Odin's Grip Journey

[gripzilla]

Hey guys. Is there any type/brand of 10# plate that is preferable for pinching 5-6 plates? Thanks.

[knyaz]

Hey guys. Is there any type/brand of 10# plate that is preferable for pinching 5-6 plates? Thanks.

Im not sure what brand they are, but I got the ones everyone likes for pinching at play it again sports

only 49 cents a pound and the plates are perfect

...

Odin, 6 tens with weight is outrageous, keep up the hard training your Blob thick pinch work is really inspiring!!!

[odin]

Odin,

Keep up the good work, you will be rewarded soon.

Best wishes,

Laine

Thanks Laine, it's always great to hear from you. I'm working hard, so improvement should continue.

Doing yard work is an interesting way to warm up for a workout. It looks like it was quite effective for you. Nice workout.

Kevin, it seems to work pretty well, I can incorporate both stretching and movement as i see fit and still get two things done at once.

Hey guys. Is there any type/brand of 10# plate that is preferable for pinching 5-6 plates? Thanks.

Im not sure what brand they are, but I got the ones everyone likes for pinching at play it again sports

only 49 cents a pound and the plates are perfect

...

Odin, 6 tens with weight is outrageous, keep up the hard training your Blob thick pinch work is really inspiring!!!

Steve, I'm not sure what plates you mean, but am open to trying different ones. That is one good thing about going to contests, you can try other people's equipment to see what best suits you.

I just want to clarify that I am not lifting 6 loose 10s with extra weight. They have been held together by tape or a 3 lb. pipe. Six loose 10s is MUCH harder. I'll put up some video for clarification when I get a chance.

8/4/08

Worked on 6x10 and 2x45 for a little bit.

Broke 6x10 +3 lb. pipe +2.5 lbs. in Platemates off the ground and did a pretty good negative with 70.5 total lbs. RH. It is very possible that I may need to be able to lift 72+ lbs. or more at this width to get 6x10 in loose plates. I think ridiculous strength is needed to keep the loose plates from fanning and dropping at this width.

2x45: Closest ever to air, not sure if I got both plates in the air at the same time or not, but may have. Definitely felt "float" and at least one plate leaving the ground and did some good finger touch lifts.

I'm using the York 45s made about 30 years ago with the wide, shallow hub. I don't know how good they are considered for pinching, but have the milling like the York 25s of the same era, so the texture is pretty good.

Edited August 5, 2008 by odin

[nockowt1]

Another outstanding workout. It's difficult for me to imagine to doing 70lbs+ at the width of 6-10s. I definitely have a lot of work to do. Do you feel that you get more benefit from taping the plates together or using a pipe?

[odin]

Another outstanding workout. It's difficult for me to imagine to doing 70lbs+ at the width of 6-10s. I definitely have a lot of work to do. Do you feel that you get more benefit from taping the plates together or using a pipe?

Thanks Kevin. The pipe is a bit more convenient, that way I can try them loose first without the hassle of re-taping them. It seems more fun in a way to pinch them taped as a big block weight at times.

It's tough for me as well, but just remember that you can typically eventually lift whatever you can lower, hold or do a finger touch lift with as long as you keep working on progressing in some way over a period of time. I think a lot of it is just getting used to the width; the weight is less than 3 25s-and then there's the crazy plate fanning factor with six plates.

At least our hands are growing stronger, attaining feats just signifies milestones we've passed along the way. Believe in yourself and that you will attain your goals, but don't turn your potential milestones into millstones. Keep it fun yet progressive and avoid feeling too burdened by your expectations.

Edited August 5, 2008 by odin

[odin]

8/6/08

BW:170 (hit my pre-GGC goal)

Pinch: did some negatives/tramp work with 2x45.

8/9/08

DO DL: 325 lbs.x 2 reps. First DL session in 3 weeks and I lacked focus it seemed.

DO DL lockouts: 375x1 405x1 425x1 435x0

RH Rolling Thunder (stood on 2 inch blocks, new handle): 167 lbs.x 7 reps+ 5 rest/pause reps|167 lbs.x 6 reps+ 6 rest/pause reps. (not bad considering the DO DL lockouts right before).

