Gripper Drop Sets
Sunday, July 5th, 2009
I hope you had as much fun on Independence Day as I did.
Let me tell you a quick story about what I did yesterday.
My family always gets together on the 4th of July to play lawn games. Over the years, we have played bean bags, horse shoes, even ladder golf, but this year we played something different – Kan Jam!
For several hours yesterday afternoon I played Kan Jam. Kan Jam is a game where you throw a big yellow frisbee disk at black cylinder (the Kan) for points.
Sounds pretty stupid, but it’s a ton of fun.
The cylinder reminds me of one of those flat plastic sleds I used to sled on when I was a kid back in the 80′s, rolled into a cylinder shape. It has an open top in it and a slit in the side.
If you hit the “Kan,” or if your partner helps you in hitting the Kan or getting it into the Kan, you get points. If you throw it into the “Kan” via the top opening or the slit, unassisted, it is an automatic win. My partner threw it through the slit unassisted 3 consecutive times yesterday. This has to be a record somewhere.
Right now I want to tell you about what I feel will be an automatic win for my Gripper Training.
One of the great things about Gripper Training is that there is a nearly endless variety of things you can do with grippers as long as you get your imagination going a bit.
If you have troubles thinking up cool and interesting variations in your gripper training, just think about a form of more conventional training and apply it to your gripper work.
For instance, one common method of increasing the number of reps and sheer volume you do in your regular strength and muscle building training is Drop Sets. This is where you perform a certain number of repetitions in a lift, and then once you come near to or actually hit the point of failure, you set the weight down and perform more repetitions.
For instance, in the Deadlift, you can hit a set number of repetitions with a starting weight, and then pull a plate off the bar and continue.
Here is an example of how to do Drop Sets with the Deadlift:
The very same concept of Drop Sets can also be performed with Grippers.
In order to do this, you will need at least two grippers. One of them will be “heavier” and the other one will be “lighter.”
In this video, I perform a Gripper Drop Set, first hitting a filed Elite Gripper, then hitting a lighter, #3 gripper.
Normally, that #3 would go down no problem, but because I already attempted the Elite gripper and performed a static hold near the end range, I was pre-exhausted and it made the #3 gripper some much harder to close than it actually is.
So, if you have only a limited number of grippers in your collection, this method can be very helpful to you, because the lighter grippers will seem tougher to close and you will have to work harder to make the handles touch.
If you want to take this method even further, you can use a whole series of grippers and run down the table in almost a medley-type format.
Other variations include modifying the set depth used, the period of time holding the gripper closed, the number of repetitions with the grippers, etc.
Like I said at the beginning, the only thing limiting you in your gripper training is your own imagination. There’s no reason to ever get completely bored with grippers. There are always more ways you can challenge yourself.
For more gripper training variations, check out the following posts:
Also, if you are really serious about your Gripper Training, then you need to pick up my On-line DVD called CRUSH: Total Gripper Domination. With over 2 hours of training instruction, you will increase your awareness of what is possible with grippers and see new progress moving up the gripper ladder.
All the best in your training,
Jedd Johnson
DieselCrew.com
