The Frostbite Challenge was this weekend and it was a doozy. Adam has a knack for putting together unique and challenging contests and this one was awfully demanding. In general I feel it was because the events were either heavy, or endurance based. There were no gimmes like MMS grippers, which is honestly about 20 minutes of rest with only seconds of one-handed effort. The events:
Bear hug deadlift - Heavy.
Rolling Thunder - Heavy.
Three grippers for max reps - Endurance.
Feats of strength medley - Heavy.
Endurance medley........you get the idea.
So the contest as a whole was very taxing on the whole body. Guys who were strong in general did well despite not having trained for the events; or trained grip ever.
For my own performance in the lightweight class (82.5kg), I placed 2nd to Ryan Pitts of Strongergrip.com. I was really happy with that finish. It's hard to hang with Ryan. He is so well-rounded that I never feel too bad finishing second over the course of a whole contest. It is my mission in life to beat him however, which I've only done once at WSH Leg 2 when I won the whole contest. But regarding Ryan, one place he usually racks up a ton of points on me is the feats of strength medley. This time I tied him even 16/16. I'm not sure we lifted the exact same things, but the score was the same.
In the bear hug deadlift, I was really happy to get the 197# opener off the ground. That was a tough lift. It took me two or three of my attempts and some tips from the crowd. This may be a 78kg class record, but largely due to the fledgling nature of the class. This contest would have been the first time the lift was contested since the 78kg class was added.
Another highlight was EASILY getting the 200# 2" V-bar in the feats of strength medley. This is a Nationals qualifying lift. I missed the #3 MMS close by a millimeter at most! I really wanted that. REALLY wanted that. At least I have one Nationals qualifying lift under my belt. Two to go.
As far as the Frostbite Challenge, it was an excellent contest. Well run and exciting. I love competing. It always energizes me to train harder and have a better showing each time!
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
MISFIRE
I'm having some neurological misfire symptoms again similar to what was happening back in September.
They symptoms were pain in the forearm flexors and lingering numbness, twitching, burning, itching, and pain in my thumb, ring, and pinkie fingers. Nothing came of this last time. The hand specialist I saw thought it might be "neuritis" which he described as a general irriation of the nervous system that can manifest itself this way. He also thought it was not carpal tunnel.
I was reading about cubital tunnel, which is the same thing as carpal tunnel except with the ulnar nerve getting trapped in the elbow. Except with that it doesn't seem that the thumb should be invovled.
I think I'm going to look into Graston Technique again. This is a therapy that can really help carpal tunnel type symptoms by breaking up adhesions in the forearm.
They symptoms were pain in the forearm flexors and lingering numbness, twitching, burning, itching, and pain in my thumb, ring, and pinkie fingers. Nothing came of this last time. The hand specialist I saw thought it might be "neuritis" which he described as a general irriation of the nervous system that can manifest itself this way. He also thought it was not carpal tunnel.
I was reading about cubital tunnel, which is the same thing as carpal tunnel except with the ulnar nerve getting trapped in the elbow. Except with that it doesn't seem that the thumb should be invovled.
I think I'm going to look into Graston Technique again. This is a therapy that can really help carpal tunnel type symptoms by breaking up adhesions in the forearm.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
OUCH
I've pinched way too many days in a row. Left forearm has a pretty good tweek. Time to take about a week off. In fact, I think I will just rest grip-related exercises until the Frostbite challenge on 2/24. Thankfully, 2HP will not be contested. I've not come to terms with any width at this time.
I need to spend more time at 52, 54, and 56. If I was forced to compete right now, I would probably try lifting at 54 or 56. Those two both feel okay, seem to not tear, and are comparable to 58 in terms of weight coming off the floor. I'm not sure 56 is even a choice though. I can't remember.
What I have found for sure is widths that have me lifting less. 50 and below seems to really suck for me. And now I've pinched too many times in the past week to know where I'm at anyway. Definitely not feeling very fresh. So I will table this for a little more than a week and then pick back up at 54. That's the width that I have the most hope for right now. I seem to lift as much as 58mm, but without tearing.