LH Rolling Thunder (stood on 2 inch blocks, old handle): 177 lbs.x 12 reps| 177x10reps + 2 rest/pause reps.

Inch DB: 12 sets of one speed pull with bounce from mini tramp (feet on tramp). Rested app. 30 seconds between sets after pulling once with each hand. Pulled high as possible. Did not do as well as last time, as I did it later in the workout.

Thumbless Rolling Thunder (stood on 2 inch blocks): played with this for the first time. Old handle seems to help more on TLRT than "regular" RT-I will be able to pull some pretty good weights in this movement with practice-it felt weird at first and then I liked it.

The next day (today) my hands were more sore than they have ever been. It hurts just to open or close them.

8/10/08

Front Squats: testing ribcage tweak, felt fine w/ 115 lbs.x5 reps| 115 lbs.x5 reps| 115 lbs.x5 reps|

[knyaz]

congrats on the bodyweight goal!!!

the Rolling thunder weights are quite impressive

[odin]

congrats on the bodyweight goal!!!

the Rolling thunder weights are quite impressive

Thanks Steve! I thought I read you'd gained some weight as well, good job. I'm going to try to weigh 172 by Gripmas and 175 one year from now.

[odin]

8/13/08

Tried 6 tens pinch, no air.

Went to double 3x25 plate pinch. First try was a miss, RH went up too fast and LH was left behind.

Did some experimenting with foot placement for 2HP. It felt like a few inches either way might make a big difference.

I'm tapering for GGC, so the primary focus is on hitting a hard feat each workout. I peaked a few weeks after Gripmas, so I'd like to come in slightly

undertrained this time if anything.

8/17/08

RH Thumbless Rolling Thunder (old handle) 187 lbs.x1 rep| 212 lbs.x1 rep|

| 232 lbs.x0 (broke ground).

LH Thumbless Rolling Thunder (old handle) 187 lbs.x1 rep| 202 lbs.x1 rep| 212 lbs.x0 rep|

LH Rolling Thunder 202x1 rep| 212x0 (full lift, but dropped at top of ROM).

Edited August 20, 2008 by odin

[odin]

Saturday, 8/23/08

BW: 168

Rolling Thunder: just singles, got 212 both regular & thumbless RH, couldn't break ground with 225 in plates today (~232#) LH was MIA.

2HP: experimented with width. It makes no sense, but 54 mm seems to work the best for me now. Narrower pinching just feels "wrong" to me. Even 2x45 feels "narrow" to me. This is something I really need to work on, narrower pinching.

Blobs: am a bit rusty on these due to working towards 6x10 plate pinch, but did lift the 50 a few times RH.

Again, I kept the volume light and tried to do heavy singles. I don't have an Axle, so the RT lift should keep my hands ready.

GGC Goals:

I'm not an "upper tier" competitor yet (no gripper or bending workouts), but wanted to "pay my dues" so I'm ready when I'm a bit more competitive. I qualified, so I might as well show up and learn so i can take it to the next level.

Grippers: Closing the 2.5 with no gripper workouts would be great. I've never closed a "non-choked" #3, so I would be beyond thrilled if that happened at GGC. I'm nowhere near confident enough to declare my MM0 intentions yet, that's for sure.

2HP: 180 or better would be a success. Eaton thinks I should get 200+ with technique improvements.

No real systematic practice here because I was too lazy to order proper collars and the weights just slop around. This is an area I should improve a lot in over the years despite my age.

Axle: I don't have an Axle, but I worked my Oly bar DO DL consistently, even when injuries prevented my doing any other compound movements. With a recent 315x5 oly DO DL, pulling 330+ on the Axle seems realistic. I don't know the weight jumps, Jedd has 315-365, but that can't be right.

Medley: If I get a few items loaded I will be happy, this will likely be ugly with the 3 foot platform and mega-big items.

Reverse Bending: No practice, but Chris and John think I have the strength. If I don't grasp the technique overnight and with an unhappy L shoulder and elbow, this will likely be a zero.

The main goals I have are to enjoy myself and learn how to reverse bend and set grippers afterwards.

