Never Before Done Grip Strength Combo Feat

I’ve had my eye on a few goals this year, along the lines of grip strength feats.

The biggest one, I crossed off my list earlier this month – the Inch Dumbbell Clean.

I also recently was successful for the first time pinching 2x25kg plates.

Well, I took that one a little further, but doing a combo feat with the Inch Dumbbell, as well.

Inch Dumbbell Plus 2x25kg Plate Pinch

Training has been going very well, and I am very thankful. Probably 95% of my work has been dedication to King Kong. Luckily, the events have lined up well with the extracurricular feats I’ve been working on as well.

Now, it is Deload time, in preparation for King Kong.

If everything goes well, I will hit some PR’s on the King Kong events.

And maybe even go for some other cool feats, once the competition is out of the way.

How’s your training going?

Feel free to leave a comment below to let us know where you’re at, as the year winds down.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Big Goblet and Grip Feats Go Down on 1/6/18

Few workouts in the past six months have been as incredible as this past Saturday’s session.

It started off rocky, though brother. I’ll be honest.

I was in a rush to get out of the house and get downtown, and as a result, I took my mind off the ball and forgot to grab the empty propane tank for the heater I run during my sessions.

Call me a pussy for running a heater. That’s fine. But I’m not training to lift the Housafell stone in freezing temperatures. I’m training to keep myself sane. So I run a heater.

So, I made an extra trip downtown to get it, and it made a huge difference. The temperature outside was below 0, and the temp inside was freezing. The propane cooking helped make Saturday’s Savage Session one that probably won’t be topped in a while, at least as far as the strength feats that I pulled off are concerned.

Here’s a rundown of the highlights.

236lb Goblet Squats for a Double

It’s been a while since I pushed the envelope with Goblet Squats, and these Death Grip Bells, with their sharp edges will WRECK your hands, but I decided it was time to step it up. I attached a 50lb Scale Weight to my 186lb Homicide Bell. Getting it into position was an absolute NIGHTMARE, but with some redneck ingenuity, I got her done!

Blobzilla Plus 5 Pounds

This is a mark I’ve been working toward for a while now. I first started this hike back in October of 2015, but have not trained it consistently until the last quarter of 2017. I’ve been breaking it off the ground for a month or so, and came really close a week ago, but I made it a no-doubter on Savage Saturday.

Blobzilla Clean

Some people know this already, but not many. At the AOBS Dinner in October of 2015, after my performance, I successfully did an ugly Clean with Blobzilla. A combination of feeling amazing for several months, my training being locked in, and the adrenaline of having so many people around allowed me to get it done. But I hadn’t done it again since until Savage Saturday.

One of the goals that’s been on my radar, but still on the backburner is lifting the Blobfather (half 140lb York Legacy Blob). My hands feel very strong right now. I feel I am on my way, and if I can keep things going, Blobfather will be coming off the ground sometime this year. It will really come down to how much time I can put into it, as I also have some other goals I’m focused on, in addition to getting my right ring finger rehabbed in time for Nationals in June.

Stay tuned and come along for the ride.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Training to Lift a Big Block Weight?
Then Grab These Resources:

By request of the Diesel Universe, I was asked to hold a 1-Day Intensive Grip Training Seminar.

I have set this up for Thursday, March 31st, starting at 9AM in Wyalusing, PA

We’re covering the 3 main areas of Grip Training: Grippers, Pinching, and Thick Bar.

These are the foundations of developing a Mighty Grip, and you’ve gotta train them right to build your Grip right.

The goal is make sure each person there is setting Grippers correctly, and knows the ins-and-outs of Plate Pinching, Thick Bar Training, and other Open Hand methods.

We’re also gonna get into the basics of Card Tearing and Steel Bending, because these feats make up the foundation of Strongman feats.

There’s going to be a BIG EMPHASIS on hands-on training.

After all, you learn by doing, not by hearing me talk.

This is going to be an AWESOME session for a small group of 5 individuals.

However, there’s already 2 slots filled.

Which means if you want to grab 1 of the 3 available slots, you’ve gotta act fast.

Click Here to Join the Seminar

It’s gonna be a sweet, comfortable and intense 5 hours of learning on March 31st.

Get ready to learn a ton, have a bunch of fun, and get your hands chalky.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

P.S. I’m also looking to set up the cameras to capture everything on film. Gonna be awesome.

Grab Your Spot Now: Click Here to Join the Seminar

Grip Training with the “Chunk”

My gym is filled to the brim with cool grip training gear I’ve accumulated over the years.

That’s what happens when you collect stuff for over 10 years!

Every so often, I like to dig one of the hidden gems out of the corner, dust it off, and give it a few pulls.

Recently, we pulled out the “Chunk.” This one isn’t really “new” to me, as I’ve had it since 2006, but I don’t think I’ve ever put anything out in the public about it until now. So, in that sense, I guess you could say it’s new…

The Chunk Block Weight

The Chunk is a 66-lb steel or iron drop, or scrap piece, essentially a piece that was cut off and never used. The Chunk is what’s considered a Block Weight. Even though Block Weights are usually one of the heads of a dumbbell, they can be any block-shaped implement that you lift with an open handed pinch grip.

Block Weights can be very beneficial for your training. They work the thumb very hard, and they make the entire lower arm work together in order to perform your lifts.

Block Weight Training is a great form of grip training to add into your routine.

Block Weights develop hand and grip strength in a general sense, which means it has the potential to improve strength in order types of grip training, and will carry over to other types of lifting because you’ll be stronger overall from doing Block Weight Training.

Here’s a few videos where we lift the Chunk and try some cool variations by adding weight to it…

Intro to the Chunk

Just taking a look at the Chunk to see its weight and features such as edges and surfaces.

Protected Training on the Chunk

With the sharp edges the Chunk has, we tried protecting our skin with a suede bending wrap and lifting it.

Throwing Chains on the Chunk

Adding chains makes it tougher to complete the lift because it gets heavier, the higher you pull it. It’s an excellent way to train your grip, borrowed from the world of Powerlifting (Louie Simmons introduced me to the concept).

Major Take-aways from Today’s Post

Here’s a few things to remember from today’s post for your training.

• Block Weights are beneficial because they target the thumb (often neglected in training) and develop the entire lower arm in a general sense.
• Block Weights come in nearly endless shapes and sizes and can be used for many different types of lifts.
• Don’t be afraid to pull from other established training protocols and try the concepts in your grip training in order to spice things up a bit and keep yourself progressing. Naturally, do so safely!

If you’d like to get started with Block Weight Training, but don’t know where to begin, then grab my Block Weight Training DVD today. It also comes in digital format so you don’t have to mess with shipping.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Discover New Levels of Hand Strength with Block Weight Training

Making 2014 MY YEAR

If you are not yet subscribed to my YouTube Channel, click that link in order to do so.

I hope you have been having a great year. I set out to make this year MINE from the get go, and I am loving it.

One of my initiatives going forward to make more posts here at the site to share more of what is going down in my training, but being a subscriber to my channel is the absolute best way to make sure you are not missing anything.

Here are some cool things I am pretty proud of that have taken place this year, but I haven’t had the chance to post here.

Inch Dumbbell Plus 10lbs

The Inch Dumbbell weighs 172-lbs and has a handle that is 2 & 3/8″ in diameter. There are many ways to add weight to an Inch Dumbbell, but perhaps the strictest way to do so is to actually set the plates on top of the globes. Any rotation of the dumbbell whatsoever and the plates will fall right off, so this method shows you have excellent control of the implement.

Earlier this year, I was able to hit a lift on Inch + 10lbs.

Robo Blob Lifts

Last last year, I partnered with a local steel company to get Fatman Blob Replicas made. Our replicas, currently called Robo Blobs, are machined directly from steel billets and carved to the perfect flawless shape of a Fatman Blob.

For the longest time, I could get NO AIR underneath my Robo Blob, until finally after several months I was able to break it free from gravity’s hold. One small break was all I needed.

Order your own Diesel Robo Blob Here

Shortly after, I was able to lift the Robo Blob with about 2.5pounds added, as well.

Monster Dumbbell Curls

Over the last couple of years, I have expanded my obsession from not just developing a strength in the lower arms in the form of tremendous grip strength, but big and strong arms OVERALL. This year I have decided to set myself a goal of 20″ arms COLD, meaning not with a pump, but just walking around, regular sized.

I have been told that this is an IMPOSSIBLE goal by some, at least impossible to do it without chemical assistance, but I am determined to do so with the use of a mix of training methods, including heavy training, high volume, and other extreme tactics.

So far, the strength improvements are coming along nicely, as this year I was able to set some new PR’s in the Dumbbell Curl. Below is a set of 80-lb Curls.

A few months later, I was also able to curl 85’s.

One objective I set out for is to keep the Dumbbell Curls strict. Often, when people post Dumbbell Curl videos, there is a substantial amount of throwing going on, and I try to avoid that as much as possible.

There’s still a lot to catch up on. Like I said before, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel, and be sure to sign up for my email newsletter as well.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Want to Order a Robo Blob? Go here => Diesel Robo Blob

Want to Build Big Arms? Answer the Call to Arms today.

Lift More in the Two Hands Pinch

“Napalm” Jedd, John Manna, & Lucas Raymond

“Going to the workshop was the best thing I could have done to improve my 2hp. I had no idea how technical, and how much of a full body lift it was. I added pounds to my personal best immediately after correcting small mistakes I was unaware of, and I added almost 30lbs to my best lift in just a few training sessions afterwards.
John Manna”

Two Hands Pinch Workshop – 2/22/14

It was a bitter cold day in February.

Snow covered the ground and you could hear the wind whipping around the garage.

But that did not stop one man, John Manna, from making the trip over the frozen terrains of Northern New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

After his 3-hour drive, John blew into his cupped hands, loosened up his sore back and got to work, while an electric space heater buzzed behind him and an occasional snow flake beat against the windows.

By the end of the day, the temperature didn’t matter much to John, nor did his sore back, because he had already exceeded his previous best in the Two Hands Pinch by nearly 20-lbs.