I need to spend more time at 52, 54, and 56. If I was forced to compete right now, I would probably try lifting at 54 or 56. Those two both feel okay, seem to not tear, and are comparable to 58 in terms of weight coming off the floor. I'm not sure 56 is even a choice though. I can't remember.
What I have found for sure is widths that have me lifting less. 50 and below seems to really suck for me. And now I've pinched too many times in the past week to know where I'm at anyway. Definitely not feeling very fresh. So I will table this for a little more than a week and then pick back up at 54. That's the width that I have the most hope for right now. I seem to lift as much as 58mm, but without tearing.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
PINCH WIDTHS
So my plates are 6mm each for 12mm total and my spacers are either 8 or 11mm. I can make more widths than I thought. I made a chart of all the possible combinations and can make the following widths:
44 45 47 50 53 55 56 58 61 64 66
There are certainly good enough choices here to approximate (or hit) the legal widths that will be available at a contest. 50mm is all set up for the next workout.
44 45 47 50 53 55 56 58 61 64 66
There are certainly good enough choices here to approximate (or hit) the legal widths that will be available at a contest. 50mm is all set up for the next workout.
Friday, February 17, 2012
MORE TWO HANDS PINCH
I just watched a ton of 2HP footage between Chris Rice, Jedd, Adam Glass, and as many others as I could find.
One thing that I noticed is that at 58mm my slip into what Chris Rice has called "2nd position" is huge. The expert lifters above have very little slip from their initial setup. I'm sure this contributes to tearing as well. Any footage I can find of my own lifts all show this significant slip.
Consider this video from Nationals: >>>LINK<<<. My initial set up is real deep and my fingers are mostly at a right angle from my hand. The plates slip down until my fingers are at an acute angle, then my grip holds. To me this highlights that the fingers have a better leverage advantage for me in that acute angle position; which is what I was driving at in the previous post.
Also, I did a bunch of lifts at 48mm. This felt like total garbage and I actually failed to budge 80% of my max. The lifts that came up slipped significantly and were very heavy in the fingers. This taxed my forearm flexors in a very uncomfortable way. My friends at the GripBoard have mostly confirmed this is a bad thing. 48 is too narrow. So then I jumped to 54mm at the same weight and I could at least get a full lift. However my left thumb tore after only a couple of lifts. The wrap felt better, and I wish I was more aware of any slippage at the time. My goal for the next workout is to warm up at 54mm and then compare that to 50 or 52. I have weird spacers (old conveyor belts) and cannot make both widths. I actually think I can only make 51mm which might be a reasonable approximation of wither width. I hate that I cannot get the even widths exactly.
Another few takeaways from the footage I watched: These lifters were mostly bent over the apparatus to start. Bent at the waist and not as much at the knees. Elbows are bent and stay back toward the body. During the lift, the angle of the elbows did not change. I KNOW this kind of bent arm lifting is crucial for GripTopz lifts like the stub and penny. If you let your arm straighten then you lose strength. I just might not have the upper body strength to accomplish this on 2HP, but I did notice in my own videos that my arms straighten considerably. So it seems the lifting is largely done by the legs and back, and the arms and hands are just “hanging on for dear life.” This makes sense; and I think I mostly do this, but can probably give it more attention.
One thing that I noticed is that at 58mm my slip into what Chris Rice has called "2nd position" is huge. The expert lifters above have very little slip from their initial setup. I'm sure this contributes to tearing as well. Any footage I can find of my own lifts all show this significant slip.
Consider this video from Nationals: >>>LINK<<<. My initial set up is real deep and my fingers are mostly at a right angle from my hand. The plates slip down until my fingers are at an acute angle, then my grip holds. To me this highlights that the fingers have a better leverage advantage for me in that acute angle position; which is what I was driving at in the previous post.