Edited August 25, 2008 by odin

[anson]

You did well at the GGC despite not having experience on a couple events. Congrats on winning the Diesel award! I'm sorry I couldn't make it with you this year.

[odin]

You did well at the GGC despite not having experience on a couple events. Congrats on winning the Diesel award! I'm sorry I couldn't make it with you this year.

Thanks Anson, I appreciate all your support and comments. I hope you can make it to Gripmas or at least to a griptogether when Scott returns.

9/4/08

Yoga: poor performance in all ways, post-GGC malaise.

9/5/08

Just a little gripper work (about 4 attempts with each hand), closed the SM and RB240N (feels harder than my RB210 and any 2.5s I've tried) with my RH.

9/7/08

Inch Dumbbell: still feel stale and have no desire to train, but thought I'd try the Inch out. Was fairly weak overall, so I did some experimenting. One promising thing did happen; I was able to get some air for the first time in a more controlled fashion (Laine Snook suggestion). I tried to slow down the very first part of the lift and then speed it up. I think if I get 5-10 lbs. stronger and hit the correct speed at the bottom and the rest of the lift, it should go all the way up. The bad thing was that I could only do this a couple times before all my "juice" was gone.

-Started with 2 attempts from the mini-tramp (about knee high w/ 0 bounce).

-Experimented with speed of liftoff from ground (as described above).

-Did a couple sets of 3 OH assisted lifts, not very strong at all.

9/10/08

Tricked myself into training by "bargaining" with the amount of weight to be used; thought an easy workout would help me get started again.

OH Press 100 lbs.x5 reps|100 lbs.x5 reps|100 lbs.x5 reps|100 lbs.x5 reps|100 lbs.x5 reps|

2HP: Weak as a kitten

Blobs: super weak

Mini-tramp: finally started getting some life here, Blob work "woke my hands up" a little.

Eaton said he should be getting my grippers calibrated and sent to me soon (plus his "easy" 3.5), so I will begin some choker work, believe it or not I will train some grippers.

Steve Gardener asked me (nicely) to write something about GGC, which I did for his Blog.

[odin]

9/13/08

Inch Dumbbell: probably not enough rest between Inch workouts, but wanted to try. Experimented with slower pulls but was too weak, so I did ~ five sets of two explosive attempts plus a couple sets of mini-tramp bounces and attempted holds.

9/17/08

Front Squats: 115 lbs. x 5 reps|115 lbs. x 5 reps|115 lbs. x 5 reps|

Sprints: (about 50 yds.): one set of five reps| one set of three reps

Pistols: (did some assisted reps holding on to power rack, hope to be able to do these one day)

Vertical Jumps: two sets of five reps

Blob Work: felt pretty strong, about eight sets of 3 attempts between leg work.

2HP: better than last time, was able to lift 120 in plates after the blob work (170+ total); still not as good-feeling as Jedd's setup but did manage to get some collars to work to hold everything tight.

Blob mini-tramp work: two sets of multiple attempts until hands were not able to benefit.

Finished with some gripper work (about 7 attempts with each hand), on my best effort I closed the SM and held it shut for 5 seconds or more as wife watched. Almost got the SM LH as well. Barely had enough left to touch the handles once RH w/ the RB240N, had a brownout on one attempt, first time I've done that thanks to Andrew's inspiration. Felt very good to do this well after my pinch was already fried.

Legs are sore today.

[jad]

9/13/08

Inch Dumbbell: probably not enough rest between Inch workouts, but wanted to try. Experimented with slower pulls but was too weak, so I did ~ five sets of two explosive attempts plus a couple sets of mini-tramp bounces and attempted holds.

9/17/08

Front Squats: 115 lbs. x 5 reps|115 lbs. x 5 reps|115 lbs. x 5 reps|

Sprints: (about 50 yds.): one set of five reps| one set of three reps

Pistols: (did some assisted reps holding on to power rack, hope to be able to do these one day)

Vertical Jumps: two sets of five reps

Blob Work: felt pretty strong, about eight sets of 3 attempts between leg work.

