matek's training log

[matek]

2022/04/09 DU bending again

 

Despite bending yesterday, I felt okay to do DU again today. Started a little bit rusty, but then it kept getting better and better so I ended up doing a lot of volume. This was my longest bending session so far, little over an hour. My pinkies are destroyed so no bending for a few days. 

 

3x CRS (SS400) , d=7mm|0.2756" , length=178mm/7"
1x CRS (SS400) , d=7mm|0.2756" , length=165mm/6.5"

 

1x Drill rod (SK4) , d=6.8mm/0.2677" , length=178mm/7"

1x Stainless (303) , d=7mm|0.2756" , length=178mm/7"

 

2x CRS (SS400) , d=7.1mm/0.2795" , length=178mm/7"

5x CRS (SS400) , d=7.1mm/0.2795" , length=165mm/6.5"

2x CRS (SS400) , d=7.1mm/0.2795" , length=152mm/6"

 

[matek]

2022/04/10

 

I didn't do pullups (or heavy rows) last week to give my elbows a rest, but tried some heavy stuff today. 

 

Neutral grip weighted pullups

6x2 53.5kg/118lbs

6x3 48.5kg/106.9lbs

 

BW was 99.2kg/218.7lbs

Edited April 12, 2022 by matek
it was 04/10, not 11

[DevilErik]

Just now, matek said:

2022/04/11

 

I didn't do pullups (or heavy rows) last week to give my elbows a rest, but tried some heavy stuff today. 

 

Neutral grip weighted pullups

6x2 53.5kg/118lbs

6x3 48.5kg/106.9lbs

 

BW was 99.2kg/218.7lbs

Your pull ups are strong af!

[matek]

6 minutes ago, DevilErik said:

Your pull ups are strong af!

Thanks! I did gymnastics and bouldering when I was younger + several years of calisthenics.

[DevilErik]

Just now, matek said:

Thanks! I did gymnastics and bouldering when I was younger + several years of calisthenics.

Awesome!

[matek]

2022/04/12 grippers

 

Just putting in the work. MMS and choked practice. 

 

GD Iron Grip 90 Level 5/spread level 1, without extension
RH 8x1 MMS: got 6 fully closed
LH 8x1 MMS: got 5 fully closed

 

Same, but with the extension (pinky is in the middle of the ext)
RH 5x4 MMS
LH 5x4 MMS: missed the last rep once

 

Standard Fe RGC 134 parallel choked
RH 5x3
LH 5x1
Little bit fatigued at this point, but the triples were no problem with RH. The singles with LH were a little bit slow.

 

ISG/SILARUKOV-1 replica, choked parallel, springs at 6,10
RH 5x4
LH 5x4
Why is this almost always feels harder with my right hand? I think there might be some friction involved when closing it with my right and "pulling" the handle in. 

 

[matek]

2022/04/13 reverse bending

 

Finally I could definitely see improvement in my reverse bending. It took about a month, but my thumb joints and web finally started to get used to the abuse. This allowed me to use more power, so the 7" 7mm bar went down well within 5 mins. But then I got greedy and tried a 6.5" of the same diameter . I've bent it just a little over 40 degrees so it's ok, but took me around 10-15 mins with breaks (edit: measured it a little bit more accurately, and it's only 41 degrees... so better be safe next time and give it one more hit).  Compared to my DU, my strength-endurance in reverse bending is not very good at the moment. 

 

CRS (SS400) , d=6.35mm|0.25"|1/4 , length=165mm/6.5"
CRS (SS400) , d=6.35mm|0.25"|1/4 , length=152mm/6"
CRS (SS400) , d=7mm|0.2756" , length=178mm/7"
CRS (SS400) , d=7mm|0.2756" , length=165mm/6.5"

 

Edited April 13, 2022 by matek

[Bigfoot Grip]

Extremely impressive strength on pullups, squats & grippers! Have you ever tried arm wrestling? 

[matek]

2 hours ago, Bigfoot Grip said:

Extremely impressive strength on pullups, squats & grippers! Have you ever tried arm wrestling? 

Thank you!

Pullups are going really well and it helped that I've lost a ton of weight in the past half year.

I did powerlifting for a few years (stopped ~2 years ago), and squat was my strongest lift. I still love doing it, although just once per week and without a clear routine. 

