The news from around the muscle world. Be you a bodybuilder, weightlifter, strength athlete, whathaveyou we want to bring you the news first. Submissions welcome.
As per an earlier post this week I said I'd be reviewing two products. Well of the two I LOVED the Fatgripz. You can buy them from my mates at Ultimate Grip (click the link) who sent me the products to begin with.
They are easy to take on and off, solid and do what they claim. However, as I am a 'grip guy' I'm gonna be used to thick handles so I took them to the other gym I use (Gymnation, Alfred St, Glos) so that the typical gym user, unfamiliar with both the product and thick bar/handles, could give them a spin.
They LOVED them too! Comments like 'feels like 15 more pounds on the bar' and 'oowwww000 that burns' (in a good way) came.
While they aren't cheap at £40.00 a pair plus P&P they should last a long old time and Charles at UG tells me that he hopes to bring down the price if the volume allows him a better deal with the parent company he imports them from.
If you buy a set, let Charles et al know it was me that sent ya!
While I wait for my man G to work out how I can add lots of grip and 'me' related articles to www.stevegardener.com here's one to show you what I intend adding to the site.
WHY TRAIN GRIP?
Ok, some advice from a grip guy – one who specializes in grip. Are you ready? Perhaps you’ll be persuaded to add 20 or so minutes grip work into your current training program. Andy Bolton, the greatest deadlifter of all time (current WR 1008lbs) did as does Laurence Shahlaei, WSM finalist.
Lets start with whom I am and some brief info on what I’ve thus far managed to achieve: My name is Steve Gardener and I am the 4x British Grip Champion (06,08 09 and the current champ in 2010). I am also a 2x European Grip champion and the only one to have successfully defended his title with a 2008 and 2010 win. I have, thus far, closed the toughest gripper in competition (rated using what is called a ‘red neck gripper calibrator’) being a Ironmind CoC 4 rated at 207lbs. I’ve the British record for 2 hand pinching (placing me No 3 in the world rankings) with a 115.5-kilo effort. I could carry on – sufficient to say I ‘know grip’.
Now onwards – I often train not only at my own very basic no frills hardcore old school (all spit and no sawdust) facility but also at a local gym. I’m often asked by newbies there and occasionally online why they should train grip. So here are a few reasons to illustrate why you should be gripping your way around the gym.
Lose the straps – too, too many people that use the gym use wrist straps to support their grip. They argue that their grip gives out on many, many pulling movements. Be that a Deadlift (very common), most forms of rowing and lat pull-downs/chins.
Monstrous forearms - Unless where you live is sunny all year round the reality will be that for SOME of the year you’ll be seen in t-shirts and only will that become a vest or better, no vest, in the hottest times of year. During the times when you can wear a t-shirt the forearms will be the only actual muscle on display. Sure you may fill out the shirt well but no on can actually see a thing other than the shape. Me? I look like Popeye and 90% of people can see that I work out. It’s not just the swagger and being well in excess of 280lbs most of the time it’s the meat between my elbow and wrist.
Greater reps /Better muscle contraction – see also greater strength. This works both ways so I’ll merely copy and paste this passage for both. It’s based on actual science. Now bear with me: it goes thus. In tests done some time ago lifters were asked to squeeze as they lifted (I’m sure someone like me was cajoling them through a set or maximum effort). When I’ve illustrated this I get the lifter to do an open handed set (thumbless is ideal) say on a bench press type machine. Then one set with a light ‘just there’ grip. Finally a set where they squeeze like they intend leaving grooves in the handles where their fingers sat. I get them to squeeze with the fingertips, thumb, palm, the full monty and HARD ALL the way through. Is it easy? Is it hell! The forearm burns. But here’s the thing and this, as before, proved in scientific tests, MORE MUSCLE FIBRES ARE ACTIVATED. Now in a 1RM (1 rep max) that means typically 5% MORE WEIGHT can be pushed. And in a multi-rep set it means MORE REPS, which you know means more muscle fibres will be broken down and providing you rest enough you’ve stimulated more muscle growth.
