Getting back into grip.

[mcalpine1986]

7 hours ago, Bigfoot Grip said:

Strong bicep curls, I love doing them with the 50mm handles. Looks like it could have good carryover to armwrestling. 

Thanks man. I dont own any normal bars now. All i have is this 50mm db handle and its done wonders for my bicep, grip and wrist strength. The 25kg is one 3rd of my bodyweight so im doing ok. I want 30kg strict soon. 

[mcalpine1986]

7 hours ago, Bigfoot Grip said:

Also nice work on the ironmind hub, your pretty well exactly at the threshold for the crushed to dust challenge(45lb hub requirment) problem is that damn 200lb requirement on the rolling thunder haha. 

Thanks. I never train hub as i hate it lol. Last time i trained it was january where i got 22kg. Time before was october where i got 16kg. The RT is the hard part of the CTD. I cant pull 200lbs

[mcalpine1986]

Bw 76.1kg *wrist tendons and thumb pads still a bit sore.

Dips

Bw x 8, 8

Bw+15kg x 8

Bw+30kg x 8

2 hand 60mm magni block pinch

21kg x 3, 3

31kg x 2, 2

41kg x 1, 1

51kg x 1, 1

61kg x 1

66kg x 1

71kg x 1

2 hand Flask pinch holds

67.5kg x 5 seconds

60kg  x 7 seconds

60mm magni block pinch

64kg x 7 seconds

 

[mcalpine1986]

BW 75.9KG

Grippers(1st time since 21/05/21)

*all set to about 30mm or so

Coc S x 3 L+R

Coc T x 2 L+R

Coc  1 x 1, 1, 1, 1 R

Left turn 1 x 1, 1, 1, 1 L

Coc 2  RGC 102lbs x 1, 1 R

Left turn 2 RGC 105lbs x 1, 1, 1 L

GHP 5 RGC x 1, 1 R* 0 L

*tried once before 2 months ago and i got it down to 5mm. Hands feel so much stronger now with the pinch and blob training. Ive trained grippers about once every 6-8 weeks this past year so im pleased.

Plate pinch(all 70mm wide total)

2x10kg x 3, 3 L+R

26.5kg x 1 L+R

2x15kg x 1, 1, 1, 1 L+R

2x10Kg x 10, 10 L+R

1 Arm 50mm Thick bar Db curl

14kg x 6 L+R

19kg x 6 L+R

24kg x 4, 4 L x 6, 5 R

20kg x 6 L+R

15kg x 10 L+R

1 arm 50mm wrist curl

15kg x 30 L+R

IM extensor bands 

Yellow x 10 L+R

Red x 50, 50, 50 L+R

 

[Nuttgens]

7 hours ago, mcalpine1986 said:

BW 75.9KG

Grippers(1st time since 21/05/21)

*all set to about 30mm or so

Coc S x 3 L+R

Coc T x 2 L+R

Coc  1 x 1, 1, 1, 1 R

Left turn 1 x 1, 1, 1, 1 L

Coc 2  RGC 102lbs x 1, 1 R

Left turn 2 RGC 105lbs x 1, 1, 1 L

GHP 5 RGC x 1, 1 R* 0 L

*tried once before 2 months ago and i got it down to 5mm. Hands feel so much stronger now with the pinch and blob training. Ive trained grippers about once every 6-8 weeks this past year so im pleased.

Plate pinch(all 70mm wide total)

2x10kg x 3, 3 L+R

26.5kg x 1 L+R

2x15kg x 1, 1, 1, 1 L+R

2x10Kg x 10, 10 L+R

1 Arm 50mm Thick bar Db curl

14kg x 6 L+R

19kg x 6 L+R

24kg x 4, 4 L x 6, 5 R

20kg x 6 L+R

15kg x 10 L+R

1 arm 50mm wrist curl

15kg x 30 L+R

IM extensor bands 

Yellow x 10 L+R

Red x 50, 50, 50 L+R

 

Is that your first time closing the ghp 5?

[mcalpine1986]

1 hour ago, Nuttgens said:

Is that your first time closing the ghp 5?

