Building the tendons for your goal lift through one lift a day?

[Irish Grip]

Goal 20kg plate curl, everyday plate curl 10kg for a few weeks then 11kg etc, will this build the tendons? or will this clash with  my other grip training and result in overuse of the tendons and lead to an injury? 

[Blacksmith513]

I just started plate curling and I've found it very beneficial but it's super straining on the tendons. It all depends on what the rest of your routine looks like, but I've been having good luck with once a week. Everyday would be a little much IMO.

 

And how do you plan on adding weight? You can clamp on the end, which is harder on the fingers or pinch them and I find it tougher on the thumb.  Either way go low and slow with this one.

[Irish Grip]

10 hours ago, Blacksmith513 said:

I just started plate curling and I've found it very beneficial but it's super straining on the tendons. It all depends on what the rest of your routine looks like, but I've been having good luck with once a week. Everyday would be a little much IMO.

 

And how do you plan on adding weight? You can clamp on the end, which is harder on the fingers or pinch them and I find it tougher on the thumb.  Either way go low and slow with this one.

OK so probably would result in overuse, so it's a dumbbell handle with a 10kg plate screwed on one side then I just keep putting 1kg plates on the other side held on with a spin lock. I test my max around once every 2 weeks. 

Also for sledgehammer levers, I have a wooden sledge handle with a screw in the top that holds a 1kg plate, and each day for around 3 weeks I do 1-2 levers and a lift from flat on the floor, what do you think? Overuse as well?

Thanks 

[Blacksmith513]

17 minutes ago, Irish Grip said:

OK so probably would result in overuse, so it's a dumbbell handle with a 10kg plate screwed on one side then I just keep putting 1kg plates on the other side held on with a spin lock. I test my max around once every 2 weeks. 

Also for sledgehammer levers, I have a wooden sledge handle with a screw in the top that holds a 1kg plate, and each day for around 3 weeks I do 1-2 levers and a lift from flat on the floor, what do you think? Overuse as well?

Thanks 

It really depends on what the rest of your routine looks like as to how often you should, but there's no need to train anything every day how. There is a lot of people who train grip almost every day but different areas of it, I do 3 days a week. If I wasn't in construction id try for more.

Even if the weight is light enough now, eventually you're going to get to a point where it's so heavy you're going to need time for recovery. I also don't see a point in testing your max every 2 weeks on something like plate curls. Performance can vary so much from week to week that 2 weeks in between testing max isn't really enough time to track progress. 

They are two great exercises and worth doing, just not every day.  I started doing plate curls 2 months ago maybe and its really benefited me, but once a week has been enough. Tweaked my thumb on them 3 weeks ago and it's still sore. 

[Irish Grip]

1 hour ago, Blacksmith513 said:

It really depends on what the rest of your routine looks like as to how often you should, but there's no need to train anything every day how. There is a lot of people who train grip almost every day but different areas of it, I do 3 days a week. If I wasn't in construction id try for more.

Even if the weight is light enough now, eventually you're going to get to a point where it's so heavy you're going to need time for recovery. I also don't see a point in testing your max every 2 weeks on something like plate curls. Performance can vary so much from week to week that 2 weeks in between testing max isn't really enough time to track progress. 

They are two great exercises and worth doing, just not every day.  I started doing plate curls 2 months ago maybe and its really benefited me, but once a week has been enough. Tweaked my thumb on them 3 weeks ago and it's still sore. 

Yes it makes sense alright. I will reduce the frequency and see how it goes from there. Appreciate the advice. 

[Busa]

 I think everyday will be too much but could depend on your lifestyle. Pushing too hard could mean a massive step backwards. Diet and recovery / rest cannot be overlooked Try some exercises that get loads of blood pumping to the areas you are training along with mobility and stretching. But again be mindful of overuse when planing your training.

[Fist of Fury]

It's not going to work with 1 kg increments. If you go with 100 gram increments it might work.

Edited April 6 by Fist of Fury

[Irish Grip]

57 minutes ago, Busa said:

 I think everyday will be too much but could depend on your lifestyle. Pushing too hard could mean a massive step backwards. Diet and recovery / rest cannot be overlooked Try some exercises that get loads of blood pumping to the areas you are training along with mobility and stretching. But again be mindful of overuse when planing your training.

