Tim Struse On Top Of The Mash Monster Ladder

[mightyjoe]

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the support. I've had a couple people ask by email about my training over the past 6 months, so here's my response. Hope it benefits someone. I will post set/rep scheme when I have more time.

> The single most important factor over the last 6 months has been

> adding the dynamic method into my gripper workouts and doing the bulk

> of these work sets at 50%-70% 1RM. My mental cue is to listen and

> click the handles together as loud as possible, which forces me to

> close the gripper explosively. I do this on every rep of every set, so

> that each rep is performed with the same effort as a max. I still use

> the max effort method of training but not nearly as often, maybe once

> per month and with very low volume.

>

> Also an important factor was focusing more on the CNS. I try to never miss a

> rep in training because I believe that everything I do etches a memory

> and I want my body to understand that it may only close grippers and

> cannot fail a rep

> - as a newbie I spent way too much time trying and failing to close my

> goal gripper. Also related to this, I've been using a lot of

> visualization techniques as well as extremely light "greasing the

> groove" work on off days.

HUGE Congrats Tim!

Your "practice" methods sound familiar there.

Who'll be first on the MM8?

[macaz]

"I do light wrist and forearm work on every gripper day, mostly for warm-up and injury avoidance. "

Thanks for sharing Tim, Ill be trying your methods out very soon.

What type of wrist & forearm do you do? Also do you do it before and after or just before grip?

[gerryg]

Congratulations Tim, another monster strong close!

[timstruse]

He told me it was right at his max for this set width. If it was easy, there would have been 3 closed attempts on the video.

Make no mistake about it, this was definitely a max effort on this particular day. That gripper is a friggin' brick. I felt pretty flat and definitely not "on" yesterday morning so three singles would have been possible on an optimal day.

Congrats! Really impressive power. You and Paul are real athletes!

Thank you, and I know it won't be long before you sprint up the MM ladder we're head to head - looking forward to the challenge.

HUGE Congrats Tim!

Your "practice" methods sound familiar there.

Who'll be first on the MM8?

Joe, your "practicing grip" definitely contributed. I had successfully followed Pavel's "Power to the People" routine several years back and had forgotten about how effective greasing the groove can be. So, thank you for reminding me!

"I do light wrist and forearm work on every gripper day, mostly for warm-up and injury avoidance. "

What type of wrist & forearm do you do? Also do you do it before and after or just before grip?

Usually some before and some after - sometimes only before if it's a hard workout. I try to use a mix of exercises but these are the staples: light sledge rotations, wrist curls both ways, reverse curls with the axle, and an exercise Aaron recently showed me that he calls Cyplenkov curls. My single favorite is wrist rotations with a 20" cut section of an old olympic bar - this seems to get all the clicks out of my forearms.

Congratulations Tim, another monster strong close!

Thank you!

[Aaron Jacobs]

Finally, Paul has friendly competition. Let the games begin!

[timstruse]

I've had a few questions by email about how I perform the speed/dynamic sets so I thought it would be easiest to make a video. The 50% sets have the same basic tempo. It's not rocket science, but hopefully it's helpful.

[Chez]

I did this for the first time last week and I hit PRs with both hands today so I'm doing it again next week. I'm going to alternate this with max effort TSG. Thanks for the post Tim.

[timstruse]

I did this for the first time last week and I hit PRs with both hands today so I'm doing it again next week. I'm going to alternate this with max effort TSG. Thanks for the post Tim.

Yep, the results come quickly. Congrats on the PR's.

Edited November 16, 2011 by Tim Struse

[macaz]

Thanks allot Tim for sharing and showing. Honestly the speed you are putting out is more than I thought possible. Ill have to work on it. I have been making some handle noise but you can actually see me moving the handles. You close em in one camera frame.

[bencrush]

Here is roughly what I've been doing with sets/reps.

Week 1: (two harder work days and one recovery)

Wed: 5x3@75% (speed)

Fri: 5x3@50% (recovery)

Sun: 3x1@90% (3 second overcrushes) + 3x3@70% (speed)

Week 2:

Same as Week 1

Week 3: (one harder work day and two recovery)

Wed: 5x3@50% (recovery)

Fri: 5x3@50% (recovery)

Sun: 6x4@70% (speed)

Week 4:

Same as Week 3

Week 5: (recovery only)

Wed: 5x3@50% (recovery)

Fri: 5x3@50% (recovery)

Sun: 5x3@50% (recovery)

Week 6: strength is at its peak, so either: (1) cert attempt then begin cycle again next week; or (2) no cert attempt and begin cycle again immediately

Great stuff Tim! Does 5x3@50% mean 5 SETS of 3 REPS or the opposite - 3 SETS of 5 REPS?

[macaz]

I asked this question too. It is 5 sets of tripples.

[Cannon]

I asked this question too. It is 5 sets of tripples.

And remember that you're killing every rep like it's your goal gripper--and also visualizing that you're closing your goal gripper.

[Geralt]

Just finished my second week with this idea and already got some good results! It's in my log, but closed my choked MM2 pretty 'easy' (as far as easy goes haha)

killed my #3 again (got stronger in the sweep recently but killed that last part of the close) and got a bit better with setting my Vulcan. I use that one mainly because of the many resistance settings. Used a calbrationlist here from the board for the Vulcan Gold spring. Took my max from that point of the list and so determined the

max. percentages. So thanks for the tips Tim, helped me a lot already. I'll be closing my Vulcan soon around level 16/17 quickly I hope with this idea.

[macaz]

Just finished my second week with this idea and already got some good results! It's in my log, but closed my choked MM2 pretty 'easy' (as far as easy goes haha)

killed my #3 again (got stronger in the sweep recently but killed that last part of the close) and got a bit better with setting my Vulcan. I use that one mainly because of the many resistance settings. Used a calbrationlist here from the board for the Vulcan Gold spring. Took my max from that point of the list and so determined the

max. percentages. So thanks for the tips Tim, helped me a lot already. I'll be closing my Vulcan soon around level 16/17 quickly I hope with this idea.

Awesome to hear. I have not tested my self, will wait untill week 5. Tomorrow I finish week 2 of STP.

[Geralt]

Just finished my second week with this idea and already got some good results! It's in my log, but closed my choked MM2 pretty 'easy' (as far as easy goes haha)

killed my #3 again (got stronger in the sweep recently but killed that last part of the close) and got a bit better with setting my Vulcan. I use that one mainly because of the many resistance settings. Used a calbrationlist here from the board for the Vulcan Gold spring. Took my max from that point of the list and so determined the

max. percentages. So thanks for the tips Tim, helped me a lot already. I'll be closing my Vulcan soon around level 16/17 quickly I hope with this idea.

Awesome to hear. I have not tested my self, will wait untill week 5. Tomorrow I finish week 2 of STP.

http://p2.foorumi.info/rautakoura/viewtopic.php?p=17#17 This is the link (wellknown around here) from where I found the Vulcan gold spring calibration. Used this as a reference for my gold spring and took around level 15/16 as my max. took that as 100%, from there i did the maths for 75% etc.

This went very well as up to date. I keep the progress in my log.