Yeah it is. 2nd time ever trying, I first tried it 2 months ago when i bought it and got it down to about 5mm. Ive done no grippers since yet today my hands felt so much stronger and i held this shut for a good few seconds. My pinch specialization for 2 months has carried over well to crush. 

Part of it is my hands are a bit thicker and thumb pad bigger so the grippers felt more secure and bedded into my hands but the main thing i felt was that i had way more power from my ring and index fingers. 

I plan to keep grippers in once a week for now and seee how i go as i want to get back into them and close my coc 2.5 RGC 126lbs and beyond. 

Edited July 22, 2021 by mcalpine1986

[Nuttgens]

32 minutes ago, mcalpine1986 said:

Yeah it is. 2nd time ever trying, I first tried it 2 months ago when i bought it and got it down to about 5mm. Ive done no grippers since yet today my hands felt so much stronger and i held this shut for a good few seconds. My pinch specialization for 2 months has carried over well to crush. 

Part of it is my hands are a bit thicker and thumb pad bigger so the grippers felt more secure and bedded into my hands but the main thing i felt was that i had way more power from my ring and index fingers. 

I plan to keep grippers in once a week for now and seee how i go as i want to get back into them and close my coc 2.5 RGC 126lbs and beyond. 

Nice man good job looked easy. Pretty cool you got better at grippers without even training them.

[mcalpine1986]

13 hours ago, Nuttgens said:

Nice man good job looked easy. Pretty cool you got better at grippers without even training them.

Thanks and yes its cool, i could tell i felt stronger when warming up. Ive always thought that pinch carries over the most to other areas. Some people believe its thick bar bit i think pinch as it really makes the thumb and finger strong. 

This is a good base to build from. I hope to have some nice crush gains soon. The hard part is resting more grip is so addictive to me. Id train daily if i could get away with it.

Edited July 23, 2021 by mcalpine1986

[Bigfoot Grip]

12 hours ago, mcalpine1986 said:

Thanks and yes its cool, i could tell.i felt sttonge when warming up. Ive always though that pinch carries over the most to other areas. Some people believe its thick bar bit i think pinch as it really makes the thumb and finger strong. 

This is a good base to build from. I hope to have some nice crush gains soon. The hard part is resting more grip is so addictive to me. Id train daily if i could get away with it.

Agreed on other things carrying over to crush strength. Sometimes I don't train grippers for 3-4 weeks and just do thick bar, pinch and wrist work and my grippers go up specifically my strength on the silver bullet. I would guess this could be because of the reasons you stated, increased finger and set strength. The downside is my technique may be slightly worse from not practicing with grippers for weeks on end lol. I find thick bar is my fav and lately I've been into v bar lifting 

[mcalpine1986]

48 minutes ago, Bigfoot Grip said:

Agreed on other things carrying over to crush strength. Sometimes I don't train grippers for 3-4 weeks and just do thick bar, pinch and wrist work and my grippers go up specifically my strength on the silver bullet. I would guess this could be because of the reasons you stated, increased finger and set strength. The downside is my technique may be slightly worse from not practicing with grippers for weeks on end lol. I find thick bar is my fav and lately I've been into v bar lifting 

Thanks for chiming in, thats awesome about the silver bullet. Ive heard quite few say thick bar carryovers over but i get a bit more from pinch i feel. I do like thick bar but it makes me really sore, more than any other grip based move what affects my recovery so ive nearly all but cut it out to focus on pinch and now grippers. 

There are so many different aspects to grip training its Balancing everything that is he hardest part.

Ive never tried V bar and would love to give it a go. I aleady have far too many grip tools. Its become an expensive hobby 

[Bigfoot Grip]

1 hour ago, mcalpine1986 said:

Thanks for chiming in, thats awesome about the silver bullet. Ive heard quite few say thick bar carryovers over but i get a bit more from pinch i feel. I do like thick bar but it makes me really sore, more than any other grip based move what affects my recovery so ive nearly all but cut it out to focus on pinch and now grippers. 

There are so many different aspects to grip training its Balancing everything that is he hardest part.

