First post in 4 years!

[Rian]

Hey all,

Im a fan of gripsport since 2018/19 and have been training on and off since. I must be honest Im the only person in my gym who trains my grip and does grip specific lifts... so I feel a bit isolated from other gripsters aside from YouTube videos, and I feel like my progress has stagnated.

Im just wondering if any of you could take the time to go over my current stats and give feedback/ maybe recommend some changes. Btw Im a regular enough sized guy, about 190 lb., 6', and I train my grip 3/4 times a week.

COC - can close the #2 with both hands essentially anytime, I have closed the #2.5 in a block set with my right several times over the years but never mastered it to the point I can close it any given day. My left can get it within 3/4mm. I have a 3, but Im miles off closing it. I tend to focus on volume with my #1, often doing sets of 10/20 reps with each hand for 3/4 sets. I also mess around with a #.5 gripper which I can close for 40/50 reps.

Thick Bar training - Can double overhand deadlift an axle w/ 120kg or 255 lb. Can switch-grip far more - around 160kg/ 360 lb. I also do dead hangs with the Fat Grips Extreme for sets of 20 seconds. I feel like this is a real strength of mine. Any kind of cupping position suits my hands. I also have a rolling thunder which I havent got for too long but I can do singles of 55kg/57.5kg or 130/140 lb. which isnt spectacular but bare in mind im still new in using this tool. 
 

Other - Farmers carries holding 35 lb. bumper plates in each hand or 35 lb. + 11 lb. plates together in each hand. Also fat gripz extreme farmers with 70 lb. dumbells. Also perform wrist curls/reverse curls/band supination and pronation and hammers. 

All feedback on progression/new ideas/ recommendation would be much appreciated. Thanks all

 

 

[Gripperer]

28 minutes ago, Rian said:

Hey all,

Im a fan of gripsport since 2018/19 and have been training on and off since. I must be honest Im the only person in my gym who trains my grip and does grip specific lifts... so I feel a bit isolated from other gripsters aside from YouTube videos, and I feel like my progress has stagnated.

Im just wondering if any of you could take the time to go over my current stats and give feedback/ maybe recommend some changes. Btw Im a regular enough sized guy, about 190 lb., 6', and I train my grip 3/4 times a week.

COC - can close the #2 with both hands essentially anytime, I have closed the #2.5 in a block set with my right several times over the years but never mastered it to the point I can close it any given day. My left can get it within 3/4mm. I have a 3, but Im miles off closing it. I tend to focus on volume with my #1, often doing sets of 10/20 reps with each hand for 3/4 sets. I also mess around with a #.5 gripper which I can close for 40/50 reps.

Thick Bar training - Can double overhand deadlift an axle w/ 120kg or 255 lb. Can switch-grip far more - around 160kg/ 360 lb. I also do dead hangs with the Fat Grips Extreme for sets of 20 seconds. I feel like this is a real strength of mine. Any kind of cupping position suits my hands. I also have a rolling thunder which I havent got for too long but I can do singles of 55kg/57.5kg or 130/140 lb. which isnt spectacular but bare in mind im still new in using this tool. 
 

Other - Farmers carries holding 35 lb. bumper plates in each hand or 35 lb. + 11 lb. plates together in each hand. Also fat gripz extreme farmers with 70 lb. dumbells. Also perform wrist curls/reverse curls/band supination and pronation and hammers. 

All feedback on progression/new ideas/ recommendation would be much appreciated. Thanks all

 

Welcome. Sounds like you have a strong overall grip and wrists. Do you have a specific goal, i.e. a feat you wish to accomplish or a sport at which you want to improve?

Edited April 16, 2023 by Gripperer

[Rian]

3 hours ago, Gripperer said:

Welcome. Sounds like you have a strong overall grip and wrists. Do you have a specific goal, i.e. a feat you wish to accomplish or a sport at which you want to improve?

Hey, thanks for getting back to me. I appreciate it. Yes there are some areas id like to improve, I love my training and enjoy it - but I feel like I could do with help in my programming. Id like to close my #3 most of all, and build up a programme to get there, if you could help with that... I find it very hard to structure my gripper training in a progressive way.

