Old Forum Grip strength, need advice.
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bencrush
Level 5 Valued Member
Sorry to bump a really old thread, but it is a good read and I have a question. How often can one train the grip as stated in Ben Edwards article while doing ROP + deads on my variety days?
Wesker, the frequency of grip training is limited by many things.
Your individual recovery ability.
How heavy you are training the rest of your body and/or grip.
How heavy you are training the R&P grip work.
How much sleep you are getting each night.
How stressful your job is.
The "average guy" will be able to handle one day a week of hard training on the R&P grip stuff. Some guys can handle two days per week. I know a few guys who are able to recover from three days per week. They are not "normal" guys by any stretch of the imagination though.
Wesker, the frequency of grip training is limited by many things.
Your individual recovery ability.
How heavy you are training the rest of your body and/or grip.
How heavy you are training the R&P grip work.
How much sleep you are getting each night.
How stressful your job is.
The "average guy" will be able to handle one day a week of hard training on the R&P grip stuff. Some guys can handle two days per week. I know a few guys who are able to recover from three days per week. They are not "normal" guys by any stretch of the imagination though.
Matt
Level 3 Valued Member
While no expert on grip, I currently have a locked up right hand from I am guessing overuse - (high rep kayaking and heavy deads, swings pretty consistently over a 1.5 years). So many muscles and ligaments, bones, nerves etc. But it is frustrating if you injure or damage it - so Ben's advice is invaluable.
Wesker11
Level 5 Valued Member
Thanks for the info Ben. Looks like I'll train twice a week. One heavy and one light. I am hoping to close a #2 COC by the end of 2015.
Pats, I can tell you my experience and hopefully it'll help you judge. You kind of have to guess. I've never been a strong guy, was not an athlete in high school. I started with kettlebells 3 years ago and I have completed my ROP ladders with a 24kg. I do one handed swings with a 28kg and getups with the 24kg fairly easily. My deadlift is 25lbs short of hitting 2x my body weight. I thought the trainer would be perfect to start with, heck I thought it might even be easy. Nope, I could close it once, lol.
I have had a mild case of carpal tunnel in the past so that probably had an effect on my grip as well.
Pats, I can tell you my experience and hopefully it'll help you judge. You kind of have to guess. I've never been a strong guy, was not an athlete in high school. I started with kettlebells 3 years ago and I have completed my ROP ladders with a 24kg. I do one handed swings with a 28kg and getups with the 24kg fairly easily. My deadlift is 25lbs short of hitting 2x my body weight. I thought the trainer would be perfect to start with, heck I thought it might even be easy. Nope, I could close it once, lol.
I have had a mild case of carpal tunnel in the past so that probably had an effect on my grip as well.
bencrush
Level 5 Valued Member
Thanks for posting, Ben! (Pavel)
My pleasure, Pavel! Been busy with work and the Tiny Overlord (my 17-month-old toddler). She is occasionally deadlifting the homemade tiny barbell (with very small Ivanko plates) I made for her and doing a version of swing/curl with a tiny iron dumbbell and a 100+ year-old wooden dumbbell. I even hooked up my newest Highland Games triangle handle (empty weight 2.2lbs) to a light loading pin and let her drag it around the house several times on Thursday. Getting stronger for her is literally just "play" right now. Fun times! I wish I could start all over again, but I'm being cautious not to push her into lifting something dangerously heavy.
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My pleasure, Pavel! Been busy with work and the Tiny Overlord (my 17-month-old toddler). She is occasionally deadlifting the homemade tiny barbell (with very small Ivanko plates) I made for her and doing a version of swing/curl with a tiny iron dumbbell and a 100+ year-old wooden dumbbell. I even hooked up my newest Highland Games triangle handle (empty weight 2.2lbs) to a light loading pin and let her drag it around the house several times on Thursday. Getting stronger for her is literally just "play" right now. Fun times! I wish I could start all over again, but I'm being cautious not to push her into lifting something dangerously heavy.
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bencrush
Level 5 Valued Member
While no expert on grip, I currently have a locked up right hand from I am guessing overuse – (high rep kayaking and heavy deads, swings pretty consistently over a 1.5 years). So many muscles and ligaments, bones, nerves etc. But it is frustrating if you injure or damage it – so Ben’s advice is invaluable. (Matt)
Thanks, Matt! The layoff YOU choose is always shorter than the layoff INJURY chooses for you.
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Thanks, Matt! The layoff YOU choose is always shorter than the layoff INJURY chooses for you.