Ive never tried V bar and would love to give it a go. I aleady have far too many grip tools. Its become an expensive hobby 

I agree, the consensus I always heard was that thick bar didn't help or even hindered grippers. I've found after experimenting with different implements that it depends what size diameter your using and what exercises you use. For example just working up to a 1rm on a 50mm axle may not do much to help ones grippers. I started incorporating exercises like thumbless reverse axle curls, thumbless rows & shrugs, even my arm assassin 60mm wrist wrench produces a ton of finger pressure and you can use it for different arm wrestling esque exercises. I really like the thumbless reverse curls though as your fingers really have to work hard to secure the weight. I learned a tip from Ben Edwards when he mentioned on a podcast that the 1" v bar really seemed to help his grippers. My next workout I decided to load up my small ironmind loading pin and do a couple holds. Ben was right, it really worked the fingers and hand in a weird way that I felt could have good carryover to grippers. Because that lift can get sketchy safety wise I try to go light-medium and do long timed holds. Keep on mind this may not even be optimal lol I'm still learning as I go.

Grip is weird and I'm starting to think your training history, injury history, hand size ect plays a big roll in how you should train. Personally I've broken, tore and sprained so many bones and muscles throughout my hands and arms this effects my outlook on recreational and competitive grip training in terms of how I train for it vs the next man. 

My goals are mainly to compete in Armlifting competitions so I find when my axle is progressing, 2 and 3" two handed pinch, various axle exercises, rolling thunder timed holds ect. my hands get alot stronger more specifically my thumb pad area. This makes my setting on grippers stronger but what I really observed is my confidence goes way up because of this. Sounds silly but when your hand and thumb pad get strong enough for me at least the sweep part of the gripper improves and you feel like you can dominate it. Not sure if it would help much on the close, but considering I'm doing silver bullet work to train for armlifting the set strength+sweep strength increase go a long way. The feeling in your hand when the gripper just feels lighter due to the sh*t load of thick bar and pinch work gives me a cognitive confidence boost that translates to x-% improvement. Hard to tell how much but its a weird phenomenon that I seldom hear discussed. Hope this rant can help someone lol. 

 

[mcalpine1986]

8 minutes ago, Bigfoot Grip said:

I agree, the consensus I always heard was that thick bar didn't help or even hindered grippers. I've found after experimenting with different implements that it depends what size diameter your using and what exercises you use. For example just working up to a 1rm on a 50mm axle may not do much to help ones grippers. I started incorporating exercises like thumbless reverse axle curls, thumbless rows & shrugs, even my arm assassin 60mm wrist wrench produces a ton of finger pressure and you can use it for different arm wrestling esque exercises. I really like the thumbless reverse curls though as your fingers really have to work hard to secure the weight. I learned a tip from Ben Edwards when he mentioned on a podcast that the 1" v bar really seemed to help his grippers. My next workout I decided to load up my small ironmind loading pin and do a couple holds. Ben was right, it really worked the fingers and hand in a weird way that I felt could have good carryover to grippers. Because that lift can get sketchy safety wise I try to go light-medium and do long timed holds. Keep on mind this may not even be optimal lol I'm still learning as I go.

Grip is weird and I'm starting to think your training history, injury history, hand size ect plays a big roll in how you should train. Personally I've broken, tore and sprained so many bones and muscles throughout my hands and arms this effects my outlook on recreational and competitive grip training in terms of how I train for it vs the next man. 

My goals are mainly to compete in Armlifting competitions so I find when my axle is progressing, 2 and 3" two handed pinch, various axle exercises, rolling thunder timed holds ect. my hands get alot stronger more specifically my thumb pad area. This makes my setting on grippers stronger but what I really observed is my confidence goes way up because of this. Sounds silly but when your hand and thumb pad get strong enough for me at least the sweep part of the gripper improves and you feel like you can dominate it. Not sure if it would help much on the close, but considering I'm doing silver bullet work to train for armlifting the set strength+sweep strength increase go a long way. The feeling in your hand when the gripper just feels lighter due to the sh*t load of thick bar and pinch work gives me a cognitive confidence boost that translates to x-% improvement. Hard to tell how much but its a weird phenomenon that I seldom hear discussed. Hope this rant can help someone lol. 

