Volko Krull Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 I just spent the last hour visiting , brainstorming and, listening to the wise words of one of the strongest cats that ever tread the planet. Donnie Thompson with his 3000lb. record power total record was reflecting on training , the wisdom of Louie Simmons ,and giving back to the sport he loves so much. He in his own words said he was hampered by his one minded devotion to training and fully admits that is what it took to reach his one minded goal.. Now ,he helps others to understand the interrelation of , food, training,recovery , and "having a life. "Always a golden moment when he visits. That's a talk I would have enjoyed listening to. Indeed, that sounds like it would make for a tremendous radio/video podcast; as in a casual interview in front of two cups of coffee. That would be awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANCRUSHER Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Gym training is the base for strength.Nothing can replace barbell movements. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Pizzo Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Gym training is the base for strength.Nothing can replace barbell movements. ???...there's a lot of things in this world that are heavy and need to be picked up daily by "working men" like myself...and they are all more difficult to lift at the same weight than a barbell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh O'Dell Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Man this thread is depressing.. every time I check the board i seed that dam title (Why i'm not fond of grippers anymore) You no what i love the springy bastards and thats why i come to the board, because of my grip family. Not to here how much people Dread this and that. If you don't like em or you think they don't make you stronger fine. Im gonna Keep closing bigger and bigger grippers till i die.. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ultrazls1 Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 What is TNS? What is GOPD? About the gripper hate. I would guess the reason most would rip on something is simply because they are not as good at it as they want to be. On the weightlifting. Carrying a filing cabinet up some stairs may be harder than doing say a set of lunges with the same weight. But gym training is the most realistic and efficient way to train the muscles on a regular basis IMO. Doing both and being an active well rounded athlete is the best bet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Sharkey Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Having lived life both as fat-and-not-strong & then as pretty-decently-strong, I will say life is easier having a modicum of strength. I agree with those that said strength is also very useful in danger type situations. That being said you probably don't need an 800# DL. That's purely for sport sake. I can also think of many situations where a strong grip is useful, and whether you got that with TSG's or an oLy bar is probably immaterial. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mephistopholes Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Hey... What are we even talking about anymore? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Sharkey Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Same thing we're always talking about: Grippers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony C. Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 To grippers! *raises beer* 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Sharkey Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 May your set be strong & your close swift. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beef_supreme Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Why I'm Not Fond Of Grippers Anymore... or any less Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshW Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 I personally have found no carry over from grippers to anything. I admit it has thickened up my hand and is good for impressing people and for a hobby. My left hand is 10kg weaker on grippers but can do everything my right hand can with bending, thickbar, pinch and Olympic lifting. My left hand is actually a lot stronger at certain aspects of grip especially thickbar. I guess I might notice a bigger change once I get past 150+lb#3. my 2 cents.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshW Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Also, after trying all aspects of grip training I have become much wiser on what actually transfers to real life applications from my own opinion. For example, thick bar training, one carry over is to contact sports as I can now grab onto the opponents wrist a lot stronger and firmly making it unable for him to get my hand off of him..thats a carry over from that aspect of grip. Even with jobs such as policing, grabbing the wrists of criminals for example will assert dominance and insure that it reduces the chance of escape in the time it takes to put handcuffs on for example. Pinch training carry overs would be manual jobs, where carrying slabs and blocks single handed or with both hands using the pinch technique for efficiency are made a lot easier through training this saves the trouble of asking another person to help you carry them the traditional way. There is others but that is just the first one that popped into my head. Wrist strength through levers and bending has many carry overs. Strong wrists allow you to open tough jars in the kitchen which the wife or girlfriend cant seem to undo(I assumed it was wrist strength with that as you are twisting the lid off). I guess if you are working with cars or anything to do with metal and a piece of metal becomes warped and bends, having strong wrists allows you to possibly bend it back into place without ditching the metal..possibly a metal piece that goes in a car or something anything that involves you bending something back into shape or out of shape to fit the desired outcome. Correct me if I am wrong but this is just my ideas 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jones1874 Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 Also, after trying all aspects of grip training I have become much wiser on what actually transfers to real life applications from my own opinion. For example, thick bar training, one