Grip Strength

[John Knowlton]

I found this a couple years ago. I cut it out and laminated it and put it on my power rack.

Grip strength training can be a lonely endeavor. Unlike team sports, usually a grip strength practitioner under takes his obsession by himself in a dusty basement surrounded by storage boxes, or in a small portion of the garage that’s just big enough to house a garage gym. When he beats a personal record, the radio and the dog are the only things around to share in his excitement…!

I think this fits most of us

[Blacksmith513]

That sounds like me! And proud of it

[Fist of Fury]

True, however I think the interest for grip sport is increasing. I was surprised how many people actually came to talk with me about grip training last time I trained at a commercial gym. Was at least one person every week who was interested in it.

That wasn't the case before, nobody seemed to care at all.

[Jermiah Merciconah]

2 hours ago, Fist of Fury said:

True, however I think the interest for grip sport is increasing. I was surprised how many people actually came to talk with me about grip training last time I trained at a commercial gym. Was at least one person every week who was interested in it.

That wasn't the case before, nobody seemed to care at all.

I've managed to assemble a small training group in my gym who come together every week or so to train grip with me, Its honestly awesome

[John Knowlton]

Nice , there are three of us in my shop that work on grip .

[Blacksmith513]

I wish I had people in my life that like grip training too. Maybe when I start BJJ, i'll meet someone whos into it.  People laugh or call me crazy or say im into whips and chains when they see or I tell them what I do.  My new thing is tearing bottle caps when I drink beer, which is weird to some but its a great little conditioner for the thumb... But  I'm also always the guy thats called to move stuff for friends or family and at work I'm always needed to move heavy things.  I've never been into convention lifting. When people tell me what they can bench, the numbers never impress me.. The hard work and dedication they put into it does, but not the number. I should squat and deadlift but i'm not keen on ever lifting anything more than 300lbs.  Which is why grip training interests me... Mixed with basic calisthenics, you can get very strong and stay fit.. 

[Vinnie]

13 minutes ago, Blacksmith513 said:

I wish I had people in my life that like grip training too. Maybe when I start BJJ, i'll meet someone whos into it.  People laugh or call me crazy or say im into whips and chains when they see or I tell them what I do.  My new thing is tearing bottle caps when I drink beer, which is weird to some but its a great little conditioner for the thumb... But  I'm also always the guy thats called to move stuff for friends or family and at work I'm always needed to move heavy things.  I've never been into convention lifting. When people tell me what they can bench, the numbers never impress me.. The hard work and dedication they put into it does, but not the number. I should squat and deadlift but i'm not keen on ever lifting anything more than 300lbs.  Which is why grip training interests me... Mixed with basic calisthenics, you can get very strong and stay fit.. 

I do the bottle cap thing once in a while also, and yeah, people think it is crazy.  Once my friend Juliet (a grip queen with many women's records) tore one into 4 pieces, and I wanted to up the ante, so I tore one into 8 pieces.  She then tore one into 16 pieces and I said YOU WIN.  In fact, even one bottle cap tear is more endurance than strength - you can't just tear it in one pull, you need to work it and bend it etc.  Different caps require more work than others of course, and if you have the time and don't mind ruining your hands for a few days, you can tear it into lots of pieces.

As for bench press, I am lousy at it.  I am certainly impressed by big numbers, since I can barely bench 200 pounds so when guys talk 300-400 or more, I am pretty amazed.  I don't work bench press at all, but if I did, I would never reach 300 or even 250 probably.  I have respect for people who can do what I can't do.  One of my workout buddies works in a jail sometimes, and they have a gym for the corrections officers.  He said a lot of those guys are bigger than him (he's maybe 200 pounds), and are really into benching - lots of them can do over 300 any day and he can't touch that, and they see him struggling with less and think he's a weak little guy.  But then they see him squatting over 300 and deadlifting almost 500, and they are like whoa.  They can't do that and they are impressed.  So it has a lot to do with what you care about and what you can do yourself.  

I agree with you:  I have no need for weights over 300 for almost any reason.  My deadlift max isn't even much more than 300.  Maybe 315, and that's on any implement with any grip -- DOH axle, mixed grip Oly bar with straps, no matter how I hold it because the problem is that I can't stand up with much more than 315, not that my hands can't hold onto it.  I am sure I could up that limit a little, if I tried, because I really don't train deadlift, but I'm 52 and I had back surgery when I was 38.  I don't need to play with that spinal stenosis stuff.  Maybe I will work it a little before a comp that has axle to see if I can up my official comp PR on that, but otherwise no desire to deadlift for me.

Nope, I'm all arms, and grip is just right for me.

