How to put on some Popeye arms...

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 11/04/2008 9:49pm

Originally Posted by Portillo

The El Macho, im curious to know how long do your bodybuilding/gym sessions go for. Why? Because i want to be like you.

1. Uhm, I'm not a bodybuilder. Right now I am at 173-175lbs (when I started relying more on squats and deadlifts), the heaviest I've ever been... some of it is fat for sure... and poop. Up and until a little less than 2 years ago I was 145-150lbs (but I've been lifting as a hobby since 1992.) The heaviest I've been while being somewhat lean was 165lbs back in March.

2. I'm currently not training... at all. Back and neck problems put me on the bench back in March, then new job and baby-on-the-way. I'm currently spending a lot of time (20 minutes a day minimum) on stretching the hips/lower back, shoulders, thoracic spine plus 10 minutes of either dumbbell swings and push-throughs or "mechanical" drop sets for upper body (borrowing heavily from Chris Thibadeau's work from t-nation).

3. When I trained (several months ago) it was a bastardized, making-it-as-I-went program mixing some Westside Barbell, some crossfit, some stuff from Ross Enamait, some from 5x5 (see program the 5x5 link on my signature) 3-4 sessions a week, 60 to 90 minutes each, heavily based on power cleans and deadlifts (deadlifts were done too frequently now that I look back.) On top of that, BJJ every once in a while, but not consistently enough to be even a badly mediocre grappler. My main concentration right now is not to get too fat and improve upon my hip, thoracic and shoulder mobility.

You can see the details of my past training in my log here at bullshido (along with the warnings of my fellow posters that I was overtraining... and they were right.)

**Portillo** · Posted On: 11/04/2008 11:32pm

^ Ok thanks. Do you do MMA aswell?

**TheRuss** · Posted On: 11/04/2008 11:38pm

Since we have a few Captains of Crush aficionados here, has anyone here made a serious attempt at closing the #3?

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 11/05/2008 6:20am

Originally Posted by Portillo

^ Ok thanks. Do you do MMA aswell?

See items #2 and #3 in my previous post .

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 11/05/2008 6:25am

Originally Posted by TheRuss

Since we have a few Captains of Crush aficionados here, has anyone here made a serious attempt at closing the #3?

I think Emevas has.... I think.

I wonder if it is within my capacity (given my size) to come close to that, to the #3. The best I've done is to do a couple of full reps with the #2 (I have girly hands with very thin fingers... ugh.) I got to start working on that again since now my grip has deteriorated: right now, I can only close the #2 two thirds of the way with the right hand and only half way with my left.

**Yohan** · Posted On: 11/05/2008 11:16am

Thought I would take this opportunity to recommend an excellent wrist stabilization tool that can be used in conjunction with a wrist roller, and some grip and pinch work (and probably the rubber band style exercise TEM recommended.

The yo-yo from Ironmind:

http://www6.mailordercentral.com/iro...sp?number=1369

**Sakmongkol** · Posted On: 11/05/2008 1:27pm

Possibly for the first time ever I'm going to disagree with Russ. I'm not a massive fan of wrist curls at all, folks tell me CoC are great for grip, I've never tried them so I can't verify.

I started training grip seriously a little over a month ago when my (inverted grip) gave out on my 5th rep of deads at 140kg (no chalk). I was dissapointed becuase I knew my back etc still had **** loads to give and my grip was a limiting factor.

I've since tried tennis ball/towel pull ups, plate pinching and heavy farmers walks/holds. But the best for my grip/forearm size has been levering. I started off light and am now levering a 12kg sledge for reps. I hope to work my way up to bending.

Imo wrist curls do jack ****/Levering is the dogs bollocks.

I pulled 160kg for 5 reps today DOH. (plus chalk).

**TheRuss** · Posted On: 11/05/2008 2:20pm

Originally Posted by Sakmongkol

Possibly for the first time ever I'm going to disagree with Russ. I'm not a massive fan of wrist curls at all

Originally Posted by Sakmongkol

Imo wrist curls do jack ****/Levering is the dogs bollocks.

The problem that I have with this isn't that levering isn't neat - it is.
The problem here also isn't that wrist curls are great - they're not.
-Forward wrist curls are passable (although the ROM is unpleasantly short).
-Reverse wrist curls, as I'd previously noted, are very difficult to make work (the grip muscles are pulling your hand one way, the reverse curl muscles the other).

The problem is that levering works a different plane of motion ("ulnar deviation"?) than wrist curls do (wrist flexion/extension), so they're not replacements for each other.

For alternatives to (reverse) wrist curls, I'd already mentioned the wrist roller in my first reply.
There are also plate curls, but I haven't tried them in any serious capacity yet, so I can't recommend or recommend against them.

**Yohan** · Posted On: 11/05/2008 3:16pm

Originally Posted by Sakmongkol

Possibly for the first time ever I'm going to disagree with Russ. I'm not a massive fan of wrist curls at all, folks tell me CoC are great for grip, I've never tried them so I can't verify.

I started training grip seriously a little over a month ago when my (inverted grip) gave out on my 5th rep of deads at 140kg (no chalk). I was dissapointed becuase I knew my back etc still had **** loads to give and my grip was a limiting factor.

I've since tried tennis ball/towel pull ups, plate pinching and heavy farmers walks/holds. But the best for my grip/forearm size has been levering. I started off light and am now levering a 12kg sledge for reps. I hope to work my way up to bending.

Imo wrist curls do jack ****/Levering is the dogs bollocks.

I pulled 160kg for 5 reps today DOH. (plus chalk).

Wrist curls aren't for grip strength. They are for wrist stabilization. I think that wrist rollers perform the same function and do it better, but that's my opinion.