If grip is your limiting factor. Don’t be afraid to use straps on your heaviest sets.( Especally if you have no grip issues on your deadlift.)
don’t let your hands limit your leg and back strength.
Jim
Kimba, no real trick to farmers walks, just pick up two heavy dumbells and walk around until you have to drop the weights or you start seeing little sparkles. I also like to use uneven wieghts (10-15 lbs apart) and then switch hands on the next set for a little core work as well.
Just hanging for time from the pull up bar is a great supporting grip developer. Once the grip gets strong enough to hang for a minute with two hands, you can start doing them one-handed or switching back and forth between hands for reps
Hm. There’s a competition on campus in February that’s “Fitness Frenzy” (various feats of strength/speed/etc) and one of the events is hanging from a pull up bar. I’ve never done this, but I wouldn’t mind trying.
[quote]jjackkrash wrote:
Kimba, no real trick to farmers walks, just pick up two heavy dumbells and walk around until you have to drop the weights or you start seeing little sparkles. I also like to use uneven wieghts (10-15 lbs apart) and then switch hands on the next set for a little core work as well. [/quote]
That second bit sounds intriguingly evil.
[quote]DaCharmingAlbino wrote:
Just hanging for time from the pull up bar is a great supporting grip developer. Once the grip gets strong enough to hang for a minute with two hands, you can start doing them one-handed or switching back and forth between hands for reps[/quote]
Aha! Something I can try right away, seeing as there is a pull-up bar right here…
Yah, the world’s longest minute for a two-handed neutral grip hang just transpired.
One-handed hang = no way.
It seems that I will have to work up to the one handed hang with more time on the two-handed.
[quote]AlisaV wrote:
Hm. There’s a competition on campus in February that’s “Fitness Frenzy” (various feats of strength/speed/etc) and one of the events is hanging from a pull up bar. I’ve never done this, but I wouldn’t mind trying.[/quote]
I really like it when you talk about competing. 
Farmers walks are fun!!
Good job on the PRs!
May?! Bless your heart, Kimba!
MIM, I am reserving judgment on the fun factor of farmer’s walks until I try them.
Skye, I know better than to predict tomorrow, much less May.
grip:
plate flips
farmers walks
heavy DB holds - timed
heavy Barbell pull from rack - with hold to make it tougher.
-
vary grip hold
-
increase bar width with towel.
until grip gets stonger use a barbell across your back instead for your lunges and such
or use straps.
N
grip:
plate flips
farmers walks
timed heavy DB holds
heavy BB pull from rack
vary grip hold on deads
increase bar width with towel on various exercises - deads
until grip gets better use a barbell across your shoulders for lunges and such or get straps
N
sorry for the log pollution - screwy server.
kimba - excellent stuff on the bp and squats!
I have crap grip, I’ll try these out too. I was also recommended that if your grip is failing on your DL (altho I think you said the DL is not a problem) that on your last rep you should try to hold the bar a little longer before you put it down.
N, thanks so much for the great suggestions!
Mascherano, so far my DL grip hasn’t been the limiting factor. That lift definitely has OTHER limiting factors. 
I was listening to this podcast featuring an interview with Dan John today:
and one thing he said was that, although we expect and want every workout to be outstanding, the inevitable and prolific crappy workouts also serve their purpose. Without them, we wouldn’t appreciate the great training days.
Oh so true.
Friday night training in a crowded weight room. When I walked in, I couldn’t believe how many people were in there, late-ish on a Friday night. This never happens. But it is January. Worst of all, there was some dude curling in the squat rack and doing some sort of circuit thing that took forever until he vacated.
Mentally, that threw me off my game a bit, to have to think of something else to do before my deadlifts. I hate that it did that.
Pistol squats to bench
25# plate 3 x 10 each leg
Sumo Deadlift
Off of steps:
75# 1 x 10 warmup – this was the weight that dude was curling. I decided not to take it off and just warmup with it.
110# 1 x 3 working set
125# 1 x 3 working set
From floor:
140# 1 x 11 money set ← PR + 8 reps, but I rarely pull this exact weight so that doesn’t mean much. Also, my form SUCKED ASS. I completely forgot to stick my butt out for any semblance of back arch. It was ugly and I am not proud.
135# 1 x 5 <–so to make it up to myself, I took off a bit of weight and hit 5 respectable reps with a flat back, since a pretty arch is currently beyond my reach.
115# 1 x 10, 2 x 5, 1 x 10
I would ordinarily pull the 35# plates from a step on each side of me. But the curl guy took one of the risers for some sort of elevated incline bench thing, so I was forced to pull these slightly smaller plates from the floor. It ended up OK though. Almost all of the reps were decent. Still chasing the nice arch, though.
Bench Press
60# 1 x 3 working set
65# 1 x 3 working set
70# 1 x 13 ← Rep PR +3
55# 5 x 10 --BBB
Pretty good bench day. Adding volume.
And that’s it. I completely ran out of time without getting to do the accessory work I had planned.
Going away this weekend to ski, so I will probably miss Sunday’s training. Thus, I switched out MP for bench today because I can jury-rig some MP work at home on Monday if I have to.
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
I was listening to this podcast featuring an interview with Dan John today:
and one thing he said was that, although we expect and want every workout to be outstanding, the inevitable and prolific crappy workouts also serve their purpose. Without them, we wouldn’t appreciate the great training days.