 

Excellent detailed post man. Agreed totally on thumbless work, ive had great carryover from that. I went through a spell of doing thumbless thik bar hammer curls and back against the wall strict Thumbless reverse curls amd worked upto 50kg(110lbs) i think for that strict style thats a decent weight for my bodyweight of 76kg(167lbs).

I know what you mean with regards to hands feeling stronger from the thick bar and pinch work. Its an interesting subject and i like seeing how others find carryover from other grip work. 

Do you not have a workout log on here? 

[Bigfoot Grip]

9 hours ago, mcalpine1986 said:

Excellent detailed post man. Agreed totally on thumbless work, ive had great carryover from that. I went through a spell of doing thumbless thik bar hammer curls and back against the wall strict Thumbless reverse curls amd worked upto 50kg(110lbs) i think for that strict style thats a decent weight for my bodyweight of 76kg(167lbs).

I know what you mean with regards to hands feeling stronger from the thick bar and pinch work. Its an interesting subject and i like seeing how others find carryover from other grip work. 

Do you not have a workout log on here? 

Thanks bro, glad I could clarify things up. Their was a really usefull thread I once read on this topic on the Grip Board. A member said his theory on why guys who focus on thick bar & pinch in his experience performed well on the silver bullet and it was exactly inline with what I have anecdottaly experienced. 

Your approach and views on pinch carryover make alot of sense to me. I find when I train my 2" two handed and sometimes one handed pinch block it smokes the fingers! I'm stronger on my 3" then my 2". 

For me its not that I disagree with those who advocate for "grippers only" to improve grippers and absolute specificity. Rather its that I can't recover from alot of volume like some guys on here can. So I found that if I get the thick bar(rotating smaller diameters with larger and varying exercises) and the pinch stuff my grippers stay "good enough" or even improve marginally. Buy if I just mostly work grippers the carryover to thick bar & pinch isn't their to the same degree and messes with my recovery. I have to remind myself some gripsters only care about grippers and not competing or certing on more overall tests of grip strength hence skewing their outlook and my own. 

I don't keep a log on here but probably wouldn't hurt to start one lol. 

[mcalpine1986]

12 hours ago, Bigfoot Grip said:

Thanks bro, glad I could clarify things up. Their was a really usefull thread I once read on this topic on the Grip Board. A member said his theory on why guys who focus on thick bar & pinch in his experience performed well on the silver bullet and it was exactly inline with what I have anecdottaly experienced. 

Your approach and views on pinch carryover make alot of sense to me. I find when I train my 2" two handed and sometimes one handed pinch block it smokes the fingers! I'm stronger on my 3" then my 2". 

For me its not that I disagree with those who advocate for "grippers only" to improve grippers and absolute specificity. Rather its that I can't recover from alot of volume like some guys on here can. So I found that if I get the thick bar(rotating smaller diameters with larger and varying exercises) and the pinch stuff my grippers stay "good enough" or even improve marginally. Buy if I just mostly work grippers the carryover to thick bar & pinch isn't their to the same degree and messes with my recovery. I have to remind myself some gripsters only care about grippers and not competing or certing on more overall tests of grip strength hence skewing their outlook and my own. 

I don't keep a log on here but probably wouldn't hurt to start one lol. 

Yep i think thick bar and pinch will make your hands strong full stop, no doubt about it. Take someone who does only thick bar and pinch for years and they would do well at grippers when they tried, vice versa no chance.  I also find wider pinch really builds finger strength. Im hoping to progress both from now on.

I think the same on grippers, i maintain or slightly build crush as long as my other pinch and stuff is going up. I find i cant recover from grippers fast, i just cant get away with it like others. I really believe that your individual hand anatomy plays a big part with grip training recovery bit with Hand Grippers in particular. Some seem to be able to train them 2-3 times per week but not me. Ill keep it at once per week or so for now and see how i go.

You should start a log, i always like to see how others train. I find it interesting to see what works and what doesnt in others. 

