Hammar gripper routine

[lankysmeghead#1]

Well i've got it and am looking at their routine
http://www.hammarsports.com/training.html#four
Howeveer this doesnt seem to advise any increase in resistance until the end of the program when you test your 1 rep max. Am I reading this wrong?

Anyone else got some advise for this?

I've been doing 2x10 rep sets with each hand aiming for 30 second holds each time. It helped a lot at improving my grip deadlift wise (which was my aim) but the improvements slowed down too fast.

[Phil]

Hi,

The routine on the website is a beginner - beginner/intermediate routine.

Here's an intermediate/advanced routine. (if you notice too much hand fatigue from this routine, I would back off and reduce the number of training days per week).

This is a 3 Day program after that you repeat.


Day 1

Warmup Set 25-40% of your max 10-14 reps.

6 x 70%-90% of Rep Max (each training day try to increase this resistance if possible)

5 x 1Rep Max (spaced out with at least 5 minutes between rep, if you don't completely close it that's fine. If you feel like you can handle more than 5 1 rep max's then you should increase this number. At one point on this routine I was doing 20 1 rep maxes on this training day, but less negatives.)

Take a break

3 - 6 Negatives 110% of 1 Rep max. Close the gripper with both hands and hold it closed with one hand for as long as you can. Once you feel the gripper starting to open continue to squeeze until the gripper opens about 1 inch at the bottom. Then just open your hand and let it open. Give yourself at least 30 minutes between Negative

Increase the resistance on the Negatives whenever you can, but make sure your hands are completely dry when you do Negatives(I recommend Chalk).



Day 2/Day3

2 Light Sets throughout the day (at least 1 hour between the sets) 12 Reps x 25-35% of 1 Rep Max

Day 4 Repeat (Back to Day 1, 2 , 3, Etc)


The most important thing you need to understand about this routine is that it's easy to overtrain if you're not ready to handle training this often. So be careful if you have any pain at all immediately cut down the routine to something easier. Soreness is ok as long as it's not ridiculous. Also don't forget to train both hands, and it's OK if your one hand is stronger than the other, this is pretty typical.

[rift]

Great, I'm going to look into both these routines. I've never had a real program for grippers. The Iron mind book was interesting, but it wasn't much in the way of routines. People say KTA is great, but don't start until you can close a #2. And I just got my ISG this week.

[Phil]

Hi Rift,

There are many people that did get good results with KTA. Many people get good results without KTA. So I don't know that KTA is really the factor that generates the results so much as it is progressive hand strength training with consistent hard work and dedication.

Here are a few active recovery training techniques(there are others):

Contrast Baths - soaking your hand in alternating hot(not burning) and ice cold(i like to put ice cubes in when I do this) buckets of water(or sections of a sink). I'm a fan of 30 seconds back and forth between hot and cold for about 10 minutes.


Bucket of Rice training - buy a bucket and fill it with rice not quiet to the top. Insert your hand into the rice and open and close your hand either explosively or just in a relaxed but constant way for a few minutes. A bucket of rice can also be used to train hand extensions. You can put other things in the bucket besides rice such as beans or even round stones.


Rotating Balls in your hands- you can use Chinese hand dexterity balls or golf balls or just about anything else for that matter. There are a variety of techniques on how to do this. The way that I prefer is to rotate 2 balls in one hand without having them touch and without pushing the balls with your thumb(alternating directions).

Active recovery techniques are to be done on days when your not training heavy in the above routine(or sometimes after training really hard).

[Phil]

Today I wanted to mention something about grip training, and really almost any endeavor in life.

Sometimes the amount of effort that's put in that determines whether someones results will be ordinary or extraordinary, is literally what separates the two words, "extra". When your training grip strength it's that extra bit, those reps, those negatives, the increased resistance... that at times can really make the difference.

One example, I tried to crush a potato with my bare hand about 10 times with no success. And it was impossible for me quantitatively tell just how close I was to completing this feat. One day I finally crushed a potato, so the next day I used a hand dyno to see exactly how strong I was. I was just 7lbs stronger than I was the previous time I failed to crush the potato. Just a little bit stronger, but it made the difference between being able to do something and not.

[rift]

I'm doing the Hammer sports thing with the weekly percentages, but I'm retesting my 1RM at the start of each week. I'm also closing out with your 1RM negatives. The contrast bath is great after a tough workout. I'm not very good at the golf ball things yet. I tend to use my thumb and they still touch. Practice I guess.

Nice work on the potato! I don't think I could do a baked potato. My goal is to someday do an unopened can of beer.

[Phil]

Great stuff.

Stick with it, you'll be popping soda/beer cans in no time. Just make sure when you try it you wear gloves.

The first time I popped a can was without gloves and a got a cut. It wasn't a bad cut but it easily could have been bad.

The golf ball rotations are all practice. When I first started I was so awkward with them.

[Rageriven]

Nice routines here, thanks for the information. I beleive I am ready for the one you posted Phil. Just one question though, are there supposed to be any days off on that routine? I mean after the third day has been completed.

[Phil]

No, there are no days off. Although remember this isn't for an absolute beginner, most of them require days off.

[Rageriven]

It's going pretty well cheers. I find that I have to use both hands to reopen it on the negatives or I get very sore elbows, maybe I should back off a bit. Also I think I'm , lol, holding it the wrong way around. I hold it so that my pinky is closer to the pivot. Is this important? I guess the other way around would put mroe strain on the pinky and weaker fingers compared to the way i'm doing it.