2HP: better than last time, was able to lift 120 in plates after the blob work (170+ total); still not as good-feeling as Jedd's setup but did manage to get some collars to work to hold everything tight.

Blob mini-tramp work: two sets of multiple attempts until hands were not able to benefit.

Finished with some gripper work (about 7 attempts with each hand), on my best effort I closed the SM and held it shut for 5 seconds or more as wife watched. Almost got the SM LH as well. Barely had enough left to touch the handles once RH w/ the RB240N, had a brownout on one attempt, first time I've done that thanks to Andrew's inspiration. Felt very good to do this well after my pinch was already fried.

Legs are sore today.

Nice workout Bob! The balance portion of the pistols will just click one day and you'll bang out like 3. Make sure your plates at home are the same DM as your Europinch preferred width. I've learned the hard way that switching widths the day of is hard, even a couple of millimeters made a difference for me.

[odin]

9/13/08

Inch Dumbbell: probably not enough rest between Inch workouts, but wanted to try. Experimented with slower pulls but was too weak, so I did ~ five sets of two explosive attempts plus a couple sets of mini-tramp bounces and attempted holds.

9/17/08

Front Squats: 115 lbs. x 5 reps|115 lbs. x 5 reps|115 lbs. x 5 reps|

Sprints: (about 50 yds.): one set of five reps| one set of three reps

Pistols: (did some assisted reps holding on to power rack, hope to be able to do these one day)

Vertical Jumps: two sets of five reps

Blob Work: felt pretty strong, about eight sets of 3 attempts between leg work.

2HP: better than last time, was able to lift 120 in plates after the blob work (170+ total); still not as good-feeling as Jedd's setup but did manage to get some collars to work to hold everything tight.

Blob mini-tramp work: two sets of multiple attempts until hands were not able to benefit.

Finished with some gripper work (about 7 attempts with each hand), on my best effort I closed the SM and held it shut for 5 seconds or more as wife watched. Almost got the SM LH as well. Barely had enough left to touch the handles once RH w/ the RB240N, had a brownout on one attempt, first time I've done that thanks to Andrew's inspiration. Felt very good to do this well after my pinch was already fried.

Legs are sore today.

Nice workout Bob! The balance portion of the pistols will just click one day and you'll bang out like 3. Make sure your plates at home are the same DM as your Europinch preferred width. I've learned the hard way that switching widths the day of is hard, even a couple of millimeters made a difference for me.

Thanks Josh! I prefer 54 mm so far, so that's what I used.

9/18/08

Yoga: one hour

Pullups: BWx5

Parallel Grip Pullups:BW+25 lbs.x5 reps

Chins: BW+25 lbs.x5 reps

Reverse-grip Bent-over Rowing: 135 lbs.x5 reps.|135 lbs.x5 reps.|135 lbs.x5 reps.

Wrist Curls: 135 lbs.x5 reps.|135 lbs.x5 reps.

Plate Curls: 25 lbsx 6 reps RH; 4 reps+2 cheat LH

Reverse Wrist Curls: 75 lbs.x10 reps+ (no rest) Reverse Curls (thumbless): 75 lbs.x5 reps

Knew I needed to get these lifts going again, so I started out easy and didn't push myself.

[kinselbj]

[Nice workout Bob! The balance portion of the pistols will just click one day and you'll bang out like 3. Make sure your plates at home are the same DM as your Europinch preferred width. I've learned the hard way that switching widths the day of is hard, even a couple of millimeters made a difference for me.

Good workouts Bob. I find squeezing my glutes together really helps my balance when doing the one legged squats/pistols. Activating one's glutes mobilises your core--I hate that word--musculature. It should more of a tight squeeze than a tense. Hope this helps.

[odin]

Thanks Barry, I just decided to try pistols for the "fun" of it, without having read much about them and made them into more of a quad movement. I hope to improve my lower body strength; at one time I thought deadlifts would be enough leg work, but the guys who saw me at GGC and Gripmas said I added a lot of muscle since last December, but mostly in my upper body. I think more leg strength will help my DL and even my axle, Inch and 2HP work. I am pretty messed up from my inflexible hips and hamstrings down to my duck feet, so any leg movement is a challenge due to issues w/ back rounding etc. I'm doing yoga at least once a week but need to do more as I seem to stay tight.