[Vinnie]

38 minutes ago, Blacksmith513 said:

I wish I had people in my life that like grip training too

I'm on Long Island, and there is no one I know in my town who trains grip, but when I joined the gripboard a few years ago, I met a few folks who live within 40-50 miles of me, and we've become good friends.  The distance is a bit much for regular training, and people have lives (the guy whose house we used to train at most just had a baby, so he's gonna be out of commission for a while!).  I was thinking of quitting my gym since I stopped going when it closed for COVID and never got back into it, but maybe I should go just to do my grip training there, and see if people take interest.  Maybe make some new friends and get more motivation to work out.

[DevilErik]

2 minutes ago, Vinnie said:

I do the bottle cap thing once in a while also, and yeah, people think it is crazy.  Once my friend Juliet (a grip queen with many women's records) tore one into 4 pieces, and I wanted to up the ante, so I tore one into 8 pieces.  She then tore one into 16 pieces and I said YOU WIN.  In fact, even one bottle cap tear is more endurance than strength - you can't just tear it in one pull, you need to work it and bend it etc.  Different caps require more work than others of course, and if you have the time and don't mind ruining your hands for a few days, you can tear it into lots of pieces.

As for bench press, I am lousy at it.  I am certainly impressed by big numbers, since I can barely bench 200 pounds so when guys talk 300-400 or more, I am pretty amazed.  I don't work bench press at all, but if I did, I would never reach 300 or even 250 probably.  I have respect for people who can do what I can't do.  One of my workout buddies works in a jail sometimes, and they have a gym for the corrections officers.  He said a lot of those guys are bigger than him (he's maybe 200 pounds), and are really into benching - lots of them can do over 300 any day and he can't touch that, and they see him struggling with less and think he's a weak little guy.  But then they see him squatting over 300 and deadlifting almost 500, and they are like whoa.  They can't do that and they are impressed.  So it has a lot to do with what you care about and what you can do yourself.  

I agree with you:  I have no need for weights over 300 for almost any reason.  My deadlift max isn't even much more than 300.  Maybe 315, and that's on any implement with any grip -- DOH axle, mixed grip Oly bar with straps, no matter how I hold it because the problem is that I can't stand up with much more than 315, not that my hands can't hold onto it.  I am sure I could up that limit a little, if I tried, because I really don't train deadlift, but I'm 52 and I had back surgery when I was 38.  I don't need to play with that spinal stenosis stuff.  Maybe I will work it a little before a comp that has axle to see if I can up my official comp PR on that, but otherwise no desire to deadlift for me.

Nope, I'm all arms, and grip is just right for me.

A 300 bench a 400 squat and a 500 deadlift are attainable for almost everyone it just takes some people 10 years.

Numbers above that often require good genetics.

I love the fact that you are still killing it at age 52 that's very inspiring to me.

[John Knowlton]

WTF You guys can tear a bottle cap. That sounds cool. How do you start to do that.

 

[Vinnie]

1 minute ago, DevilErik said:

I love the fact that you are still killing it at age 52 that's very inspiring to me

Thanks.  I forget how old you are, but as you approach 52 I think you will see (or at least this is how I feel) that the things that go first are speed, stamina, and endurance, not strength.  I like to say that if I were to face 25-year-old me in a fight, his best bet would be to run, because I could never catch him, but if I did he'd be toast.

[Blacksmith513]

1 minute ago, John Knowlton said:

WTF You guys can tear a bottle cap. That sounds cool. How do you start to do that.

 

Step one... buy beer

step two open and drink 

step three bend it, then keep bending it back and forth until it gets brittle enough to tear.

step four crack open another and rinse and repeat!

[Vinnie]

1 minute ago, Blacksmith513 said:

Step one... buy beer

step two open and drink 

step three bend it, then keep bending it back and forth until it gets brittle enough to tear.

step four crack open another and rinse and repeat!

Yeah that's pretty much it!  It can take a few minutes, it isn't wham bam like tearing a deck of cards.

[DevilErik]

6 minutes ago, Vinnie said:

Thanks.  I forget how old you are, but as you approach 52 I think you will see (or at least this is how I feel) that the things that go first are speed, stamina, and endurance, not strength.  I like to say that if I were to face 25-year-old me in a fight, his best bet would be to run, because I could never catch him, but if I did he'd be toast.

I am 24.

I never really had speed anyway I am 6'4 265 LBS so it is kinda hard to be fast.

My stamina and endurance are okay but nothing to brag about.

Edited December 31, 2021 by DevilErik

[Vinnie]

12 minutes ago, DevilErik said:

A 300 bench a 400 squat and a 500 deadlift are attainable for almost everyone

Given my age, size (180 pounds), back surgery history, present PRs (200 bench, 100-something squat, 315 deadlift), and the fact that I am so inflexible and uncomfortable holding even a barbell with no weights on my back (that's why I say 100-something PR for squat), I don't think I am in the "almost everyone" category at this point -- and I'm not gonna spend 10 years to see if that changes by age 62 lol.  But you may be right that if I were younger and had a reason, I wouldn't have to rule it out for sure if I wanted to try for years.