Edited July 24, 2021 by mcalpine1986

[mcalpine1986]

BW 76KG

60mm magni block pinch

22kg x 3, 3

32kg x 2

42kg x 2

52kg x 1

57kg x 1

62kg x 1

67kg x 1

71kg x 1, 1

70mm Euro pinch (1st time trying)

62kg x 1

67kg x 1

70kg x 1, 1

65kg x 2

*70kg is all i can fit on as i dont have 20kg plates. I was good for more weight. 

Ledge pullups

Bw 2x10

2 hand blob hold

Half 45kg (50lbs) 2x 30 seconds

 

[mcalpine1986]

Bw 75.9KG (tired, up since 3:30 thanks to my 2 year old )

Grippers(all set to about 30mm)

Coc S x 3 L+R

Coc T x 2 L+R

Coc 1 x 1, 1, 1, 1 R

Left turn 1 x 1, 1, 1, 1 L

Coc 2 x 1, R

Left turn 2 RGC 105lbs x 1, 1, 1, 0 L

GHP 5 RGC 113lbs x 0, 0. Down to 2mm.

Camry hand dyno

67.2kg R     63.1kg L

*Grippers felt weak today and iam looking at the dyno

2" vertical bar lift(1st time ever trying Vbar and on a painted slick loading pin)

21.5kg x 3 L+R

41.5kg x 1 L+R

51.5kg x 1 L+R

61.5kg x 1 L+R

71.5kg x 1 L+R

81.5kg x 1 L+R

91.5kg x 1 L+R

95kg x 1 R

100kg x 0* a bit of air(fresh it would of went, enough for contest height but not my owns standards)

Plate pinch holds(all 70mm)

2x15kg x 5 sec L 4 sec R

26.5kg x 5 L+R

24kg x 10 seconds

1 Arm 50mm thick DB handle curls

14kg x 5 L+R

19kg x 3 L+R

25kg x 3 L  x5 R

22.5kg x 5 L+R

20kg x 8 L 9 R

IM Extensor bands

Green x 15 L+R

Yellow x 60+20 sec hold at full extension L+R

 

 

 

Edited August 4, 2021 by mcalpine1986

[mcalpine1986]

Bw 76.3kg. Having a deload week

Dips

Bw x 8, 8

Bw+10kg x 8

Bw+20kg x 8

Bw+30kg x 7

50mm thick bar 1 arm row 

24kg x 6 L+R

34kg x 5 L+R

44kg x 4 L+R

50kg x x 4, 4, 2 L  x 4, 5, 5 R

40kg x 13 L+R

[mcalpine1986]

Bw 75.6KG *light mini session tp get some blood flowing. Forearms VERY sore.

Dips

Bw x 4x10

Axle curls

10kg x 4x10

Gripper setting practice

Coc S x 10 L+R

IM extensor bands

Green x 50 L+R

Edited August 4, 2021 by mcalpine1986

[mcalpine1986]

BW 75.1KG

Kbell swings

16kg x15

24kg x 15

50mm Axle Deadlift(1st time trying)

*note. All Double overhand. This is a smooth non knurled bar and weights 10kg empty.

Conventional

50kg x 3

70kg x 2

90kg x 1

100kg x 1

110kg x 1

120kg x 1

125kg x 1

Switched to sumo

130kg x 0, 0. * to below knees

110kg x 5

Plate pinching(70mm wide)

2x10 x 3 L+R

2x15kg x 2, 2 L x 1, 1, R

1 Arm 50mm Thick bar DB curls

14kg x 6 L+R

19kg x 4 L+R

20kg x 6+15 sec hold at mid point

IM Extensor bands

Yellow x 100 L+R

 

[mcalpine1986]

*very sore forearms from axle so just a lighter session.

Dips

Bw 6x8

Grippers(all set to about 30mm)

Coc S x 3 L+R

Coc T x 3 L+R

Coc 1 x 3 R left turn 1 x 3 L

Coc 2 x 1* R left turn 2 x 1*L

I cam barely close them today as im so sore

Coc silver bullet hold(1st time trying)

Coc 2 RGC 102lbs x 14 seconds

Left turn 2 RGC 105lbs x 9 seconds

Coc 1 x 15+hold last rep R

Left turn 1 x 20+hold last rep L

IM extensor bands(thumbless, only fingers)

Yellow x 20 L+R

Red x 50 L+R

[mcalpine1986]

Bw 75.5kg

Dips

Bw x 10

Bw+10kg x 5

Bw+20kg x 4

Bw+30kg x 3

Bw+40kg x 2

Bw+50kg x 3. Weight and reps P.R 

Bw+40kg x 8 huge rep P.R. 

