Captains of Crush gripper challenge

[Stuey]

I still have to get the rope setup I should have done that first would have worked just as good and cheaper. Glad I got one of the books you recommended it is very helpful.

[Stuey]

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I hear the Kinney chapter in the CoC book is very cool.


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I didn't get that book but it is on my list. I got Mastery of Hand Strength by John Brookfield.

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What's that Hol-it-up dumbbell like? I was curious about those, and wasn't really sure from the Ironmind description what it was like.


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Had a few days to play with this and I like it a lot. But it could easier and cheaper just to make your own thick gripped dumbbell as it is described in Brookfield’s book.

It is a sturdy dumbbell that is for sure. The grip is large and it is off center. So before each lift you put the small bar that the weights are on that runs offset through the larger gripping portion at a 90-degree angle to the floor. Then when you lift the thing wants to turn in your hand making you squeeze tighter to resist this. It comes with a short description on how to use it and it says it really trains your thumb.

I tried various lifts with it and with different grips. It is very surprising how little weight you can move compared to a standard width dumbbell. I would like to have a normal thick gripped dumbbell that is not offset to compare the two. As right now I am not sure what makes it so hard the width of the grip or the fact it is offset and the cam like affect it has in your hand as you lift.

I'm sure that didn't make much sense. [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]
I might try to type or scan in the stuff that came with it so it is clearer. To busy today though or maybe just lazy. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[1C5]

Ok, I just kind of skimmed through this thread so please bear with me.

In Canada, want to order a gripper or two. Am a tennis player and golfer, have pretty strogn forearms. What gripper(s) should I be looking at to oreder to start and where on the internet? Thanks.

[Blarg]

The manufacturer of the most popular brand, the Captains of Crush, is Ironmind.com. You can order online there. You can also order them indirectly, through Amazon.com, online. They cost $20 each either way, but maybe shipping is different.

These grippers are actually sold very widely over the net, so if for some reason those two online ways to get the grippers don't work, you'll be able to find the at many weightlifter's sites.

The average person's grip strength is about 115 pounds, as I recall. It takes 140 lbs of pressure to close the #1, 195 lbs. to close the #2, and the #3 takes I think 285 lbs. or pressure.

If you're average, the #1 will be too hard for you, but you will probably work up to being able to close it fairly quickly, so it's still a good buy.

If you're average, the trainer, at 100 lbs., will be a little too easy for you. It's still a very good gripper to have as a warm-up, though. You can injure yourself on grippers fairly easily, I think, so you need a warm-up.

Ideally, you should be working toward closing a particular gripper that's one step too hard for you, your "target" gripper. You should have a warm-up gripper that you also occasionally do for high reps to build up tendons and cartilage, and you should have one gripper harder than the one you already have -- you'll spend the majority of your time on this one, doing negatives and standard crush attempts.

So the average guy should start off with a Trainer, a #1, and a #2.

You will also want to get a "pony clip" from a hardware store to do thumb work with. The thumb pad, when it's built up, serves to anchor the gripper firmly so it doesn't move around while squeezing(which causes blisters & general ouch).

You would also do well to do extensor work, to help balance the hand muscles. This again helps prevent injury. Some thick rubber bands will do nicely -- stick your fingers in them and straighten them out. Ironmind sells a package of those, of various thickness and difficulty, for about $11, or you can swipe some from your office.

[Reef]

does anyone want to trade a #1 for a lesser difficulty gripper? I'd also throw in $10 via stars.

My gf maxed 10 reps on this one. So if you don't lift weights or are a skinny mofo, this would probably be a good difficulty for you.

[Blarg]

Someone just asked about grippers, so I'm bumping this.

[Stuey]

Btw I closed the #1 with my left finally. Very close with the right but not yet. You do the #2 yet?

[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.

[astroglide]

i picked up a trainer with a gift cert from amazon. i can close it with some effort, which isn't bad for a guy that has never worked out.

closing it isn't the toughest part, though - it's closing it without ripping all of the [censored] skin off my fingers. the "bumped pointy metal" handles on this thing honestly makes it feel like a cheese grater. are calluses a necessity to get real with these things?

[egocidal]

most. random. bump. ever.


but good, cause i never saw this thread. interesting.