how I’m using the straps:
Place them around my wrist, but don’t wrap the bar at first.
When my grip fails, wrap the bar really quick and get back to it.
unwrap them, rest.
Repeat every set.
[quote]paulwhite959 wrote:
how I’m using the straps:
Place them around my wrist, but don’t wrap the bar at first.
When my grip fails, wrap the bar really quick and get back to it.
unwrap them, rest.
Repeat every set.[/quote]
So you’re basically using straps starting in the middle of a set (reps with no straps/mini-rest to apply straps/reps with straps)? That’s… unusual.
I think you’d be better off in the long run, and just more comfortable, not using straps for a few sets, and as soon as you reach a weight that makes your grip fail before the target muscle, end the set, and use the straps for the remaining sets of that exercise.
Doing it the way you’re explaining is kinda like doing forced reps, where you hit muscle failure and then a spotter jumps in to help keep the bar moving. It can actually be a useful technique, but I haven’t seen it applied to grip training.
Not saying it’s necessarily wrong, just that I haven’t heard of people doing it that way before. If it’s working for you, though, and you’re seeing grip strength progress (able to do more reps each week before strapping up), keep on keepin’ on.
I’m also going to start doing holds for time off my rack; I figure I’ll load it with 225 or there-abouts (since that’s when my grip really starts to fail) and try to hold it for a set time. When I can hold it 2x for 30 seconds a time up the weight, etc. Having a squat rack is pretty damn useful…
It’s been a really crappy week (strep throat plus sinus infection=major suck) so I’m hoping next week I’m back to normal. and can really push again. I wasn’t sure I should have lifted today but I still did an abbreviated workout. I just hope it wasn’t a mistake…it went rough but I figure otherwise I risk losing ground.
[quote]paulwhite959 wrote:
What exactly is the difference between regular DB rows and kroc rows? Is it just that you do them with a heavy assed weight till failure, with some body english being acceptable? I read the article on this site about them that he wrote but I wasnt’ sure if there were more differences than that…[/quote]
Pick a weight you can do with strict form for 10 and try to bang out 20 reps without getting ridiculously sloppy
After your workout go to the chin bar and execute a chin. Chest puffed out, the lot. Try to hold it as long as possible (a partial chin, lower than the bar is fine to for those not able to do chins) and you will find your shoulders will give, and you’ll lower a little, then your lats and you’ll be hnging straight down and this is all hand and forearm. Keep yourself off the ground simply for as long as you can. Power hangs, where you do it with palms facing you would help too.
Not the best advice you’ll get for improving grip, just one option and the one I use as it’s simple and uses equipment I use when I’m at the gym.
A mate squeezes a tennis ball.
Are you using a belt for bent over b’bell rows? Makes a huge difference and helps keep a good posture during the exercise.
[quote]paulwhite959 wrote:
I thought you were supposed to hold your torso parallel to the floor with them so that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ll try some of the other ideas (a supported row sounds…different but hey, why not?).
I don’t want to tweak too much, because I know you’re supposed to stick with a program for a while (2-3 months) before really judging it, so I’m trying to not change it up a ton. But I don’t want to stick with stuff that actually does harm either.[/quote]
Try Pendlay rows, it takes a while to master, but it’ll take the stress off your lower back.
Or do a bunch of rack pulls since you now have a rack, that’ll smarten up your lower back.
Yeah, I’m doing rack pull & holds now.
I backed off deadlift since I’d been stuck at 265 for about 2 weeks; I went back to 245 (no straps) and had my grip fail on my last rep. I would have thought I had one more rep in my legs and back but I went to try it after a couple seconds and no go. So I’ll do 245 again Sunday (usually it’d be Monday but I’m out of town Monday-Wednesday evening). I fully expect it to go up and then I can hit 255 then 265, without straps I hope.
The rack pull and holds after the deadlift were horribly painful and reminded me that my grip is still weak, but it is getting better! Improvement is good to see. I’m kind of curious; it seems like rack pulls would be the sort of thing you’d do for time (pull it and hold X amount of seconds) rather than reps, and so that’s how I’ve approached it. is this really the case or did I misunderstand the lift?
[quote]paulwhite959 wrote:
Yeah, I’m doing rack pull & holds now.
I backed off deadlift since I’d been stuck at 265 for about 2 weeks; I went back to 245 (no straps) and had my grip fail on my last rep. I would have thought I had one more rep in my legs and back but I went to try it after a couple seconds and no go. So I’ll do 245 again Sunday (usually it’d be Monday but I’m out of town Monday-Wednesday evening). I fully expect it to go up and then I can hit 255 then 265, without straps I hope.
The rack pull and holds after the deadlift were horribly painful and reminded me that my grip is still weak, but it is getting better! Improvement is good to see. I’m kind of curious; it seems like rack pulls would be the sort of thing you’d do for time (pull it and hold X amount of seconds) rather than reps, and so that’s how I’ve approached it. is this really the case or did I misunderstand the lift?[/quote]
Well, people do lifts different for different reasons. I never did rack pulls with a hold for time. I just did low reps heavy. Heavy for me anyway. Like 5x5 with 405. That and good mornings, light w/high reps (4 sets of 12-15 w/ 115) really made my lower back strong and healthy.
As far as deads go, how many reps are you doing that your grip is failing?
Right now I’m doing 3 sets of 5 reps until either I quit gaining or until I get back to non-humiliating weight (like 350+ for deads and squat reps, 250+ for bench). I figure at that point I’ll revise sets and reps. I’m not sure if I’ll increase volume (3x8, 2x12 or something) or do a period of really heavy single and triple work. But I think I should have a few months to think about it, and it’ll depend on how my fitness goals are going when I get to that stage I guess.
Hi Paul,
Just was interested in this thread.
It sounds more like your forearms are fatiguing. Hammer curls going as heavy as possible so you might even only hit 4-5 reps puts emphasise on your forearms, then for grips try doing warm up sets, wrapping a towel around the bar to stretch back your hands on deads, pull up
after this it will feel like you can crush the bar.
finally crush the bar as hard as possible, so squeeze it, this puts more emphasise on you biceps and triceps also which can also help increase strength.
Feel free to ignore as ive only trained for 1 year
I’m 90kg 200lbs and dead lift 240kg 520lbs for 5 reps…2 months ago i could only do 180kg so hopefully this is useufl to you
I also want to take the time to offer my sincere thanks to everyone that’s replied with helpful advice. This has had a great signal noise ratio, and I appreciate ya’ll helping me out! Many thanks.
^^That’s why this is the only forum/board that I’m a member on. And I dig Biotest supps and the articles are killer.