Grippers are somewhat going well, but my setting is still not good. Strange because I thought I have better hand dexterity. But at least now I know exactly how it should look like. 

 

I kinda follow what's happening in the armwrestling world, love watching it and "know" the main techniques, but I never had the opportunity to try it properly. Sometimes people want to pull with with me in house parties, pubs, but I'm usually just focusing on not to harm people who don't know how to move the upper body when armwrestling. But I'm sure if I would try it with somebody who actually does armwrestling, I would be destroyed in seconds .

[matek]

2022/04/14 gripper no set practice

 

Usually I don't do no sets/TNS because I have no goals with it. But I have big skin tear in the middle of my right palm, and if I don't set the gripper the handle is in the back enough to avoid it. 

GD Iron Grip 90 Level 4/spread level 1 (widest), without extension
RH/LH 15x4 no set: missed 3 reps with LH, 5 with RH

 

Edited April 14, 2022 by matek
did one more set

[Bigfoot Grip]

1 hour ago, matek said:

Thank you!

Pullups are going really well and it helped that I've lost a ton of weight in the past half year.

I did powerlifting for a few years (stopped ~2 years ago), and squat was my strongest lift. I still love doing it, although just once per week and without a clear routine. 

Grippers are somewhat going well, but my setting is still not good. Strange because I thought I have better hand dexterity. But at least now I know exactly how it should look like. 

 

I kinda follow what's happening in the armwrestling world, love watching it and "know" the main techniques, but I never had the opportunity to try it properly. Sometimes people want to pull with with me in house parties, pubs, but I'm usually just focusing on not to harm people who don't know how to move the upper body when armwrestling. But I'm sure if I would try it with somebody who actually does armwrestling, I would be destroyed in seconds .

Thanks for sharing. I've noticed the same with pullups, loosing weight as you said helped me a ton also. 

Guess we share powerlifting in common haha. I stopped liked 7 years ago. Given your height and bw your squats are inspiring. I would have guessed you were more of a deadlifter given your physical stats  just shows how different we're all built. 

That's good of you to be respectful of others who don't know how to pull. I could see more people getting turned off from trying the sport if their first experience was an injury. I'm a fan of the sport like yourself that's why I asked. It seems like pullups are held in a high regard for that sport. You definitely have quite a base to go off if you ever try out the sport on a competitive level 

[matek]

2 hours ago, Bigfoot Grip said:

Thanks for sharing. I've noticed the same with pullups, loosing weight as you said helped me a ton also. 

Guess we share powerlifting in common haha. I stopped liked 7 years ago. Given your height and bw your squats are inspiring. I would have guessed you were more of a deadlifter given your physical stats  just shows how different we're all built. 

That's good of you to be respectful of others who don't know how to pull. I could see more people getting turned off from trying the sport if their first experience was an injury. I'm a fan of the sport like yourself that's why I asked. It seems like pullups are held in a high regard for that sport. You definitely have quite a base to go off if you ever try out the sport on a competitive level 

Thanks for the kind words!  When I started powerlifting, my deadlift was my strongest and I reached a decent level rather quickly. But around 250kg/551lb, my progression slowed down a lot, and eventually my squat surpassed it. I also learned that only squatting makes my deadlift progress as well, but I can't really tell the same the other way around. As you said, we're all built differently: I have very long femurs and I have to lean forward to hit depth, so squat is a very hamstring and lower back dominant exercise for me. 

 

Yes, based on the armwrestling training videos I watch sometimes, they do a lot of weighted neutral grip pullups. Actually I switched to neutral grip because it doesn't hurt my shoulders at all, even with a lot of weight. 

Have you ever tried armwrestling on a proper competition table, etc.?

 

 

[matek]

2022/04/14 steel cutting  and some braced bending

 

No time for gym today because I had to cut the new steel I got. It was actually a little bit tiring with my bolt cutter. I should get a bigger one. Anyways, I thought I give a try to braced bending afterward. I tried it only once when I snapped that 9mm HRS, but the bending part wasn't hard in that case. I started with a few 7mm|0.276" CRS in various lengths, just to get used to the feeling in my inner thighs, etc. Then I did:

 

CRS (SS400), length=190mm|7.48", d=8mm|0.315"|5/16
Nothing special.

