Thread: need help with gripper.

I wrote an article on basic grip training which is linked in the official FAQ by Witchblade and also my blog (see my sig). That article goes into detail about general grip training.

Basically, your grip is like any other part of your body so train it like one - a few times a week leaving adequate rest, warmup and warmdown, dont train with excessive volume.

Warmup on a lower strength gripper or some other forearm/grip movement, then do a few sets of lowish reps per hand - maximum effort. Just close it as far as you can and release.

It might take a very long time, though, i wont lie to you. You might want to at least consider getting an exchange for the other one, or at least buying a lower strength one and keeping this one for when its more viable.

if you can close it halfway with 2 hands, you'll gradually be able to close it completely with 2 hands, and then eventually halfway with one hand..and so on. it's like anything, the more you do it the better you get at it. I'd suggest to keep it. look at it this way, once you are able to get the 150lb one closed, you'll have to then get the 200lb one, so just keep it and practice.

second time this happened in as many days Gaz...

I'm freaking out!!

thanks for all the replys, great advice.

i heared that farmers walks were good for improveing your grip. do you actually have to walk to do them or can you just stand on the shot, also doesnt farmers walk also work the traps.

Gazhole you said you should warm up for grip training aswell, i was thinking of doing grip training at the end of my pull workout, so i was thinking wouldnt my warm up just be all puling exercises, as they also work your grip dont they.

Originally Posted by Scarface30

second time this happened in as many days Gaz...

I'm freaking out!!

What other thread was that? I cant remember!

Tis pretty spooky though!

Originally Posted by UFC rocks

i heared that farmers walks were good for improveing your grip. do you actually have to walk to do them or can you just stand on the shot, also doesnt farmers walk also work the traps.

Gazhole you said you should warm up for grip training aswell, i was thinking of doing grip training at the end of my pull workout, so i was thinking wouldnt my warm up just be all puling exercises, as they also work your grip dont they.

Farmers walks are a great overall functional training movement, i really highly reccomend them if you can work them into your program.

Pulling movements do work your grip, yeah, but only upto a certain point. You should do specific warming up, for the sake of one or two sets youll notice a difference in your performance.

Since itll be pretty much maximum effort, its like doing a specific deadlift warmup or something - you work up to your max effort or PR.

i do also have another hand gripper which i got a long time ago, i dont know what kind of presure it takes to close but i dont think its a lot because i can do about 30-50 reps at even given time with it. when doing farmers walk what kind of time limit should i use, should i use a weight that i can hold for 30sec, 40sec, 60sec ect... what? and do they also work the traps. this is the rotuine i was thinking of doing for my pull day. what do you think.

pull ups - 4 sets
dumbbell rows - 4 sets
farmers walk - 3 sets
wrist curls - 3 sets
light hand gripper - 3 sets

if i do this rotuine for a while and dont bother with the 200lbs gripper, will this still increase my grip. i am guessing that the farmers walk, wrisk curls, and the light hand gripper along with any pulling exercises will increase my grip, will it? if i do this rotuine for a while and then go back to trying the 200lbs hand gripper i am hopeing i will be able to close it half way with one hand for a few reps.

what do you think, is this rotuine enough for me to achive what i want?

what do you think of the rotuine?

What might be a better idea is to add one of those grip movements to each of your training days, rather than doing them all on one day.

That way you have more time to get some more compound pulling movements done. Grip should be accessory to your regular lifting.

Id still leave the 200lb gripper in though, if the other gripper is that easy you wont be able to make progress towards closing the other one so itll be useless, lol.

OK Gazhole, thanks for the advice, by the way i looked at your photos, man you got some big guns, wish mine could be that big some day. any way thanks for the reply.

Originally Posted by UFC rocks

OK Gazhole, thanks for the advice, by the way i looked at your photos, man you got some big guns, wish mine could be that big some day. any way thanks for the reply.

No problem man, and eh theyre not that big. The biggest ive ever got them was just over 16", theyre not even that anymore :P.

Cheers though. Just train smart and you can get wherever you want to be

ok what is a farmers walk? i have seen it on here twice but i have never heard of it till i started reading threads on here.

Originally Posted by tomuchgear

ok what is a farmers walk? i have seen it on here twice but i have never heard of it till i started reading threads on here.

Pick up a dumbell in each hand, and walk with them .

Either program for time (walk for Xseconds per set) or distance (walk for 20mtr per set).

Its really as simple as that - great functional movement.

ok cool thanks gaz.