Metacarpal Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 I've found that I need to training thick bar quite frequently in order to improve and this leaves little room for other facet of grip. Therefore, I am considering greatly reducing or eliminating thick bar from my training for several months My question: in your experience, can you at least maintain thick bar strength for several months at a time without directly training thick bar, but rather doing a good variety of other grip training (thin/thick pinch, grippers, hub, levering, finger curls etc)? Obviously the best way for me to know is just try something for a few months, but I'd like some outside perspectives before I commit one way or another. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 I'm in the same boat as you that when I want my thickbar to go up I need to train it with lots of volume. I found that I can at least maintain my strength if I hit some axle deadlifts once very 5 to 10 days when I'm focusing on other areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electron Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Great timing. Go talk to Matrixsleeper, as he is an experienced dude who is now going through this process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
climber511 Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 I've found that I need to training thick bar quite frequently in order to improve and this leaves little room for other facet of grip. Therefore, I am considering greatly reducing or eliminating thick bar from my training for several months My question: in your experience, can you at least maintain thick bar strength for several months at a time without directly training thick bar, but rather doing a good variety of other grip training (thin/thick pinch, grippers, hub, levering, finger curls etc)? Obviously the best way for me to know is just try something for a few months, but I'd like some outside perspectives before I commit one way or another. Thanks. What is "quite frequently" to you? And at what intensity level are you doing it? I can't imagine doing so much "thick bar" training that a well designed program doesn't have room for some other things in it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IROC-Z Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 I've found that if I train thick bar any more than once per week, I'll end up overtrained within a few weeks. On the flipside, I've also found that even taking one week off from thick bar will result in a loss of strength. Definitely not saying this is typical for everybody, but I've consistently found it to be the case for myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slazbob Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 Over training to me is only something that lasts a few weeks at best. Whenever I add a new exercise in to my routine, I notice a slow down or drop of strength in the exercises I've been doing. It's just an adaption to the new exercise... It doesn't mean you should stop what you've been doing- it just means your body is figuring out how to recover from this new exercise. I always get two steps forward one back. Real over training is like having the flu! And muscle loss. If you spiral down for weeks and feel horrible, and are getting injuries, then you need to cut back. If I only do grippers, I make gains pretty steady... When I add the wrist roller, the gains slow down, until my body accepts the new exercise I threw in...and so on. So it doesn't mean I shouldn't do both, it just come down to managing my progress. I think if you feel you lose your strength if you don't keep at the thick bar, it's just your body changing it's priorities... It's still there tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1stCoC Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 I changed all my training equipment involving bars or handles to fat bars when I was at "my best".I didn't do specific fat bar grip work I just included the bar as the tool used in my workouts( with two semi secret exercise derivations) to hold all my weights. Pinch and crush followed a normal cyclic grip "routine" of intensity and duration.IE: All my deadlift variation routines were done for a year on the fat bar only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metacarpal Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 I've found that I need to training thick bar quite frequently in order to improve and this leaves little room for other facet of grip. Therefore, I am considering greatly reducing or eliminating thick bar from my training for several months My question: in your experience, can you at least maintain thick bar strength for several months at a time without directly training thick bar, but rather doing a good variety of other grip training (thin/thick pinch, grippers, hub, levering, finger curls etc)? Obviously the best way for me to know is just try something for a few months, but I'd like some outside perspectives before I commit one way or another. Thanks. What is "quite frequently" to you? And at what intensity level are you doing it? I can't imagine doing so much "thick bar" training that a well designed program doesn't have room for some other things in it. Frequent is RT at 3x10, 3x/week, leaving about one rep in the tank each working set. For me, certain lifts (levering, IM hub) have "longevity" in that I can stop training them directly and come back months later with basically the same numbers. Other things (grippers) seem to require much more consistent training. Thick bar in general seems to really set back my gripper numbers. Even when I stop thick bar for a week or two, crush strength stays low even though my hands feel very fresh and strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metacarpal Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 I changed all my training equipment involving bars or handles to fat bars when I was at "my best".I didn't do specific fat bar grip work I just included the bar as the tool used in my workouts( with two semi secret exercise derivations) to hold all my weights. Pinch and crush followed a normal cyclic grip "routine" of intensity and duration.IE: All my deadlift variation routines were done for a year on the fat bar only. I recall that Andrew Durniat having a similar philosophy of using thick bar in a variety of different exercises to amass a large GPP phase for most of the training year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
climber511 Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 I've found that I need to training thick bar quite frequently in order to improve and this leaves little room for other facet of grip. Therefore, I am considering greatly reducing or eliminating thick bar from my training for several months My question: in your experience, can you at least maintain thick bar strength for several months at a time without directly training thick bar, but rather doing a good variety of other grip training (thin/thick pinch, grippers, hub, levering, finger curls etc)? Obviously the best way for me to know is just try something for a few months, but I'd like some outside perspectives before I commit one way or another. Thanks. What is "quite frequently" to you? And at what intensity level are you doing it? I can't imagine doing so much "thick bar" training that a well designed program doesn't have room for some other things in it. Frequent is RT at 3x10, 3x/week, leaving about one rep in the tank each working set. For me, certain lifts (levering, IM hub) have "longevity" in that I can stop training them directly and come back months later with basically the same numbers. Other things (grippers) seem to require much more consistent training. Thick bar in general seems to really set back my gripper numbers. Even when I stop thick bar for a week or two, crush strength stays low even though my hands feel very fresh and strong. Everyone responds to things differently - this is part of learning to know yourself. What works for one may be terrible for another. This is where a good training log can be invaluable - seeing those ebbs and flows and the root cause of them. Many things that seem to set you back in the short run may be setting you up for future gains given a little time - things are not always what they seem with training crossover type things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertmiller67 Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Idk guys just my .02 but I seem to be able to maintain my axle numbers by pulling only once a month. I do however do other thickbar work such as a RT or inch replicas work almost weekly. If I pull DO axle every week I feel overtrained... however I do some form of pinch 2x a week! Not to mention I do maintenance work & turn wrenches everyday... maybe thats it! ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metacarpal Posted March 16, 2014 Author Share Posted March 16, 2014 Based on what has been said here, I am definitely not going to eliminate thick bar from my training. From the responses, it seems people have a significant drop off in strength whenever they stop direct work for more than a few weeks. And whenever someone like Richard Sorin says thick bar was integral to his best performances, it does strengthen my resolve to always keep it going in some capacity. I am going to go from 3 days/week to a 1 day/week maintenance phase. Thanks for the input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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