As he drove back home to Jersey, John had a look of confidence and an air of pride about him.

He was now armed with the knowledge to take his Two Hands Pinch even higher…

And you can be too, when you get this DVD.

Get Your Own Copy
Of the Workshop
Today

The Two Hands Pinch is one of the most commonly contested, most popular, and highly regarded events in Grip Sport.

It is also, perhaps, the fairest of all Grip Sport lifts, because the device that is used in competition is fully adjustable to match the hand size of each athlete that lifts on it.

The Two Hands Pinch is also one of the most intensely tracked of Grip Sport events, with competitors readily gunning for the “Top 50 List” and always keeping an eye on “Weight Class Records” whenever a contest is held.

The execution of the Two Hands Pinch is very basic – you grip the plates, you lift them high enough so that the loading bar touches a cross-bar, and you set it back down.

But don’t let the simplicity of the lift fool you…

The Two Hands Pinch is also a very highly technical lift. There is much more to it than meets the eye.

There is more involved than just reaching down, pinching as hard as you can, and lifting it off the ground.

On February 22, 2014, I held a Grip Sport Workshop at my gym in Wyalusing, PA.

One lone person, John Manna, braved the February cold, but after 2+ hours of training and instruction he was PUMPED that he came.

By the end of the Workshop, he was no longer stuck in the 120’s on the 2HP.

He had now broken into the 140’s.

And now you can learn the same information that can help you increase your Two Hands Pinch by 20-lbs or more.

I am making the Two Hands Pinch portion of the February Workshop available to everyone.

All you have to do is click the order button below and I will ship it right out to you.

Get Your Copy
Of the Workshop
Today

What is Covered in the Two Hands Pinch Workshop DVD?

In this DVD, you’re gonna learn the Two Hands Pinch in an easy 9-point checklist format.

Here is exactly what you will learn in this DVD:

Grip: In this section you’ll learn the ins and outs of getting your grip right on the implement as well as how to figure out your proper width.

This is HUGE for your pinch because the right width can not only help you lift more on the Two Hands Pinch, but it can also keep you from cutting your thumbs as much.

Placement: You’ll learn where to have the device in relationship to your body. This increases your leverage and allows you to put more force into your pinch.

Stance: Now it is time to think about how to position your body for best force production. While it may seem like a small detail, it can be something that helps your pinch blow up, or something that holds it back.

Footwear: Everyone knows I have featured strange choices for footwear in all the years I have been competing. But, there is actually a purpose behind why I choose to wear what I have on my feet, and I will tell you all about some of the best options I have found, so you can make the best choice for yourself as well.

Tilt: This is another aspect of the 2HP that is often overlooked and misunderstood. When to tilt the implement, and how much is enough or too much? When you get this right, you get a better lock on the implement and less slipping. When you get it wrong, your attempt can be doomed right from the instant you start to pull it off the floor.

Aside from why having an angle on the Pinch is so important, you’ll also learn how to keep this angle throughout your pull, so each attempt you take is smooth resulting in fewer thumb cuts.

Arm Angle: You will learn the best way I have found to transmit as much power from the torso and core into the Two Hands Pinch lift. The muscles of the back and chest are some of the biggest and post powerful in all the upper body, and when you figure out how to engage them, your current personal best in the 2HP will feel weightless.

Lower Body: Although the Two Hands Pinch is mostly a full body movement, your lower body has to move correctly to get a smooth pull. Do this wrong and the Pinch feels awkward and shaky. Do it right, and you’ll feel like a machine when you lift the plates. This also helps you return the implement to the floor under control, which is a must in Grip Sport competition for your lift to count.

Tension: This is the single biggest aspect of Two Hands Pinch technique that you will learn. Most people can put a minimum of 10 pounds on their Two Hands Pinch in less than 10 minutes just by understanding how to create tension in their upper body, how to transfer it through their arms, and into their grip.

Tension magnifies your ability to create Pinch Power, giving you command over the implement from the instant it breaks the ground, until you pull it through the stick, and return it to the platform.

Training: In this section, you will learn my time-tested strategies for training the Two Hands Pinch. This is where you put everything together and focus on all the aspects of the checklist to maximize your Pinch Strength.

You will also learn 3 of my Favorite Drills for building strength on the implement, drills which have helped me break the world record in the Two Hands Pinch 5 different times since 2009.

If you are frustrated with the lack of progress in your Two Hands Pinch, you need this DVD.

You’re going to learn things in this DVD that you haven’t thought of before.

I can’t wait to hear about your training once you get this DVD.

Be sure to hit me up through email or Facebook.

Order Yours Today.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

About a year ago, the prospects of curling a 50-lb Blob were meek.

To put this into perspective, I had only done it once or twice prior to 2013, and I had a success rate of about 1 out of 20 attempts.

Last year about this time, curling the Blob came up so I decided to give it a try and I was successful.

First Curl of the Blob in a Loooong Time

If I remember correctly, I first lifted the Blob in July of 2003 and then curled it for the first time in 2005, but never did it again until 2013. Remember that for later on in this post.

The next feat that was discussed was curling the Blob with the back against the wall. This is how Curls are done in competition, so it made sense to give it a try, so I did.

Curling the Blob – Back Against the Wall

It is so much harder to not be able to shift the shoulders back or to twist with the Blob.

From that day until right now, I can’t think of anyone else who has completed the Blob Curl, whether with the Back Against the Wall or Free Standing. (If there has been, and I have forgotten, I am sorry and I am happy to edit this post. Also, if someone has completed the feat and I didn’t hear about it, please let me know.)

Fast forward to January 2014. Luke Raymond has been training intensely and regularly here at Diesel Gym since September, plus he has been putting in serious work in his other training sessions at other gyms when he is not down here.

Luke officially lifted the Blob to Lockout the first time in January.

Luke Raymond Blob Lift

What happens next is something I NEVER would have anticipated.

It’s not like I didn’t think he has the potential, but in my mind, I thought much more maturity and training age would have been required in order for it to take place.

This is what I am talking about…

Mental Strength = Physical Strength

Essentially, Luke Raymond has gone from zero specialized Grip Training to lifting the 50-lb Blob in 4 months. He has gone from Lifting the Blob to Curling the Blob in about 2 months, and from Curling the Blob Free-Standing to Curling it Against the Wall in about 2 minutes.

To reinforce how awesome this is, I put up a post on Facebook directly after these feats took place and people began guessing who it was that Curled the Blob. names like Brian Shaw, Mike Burke, and other top-level strength athletes began popping up. People whom I have almost NO CHANCE to interact with were guessed.

And NO ONE guessed it was Luke. This unassuming yet dedicated lifter was flying under the radar.

I don’t think that will be the case anymore though.

If you don’t train Grip, don’t think this doesn’t apply to you.

It does.

If you are holding yourself back due to limitations you’ve placed in your mind, it doesn’t matter what sport or activity you are training for.

Just like I said at the beginning of the video directly above, the things I have witnessed over the last few months have made me change the way I approach this feat and all my other training.

Have I been putting handcuffs on myself and limiting my progress in my lifts due to my own mentality?

Have you?

If so, break the cuffs – make the changes in your mind and bring about the progress in your training.

As an example of what is possible, on Sunday, March 23rd, I failed miserably to curl a 50-lb Blob.

After watching Luke manhandle the Blob, this took place on Tuesday, March 25.

Blob Curl Showdown

I hope you take a moment to think about your Mindset.

If you are holding yourself back, STOP.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

You Can Lift the Blob.
I Share Everything You Need to Know in
“Lift the Blob”

Blob Training

Here in Wyalusing, PA, there has been some serious training going on.

This is the kind of stuff that will scare most people.

One point of focus for us has been working with the Blob. The Blob is a type of Block Weight, a weight or object shaped like a Block that you lift in a wide, open-handed, pinch grip.

Why Perform Block Weight Training?

Block Weight Training is an EXCEPTIONAL way to train the hands due to the wide open position it creates. This makes your whole lower arm work harder, especially the thumb, but the wide position also works the fingers and wrists thoroughly.

For more information on Block Weight Training, check out my ebook => Lift the Blob

Here are a few recent highlights from some of the Blob Training that has gone down.

50-lb Fatman Blob to 50cm with 60-second Time Limit

For the recently ended Grip Monsters Challenge, the challenge was to lift a 50-lb Blob to a 50-cm platform for as many repetitions as possible in 60 seconds. I did this a few times. I didn’t really hit my potential for what I can do in this though, because my left thumb had a nasty split in it for at least two of my sessions.

Luke Raymond Hits a Blob & 5-Tens Combo Feat

Luke has been challenging himself more and more with his grip training. Here, he takes a couple of solid attempts at lifting a 50-lb Fatman Blob, then he combines a 50-lb Next Generation Blob in one hand with 5-Tens loose pinch in the other hand.

Blob Lifting Terminology

In case you are not familiar with Blob Lifting terminology, here is a short list of key terms you should know:

Fatman Blob: The original style of York pill-shaped Blobs. These Blobs are a bit wider and have a more rounded edge than later models. Although seemingly a small detail, the additional slope makes lifting them quite a bit more difficult.

Next Generation Blob: The style of Blob York produced some time later, after the Blue Blob. The Blue Blob was slightly narrower and had less slope. The Next Gen had an even narrower profile and still less slope.

Loose Pinch: Pinching done with plates that are not supported in anyway, such as with a pipe. In the video above, 5-Tens Pinch (with smooth sides of outside plates facing outward) is an example of Loose Pinch.

Stay tuned for more clips on Blob Lifting.

If you are looking for tips on how to improve your Blob Lifting, be sure to check out my ebook, Lift the Blob.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

I saw an awesome quote the other day {!firstname}, and I wanted to share it with you.

It comes from Vince McMahon, and it’s about Failure.

If you don’t know Vince McMahon, he is the Chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment, and has grown this company from a small regional business to a global powerhouse.

Regardless of whether you like or agree with his product, his vision has been what has helped make it become the juggernaut it is today.

Here’s the quote:

“…I’m not afraid of failure. Don’t get me wrong – I hate failing. But I’m not afraid to take chances and fall on my ass, because if I live through it I’ll be better off, and I’ll win.”

