Under the Spotlight - Grip Profile - DEREK PALMERI

[Vinnie]

Finally we are back to a profile at the beginning of the month!  This one is from a guy my size who is doing big-guy size things in grippers, Derek Palmeri.  I don't know him too well except for conversations here on the gripboard, and privately when we have conversed a little about the scandals and such, but he has posted plenty of vids of serious closes and is one to watch for the rare 3.5 cert.  I predict pretty soon, too.  And away we go:

1. What are your stats?

    GripBoard name: C8Myotome
    Age: 34
    Height: 5’8”
    Weight: 185 lbs
    Dominant hand, and hand size: Right handed, 7.25” length
    Country/City: Albany, New York
    Relationship Status: Single
    Children: Zero
    Occupation: Doctor of Physical Therapy Graduate student

2. Why did you start training grip (and how long is it now)?

With actual grippers, Summer 2021.

I started going to gyms about 10 years ago and when I learned to deadlift I was very stubborn about doing anything other than double overhand, and I was doing 425-430ish that way until I eventually became open to using straps. Years later I did mixed grip for a bit, but I decided once hitting 500 lbs, I didn’t want to do mixed grip anymore to prevent any potential injuries.

I tried to get into grippers years ago too, I bought some orange and black plastic gripper off of amazon and broke it, I forget if the spring or the handle broke, but it didn’t last very long and I never thought to try to find something better and kind of forgot about it. I did a lot of powerlifting, went to a powerlifting gym for years and I remember doing farmers walks with 455 lbs on a trap bar down a 50’ fake grass walk way and then back, but I never really considered it grip training.

I met a friend at the powerlifting gym way back who introduced me to a barrel strength rolling handle, I tried it out but it didn’t really get me interested in grip as I didn’t see the point of trying to become good at something like that. This same friend I later found out has been a gripboard member for years and actually recently joined me for a gripper session, he is currently working towards the 3 cert under my programming.

But anyways, I used to work nanotechnology for a long time and got really into lifting at the same time, and eventually left that field to go to PT school, and I bought grippers during my first semester, just about at the same time I got to dissect a human forearm, so it was really cool  getting to pull on a tendon and watch the fingers move, etc, while simultaneously getting into gripping on the side.

I purchased from rogue fitness and got a 5 gripper bundle of trainer, 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5, and TNS closed them all when the package arrived; I had actually been buying more 45 plates so I could deadlift 5 plates per side at home without having to use change plates, and the grippers were just a side thing since I was paying shipping anyways. I also was having elbow issues at the time from benching and the grippers were mainly an attempt to strengthen anything around that area, it ended up being just a tight bicep though. I didn’t think I would need the larger gripper bundles with the heavier grippers from rogue, lol.

Someone in a fitness group online told me it was somewhat abnormal to be able to close a 2.5 my first day trying, and told me about the 3 cert etc, and I got pretty interested in what it would take to do that. This was pre-pandemic so I was reading up about how you’d have to travel to find someone to attempt in front of, etc. I purchased a 3 probably within a month or so later, and was trying to TNS it, I was almost getting it and asked a grip group online what I should be doing differently since I had no idea what I was doing. I think it is funny that someone said “just get stronger” and gave me no actual real input when it was obvious I was a beginner that didn’t know anything about grippers, however someone recommended learning to set the gripper, and my first time doing a very awkward bad form set, was also my first time doing a credit card set on a 3, which I still have a video of.

3. What are you most proud of accomplishing in grip already, and what is/are your grip goal/goals?

Probably that I just started at a pretty high level, and have made steady progress to an even more high level. I am amazed that with grippers, so far I had roughly the same timeline at closing grippers as Carl Myerscough since starting - immediately closing a 2.5 first time trying them, a 3 within months, and a 3.5 within about a year.

My first cert was actually GHP7, based on what I was doing with CoC 3 and rgc data I figured it would be an easy one, I opened up the package from CPW and immediately did 3 reps for my first cert. I later recertified with 4 reps. I think that must have been around 4-5 months into training.

