Let’s take a look at the first Blobs that ever walked the face of the earth.
You see, Richard Sorin coined the term “Blob” when he began training to lift a half 100-lb dumbbell that broke. There are several stories as to how this first 100-lb York Dumbbell got broken in order to bring about the Blob to existence…
The first story is that Richard, back in his days as Power Bodybuilder, was doing a Dynamic Curl Day and the speed at which he was curling is 100-lb dumbbells made one of the heads snap clean off. That is some serious torque and velocity.
Another story I have heard is that a plane crashed in his back yard and the Jet Fuel ignited, causing structural failure of the handle, right where it goes into the dumbbell head.
I also heard that either George Hackenschmidt or Thomas Inch (reports have brought up both names) came by with Thermite and blasted the heads off with remote detonations.
Whatever the true story is, back in the day Richard had the sense to train on this piece of Iron for Grip Strength and not just to throw it away. (more…)
Well, my friends, as they say, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Next up on the docket was Rich Williams. On this day in history, Rich Williams would be attempting to Clean and Press the Inch Dumbbell.
Just in case you are not familiar with the Inch Dumbbell, let me give you a quick run-down.
The Inch Dumbbell Replica – 172lbs, 2 and 3/8 inch Handle
The Inch Dumbbell is named after the traveling strongman from the late 1800′s who used to take it around to circuses and expo’s and challenge people to lift it – his name was Thomas Inch. The original Inch Dumbbell is owned by Kim Wood, and at some point both Sorinex and IronMind got molds made and sold replicas up until about 2004 or 2005.
The Inch DB has a 2 and 3/8 inch handle that is roughly 4 or 5 inches long and has large globe heads. This is a solid dumbbell weighing in the neighborhood of 172-lbs, and because it is cast iron and one solid piece, once you try to lift it, the globes start to turn and rip your thumb away and pry your fingers open at the same time.
Deadlifting the Inch Dumbbell is a World Class feat. To walk with one or even Two is out of this world and to clean and press it is damn near godly.
Let me show you what it looks like to clean and press the Inch Dumbbell, Rich Williams style…
That feat is so freakin’ awesome that it it even has a WATER MARK.
As Richard Sorin states at the beginning of the clip, the Inch Dumbbell in this video has only been cleaned and pressed one other time and that was done by the WWE’s Mark Henry in 2002. Other Inch Dumbbells have been clean and pressed in the past, but the people that have done it can all be counted on one hand.
Now, once that was over, plenty of other people tried giving the Inch Dumbbell a ride.
Below, a serious Highland Games Competitor goes for a continental of the Inch Dumbbell. He doesn’t get it, but I am pretty sure he has gotten it in the past, I just can’t recall his name.
I did not bother trying to continental the Inch, but instead, I tried deadlifting it and the original Blob at the same time. As you’ll see, I miss pretty badly on the Inch…
…and then Andrew Durniat came up and hit it pretty easy. Before doing so, he talks about the different disciplines in Grip Sport and how strengths and weaknesses come into play.
Now, it was time to give the baby Inches a try. Both of these lighter Inch Replicas weigh in the neighborhood of 139. They were some of the original replicas that were cast and they did not come out quite right, so Richard just held onto them.
Again, I tried deadlifting the 172 Inch in one hand and one of the baby Inches in the other. Unfortunately, that didn’t go so well either, but instead of just stopping and setting the lighter Inch Dumbbell down, I kept my grip on it, walked it over to the other baby inch, picked the second one up and did a Slow Motion Irish Jig.
Now, something to point out. Sorinex also has a 150-something baby Inch, but I did not try it. I wish I had and here’s why…
I can control the 139 baby Inch like Andrew can control the actual 172 Inch. So does that essentially mean that he can out thick bar me by 30-lbs? If so, how much must Rich out thick bar me by if he is cleaning the Inch dumbbell? 60-lbs? 100-lbs?
Scary thoughts. I really wish i would have tried the 150-something Baby Inch.
More Baby Inch Mayhem
In this next video, a Pro Strongman from the area jumps up and does a continental and several presses. Again, sorry, but I did not catch his name. I then gave it a shot and cleaned it to my shoulder pretty easy and then got three push jerks. These guys are freakin’ monsters for being able to press these things with no leg drive. AWESOME!
Again, Rich came up and showed us how it is done, cleaning it with ease and then pressing it for 20+ like it was his job.
Andrew also tried to snatch the damn thing, but it proved to be just a bit beyond him. Some day it WILL happen.
OK DIESELS, that’s it for Part II. In Part III, we are going to break away from the Inch stuff and get some serious BLOB-bery going…
Hasta la proxima, all the best in your training.