CRS (S45C) HEX, length=178mm|7", width=7mm|0.2756"
First time for me trying this material, it's really hard. Comparable to the SK4 drill rod that has ~0.95% Carbon. This one is "only" ~0.45% but the Manganese is 0.6-0.9% which makes it quite a challenge. Top that with the hexagonal shape and you have something that doesn't feel 7mm . Overall, it was fine just the kink and sweep surprised me. I will mainly use it in my DU bending to fill gaps (when I'm ready). 

Stainless (303), length=178mm|7", d=8mm|0.315"|5/16
As expected, the kink and sweep were ok, but the crush was a little bit troublesome. It just kept springing back. This was also within 5 mins, but my inner thighs started to feel... uncomfortable. I realized later from the bruises that I should've pushed my hands around my wrists, not directly my knuckles. 

 

All crushed to sub 50mm/2".

I also got chunky boy CRS because I wanted to try mid-length braced bending. HRS would have been a better choice for sure, but they didn't have it at this diameter. 
CRS (SS400), length=480mm|18.89", d=12mm|0.47" so just a little bit short of 1/2
I was already tired and my thighs hurt, so I figured it's a good opportunity to try bending over knee. I used a bigger towel. What I can say: it doesn't hurt as much as it looks, but it's harder than it seems (strange angles, keeping your balance, etc.). It was difficult for me to keep my torso straight, so I essentially "rowed" the bar in small increments. Not very efficient. I will continue it next time, and maybe try out some other mid/long bar braced technique. 

 

I was so hungry after all the cutting and this braced bending thing I ate about a kg of meat with sides and I'm now eating sweats. 

 

Edited April 14, 2022 by matek

[Blacksmith513]

Happy bending.

[matek]

32 minutes ago, Blacksmith513 said:

Happy bending.

  It was a happy bEnding for sure. I'm full and feel like humpty dumpty with sausage hands now. 

[matek]

2022/04/15 DU bending

 

CRS (SS400) , d=7mm|0.276" , length=178mm/7"
CRS (SS400) , d=7mm|0.276" , length=165mm/6.5"

 

CRS CrMo (SCM435) , d=7mm|0.276" , length=178mm/7"
First time trying chromium molybdenum steel. It is indeed harder than my normal CRS (SS400), but not that much. I expected it to be much harder, since they make the 10.9 and 12.9 bolts from this material here. Of course it goes through a hardening process for that, but still. Edit: I tried it again just to be sure, and I think it's not even harder than my normal CRS. Oh well.

 

CRS (S45C) , d=7mm|0.276" , length=178mm/7"
This one on the other hand, quite hard. Went down in three big hits. 

 

Stainless (316), d=7mm|0.276" , length=178mm/7"
Never tried this type of stainless before. I think it was a little bit harder to start than the 304 or even the 303. But maybe I was just tired, because I didn't rest to this point besides wrapping. 

 

CRS HEX (SS400) , width=7mm|0.276" , length=178mm/7"
I'm amazed how much hex is harder than round. I knew I can do this, but took longer than expected. Still within 5 mins, well over 40 degrees blabla. 

 

Drill rod (SK4), d=7.3mm/0.287", length=178mm/7"
SK4, my high carbon nemesis. Today up to this point, I was bending in doubles of a soft suede + thicker but shorter leather, and all went down no problem. But this one... I got this down to 30 degrees, but then it got frozen. It just didn't want to move, so I switched to a double leather combo (the thicker short one + a normal) to give me more leverage , and it went to fairly easily.
 

Edited April 16, 2022 by matek

[Bigfoot Grip]

On 4/14/2022 at 12:01 AM, matek said:

Thanks for the kind words!  When I started powerlifting, my deadlift was my strongest and I reached a decent level rather quickly. But around 250kg/551lb, my progression slowed down a lot, and eventually my squat surpassed it. I also learned that only squatting makes my deadlift progress as well, but I can't really tell the same the other way around. As you said, we're all built differently: I have very long femurs and I have to lean forward to hit depth, so squat is a very hamstring and lower back dominant exercise for me. 

 

Yes, based on the armwrestling training videos I watch sometimes, they do a lot of weighted neutral grip pullups. Actually I switched to neutral grip because it doesn't hurt my shoulders at all, even with a lot of weight. 

Have you ever tried armwrestling on a proper competition table, etc.?

