Sergey Gonenko (Ukraine) has been certified on the Captains of Crush No. 3 gripper—making it official that he’s mastered this universal benchmark of world-class grip strength.

25-year old Sergey Gonenko (Ukraine) has been certified on the Captains of Crush (CoC) No. 3 gripper. Gonenko is 183 cm (about 6 ft.) tall and weighs 90 kg (about 198 lb.). IronMind® | Courtesy of Sergey Gonenko

Gonenko told IronMind, “I am a military man, and a professional arm wrestler, and the Dad of a cute little young girl.

“I was wondering how to improve my grip and I bought my first CoC (Captains of Crush gripper) when I was 14, but the real work with grippers started about 2 years ago. 

“I train two or three times a week: lots of deep set closes, block closes and knowing in order to certify, getting used to closing them from CCS (minimum legal starting position is the width of a credit card).  https://ironmind.com/certification/captains-of-crush/rules-for-closing-certification/

Here’s a video of Sergey Gonenko’s official attempt to close a Captains of Crush (CoC) No. 3 gripper. 

Congratulations, Sergey—it’s official: you have been certified on the Captains of Crush No. 3 gripper!

CoC3 Through the Champion’s Way 
by Sergey Gonenko

At the very beginning I could barely close the CoC No. 1. And I thought that's not what the man have to do with grip stuff so I bought #1.5 and got it done in few months. 

After that "feat" I started armwrestling and bought #2, but with some lack of experience I got stuck and was unable to pursue both of them.. 

And it took more than 6 years of being involved in armwrestling to start serious crushing grip training again.

I've received my first #3 and couldn't do sh*t with it ;)

I bet that I'll close it with deep set in 3 months and by the end of the term I succeeded.

The injuries from armwrestling healed mostly by training with Captains of Crush and basic movements (S/B/D) so I've returned to combining my grip strength and armwrestling trainings.

And for this day I've managed to get "the first real feat" - CoC 3 CCS close. 

Wish for all the athletes: find the best strategy for building strength (it’s individual) and have some consistency with it.

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