Jedd
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I want to sit down for a while and start telling you about my fantastic trip to Sorinex two weekends ago.
Richard Sorin, owner of Sorinex and innovator of the Blob (left) and Me (right)
Before I get into that, let me just tell you that if you EVER get the chance to go to Sorinex, do it. Their place rocks. Not only will you get to try some of the most outstanding grip equipment in the world, but they also have a completely fully functional training area for the rest of your body as well. Awesome.
With that, I also suggest that if you ever get invited anywhere for a strength training get-together, DO IT. The environment at these things is just plain awesome. Guys (or gals) pushing one another to try new things, cheering each other on, increasing the volume demands of the lower arms, all of this stuff can bring about PR’s. And once you get one or two PR’s, you really start getting momentum, confidence, and adrenaline which can lead to even more PR’s.
So, the weekend started for me by flying down to South Carolina, where Bert Sorin picked me up at the airport. I got into his giant SUV, I forget what it was, but it was beautiful, and I got to meet Nick Tumminello, a fantastic trainer, fitness coach, and strength coach from Baltimore.
My new buddy Nick wearing my Diesel shirt (photo: Nick Tumminelo)
Nick trains a great variety of clientele and his knowledge is fantastic. I also got to meet his good friend Benji, who came into town with his collection of cameras. Nick and Bert shot a DVD on Sunday on training with the Landmine. Benji does all of the video work for Nick, which must be awesome, because I do all that stuff on my own.
Me, Nick Tumminello, and Bert Sorin
On Friday night, I got ready for the next day’s activities by eating nearly two dozen buffalo wings at a place called Carolina Wings. I figured a place like that must make good wings, so I ordered them and they pulled through. Really good stuff!
Bert took me back to the hotel and dropped me off and I did a few hours of work on the laptop before turning in for the night.
In the morning, I met Nick and Benji in the hotel lobby and we walked across the driveway to Cracker Barrel. This is a damn good restaurant to get breakfast made the old fashioned way, but make sure you go early. We were there before 7 so we got in there easily. I tried to do the same thing the next day around noon with a hangover and I had to wait about 30 minutes though. I’m getting ahead of myself now…
So after breakfast, Bert came and got us and we went to the Sorinex facility. To give you a bit better idea of this facility, it is more than just a weight room. By rights, it is actually a showroom. All of the equipment is gorgeous. No paint is scratched off, there’s no sweat or spit on the floor like most gyms, and it smells like a normal gym, not an arm pit. BUT even with all its beauty, it is still fully functional and you can use all of it when you visit. It is great.
I didn’t really know what to expect at Summer Strong #4. I thought it was just a day of training, but actually they have like a full day of events planned, which was cool.
The first thing on the agenda was a gentleman named Coach Shrock who presented on speed development. He put this early 20′s kid through a workout that involved about a week’s worth of volume. The drills were awesome and I have stolen a couple for the guys I work with. The kid doing the demo’s took it all in stride (get it?) though and just kept on going.
After the speed training seminar, it was time for Andrew Durniat to do his section on Density Training. I thought he was going to talk about his kettlebell sport, but actually he talked about the stuff he does with his trainees at his facility. This is based on Charles Staley’s Escalating Density Training. He says it works out great for his trainees, and they rarely miss a workout because they are always so intense and also concise. If the client only has 20 minutes to train, it is no problem because they set up an EDT frame and get it done.
If you are wondering about the layout of these EDT blocks, Andrew says they usually pair up antagonsitic movement patterns, such as Pull-ups and Dips, and they go for a certain amount of time…Pull-ups then Dips, Pull-ups then Dips. I believe he said it is done in sets of 5 reps for each movement and they do about ten sets, but I could be slightly off on that. I took notes, but I lost my sheet along with about 20 email addresses I collected.
Once Andrew finished, it was time for an open lift. What went on is all of the people there just started training. It was awesome. I got in some foam roller work because I was still really badly locked up from the plane ride the day before. I pretty much did foam rolling, activation movements and stretching for an hour straight and I felt amazing.
After the open lift, it was lunch time. The day was moving pretty quickly. For lunch, they cooked a gigantic stew in a stainless steel barrel. The stew was a mixture of sausage, rice, eggs, and I believe pork lard. It tasted fantastic. I overhead one of the main cooks, who goes by the name Breeze, and who I believe used to be competitive Olympic weightlifter in the early 80′s talk about the importance of cholesterol in testosterone production. I didn’t catch it all, but what I did catch seemed to be logical.
Once lunch was over, there was a presentation Olympic lifting. The guys that did this presentation were Don McAllie and Glenn Pendlay. Don has a book called Power Up.