Also, I did a bunch of lifts at 48mm. This felt like total garbage and I actually failed to budge 80% of my max. The lifts that came up slipped significantly and were very heavy in the fingers. This taxed my forearm flexors in a very uncomfortable way. My friends at the GripBoard have mostly confirmed this is a bad thing. 48 is too narrow. So then I jumped to 54mm at the same weight and I could at least get a full lift. However my left thumb tore after only a couple of lifts. The wrap felt better, and I wish I was more aware of any slippage at the time. My goal for the next workout is to warm up at 54mm and then compare that to 50 or 52. I have weird spacers (old conveyor belts) and cannot make both widths. I actually think I can only make 51mm which might be a reasonable approximation of wither width. I hate that I cannot get the even widths exactly.
Another few takeaways from the footage I watched: These lifters were mostly bent over the apparatus to start. Bent at the waist and not as much at the knees. Elbows are bent and stay back toward the body. During the lift, the angle of the elbows did not change. I KNOW this kind of bent arm lifting is crucial for GripTopz lifts like the stub and penny. If you let your arm straighten then you lose strength. I just might not have the upper body strength to accomplish this on 2HP, but I did notice in my own videos that my arms straighten considerably. So it seems the lifting is largely done by the legs and back, and the arms and hands are just “hanging on for dear life.” This makes sense; and I think I mostly do this, but can probably give it more attention.
Monday, February 13, 2012
TWO HANDS PINCH
I am incredibly interested in 2HP lately; and pinch feats for that matter. In the past weeks I have experimented a lot with different pinch widths. While at Adam Glass's gym recently, he made an observation that stuck with me. He said strong gripper guys tend to favor wider pinch widths because they can take better advantage of the torsion offered by the ring and pinkie fingers--which are the gripper "deal closers." As these same people develop stronger pinch strength, they will likely tend toward a narrower setting for the best mechanical advantage.
Here I sit with a decidedly average-size hand, but have been pinching in the "wide" range. My standard has been 58mm. Not a ton of people pinch wider than that, and if they do I would expect them to have a massive hand; Chad Woodall, et al. I settled at 58mm not necessarily because it felt best, but because more weight came off the floor. Chris Rice has prepped me that it will sometimes be this way. I mean, that's what it's about right? More weight?
However, based on Adam's comments, I feel that I might be doing myself a disservice at 58mm. In David Horne's pinch DVD, he goes through a simple way to measure your hand to get a starting 2HP width. An educated guess. Then through experimentation you can see what width exactly brings the most weight off the floor. If I measure my hand this way, I come up with 46-48ish millimeters. What I noticed is that when my hand is in position over 58mm, it becomes a noticeably open-handed lift for me. I did an experiment where I positioned my hand on the 2HP at 58mm and then did my best to hold that position for a photo. The fingers and thumb are sharply angled away from each other almost like I'm ready to pick up a blob. This simply cannot be ideal:
The lines I drew don't mean anything except are meant to highlight the angle of the fingers and thumb. The picture on the right is what my hand would look like if the fingers and thumb were opposing each other better. If I measure the distance where the 2HP would be during the lift, that space is roughly 46-48mm; keeping in mind the edges of the 2HP plates would squish into the skin some. Which reminds me of another priceless nugget from Chris Rice: if you're tearing often, you're probably too wide. I tear every workout.
What makes the most sense to me is that I would want to be just barely outside that distance where my fingers and thumb oppose each other. Maybe only by as much as a millimeter or two. Any wider and I'm lifting blockweights like the photo on the left. Any narrower and I've given up the sweet spot (a bit like trying to close a filed gripper maybe).
My goal for the next couple of weeks is to do a lot of pinching at 48-50mm. I will be shocked if this does not pan out. I have a decent baseline on my set-up for 58mm. 166 is the most weight I've ever lifted. 156 is the most I've ever pulled consistently in training. 146-154 is the most I've been able to get lately (but I did make the mistake of stripping off all the seasoning because I was not happy with the finish). My plates are reasonably seasoned again, at least back to where they were when I was getting 156-166.