Bw+30kg x 9. 

*The strength gained from Dips helps me Set Grippers i find  

50mm Axle row

50kg x 5

60kg x 4

70kg x 3

80kg x 2

90kg x 1

100kg x 2

Axle row/deadlift superset

90kg x 5/5

Axle deadlift

110kg x 1

120kg x 1

Axle deadlift hold 

110kg x 22 seconds.

Axle curl 

30kg x 20

Im extensor bands

Yellow x 20 L+R

Red x 30 L+R

Thumbless

Yellow x 70 L+R

 

 

Edited August 12, 2021 by mcalpine1986

[mcalpine1986]

*heavy weekend of loats of booze and bad food, Bad nights sleep and im feeling a bit sluggish today.

Grippers

Coc T x 3, 3 L+R

LT 1 x 2, 2 L coc 1 x 2 , 2 R

Gods of grip dynamite stick V bar handle(1st time trying, just like grip genies Hilt handle)

22kg x 3 L+R

42kg x 2 L+R

62kg x 1 L+R

72kg x 1 L+R

82kg x 1 L+R

92kg x 1 R

100kg x 0, 0, 0 A few inches of Air.

62kg x 5, 6 L x 5 R

V bar handle hammer curl

12kg x 5 L+R* aggrivates elbows

Plate curls(1st time since november)

10kg plate x 5 L+R

13.25kg* x 3 L+R

15kg* x 2 R**

Using a 10" wide 10kg plate and loading pin+plates set up

10kg x 10 L+R

** my wrists felt really strong and never budged so very pleased.

 

 

Edited August 16, 2021 by mcalpine1986

[mcalpine1986]

Dips

Bw x10

Bw+10kg x 5

Bw+20kg x 5

Bw+30kg x 5

Bw+40kg x 5

Bw+45kg x 5

Bw+40kg x 5

Bw+35kg x9

Sledgehammer finger walks

8lbs x 1 up L+R

14lbs x 1,, 32" handle up L+R

12lbs x 1 32" handle L+R

 

 

[mcalpine1986]

Bw 76kg.

Dips

Bw x 10

Bw+15kg x 5

Bw+30kg x 5, 5, 5, 5

60mm wrist wrench(2nd time trying, 1st time 7th may)

Previous max was 30kg R 26kg L

12.5kg x 3 L+R

17.5kg x 2 L+R

22.5kg x 1 L+R

25kg x 1 L+R

27.5kg x 1 L+R

30kg x 1 L+R big P.R Left

32.5kg x 1 R  2.5kg P.R. R. 0 but good air Left.

35kg x 0 R

33.5kg x 0 but good air R 

25kg x 12+5 sec hold R x 10 L

 

[mcalpine1986]

*very sore today from Ww yesterday but i woke up and fancied trying some grippers but only some SB holds as i like holds when sore and not fresh.

Grippers

Coc S x 3 L+R

Coc T x 2 L+R

LT 1 x 1, 1, 1 L

Coc 1 x 1, 1, 1 R

LT2 x 0 L Coc 2 x

Silver Bullet holds(2.5kg plate added using gripper) 2nd time trying any.

Coc 2.5 RGC 126lbs x 3 sec, 7 sec R

GHP 5 RGC 113lbs x 11 sec R

LT 1 x 3, 3 + 10 sec hold. L

COC 1 x 3

Im Extensor bands

Yellow x 50 L+R

Ironmind 2" wrist roller*up ladder so full length or cord. Free standing.

5kg x 1 up/down

10kg x 1, 1, 1 up/down

1 arm 50mm Thick bar curl

15kg x 10 L+R

1 arm 50mm thick bar Db wrist curl

15kg x 10 L+R

20kg x 10 L+R

25kg x 10 R x 5 L

 

Edited August 20, 2021 by mcalpine1986