I was really into this presentation. Oly lifting was a major interest of mine when I first got into strength training. What got my attention right away was that these guys said that many Oly Strength Coaches these days teach the lifts wrong. They said that before listening to an Oly coach, you should ask them what they have done and who they have coached.
What it sounded like they were saying was that there are some coaches out there that make these claims to be these awesome Oly coaches, yet have done nothing themselves in competition and also have never coached anyone who has done anything in competition. I don’t have a lot of trouble believing this because that kind of stuff happens in every sport and in every profession. However, I do not know exactly who they were talking about.
Along the lines of doing the lifts wrong, I do remember three points they made. One was that at no time during the Oly lifts should you jump. I thought this was fairly obvious. I am not sure why anyone would want to leave the ground during one of the Olympic lifts. However, these next two points were pretty shocking to me.
They said that they do not teach triple extension during the lift. Now that was kind of a shock to me. Triple extension is the systematic firing of the hips, knees and ankles in extension in order to generate power into the bar, such as on the pulls and on the jerk.
The other thing that struck me as a surprise for them to say, but actually made perfect sense to me is that they do not teach a high pull, as in pulling the bar up high near the sternum when training for the Olympic Clean. Instead, you are using your traps and upper back to pull yourself under the bar. However, the high pull is a common derivative movement that is used to train for the Olympic lifts. This was a very interesting point.
I would have stayed and listened to the entire presentation, but we, the Grip Guys, were up next and Bert rounded us all up. He and his father, Richard Sorin, originator of the Blob, appointed me MC for the Grip segment.
When it was our turn, Bert introduced me and I walked the crowd through an explanation of what Grip is and how it can benefit you, as well as a little bit on Grip Feats and Grip Sport. After this, I ran down the list of events that would be going on.
I told them that first we would have a Pull-up contest between Tex Henderson and Andrew Durniat. Tex weighs 340+ lbs and Andrew weighs about 230, so Andrew was going to do is while hanging an additional 135-lbs from his waist, just to make things fair. In addition, to make this even more challenging for both guys, the pull-ups were done from Rolling Thunder handles.
Check out the video below…
Andrew Durniat vs Tex Henderson
Can anyone reading this do pull-ups with 135-lbs hanging from their waist?
Next up was Chad Woodall. Chad would be trying to pinch Two 45′s in each hand. Pinching two 45′s in one hand is an ELITE feat of Grip Strength in itself. Pinching Two 45′s in each hand at the same time is something I have only seen once or twice in my life. To make all of this even more challenging, Chad would be trying to pinch two old-style YORK 45′s. Old York plates are roughly twice the size of most 45-lb plates manufactured these days, so this feat is EXTRAORDINARILY DIFFICULT. Check out this video below…
Chad Woodall Attempting Two 45′s Pinch with Old York Plates
Again, this is unbelievably HARD!
If you can not watch the entire video, here is Chad coming damn close
Chad will soon get this feat. It is just a matter of time.
In case your wondering, he also was able to fully deadlift two of these old Yorks in each hand separately. It as awesome to watch. Check out the video around the 4:20 mark…
Feats of strength that were once thought impossible are being performed on a regular basis now. It may only be a matter of time until we are doing Farmer’s Walks with two old York 45′s in each hand. Don’t EVER look at the videos and think that these feats are something you won’t be able to do. You might not be able to now, but down the line, who knows…
I’ve got tons more videos coming your way. Make sure to check back here tomorrow, or sign up for my newsletter, below, and I will hit you with an email when Summer Strong #4 Part II gets posted!
I am at Juniata right now roughing people up, stealing lunch money and getting in good workouts with other serious strength coaches right now, BUT, I also managed to find some time to put up another post here on the site amidst all of the mayhem.
Right now, I want to show you what the Glob is. We already covered Blobs the other day here = > Blob Lifting Information. Now it is time to take a look at the Glob.
The Glob was named by my buddy, Chris Mathison. He chopped up a 60-lb York Globe Dumbbell and sent me half because he is DIESEL to the core.
When he did so, York aficionados and collectors all over the world fell to their knees in pain like they got stabbed in the back like a voodoo doll or something, but he is fearless and wanted to challenge me, so thanks again Chris!!!
Because the Glob comes from a Globe Dumbbell, it is spherical in shape and its overall size makes it incredibly hard to lift. This is one where hand size reigns supreme. If you do not have monster hands, you have no chance of lifting this piece of iron.
In 2008, I put this in the medley at Nationals and I drew a white line the whole way around its circumference and the stipulation was that no part of the thumb or fingertip could cross that line in order to lift it. It was really no surprise that most of the group could not lift it that year as their hands were just not large enough to do it. However, Rex and Chad could not do it either and they both have mammoth hands.
