PINCH -- on Monday

I've been meaning to log this pinch workout for two days. What a great workout!

First, I'd like to say that I've posted a few times at the GripBoard that I'm not positive it's possible to change your hands much. People talk about their hands getting thicker, etc, and I've always rolled my eyes and thought, "yeah right." I have to admit that I've noticed some changes in my hands. Most noticeably with my thumb pad, the back of my hand between my thumb and index, and on the pinky side of my palm where you would karate chop. Which makes sense because these are the biggest muscles on the hands in the first place.

What made me think of this is that after this pinch workout, I couldn't even recognize my hand as my own. It looked like a Frankenstein's monster hand attached to my stick arm. I showed my wife and she only said, "Eww, that's disgusting!" Heh, perfect. I may have to change my opinion about adding thickness over time. It seems to be happening.

• 2hp, 70# warmup
• 90 x2 reps
• 120 x3 singles
• 140 x1, felt heavy
• 150 x0, about a 1/2 pull
• 120 x6 reps
• 1hp wood block, 55 x10 reps, 65 x10 reps. The second set was a struggle.
• Pony Thumbs x3, added another rubberband wrapped around in triplicate. This is what finished off my thumbs! Holy cow. Good resistance with the added band.

More grippers!

So, I'm really enjoying this choker workout. I opened the choker a little from 20mm to 23mm. Each rep is quick and, for once, this didn't even feel like a max effort. In general, on a max effort I'm not very aware of what is happening because it's so much pressure on my fingers, joints, etc. But with these attempts, I can feel the handles come together, and I can purposefully drag the handle side-ways for a good grind. I think I will open the choker again more next workout.

• MM1 @ 23mm x5
• 5/8" SM x5 overcrushes
• Pony thumbs x4, added another rubber band. This could stand to be even harder. I'm also really noticing an increase in strength and control on this.
  

I really think the overcrushes on the 5/8" gripper is helping with what I noticed on the choker closes. No doubt this BTR work contributes to grinding the handles on a normal gripper.

I need to work in a pinch workout before my next gripper workout. Maybe Monday night.

Grippahz in Chokahz

So, I was worried that my elbow might be aggrivated by a workout, but it felt great!

• Warm-up on lighter grippers
• MM1 @ 20mm x5, I really felt--and heard--the knurling pop on the first and last. Maybe time to open it a little.
• 5/8" SM x3 overcrushes. It may have been 4, I can't remember.
• Pony thumbs x4

Overall, a great workout. Real good.

Rolling Thunder

Last night I did what ended up being a light RT workout. My left elbow was really bothering me so I didn't want to push anything.

• 70x5
• 105x3 singles
• 125 x2 singes
• 135x1

Strength felt pretty good. I put ice on my elbow for about an hour and it really feels better today. It was a weird strained feeling.

Well that was hard work...

Choker workout! Damn that was hard work. I was very happy that at 20mm, I could kill my MM1 with speed and, for once, I could overcrush it enough to feel the knurling grind.

• MM1 x5 singles @ 20mm
• 5/8" SM x3
• Pony thumbs x3

Hooray for little blood spots on my knuckles. Have not had those in a while.

By the way, I always do left-handed stuff as well, just same workout with lighter grippers.

CHOKER CRAZY

I have decided I need to go choker crazy for a few weeks. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I will use my good friend Teemu's advice from this article >>LINK<<.

The structure is simple, 3 times per week:

• 5 singles on a choker
• 3-5 overcrushes with a lighter gripper

The focus in the choker is for an explosive close with a 3-5 sec hold. Misses are forced in. The choker is gradually widened as necessary. I will begin with my MM1 replica.

For the 3-5 overcrushes I will use my 5/8" SM.

I will continue to do pinch and RT during this time.

Business as usual...

Back to work!

• 2HP warm up with 70#
• 1HP, 70# x 2 full lifts with each hand. Felt good.
• Blob50 -48%x1, -36%x1, -25%xpartial lift, -25%x1, -18%x0 and then 2 negs.
• Blob50, 2HP x10seconds, x4
• Tug4 xBunch, R+P. Tugs seem like more of a pinch exercise to me.
• Pony thumbs, added yet another rubberband, x2

Good pinch workout.

Cert Attempt

All you need to know about my Mash Monster Level 1 cert attempt is that I missed, and I am really proud of how close I got!

Grippers

My new favorite gripper right now is the 5/8" SM. I can't say enough about these little guys. I really like how they feel.

• HG150 xbunch, every which way
• #1 x10, quick reps
• #2 x2 singles
• 5/8 SM x3 singles
• 5/8 GM x3 attempts, forced in for a negative crush
• #2 x3, no set singles
• 5/8 SM x3 singles, overcrushed
• #1 xreps
• Pony clamp x3 sets
  

Couple of notes here. I didn't write this down as I went along because I wanted to go by feel and just have a good workout. My thumbs feel strong on the Pony clamp. MM1 cert thread is open, so this is perfect timing. I ended up resting for week, doing a hard workout, and now I can rest until the perfect time and attack the cert with fresh hands.

The time has come!

It appears that I am next for the MM1 cert! I am through the roof excited about this. I had a workout scheduled for tonight anyway so I did a test run with my MM1 replica. I wrapped it up, and boxed it up and everything so I could warm up, open the box on camera, and take 3 attempts. I'm glad I did this because it helped me get set up and learn about what I would want nearby, etc. The video turned out great. Right now that's the best news.

Of the three attempts I took, the first was the best. I included a still of the set and close below. The second and third attempts were clear misses. Everything felt good and I actually would have said they were closed. The misses were paper thin. Just enough to see that it wasn't actually closed. I think I would have passed on the first attempt, but it was not a convincing close. I do hope to do better on cert day.

• HG150 x10
• #1 x10
• #2 x3 singles
• 5/8" SM x1
• MM1 replica x3 attempts, 1st possibly closed, 2nd and 3rd clear misses
• 5/8" SM x5 attempts, forced in and held

I was starting to lose some skin so I called it quits. My MM1 replica and the 5/8" SM have nasty sharp knurling.

Overall, I feel good about this. I can now take Luke's advice to eat like a pig and rest up. I believe I am prepared and will be successful for at least one attempt on cert day. Add some nerves to the mix and I think the job will be done.

I am ready. I am ready. I am ready.

1st attempt set:













Close. It was a brief, quick close. No hold like I've been able to do in the past.