 

 

You summed it up nicely. I had the same experience as you(squat carryover to deadlift but maybe not vice versa) 

That is a nice effect of the neutral grip pullup eh. Very easy on the shoulders and joint friendly. Lately I have been doing them with fat gripz using the thumbless grip and I find it carrys over to other grip lifts. Hopefully rolling handles lol. I also like the variation that arm wrestlers use with the half reps almost mimicing a hammer curl. 

Never been on a table and don't know if I would currently because grip sport is my main focus. I feel like the risk of injury may not be worth it. I love the sport and really like the training they do in the weight room. Specifically I watch guys like Ermes, Paul Linn, Storm Chellino etc I always thought that style of training could help other sports such as bending or grip. I realize it's still apples to oranges but I could see how all of the various movements they do could lay a good foundation for the bending or grip stuff. 

[matek]

2 hours ago, Bigfoot Grip said:

You summed it up nicely. I had the same experience as you(squat carryover to deadlift but maybe not vice versa) 

That is a nice effect of the neutral grip pullup eh. Very easy on the shoulders and joint friendly. Lately I have been doing them with fat gripz using the thumbless grip and I find it carrys over to other grip lifts. Hopefully rolling handles lol. I also like the variation that arm wrestlers use with the half reps almost mimicing a hammer curl. 

Never been on a table and don't know if I would currently because grip sport is my main focus. I feel like the risk of injury may not be worth it. I love the sport and really like the training they do in the weight room. Specifically I watch guys like Ermes, Paul Linn, Storm Chellino etc I always thought that style of training could help other sports such as bending or grip. I realize it's still apples to oranges but I could see how all of the various movements they do could lay a good foundation for the bending or grip stuff. 

I also love doing fat grip stuff, but recently I'm being careful because of tennis elbow-like symptoms. But sometimes I do rowing with the Fat Gripz EXT thumbless. 

Right, there are so many ways one can injure himself during armwrestling. 

I've been only doing bending for about a month now, but I agree, all the wrist work they do in armwrestling practice would most certainly help with bending (at least with DU and reverse). And vice versa. Also I guess a strong cup translates to a good thumbless grip on rolling handles/fat bar.

[matek]

2022/04/17

 

Didn't feel like going to the gym, so after rowing for half an hour (resistance band + thick rolling pin), did a bunch of wrist exercises; supination, pronation, flexion, extension, ulnar deviation, radial deviation.

[SteinWillems1]

On 4/16/2022 at 5:20 AM, matek said:

I also love doing fat grip stuff, but recently I'm being careful because of tennis elbow-like symptoms. But sometimes I do rowing with the Fat Gripz EXT thumbless. 

Right, there are so many ways one can injure himself during armwrestling. 

I've been only doing bending for about a month now, but I agree, all the wrist work they do in armwrestling practice would most certainly help with bending (at least with DU and reverse). And vice versa. Also I guess a strong cup translates to a good thumbless grip on rolling handles/fat bar.

Hey Matek!

Do fat gripz help you with your gripper work?

[matek]

7 minutes ago, SteinWillems1 said:

Hey Matek!

Do fat gripz help you with your gripper work?

Hi @SteinWillems1!

Fat grip work may have some carryover even to grippers, but probably not that much. 

What definitely helped me to progress fast is choker gripper training. If you haven't tried it yet, I think you should give it a shot. It's like a cheat code for leveling fast. 

 

[matek]

2022/04/18 DU bending

 

I few days ago I tried bending in doubles, and I found that some technique adjustments have to be made to maximize efficiency. So I started with doing

10x CRS (SS400) , d=7mm|0.276" and d=7.1mm/0.28" bars, lengths of 7" or 6.5" (I didn't bother to check one by one)

 

But two days ago my order from @Horrido arrived all the way from Germany to Japan, so I just had to try one of the bolts... Also it was a month ago that my first proper steel order arrived and I've started bending, so it was a good opportunity to check my progress with material I didn't buy locally. 

Horrido bending, stainless bolt A4 (304) , d=8mm|5/16" , length=180mm|7" (picture)

Took me two hits in double leathers. I didn't measure, but probably somewhere between 15-25 secs I guess. This is the first steel I will keep as a memento 

 

After this I did:

CRS HEX (SS400) , width=7mm|0.276" , length=178mm/7"

Took two hits as well (to ~85 degrees). 

 

Good session. I have A2 bolts as well, I'm looking forward to cert on that.

