If you’re interested in Grip Training, you are going to need a Loading Pin.

There’s just about no way around this fact.

These imperative items can be bought on-line easy enough and they will be shipped to your house within a few days.

The Ninja Star Tattoo left Mike’s Bank Account Punched Out

But if you are strapped for cash and broke worse than Mike Tyson, then you might need to pursue another option, because these things can be pretty expensive…

Grip Strength Tool: The Loading Pin

One of the tools that many people who train for Grip Strength routinely use is a Loading Pin. This is used in order to put the weight plates on and then it is connected with a carabiner or S-hook to whatever implement it is that you are using for that session.

There are many types of Grip Training Tools that use Loading Pins:

• Rolling Thunder Handles
• Hub Lift Devices
• Vertical Bar Devices
• Pinch Block Devices
• One Hand Lift Device

…And the list just goes on and on.

I literally have like 4 loading pins in my gym. Some of them ALWAYS have weight on them because I keep my warm-up weights for certain lifts, like the Rolling Thunder right on them.

Other Loading Pins get used for other specific purposes, such as loading pins of different heights that I use for changing the distance I pull.

Because Loading Pins are so important, I want to show you how to build your own loading pin for NOTHING compared to the prices often seen on-line.

Now, here’s the story behind this Loading Pin.

In March of this year, I released Home Made Strength II: Grip Strength Edition, which shows you exactly how to build your own set of Grip Training tools from scratch, and one of the items was a Loading Pin.

Hundreds of people gobbled up this On-line DVD (you download it to your system, kind of like Netflix, only you keep the video and can watch it whenever you want) and started making their own stuff and saved a bunch of money while also arming themselves with the tools they needed to turn their hands into legal weapons.

One guy who picked up the product and really took action building the stuff was Justin Burns. He went through the list of equipment like a windstorm and built most of it right away.

Then a few days after he bought HMS2, he emailed me and shared with me an even easier way to build your own loading pin.

I asked him if he’d be willing to share the plans with the Diesel Universe, and he wholeheartedly obliged. Check it out…

How to Build a Loading Pin

Equipment Needed to Build a Loading Pin

• 10 inch nipple (1.5 inches)
• 1.5inch cap
• 3/8 eye bolt
• 1.5 inch floor flange
• Steel epoxy

Tools Needed to Build a Loading Pin

• Hand drill
• 3/8 drill bit
• Pliers

Procedure for Building a Loading Pin

• 1)First thing you need to do is take the cap and find the center of it, then using your drill, make a 3/8 hole (if you have a vise this would be the best time to use it)
  

  Once that is done, take your eye bolt, put some of your steel epoxy on the threads and put the eye bolt through the cap, tightening the nut with your pliers to make the two pieces one unit

• 2) Take your 10 inch nipple and your floor flange and put the steel epoxy on the threads of the nipple and then twist the floor flange onto the nipple

  When that is done it will look like this:

  

• 3) Thread the two assembled components together and you’re done. You have yourself a loading pin no welding needed.
  

BAM! There you go, DIESELS.

It can’t get much easier than that. Now, if you don’t have a drill, then call around to your friends and find somebody that has one. Think of somebody who’s really handy and builds stuff a lot. This is a snap for them.

Go buy them a beer or bring them those video tapes you borrowed a while back and before you leave ask them if they can help you build a loading pin. Chances are they love building stuff so much they will jump at the ability to pull their tools out.

For more awesome ideas on how to build your own Grip Strength Training Arsenal, check out Home Made Strength 2 – Grip Strength Edition.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

This is a guest article by Brent Barbe. Several months ago, I put up a post talking about how Brent had planned to travel to Iceland to lift the famous Husafell stone. He has since gone to Iceland and returned. Unfortunately, the stone was frozen to the ground and he could not manage the lift, but he was able to see some parts of the world many of us only dream about, and he was able to develop strength in ways that otherwise he might not have tried.

Brent Barbe – Plateau Buster Deadlift

When I first started training for the trip to Iceland I tried to get in contact with as many people as I could who had already lifted the stone. One of the things they emphasized to me was, that it was extremely smooth and hard to hang on to. After a few sessions with natural stones, I found this to be true and started changing my grip training to bring up my wrist strength to help me on the lift.