I have read and heard many stories of this man’s will to succeed. From sleepless nights working in his basement on film footage, working men half his age into the ground, to breaking every rule in the book by expanding his promotion nation-wide, this guy has never let the possibility of Failure stand in his way.

And it’s not like he’s never failed.

Heck, some of his projects were absolute FLOPS.

He once started a Bodybuilding League called the World Bodybuilding Federation that folded about as quickly as it started. A supplement company lasted about a year, and the XFL lasted only one season.

But instead of letting each of these train-wrecks cripple his drive, he learned from them and pressed on.

And today, I have the same kind of story related to training for you, and it involves someone named Thomas Scibelli.

Thomas was here in September for the Holdfast Gauntlet, the grip contest I ran that month.

He did a fine job in his first competition, and learned a lot, and I think he will be a great competitor in the near future, but one thing that stuck out about his first grip outing was that he actually was UNABLE to lift the half 75-lb Blob in the Medley.

Thomas was not the only one to miss this York Block Weight, so there is nothing to be ashamed of there. In fact, he didn’t dwell on his “Failure” at all.

Instead, he aimed to take care of this weakness in his armor.

Shortly after the contest, I released “Lift the Blob,” an ebook dedicated to training for one of the most well-known feats of grip strength, and lifting one of the most famous grip challenge items, the 50-lb Blob.

Thomas got the Lift the Blob Program, he followed it right straight through the 8 weeks, and look what he just did the other day with the Blob50, a replica of a Half 100….

In review, he could not lift a 37.5-lb Blob in September and in December, he is lifting one nearly to lockout that is 50-lbs.

Nice job brotherrrrrr!!!

I know that was an awesome feeling. I still remember the first time i picked up the Blob.

And while it’s hard to tell if Thomas got this one 100% locked out, I am sure that soon he will be lifting it with ease.

The main thing is, he put the consistent work in over the 8-week period covered in the Lift the Blob Training Program and made it happen.

So cool!

Each one of you has the potential to do the same thing.

I don’t care how big or tall you are, how big or small your hands are, or even if you own a Blob or not.

None of that really matters.

What matters is what’s going on in your head…

…what you’ve got in your heart…

…and your ability to stay consistent with your training.

Lift the Blob will walk you through the same 8-week program that Thomas went through to guide you to your first Blob Lift as well.

Grab the program today.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

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The Blob: The Benchmark One Hand Pinch Feat

There is one Grip Strength Challenge Item out there that is parallel with closing the #3 Gripper, Lifting the Inch Dumbbell, and bending a 60D nail. It is the Blob.

This feat of Open hand / Pinching Strength was started by Richard Sorin, who when moving a bunch of broken dumbbells from one storage area to another tried pinch gripping a half 100-lb York Dumbbell. This lone half-100 was the only one of many that thwarted his efforts, and he set himself the goal to train his grip until he was able to not only lift it, but MASTER it.

This Grand-daddy of all Block Weights, which has been found in countless Grip Contest Medley, Grip Gauntlets and other Grip is called the Blob.

The story of how the first Blob came to be and the early history of it is an amazing one. Throughout the first few decades of its existence, it stopped the likes of Richard, John Brookfield, Wade Gillingham, and many others DEAD IN THEIR TRACKS at first, until they were all ready to re-group, re-strategize, and re-formulate their plan of attack.

Since then, thousands have tested themselves against the Blob in various venues across the Nation and around the World, only to have it laugh in their face like the bully at school.

But despite all of the valiant attempts that were colored by failure, there have been a few stories of dramatic inspiration that have spurred others to forge ahead with their training in order to tackle the beast…

Stories such as Rick Walker who at the time he first lifted it in 2003 was only about 200-lbs…

…like Chad Kovach who has successfully lifted the Blob with hands about 7-inches long…

…Brad Martin, who succeeded in lifting it after just a few weeks of training and hands under 7.5 inches…

…even Richard Sorin himself, Blob Pioneer, has average sized hands and can lift the Blob today, some 20+ years after first challenging himself to do so…

…and still, there are many other accounts of people putting in months or even years of dedicated time to finally accomplish the revered feat of lifting the Blob in a Pinch Grip, the true test of Open Hand and Thumb Strength.

Unfortunately, many people talk themselves out of lifting the Blob before they even try.

They think because the have small hands, they have no chance. The documented cases above prove this not to be so, in fact, as long as you can get one of two different finger and thumb combinations over the edges of the Blob, you will be able to lift it.

People think that because they do not own their own Blob, they are doomed to never develop the strength needed to lift it. Nothing could be further from the truth, as there are many suitable options that can be used in order to cultivate the wide-pinch strength needed to slay the Blob.

And many have been told that because they have little experience with Grip Training that they have two chances to lift the Blob: Slim and None. Absolute hogwash. Grip History is filled with accounts of average Gripsters accomplishing Blob Lifts and other Gigantic Feats with little training time under their belt.

The fact is, large hands, owning a Blob, specialty equipment, and years of training are indeed NOT prerequisites to becoming a Blob Lifter.

What is necessary is knowledge. Understanding key points about Blob Lifting such as technique (yes, there is technique; don’t let anyone fool you), chalk application, positioning and leverage, as well as the proper way to train on the Blob, are what you really need.

These factors will ease the frustration of the misses, the failures, and the heartache.

These intangibles will fill in the blanks between your desire to succeed and your ability to feel success.

These elements are the ones that will make you what you want to be – a Blob Lifter.

And now, all of these things are available to you in my brand new ebook, “Lift the Blob.”

If you want to Lift the Blob or any other goal Block Weight that is in your sights, then you need this ebook to help guide you.

If you want to find out more about what kind of information is in Lift the Blob < = click that link. Or if you just want to get started right away, click the button below.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Click Here to Get the Secrets to Blob Lifting

All the best in your training.

Jedd

I am always on the lookout for Grip Training lifts and challenges that can be performed without having to buy specialized Grip Training equipment, only what you will already find in a commercial gym. I was introduced to a great example of a Grip Strength Challenge that requires no special equipment by my Canadian friend, Eric Roussein. It is called a Key Pinch Rim Lift.

This called a Key Pinch Rim Lift, because you grip the plate by the rim using a Key Pinch Grip. The Key pinch is where you force your thumb against the side of your bent index finger, as if you were gripping a key.

Key Pinch Position

Why Key Pinch is Important to Your Training

There are many reasons why this form of training can be of importance to you. Let’s look at some of them.

• Strength Training: The thumb serves to reinfornce many grips you take in lifting. Especially in lifts such as the Deadlift and other pulling movements (Pull-ups, Barbell Rows), the thumb assists the fingers in static grips to enable bigger weights to be lifted and assists in holding endurance.
• Firearms / Shooting: The thumb serves to enhance your grip on the handle of the firearm, assisting you with a steady hold and solid aim
• Grappling / MMA: The thumb is often a weak link in hand-to-hand combat, allowing opponents to break free from your grip. An powerful thumb keeps them in your grasp and in your control.
• Injury Prevention / Recovery: A stronger thumb is generally more resilient against injury, and if you do jam a thumb or injure it in another way, a stronger thumb should bounce back quicker and be able to still exert more force while injured than a weaker one.
• Gripper Training: When working with Grippers, the thumb and especially muscle of the thumb pad acts as a foundation for the back handle of the gripper, preventing sliding, keeping it in place, and shortening the pull distance the fingers must cover with the front handle

These are just a few examples of how thumb strength and thumb pad size can assist you in your athletic endeavors. Now, let’s look at how to perform Key Pinch Rim Lifts.

How to Perform a Key Pinch Rim Lift

You apply the Key Pinch to either the outside rim or the inside rim, which is also often call the hub. When you do this, you are ready to perform the Inside or Outside Key Pinch Rim Lift

 
Inside Key Pinch Rim Lift                          Outside Key Pinch Rim Lift

Once you have your Grip set-up you are ready to give these lifts a go. Naturally, if you are new to Grip Training, don’t worry about trying to tackle a 100-lb plate right away. Instead, start with a 25-lb plate, then 35, then 45, etc. You just might be surprised how challenging the Inside Rim Lift is even with a 35-lb or 45-lb plate, because of the very narrow grip position.

Outside Key Pinch Rim Lift

This was the original version of the lift that Eric Roussein introduced, done by gripping the outside rim of the plate.

Eventually, JT and I decided to try the lift from the center rim, when he got very easily, but I did not get until a session or two later

Inside Rim Lift

It took me several tries with varied rest periods, but I finally got it. The narrow position like this felt very awkward and tough to get a good grip on the plates.

Once I got this, I felt like I could have driven my thumbs through a Zombie’s eye sockets and squeezed its eyeballs so tightly they would have turned to diamonds!

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As you can see, these are types of grip training that do not require heavy investments in equipment. Most gyms already have weight plates that you can use to perform Rim Lifts on.

Any questions on how to perform the Rim Lift or how to train/load it, be sure to leave a comment below.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

I just released a brand new DVD today, called Napalm Pinch: How to Dominate the Two Hands Pinch.

This DVD is comprised of all my best information for training on and excelling at the Two Hands Pinch.

From understanding the proper technique, proper hand preparation, correct tension production, and more of the subtleties that are too often skipped over, this DVD will take your training up a notch, without having to put in more effort.

How is that possible you might ask?

SIMPLE.

It’s not about putting in endless hours in the gym doing all kinds of volume and a hundred different drills.

It’s about doing the handful of drills that actually work.

In short, this DVD will help you train SMARTER in order to bring up your lifts.

On top of all that, I’ve got some pretty cool BONUSES that I am offering this week ONLY.

Check out the announcement in the video below to find out about these cool bonuses.

You can pick it up here: Napalm Pinch DVD.

Don’t forget the cool bonuses:

• Free Coaching Call
• DVD Package Contest

All the best,

Jedd

I am going out of town this weekend to visit my sister, so I want to learn more about you so I can help you out more with your training in the future.

Be sure to sign up for further updates on Grip Strength Training.

Thanks for filling out the survey and Happy Memorial Day.

