Why is gripper strength so inconsistent?

[AdriaanRobert96]

It’s kind of funny how inconsistent gripper strength can be, to the point where you’ll literally go nuts some training days

Someone mentioned it in a funny way and it went something along the line of..

”the stars has to be aligned, weather must be perfect and even the sun has to be at a certain position on the sky” ..

I swear it’s so true, but WHY and how so?

I am pretty sure there isn’t an answer to this but still want to see if ya’ll experience this aswell?

[Vinnie]

11 minutes ago, AdriaanRobert96 said:

It’s kind of funny how inconsistent gripper strength can be, to the point where you’ll literally go nuts some training days

Someone mentioned it in a funny way and it went something along the line of..

”the stars has to be aligned, weather must be perfect and even the sun has to be at a certain position on the sky” ..

I swear it’s so true, but WHY and how so?

I am pretty sure there isn’t an answer to this but still want to see if ya’ll experience this aswell?

I kind of agree, yes.  My max can vary by 10 pounds up or down without seeming to be correlated to what it should be (like, one day I might get a good close on a hard gripper without chalk and not enough rest, but another day I miss that same gripper, even though I had a warm up after good rest and I used chalk).

[dubyagrip]

Recovery isn't uniform, so it is most likely that you haven't recovered from the previous workout.

Other factors like lack of focus, stress, what and when you've eaten prior to the workout also play a big part.  This is why you see me hit the smelling salts prior to almost everything I do.  I want to be optimally alert and focused on the task at hand.  I try to train and eat at the same times everyday as well.

[Blacksmith513]

There are so many factors. Stress,sleep, diet, hand positioning, humidity, the chalk you use, your stance… 

 

the key is to keep things as consistent as possible and not get frustrated when your numbers are 10lbs less than less session.

[C8Myotome]

There are many more physiological things going on than people realize that ensure you are never are in the same exact homeostasis from session to session. There are a lot of voluntary and involuntary factors that affect who you are & what exactly your body is made up of on a day to day level, what state your brain is in, how well your nerves and muscles are capable of functioning on any given day, before even touching on gripper programming or environmental factors. There's just a lot.

[AdriaanRobert96]

55 minutes ago, Vinnie said:

I kind of agree, yes.  My max can vary by 10 pounds up or down without seeming to be correlated to what it should be (like, one day I might get a good close on a hard gripper without chalk and not enough rest, but another day I miss that same gripper, even though I had a warm up after good rest and I used chalk).

Yep same here, some days where I plan everything and eat well I fail badly and some days where I think it will be a bad workout it turns out to be great and I hit PRs

[AdriaanRobert96]

56 minutes ago, dubyagrip said:

Recovery isn't uniform, so it is most likely that you haven't recovered from the previous workout.

Other factors like lack of focus, stress, what and when you've eaten prior to the workout also play a big part.  This is why you see me hit the smelling salts prior to almost everything I do.  I want to be optimally alert and focused on the task at hand.  I try to train and eat at the same times everyday as well.

I usually only train once per week and always at the same time of day, but recovery is certainly true aswell.

After I hit my 160+ hard #3 with credit card, 1 or 2 workouts after that one I was soo weak.. even tho I take a weeks rest.

[DoctorOfCrush]

As others have said, there are a multitude factors at play here. Plus, while grippers are not large, compound movements and are, in fact, quite different from other movements, it is still often a max effort exertion. You wouldn’t expect to hit 90-95%+ weekly or multiple times per week in other movements. There are ebbs and flows to gripper training just like any other strength training; some you can account for, some you can’t.
 

For me, I always have a contingency plan for my workout. If I can’t hit X, I’ll do Y to maintain my volume/intensity/sanity. 

[AdriaanRobert96]

36 minutes ago, Blacksmith513 said:

There are so many factors. Stress,sleep, diet, hand positioning, humidity, the chalk you use, your stance… 

 

the key is to keep things as consistent as possible and not get frustrated when your numbers are 10lbs less than less session.

Man oh man.. fun you should mention frustration

I was so pisses on my last workout, I was literally the weakest I’ve been in months!

I also think hyping one self up and puttinf up certain expectations for your next workout can mess it up aswell..

I’ve promises myself to not do that anymore..

[AdriaanRobert96]

19 minutes ago, C8Myotome said:

There are many more physiological things going on than people realize that ensure you are never are in the same exact homeostasis from session to session. There are a lot of voluntary and involuntary factors that affect who you are & what exactly your body is made up of on a day to day level, what state your brain is in, how well your nerves and muscles are capable of functioning on any given day, before even touching on gripper programming or environmental factors. There's just a lot.

Yeah that’s so true, it’s an unsolvable issue I am afraid.. but one can only keep pushing and do the best of it..

With that said, I’d be lying if I said I have not been pissed off a couple of times during failed gripper workouts

[AdriaanRobert96]

3 minutes ago, DoctorOfCrush said:

As others have said, there are a multitude factors at play here. Plus, while grippers are not large, compound movements and are, in fact, quite different from other movements, it is still often a max effort exertion. You wouldn’t expect to hit 90-95%+ weekly or multiple times per week in other movements. There are ebbs and flows to gripper training just like any other strength training; some you can account for, some you can’t.
 

For me, I always have a contingency plan for my workout. If I can’t hit X, I’ll do Y to maintain my volume/intensity/sanity. 

