Madcow 5x5, Time to Go Super Saiyan! *screams for 20 minutes*

Wrap a small workout towel/cloth around the bar you're using to make the grip thicker.

http://www.fatgripz.com - that's a site that promotes a product which accomplishes the same thing. It takes a little getting used to, but if your grip and forearm strength is not quite up to the bigger groups, a thicker grip is exactly where I would start.


There's also a tried & true favourite that I do regularly, but don't post about b/c it's not really worth tracking but get a tennis ball and just keep squeezing it in your palm (each palm individually of course). Do 50 reps, 100, you aren't going to develop hypertrophied hands or anything but I find it certainly helps with grip strength (it's almost more like grip 'endurance' I guess, being able to keep your fingers clasped around the bar etc).
 
I like the tennis ball suggestion. What about plate pinches?

How often should I do this stuff? I don't want to wear out my CNS.
 
The fatter grip is something you just need to get used to. It's certainly viable to purchase something like 'FatGripz' as you're probably getting a better grip than random towel. Foam tubing will work too, providing it is dense enough etc.

Re: tennis ball squeezes - just do them at the end of the day and like anything new it will take a short period to adjust to. A couple of times a week should be fine. Just judge it accordingly. Trial & error etc.
 
I'll definitely do the tennis ball thing once I get a hold of one.

Fattergripz, we'll see, as I'm tight on money right now (like real tight).

But like I asked, what about plate pinches?
 
TangoDown said:
I'll definitely do the tennis ball thing once I get a hold of one.

Fattergripz, we'll see, as I'm tight on money right now (like real tight).

But like I asked, what about plate pinches?
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Yeh plate pinches are good, and certainly more measurable. I sometimes find they cause my knuckles a bit of stress if I don't have a good 'groove'. Farmers' Walk is another great exercise and really easy to manage to.
 
I guess I'll do pinches and tennis ball **** twice a week and see if there's some progress.

Thanks for the suggestions.
 
What about the good old single arm hang? Literally hang as long as you can from a bar and then repeat with the other arm. It's measurable (time) and is blasts your grip but good.
 
_tim said:
What about the good old single arm hang? Literally hang as long as you can from a bar and then repeat with the other arm. It's measurable (time) and is blasts your grip but good.
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Yeah, and it hurts like hell once you get past the first minute. :eek:

If your hands are big enough to hook grip then don't just play around with it; work at it for a month. The first two weeks will be pretty uncomfortable but your thumbs will start to toughen up soon enough. Just don't do too much hook gripping too soon. Build it up gradually. To begin with, maybe use hook grip for a couple of sets and then add in straps for the rest of your sets.

I assume you are using chalk for all your lifts? If you're not then you really ought to be. It will make a massive difference. There is such a thing as liquid chalk if your gym doesn't allow the proper stuff.

All the best.
 
Didn't post the last session. Today's session ended with:

Squat PR of 190lb for 5 reps (up 1 rep) (might be able to push this to 195lb for 5 or beyond, we'll see).

Bench fail, 165lb for 2 reps because I decided to experiment with a wide grip and it was too wide for me to maintain power. I think I'll get it next time around when I return to my normal grip (5 reps).

Pendlay Row...160lb for 2 before cheating substantially. Time to deload.

Curls and Abs are the same as last time.
 
Haven't updated this in a bit.

Most lifts PR'd by 5 pounds (within a month period). I'm resetting today. Left shoulder is a bit tweaked, I think from the stupid wide grip bench press I tried. That's the last time I get form tips from that Scott Herman **** on Youtube (said middle fingers around outer rings of bar).

We'll see how the shoulder feels today. I'll hopefully be posting the log today.
 
I was always taught that for hypertrophy, where you grab the bar is mostly determined by your frame; slightly wider than shoulder width was good to sufficiently activate the pecs, shoulders, triceps, lats, etc... Since your frame is likely different than Scott Herman's, your place to grab the bar is likely different.

If you are attempting to lift as much weight as possible, a wider grip is usually used because the bar has less distance to travel. Course, those who bench this way have trained this way. Also, I've found that where you touch the bar to your chest can put more or less stress on your shoulder capsule.

What works for me is a slightly wider than shoulder width grip (for me, this has my pinkey fingers barely not touching the ring on the bar) and I lower the bar to the bottom of my pecs; at the top of the press the bar is probably about even with my chin, or somewhere there about.

Hope you heal quickly! Lots of rest and ibuprofen!
 
What NTB said above. Your grip should be proportional to your frame and not an arbitrary location on the bar. It's a small error you made so don't stress too much about it.
 
I'm not stressing. It's the shoulder that's a bit meh'd. I'm gonna take a week break and see how it feels. Just to test it, I grabbed my loadable dumbbell at home and loaded it to only 25lb, and just went down to parallel and after a couple reps I could feel the pain. Probably some tendinitis, as there's no instability or range of motion loss, but I want to make sure.

So first reseted session postponed until next Sunday (last session was last Friday). I'm sure that 25lb dumbbell didn't add any noticeable repeated bout effect lol.

Feel kind of guilty about SDing cus the last couple weeks I've been heading to the gym at an irregular schedule AND my last SD was only 5 weeks ago...but whatever.

Gives me time to do some mobility work and maybe buy some good tasting mass gainer so I don't have to fight for 3000+ calories everyday.
 
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Hey guys,

Haven't been around in a couple of months - been real busy in college.