Read that last part again – squeezing the bar hard makes you stronger and build more muscle. But it is hard work. So working the grip means you can squeeze hard without getting too tired too quickly.
Greater strength /Better muscle contraction – see also more reps. This works both ways so I’ll merely copy and paste this passage for both. It’s based on actual science. Now bear with me: it goes thus. In tests done some time ago lifters were asked to squeeze as they lifted (I’m sure someone like me was cajoling them through a set or maximum effort). When I’ve illustrated this I get the lifter to do an open handed set (thumbless is ideal) say on a bench press type machine. Then one set with a light ‘just there’ grip. Finally a set where they squeeze like they intend leaving grooves in the handles where their fingers sat. I get them to squeeze with the fingertips, thumb, palm, the full monty and HARD ALL the way through. Is it easy? Is it hell! The forearm burns. But here’s the thing and this, as before, proved in scientific tests, MORE MUSCLE FIBRES ARE ACTIVATED. Now in a 1RM (1 rep max) that means 5% MORE WEIGHT can be pushed. And in a multi-rep set it means MORE REPS, which you know means more muscle fibres will be broken down and providing you rest enough you’ve stimulated more muscle growth.
Read that last part again – squeezing the bar hard makes you stronger and build more muscle. But it is hard work. So working the grip means you can squeeze hard without getting too tired too quickly.
Day to day - Yep we’re on to that old jam jar lid. Whether it’s that or a screwdriver, holding onto your handlebars when out biking or any activity in normal outside the gym use working grip will mean you have the strength to do these activities without being too tired or weak. The clincher has been for many a ‘manly’ grip. I’ve written elsewhere about handshakes, be they the traditional version or soul brother/bro style the clench/shake still shows you to be strong and, as many a salesman and politician will tell you, trustworthy. Those who hassle you can know in a moment you might be more work than you look just based on that moment they shook your hand and looked you in the eye. A salesman in a car showroom might take you a little more seriously than he was going to you before. Me? I have to hold back from hurting people – yes really.
Now in future articles I’ll deal with specific ideas and suggestions for training. I tend towards looking at athletes to see where the weakness lies rather than something generic. I’ll also suggest how you can work out what sets and reps to use when making up your own routine.
In the meantime buy by Gripper e-book at www.gripperbook.com or contact me for some one to one online (and occasionally by appointment only personal training. Rates are reasonable.
Monday Silly o'clock in the morning at Amsterdam airport...a few minutes left on the clock so here I am posting before I catch a 1050 flight back to Bristol. Then feed the cats, pack orders and crash and burn in that order.Bare in mind thesestupidkeyboardsticks(yes) and I'm tired. I'll get it all down asap.
This weekend I won my second (and consecutive as I won the last one) European Grip Championships. It went exactly as predicted.I hated every minute of an otherwise uneventful journey out. More on that later,arrived well enough then had problems using my mobile in Spain (+ or 0... why would it not work!!) eventually the host and promoter found me (no doubt looking moody ha ha). The Hotel, as I later found, cannot understand emails (2 nights with breakfast morons, not one without grrr). But I'm wasting time so lets get to the show.
Saturday There was, as per, 5 events. This time it was grippers, 2-hand pinch, thick bar (axle) double over hand deadlift, one hand deadlift and weaver.
Grippers: I came 2nd. Although I closed a harder gripper with my right Gabriel Sum closed a better combined total to take the lead but by a small margin (important as we will see). There were no mistakes unlike the last Euros.
Two hand pinch I killed this. The next best was Gabriel's 88-kilos or so (88.85kg) and I did a mahoosive 112+. This made me not just 1st but first by some margin. Indeed, I won with my opening lift (97??) and then carried on to make the damage worse. I think I went 97.2, 102.2, 107.2 and ended on the 112.2. The Spanish humidity made an attempt at an WR not a great idea.