carry over is to contact sports as I can now grab onto the opponents wrist a lot stronger and firmly making it unable for him to get my hand off of him..thats a carry over from that aspect of grip. Even with jobs such as policing, grabbing the wrists of criminals for example will assert dominance and insure that it reduces the chance of escape in the time it takes to put handcuffs on for example. Pinch training carry overs would be manual jobs, where carrying slabs and blocks single handed or with both hands using the pinch technique for efficiency are made a lot easier through training this saves the trouble of asking another person to help you carry them the traditional way. There is others but that is just the first one that popped into my head. Wrist strength through levers and bending has many carry overs. Strong wrists allow you to open tough jars in the kitchen which the wife or girlfriend cant seem to undo(I assumed it was wrist strength with that as you are twisting the lid off). I guess if you are working with cars or anything to do with metal and a piece of metal becomes warped and bends, having strong wrists allows you to possibly bend it back into place without ditching the metal..possibly a metal piece that goes in a car or something anything that involves you bending something back into shape or out of shape to fit the desired outcome. Correct me if I am wrong but this is just my ideas heres a question for volko krull.are you going to do any sort of crushing exercise apart from grippers? ive read that training with manilla rope , towels, and sandbags (i think) can work well. also, wrapping a towel or leather strap around a dumbbell and using pliers to do curls or holds with can work well. john brookfield wrote about the rope aswell as the pliers. JoshW. do you still train grippers anyway? or do you do other exercises for crushing grip? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Volko Krull Posted March 22, 2014 Author Share Posted March 22, 2014 heres a question for volko krull.are you going to do any sort of crushing exercise apart from grippers? Actually, I do not. As I've said, look anywhere in the outside world and pretty much all you will see are situations in which an isometric grip of the hand is needed. I would even go so far as to say (and this is probably where I start sounding too radical for most people on here) that hard training with thickbars and wide pinch-implements, i.e., for the sake of simplicity, blockweights, makes everything else superfluous. There are many other things that are fun to train and that help mold your hands into well-rounded instruments, but I think one could just as well go without them provided one trained on thickbars and blockweights ardently enough. What I mean to say is that a guy who can comfortably lift the Inch and the Blob with both hands will probably be as strong as you can get in respect to real-life situations without having extensive experience with such situations, irrespective of whether that guy has ever trained with TSGs or not. . As always, just my two cents. best regards, Volko 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh O'Dell Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 I think grippers make my hands stronger than anything els 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshW Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 (edited) I haven't dropped them completely as I am doing them maybe once a week but after training other aspects of grip I've come to prefer bending and thick bar and prioritize them over grippers. Edited March 22, 2014 by JoshW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CANCRUSHER Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 Gym training is the base for strength.Nothing can replace barbell movements. ???...there's a lot of things in this world that are heavy and need to be picked up daily by "working men" like myself...and they are all more difficult to lift at the same weight than a barbell. Kaz,james handerson,paul anderson,magnus samuelson,big z,brian shaw,the barbell was their base of strength. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Pizzo Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 Gym training is the base for strength.Nothing can replace barbell movements. ???...there's a lot of things in this world that are heavy and need to be picked up daily by "working men" like myself...and they are all more difficult to lift at the same weight than a barbell. Kaz,james handerson,paul anderson,magnus samuelson,big z,brian shaw,the barbell was their base of strength. I should have been more specific quoting...a barbell is an excellent base of strength, but it can definitely be replaced...but this discussion is really about grippers, and I think its safe to say we both like closing grippers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh O'Dell Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 With the Coc4 and Ghp9 closes i think its safe to say Cancrusher knows what works.... Barbell training is more specific to each muscle And easier to rep do to the bar being made to hold more weight longer than lets say manual labor which i have done for years. Blacksmithing did strenghin my hands and forearms but not as well as barbell And gripper training. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Pizzo Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 With the Coc4 and Ghp9 closes i think its safe to say Cancrusher knows what works.... Barbell training is more specific to each muscle And easier to rep do to the bar being made to hold more weight longer than lets say manual labor which i have done for years. Blacksmithing did strenghin my hands and forearms but not as well as barbell And gripper training. As you may or may not have guessed I also have a job that involves manual labor, I'm a systems furniture installer, and before that I was a Block Layer and Cement Finisher for 5 years. And yes I do lift weights and have lifted weights since I was in High school. Now with that said, I've been both humbled and embarrassed by men who's only "weight lifting" they did was on the job site. I've lost in direct competition with a 50 year old man from Italy lifting limestone blocks over head...I was 22 and pressing 225 over head for 5 on a barbell...I have other stories like this, and i'm sure many other people do as well. All I'm saying is that its a vary narrow