Shoulder issue that I mentioned in November mended in about 2 week - was probably just some slight tendinitis. Anyway, continued doing Strong Lifts 5x5. Gains are not progressing very fast, but it's happening.

These numbers are still in progress as I'm in the middle of a cycle, so they may increase as I attempt to push past them:

Bench is now 165lb for 5 as I've ironed out some form issues. Squat, I'm guessing is about 200lb for 5 - hoping for even more but I'll settle with pushing to 200lb. Pushed to 195lb for 3 last cycle with reps to boot but decided to deload. Did 190lb for 5 today and it was moderately strenuous.

Pendlay Row is 160lb for 5.

Military press is 115lb for 4. Maybe 5, but it felt like failure was around the bend after rep 4.

Deadlift, I've switched to conventional as I've noticed that with sumo, my torso does not get at an adequate vertical angle...it's almost completely horizontal. Played around with form and that still happens. My conventional seems weaker than my sumo but I'd rather not sacrifice form for higher numbers. I have yet to hit a PR on the conventional deadlift, but we'll see where I get. Did 235lb last session, and it was hard (only have done conventional a few times previously), but not at failure. We'll see how 240lb feels. I may see how sumo feels again as I build up conventional.

I'm currently 5'8" and a bit past 160lb. Planning to cut when I hit 170lbish.

Taking a weight lifting class at my school to utilize the gym. People with their own routines have free reign for the entire period, but you only get about 45 minutes so it's a race against the clock. I've had to cut my sets down from 5 to 3 to finish up on time and give myself adequate rest periods between said sets.

The class is 2 times per week, and my third day is at the regular YMCA. That's cool because the school gym has a power rack which will allow me to push for squat PRs without worry. At the YMCA, I'm doing my light squat/military press/deadlift.

I'll see if I can update this log on a regular basis. May end up with me just checking in every so often. We'll see.

Anyway, good to be back.
 
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Hey TD,

Glad you're still making progress. My feeling would be not to cut until you hit a double-bodyweight deadlift. Why not make that your target rather than 170 lbs bodyweight? :) All the best!
 
Lol said:
Hey TD,

Glad you're still making progress. My feeling would be not to cut until you hit a double-bodyweight deadlift. Why not make that your target rather than 170 lbs bodyweight? :) All the best!
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Personally, I think this sounds like an excellent idea.

I may be biased toward the deadlift, but I think that a big deadlift = a big dude
 
Totentanz said:
Personally, I think this sounds like an excellent idea.

I may be biased toward the deadlift, but I think that a big deadlift = a big dude
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Well as my weight rises, the weight I need to lift to double my body weight rises too.

I think I'm close to a 300lb deadlift, which puts me 20lb away from double body weight (currently 160lbish). If I hit 170lb, I'd have to hit a 340lb deadlift. This is if you're talking about a 1 rep max, of course.

But yeah, I don't think I'll be hitting 170lb until I'm notably stronger.

__________________________________________

Today was light squat, military press, and deadlift.

Squat (Light): 95lb x 5, 120lb x5, 145lb x5, 145lb x5

Military Press (strict): 70lb x 5, 85lb x 5, 95lb x 5, 115lb x 5 (PR + 1 rep)

Conventional Deadlift: 150lb x 5, 180 x 5, 210 x 5, 240lb x 5 (PR Conventional [first time running cycle with conventional is why]).

E-Z Bar Curl: Bar + 60lb x 10 (PR + 1 rep), bar + 60lb x 8

________________________

Everything (save for light squat, of course) PR'd today. Deadlift felt hard, but not at failure, which gives me hope of being only some months away from a double body weight deadlift (320lb, give or take). On the work set, I paused and reset between each rep. Only about 3-5 seconds between reps, so I'm sure immediate performance wouldn't be offset.

Military press felt pretty good. I do bring the bar down to my mid-neck as opposed to my clavicle, but It's still past 90 degrees so I think I'm fine. I was near failure, but I think I could have pushed out the same weight if I went all the way down.

Curls felt good. I think I can attribute that to the fact that my school gym does not have an E-Z bar, so 2 out of 3 sessions I'm doing dumbbell curls. Plus, I deloaded last cycle instead of SD'd and then deloaded, so I guess that's why I felt pretty strong as opposed to having to catch back up to where I was previously in terms of strength.

Currently eating 3000-3500 calories a day, and as much protein as possible (ranges from 120 to 160 grams, I'm guessing, depending upon what I can consume as food at school is expensive and not very protein-centric.
________________________________

Here's hoping I can continue to PR at least one or two more times before the end of the cycle.
 
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Don't be afraid to have your military press become a hybrid w/a push press as you get past your 5RM, it lets you do negatives for the shoulders, which, take my word on this, will give you massive bowling balls at the top of your arms (assuming big shoulders are of interest etc).
 
AlexAustralia said:
Don't be afraid to have your military press become a hybrid w/a push press as you get past your 5RM, it lets you do negatives for the shoulders, which, take my word on this, will give you massive bowling balls at the top of your arms (assuming big shoulders are of interest etc).
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I might throw that in at the end of the cycle if my other lifts are progressing while the military press stays the same.

Thanks for the suggestion.
 
TangoDown said:
I might throw that in at the end of the cycle if my other lifts are progressing while the military press stays the same.

Thanks for the suggestion.
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It's definitely only an 'end of cycle' thing. Just lets you do negatives for shoulders. A smith-machine helps here as well. You can do an absurdly heavy negative (150-200%) of your 1RM then squat it back up etc-
 
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