I also want to hit my traps harder. If I can keep adding 5+ lbs. of solid weight each year for the next couple years-180-185 would be a pretty good weight for me I think, not sure how much my frame can comfortably hold.

I think my grippers are going to really take off now that I am working them at least a 1/2 dozen squeezes a week. I can now close the BBSM w/ confidence RH (but not easily), once I get it LH it might replace the #2 as my warmup gripper. Hopefully, Eaton will calibrate and send my grippers, etc. soon. He is going to help me get started incorporating some choked & calibrated grippers into my routine. We will likely be trading our grippers back and forth to fill in the gaps as we progress (if he trains ).

[odin]

DO DL: 275 lbs.x5 reps (1st since GGC, started easy)

DO DL Lockouts (~3-inch pull, held at top for a second or longer): 315 lbs.x5 reps| 365 lbs.x3 reps| 385 lbs.x3 reps| 405 lbs.x1 rep (don't really notice grip until weight approaches 400 lbs.)

Rolling Thunder (each hand, new handle) 135 lbs.x12 reps|135 lbs.x12 reps(had to use car-key carabiner, left IM HD one at Eaton's, went light but felt heavy)

Shrugs: 225x5 reps|245x5 reps|265x3 reps+225x5 reps (drop set)|

High Pull: 135x5x5x5 (first time trying these)+ no rest w/ 3 sets of 5 hanging shrugs from chinning bar. Figured this is a lot less technical than any "clean", but should help w/ traps/upper back and didn't seem to irritate shoulders either. I'll stick with this weight for a couple workouts or until I videotape it and determine if I'm pulling the bar high enough.

Did some light D-ring work between shrugs to start preparing hands for Chad's contest. Will try 1HDl next weekend.

Blob: 5 sets of ~3 attempts, texture poor but hands fairly strong; did a couple FR/neg facelifts RH.

Edited September 21, 2008 by odin

[odin]

AM BW: 172.0 (scale must be wrong)

5 easy sprints

Neck, abdominal and rotator cuff work

Grippers: Closed RB240N and BBSM

Near miss CCS BBSM (1/8")

Can't wait to start some work with choked gripers.

Working on video technique with grippers now so I will be better at it by the time I'm closing bigger grippers.

Finished with a couple sets of wrist roller, TTK and shot rotations.

Felt pretty good w/ the grippers, but lacking on the other grip work, hands quite sore from this weekend.

Edited September 24, 2008 by odin

[odin]

Sprints: 5 easy (Achilles tendons very stiff)

OH Press: 105 lbs.x5 reps|105 lbs.x5 reps|105 lbs.x5 reps

Dips (BW only):12 reps| 8 reps (found a playground 10 minute walk away, didn't go too crazy, will see if shoulders feel ok over the next few days)

Levering

Pronation/Supination

Reverse Wrist Curls: 75 lbs.x12 reps|75 lbs.x10 reps

Reverse Curls (thumbless): 75 lbs.x7 reps|75 lbs.x7 reps

[odin]

Sprints: 5 easy and 5 faster after Achilles loosened up.

1HDL: used 225 lbs., experimented with hand placement. Balance is difficult with this lift.

Sumo DL 225 lbs.x 5 reps (very easy, but felt a little strange near lockout)

Inch DB (mini-tramp): bounced off tramp, 12 singles each hand trying to pull quickly ~30 seconds rest between attempts, not too strong today & LH has regressed.

Finger Curls: 225 lbs.x5 reps} 245 lbs.x5 reps| 265 lbs.x3 cheated reps

Shrugs: 225 lbs.x5 reps| 245 lbs.x5 reps| 265 lbs.x4 reps|265 lbs.x4 reps|265 lbs.x4 reps|

Wide-grip High Pulls: 135 lbs.x3 reps|135 lbs.x3 reps| 135 lbs.x3 reps

NB: No more sprints before DL and Inch work, seem to do worse when I do.

