Shenandoah Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Is 3 days a week of intensive 40 minute forearm workouts over training? Would 2 days a week with 2-3 days in between be better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackheart Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 I wonder exactly the same thing my friend...exactly the same thing.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Sipple Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 me too, espically if you are concentrating on bringing up the squat,bench,deadlift,and overhead press as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Wood Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Yes, that is far too much direct forearm work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackheart Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 And the worst things is that i am searching for a solid heavy and ompleted program for the forearms but i can never complete it because i simply believe it is not good.... I don't know... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SqeezeMasterFlash Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 I don't think it's completely overdoing it. As long as you're making progress and not having trouble recovering you're fine. It also depends on what you're doing. 40 minutes 3 times a week of just wrist curls would be too much. But if you're spending that time doing a variety of exercises I think you're allright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SqeezeMasterFlash Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Blackheart, don't worry about searching for the perfect program. It doesn't exist. Just try making some of your regular lifts more grip dependant for starters. Then pick 2 or 3 grip exercises to do in addition to that. Work them progrssively and when you start to stall, change them slightly. For example, if you're working plate pinch and start to go stale, switch to blob pinching. When that starts to go stale swich to very narrow pinching. Then eventually go back to plate pinching. All grip training is complementary. Take you time, add weight where you can, and don't try to do everything at once. Your grip will get stronger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackheart Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 i will start doing my forearm training exactly after my hands and back training...These are the two workouts that really hit hard mty forearms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearcat 74 Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 I think 3 days of 40min direct work would be too much, but people are different, it would run me into the ground. For me to go hard on grippers, pinch, and do forearms it doesn't take 40min and I have backed down to 2x per week and saw some good gains. About bringing up SQ, BP, etc while gripping. From my experince, say you are going hard on KTA, and you are trying to bring your bench and squat up with high 85-95 percent of max, I crash and burn on everything with grip going first in a few weeks. If you want to bring up your overall body strength, cut back the grip work and it will go up. If I want to focus solely on grip, I will need to slack my weights back down. My strength overall and grip is slowly climbing now and my entire workout takes 15-20 minutes somedays and 30-45 on others, throw in 30 minutes of grip/forearm work 2x per week and I am done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
climber511 Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 That's two full hours a week on forearms and grip! And how many hours training the rest of your body? Your body can only recover from so much work is so much time and still be able to super compersate and grow stronger. You do not get stronger working out, it happens when you're eating, sleeping, and using whatever recovery techniques you choose to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clay Edgin Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Shenandoah, that depends. Are you still sore from the prior workout when you begin the next one? When you reach a certain level it may not be possible to train that often during the week and at times I found that I made my best grip gains training every 7-10 days. The rest of the time I spent reading about the PR's the jerks here set and it made me want to cut my recovery short, but the wait was always worth it. And I mean jerks in the nicest way possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Sipple Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Thanks Bearcat, my mian proirity is increasing ooverall body strength, so naturally cut back on grip since i have low gpp this is the first aspect of my trainng to get neglected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shenandoah Posted January 6, 2006 Author Share Posted January 6, 2006 Wow! Lotsa responses! Thank y'all! It seems that this is the age old question that's continuously bantered back and forth concerning all aspects of working out. I've asked this of "experts" over the years - not just concerning grip training, but all body work - and I've received a number of different opinions. Well, at any rate, I've decided to do two days a week, anyway. Three days was just to much - not fatigue wise, but time wise. So, the program will now be 4 days of body work and 2 days of forearms. