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Other/Mixed Gripper training

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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Anders

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Hi,

I am 30 years old, and male. I would like to know how you should train to be better at gripper strength. I try to train allround for my hands and fingers, extensors and underarms, but it is first and foremost my finger flexor muscles I want to excel in.

I own the Captain of Crushes 1 and 2. I am currently able to close number 1 one or two times.
I also have a good quality gripper from another brand that has six different levels in the range of 55 pounds to 176 pounds.

I tried a bit greasing the grove, doing it five times a day, for five days a week. But I must have trained it too often or too heavy because I have gotten a mild injury in my pointing finger.

So any suggestions on how I should train and how often I should train ?

All answers would be greatly appreciated.
 
It seems like grip training is easiest to do as a GTG type program. Perhaps you could stick with that but just apply a basic 4 week cycle to your volume. For example, if you do 5 sets per day, 5 days per week, that's 25 sets per week, or 100 sets per 4 weeks (for the sake of simplicity I'm making the probably-faulty assumption that every set is exactly the same, you would want to adjust as appropriate). If we blatantly plagiarize from Pavel's recent article on volume waving (from-simple-to-sinister), we could set the volume for weeks 1-4 as 15 sets, 20 sets, 30 sets, and 35 sets. You might want to take some time off to heal before you start, but if you're trying to push things, cycling the volume can be a good way to avoid injury. Pavel talks a little bit about doing an intuitive version of cycling in NW, although I don't know if he calls it that.
 
what gripper are you using for most of your workouts? If you can only close your #1 once or twice, it's probably best to stay away from it for now if you're training so often. If you're going to do a GTG-type program, you need to keep fresh and not go to failure. Sounds like the COC Trainer (or equivalent on your adjustable) would be proper for doing work sets for you now. If you do the volume as Snowman has calculated it, then you'd have to make sure you've using the proper resistance. If you're doing the #1 and it's a MaxRep, then you'd need to rest until recovered, maybe a few days. Get better first!
 
Anders,
If you don't mind my asking... Are you training grippers to improve your grip strength for some other activity?
 
I just want to get stronger in my hands, but I also think that it might be useful in my Submission wrestling to have strong hands.
 
I've always found grip training to be pretty specific. But one thing that I know does work well (at least for me) are towel hangs.
 
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