Jedd

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Special Offer from My Mad Methods until June 15:
Free Tank Top with a 24/48-month Digital Subscription

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When Matt Ellis and I released Grip Training for Track and Field Throwers, we knew that the information was killer, but we also wanted to see what other experienced Throwers had to say about it, so we sent out some complimentary copies.

Now, the feedback is coming in and I am excited to share what a truly great multi-talented athlete had to say about it.

Adriane Wilson Reviews Grip Training for Track and Field Throwers

“The Track and Field Grip Training DVD is outstanding. It is a complete collection of simple and practical exercises for throwers, lifters, and any person concerned with their hand and lower arm health. The preventive and strength building exercises can be performed in or outside of a gym, which is useful for those unable to travel to the gym on a daily basis.

In addition to grip tools already found in the gym, Jedd and Matt present easy and inexpensive alternatives to top rated grip equipment to further strengthen your grip. Their inventive program can apply to the novice gripper and challenge the elite crusher. With nearly two hours of valuable demonstrations, your grip training will stay exciting and strength will continue to impress.

Adriane Wilson

You have probably heard of Adriane before under her maiden name, Blewitt. She is a decorated Highland Games competitor, having won the Women’s World Championship on 3 separate occasions.

She also became the first woman to certify on the IronMind #2 Captains of Crush Gripper in the Fall of 2011.

Adriane also nearly became a member of the 2012 USA Olympic Team, as she competed for a spot in the Throws, but was ever so slightly edged out during the trials.

To get feedback like this from a truly gifted athlete such as Adriane is an unbelievable feeling. If you are a thrower, a coach, or an athlete, this DVD can help you get to the next level with your throws, as well as keep your hands, wrist, and elbows more resistant against injuries.

To pick up your copy, go here: GripTrainingForThrowers.com

All the best in your training,

Jedd

A Pile of Block Weights. I Love Grip

There’s no doubt about it: One of the greatest ways to bring up your hand strength is to train with Block Weights.

Because they have no handles, you must span your grip over their slope and pinch with all your might, in order to lift them.

They build thumb strength as well as well rounded hand strength.

As you can see in the image above, Block Weights come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, but the most famous type of Block Weight is the Blob. The Blob is one half of a 100-lb York Dumbbell. The term “Blob” was coined by Richard Sorin, when he decided to train to lift this monster in a pinch grip.

The original style of Blob that Richard trained on has two sides on it that flare outwards much more than later models, and since it has a plumper slope to it, it is often called a Fatman Blob.

Recently having increased the volume and intensity of my grip training in preparation as Alternate for this year’s Mighty Mitts competition, I began training with Blobs to a much higher degree.

I was looking for a way to pack as much volume as possible into my training, while also keeping the loading a difficulty level intense, so I began training for as many successful lifts as possible within a short time, keeping track of how much time passed by placing a clock on the floor. I called this “Gripping Against Time.”

In the videos below, you will see a couple of the ways I turned up the volume on my Blob training.

Fatman Blob Plus 5-lbs for Reps Against Time

One way I like to make Blob Training more challenging is to add weight. You can do this by tying weight plates to a boot string and then draping it over the top of the Blob.

Fatman Cleans for Reps Against Time

In this video, I decided to increase the pull distance with the Fatman by perform cleans for reps instead of just deadlifts.

You can add these methods in your training as well. Take a Block Weight that is not really a test for you anymore and either add weight to it for your slower, grinding reps, or try increasing the pull-distance somehow, whether you go for Cleans like I did or something different like High-Pulls or even loading it to a platform that requires you to pull beyond the basic deadlift lockout position.

These methods will get you strong, so make sure to give these a try.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Improve Hand Strength for Strength Training and Sports

The hands and lower arms are often a forgotten aspect of a well-rounded strength training program, and they also are something that can hold us back from attaining what we want to accomplish if we fail to train them properly.

 

Thick about it this way…

Don’t think hand strength is important in sports?

• Try tackling a player on the football field with weak hands.
• Try holding the basketball in the paint with weak hands or fingers.
• Try maintaining control over your opponent on the wrestling mat without a good grip.

All of these things involve a great deal of general body strength in order to be successful, but if you grip is weak, then you might as well forget about all of them.

The same can be said for pulling movements like the Pull-up and the Deadlift. While both of these movements are mostly limited by the strength of the back and arm muscles, a weak grip will also be a hindrance.

Even pushing movements like Overhead Lifting and the Bench Press can be very affected heavily if you have weak hands.

With all of this in mind, it is important to include Grip Training in your routine regularly.

When speaking of Grip Training, there are several common questions that often come up…

• How much training should I do?
• When does it become too much?
• Should I buy a bunch of equipment in order to train my grip?

These are questions I am asked all the time, but the answers truly come down to what exactly your training goals are. You can’t write one program and have it work for everyone.

Instead, when I work with my clients and coach the the members of my site, The Grip Authority, I try to offer examples of movements and exercises that are high impact, meaning that you get a lot of benefit out of them regardless of your individual training goals.

One High Impact Grip Training Movement is Plate Pinch Around the World’s.

This movement is often overlooked but it is actually a fantastic movement for ANYONE to include in their training.

Here’s why:

1. Open Hand Movement – The best Grip Training movements for complete hand strength involve an open handed position. This is beneficial because since you can’t close your hand around the implement, you have to fire your first two fingers (the strongest ones), the last two fingers (the weakest ones) and the thumb very hard in order to complete the lift.

2. Full Body Engagement – Just as Muscle-ups, Hand Stands, and even Deadlifts require coordinated strength generation from very large portions of the body, so do Around the Worlds. At first glance, this lift may look like something that hits the hands only, but it actually will leave your wrists and forearms, biceps, shoulders, lats, back and glutes tired, if you do it the right way.

3. Endurance Based – Many Grip Training drills involve just picking something off the ground, but Around the World’s are different. With this drill, you have to be ready to put forth effort for anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds, depending on the intensity (% of 1 Rep Maximum) you are training.

4. Bonus! – You probably already have ALL THE EQUIPMENT YOU NEED to do this lift, which means you can save your money and put toward Detailed Grip Training Instruction.

I could go on about why you should do this movement, but instead, let’s look at How to do Around the World’s.

The movement is so named because you will be picking up two plates (from 25 to 45-lbs) positioned together smooth-sides-out in a Pinch Grip (thumb opposing the fingers) and working all the way around the plates.

Below is a video clip of myself and some people who traveled to my location to find out more about Grip Training for a day.

One of the main drills I put them through was Around the World’s, because it requires your whole body to work together as a unit. Observe:

Keys to Watch For:

Full Body Engagement: Notice as you watch the video how the legs and glutes are brought into play in order to transition grips placed on the plates. It is not an easy thing to control 90-lbs in your hands while keeping your body limp! You have to keep your core braced and fire the hips repeatedly in order to propel the plates upwards and shift them around…

Hand Speed: Take note that the movement involves a series of rapid firings of the body and the hands. Transitioning quickly around the circumference of the plates helps you keep moving steadily, while fumbling around will cause you to drop the plates and have to start over.

Concentration: Around the World’s also require hand-eye coordination. You’ve got to make sure you move far enough on the plates to make progress around them, but not too much, because you might miss and drop the plates. Take note that I continually cue the guys to involve the lower body. Newer trainees will become engrossed in executing strength with their hands and forget about keeping the rest of their body active. They will either relax their lower body and crumble or stiffen too much and not get the spring needed.

Loading: One plate combination may be too light for some trainees, while the next one up is too heavy. One easy way to load them further is with chains, as you can see done in the video. Chains are usually incorporated in lifts for the benefit of Accommodating Resistance, but in this case they are used as a way to increase the N-Planar Force demands of the lift, randomizing the movement of the implement.

Execution: Most trainees will be more comfortable executing this lift in just one direction, either clockwise or counter-clockwise. Don’t fall prey to this trap – make sure to work both directions.

As you can see, there is much more to this lift than you may have first thought. This is exactly why I consider it one of my High Impact Grip Training Movements.

Training of this nature no doubt will increase your performance in the Strength Game or with Sports.

If you are serious about strength and performance, then check out The Grip Authority. All aspects of lower arm strength are covered, in order to take your grip strength from being a liability you worry about to being an asset you are glad to have.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

P.S. Have you checked out the Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales? If not take a look right here.

Just about every single product I’ve ever put out is discounted, with several other packages already set up for even further savings.

Don’t waste time though. These sale prices are only available until 10PM EST tonight.

Bored? Need a Jump-Start? Maybe you need some variety…

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You know, when you eat the same peanut butter and jelly sandwich for 7 years, sometimes you want a little grilled ham and cheese for little change of pace.

Today I am going to tell you how I incorporate variety in order to keep my training positive and to keep seeing progress. Maybe this will help you out in your training as well.

For me, my training is heavily based around momentum. What I mean by that is when I have a good day in the gym, I can generally pick up some momentum and have several good workout days ina row.

Momentum, baby!

Sometimes, when the PR Train is running full steam, it can even lead to back-to-back weeks of good workouts in the gym, seeing lots of progress toward where I want to be and I log a lot of PR’s.

If you are not familiar with that term, PR stands for Personal Record. Some people refer to PB’s or Personal Bests. Either way, it means you hit a lift, a feat, or a goal that you never were able to accomplish before.

It might not be the best performance in the world or in your weight class, but it does mean that you out-performed anything you’ve done in the past – and that means it is something you can be proud of.

When you incorporate variety in your training, you are giving yourself the opportunity to set more PR’s.

The way I do this in my training is I constantly find new things to train for, in order to push myself, set new PR’s and keep momentum going in my training.

I did this recently with something called a 56-lb Highland Games Throwing Weight. If you are not familiar with the highland Games, then check out this article by world-class Highland Games competitor, Adriane Blewitt – Introduction to the Highland Games.

In my opinion, one of the coolest events in Highland Games is the 56-lb Throw for Height, and recently one of my friends in Grip Strength, Ben Edwards, put up his 56-lb Weight up for sale. This summer, when the weather is better, I fully plan on going out and practicing some throws for height, but while the ground is still soggy from all of the Spring Rain, I decided I would train to lift it like a Block Weight first.