Having it in the medley really isn’t fair anymore due to the hand size issue, so I have never put it back into the medley since that year…
Like many feats over the years, I have trained my ass off to get them and then once I do I forget about them and cast the implement aside like a dirt pair of socks and that is pretty much what I did with this one.
So, I recently wanted to lay down a challenge for myself to attempt some of the feats that I have done in the past. Sort of like how I just decided on a whim to try and lift the Blob Clone last Winter and thus that is how the concept of Misses are Just Warm-ups came to be.
Lifting the Glob was much the same. I had to try many times in order to get it to lockout, because my hand was not used to that extreme open hand position. However, after several all-out misses and a few close calls I was again able to get it.
Video: Lifting the Half 60-lb Glob – Half of a 60-lb Globe Dumbbell
So, once again, the adage holds true…
Misses are Just Warm-ups.
If you miss, don’t just quit.
It can sometimes take me ten tries or more to get a certain feat, whether it is grip or overhead lifting, or even bench pressing.
Try a few times and see if you can get stuff.
You may just be surprised by how much your performance can increase once you find the right gripping spots, the right position for your hands or body alignment, the right warm-up, etc. And then, once you pop it off the ground an inch, you might just be able to get it off 6 inches next time, then a couple feet, and then maybe even to lockout.
Give it a try, DIESELS!
If you’ve been checking my site out for a while, you have seen me writing about the Blob quite a bit.
In case you are not familiar with the Blob, here is a run-down…
Richard Sorin Lifting The Blob
The Blob is half of a 100-lb York Dumbbell that has the sloping sides. The first Original Blob belongs to Richard Sorin, and it is just the first one that had broken off, as far as I know. That is The Blob.
A Fatman, Original-Style Blob
Original Style Blobs are half-100′s that were produced during the same era and have the same dimensions and shape as that first one that Richard named. These are also called Fatman Blobs.
New/Next Generation or Second Generation Blobs
The York company changed the shape of their dumbbells slightly making the non-handle side slightly straighter. This new type of Blob is often called a Next Generation Blob, Second Generation Blob or something like that. They are easier to lift with this straighter edge.
A Legacy Blob
York stopped making these Blobs in 2004 or 2005, and did not produce dumbbells with slopes again until about 2007, which are called Legacy Blobs. This time one side was even straighter still and lifting them with the thumb on the super-straight side makes them much easier than the Next Generation Blobs.
The Blob50
There is also a piece out there called a Blob50 which a fellow named Gordon Visecky got produced from a cast of a Blob. They are marked on the top with Blob50 instead of the York or 100 that is found on actual York-produced 100-lb dumbbells. The Blob50′s vary in difficulty because some are smoother than others, but they are still quite challenging.
Blob Clone
Finally, a fellow named Chris Bowman replicated an actual Original Style Fatman York Blob in 2009 and came out with the Clone or Blob Clone. I own one of these and mine is a pretty accurate shape-replica of the Fatman style Blobs, but it is also quite a bit heavier.
I believe I am the only one to have lifted the Clone I own. I know Dave Thornton tried after GGC 2009, but I don’t think he got it. Some of the Clones came out lop-sided, such as the one that Dave Thornton owns. As far as I know only he, Chad Woodall and myself have lifted it, but we all placed our thumb on the very rough portion of it, which made it much easier. I want to give that one a try again so bad!
So, there you have the complete run-down of all the Blobs that I know of. Originals Blobs/Fatman Blobs, Next Generation Blobs, Legacy Blobs, Blob50′s and Blob Clones.
Here are some of my past videos lifting some of these Blob variations…
39 Reps with a Next Generation Blob
Double Blob Farmer’s Walk – 2 Next Generation Blobs
Giant Kettlebell and Next Generation Blob by the Face (Almost)
Any of them. They are all awesome for training the hands, although many will not be able to lift them from the beginning. If you do any Blob or Block Weight training, ease into it, as you can mess your thumb up pretty bad in Block Weight lifting positions.
Where do you go to get one and how much do they cost?
First off, you need to find someone willing to part with one of these beauties. They are pretty dear.
You will pay out your ass for a Fatman, unless you find somebody who has no idea what they have. The price will be pretty high still with the Next Generation Blobs, too.
Even Blob50′s and Clones are pretty expensive, in the $100+ range easy, so they are pretty high-priced items.
If you want one, I suggest going to jails, old gyms, yard sales and flea markets, looking on Craig’s List and eBay, and checking out forums. None of these items are cheap unless you find someone who is quite frankly clueless about what they have.
I hope this has been helpful. Believe me, my hands are strongest when I am doing lots of Blob lifting, but don’t think you only need some form of a Blob to get the benefit of the training – any Block Weight style implement will do for awesome gains!