[odin]

10/3/08

Sprints: 5 reps (Achilles felt great)

OH Press: 110 lbs.x5 reps| 110 lbs.x 5 reps|110 lbs.x5 reps

Walked 10 minutes to playground

Dips: BWx20| BWx15 (felt smooth, no shoulder pain after last dipping session)

Sprints: 5 reps between walking back from playground

Reverse Curl (thumbless, oly bar as always): 75 lbs.x 3 reps| 100 lbs.x1 rep|110 lbs.x1 rep|110 lbs.x0 rep+cheat|

Levering, pronation, supination: not really feeling it, but then got into it and did ok.

Reverse Wrist Curl (oly bar as always):75 lbs.x12 reps|75 lbs.x10 reps|75 lbs.x14 reps (in the zone)|

10/2/08

Yoga: one hour

OH Extensor Work

10/1/08

Sprints: 5 reps (not high effort)

Pullups: BW+30x5 reps

Parallel Grip Pullups:BW+30 lbs.x5 reps

Chins: BW+30 lbs.x5 reps

Reverse-grip Bent-over Rowing: 140 lbs.x5 reps.|140 lbs.x5 reps.|140 lbs.x5 reps.(trying to focus on keeping arch in back here, this should at least help prevent rounding).

Wrist Curls: 140 lbs.x5 reps.|140 lbs.x5 reps.

Reverse Wrist Curls: 75 lbs.x14 reps|75 lbs.x8 reps

Reverse Curls (thumbless): 85 lbs.x4 reps|85 lbs.x4 reps|+1 cheat

Plate Wrist Curls: 25 lbs.x 8 reps RH; 5 reps+3 cheat LH|25 lbs.x 8 reps RH; 0 reps+8 cheat LH|

Levering, pronation, supination: Did well considering all the other wrist work beforehand; wasn't planning on doing it, but realize I need to work these movements harder.

9/29/08

Front Squats: 120 lbs.x 3 reps|120 lbs.x 5 reps|120 lbs.x 5 reps|120 lbs.x 5 reps (first set felt wrong/stiff-then did some sprints and felt/did better, wanted to get 3 good sets and did.)

Sprints: (about 50 yds.): two sets of five reps

Pistols: did some assisted reps holding on to power rack and some with other foot on bench

Squat Jumps: two sets of five reps

Euro Pinch (did between sets of leg work): worked on technique, did 5 reps with light weights and pulled high. 170 went up nicely even after this and broke ground a good distance w/180 2x. Is not as nicely seasoned as Jedd's or Eaton's, so this was good.

Blobs: not very good at all, so did some mini-tramp work with them. The 50 lb. facelift is starting to feel like something I may get down the road despite the ridiculous stretch.

[knyaz]

Nice job on the Euro progress there!!!

[odin]

Nice job on the Euro progress there!!!

Thanks Steve, Eaton is still killing me on it, but at least I can challenge him on Blobs.

10/5/08

DO DL: 285 lbs.x5 reps (2nd since GGC, not bad, but not as easy as I'd hoped, had done 315x5 about a month before GGC)

DO DL Power Holds: held York Oly Bar at top for time-used stopwatch): 315 lbs.x 23 seconds|315 lbs.x 19 seconds|(worked hard, but set down before the weights fell, first time trying this).

Rolling Thunder (new handle)RH 150 lbs.x12 repsx8 reps

LH 140 lbs.x6 repsx6 reps|(felt hard, hands a bit tired after power holds)

Shrugs: 225x5 reps|265x5 reps|265x5 reps(felt good, so slapped on 20 lbs. and did 285 lbs x2 reps+1 cheat

High Pull: 140x5x5x5 + no rest w/ 3 sets of 5 hanging shrugs from chinning bar.

Blob: 5 sets of ~3 attempts (did between trap work), did some FR/neg facelifts RH.

Was weak at the beginning, but got stronger as the workout progressed. A lot of times I can tell how it will go by how light 135 feels during DL warmups.

My wife commented yesterday: "you have funny muscles growing from your neck area", so the trap work must be helping some.

[dropkick]

all around strong work as always odin.. especially the RT stuff! got any tips for me?