 

 

[matek]

2022/04/21

Long workout: Braced bending, DU bending, grippers, wrist

 

BRACED BENDING
2x HRS 13mm x 480mm (0.51" x 18.9")
Kinked on knee (used a towel), finished between thighs. It was way too easy, but I didn't know better.
Next time I'll order something shorter or thicker. 

HRS flat bar 16mm x 9mm x 480mm (0.63" x 0.35" x 18.9")
Same story here. This flat bar looks cool though. 

Then I fought with the 12mm x 480mm (0.47" x 18.9") CRS for like 15 mins. I started kinking this over my knee about a week ago. I think I managed to bend it a little bit more, but it's still too open to put inside my thighs and crush it there efficiently.
I have to say, this longer bar CRS bending business is quite frustrating. When I bend it a little bit over my knee, it springs back immediately. 

 

DU BENDING
I was pretty warmed up, so after a few easy bars, I did the A4 bolt again DU just to be sure I can do it no problem before trying something harder. I think I starting to get this bending in doubles thing. 
5x CRS (SS400) 7.1mm x 180mm (0.28" x 7")
Horrido A4 bolt 8mm x 180mm (5/16" x 7") (this is in the video)

 

GRIPPERS
GD Iron Grip 90 Level 4/spread level 3, without extension
RH/LH 7x10: finger joints were a bit tired and honestly it hurt a little bit, but got better from the third set and I didn't miss reps

ISG/SILARUKOV-1 replica, choked parallel, springs at 8,10
RH/LH 5x1: Missed 3 with both hands . Not a smart choice of spring positions at this point. But I didn't give up easily on the reps, so it was a good workout.  Same spring position would be @~130 RGC on the ISG. Just to make sure that my theory is correct and this thing is indeed harder than the ISG, I did 1 rep on my @134 Standard Fe after this, and it felt much easier. Or maybe I'm just better at torsion spring grippers from a parallel position.

 

WRIST 
10 x 12 ulnar deviation 
10 x 12 radial deviation 
Using my contraption (last pic) which works really well for this. I just step on the band loop and use the wood handles. 

 

 

Edited April 21, 2022 by matek

[SteinWillems1]

2 hours ago, matek said:

2022/04/21

Long workout: Braced bending, DU bending, grippers, wrist

 

BRACED BENDING
2x HRS 13mm x 480mm (0.51" x 18.9")
Kinked on knee (used a towel), finished between thighs. It was way too easy, but I didn't know better.
Next time I'll order something shorter or thicker. 

HRS flat bar 16mm x 9mm x 480mm (0.63" x 0.35" x 18.9")
Same story here. This flat bar looks cool though. 

Then I fought with the 12mm x 480mm (0.47" x 18.9") CRS for like 15 mins. I started kinking this over my knee about a week ago. I think I managed to bend it a little bit more, but it's still too open to put inside my thighs and crush it there efficiently.
I have to say, this longer bar CRS bending business is quite frustrating. When I bend it a little bit over my knee, it springs back immediately. 

 

DU BENDING
I was pretty warmed up, so after a few easy bars, I did the A4 bolt again DU just to be sure I can do it no problem before trying something harder. I think I starting to get this bending in doubles thing. 
5x CRS (SS400) 7.1mm x 180mm (0.28" x 7")
Horrido A4 bolt 8mm x 180mm (5/16" x 7") (this is in the video)

 

GRIPPERS
GD Iron Grip 90 Level 4/spread level 3, without extension
RH/LH 7x10: finger joints were a bit tired and honestly it hurt a little bit, but got better from the third set and I didn't miss reps

ISG/SILARUKOV-1 replica, choked parallel, springs at 8,10
RH/LH 5x1: Missed 3 with both hands . Not a smart choice of spring positions at this point. But I didn't give up easily on the reps, so it was a good workout.  Same spring position would be @~130 RGC on the ISG. Just to make sure that my theory is correct and this thing is indeed harder than the ISG, I did 1 rep on my @134 Standard Fe after this, and it felt much easier. Or maybe I'm just better at torsion spring grippers from a parallel position.

 

WRIST 
10 x 12 ulnar deviation 
10 x 12 radial deviation 
Using my contraption (last pic) which works really well for this. I just step on the band loop and use the wood handles. 

 

 

You are a beast!!

[matek]

2 hours ago, SteinWillems1 said:

You are a beast!!

Thanks! Was a great workout today.