CoC#3 Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Sure. It's worth a go. For some people a short break can work a treat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kormaz Posted July 10, 2009 Author Share Posted July 10, 2009 Yea it seemed to work well for me up until now, maybe it's just a normal dip below optimal strength who knows but if this change makes no difference then i'll know for certain that an extra day or two won't help. Might as well just try out all the possibilities Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grippster Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 In order for coffee to maintain its effect on me I only have it once in a while so I don't get used to the same dosage. I wouldn't want to have to drink 2 extra large cups for the same effect would I? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ae_yogi Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 I read somewhere that two good tests of CNS activation and fatigue are the vertical jump and grip strength. I have noticed that grip strengths varies much more than any of my other lifts; which supports the theory that it is strongly influenced by CNS activation. I have never tested my vertical jump, but it would be interesting to see if there is an actual correlation between the two. Additionally, if caffeine adequately restores the grip strength that is another indication that the strength loss is CNS related. I think that the variation in strength is a combination of CNS fatigue and the grip muscles being used so frequently in other exercises that they do not recover properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoC#3 Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Caffeine stimulates the CNS. I have always found caffeine to have low to moderate effect on my other lifts (squats etc...) and a huge effect on my grip. The more caffeine i consume before grippers the stronger they are. This would be in keeping with the theory that vertical jump and grip strength are better when the CNS is more active. Squats (not maximal) also stimulate the CNS to some extent which would explain why myself and a lot of other people who post here (bullitt comes to mind) have had gripper PRs after squatting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bullitt Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Caffeine stimulates the CNS. I have always found caffeine to have low to moderate effect on my other lifts (squats etc...) and a huge effect on my grip. The more caffeine i consume before grippers the stronger they are. This would be in keeping with the theory that vertical jump and grip strength are better when the CNS is more active. Squats (not maximal) also stimulate the CNS to some extent which would explain why myself and a lot of other people who post here (bullitt comes to mind) have had gripper PRs after squatting. Definitely agree on gripper PRs after squatting. If you are close to closing a hard gripper and just cant get that last 1/4" or 1/8", drink a big cup of coffee, wait about 20 - 30 minutes, do a few sets of squats catch your breath and BAM! Always seems to work wonders. Just reading this, I'm motivated to go home and do squats and grippers! I'll let y'all know tonight how it goes. I always have a caffeinated beverage half an hour before training! Agreed. That's about the right amount of time for it to kick in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naturalstrength Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Caffeine stimulates the CNS. I have always found caffeine to have low to moderate effect on my other lifts (squats etc...) and a huge effect on my grip. The more caffeine i consume before grippers the stronger they are. This would be in keeping with the theory that vertical jump and grip strength are better when the CNS is more active. Squats (not maximal) also stimulate the CNS to some extent which would explain why myself and a lot of other people who post here (bullitt comes to mind) have had gripper PRs after squatting. Definitely agree on gripper PRs after squatting. If you are close to closing a hard gripper and just cant get that last 1/4" or 1/8", drink a big cup of coffee, wait about 20 - 30 minutes, do a few sets of squats catch your breath and BAM! Always seems to work wonders. Just reading this, I'm motivated to go home and do squats and grippers! I'll let y'all know tonight how it goes. I always have a caffeinated beverage half an hour before training! Agreed. That's about the right amount of time for it to kick in. What happened to the good old-fashioned coffee mixed with vodka and cocaine That really helps the CNS and gives you the 'ole Tony Montana buzz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bullitt Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 Caffeine stimulates the CNS. I have always found caffeine to have low to moderate effect on my other lifts (squats etc...) and a huge effect on my grip. The more caffeine i consume before grippers the stronger they are. This would be in keeping with the theory that vertical jump and grip strength are better when the CNS is more active. Squats (not maximal) also stimulate the CNS to some extent which would explain why myself and a lot of other people who post here (bullitt comes to mind) have had gripper PRs after squatting. Definitely agree on gripper PRs after squatting. If you are close to closing a hard gripper and just cant get that last 1/4" or 1/8", drink a big cup of coffee, wait about 20 - 30 minutes, do a few sets of squats catch your breath and BAM! Always seems to work wonders. Just reading this, I'm motivated to go home and do squats and grippers! I'll let y'all know tonight how it goes. I always have a caffeinated beverage half an hour before training! Agreed. That's about the right amount of time for it to kick in. What happened to the good old-fashioned coffee mixed with vodka and cocaine That really helps the CNS and gives you the 'ole Tony Montana buzz Yea, I bet that would work too. had a small cup of coffee and started my squats tonight. Right knee started hurting on my warmups, so I stopped early. And... couldn't close the 3.5 tonight. Close, but no cigar. Needed at least one work set after all the gripper work yesterday, or a bigger coffee. Did get a good DU bend on a 5.25" piece of 1/4" steel. So not all worthless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kormaz Posted July 11, 2009 Author Share Posted July 11, 2009 Well i'm not a big coffee drinker since i'm only 17 years old but the odd cup or two before grip training should be manageable Would doing deadlift a day or two days before working grip have any effect of grip performance? This is just a workset of 145kg (320 lb) and i mostly use a mixed grip, i have to say that my hands only feel sore from the knurling on the bar and are otherwise not strained. This is the only other way my grip could be fatigued, apart from not taking enough rest in between workouts. I'm planning to take saturday and sunday as rest days and then hit the grippers hard on monday. Nice work closing the #3.5 btw Mike! Only just saw that in your training log, congrats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bullitt Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 Well i'm not a big coffee drinker since i'm only 17 years old but the odd cup or two before grip training should be manageable Would doing deadlift a day or two days before working grip have any effect of grip performance? This is just a workset of 145kg (320 lb) and i mostly use a mixed grip, i have to say that my hands only feel sore from the knurling on the bar and are otherwise not strained. This is the only other way my grip could be fatigued, apart from not taking enough rest in between workouts. I'm planning to take saturday and sunday as rest days and then hit the grippers hard on monday.Nice work closing the #3.5 btw Mike! Only just saw that in your training log, congrats Thanks Peter. That one gave me fits. Unless you were doing grippers right after deads, it shouldn't be a problem. Sometimes I use light deads to warm up for grippers, but nothing heavy. If you don't like coffee, any of the energy drinks will do. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bullitt Posted July 12, 2009 Share Posted July 12, 2009 DON'T drink first! Alcohol will lower the feedback your brain gets from your body, which will result in overtraining and injuries. pseudophedrine, norephrine, DHEA. drink fresh blood, murder, rape, witchcraft. join a thrill-kill-cult. ????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeagle4-temp1@yahoo.com Posted July 12, 2009 Share Posted July 12, 2009 pseudophedrine, norephrine, DHEA.drink fresh blood, murder, rape, witchcraft. join a thrill-kill-cult. >>My son dragged me to it. Worst thing I ever tried. Stupid. It was shocking at times though. Shockingly horrible and left me shaking my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kormaz Posted July 12, 2009 Author Share Posted July 12, 2009 Acid, no idea what you're talking about mate lol. You just copied what Bill wrote in the Bruno thread is what it looks like Anyway I worked out that from tuesday, today is 4 full days of rest so i'm planning to train later on today and see if there has been any noticable difference. I'll let you guys know how it went Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porkchop Posted July 12, 2009 Share Posted July 12, 2009 I know it may sound kind of crazy, but there is also the mental aspect to consider. I have found that when a closed a gripper for a PR and then later could not close it there was a slight loss of confidence on subsequent attempts so I was mentally off when I tried it after. That little twinge of doubt seemed to make a difference. The end result was that I wasn't able to do it. I found out quickly that I just relaxed and treated it as just another gripper or actually made a mistake and picked that one up rather than an easier one I thought I was working with that I was able to close it and sometimes with relative ease. I've actually closed a gripper for a PR by mistaking it for another. When I was working to close my GM I was working with my SM and doing timed holds, overcrushes, etc...well I accidentally picked up my GM rather than my SM because they looked so similar and BAM closed it. I thought it felt unusually hard and when I looked at the bottom of the handles I was surprised at what I had done. This leads me to believe that I just had somewhat of a mental block. Also, the same thing happened when I closed my Elite for the first time... I closed it for about a week and a half almost anytime I wanted...then there was about a 3 week gap to where I couldn't close it again...frustrating. I finally got back around to it and was able to close it consistently. I think the sliding back to not being able to close it caused a mental block to keep me from getting there. Anyhow...just a thought. Not sure if that makes sense all typed out... pc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kormaz Posted July 12, 2009 Author Share Posted July 12, 2009 Porkchop, i know what you mean. When i first closed my #3 i thought that i could close any gripper out there i was so ecstatic about it and indeed, before i closed it i warmed up with #1, #2 and #2.5 and they felt like toys it was such a good day. After that i had a shower and i remember thinking "i'm gonna get it, i'm gonna get it" over and over in my head and i did get it I do feel that your state of mind plays an important part in gripping and i've noticed that when i "lost strength" i was feeling very negative when i picked up a gripper. Back to my workout today, the rest has definately helped. Didnt manage to get a close with #3 but i had two very close attempts maybe 1-2mm so that's enough progress for me to be happy with. Solid work with #2.5 as well and i banged out 6 reps after a #3 attempt which i thought was good. I had a large cup of coffee about 45 minutes before my workout and in total i took 4 rest days which is twice the length of time i had been taking. I think from now on i will take minimum 3 days to rest because i don't think i'll be able to hold off the addiction for 4 days again, it's been tough lol. Hoping to continue to build on this progress and will hopefully soon be repping my #3 The mental aspect was something i had been aware of but it was not fully "up there" at the forefront of my mind. Good food for thought, thanks for posting that Porkchop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kormaz Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 Just a quick update for all of you who gave me advice here, i finally closed my #3 again yesterday so thanks for all the help and suggestions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ControlledChaos Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 kormaz, what do you eat? i.e. protein shakes et al? 17, and so focused, I wonder how healthy that really is. enjoy life as a teenager! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kormaz Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 Nope, don't use any supplements whatsoever (for now) and i enjoy having a goal which is only reachable if i and only i train hard for it in order to achieve it. It's about discipline and yes pride, not necessarily just to close big grippers but it also means that i'm learning that to get where i want to, i need to work hard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grippster Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 I supplement with a small amount of protein powder sometimes. I only do it to ensure the muscles have enough nutrients and that they will not take too long to recover from a lack of it. If the muscles/tendons are still sore 2 days later I run the risk of injuring them if I have to do any type of physical work, so I guess it's a safety precaution not just a muscle builder. I think anyone who trains seriously should either eat a lot or supplement with a little protein powder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MANTHOS Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 It happens to me all the time...! You don't hane anything to worry about. Keep going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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