I'll post some results when I have some.
Here I sit with a decidedly average-size hand, but have been pinching in the "wide" range. My standard has been 58mm. Not a ton of people pinch wider than that, and if they do I would expect them to have a massive hand; Chad Woodall, et al. I settled at 58mm not necessarily because it felt best, but because more weight came off the floor. Chris Rice has prepped me that it will sometimes be this way. I mean, that's what it's about right? More weight?
However, based on Adam's comments, I feel that I might be doing myself a disservice at 58mm. In David Horne's pinch DVD, he goes through a simple way to measure your hand to get a starting 2HP width. An educated guess. Then through experimentation you can see what width exactly brings the most weight off the floor. If I measure my hand this way, I come up with 46-48ish millimeters. What I noticed is that when my hand is in position over 58mm, it becomes a noticeably open-handed lift for me. I did an experiment where I positioned my hand on the 2HP at 58mm and then did my best to hold that position for a photo. The fingers and thumb are sharply angled away from each other almost like I'm ready to pick up a blob. This simply cannot be ideal:
The lines I drew don't mean anything except are meant to highlight the angle of the fingers and thumb. The picture on the right is what my hand would look like if the fingers and thumb were opposing each other better. If I measure the distance where the 2HP would be during the lift, that space is roughly 46-48mm; keeping in mind the edges of the 2HP plates would squish into the skin some. Which reminds me of another priceless nugget from Chris Rice: if you're tearing often, you're probably too wide. I tear every workout.
What makes the most sense to me is that I would want to be just barely outside that distance where my fingers and thumb oppose each other. Maybe only by as much as a millimeter or two. Any wider and I'm lifting blockweights like the photo on the left. Any narrower and I've given up the sweet spot (a bit like trying to close a filed gripper maybe).
My goal for the next couple of weeks is to do a lot of pinching at 48-50mm. I will be shocked if this does not pan out. I have a decent baseline on my set-up for 58mm. 166 is the most weight I've ever lifted. 156 is the most I've ever pulled consistently in training. 146-154 is the most I've been able to get lately (but I did make the mistake of stripping off all the seasoning because I was not happy with the finish). My plates are reasonably seasoned again, at least back to where they were when I was getting 156-166.
I'll post some results when I have some.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
GEARING UP FOR 33
My birthday is approaching and I'll be 33 this year. 3 kids, oldest is 5. More gray hair all the time. Although I got my hair cut this weekend and the lady said I have thick hair and she thought not much more might ever fall out. I muttered "yeah right" to myself. I also just celebrated a 10-year wedding anniversary with my fitness goddess wife. My wonderful wife is as dedicated to training and a healthy life as she is to our commitment to each other. You're amazing, Lady.
Something I will celebrate this birthday is that I've never been in better shape. Body weight is hanging tough right at 150 lbs. I bottomed out at 149.50 lbs. The recent difference is that I feel I've transitioned from sparing muscle during fat loss, to building muscle as part of changing body composition. I say that because I've been 150lbs for a couple of weeks now, but continue to see strength improvements in the gym and physique improvements in the mirror. Legs, arms, back are looking more muscular. New vascular road maps are being charted..everywhere. Hold out body fat is limited to right around my belly button and love handles. Very localized and not barely enough to pinch. Abs definition is getting better all the time (if I'm being honest, this is one of my major goals). I know a picture is worth a thousand words, but I'm not ready to take one. I think by the end of Feb things will be pretty jacked. I'll post a picture once I'm content with what I've accomplished.
Diet is still the same. No junk. No sugar. No gluten. No dairy (except whey). No fruit. I have not limited intake, but everything I eat revolves around those limitations. I can't say that I never cheat. I'll eat a dried apricot here and there, or put some half-and-half in coffee some days. I think this is good for mental health as long as the cheats are mindful and not a slippery slope out of the diet. I am especially prone to slippery sloping, so I try and be especially mindful.