And a massive step backwards is what I want to avoid at all costs. The idea came from a few things I heard from well known grip guys. On a podcast one said to build the tendons up to lever sledgehammers he was told to get a 6lbs sledge and just work it and work it and he built up the tendons to eventually lever a 14lb. Another guy compared training grip to manual labour, as in your first day's or weeks its new and you can be sore but after a few weeks you have adapted to it. I combined these two bits of advice put them in a blender and came up with my "overuse training program" 

Anyways I will just reduce the frequency and take it slower. 

Appreciate the advice. Thanks. 

[Irish Grip]

35 minutes ago, Fist of Fury said:

It's not going to work with 1 kg increments. If you go with 100 gram increments it might work.

I will find some things that weigh 100g to use. It does make sense. 1kg is too much of a jump and I would then hit a wall.

[Douglas Carney]

1 hour ago, Irish Grip said:

I will find some things that weigh 100g to use. It does make sense. 1kg is too much of a jump and I would then hit a wall.

For what it's worth...I have these .25lb plates (around 113 grams) from Rogue and they seem fairly accurate.

https://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-calibrated-lb-steel-plates?sku=IP0521-0.25-2

[Irish Grip]

Nice find. Thanks. 

[Fist of Fury]

You can make a block out of wood and train with. Really simple, just use the same thickness as the plate you want to curl. You don't need many weights at all since you can make it longer to increase the difficulty.

All you need:

Piece of wood.
A bar that is thick enough to hold the weights.
Hole saw to drill the hole for it.

Very easy to make and by far the most effective way of training, since you can micro load really easily.

[matek]

I haven't done plate curls recently (I should though), but one thing to keep in mind is that it also strains your fingers, not just your wrist.

You can also use magnets -strong neodymium ones- to microload the plates with anything magnetic (I did it with smaller plates). The position of the additional weight has a huge impact on the difficulty. The farther away it is from your fingers, the harder the lift is.

Also, if you have plates with the same weight but different diameters, that's also a good way to progress. 

Edit: and yeah, I would definitely not do it every day. I mean, you could do one set of a 3-4 reps every day, but I don't think that would help you progress a lot

Edited April 7 by matek

[Blacksmith513]

8 hours ago, matek said:

I haven't done plate curls recently (I should though), but one thing to keep in mind is that it also strains your fingers, not just your wrist.

You can also use magnets -strong neodymium ones- to microload the plates with anything magnetic (I did it with smaller plates). The position of the additional weight has a huge impact on the difficulty. The farther away it is from your fingers, the harder the lift is.

Also, if you have plates with the same weight but different diameters, that's also a good way to progress. 

Edit: and yeah, I would definitely not do it every day. I mean, you could do one set of a 3-4 reps every day, but I don't think that would help you progress a lot

This

like Matek said, mix up how you do it for best results... Thicker diameter, and where the extra weight is positioned... There are heavier plates that are actually easier then lighter ones just because if the size and shape. 

 

Just don't train grip like a manual laborer... I never liked that analogy. There are freaks of nature in construction that could do stuff it takes some people years to train too, I've met a few. but the strongest people in this sport didn't get there from their day job, they got it from training smart in the gym.. 

 

If you must really want to train like a manual laborer, you need to chain smoke while you are training, preworkout red bull and post workout 6 pack,  while out in the elements, . 

[Irish Grip]

1 hour ago, Blacksmith513 said:

This

like Matek said, mix up how you do it for best results... Thicker diameter, and where the extra weight is positioned... There are heavier plates that are actually easier then lighter ones just because if the size and shape. 

 

Just don't train grip like a manual laborer... I never liked that analogy. There are freaks of nature in construction that could do stuff it takes some people years to train too, I've met a few. but the strongest people in this sport didn't get there from their day job, they got it from training smart in the gym.. 

 

If you must really want to train like a manual laborer, you need to chain smoke while you are training, preworkout red bull and post workout 6 pack,  while out in the elements, . 

True True, all good advice, i will take it all on board and progress slowly. training smart is the priority. Appreciate it.

[Irish Grip]

10 hours ago, matek said:

I haven't done plate curls recently (I should though), but one thing to keep in mind is that it also strains your fingers, not just your wrist.

You can also use magnets -strong neodymium ones- to microload the plates with anything magnetic (I did it with smaller plates). The position of the additional weight has a huge impact on the difficulty. The farther away it is from your fingers, the harder the lift is.