minded view of the world to think that people don't get strong without barbells. Now its about time for me to go close some grippers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Scibelli Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 I think it's true that the "v" shape of gripper is not perfect for crushing grip, however, I do think they are still good. Putting a gripper in your hand then squeezing it as hard as you can until it's closed will build crushing strength. The problem is it's hard to progress in grippers the same way as you can do with a barbell, for example, if you bench pressed 225X5 one week, the next week you'll probably try 230X5, this is difficult to do with grippers. Having lots of rated grippers can somewhat solves this problem though, and I'm currently experimenting with this method of training. Lots of experienced members(Chris Rice, David Horne) recommend finger curls with a barbell, it would be easy to add weight and progress using this exercise, I plan on trying this when I stall out on my gripper progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jones1874 Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 heres a question for volko krull.are you going to do any sort of crushing exercise apart from grippers? Actually, I do not. As I've said, look anywhere in the outside world and pretty much all you will see are situations in which an isometric grip of the hand is needed. I would even go so far as to say (and this is probably where I start sounding too radical for most people on here) that hard training with thickbars and wide pinch-implements, i.e., for the sake of simplicity, blockweights, makes everything else superfluous. There are many other things that are fun to train and that help mold your hands into well-rounded instruments, but I think one could just as well go without them provided one trained on thickbars and blockweights ardently enough. What I mean to say is that a guy who can comfortably lift the Inch and the Blob with both hands will probably be as strong as you can get in respect to real-life situations without having extensive experience with such situations, irrespective of whether that guy has ever trained with TSGs or not. . As always, just my two cents. best regards, Volko while i agree with what others have said, i completely agree with what you are saying aswell. my problem with the grippers is that strength seems to vary so much from session to session and then im left thinking, why do i even bother. i have enough rest between sessions, eat well and have enough sleep.. but just seem to stall so fast. i dont want to give up on training for crushing strength though. im gonna get a good set of pliers and start doing lifts / holds with them. im also gonna start throwing in some towel pull ups. plate curls are probably my favourite exercise, although its primarily a wrist exercise it hits the flexors really well. as for pinch im really enjoying training with David Hornes Thumb Screws. i much prefer dynamic pinch as apposed to static holds. i can actually feel my thumbs working this way, and ive already noticed some slight changes in size in my thumb pad aswell as the area between my thumb and index finger. The problem is it's hard to progress in grippers the same way as you can do with a barbell, for example, if you bench pressed 225X5 one week, the next week you'll probably try 230X5, this is difficult to do with grippers. ^ This. for me personally anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Autolupus Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 heres a question for volko krull.are you going to do any sort of crushing exercise apart from grippers? Actually, I do not. As I've said, look anywhere in the outside world and pretty much all you will see are situations in which an isometric grip of the hand is needed. I would even go so far as to say (and this is probably where I start sounding too radical for most people on here) that hard training with thickbars and wide pinch-implements, i.e., for the sake of simplicity, blockweights, makes everything else superfluous. There are many other things that are fun to train and that help mold your hands into well-rounded instruments, but I think one could just as well go without them provided one trained on thickbars and blockweights ardently enough. What I mean to say is that a guy who can comfortably lift the Inch and the Blob with both hands will probably be as strong as you can get in respect to real-life situations without having extensive experience with such situations, irrespective of whether that guy has ever trained with TSGs or not. . As always, just my two cents. best regards, Volko while i agree with what others have said, i completely agree with what you are saying aswell. my problem with the grippers is that strength seems to vary so much from session to session and then im left thinking, why do i even bother. i have enough rest between sessions, eat well and have enough sleep.. but just seem to stall so fast. i dont want to give up on training for crushing strength though. im gonna get a good set of pliers and start doing lifts / holds with them. im also gonna start throwing in some towel pull ups. plate curls are probably my favourite exercise, although its primarily a wrist exercise it hits the flexors really well. as for pinch im really enjoying training with David Hornes Thumb Screws. i much prefer dynamic pinch as apposed to static holds. i can actually feel my thumbs working this way, and ive already noticed some slight changes in size in my thumb pad aswell as the area between my thumb and index finger. The problem is it's hard to progress in grippers the same way as you can do with a barbell, for example, if you bench pressed 225X5 one week, the next week you'll probably try 230X5, this is difficult to do with grippers. ^ This. for me personally anyway Look at base level strength, rather than peak strength, it will give you a better indication of how you are progressing rather than give you the newbie blues because you think you're regressing! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jones1874 Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 Autoplus, not sure I completely know what your saying. Would you mind going into a bit more detail, because as you put it. I do feel as though I'm regressing and getting nowhere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.