[Blarg]

Grats on the getting the left done!

Nope. I took a few weeks off because I messed up the right side of my obliques squeezing so hard. Then I went slow and now am back to it. But I almost did the same thing last night on my left side! Very sore ribs. I tense all kinds of muscles like crazy when I squeeze. I've gotten the #2 a little closer, it's just a hair away now on my right hand, but not quite there yet. I was waiting to hear the click and it didn't quite come. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] My left hand remains far, far weaker than my right.

I did get the #3 about to parallel with my left hand, which surprised the hell out of me. But I'm very weak in the close, and much stronger in the sweep, so in a way that's no surprise -- I'm stronger in what I practice. That's what's holding me back from closing the #2 right now really; I haven't been practicing closes, but sweeps.

I've also done the volume approach, to build capillaries and hand toughness. Squeezing the Trainer and the #1 a lot, just for volume. Yesterday was the first time I came anywhere near the #3 in a while. I got it farther, easier, than I expected, with both hands. But of course I'm still a long way from closing it.

If I practiced the closing, I would probably close the #2 very soon. I need to get a hose clamp, to practice explosive closes and holds.

But I've been happy enough building general hand strength instead of fixating on closes. I'll get to my closes.

One big reason I've been doing the volume a lot is my hands feel like they're going to snap when I work on the #3 or #2 sometimes. I want to build some bone density and tissue toughness. I think my tissue toughness was behind my strength, and my strength work-outs were starting to really hurt the tissues like hell; not soreness, just the pressure.