Friday Workout 9/30

Lower arms still a bit sore.

1 Arm Dumbbell Rows - 60x20 110x15 170x10 140x12
Used regular grip olympic dumbbell. This works the grip pretty good.

Did some seated presses, then fooled with the Trainer and the Titan's.

Music:

Deeds of the Flesh - Crown of Souls

Great album, without this I'd have a hard time getting started at 5AM to do this crap.

IVANKO SUPER GRIPPER at Amazon by APT!

I just noticed that APT is selling their Ivanko Super Gripper at Amazon. Take a look:

IVANKO Super Gripper


APT supports the Grippermania Forum.

I have a Supergripper, I need to use it more.

Thursday Workout 9/29

I started with some reverse hypers, 45 degree hypers and ab work on the 45 degree. Then seated presses. In between the presses I worked in warmup sets on the grippers. Trainer through #2. My forearm extensors felt fatigued from the start. So I backed off and did some light blob work and medium reverse wrist curls and regular wrist curls. ALL curls are done with a EZ curl bar.

Music : Vesania - "God the Lux" (See link below.)

Black Metal for Tomorrow's Workout

Check out the Amazon link below for some great Black Metal. Vesania is comprised of former members of BEHEMOTH and VADER. It blew my socks off. It will be the workout music for tomorrow!

vesania

Some Reviews:

Lords of Metal
Metal Invader
Monoman

Wed Workout 9/28

Tough getting up this morning. Lower arms were sore. I went to the YMCA and hit some back
and light shoulders. During the chinups, the soreness was apparent in my forearms.
I'm going to have to play it by feel tomorrow.

I pinched any plates that I had to pick up. - Active recovery.

Today will be devoted to aspirin, water and eating.

Some Grip Training Links I Stumbled On

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~keen0018/grip.htm

http://www.veganbodybuilding.org/martinwhittredtraining.htm#top

http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=184grip

Tuesday Workout 9/27

I started with reverse hypers, 45 degree hypers and some ab work on the 45 degree hyper.
The I did some fat bar seated presses. Then to grip.

Trainerx10 each hand
#1x5 each hand
#2x1 Overcrush each hand
Filed #3 ---
Left Hand x 16 + 1forced
Right Hand x 2 sloppy reps - could not get this in my hand correctly.
I still can't get the ends of the filed 3 to touch (1/4" shaved). I can get each rep about a penny's width "beyond the range".

All reps, starting with a set and opening to parallel.

Go Really - One Hand - 2x6 under slide
145x1 each hand
161.25x4 Right hand
185x3 Left Hand

I let go of implement between each rep.

Titans - One hand
20lbsx20
41.25x20

This really hits palm, and pumps thumb webbing.

These are partials. About 1.5-2inches of movement.

Hands were toast at this point. I felt a bit sore going into it.

York cut 80 - 3 full deadlifts each hand. (Had to concentrate, fingers worn out)
Blob50 - Index Finger Assist. Left Hand 3 sets of 3 levitates.
Right Hand - 3 sets of 2 full deadlifts.

I stopped here. From Elbows down were sore and crampy. Time for some liniment.
Total Grip time - 30minutes.

I used the McMaster Carr Washers to microload on GoReally and Titans's

Music: Dark Angel "Darkness Descends"
If you see this album - GET IT!.

Posting on Forums

What the frig does ... mean?

I am fed up with posts that put three friggin dots between incomplete sentences!

Flame off.

Monday Workout AM 9/26

Nothing big here. I went to the Y at 5:30AM and cruised through some close grip benches, the Hammer machines, and some lat work. Any plate I picked up, I concentrated on pinch.
Nothing heavy, just for some active recovery.

Your gains on pinch will come when you learn to use your "hand" to pick the implement up, not
just your fingers.

Check out the David Horne article at the DieselCrew. (PDF Viewer required).

Lower Arms were a bit sore this morning.

Clay Edgin Article over Dave Draper's Forum

Here is a good article I just stumbled on over at the legendary Dave Draper's.

Clay Edgin Article on Gripper Training

Clay knows his sh*t.

Cool Gripper Page

It is in Japanese, but the photos are cool.

Hidedas

Micro Loading

I use steel washers that I picked up from McMaster - 8 of them weigh about 5 Pounds. These are great for microloading a Titan's Telegraph, a regular grip machine, olympic bar etc. The link goes to the ones with a 2.125 Inch hole. But if you need other sizes just nose around.

If you have ever tried to add a 2.5lb plate to a Titan's, you will know what I mean.

I also use PlateMate magnets (5/8lb up to 5lb each). These are great for microloading blobs, plate pinches etc. They are a bit pricey. You can pick up heavy duty magnets at McMaster or
get some great magnets at GaussBoys , then just roll you own. Old Speaker magnets also work pretty well.

Sunday Workout 9/25

Hands felt a bit sore from yesterday.

I started with some one arm dumbbell rows. I did not use the fat dumbbells. Just a plain Cap brand olympic dumbbell. Since it is sort of grip related, I will report:
60x10
100x10
150x10

Nothing to failure just some solid reps. I Usually hit back twice at the YMCA also, during the week.

I also did some seated presses with the axle. I needed to get some of the soreness out.

Now grip:

I rolled out the 1/2 of York 80 and did:
4 sets of 2 full deadlifts with the Left hand (the last 2 sets I added 1.25lbs of PlateMate magnets). Each set was pretty solid, nothing was balls to the wall.