I feel powerful in the gym. Pull ups and push ups are all done with added weight. My last pull up workout was with +20lbs and last push up workout was +25 lbs. As I mentioned a couple posts ago, I've been lifting a little heavier and not doing EDT workouts exclusively. Running conditioning is getting better too. Running feels good.
Most of my grip training has been pinch related. 2HP reps, 1HP reps and negatives, TTK, assisted pinch pull ups, blob isos. I've also added grippers back in and max crush is probably in the mid-150s right now. I'm really happy with that because it's well over body weight! Some recent highlights are a 153# GHP L7 close and I got 74# off the ground in 1HP. Thursday night I'm going to Adam's gym for a 2HP test. I really (really, really) hope to pull close to 180 on his rig. I have evidence that my pinch numbers are up right now (like the 1HP progress) and I want to have confidence in my training. Hopefully my feeling is confirmed.
Otherwise I just feel good. I am ready to be 33. I will own it.
Some things I hope to accomplish as a 33-year-old:
* 120% body weight 2HP (roughly 180 at 150). I hope to be the first.
* MM2 cert
* Blob lift (this is a long shot, although I really want to bring up thick pinch)
* Set a few 74k world records!
* Achieve Elite status if a lightweight qualifier is offered.
Cheers to another year in training!
Something I will celebrate this birthday is that I've never been in better shape. Body weight is hanging tough right at 150 lbs. I bottomed out at 149.50 lbs. The recent difference is that I feel I've transitioned from sparing muscle during fat loss, to building muscle as part of changing body composition. I say that because I've been 150lbs for a couple of weeks now, but continue to see strength improvements in the gym and physique improvements in the mirror. Legs, arms, back are looking more muscular. New vascular road maps are being charted..everywhere. Hold out body fat is limited to right around my belly button and love handles. Very localized and not barely enough to pinch. Abs definition is getting better all the time (if I'm being honest, this is one of my major goals). I know a picture is worth a thousand words, but I'm not ready to take one. I think by the end of Feb things will be pretty jacked. I'll post a picture once I'm content with what I've accomplished.
Diet is still the same. No junk. No sugar. No gluten. No dairy (except whey). No fruit. I have not limited intake, but everything I eat revolves around those limitations. I can't say that I never cheat. I'll eat a dried apricot here and there, or put some half-and-half in coffee some days. I think this is good for mental health as long as the cheats are mindful and not a slippery slope out of the diet. I am especially prone to slippery sloping, so I try and be especially mindful.
I feel powerful in the gym. Pull ups and push ups are all done with added weight. My last pull up workout was with +20lbs and last push up workout was +25 lbs. As I mentioned a couple posts ago, I've been lifting a little heavier and not doing EDT workouts exclusively. Running conditioning is getting better too. Running feels good.
Most of my grip training has been pinch related. 2HP reps, 1HP reps and negatives, TTK, assisted pinch pull ups, blob isos. I've also added grippers back in and max crush is probably in the mid-150s right now. I'm really happy with that because it's well over body weight! Some recent highlights are a 153# GHP L7 close and I got 74# off the ground in 1HP. Thursday night I'm going to Adam's gym for a 2HP test. I really (really, really) hope to pull close to 180 on his rig. I have evidence that my pinch numbers are up right now (like the 1HP progress) and I want to have confidence in my training. Hopefully my feeling is confirmed.
Otherwise I just feel good. I am ready to be 33. I will own it.
Some things I hope to accomplish as a 33-year-old:
* 120% body weight 2HP (roughly 180 at 150). I hope to be the first.
* MM2 cert
* Blob lift (this is a long shot, although I really want to bring up thick pinch)
* Set a few 74k world records!
* Achieve Elite status if a lightweight qualifier is offered.
Cheers to another year in training!
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