Scores 1. Steve: 112.2 k 2. Gabriel: 88.85 k 2. Stew: 88.85 k 4. Pablo: 79.35 k 5. Jorge: 71.35 k 6. German: 64.35 k 7. Rene: no valid lift
Double over-hand thick bar deadlift. I followed this pattern again by opening with 165-kilos where the 2nd place guy ended up, then doing 180, 200 and finally taking 216kg. As it was not an official IM Apollons Axle it may not count as a record but I'll let everyone else worry about that (too tired to give a **** right now). The official scores show Gabriel pulling 170-kilos for his final best effort (a bunch of guys bombed as the weigh fell from their hands) but I opened with 5kg less!
Scores 1. Steve: 216 k - New European Record. 2. Gabriel: 170 k 3. Stew: 150 k 3. Jorge: 150 k 3. Rene: 150 k 6. Pablo: 142.5 k 7. German: 130 k
One hand deadlift (thumb over): again the same pattern. Most were done and dusted at 120kg and I'd pulled WR level 152.5kg once in training. So I did 120kg, 130kg, 140kg and then (as above) using the promoters record breaker discs (so-called little gems of 125g, 250g and so on) I pulled a tiny bit more than the old 151kg WR. So now I had potentially not only a EU record (?) but a WR in the same meet. One might say it was going according to plan...
Score 1. Steve: - right hand 151.95 k - New World Record 2. Gabriel: - left hand 120.45 k 3. Pablo: - right hand 112.95 k 4. Stew: - left hand 110.45 k 4. German: - right hand 110.45 k 4. Rene: - right hand 110.45 k 7. Jorge: - right hand 105.45 k Weaver to the rear: Some of the guys had been a little confused by the rising bar rule earlier on and now Gabriel was thrown by the clearly explained 'if you used you right on the one hand deadlift you must use your left or vice versa. Speaking to him he said that he'd only trained one hand- wtf? I'd been nagging/advising fellow Brit Stew Killick, throughout and now, with this event his anyway, here was his chance to get a few percentage points ahead of Gabiel and take 2nd overall behind me. So it was, Gabriel did 4kg and with everyone else out, it was just me and Stew left. Using my left hand (one hand deadlifting with my right) I did enough for another 2nd place (3 firsts and 2 2nds meant I was about 80+pts ahead of the next guy). Not only had I won but it was a British 1 and 2 so our team slaughtered Johhny foreigner ha ha
Score 1. Stew: -right hand 7 k 2. Steve: - left hand 6.4 k 3. Rene: - left hand 5 k 4. Jorge: - left hand 4.75 k 5. Pablo: - left hand 4.5 k 6. German: - left hand 4.25 k 7. Gabriel: - right hand 4 k More when fed, watered and rested...
Final Results: 1. Steve Gardener (England): 487.99 2. Stew Killick (England : 405.59 3. Gabriel Sum (Germany): 394.22 4. Jorge Gonzalez (Spain) : 355.54 5. Pablo Garcia (Spain) : 348.42 6. German (Spain) : 320.29 7. Rene Kirschner (Germany : 282.44
As Jose says elsewhere we then went out with Feleces (?) a huge Spanish powerlifter and loader for the day and talk utter shite and BS (as one does) about all things strength. The beer and burgers helped. I had an issue with the hotel in that they'd emptied my room even though I had booked for TWO NIGHTS!! via the internet. This was followed by being out of the room at 12 noon on Sunday which meant I literally sat around, slowly getting sun burnt, until my pre-arranged pick up six hours later. As my phone battery had died it was all I could do.
All was well at Madrid airport but the 11 hour wait at Amsterdam is BORING!! and time I will never get back. Then, minutes after we took off (around 11am the next day) we had to make a u-turn over the North Sea as an engine was playing up. That's a first. I started goofing off and laughing (scenes from Father Ted etc played through my head) otherwise my tired ass, gritty eyes and surly demeanor for what was an already over long journey would have meant a popped blood vessel.
Regardless of my usual old age grumblings on the journey, the bed, etc I must pass on my thanks to Jose. A stellar promoter and ref and he took me everywhere I needed to go with good grace. Cheers Jose.
I take it you choose to keep ignoring my statement about greater contractile force for a reason?