Oh so true.
Friday night training in a crowded weight room. When I walked in, I couldn’t believe how many people were in there, late-ish on a Friday night. This never happens. But it is January. Worst of all, there was some dude curling in the squat rack and doing some sort of circuit thing that took forever until he vacated.
Mentally, that threw me off my game a bit, to have to think of something else to do before my deadlifts. I hate that it did that.
Pistol squats to bench
25# plate 3 x 10 each leg
Sumo Deadlift
Off of steps:
75# 1 x 10 warmup – this was the weight that dude was curling. I decided not to take it off and just warmup with it.
110# 1 x 3 working set
125# 1 x 3 working set
From floor:
140# 1 x 11 money set ← PR + 8 reps, but I rarely pull this exact weight so that doesn’t mean much. Also, my form SUCKED ASS. I completely forgot to stick my butt out for any semblance of back arch. It was ugly and I am not proud.
135# 1 x 5 <–so to make it up to myself, I took off a bit of weight and hit 5 respectable reps with a flat back, since a pretty arch is currently beyond my reach.
115# 1 x 10, 2 x 5, 1 x 10
I would ordinarily pull the 35# plates from a step on each side of me. But the curl guy took one of the risers for some sort of elevated incline bench thing, so I was forced to pull these slightly smaller plates from the floor. It ended up OK though. Almost all of the reps were decent. Still chasing the nice arch, though.
Bench Press
60# 1 x 3 working set
65# 1 x 3 working set
70# 1 x 13 ← Rep PR +3
55# 5 x 10 --BBB
Pretty good bench day. Adding volume.
And that’s it. I completely ran out of time without getting to do the accessory work I had planned.
Going away this weekend to ski, so I will probably miss Sunday’s training. Thus, I switched out MP for bench today because I can jury-rig some MP work at home on Monday if I have to.
[/quote]
ah so - you were doing deficit sumo deads - a very good lift to develop lift strength from the floor, nice.
have fun skiing!
no she set the plates/barbell on risers so that she could pull from a more correct height. her hip and ham flexibility doesnt let her pull anything less than 135 with decent form.
kimba, what the fuck do you mean, you “forgot” to stick your butt out? that’s a great way to get injured, really. dont do the lift if you’re not going to do it properly, ESPECIALLY if it’s the heaviest lift of your set. seriously, you’re smarter than that. take an extra minute or two of rest if you need to get your head in the game.
damnit woman.
140x11 reset?
[quote]CBear84 wrote:
no she set the plates/barbell on risers so that she could pull from a more correct height. her hip and ham flexibility doesnt let her pull anything less than 135 with decent form.
kimba, what the fuck do you mean, you “forgot” to stick your butt out? that’s a great way to get injured, really. dont do the lift if you’re not going to do it properly, ESPECIALLY if it’s the heaviest lift of your set. seriously, you’re smarter than that. take an extra minute or two of rest if you need to get your head in the game.
damnit woman. [/quote]
look again - somebody stole her risers and she pulled from the floor with the smaller plates
[quote]
I would ordinarily pull the 35# plates from a step on each side of me. But the curl guy took one of the risers for some sort of elevated incline bench thing, so I was forced to pull these slightly smaller plates from the floor. It ended up OK though. Almost all of the reps were decent. Still chasing the nice arch, though.[/quote]
ah soldog you’re right, shame on me and my lack of reading comprehension
[quote]soldog wrote:
ah so - you were doing deficit sumo deads - a very good lift to develop lift strength from the floor, nice.
have fun skiing![/quote]
In essence, yes. Exactly. This was easier for me than the last time I tried it, so that was another upside of that particular training.
Skiing (XC skating) was cold, but fun. Also some snowshoeing, which is always a good time.
[quote]CBear84 wrote:
no she set the plates/barbell on risers so that she could pull from a more correct height. her hip and ham flexibility doesnt let her pull anything less than 135 with decent form. [/quote]
I really put my mind to progressing with the smaller plates after the preceding debacle.
[quote]kimba, what the fuck do you mean, you “forgot” to stick your butt out? that’s a great way to get injured, really. dont do the lift if you’re not going to do it properly, ESPECIALLY if it’s the heaviest lift of your set. seriously, you’re smarter than that. take an extra minute or two of rest if you need to get your head in the game.
damnit woman. [/quote]
CBear, you are right and I absolutely 100% agree with the above sentiments. Damn, I wish you were my workout partner and could rip me a new one in person if’n you ever saw me try to pull such bullshit.
I was way, way, WAY focused on hitting reps and thus just let form go out the window. My biggest regret is that I was unable to filter out the commotion of lots of people getting in my way, and instead let my concentration lapse because of it. And THEN I DID THE LIFT ANYWAY KNOWING SOMETHING WASN’T RIGHT. Mistake made, lessons learned. The experience wasn’t wasted.
[quote]rcfromdb wrote:
140x11 reset?[/quote]
Bobbi, you are a woman of few words. If you mean that I should have reset 140# and tried the reps again, I didn’t have the cojones to try that with a tired body and instead compromised both on weight and reps. If you mean that I should repeat the failed 5/3/1 workout on my next deadlift day instead of moving on to the next week, I could seriously consider that.
Indeed I missed my Sunday training (squat, MP). If all the stars and planets align correctly, I might be able to sneak out of work and get into the gym tomorrow to make it up.