[DoctorOfCrush]

I think you'll find tons of different opinions about what type of programming works with grippers. If you look through posts on the board and peruse training logs, you'll get more ideas than you could imagine. I find it best to figure out through trial and error what works best for you. Some can train multiple times weeks, some once per week, some even less. If you're progressing and not injuring yourself, you're probably alright. The easiest thing to advise against, which can quickly take hold at the beginning or as you inch closer to a particular goal gripper, is frequent attempts with a goal gripper. I look back at my logs, and the longest plateaus I had were when I was spending multiple workouts per week taking 3+ attempts at a gripper I couldn't close. Get in good quality and focused reps in at various set positions, and keep some space between max attempts, as hard as that may be to do. 

[Vinnie]

11 minutes ago, DoctorOfCrush said:

I think you'll find tons of different opinions about what type of programming works with grippers. If you look through posts on the board and peruse training logs, you'll get more ideas than you could imagine. I find it best to figure out through trial and error what works best for you. Some can train multiple times weeks, some once per week, some even less. If you're progressing and not injuring yourself, you're probably alright. The easiest thing to advise against, which can quickly take hold at the beginning or as you inch closer to a particular goal gripper, is frequent attempts with a goal gripper. I look back at my logs, and the longest plateaus I had were when I was spending multiple workouts per week taking 3+ attempts at a gripper I couldn't close. Get in good quality and focused reps in at various set positions, and keep some space between max attempts, as hard as that may be to do. 

I think only going for maxes is not ideal, but I also think you DO need to go for maxes a fair amount.  At least I do.  I think working grippers too frequently can be a problem though.  I overdid it at first, maybe every two days, sometimes more frequently, and I hurt my elbow and had to stop for a few months.  Now I rarely do grippers more than twice a week.

[Fist of Fury]

How many reps you're doing with the #2? If you can rep it for more than 3 reps that's the gripper you should put in a lot of work with. Doing 3-4 sets of high reps with the #1 is not going to get you far. It can help you as variation and as warmup but you need to increase the volume on the #2 gripper in order to get stronger.

[Gripperer]

6 hours ago, Rian said:

Hey, thanks for getting back to me. I appreciate it. Yes there are some areas id like to improve, I love my training and enjoy it - but I feel like I could do with help in my programming. Id like to close my #3 most of all, and build up a programme to get there, if you could help with that... I find it very hard to structure my gripper training in a progressive way.

The other guys here are better qualified than me to give gripper advice. What I'll leave you with is this: a person who focuses on few goals stands a better chance of achieving them than if they have many goals.

Just a natural rule, that you can't disperse your energies thinly and expect to excel in any one thing.

[Douglas Carney]

4 hours ago, Gripperer said:

The other guys here are better qualified than me to give gripper advice. What I'll leave you with is this: a person who focuses on few goals stands a better chance of achieving them than if they have many goals.

Just a natural rule, that you can't disperse your energies thinly and expect to excel in any one thing.

I agree...  For me, grippers are taxing so I am focusing on some block weight/open hand goals for now.

I'd also suggest having a short-term goal and a stretch goal.

Ex. Cannon offered an Iron [Fe] standard gripper with an average rating halfway between a CoC 2.5 and 3.  You could start with a short-term goal of mastering the CoC 2.5 with occasional tries or negatives with the Iron [Fe].  And as you get stronger, the stretch goal becomes the CoC 3.  Just a thought.

[DoctorOfCrush]

10 hours ago, Vinnie said:

I think only going for maxes is not ideal, but I also think you DO need to go for maxes a fair amount.  At least I do.  I think working grippers too frequently can be a problem though.  I overdid it at first, maybe every two days, sometimes more frequently, and I hurt my elbow and had to stop for a few months.  Now I rarely do grippers more than twice a week.

Oh I should clarify here.
 

Looking back at my logs from when I started logging, I was following a 2-on/1-off schedule (so as many as 5 gripper sessions in 1 week!), and I would do 2-3 attempts at my goal gripper every workout. At the time I was closing the GHP5(109) and pushing toward the 2.5. This is the kind of massive overkill I would advise against.

You could probably get away with weekly attempts at your goal gripper starting out, on top of a few sessions with sub-maximal rep work. You’ll just have to listen to your body.