While there will always be debates about support gear among even the lifters as opposed to the builders (two ply shirts, lever belts, wraps of various kinds are endlessly debated) this isn't one of them.
Those, with the exception of the lady with an actual physical malady in her hands and wrists, would benefit with a better workout if they lost their straps and yes that includes Cutler. It's also worth adding that throwing in a genetic freaks name to prove a point is like throwing in a Formula 1 or Nascar vehicle into a soap box derby debate.
All builders (those looking to develop and shape muscle as opposed to those looking for greater strength and power) work to create an intense contraction in the muscle being worked thus hoping to encourage hypertrophy (muscle growth). Any system, be it drop sets, super sets, super slow protocol, 21's, whatever that intensifies this gym work will, one hopes, mean greater gains in the gym. Still with me?
A quick test: flop your sorry asses down on a bench press bench and take a weight at arms length with which you can usually get lets say 8 reps. Let's say you're an average Joe and have worked your way to a respectable 300lbs. So your eight rep set will be somewhere around 225-250lbs. Now do a set with the hands open. The thumb hooked over but the fingers loose or better still pointing up (use a machine if you feel you might drop it). Now do a follow up set, after a rest, with a closed hand as you are supposed to do it (even a solid thumbless grip will do). Now do a final test set with the hands squeezing as though you wanna leave fingerprints etched forever in the knurling. Squeeze through the whole hand as hard as you possibly can. All things being equal as a lifter you should feel good for an additional 5% added to the bar and as a builder good for an additional 2-3 reps.
Not only that but your forearm will feel like a rock, the triceps will contract harder and so will the pecs. More so if you use a good builder style bench and focus on the contraction as well as that hard squeeze.
The way it works is by neural feedback. Basically your brain is fooled into making the working muscles contract harder because the feedback from the hands tricks it into 'thinking' the weight is heavier than it is and so more of the muscle fibers contract. There's some sports science to do with how much of a percentage of the fibers in a muscle worked contract when under duress and it is NEVER 100% (you'd be fucked in seconds if it was) but the squeeze makes more be used than not. If it was, for example, 15%, the squeeze adds another few percent.
Thus a better grip means a better squeeze equates to more fibers contracting so... you do the math.
So those that use the 'I want my back to feel more...' blah, blah WOULD if they had better grips.
Try the squeeze next time your in the gym. And lose the gay straps.
I've had this happen a few times when I've trained. I remember taking my youngest brother Mike to a gym in Peckham (owned at the time by Gladiator 'Wolf'/Mick Van Wyck) and benching with dumbbells. I was capable of using, so I thought, 90's per hand. However, having managed to push up a rep Mike pointed out one was a 90 but the other... 105! I very nearly dropped it on my face in surprise.
Today, on what is my 2nd only session on one hand deadlifts with the thumb over style in many a year (2+) I thought I was pulling, one hand at a time, 130-kilos left and then 140-kilos right but one of the lads pointed out (always someone else ha!) I was pulling 160-kilos right which meant the left had been 140-kilos. I'm pretty sure my best previously was around those numbers.
In other words, as well as having a great session (rather than drop down I did 4 singles with the loaded weight) I also had proof of the adage - if your mind doesn't know what's loaded it'll pull whatever. Obviously if it had been loads more - not a chance. But a little more?
The only other aspects which MAY have helped was: 1) that the bar is very slightly, and I mean slightly, cambered. 2) I'd had 2 cups of coffee about 1 hour apart 3) I trained later than usual and 4) I was showing one of the lads some 'geeing up' techniques
Don't let your mind be the limiting factor when you lift.
One of our esteemed Grip nuts, Daniel Evans, has put together the eBay of the grip freaks world in the form of www.gripshit.com I've already signed up and need to add some more items. If you have grip stuff you're looking to buy, sell or swap get yer backsides over there and enrol.
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As per an earlier post this week I said I'd be reviewing two products. Well of the two I LOVED the Fatgripz. You can buy them from my mates at Ultimate Grip (click the link) who sent me the products to begin with.