I’m otherwise most proud of my CoC 3 and GHP8 certs. I attempted the CoC 3 cert within  my first 6 months of training and got flagged for swiping the card too fast. I instead spent my time working on the Crushed to Dust challenge as my first Ironmind cert, and once getting that out of the way, fully focused on grippers. I also got into doing Dinnie handles for a few sessions, but found it underwhelmingly easy, being able to lift the full weight my first day trying. I thought it looked easy enough and it turns out it was; my first time I used a bunch of chains on top to make up for lack of plates, then got enough 45’s to make a set of 16, I only did the lift a few sessions total, I otherwise don’t like how asymmetric the lift is or see a reason to train it. I also tried some 45 lb plate hub lifts way back and did the clean/snatch/transfer but it’s not something I regularly do.

When training (again) for the CoC 3 cert attempt, I was actually training for the GHP8 cert for a long time and stalled out, then just back tracked a bit and did a few weeks of CCS and did the cert, then went back to focusing on GHP8 which I eventually got as well.

I think what I find most impressive about my own CoC 3 cert is that I did it the weekend after some of the hardest finals in my doctorate program followed by presenting at a research symposium, so just that I was able to coordinate my training, recovery, stress, doctorate exam performance, sleep, diet, and then pull of a CoC 3 cert on the weekend I am still amazed I pulled off. It was more than just closing a gripper, it was handling a crazy difficult week of my life successfully also.

I later rated the gripper later at 155 after it had broken in, and think it may have easily been at least 160+ on its first close, it wasn’t the widest 3 I own by a little bit, but it had higher mounted handles which gave it a very stiff set feeling on the first close. My GHP8 cert was on a 169, and I’ve since closed a 175 GHP8 with the block as well.

I did the MM1 right and left handed which was pretty easy and I wanted to do MM2 both hands too which was why I waited so long, and then it closed. I also got bored and did 3xESG7 cert which felt like the easiest cert I’ve ever done as it’s a 50 lb gripper. I was also training for the GHP9 cert mainly until GHP closed, which I think unofficially means the cert is probably closed now too.

Right now my best right hand closes are 180 CoC 3.5 38 mm, 181 filed CoC 3.5 38 mm, 167 CoC 3 CCS maybe 173 CoC 3.5 CCS, my video was blurry from movement so I’m not really considering it an official close yet, but there may have been a handle touch.

Right now my best left hand close is a 158 standard cobalt CCS, I also closed a 173 GG6 but that’s a 50 lb gripper so it doesn’t really count as much.

Another interesting part of training is by reaching these strength levels, learning what I need to do to maintain/progress, learning what to avoid that would cause regression, etc. If I have a bad day I turn it into a learning experience, and then some days are just PR city too. Plateaus give me a reason to brainstorm different approaches. I like finding out what works and what doesn’t, which isn’t necessarily all just training, but life habits in general.

4. How do you currently structure your overall training/how do you incorporate your grip training?

I grip once a week on the weekend, I usually do 4+ hour sessions, fitting in as much work as possible, if I’m not doing something for grip I’m running around supersetting non-grip things. I do very long sessions and get pretty wiped out afterwards.

I start with grippers which can take take 2-3 hours, and I do a lot of pinching and wrist work after. I try to keep myself disciplined and avoid going off program. For example if you’re not hitting a single you wanted that day, you’re probably not going to just magically get it by doing repeated attempts, so it’s better to do actual work instead. 

I wrote a 38-page ebook with my training outline I used for the CoC 3 and GHP8 certs.

Since then, I’ve also been working on trying to find ways to improve this, giving new exercises trial phases to see how well they fit, how well it produces results in the following weeks, how much I like doing them, how they actually feel doing them, etc. I like doing my own programming because I can go by my own rationale and do all the things that I think I should be doing, modify based on how I respond to them, and not just have someone telling me what I should be doing.

I have this idea that programming can always be improved so I probably sometimes make things unnecessarily complex, but sometimes also keeping things on the simpler side can produce more consistent results. I’m still fine-tuning things, as I probably always will be, at least until I certify the CoC 3.5 and can say this is what I did leading upto it that worked.