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bencrush
Level 5 Valued Member
Wesker11, thank you, it’s what I wanted to know, I can DL 2x my BW, swing and GU the 28kg so we’re pretty close in term of strength, guess I’m buying the Trainer first. (Pats)
The Trainer was exactly what I recommend. It's still a stout enough gripper that even when you're at the #2 level and beyond, you can use it for warmups and 2-finger work, ring & pinky work, etc. If you want to make it a lot harder to close it, just move your fingers up the handle - toward the spring. Closing the Trainer with the bottom of your index finger level with the top of the handle (by the spring) is about as hard as closing a #2 gripper. This is good to know if you are a cheapskate (lol) and don't want to buy harder grippers. Or if you forget to pack a harder gripper and you still want to get in a workout with the Trainer.
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The Trainer was exactly what I recommend. It's still a stout enough gripper that even when you're at the #2 level and beyond, you can use it for warmups and 2-finger work, ring & pinky work, etc. If you want to make it a lot harder to close it, just move your fingers up the handle - toward the spring. Closing the Trainer with the bottom of your index finger level with the top of the handle (by the spring) is about as hard as closing a #2 gripper. This is good to know if you are a cheapskate (lol) and don't want to buy harder grippers. Or if you forget to pack a harder gripper and you still want to get in a workout with the Trainer.
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bencrush
Level 5 Valued Member
Thanks for the info Ben. Looks like I’ll train twice a week. One heavy and one light. I am hoping to close a #2 COC by the end of 2015.
I thought the trainer would be perfect to start with, heck I thought it might even be easy. Nope, I could close it once, lol. (Wesker11)
You're welcome! Closing the Trainer once is a good start actually. Best of strength on your goal of closing the #2 by the end of 2015!
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I thought the trainer would be perfect to start with, heck I thought it might even be easy. Nope, I could close it once, lol. (Wesker11)
You're welcome! Closing the Trainer once is a good start actually. Best of strength on your goal of closing the #2 by the end of 2015!
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Andrew Palmer
Level 5 Valued Member
Apologies if I'm hijacking the thread, but will GTG work with grippers?
bencrush
Level 5 Valued Member
Apologies if I’m hijacking the thread, but will GTG work with grippers? (Andrew Palmer)
Nothing works better for grippers (IMO) than greasing the groove. The gripper workouts I credit most for my #3 closing ability were high volume singles. The frequency varied according to the difficulty of the gripper being used. If it was the #3, "high volume" was only in the 100-200 rep range. If it was the #2, "high volume" was 500+ reps. The #1 would be in the 1,000 reps range. Trainer was 1,500+ reps.
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Nothing works better for grippers (IMO) than greasing the groove. The gripper workouts I credit most for my #3 closing ability were high volume singles. The frequency varied according to the difficulty of the gripper being used. If it was the #3, "high volume" was only in the 100-200 rep range. If it was the #2, "high volume" was 500+ reps. The #1 would be in the 1,000 reps range. Trainer was 1,500+ reps.
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Andrew Palmer
Level 5 Valued Member
Ben, high volume is high volume, but thousand singles is beyond volume. My jobs already demand a fair bit of grip capacity, so I can probably tone down the volume already, but add some intensity by way of grippers. Interesting you only used singles. I was thinking building volume with reps in the 1-5 rep range. Some food for thought.
Thank you for your response, Ben, much appreciated.
Thank you for your response, Ben, much appreciated.
bencrush
Level 5 Valued Member
Ben, high volume is high volume, but thousand singles is beyond volume. My jobs already demand a fair bit of grip capacity, so I can probably tone down the volume already, but add some intensity by way of grippers. Interesting you only used singles. I was thinking building volume with reps in the 1-5 rep range. Some food for thought.
Thank you for your response, Ben, much appreciated.
Haha! Andrew, you're right about that being a lot of volume. I never recommend anywhere near that amount of volume for a "normal" person though. I think reps are fine, by the way. I just preferred singles - partly because I wanted to exert the most force possible on each rep.
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Thank you for your response, Ben, much appreciated.
Haha! Andrew, you're right about that being a lot of volume. I never recommend anywhere near that amount of volume for a "normal" person though. I think reps are fine, by the way. I just preferred singles - partly because I wanted to exert the most force possible on each rep.
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bencrush
Level 5 Valued Member
Ben, you wrote:
The layoff YOU choose is always shorter than the layoff INJURY chooses for you.
I now now have this on post it notes all over my house. Might get it tattooed on my hands. Thank you.
Alistair, glad you like the quote! I've never Googled it, but I imagine it's been said before I first wrote it. Which was 2006, I wrote it down for a friend who was an elite unbraced steel bender (like me, at the time). Turns out, I should've written it down for ME and then abided by it.
<!-- .bbp-reply-content -->
The layoff YOU choose is always shorter than the layoff INJURY chooses for you.
I now now have this on post it notes all over my house. Might get it tattooed on my hands. Thank you.
Alistair, glad you like the quote! I've never Googled it, but I imagine it's been said before I first wrote it. Which was 2006, I wrote it down for a friend who was an elite unbraced steel bender (like me, at the time). Turns out, I should've written it down for ME and then abided by it.
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