around here, but im certainly pleased with them. my best so far is 9kg for 11reps (left hand) and 7kg for 15reps (right hand). id be pleased when my wrist strength at that angle when i can rep 10kgs with both hands, but im always going to strive to do more. had to post this to get some feedback and reasons why the gripper strength has shot right up from doing this exercise. thanks. Great...could you post a video using your homemade device? I can't invision what your you're doing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedd Johnson Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 Could have something to do with antagonistic balance - the balance of strength between opposing muscle groups. The flexors from the plate curls and the extensors and pronated elbow flexors on the back of the forearm from the reverse curls. Maybe before you were out of balance and now that you are more in balance, everything is working better in the system. Antagononistic balance isn't my term. It's been around for a while. But I always encourage my guys to keep this balance of strength in mind, thus my constant harping on people about doing extensor work and reverse curls in just about all my products. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jchapman Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 You also might have been overtrained on grippers and the layoff allowed yout time to recover and get stronger with them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoggoth Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 You also might have been overtrained on grippers and the layoff allowed yout time to recover and get stronger with them. This is my thought as well. You were capable of closing a #2 when you stopped with the grippers. Continued strength training with some specific grip/wrist exercises and came back and closed the #2 again. Grip strength doesn't dissipate much, especially if your getting other non-specific stimulus. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Mitti Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 Awesome work Alex! Would definitely like to see some footage! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andurniat Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 Good work. I am a true believer in developing strong general strength (GPP) and then 6-8 weeks out from a competition begin your event specific (SPP) training. This format has served me well so far. I believe too many gripster stay focused on singular aspects and are then over-trained. We will be better served to broaden our base and train our grip in a focused but general manner and only focusing for specific tasks 1-2 times per year for 6-8 weeks at a time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightyjoe Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 Good work. I am a true believer in developing strong general strength (GPP) and then 6-8 weeks out from a competition begin your event specific (SPP) training. This format has served me well so far. I believe too many gripster stay focused on singular aspects and are then over-trained. We will be better served to broaden our base and train our grip in a focused but general manner and only focusing for specific tasks 1-2 times per year for 6-8 weeks at a time. PERFECT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jones1874 Posted July 4, 2013 Author Share Posted July 4, 2013 (edited) For the last 5 months the only exercises ive been doing for lower arms are curls with a homemade ironmind stacker and reverse curls. about a week ago i tried my COC #2 just for the fun of it, and closed it with ease, cold. what a surprise that was! i havent picked up a gripper in months. when i was training with grippers it took me about 3 months to close that same #2, and even then after a warm up, sometimes i would get it and sometimes i wouldnt. i love doing curls with my homemade stacker, i think its a great exercise that every grip enthusiast should be doing. not only have i improved my wrist strength a LOT since i started doing them, but my crushing strength has gone up alot aswell. i was aware that my finger flexors were seriously being tested in this position, but i didnt really stop to think if it would carry over to crushing grip.. as for numbers, their probably weak to those around here, but im certainly pleased with them. my best so far is 9kg for 11reps (left hand) and 7kg for 15reps (right hand). id be pleased when my wrist strength at that angle when i can rep 10kgs with both hands, but im always going to strive to do more. had to post this to get some feedback and reasons why the gripper strength has shot right up from doing this exercise. thanks. Great...could you post a video using your homemade device? I can't invision what your you're doing. its pretty straight forward really, im using a homemade ironmind stacker to do curls with. its just a way for me to microload the movement. heres a picture of the stacker: http://thumbnail.image.rakuten.co.jp/@0_mall/goldsgym/cabinet/ironmind/ir-stacker.jpg?_ex=300x300&s=2&r=1 Could have something to do with antagonistic balance - the balance of strength between opposing muscle groups. The flexors from the plate curls and the extensors and pronated elbow flexors on the back of the forearm from the reverse curls. Maybe before you were out of balance and now that you are more in balance, everything is working better in the system. Antagononistic balance isn't my term. It's been around for a while. But I always encourage my guys to keep this balance of strength in mind, thus my constant harping on people about doing extensor work and reverse curls in just about all my products. i see what your saying. but back when i was doing gripper work i was doing extensor work. mainly reverse curls. after a long layoff i decided to start doing curls with the stacker, and ive only been doing reverse curls for again for about 1 month now. i just find it odd that a few months a go a #2 was hit or miss, now