Add another chapter to Block Weight Lifting: Highland Games Throwing Weights with Handles Attached.

If you’re curious about the measurements of this griplement, it is roughly 6 inches across the flat portion at the top (kind of tough to measure) and about 6.5 inches across the flat base (much easier to measure).

My training success is driven by PR’s. I love setting them. I love lifting new things I never could before. When I am setting new PR’s, it keeps me energized for workouts and can help me get out of ruts when my training is stagnant.

Take note – this is not just something that only I do and it’s not something that works for just Grip Guys. Even AJ Roberts, one of the strongest men in the world and owner of several bench press records does the same thing in his training from time to time. He told me about it in the interview I did with him around this time last year. Put your email address in the box below and you’ll get an email to download it so you can listen to it yourself.

When we interviewed Paul Knight, one of the guys with the best crushing grips in the world, on a recent episode of Grip Strength Radio he said this is one of the concepts that has helped him to build his amazing crushing grip strength, by regularly posing new challenges for himself to try to attain.

Bottom line -this concept works.

In encourage you too look for ways you can implement variety in your training. By adding some slight variety to your training, you can accomplish more individual PR’s which can keep you excited about training and keep the results coming.

To lots of PR’s coming our way,

Jedd

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Learn Everything You Need to Know about Gripper Training,
with CRUSH: Total Gripper Domination.

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Bored? Need a Jump-Start? Maybe you need some variety…

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You know, when you eat the same peanut butter and jelly sandwich for 7 years, sometimes you want a little grilled ham and cheese for little change of pace.
Today I am going to tell you how I incorporate variety in order to keep my training positive and to keep seeing progress. Maybe this will help you out in your training as well.
For me, my training is heavily based around momentum. What I mean by that is when I have a good day in the gym, I can generally pick up some momentum and have several good workout days ina row.
Momentum, baby!

Sometimes, when the PR Train is running full steam, it can even lead to back-to-back weeks of good workouts in the gym, seeing lots of progress toward where I want to be and I log a lot of PR’s.
If you are not familiar with that term, PR stands for Personal Record. Some people refer to PB’s or Personal Bests. Either way, it means you hit a lift, a feat, or a goal that you never were able to accomplish before.
It might not be the best performance in the world or in your weight class, but it does mean that you out-performed anything you’ve done in the past – and that means it is something you can be proud of.
When you incorporate variety in your training, you are giving yourself the opportunity to set more PR’s.
The way I do this in my training is I constantly find new things to train for, in order to push myself, set new PR’s and keep momentum going in my training.
I did this recently with something called a 56-lb Highland Games Throwing Weight. If you are not familiar with the highland Games, then check out this article by world-class Highland Games competitor, Adriane Blewitt – Introduction to the Highland Games.
In my opinion, one of the coolest events in Highland Games is the 56-lb Throw for Height, and recently one of my friends in Grip Strength, Ben Edwards, put up his 56-lb Weight up for sale. This summer, when the weather is better, I fully plan on going out and practicing some throws for height, but while the ground is still soggy from all of the Spring Rain, I decided I would train to lift it like a Block Weight first.

Add another chapter to Block Weight Lifting: Highland Games Throwing Weights with Handles Attached.
If you’re curious about the measurements of this griplement, it is roughly 6 inches across the flat portion at the top (kind of tough to measure) and about 6.5 inches across the flat base (much easier to measure).
My training success is driven by PR’s. I love setting them. I love lifting new things I never could before. When I am setting new PR’s, it keeps me energized for workouts and can help me get out of ruts when my training is stagnant.
Take note – this is not just something that only I do and it’s not something that works for just Grip Guys. Even AJ Roberts, one of the strongest men in the world and owner of several bench press records does the same thing in his training from time to time. He told me about it in the interview I did with him around this time last year. Put your email address in the box below and you’ll get an email to download it so you can listen to it yourself.

When we interviewed Paul Knight, one of the guys with the best crushing grips in the world, on a recent episode of Grip Strength Radio he said this is one of the concepts that has helped him to build his amazing crushing grip strength, by regularly posing new challenges for himself to try to attain.
Bottom line -this concept works.
In encourage you too look for ways you can implement variety in your training. By adding some slight variety to your training, you can accomplish more individual PR’s which can keep you excited about training and keep the results coming.
To lots of PR’s coming our way,
Jedd

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Learn Everything You Need to Know about Gripper Training,
with CRUSH: Total Gripper Domination.

---

Plate Pinching is one of the main forms of testing Pinch Grip Strength. Plate Pinching involves placing two or more plates together so that the outside plates are facing smooth-sides-out, and then lifting them in a Pinch Grip.

I’ve always wanted to be able to Pinch Two 45-lb York Plates. I’ve pinched several sets of 45-lb plates over the years, but pinching two old-school York 45’s is a feat altogether different.

I only know of two Grip Monsters who have ever pinched two old-style York 45-lb plates with one. One is Richard Sorin, shown to the right. I can only imagine how many times he had to pull the feat off so the camera man could get the shot right.

Richard Sorin is probably the only man with a great enough love for strength exploration and pushing ones own limits to even try this feat. If you’ll remember, he is also the originator of the feat of strength and definitive test of open hand strength, pinch grip lifting the Blob, which is a half of a 100-lb Old School York Dumbbell. I have tons of information on that feat of strength here on the site as well if you are a newcomer: What is the Blob?

Aside from Richard, I only know of Chad Woodall as someone who has accomplished this feat.

Slide this video to the 3:00 minute mark and watch Chad stomp a mud hole in two York 45’s:

I watched him do that again at the Sorinex Summer Strong 2011, and almost got it with a pair in each hand on one attempt. He would have been the first person any of us know of to have accomplished that feat, and he was seriously close that day:

So the way I figure it, it is time for someone else to accomplish this feat, so I have put aside all of my other personal grip feat goals and am going to be focusing on this one.

To me, this is a good goal to focus on for many reasons:

1. It is a Pinching Goal, so it will support my other goals within Grip Sport, including the Euro Two Hands Pinch, Grip Medley Demands, etc

2. It is a lofty goal, meaning I feel I am nowhere close to it right now, so it will force me to think, work, and try new things, i.e. Further Challenge My Paradigms.

3. It is Wide Pinch and Open Hand Dependent, which means it involves the same qualities as Block Weight Training, and the same benefits for general hand strength as well.

The long and the short of it is that this feat is world class and I want to do it. Grip Feats are cool, especially when almost no one else in the world can do them.

So, in order to keep myself going on this, I wanted to involve someone else. Daniel Reinard, one of the most impressive newcomers to Grip Sport in the last 5 years in my estimation, is a superstar when it comes to accomplishing feats. For his bodyweight, he just may have the best all-around Pinching ability in the world, so I did what anyone else would have done in my position.

I called him out…politely of course, after all I am a Pennsylvania Gentleman.

Aside from knowing that I want to Pinch Two 45’s so bad I can taste the rust on the old ass plates, I also know that Daniel has his eyes set on pinching two 45’s as well, so I reached out to him to see if he would be interested in an on-line challenge. His goal would be to Pinch Two Regular 45’s – mine would be to Pinch Two Old School York 45’s.

Daniel has accepted, so I went ahead and made this video to show where I am at with this challenge.

As you can see, these Two OSY (Old School York) 45’s barely even stir when I hit them, so this is sure to be an interesting ride. These are so hard to lift because they are very wide and their edges are rounded so any tilting, which would generally make pinching two 45’s easier, makes OSY 45’s slide apart.

Incidentally, in the video above, I have a small section of pipe running through the plates, to keep them from sliding around. I will focus on lifting them like this first, and then graduate to a completely loose pinch of them.

Wish me luck and make sure to subscribe to my channel to see how the training goes.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

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Learn Everything You Need to Know about Gripper Training,
with CRUSH: Total Gripper Domination.

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BLOBZILLA – Laughing at my past attempts to lift him.

If you’ve been reading this site for a while, or following the sport of Grip for a while, then you have heard the name Daniel Reinard.

Daniel Reinard found out about the sport of Grip in 2010 and within less than 2 years has made it his home.

Daniel has accomplished many amazing feats of strength up until this point, including attaining the World Record for the 83-kg class on the Two Hands Pinch at one time, lifting a Fatman Blob in the normal fashion, backwards, and by the face, and he even coined a new Griplement, BLOBZILLA.

You see, after mastering the York Fatman Blob quicker than most people with much more experience and much more bodyweight (Daniel weighs only about 200), Daniel was “looking for a project.”

This project was to be a block weight that would take him several months or even longer to train on in order to accomplish – a true “long range goal.”

Well, Blobzilla, half of a 130-lb York Legacy Blob, proved to be no match for this climber from Southern California either, because within about 2 month’s time, he lifted it as well.

Daniel Reinard Lifts Blobzilla

Daniel was readily posting training videos of his sessions working on Blobzilla and the more I had Blobzilla thrown in my face, the more I knew I had to have one. So I arranged a pick-up of two 130-lb York Dumbbells through my cohort in Braced Bending mischief, Mike Rinderle. He went to York and got them. In the words of Johnny Cash, he went “right up to the factory and picked them up – it’s cheaper that way.” Mike picked them up and even chop-sawed them and shipped them to us. What an awesome guy!

Another perennial Giant in the Block Weight world is Wade Gillingham. He was actually the first person in the U.S. to lift Blobzilla, doing so the first workout he did after receiving it in the mail. He was in on the group that got them along with me.

Another HUGE star of Block Weight Lifting and also Thick Bar Lifting is Laine Snook. He gave the European Kilogram-equivalent version a serious ride, cleaning it to his shoulder with EEEASE. This actually happened many, many months ago, as Laine is an ELITE Block Weight Lifter.

Finally, after several months of having Blobzilla laugh and blow flames in my face, I was able to tame this sucker in my gym, the first workout after the recent Mighty Mitts competition.