Doing the same thing over and over can get boring and I like using myself as a lab rat to try different approaches. I usually try to keep about 95% of things the same and only tweak maybe one or two small aspects at a time to see if those changes produce better or worse results, so my my programming continues to evolve over time to be the best it can possibly be from experience and running so many different variations. For this reason I find it hard to say “this is exactly how I train” because I’m not married to one workout, or one execise or piece of equipment. Of the exercises that I do like though, I do very high volume, and a lot of exercises.

For the most part I have Microsoft Excel automatically generate most of my programming for me, I print out a workout every week before I go train and I make a bunch of notes on it, then take a picture of it when I’m done to store for records/analyze. I also will write really stupid notes to myself which is funny to read later, but if a set was a huge PR, went badly for some reason, it can be useful to know why when looking back.

There are also parts of my programming that I tailor by feel, and am more of an an autopilot by experience of how much and when to microload or progressively overload, and so on. I’m always evaluating what my weaknesses are and what’s most important to focus on. I watch most of my own top set videos to see if I can learn what to work on by analyzing my own biomechanics. I think for the most part starting gripperes and PT school at the same time made a lot of things easier for me.

There is a lot you can fit into doing in 4 hours, I’ve never exactly counted but I would estimate each of my hands does well over 500 reps total of various grip exercises throughout each session.

I try to fit in at least 1 session of accessory/non-grip work that indirectly supports grip during the week as well, but otherwise I have been so busy lately aside from my big weekend session, I’m not getting in a whole lot of other training at the moment.

I think I have finally figured out setting grippers also, as I set a GHP10 onto a 30 mm block about a year ago, and closed a 167 standard nickel the first day I got it with 83 mm spread, I really don’t get intimated by gripper spread, I can set pretty much any gripper, although obviously there comes a point where one is too heavy that I can’t close it yet. Setting grippers does not feel hard anymore, I know what I’m doing and it’s just a thing you do before you close the gripper.  I’m also playing around with doing different programming depending on what main set width I’m training.

Right now I’m at 67 grippers, my filed lineup is about the same size as my normal gripper lineup, and then I have random things like 50 lb grippers and whatnot. I’ve noticed with filed grippers they can sacrified overall reps, but pay off during grinder reps on regular grippers. I’ve also repped a double-filed CoC 3 which is 9 mm deeper.

5. What hobbies (other than grip/bending/lifting) do you enjoy?

I’ve been growing carnivorous plants for 6 years, I’ve grown stuff from every continent they grow on. I like watching stand up comedy, true crime documentaries, and just reading research articles on things I’m interested in, watching educational youtube videos, etc. I also used to be a lot more into video games when I had more time but while adulting I’m lucky to get in an hour here or there, I’ve been liking the Resident Evil 4 remake, and I liked playing Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal a lot. I’ve had a lot of other hobbies throughout my life as well, and haven’t got to do as many lately due to pretty much constantly studying for the past few years.

6. Do you have a personal anecdote, topic or thoughts you'd like to include in your profile?

I would tell people that if they have a goal just to focus on it and make it happen. I believe people can do a lot more than they think they’re capable of. I notice people tend to focus on too many goals simultaneously which then decreases the effort put into each. I’m also a firm believer that any average guy could close a 3 if they actually trained and lived a lifestyle that supported that kind of strength. I’d even go out onto a branch and say that any average guy could also close a 3.5; I don’t really consider myself anything special, I just know a lot about training, and train pretty hard when I do, so I think if other people developed those things which are not things I was born with, there’s no reason they couldn’t as well.

7. Whose Grip profile would you like to see next?

Alex K from Sweden I think is the country, he’s getting pretty close to ready for the 3 cert, and doing some reps on a 3.5, and has a very extravagant gripper collection that I wouldn’t mind learning more about

[Nuttgens]

Great read. Derek is the man! He’ll be certing the 3.5 soon enough.