after doing these curls i can close it cold.. with much more ease. ill have to have a proper workout with grippers again to see where im at. i might surprise myself again. You also might have been overtrained on grippers and the layoff allowed yout time to recover and get stronger with them. i was only using them once a week. You also might have been overtrained on grippers and the layoff allowed yout time to recover and get stronger with them. This is my thought as well. You were capable of closing a #2 when you stopped with the grippers. Continued strength training with some specific grip/wrist exercises and came back and closed the #2 again. Grip strength doesn't dissipate much, especially if your getting other non-specific stimulus. i see what your saying.. i know ive been doing other exercises, but its the carryover that im most surprised with. these curls seem to have given me a really good strength base. i like the fact that they strengthen the wrists and fingers aswell, so your getting more gains for your efforts. Good work. I am a true believer in developing strong general strength (GPP) and then 6-8 weeks out from a competition begin your event specific (SPP) training. This format has served me well so far. I believe too many gripster stay focused on singular aspects and are then over-trained. We will be better served to broaden our base and train our grip in a focused but general manner and only focusing for specific tasks 1-2 times per year for 6-8 weeks at a time. good point. just carry on doing what works for you. after my experience with this particular exercise, i think id be better off doing this all year round rather than working on grippers all year round. i am still very much a novice but its just my opinion.. just thought id share my experience with others so they can get some good gains aswell. i can tell by the replies that what im saying might be in question, but the only way youll notice a difference is if you start doing them and havent done them before. if youve already been doing them then you cant add them in to see if what im saying has any truth. Edited July 4, 2013 by alexjones234 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andurniat Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 I think your findings are excellent and feel you are on the right track. You felt and noticeable improvement in wrist and finger tip strength, this is invaluable to your overall grip strength improvement. Likewise, training grip year round with only 1-2 testing/competition peroids is what I feel is the way to go. Strength training guidelines we have learned from squats/deadlift/bench training can be appropriately applied to grip training with positive results. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
climber511 Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 A broad base supports a tall building. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jones1874 Posted July 4, 2013 Author Share Posted July 4, 2013 I think your findings are excellent and feel you are on the right track. You felt and noticeable improvement in wrist and finger tip strength, this is invaluable to your overall grip strength improvement. Likewise, training grip year round with only 1-2 testing/competition peroids is what I feel is the way to go. Strength training guidelines we have learned from squats/deadlift/bench training can be appropriately applied to grip training with positive results. Solid post. I definitely agree with what your saying. For anyone else whos reading and finds what I'm saying a bit skeptical, I'm sure there's an article out there written by Eric milfield and he explains how working with block weights and laying off grippers made his hands much stronger and his gripper strength shot up. same principle really.. there's a reason why construction workers and grafters have strong mitts and a good base of hand strength. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdckr Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 Solid post. I definitely agree with what your saying. For anyone else whos reading and finds what I'm saying a bit skeptical, I'm sure there's an article out there written by Eric milfield and he explains how working with block weights and laying off grippers made his hands much stronger and his gripper strength shot up. same principle really.. there's a reason why construction workers and grafters have strong mitts and a good base of hand strength. Did you mean Eric Godfrey (Bender on the gripboard)? It was Eric's page that originally got me interested in training grip strength. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Ruby Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 (edited) How strict do you guys do them? I tried it the other day and did it with a 45lb plate for a few reps with my right hand but not sure if I have to go super slow I just curled it at the same speed I do a dumbbell-can't really do curls well with left hand due to lingering rotator cuff injury I got a few months ago-. I honestly felt it more in my fingers and thumb though. My gripper strength right now is the lowest it has ever been though Edited July 6, 2013 by Stephen Ruby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jones1874 Posted July 7, 2013 Author Share Posted July 7, 2013 Solid post. I definitely agree with what your saying. For anyone else whos reading and finds what I'm saying a bit skeptical, I'm sure there's an article out there written by Eric milfield and he explains how working with block weights and laying off grippers made his hands much stronger and his gripper strength shot up. same principle really.. there's a reason why construction workers and grafters have strong mitts and a good base of hand strength. Did you mean Eric Godfrey (Bender on the gripboard)? It was Eric's page that originally got me interested in training grip strength. no, eric milfield. if thats how you spell his name. i had a look but i couldnt find the article. How strict do you