Right Hand
4 sets of single reps with BLOB50 replica, full deadlifts. Using finger assist method.
I worked up to 1.25LBS of PlateMates. I just touch my thumb with my free index finger, then
pull away.

My hands were still a bit fatigued from yesterday, I just wanted to get some blood in.

Wrists

I use a Olympic EZ curl bar for all wrist curls. My wrists are pretty beat from 10 years of Judo. Using a straight bar is murder.

Reverse Wrist Curls
67x20 - pretty solid reps
122x4 - not full reps, solid partials. Cannot quit get past parallel.
117x6 - reps a bit better.

Doing these partials oncve a week over the past few months has worked well. Just be careful. During the week I just stay in the 50-70lb range.

Wrist Curls.

I just dip below parallel then curl up. Again during the week I go lighter and get a fuller range.

117x30 - Full Reps
217x10 - just below parallel, then up
207x21 - same as above.

If you are neglecting wrist and forearm work, you are making a mistake. They play a big role in stablizing your crush.

Now I'm toasted.

Workout music consisted of Suffocation's "Pierced From Within" - This is CLASSIC
DEATH METAL.

Check the Amazon Link on the side. They have really enhanced their offerings of great metal albums.

Keep a Log

This may sound corny to some. But keep a log. Note sets, reps weight etc. I also note if my cellar was humid, if I had a headache, little sleep and so on. You should be able to look back 2 months and see some significant gains. Also use it to see if you are wasting your time with a routine.

A good Bending and Grip page

Check out Bender's site for some great ideas. His success with the #3 gripper is well worth the read.

Eric's Nail Bending Page

Non Grip Related - Using your Ipod with Linux

If you are trying to get your APPLE Ipod to work under Linux, check out the great work the guys at GTKPOD are doing. I'm running an IPOD 30GB Photo. Not a glitch yet, and they just updated the software to support the new Nano unit.

Mine is filled with Death Metal. It helps me get fired up for a workout.

I'm running Fedora Core 4. GTKPOD installs without a glitch. I also use the USB interface on the Ipod.

Liniment

If you are sick of paying a small fortune for Ben-Gay or similiar stuff check out Jack's
Blue heat at EliteFTS

It comes in a 1 pint bottle and works great.

HAND SIZE

My hands are a smidgen less the 7.5 inches, from first line on wrist to tip of middle finger. Don't fall into the mindset that you will never progress if you do not have 8 inch hands ;)

Saturday Workout 9/24

I started with some steep incline presses, and some seated presses. I won't bore you with the details. Since we are concentrating on grip here. I have found that if I lift before a grip workout it is easier to get warmed up and the grip session usually goes pretty good.

I use the Ironmind Apollon's Axle for all movements when at home. Even with pressing you get some indirect forearm work, and it also takes the stress off of my elbows.

Grippers

Trainer x 10
#1 x 5
#2 x 1 overcrush
Filed #3 - over 1/4 inch cut from inside. I cannot touch the ends, but each rep is in the regular closed zone.

Left Hand x 15 + 1 forced and hold
Right Hand x 4 + 1 forced and hold.

All reps are around parallel or a tad more in width. I do set the gripper at this stage.

Go-Really Grip - One Hand - 2x6 wood under slide, reps are about 1" or so.

145x1 each hand
160x4 Right Hand
176.125 Left Hand

At the end of each set, I do a hold and negative.

Titan's Telegraph
These are done in between sets of the G0-Really.
I do a partial movement, I have a 2x6 underneath the movement arm some my hand can fit.
40x20
41.25x12

#2 for parallel reps
50xLeft Hand
40xRight Hand

Block Weight work

1/2 of York 80 + 10lbs of platemate magnets - LEFT HAND
4 sets if 4 reps just picking and inch off floor.

BLOB50 York Replica - RIGHT HAND
(By now my hands are pretty toasted)
I touch my Right thumb with my left indexfinger and do 5 full deadlifts.
This is a great method if you are trying to bust through some blob work.
On a fresh day on can pull this thing alone, but after crush I am toasted.

Music - Cephalic Carnage - Anomalies

BLOB Training

I have a variety of cut up York Dumbbells. From 25lb blobs to 40lbs blobs. I also purchased
a 50 lb blob replica (actual weight 51.5lbs) from a great guy on the Gripboard.

Blob training is great for strengthening the WHOLE hand as it works you thumb extensively. Something grippers do not do.

I'll get some photos up soon.

Lower Back ReHab

I put off the purchase of a Westside Barbell Reverse Hyper for the past few years. Finally this past Feb. I broke down and got one. One word can describe this device - unbelievable.

I had back surgery about 7-8 years ago, and while there was improvement, I still suffered
crippling episodes every month. Brushing my teeth would be an excercise in agony.

Since using this device for the past 7 months, with light to medium weight (50-150lbs) and higher reps (15-50), I have not had an episode.

I will be giving further details. On my "regular guy" workouts; Hopefully if anyone else out there is suffering, these tidbits may help you.

I also picked up a 45degree hyper extension. It has also added a nice twist.

The photo above is from Westside-Barbell.

You can also get this unit from the great guys at EliteFts.

Hand Grippers

I primarily use the Ironmind Captains' of Crush line along with their excellent "GoReally" grip machine. I bought it before the price went up. It is a very heavily built unit. I do not think
I will ever get the strength to overload it.

I do have some Baraban and Beef Builder grippers, they are pretty good also.

I hate Hand Grippers

I'm going to try and document my frustrations with trying to obtain hand strength. Right now
I am working crush hard and using wide pinch.