grip strength advice..ask david horne any question on grip training....

grip strength advice..ask david horne any question on grip training....

Yep ask away and I'll answer.

Hey David. Thanks for the help.

2 questions David:

1) I like to do grippers at times (not always for amrwrestling but just for fun..). How would you fit gripper work around armwrestlign work. When i am training armwrestlign my arms remain too sore over the week to do any decent gripper work (i like to do maxes.). Any suggestiosn there?
2) While working toproll the left hand side of my (right) hand, includign the last two fingers (pinky and one next to it) got injured. I dont know what went wrong but the left side of the hand (if palm is facing me) got very tender.. i cant put any sort of pressure on that side. there was pain in that side of the wrist too. I cant open a jar.. cant place my hand on floor.. the left side hurts. Some say it could be ulnar never (bcz only last two fingers and that side of the hand are affected).. other say i might have injured the muscle on that side of the hand..what goes? Its been like 3 months and recovery has been very very slow. I cant train my right in the gym at all, neither can i do any other stuff (benchign rowing etc... hand is way too tender..i cant even get into push up position). Do you have a clue of what coudl have gone wrong? how to recvoer it??

Alll help will be greatly appreciated

oh.. another question:
Since my right has got injured i have been concetrating on unilateral left hand stuff. I started doign some thick bar stuff, and now i have done somethign to my thumb of the left hand. The thumb area along with the thumb pad hurts a lot. Holding anything which requires thumb strength KILLS the thumb. Pain at times get unbearable. What coudl that be!??

Ali,
I'll answer your first question.

1) I like to do grippers at times (not always for amrwrestling but just for fun..). How would you fit gripper work around armwrestlign work. When i am training armwrestlign my arms remain too sore over the week to do any decent gripper work (i like to do maxes.). Any suggestiosn there?

Grippers are very popular, and especially in the grip community, but there are certainly other types of grip training exercises that can produce better hand strength.
The different areas of grip strength are crushing, supporting, wrist and pinch, and then there are sub sections in each of these areas.

I have always been able to handle a lot of hand and wrist training, but when I'm armwrestling I make sure that if I'm not fully recovered in these areas I will do light rep and hold work. This is what I would advise to you. I armwrestled on Saturday, and just did rep and timed stuff today, and everything felt great after.

Also remember that for armwrestling, singles are less effective than reps or holds, and I should know because I have competed in grip sports since 1991 where we lift heavy weights. But this is not much use at an armwrestling contest when your grip strength is running out just in the set-up!

I'd advise instead:
1. Strapholds using a shoelace with a weight on the end
2. Inverted training on the gripper, for holds

See these exercises in the link being done with the Vulcan gripper.
http://www.davidhorne-gripmaster.com/vulcantraining.html

I'll answer your other questions tomorrow,
David

Ali,
Second question.

2) While working toproll the left hand side of my (right) hand, includign the last two fingers (pinky and one next to it) got injured. I dont know what went wrong but the left side of the hand (if palm is facing me) got very tender.. i cant put any sort of pressure on that side. there was pain in that side of the wrist too. I cant open a jar.. cant place my hand on floor.. the left side hurts. Some say it could be ulnar never (bcz only last two fingers and that side of the hand are affected).. other say i might have injured the muscle on that side of the hand..what goes? Its been like 3 months and recovery has been very very slow. I cant train my right in the gym at all, neither can i do any other stuff (benchign rowing etc... hand is way too tender..i cant even get into push up position). Do you have a clue of what coudl have gone wrong? how to recvoer it??

Firstly it definitely looks like you injured yourself, and a visit to the docs is always the best thing. I'd guess that it's the Flexor Digitorum Profundus or Superficialis that you have damaged. As both the pinky and ring finger tendons of these join together in the hand. That's why if you flex one finger the other one beside it moves.

Anyway here's a pic
http://www.eatonhand.com/mus/mus034.htm

I link this site off mine, it's very good
http://www.eatonhand.com/hom/hom033.htm

Now the bad news, individual digit injuries can take quite a while to heal. I think this can be due to fact that some of these areas is very tendonous and the blood doesn't flow to these as well as a muscle belly. So you need to do some light hand stuff that will get blood into the hand. My Orbigrip machine that I sell would do this, and this is not a plug for that.
http://www.davidhorne-gripmaster.com/shop.html#OrbiGrip

Hope it helps.
David

3rd question

oh.. another question:
Since my right has got injured i have been concetrating on unilateral left hand stuff. I started doign some thick bar stuff, and now i have done somethign to my thumb of the left hand. The thumb area along with the thumb pad hurts a lot. Holding anything which requires thumb strength KILLS the thumb. Pain at times get unbearable. What coudl that be!??

You've also injured this as well. Just like finger injuries, thumb injuries can take a while to recover as well. I know I did my thumb once many years ago in a fight. Once again a visit to the docs is needed, and for the time being some mobility work along with anti-inflamatories till you know what you have done.

Don't do any thick pinch or bar work at all right now. Wide pinch work can cause problems to people who start too heavy.

Remember, just like armwrestling, start your grip/wrist work off slowly, and as I've said before reps and holds will probably be more useful for the sport of armwrestling than a big lift.

All for now,
David

What excercise would you say thickens the thumb muscle on the back of the hand
thanks in advance pal

Paul's question,
What excercise would you say thickens the thumb muscle on the back of the hand
thanks in advance pal

In the past steel bending in a style called Reverse Bending used to thicken this area.

But other exercises that will make this area bigger are exercises such as the Telegraph Key, but the problem with using this is that most folks use way too much weight, and too much pressure from their fingers which take most of the work.

Best is to get your Vulcan Paul, take the spring off it, and get an elastic band and put it on instead, as tight as is needed. See a picture on this link halfway down.
http://www.davidhorne-gripmaster.com/vulcantraining.html

Anyway hold the ends of the handles with your pinky on one handle and your thumb on the other. You can supprt the gripper with a spare hand. Because the thumb is stronger than the pinky it will do most of the work. Now just close the gripper in by thumb pressure only. Very quickly you will feel it in the area.

Just use more rubber bands when you get stronger, and don't let your ego run away. Form over poundage!

Hope this helps.

Thanks pal
will give it a whirl

Sorry, forgot to drop a thanks. Talked to my sister.. who is a doc. She thinks its exaclty the same thing you mentioned !!
thanks a lot!

hello david

what would you say was best way for building up hand strength would you go for lots of reps or so many reps then go on to the next level of coc gripper ,vulcan gripper or plateloader & how many times a week should you train your hands......

Nick,
Okay, a few questions in this.

Right I've had stronger hand strength in the past on various events, and that was imperitive for the grip contests I did. This kind of strength would not be as useful as the strength I am aquiring now. The strength I had then would burn out very quickly, so now I do a far greater workload of training and repetition work. I need grip strength endurance more than I need grip strength for a lift.

There are a big variety of hand strength areas; pinch, fingers, crushing, supporting, wrist and of course endurance. All these areas get my attention, now and in the past.

I train 6 days a week, and for most of my time I have always trained a lot, but seem to be fine with recovery and enjoy it. But I do use my head, and not every session is an all out balls to the wall session!

Hope this helps.
David

thanks for the the reply david