Completing this feat on this particular day was totally unexpected. I pretty much brought Blobzilla to the lifting area between lifts, tried to pick it up, and it broke off the floor. I would have been happy just to get that on tape and show some of my friends I was making progress, so I filmed it and pulled it off the ground a few inches with each hand.

That was when I knew it just might be the day for a Blobzilla showdown.

I had just finished several months of INTENSE thick bar training for Mighty Mitts with very little work on Blobzilla the last few weeks as I was passing through a high specialization phase of my training.

Here are the videos showing how it all came to be…

My First Ever Full Lift of Blobzilla

Several years ago, I was told by someone who doesn’t even train Grip anymore that “going off” like this was unprofessional. Well, I am sorry, but if this offends anybody they are just going to have to get used to it.

About a year ago I suffered an injury that I wasn’t sure I would ever come back from. It kept me from competing in Mighty Mitts 2011 and I was unsure of whether I’d ever be top-form again. Grip Training is my favorite part of of training and I do it to push myself to higher and harder goals. And after all these years, big PR’s like this come fewer and farther between.

The training and the constantly dealing with failure for weeks, months and sometimes years at a time can get down right emotionally draining, so when something big like this finally happens, I am NOT ever going to restrain myself again. To me, accomplishing something like this is damn close to winning the lottery, so shoot me if I carry on like a lunatic when I finally succeed.

First Time Lifting Blobzilla Lefty

It’s always more impressive when you can do a feat with each hand, so I was again extremely excited when I was able to lift Blobzilla lefty as well.

Comparing Blobzilla to Other Blobs and Blob-like Implements

This video shows you just way Blobzilla is so damn tough to lift. To be 100% honest, I originally thought this feat would be fairly easy, due to the flat side for the thumb, but when 65-lbs bulges out on the finger side like this one does, it makes for a damn tough feat.

One of the comments I got when I posted this at Gripboard.com was that it reminded them of my first Red Nail Bend from 2004 and my first Blob Face Lift from 2006, where I obviously blew up on camera and went nuts. I never thought about it that way.

Pretty much the only time I have “let myself go” on big feats the last few years has been when breaking the Two Hands Pinch Record. Other than that, I have been locked in this “stay professional no matter what” mode that I was told was more appropriate.

Well, it isn’t going to be like that anymore. To me, lifting is something I do to enjoy. No matter how many partners come and go, how much distance keeps good friends from visiting, or how much I would rather stay home to train than miss time with my little girl, nothing will stop me from enjoying my grip training, and when big sh*t like this goes down, don’t stop the clip – you might just see a madman speaking in gibberish, cutting promo’s, clotheslining training partners, and slapping benches.

If that kind of emotion doesn’t seem professional to you, then I guess you won’t enjoy my PR videos.

Now, there are still a handful of other people who own Blobzillas in the US (and there may be more soon), so there will be more guys who tame the York Beast with time: Paul Knight, Fernando Rodriguez, Andy Thomas, and Russ Farver all own Blobzillas, so it is really just a matter of time.

I can’t wait to see the videos.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

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Did you see the sale going on this week on Home Made Strength II? Don’t miss out – click the image below.

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Various Blobs in Richard Sorin’s personal collection. (L to R) The first Blob, The first Blob’s sister head, and the Blue Blob.

Fatman Blobs & Next Generation Blobs

As I have covered here many times in other posts, the Blob is one of the most exciting types of Block Weights available with which to train.

Popularity + Scarcity = Big $$$

Their popularity growth, combined with their scarcity, has generated some pretty amazing prices in recent transactions that I have become aware of.

Unfortunately, any time you have something with a training benefit, and a collector’s value, there will be people who will do one of the following things:

1. They will claim to have something they don’t and try to charge too much money on purpose

2. They will think they have something they actually don’t and charge too much money by accident

I have heard of cases where people were told they would be buying a Fatman Blob, but in actuality, they end up with a Next Generation Blob and are extremely pissed off.

I have also been asked countless times what the difference is between a Fatman Blob and a Next Generation Blob. So I put together this short and simple video that will show you the easiest way to tell whether or not the dumbbell in question is an old York that will produce Fatman Blobs or Next Generation Blobs.

How to Tell the Difference Between Fatman and Next Generation Blobs

Next Generation vs. Fatman Blob

This is the absolute quickest way to tell if a York Dumbbell is the original style (Fatman) or the Next Generation variety – the USA stamping on the York head. If you see it, it’s NOT a FATMAN!. If it is blank on that side, the it is a FATMAN.

The numbered side means nothing. The number side will not have the stamp, so if you are thinking of making a purchase, this is the quickest way to tell.

Aside from the USA stamp, there is also a difference in handle size that if you have a micrometer, you can check for. The Original Style Fatman York Dumbbells will have a handle that is roughly 1/16″ smaller in diameter than the Next Generation Blobs. So, if you have a tape measure handy, you can check this way as well.

If you have no tape measure, and the York side is not present, it is going to be tough for you to tell which type of Blob it is. The only other way to really go about doing it is by feel. On the Next Generation Blob, the side of the Blob that had the handle in it will be a bit flatter than that same side of a Fatman. This is why the Original Style Blob is called the Fatman, because it bulges more than the Next Generation Blob.

There is also an even more rare type of Blob out there, called the Blue Blob. I have only ever seen one of these at Richard Sorin’s Srinex Facility. It is an obvious blue shade, so there is no reason to turn this dumbbell over to look.

So, in review, this is what to look for:

1. On the York side, if it says USA on the bottom, it is Next generation. No USA, then it is an Original-style Fatman Blob.

2. If the handle side is slightly smaller than another Blob of the same weight, it is most likely the Fatman variety.

3. If the handle side of the head bulges more, the it is a Fatman.

I hope this has been helpful for you to tell exactly what it is you might have, and also in case you are posed with a possible purchase sometime down the line.

Got a Blob?

Got a Fatman, Blue Blob, or Next generation Blob? I want to do a post down the line called Blobs Around the World! Get a picture of yourself lifting the Blob, just holding the Blob, your Blob collection, etc., and I will post it up here.

Send me your pictures by February 28th and I will have the post up the week of March 5th. Also include a 100-word description or so telling us how you got your Blob and any other cool training stories.

Thanks and all the best in your training.

Jedd

You’ve heard the expression, “They don’t make ’em like that anymore.”

York Dumbbells, with their pull-shaped heads, resemble that remark very well, but many do not realize that it also describes some of their styles of lifting plates as well.

Multiple times over the last few weeks I have been contacted regarding the thickness of York Barbell plates. York plates are a popular style of plate, especially the older vintage designs.

Some of those who have contacted me live overseas and have not had the opportunity to purchase or train with York plates, so they wanted to know the thickness of pairs of the plates in order to be able to craft pinching blocks of the proper thickness in order to train for lifting them.

So, I went down to the gym this weekend and captured on film the size of a pair of 25’s and a pair of 45’s for those interested in this kind of information.

In this video you will see the measurements of the York Barbell 25- and 45-lb plates I have in my gym.

While I am at it, I thought I’d make mention of a couple of other traits about York barbell plates, especially how they relate to Grip Training.

York 25 Pound Plates

I have 4 York 25-lb plates. Of them, 3 have very heavy machining marks on the flat sides, while 1 is almost devoid of machining. Of all of the 25-lb plates that I own, the Yorks are by far the thinnest. I did not get the thickness of some of the other styles of 25’s I have, but there is a substantial difference. This difference in size and the texture of the machining on the plates combine to make a tremendous difference in difficulty between them when trying to pinch lift them.

For instance, a common for of Grip Training is Plate Pinching. This involves positioning 2 or more plates together so that their smooth sides point out. You then place your thumb on one side and the fingers on the other in a pinching grip and try to deadlift them.

You can perform Plate Pinching with pretty much any combination of plates. From pairs of plates like 2-10’s, 2-25’s, 2-35’s, and up to 2-45’s. If you can pinch two 45’s, be proud. Be damn proud.

Of course, you can also try other plate combinations, such as 3-25’s. This is a pretty elite Pinch Feat. However, with York 25’s, at least with the 25’s that I have, the texture on the plates is so prominent, I would estimate it reduces the impressiveness of the feat by at least 15% to 20%. The machining, plus the rust from use over time just gives you a better grip on the plates, not to mention how narrow they are. If you are close to pinching 3-25’s on wider and slicker plates, I bet you could probably pinch grip a set of 3-25’s from York, especially if they look like mine.

York 45 Pound Plates

As I said above, you should be proud of your pinching power if you can pinch two 45-lb plates with one hand. This is a hell of a feat of Pinching Strength. There are two main reasons why pinching 2-45’s from York Barbell is so awesome.

First off, York 45’s are much wider than two 45-pound plates from other companies’. I have combinations of 45’s where 3 of them are roughly the same size as two of the York 45-pounders. Width in pinching can make a pretty substantial difference because it requires the thumb to do a lot more work. Often, Gripsters have a sort of “sweet spot” that they they like for pinching. Narrower than that sweet spot is usually ok, because they can deal with it and their numbers don’t suffer too much, but get out wider and the numbers can really plummet, especially in one-hand lifts.

The other factor that makes two York 45’s so hard to pinch is the rounded edges of the rims of the plates. Because these points are not squared off, when you try to pinch them together, they automatically want to slide if the plates are tilted even just a few degrees. Once they start sliding, it is over and by tilting plates slightly you can engage more wrist and fingers in the lift and take some pressure off the thumbs. This is not an option when using two York 45’s.

So, as you can see, York barbell plates are a different style of plate altogether, presenting additional challenges in some ways while being easier in other ways, but regardless of the advantages/disadvantages they are still a prized possession for many people, myself included.

Got more questions? I’ll shoot a video or answer it in my newsletter. Make sure to sign up for updates today.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

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I would be doing you all a disservice by not posting this video.

Prepare to be blown away by the most amazing Euro Pinch Set-up ever designed, owned by the Texas White Boy Rapper, Paul “Up All Night” Knight and Certified Red Nail Bender and Horseshoe Bending Pioneer, Eric “The Pointed Goatee” Milfeld.

Now, if you are clueless as to what the heck is going on with this video, let me point a few things out.