Edited December 31, 2021 by Vinnie

[DevilErik]

4 minutes ago, Vinnie said:

Given my age, size (180 pounds), back surgery history, present PRs (200 bench, 100-something squat, 315 deadlift), and the fact that I am so inflexible and uncomfortable holding even a barbell with no weights on my back (that's why I say 100-something PR for squat), I don't think I am in the "almost everyone" category at this point -- and I'm not gonna spend 10 years to see if that changes by age 62 lol.  But you may be right that if I were younger and had a reason, I wouldn't have to rule it out for sure if I wanted to try for years.

I am not in that category either because of my whiplash so I get what you are saying.

I was talking about healthy adult males that start training before their twenties or healthy adult males that start training in their twenties.

The timeframe in which this js achievable also depends on whether someone is willing to get fat or not.

But it definitely would have been possible for you.

Edited December 31, 2021 by DevilErik

[John Knowlton]

No problem with step one and two I’m real good at that. Step three I can bend a beer bottle cap. Something I’ll have to keep working out any excuse to drink more beer

[Blacksmith513]

10 minutes ago, John Knowlton said:

No problem with step one and two I’m real good at that. Step three I can bend a beer bottle cap. Something I’ll have to keep working out any excuse to drink more beer

Its fun, I literally only started doing it two weeks ago.. i don't drink like i used too. For awhile, I was getting to the point where I was drinking 40-50 beers a week.  If i started tearing bottle caps back then, I probably would have gotten strong enough to tear them without bending ....   Now i drink about 5-15 beers a week, which is still probably too much, but I love beer... 

[Climber028]

4 hours ago, Vinnie said:

Given my age, size (180 pounds), back surgery history, present PRs (200 bench, 100-something squat, 315 deadlift), and the fact that I am so inflexible and uncomfortable holding even a barbell with no weights on my back (that's why I say 100-something PR for squat), I don't think I am in the "almost everyone" category at this point -- and I'm not gonna spend 10 years to see if that changes by age 62 lol.  But you may be right that if I were younger and had a reason, I wouldn't have to rule it out for sure if I wanted to try for years.

I would bet any amount of money that I could train you to squat 315 in about a year. That's very attainable regardless of injuries, and 99% of back issues can be fixed through specific intelligent training. 

[John Knowlton]

Blacksmith513, now that's life drinking beer and grip work . 

[Blacksmith513]

4 hours ago, John Knowlton said:

Blacksmith513, now that's life drinking beer and grip work . 

I’ll drink to that

Edited January 1, 2022 by Blacksmith513

[John Knowlton]

No shit that is amazing 

[Vinnie]

On 12/31/2021 at 1:22 PM, Climber028 said:

I would bet any amount of money that I could train you to squat 315 in about a year. That's very attainable regardless of injuries, and 99% of back issues can be fixed through specific intelligent training. 

I may seem like I should be strong enough to do 135 OHP/225 bench/315 squat/405 deadlift (benchmarks I think either Rindo or Tommy once posted should be attainable by any strong man), because I can close a COC3 and lots of people who can easily do all those benchmarks can't come close to that -- but there are some medical reasons beyond just a bad back why I am much better at grip than at whole body stuff, and I have never hit any of those numbers.  I still can't say you are wrong about being able to get me there, but it is very unlikely I would make the attempt even for a year.  Thanks for the vote of confidence though!

[Climber028]

7 minutes ago, Vinnie said:

I may seem like I should be strong enough to do 135 OHP/225 bench/315 squat/405 deadlift (benchmarks I think either Rindo or Tommy once posted should be attainable by any strong man), because I can close a COC3 and lots of people who can easily do all those benchmarks can't come close to that -- but there are some medical reasons beyond just a bad back why I am much better at grip than at whole body stuff, and I have never hit any of those numbers.  I still can't say you are wrong about being able to get me there, but it is very unlikely I would make the attempt even for a year.  Thanks for the vote of confidence though!

I think it's silly when people say everybody can do it right away, but there's really not that many issues that force someone to be weak, if you can squat at all, then you can build strength. I can't squat or bench anything inpressive at all but it has nothing to do with any perceived limits, I just find them boring and a waste of time so of course I'm weak there. 

[Vinnie]

15 minutes ago, Climber028 said:

I think it's silly when people say everybody can do it right away, but there's really not that many issues that force someone to be weak, if you can squat at all, then you can build strength. I can't squat or bench anything inpressive at all but it has nothing to do with any perceived limits, I just find them boring and a waste of time so of course I'm weak there. 

Well I definitely find OHP/benching/squatting/deadlifting boring and not worth my time lol.