guys do them? I tried it the other day and did it with a 45lb plate for a few reps with my right hand but not sure if I have to go super slow I just curled it at the same speed I do a dumbbell-can't really do curls well with left hand due to lingering rotator cuff injury I got a few months ago-. I honestly felt it more in my fingers and thumb though. My gripper strength right now is the lowest it has ever been though i dont do them super slow either. i do them at the same speed id curl a dumbbell aswell. perhaps it didnt bump up my gripper strength all that much, but i am pretty sure the curls were doing something. i do them to fail. anything from 5-20 reps. i was surprised that i went from barely closing it when warmed up, to closing it with ease when cold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Sharkey Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 How strict do you guys do them? I tried it the other day and did it with a 45lb plate for a few reps with my right hand but not sure if I have to go super slow I just curled it at the same speed I do a dumbbell-can't really do curls well with left hand due to lingering rotator cuff injury I got a few months ago-. I honestly felt it more in my fingers and thumb though. My gripper strength right now is the lowest it has ever been though doesn't surprise me at all that you can curl a 45# plate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Alex, I don't doubt you've had good carryover. I do think that the higher your base level of gripper strength goes over time, the less carryover you will have to the grippers. I think that level starts around #2.5. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdckr Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 Solid post. I definitely agree with what your saying. For anyone else whos reading and finds what I'm saying a bit skeptical, I'm sure there's an article out there written by Eric milfield and he explains how working with block weights and laying off grippers made his hands much stronger and his gripper strength shot up. same principle really.. there's a reason why construction workers and grafters have strong mitts and a good base of hand strength. Did you mean Eric Godfrey (Bender on the gripboard)? It was Eric's page that originally got me interested in training grip strength. no, eric milfield. if thats how you spell his name. i had a look but i couldnt find the article. That link I gave you was what used to be his main page that leads to this article, which sounds like exactly what you're describing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jones1874 Posted July 8, 2013 Author Share Posted July 8, 2013 Solid post. I definitely agree with what your saying. For anyone else whos reading and finds what I'm saying a bit skeptical, I'm sure there's an article out there written by Eric milfield and he explains how working with block weights and laying off grippers made his hands much stronger and his gripper strength shot up. same principle really.. there's a reason why construction workers and grafters have strong mitts and a good base of hand strength. Did you mean Eric Godfrey (Bender on the gripboard)? It was Eric's page that originally got me interested in training grip strength. no, eric milfield. if thats how you spell his name. i had a look but i couldnt find the article. That link I gave you was what used to be his main page that leads to this article, which sounds like exactly what you're describing. ye thats the one! not sure where i got eric milfield from then.. i think i need to invest in getting some myself. i suppose 2x4's is a cheap way to go about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 ye thats the one! not sure where i got eric milfield from then.. i think i need to invest in getting some myself. i suppose 2x4's is a cheap way to go about it. 2x4s are a terrible way to go about it. Eric's blockweight article explained why they are useful and so effective for building wide open hand strength. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba29 Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 Alex, I don't doubt you've had good carryover. I do think that the higher your base level of gripper strength goes over time, the less carryover you will have to the grippers. I think that level starts around #2.5. can you elaborate your thought on this? not sure i am following. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bencrush Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 Alex, I don't doubt you've had good carryover. I do think that the higher your base level of gripper strength goes over time, the less carryover you will have to the grippers. I think that level starts around #2.5. can you elaborate your thought on this? not sure i am following. What are you not following? It's only my opinion. Based on a decade of my own grip training and helping others with their grip training. But still just my opinion. If it goes against what you believe, just discard it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba29 Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 Alex, I don't doubt you've had good carryover. I do think that the higher your base level of gripper strength goes over time, the less carryover you will have to the grippers. I think that level starts around #2.5. can you elaborate your thought on this? not sure i am following. What are you not following? It's only my opinion. Based on a decade of my own grip training and helping others with their grip training. But still just my opinion. If it goes against what you believe, just discard it. not sure if your opinion has been attacked on here in the past but that is not what i was doing. i sincerely did not understand what you wrote and i sincerely was hoping you could clarify. as i re-read my post i wonder why it prompted your response. there was nothing inflammatory about it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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