I’d say true, altho I feel like fat gripz and pinch is something I can keep up on almost a weekly basis but not grippers.. 

Planets have to be aligned for those to work

[dubyagrip]

The recovery deficit adds up over time too, which is why people deload.

[Blacksmith513]

47 minutes ago, AdriaanRobert96 said:

Man oh man.. fun you should mention frustration

I was so pisses on my last workout, I was literally the weakest I’ve been in months!

I also think hyping one self up and puttinf up certain expectations for your next workout can mess it up aswell..

I’ve promises myself to not do that anymore..

Yeah I was sick for a month and was so disappointed in myself. But I kept pushing. Really that’s all you can do. Try hard enough eventually you’ll get there.

[AdriaanRobert96]

21 minutes ago, dubyagrip said:

The recovery deficit adds up over time too, which is why people deload.

Yeah that makes sense, I usually deload for 1/3 of the work done.

[AdriaanRobert96]

7 minutes ago, Blacksmith513 said:

Yeah I was sick for a month and was so disappointed in myself. But I kept pushing. Really that’s all you can do. Try hard enough eventually you’ll get there.

Amen to that brother

[Cannon]

3 hours ago, dubyagrip said:

Recovery isn't uniform, so it is most likely that you haven't recovered from the previous workout.

Yeah I was going to say CNS recovery. 

Grip strength is actually a great indicator of CNS recovery. If you were going to decide whether or not to squat, for example, you might have a go at a dyno to see if it's a "good day." But we are weird because grip strength is what we are hoping to perform. 

So another good test is typing. If you can type fast and fluid with few mistakes then your CNS is probably firing on all cylinders. If typing is clumsy and you "fat finger" a bunch of keys and can't get coordinated then your CNS is probably still fried. 

That's some major bro science for you. I have nothing to back this up except I have found it to be true. If I can type 700,000 words-per-minute then I'm closing 3s. 

[dubyagrip]

16 minutes ago, Cannon said:

Yeah I was going to say CNS recovery. 

Grip strength is actually a great indicator of CNS recovery. If you were going to decide whether or not to squat, for example, you might have a go at a dyno to see if it's a "good day." But we are weird because grip strength is what we are hoping to perform. 

So another good test is typing. If you can type fast and fluid with few mistakes then your CNS is probably firing on all cylinders. If typing is clumsy and you "fat finger" a bunch of keys and can't get coordinated then your CNS is probably still fried. 

That's some major bro science for you. I have nothing to back this up except I have found it to be true. If I can type 700,000 words-per-minute then I'm closing 3s. 

It's funny you say this, but I can tell if I should train or rest by clenching my fist, raising it above my head, and challenging the gods.

Seriously though, I can tell by how it feels clenching my fist and hitting a couple of reps on the trainer.  Giving myself an extra day to rest is far less frustrating than having what feels like wasted sessions.

[AdriaanRobert96]

7 hours ago, Cannon said:

Yeah I was going to say CNS recovery. 

Grip strength is actually a great indicator of CNS recovery. If you were going to decide whether or not to squat, for example, you might have a go at a dyno to see if it's a "good day." But we are weird because grip strength is what we are hoping to perform. 

So another good test is typing. If you can type fast and fluid with few mistakes then your CNS is probably firing on all cylinders. If typing is clumsy and you "fat finger" a bunch of keys and can't get coordinated then your CNS is probably still fried. 

That's some major bro science for you. I have nothing to back this up except I have found it to be true. If I can type 700,000 words-per-minute then I'm closing 3s. 

That’s an interesting approach on the CNS for sure, bro science or not.. never heard of this but still interesting

[AdriaanRobert96]

7 hours ago, dubyagrip said:

It's funny you say this, but I can tell if I should train or rest by clenching my fist, raising it above my head, and challenging the gods.

Seriously though, I can tell by how it feels clenching my fist and hitting a couple of reps on the trainer.  Giving myself an extra day to rest is far less frustrating than having what feels like wasted sessions.

Maybe I should try this instead, I really have no other way if gauging..

One thing I do is take my 160+ RGC #3 and sort of bounce it together with my band.. if it feels bouncy it’ll be a good day..

 

[Stephen Ruby]

18 hours ago, Cannon said:

Yeah I was going to say CNS recovery. 

Grip strength is actually a great indicator of CNS recovery. If you were going to decide whether or not to squat, for example, you might have a go at a dyno to see if it's a "good day." But we are weird because grip strength is what we are hoping to perform. 

So another good test is typing. If you can type fast and fluid with few mistakes then your CNS is probably firing on all cylinders. If typing is clumsy and you "fat finger" a bunch of keys and can't get coordinated then your CNS is probably still fried. 

That's some major bro science for you. I have nothing to back this up except I have found it to be true. If I can type 700,000 words-per-minute then I'm closing 3s. 

I tried to find an older article on some top level olympic weightlifting teams doing just this 

 

https://www.elitefts.com/education/use-a-hand-dynamometer-to-measure-your-recovery/

 

I found this article which outlines  what your saying. Anecdotally I absolutely feel when my crush grip is feeling strong I am feeling strong overall. 

 

The biggest issue is getting the CNS to recovery which I have just found lots of good sleep makes the biggest difference and that has gotten more difficult as I have gotten older.