Merry Christmas!

I just got my 'secret santa' gift from my brother-in-law...it's MONEY! He scored me a sweet and shinny, double stamped, brand spankin' new CoC #4! I was like, "Dude thinks I'm so much stronger than I actually am...but it'll be great for negatives!" HAHA! Needless to say, I tore it open and gave it hell 30 seconds after I got it. What a monster! I barely got that thing to parallel. I can't wait to add it to my workouts for max attempts and negs. I can feel my hands getting stronger already.

Merry Christmas, everyone - and a very Happy New Year! 2008 is going to be a banner year for hand strength...I can feel it in my bones.

PAIN FREE and unexpectedly inspired!

Today is a great day. Today is the first day I've been able to complete a grip workout without experiencing excruciating pain in my left wrist. Over the course of the last month I've been down for the count with an F-ed up wrist. I have no idea what was causing the pain, all I knew was that it hurt...BAD. A HUGE thanks to Jedd Johnson and all the great guys on the Gripboard who coached me through some rehab movements and motivated me to rest. It's amazing one needs motivation to rest. I tried several times to ease back into training when I felt the pain was nearly gone. Bad idea...the pain came back immediately. Until today.

Today is also the first time I spoke to John Eaton. If you don't know who he is, browse through the Diesel Crew video library and/or Jedd's blog. He's the guy who invented 'Couch Potato Training for SICK GRIP'! He's a natural freak, especially in the wrist and pinch departments. We spoke on the phone today for over an hour and I hope to get together with him and a few gripsters over the holiday back in PA/NY. I got off the phone with Eaton feeling inspired to give the grippers a go, so I ducked out of work a bit early and came home for an easy workout. It was tough...the month off really dropped my strength, but no pain baby! I'm pumped! Here's how it went...

Warm-Up (L/R)
-Easy extensor band X 50
-Med. extensor band X 50
-Hard extensor band X 50
-Soft stress ball X 30
-Soft stress ball X 20

Grippers
LH:
-Filed HG150 X 20 MMS
-CoC #2 X 2 OC (15 sec./8 sec.)
-HG300N X 3 FR
-CoC#3 X 1 FR
-Filed HG150 X 10 MMS
RH:
-Filed HG150 X 25 MMS
-CoC#2 X 2 OC (15 sec./12 sec.)
-HG300N X 2 OC (15 sec./12 sec.)
-CoC#3 X 1 FR
-Filed HG150 X 10 MMS

NOTES: My hands feel weak, but that's to be expected, I'm really hoping muscle memory will kick in here in the coming workouts. All-in-all, it feels good to crush a gripper again...even if it's only a #2!