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikael Siversson Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 I do grippers for about 40 minutes every third day and another grip workout, including v-bar and pinch every six days. In addition to this I do RT and bending every six day. In total about 5 hours of grip training in 6 days. I don't do much else so I don't feel I am overtraining. I get weaker if I train less but also weaker if I train more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muscle Turtle Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 Im with Clay on this one. I was training once every 4 days, but I have decided to back off to once every 6 days or so. Recovery is very important and for me especially with grippers, the more rest I get, teh stronger I will be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackheart Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 This i believe for you guys that you have a certain high level of strength! "we" the rest i believe must first reach a high level and then go on a more slow routine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shenandoah Posted January 7, 2006 Author Share Posted January 7, 2006 (edited) ok. So, I had a dynamite 40 min. forearm workout this morning. I had allowed 2 full days between this morning's workout and my last workout and I've noticed a difference in strength as opposed to when I was allowing 1 day of recuperation. I was even able to add a bit of weight to my exercises. So, I guess the 2 day a week routine is the way to go. My next forearm workout will be on Wednesday, so with this schedule, I will have 2 and 3 days between workouts. I have made a lot of my own equipment. Edited January 7, 2006 by Shenandoah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Lane Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 Is 3 days a week of intensive 40 minute forearm workouts over training?Would 2 days a week with 2-3 days in between be better? No its not. You will adapt. Old blacksmiths swung heavy hammers all day everyday, what makes you think 40 mins 3x a week is to much? Im really not becoming a fan of this "overtraining" crap especally involving hands and forarms. Overtraining is more when your CNS is fried from heavy taxing lifts. Do your forarms until your tired and sick of it, if they feel good enough to go after the next day, do them again. But always remember it is good to have a plan, taking a week off or two weeks after a long intense program is just as benifical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomorrow Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 (edited) Is 3 days a week of intensive 40 minute forearm workouts over training? Would 2 days a week with 2-3 days in between be better? Overtraining is more when your CNS is fried from heavy taxing lifts. no, overtraining is not a CNS condition. It is when your muscles have been worked to a point that they need a rest. The wear and tear on your tendons and ligaments could also cause injury. Edited January 7, 2006 by tomorrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shenandoah Posted January 7, 2006 Author Share Posted January 7, 2006 (edited) Overtraining is more when your CNS is fried from heavy taxing lifts. What is CNS? Edited January 7, 2006 by Shenandoah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TennisDude Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 Central Nervous System. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mindovermatter Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 yes way too much but instead of cutting down the days why dont you keep the 3 days a week but cut that 40 minutes down to 20 minutes, if you think your not seeing improvement than raise it to 25, 30 minutes or whatever is best for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shenandoah Posted January 7, 2006 Author Share Posted January 7, 2006 ....keep the 3 days a week but cut that 40 minutes down to 20 minutes, if you think your not seeing improvement than raise it to 25, 30 minutes or whatever is best for you Because all that I do takes 40 minutes to get through. Old blacksmiths swung heavy hammers all day everyday, what makes you think 40 mins 3x a week is to much? Im really not becoming a fan of this "overtraining" crap especally involving hands and forarms. You make a valid point. Maybe I'll just pull out all the stops and do a 7 day a week thing for awhile - 4 on body work and 3 on forearms. After years of lifting weights I've decided to go full bore on forearms. I had always included forearm work with my routine, but always as sort of a quick add-on at the ends of my workouts. I've never been able to get my forearms quite up to 14". Now I'm going full blast on 'em, and, dam it, I'd love to be able to add another inch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Lipinski Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 Sometimes training less or training more isn't a permanent answer, but a temporary one. It's like the guys who did some wacky arnold routine, then switched to training every 10 days. You make progress just from the rest. Or, the guys who do very infrequent training that suddenly get great results from increasing the volume. Sometimes more or less volume is just the right thing at the right time. You get used to training volume. I used to not be able to do a decent grip workout after benching very heavy. Got used to it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shenandoah Posted January 8, 2006 Author Share Posted January 8, 2006 Sometimes training less or training more isn't a permanent answer, but a temporary one.Sometimes more or less volume is just the right thing at the right time. ok. The Man hisself has spoke. Your comments pretty well sum up all of this discussion. There are simply no difinitive answers to this age old question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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