In Grip, everything is weighed to precise measurements in order to calculate exactly how much is being weighed. So, we don’t just count 4-25’s as 100-lbs. In reality, each plate is most likely off by a few ounces, so we either take our plates to a post office or we calibrate a scale we own against another calibrated scale and we identify the exact weight of each plate.

For instance, if you saw all of my plates that are used in competitions here, you will see that each one of them has a number on it and it has the weight in pounds and ounces. So, a certain 25-lb plate might be marked with the number 17 and have 24 – 14.4 on it. That means that this specific plate was identified as being weight number 17 and it weighs 24-lbs, 14.4-oz. I then log that into an Excel spreadsheet and am able to calculate exactly how much weight is being lifted on each attempt.

What Eric Milfeld and Paul Knight have done is they have modified the internal rubber inserts so that the base apparatus weighs exactly 38 kilos, so they are starting with a nice round number each time. If you are doing everything on paper, which some do, this can make it a lot easier to count everything up. Normally adding things up on paper is a giant pain in the ass, but Eric and Paul have also gone to the expense of purchasing calibrated lifting plates, so they are dealing with a series of nice round numbers, instead of having to add up 2 to 4 decimal places on a sheet of paper – AWESOME!

Why a fiberglass cross-bar you might ask? In the past everything from rulers to elastic cord to steel bars have been used for the corss-bar or stick. Each material has it’s own benefits and risks. For instance, we used a long metal ruler one year for our stick. Everything was awesome until John Mannino missed an attempt and got fired up about it and pushed down on the metal ruler and bent it.

In 2008, I traveled 8 hours to compete in a Grip Contest and had the World Record weighton the apparatus. Thee “stick” cross-bar being used was made of either steel or possible lead or some other extremely heavy material. Also, Dave “The Genius” Memont failed to secure the front loading collar like a man. He must have hands like a bitch, because he did not compete in the contest. You are only a cool promoter if you promote and lift in the contest. The result of the loose front collar and the ultra-heavy cross-bar was that the weights ended up falling off on my World Record attempt and my lift was disqualified.

One of many times it just wasn’t “meant to be.”

By using the fiberlass cross-bar, Mannino can press down on it as hard as he wants to and it appears it will retain its natural shape. Also, it looks to be so light that it will not interfere in the pull-to-height or angle of the loading pipe.

Many other things are intriguing about the Texas Fella’s Euro Set-up. They are using a solid steel loading bar. It will be interesting to see how numbers are affected by using an implement with such a heavy loading bar. Will it make tilting easier or more difficult? Will the length play a factor? Will plates loaded on the bar take up so much acreage that only a nub of it will be jutting out from the plates? It will be interesting to see, as well, how the size of the plates being used affect tilt as well.

In the end, without a doubt this is definitely the most Pimped out Euro-Pinch in existence. Paul and Eric truly love the sport to invest that much money into it. Eleiko calibrated plates are not cheap, no matter where you buy them, and the rest of the set-up right down to the collars and the bull-nose shaping of the stainless steel loading bar were all appreciable expenses tambien.

My hat is off to these two for being a good example of taking pride in the sport of Grip, as well as showmanship and playing to the power of social media by cutting up a classic like this for all to see and share.

I do think Paul’s little raps could have been better if done with a fat lip of Copenhagen, and with Eric Milfeld scratching a record or doing beat-box off to the side, perhaps next to the fern int he garage.

All the best in your training and Happy New Year to you!

Jedd

I would be doing you all a disservice by not posting this video.
Prepare to be blown away by the most amazing Euro Pinch Set-up ever designed, owned by the Texas White Boy Rapper, Paul “Up All Night” Knight and Certified Red Nail Bender and Horseshoe Bending Pioneer, Eric “The Pointed Goatee” Milfeld.

Now, if you are clueless as to what the heck is going on with this video, let me point a few things out.
In Grip, everything is weighed to precise measurements in order to calculate exactly how much is being weighed. So, we don’t just count 4-25’s as 100-lbs. In reality, each plate is most likely off by a few ounces, so we either take our plates to a post office or we calibrate a scale we own against another calibrated scale and we identify the exact weight of each plate.
For instance, if you saw all of my plates that are used in competitions here, you will see that each one of them has a number on it and it has the weight in pounds and ounces. So, a certain 25-lb plate might be marked with the number 17 and have 24 – 14.4 on it. That means that this specific plate was identified as being weight number 17 and it weighs 24-lbs, 14.4-oz. I then log that into an Excel spreadsheet and am able to calculate exactly how much weight is being lifted on each attempt.
What Eric Milfeld and Paul Knight have done is they have modified the internal rubber inserts so that the base apparatus weighs exactly 38 kilos, so they are starting with a nice round number each time. If you are doing everything on paper, which some do, this can make it a lot easier to count everything up. Normally adding things up on paper is a giant pain in the ass, but Eric and Paul have also gone to the expense of purchasing calibrated lifting plates, so they are dealing with a series of nice round numbers, instead of having to add up 2 to 4 decimal places on a sheet of paper – AWESOME!
Why a fiberglass cross-bar you might ask? In the past everything from rulers to elastic cord to steel bars have been used for the corss-bar or stick. Each material has it’s own benefits and risks. For instance, we used a long metal ruler one year for our stick. Everything was awesome until John Mannino missed an attempt and got fired up about it and pushed down on the metal ruler and bent it.
In 2008, I traveled 8 hours to compete in a Grip Contest and had the World Record weighton the apparatus. Thee “stick” cross-bar being used was made of either steel or possible lead or some other extremely heavy material. Also, Dave “The Genius” Memont failed to secure the front loading collar like a man. He must have hands like a bitch, because he did not compete in the contest. You are only a cool promoter if you promote and lift in the contest. The result of the loose front collar and the ultra-heavy cross-bar was that the weights ended up falling off on my World Record attempt and my lift was disqualified.

One of many times it just wasn’t “meant to be.”
By using the fiberlass cross-bar, Mannino can press down on it as hard as he wants to and it appears it will retain its natural shape. Also, it looks to be so light that it will not interfere in the pull-to-height or angle of the loading pipe.
Many other things are intriguing about the Texas Fella’s Euro Set-up. They are using a solid steel loading bar. It will be interesting to see how numbers are affected by using an implement with such a heavy loading bar. Will it make tilting easier or more difficult? Will the length play a factor? Will plates loaded on the bar take up so much acreage that only a nub of it will be jutting out from the plates? It will be interesting to see, as well, how the size of the plates being used affect tilt as well.
In the end, without a doubt this is definitely the most Pimped out Euro-Pinch in existence. Paul and Eric truly love the sport to invest that much money into it. Eleiko calibrated plates are not cheap, no matter where you buy them, and the rest of the set-up right down to the collars and the bull-nose shaping of the stainless steel loading bar were all appreciable expenses tambien.
My hat is off to these two for being a good example of taking pride in the sport of Grip, as well as showmanship and playing to the power of social media by cutting up a classic like this for all to see and share.
I do think Paul’s little raps could have been better if done with a fat lip of Copenhagen, and with Eric Milfeld scratching a record or doing beat-box off to the side, perhaps next to the fern int he garage.
All the best in your training and Happy New Year to you!
Jedd

I’ve recently come to know that some people do not realize that I run another website called The Grip Authority, so I wanted to make a post here to talk about what the Grip Authority is, what you can find there, and also to share some feedback I have gotten from some of my subscribers I work with there.

The Grip Authority originally started out as a page where we talked about the benefits of Grip Strength training, since back when we first started speaking at seminars no one really knew what Grip was or why it would be important to talk about training for hand strength.

Now, fast forward about 8 years and all kinds of sites speak specifically about Grip Training and why it is important to do so.

Unfortunately, many of those sites provide the same recycled content, advice and exercises.

In the summer of 2009, I decided I was going to take Grip Strength instruction, Feat of Strength execution, and Grip Sport Preparation to a whole other level and began plans for turning the Grip Authority website into an affordable monthly membership site for those who wanted to work with me toward their goals.

I launched The Grip Authority in January of 2010. Since then I have covered a wide variety of topics that have included very common topics such as Gripper Training, Nail and Steel Bending, and many varieties of Pinch Training, plus other lesser known types of training such as Anvil Lifting.

Nearly 100% of the content I provide is by request of the subscribers in one way or another. For instance, with each new member, I ask them for their top three goals and with this information, I am able to provide content for them that will help them accomplish what they want to where Grip Strength is concerned.

For example, one of my most recent subscribers is a woman trainer from California who is gunning for the Big 6 Feats of Strength: Braced Bending, Non-braced Bending, Phonebooks, Cards, Horseshoes, & Nail Driving. I am preparing a coaching video specifically for her on her short steel non-braced bending technique.

Another feature that I have begun including on a monthly basis is a coaching call recording. I take questions from the members throughout the month and compile them for an mp3 that the members can download and listen to at their convenience. It’s all about helping them attain their goals.

TGA has very little Hair Metal content, unfortunately…

Now, not all of the stuff is made in direct response to what the members are looking for. Sometimes, I bring reports back from trips I take or seminars I do and share my experience, especially if I am training with someone and a technique I use is an eye-opener for them.

For instance, in a trip I took in July of this year, I was swapping stories with Richard Sorin and showing him some stuff with the Blob. I showed him some hand placement and training techniques that I use with Blob and Block Weight Training and afterwards Richard said, “I just learned more in 15 minutes about Grip Training that I have learned in the last 15 years.”

That was an awesome trip that I enjoyed immensely and to hear that I impressed the original Blob lifter with my knowledge made me feel great, so I instantly came back from that trip and shot video of the same techniques I shared with him and I called it “Things I Taught Richard Sorin,” so that my subscribers could benefit from it and put it from action.

I got some feedback on that segment from one of the members, Rick Giese, shortly after posting that segment.