Also, if you have plates with the same weight but different diameters, that's also a good way to progress. 

Edit: and yeah, I would definitely not do it every day. I mean, you could do one set of a 3-4 reps every day, but I don't think that would help you progress a lot

I am looking for small pieces of metal with a hole through them like big washers that would be 0.25lbs or more or less, i checked the hardware store today but no luck, fractional plates are a good option, so im looking at those too, magnets i will do a search now and see, also what you said about the position of the weight being further away makes sense, because thats how i have been increasing the weight with 1kg plates on one side of the dumbbell handle is the length of the handle away from me thus making it harder. so thats good advice. Appreciate it.

[Douglas Carney]

Something like this?  https://accu-components.com/us/imperial-flat-washers/495795-HT3HW-2-S-Z

[Douglas Carney]

P.S.  Another alternative is an exhaust donut gasket from your local auto parts store.  That or maybe an exhaust sleeve (if you need more weight).

Same idea as going to the hardware store and browsing the plumbing section.  But 2" is a pretty common exhaust size so that came to mind first...

[Irish Grip]

1 hour ago, Douglas Carney said:

Something like this?  https://accu-components.com/us/imperial-flat-washers/495795-HT3HW-2-S-Z

When I left the house today to go to the hardware store these were exactly what I had in mind. Have you bought them? I wonder what weight they might be. I didn't see a weight on the site, unless I might have missed it. Great idea these for small increments of weight to progress in all grip lifts.

[Douglas Carney]

15 minutes ago, Irish Grip said:

When I left the house today to go to the hardware store these were exactly what I had in mind. Have you bought them? I wonder what weight they might be. I didn't see a weight on the site, unless I might have missed it. Great idea these for small increments of weight to progress in all grip lifts.

I haven't bought these before.  Might be worth a shot unless you can find something locally.

As for weight, they had something for a 100 count.  Unless I moved a decimal wrong or the shipped weight included packaging...it seems like they're around 186.92 grams each.

[Irish Grip]

40 minutes ago, Douglas Carney said:

I haven't bought these before.  Might be worth a shot unless you can find something locally.

As for weight, they had something for a 100 count.  Unless I moved a decimal wrong or the shipped weight included packaging...it seems like they're around 186.92 grams each.

Nice one. That weight would work. I will have a look now again and see. 

[Douglas Carney]

6 minutes ago, Irish Grip said:

Nice one. That weight would work. I will have a look now again and see. 

Good luck!  Hope it works out ok.

[CruxGripman]

On 4/6/2024 at 11:56 PM, Irish Grip said:

And a massive step backwards is what I want to avoid at all costs. The idea came from a few things I heard from well known grip guys. On a podcast one said to build the tendons up to lever sledgehammers he was told to get a 6lbs sledge and just work it and work it and he built up the tendons to eventually lever a 14lb. Another guy compared training grip to manual labour, as in your first day's or weeks its new and you can be sore but after a few weeks you have adapted to it. I combined these two bits of advice put them in a blender and came up with my "overuse training program" 

Anyways I will just reduce the frequency and take it slower. 

Appreciate the advice. Thanks. 

Yeah I’ve also read an article comparing grip training to manual labour, and to just train every day but fluctuate between low moderate and high intensity workouts though out the week.

 

for most of my athletic career right up until recently I’ve trained some form of grip every day for quite a few years now

 

but with that in mind I have never done plate curls, but now I must try

[Irish Grip]

2 hours ago, CruxGripman said:

Yeah I’ve also read an article comparing grip training to manual labour, and to just train every day but fluctuate between low moderate and high intensity workouts though out the week.

 

for most of my athletic career right up until recently I’ve trained some form of grip every day for quite a few years now

 

but with that in mind I have never done plate curls, but now I must try

I'm glad I'm not the only one who came across the same info on the manual labour / grip training. You said up until recently? Did something happen?

[CruxGripman]

4 minutes ago, Irish Grip said:

I'm glad I'm not the only one who came across the same info on the manual labour / grip training. You said up until recently? Did something happen?

I recently reached out to someone to help me with gripper programming, and it was suggested that I lower my grip training volume and frequency in favor of more recovery time. So I’ll be giving that a try for awhile and see if my overall strength improves or not