Derek Poundstone carrying a Husafell Stone Replica. Check out the Wrist Angles!!!
Image via SlatersHardware.com

The first thing I did was make wrist curls the first exercise I did during every wrist workout. That way, I was sure to get the work in and be fresh while I did it. I rotated through a bunch of exercises but found that the four following variations were giving me the best gains, and were the easiest to stick to.

Climber Curls for Wrist Strength

The first exercise is wrist curls with a climber curl by Chris Rice. It has a slight angle to the bar, which allows you to hold the wrist at a more natural angle. Curls on the climber curl probably made up about 1/3 of my wrist curls since they were effective, easy to recover from, and convenient. I would just leave the bar loaded up and could hit it without having to set anything up or clear any space.

Thumbless “Cupping” Deadlifts

An exercise I worked in a good bit as a secondary exercise is a thumbless “cupping” deadlift on a thick handled dumbbell. I saw this in a Devon Larratt arm wresting video a while ago. These were good for when I had something else I was working on at the same time as my grip training. I could work on whatever, walk to the platform and make a lift, and then get back to what I was doing. Sometimes tricks like that can make it easier to get the grip training in during a busy schedule.

Thumbless “Cupping” Deadlifts

The FBBC Crusher is one of my favorite training tools. It’s a revolving handle that attaches to a loading pin. It’s the fastest handle I’ve ever used. I use it for normal thick handle deadlifts but, I also like it for wrist curls. With the majority of the wrist curl exercises you need to bend over or lean. I have two damaged discs in my lower back that can make that uncomfortable at times. With the Crusher curls I am able to get my wrist work in while standing up.

Block Weight Wrist Curls

All of the above exercises hit the wrist but, have minimal finger involvement. I started to do plate wrist curls to address this. While the plate curls did hit the finger, it’s a really big jump from a 25# to a 35#. So, I started using block weights. Jedd had featured block weight wrist curls on The Grip Authority but I never really gave them a try. After a couple of workouts I can say I’m hooked. They hit the wrist, thumb, and fingers in a completely unique way.

So, that’s the four exercises that [made up the bulk of my training]. I [made good gains] by switching things up on a regular basis, and, I [did not have] any grip issues during any of my stone training. Hopefully, you can take something from this and use it in your training to make some progress of your own.

Brent

Brent, thanks for the article. I am sure that many people who have tried to lift and carry the Husafell stone have been plenty strong enough in the back and legs to pick it up, but holding it aloft and carrying it of course very dependent on Grip Strength. Hopefully your article will help others train to be successful in doing so, and I hope the next time you go to Iceland, it is a bit better weather! Thanks again for the article and videos!

Some facts about the Husafell Stone, from SlatersHardware.com:

We received one submission for the Home Made Strength Grip Challenge, but it was a strong one.

In the video below, Brian Lederman shows he’s a man who takes action.

He’s had the DVD for two weeks and has already built AND IS DOMINATING nearly half the equipment.

Great job brother!

Brian Lederman

Brian, thanks for the great feedback on the new Phone Book Tearing eBook, Phone Book Mass Destruction!

And, since you already have Dave Whitley’s Lessons of the Old-time Strongmen, I’d be glad to send you a Diesel Crew Shirt. Please email me your shirt size and I will get one right out to you, bro!

Check out the site on Monday for next week’s Weekly Grip Strength Challenge, everybody!

Jedd

Home Made Strength Grip Challenge

This week’s Grip Strength Challenge is different from the regular.

This week’s submissions will come from those who bought the Home Made Strength II Online DVD during the introductory sale!

This is what you have to do.

1. Build one (or more) of the Home Made Strength II pieces of Grip Gear.

2. Film yourself training with it – Get Intense – Show us what you are made of!

3. Upload your video to YouTube!

4. Send me your submission!

This week, instead of just one winner, there will be 3 individual winners that win a copy of Dave “The Iron Tamer” Whitley’s, Lessons of the Oldtime Strongmen.
(more…)

If this is your hand shake, then this post is for you!

This week I unleashed Home Made Strength II: Grip Strength Edition. This has quickly been scooped up by D.I.Y. Guys and Gals all over the world.

Check out 10+ the countries represented so far

(more…)