“Just wanted to let you know that your “things I taught Richard Sorin” videos

added a lot of strength to my left hand block weight training. Thanks man,

good stuff, simple yet very effective. Rick Giese”

This has proven to be a huge topic over time, because Block Weight Training is major aspect of many people’s training. Block Weight Training is one of the most beneficial (and yet simple) forms of Grip Training, and there are some things you can do to get a bit better grip on a Block Weight. This can lead to doing a few more reps in Block Weight Deadlifts or Cleans and can really increase your results.

Another of my most recent subscribers, Kyle Lapinsky, said after just a few days of being on the site:

“Some good news – I picked up my 40lb blob today in both hands.

Something I couldn’t do until I signed up on your site. I’m also a lot

closer to closing my #3 COC.”

If you are looking to improve your grip, I can help you get there. You can join today for just $7 at http://www.thegripauthority.com.

By now, I have nearly 100 posts on various topics and am able to get people jump-started toward their goals because I keep things much more organized these days. I also started a Private TGA group on Facebook a few months ago for the members to be able to react with one another, share PR’s they’ve accomplished, send in questions for coaching calls, and discuss training topics.

It remains a work in progress, but I am very happy with how it has progressed as well as how much I’ve been able to help people improve.

If you’d like to check it out you can sign up for a 10-day trial at http://www.thegripauthority.com.

Looking forward to working with you towards attaining your goals.

Jedd

The video below shows the first time I ever lifted the Blob by the Face.

The Blob Face Lift Grip Position

Lifting the Blob by the Face, or a Face Lift, involves turning the Blob over so that you must spread the fingers out and hook over the edge in order to lift it (as shown above).

This feat, for me, was something that I had to work long and hard on. Aside from specifically training on the Blob, in order to train my hand to be strong out in that position, I also taped a 25-lb plate to the bottom of an old rusty brake rotor. Once that got too easy, I put duct tape around the gripping edge of the rotor in order to make it tougher.

Still, even with a consistent training approach, it took me a very long time to be able to do this feat, so when it came up, I was pretty excited.

If this is the first time you’ve seen this crazy PR video, let me explain what is going on.

I am a HUGE wrestling fan and love watching old wrestling from the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s. I have a sizeable collection of Classic Wrestling Videos, and I am always trying to expand it.

One of my favorites from this era was the Ultimate Warrior, and he was FAMOUS for cutting insane promos.

Here is an example of some of his promos. As you watch, check out the 0:44 to 1:04 section, as this will be fairly similar to what I say in my video clip.

I was watching a LOT of Ultimate Warrior stuff during the time this video was shot, which I’d estimate to be January 2005, because my hair is short and I am wearing the beard that Triple H eventually stole from me.

Obviously, I didn’t spout the promo as a word for word match to what the Ultimate Warrior said, but I don’t think Ultimate Warrior even used to get the right word-for-word himself.

As you can tell, I had tons of support from my buddy, Brad Martin, whom you can hear slaying the cheers. It’s hard NOT to perform well in that kind of an environment. Boy, do I miss those days…

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year, all!

All the best in your training,

Jedd

One of the best forms of Grip Training you can do is Block Weight Training. This is a type of Grip Training I do every single week, no matter what my goals are. Over the years I have amassed a phenomenal collection of different Block Weights, and I feel they have played a huge part in my consistent Grip Strength development.

What is a Block Weight?

To my knowledge, the term “Block Weight” was first coined by John Brookfield to describe a single head of a dumbbell. However, any block-shaped device you can get your hand on can be used as a Block Weight and can be used to build fantastic grip strength.

Types of Block Weights

Blobs
There are many type of Blobs…

• Fatman Blob: Original Style York Blob
• Blue Blob: Slightly different shaped Blob between Original Style and Next Generation
• Next Generation Blob: Still narrower version of York Blobs
• Legacy Blob: Current version of Blobs being sold at York Barbell
• Blob 50: Replicas of Blobs produced in the mid 2000’s by Gordon Vizecki. Excellent accurate representations of the Blob simulated

Hex Heads
These are heads from dumbbells that have been cut off or have broken off. Despirte all the attention Blob-like implements are given, Hex Blocks will do just as much for you in the way of building grip strength.

Inverted Dumbbells
These are intact dumbbells that are stood up on one head and then lifted by the elevated head. This form of training is rarely talked about, but is extremely beneficial.

Scale Weights
Fairly rare, scale are used for scale calibration purposes and must meet strict weight requirements in industry, and so they carry a hefty price tag. The great thing about scale weights is they offer multiple gripping positions and surfaces, and can be used for building other grip strength disciplines, such as supporting, crushing, and hybrid grip movements.

Slabs / Chunks
These are just about everything else that resembles a block weight, but most likely did not serve a purpose for lifting or strength training beforehand. For instance, slabs and chunks might be stubs from other industrial purposes that were left over from other projects.

As you can see, there are many types of Block Weights, but there is actually one more type of Block Weight that I have in my collection that I have not given as much time here on the site. It is called the Fatman Clone.

Fatman Clone

The Fatman Clone is a replica block weight which was made by casting a mold of an original Fatman Blob. These were first produced at the end of 2008 and I obtained mine at the beginning of 2009. Chris Bowman had a small number of them made, but since then they have not been made again, because of the price to produce them. I am actually not even sure how many of the Clones were produced. I do know that Dave Thornton got one, and I believe Chris still has one in his possession. They are a very rare piece of equipment, indeed.

Clone Statistics

Weight
While the Fatman Clone was made from a cast of a Fatman, they have proven to often be larger than Fatman Blobs. My Clone weighs 59-lb on my bathroom scale, heavier than any Fatman I have ever heard of.

Shape
Also, the one that Dave Thornton has ended up having a large bulge in it, making it very tough to lift by the top and its texture on the bottom makes it easier to lift. The Shape of mine is reasonable though.

In fact, the Clone I have is much more difficult to lift than any other York Blob or Blob 50 I have attempted. It is so difficult that it has been nearly a year since I last lifted it.

You see, sometimes, when you train for feats of Grip Strength, you are not able to do them all of the time. You might have a good day where you can lift something over and over, and then it can be months before you can do it again. You might put several weeks in on a particular goal, accomplish it, and then move on to another goal and not come back to the previous one for a while. This is what happened to me with the Clone the last time – my focus changed to something else and I did not spend much time trying to lift the Clone.

Lifting the Fatman Clone

So I pulled out the Fatman Clone a few nights ago after a long, slow, struggle of a workout.

I tried three times with the right and three times with the left to lift the Clone, but my best was hopping it off the ground a couple of inches.

After trying several times to get it but not having any luck, I shut off the heater, put most of my stuff away, and went out to the car to turn off the satellite radio.

All of a sudden, I felt like I had one more shot in me. I was like my gut was trying to be Mickey in Rocky 5, and telling me to get back up you son of a bitch, meaning to go back in there and give it one more shot before heading back upstairs and calling it a night.

So I came back inside, threw my trusty blue carhart jacket on that I call Mister PR, and gave it a try.

I have been watching a lot of late 80’s and early 90’s WWF wrestling lately, and one of the latest tapes had Jimmy Snuka, where he wore boots for a while and barked into the crowd, so I started doing something similar, as you will see in the video below.

I guess what this all means is that sometimes you have just one more good attempt in the tank. If it feels like it, trust your gut and go after it!

If I would have listened to my head that was telling me to stop and call it a night instead of my gut that was saying I had one more left, I would have have lifted this giant hunk of iron.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

       

I like to periodically set up new conquests in my training – new short term challenges to attain, especially in Block Weight Lifting, which is probably my most favorite type of training in the Grip World.

I recently heard about a Gigantic Block Weight that Odd Haugen had lifted. If you don’t know Odd, he is a Pro Strongman competitor that has been in the WSH qualifiers and finals. He has also competed at Mighty Mitts the last two years and has an awesome Grip.

I wrote Odd to find out more about this monstrous block weight and he told me he would send me one to work on.

I asked him if he had named it and he said he hadn’t but why not the Iron Grip Monster?

Sounds fitting to me, because this thing is huge.

Iron Grip Monster

Check out some of the measurements and specs on this piece:

• Half 125-lb Dumbbell
• Rubber Coated, but very slick from years of wear.
• +/- 5 5/8 inches across the sides
• +/- 7 5/8 inches across the face
• Sick laugh like Vincent Price every time someone tries to lift it and fails.

Here are the three sessions I have done, going for a lift of the Iron Grip Monster.

Unveiling the Iron Grip Monster

Second Session Working on the Iron Grip Monster

Near Lift and Measurements of the Iron Grip Monster

As you can see, the name Iron Grip Monster is no hyperbole – this thing is for real. It might take me another session or two to lift it, but I have it squarely in my sights and it will go up!

What Grip Goals are you working on? Leave a comment in the box below.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

ON SALE 50% OFF UNTIL 10/28/2011 AT MIDNIGHT

I recently got this note from Rob Russell about a charity event he is holding very soon. It sounds like it’ not only going to be awesome, but very challenging as well. Check it out and please give if you can. I have donated a couple of ebooks, the Nail Bending eBook and the Card Tearing eBook.

Jedd, I love challenges and the tougher the better! I’ve been training for many years now and been down just about every avenue possible.

Over the last 7 years I’ve taken up many forms of non-conventional training, kettlebells mainly, along with strongman, maces, sandbags, grip training and over the last 2 years heavy sledgehammer training.

The first person I ever saw swinging a heavy sledgehammer was John Brookfield, it looked so brutal I knew I had to get one of my own (a 25kg one to be precise). Initially training with it was really hard, until I learned the technique and shortened the handle. In 2009 I was inspired by kettlebell and sledgehammer fanatic Stepf Dogman to go for a 1 hour sledgehammer challenge after seeing this guy weighing in at only 69kg strike a tire 520 times with a 20kg hammer. I managed 791 reps on my first challenge for a charity that I support.

October 15th sees me return aiming to break the 1000 rep barrier (that’s roughly 17 strikes/min). I have been training since May and racked up over 13,000 strikes over nearly 60 sessions. The basis of my training has been 10 min sessions 3 times per week, setting off at 10 reps/min increasing by 1 rep per week until I hit 20 reps/min for 10 mins then I started upping the length of my sessions. I knew 1000 reps was going to be a tall order so I thought starting early would get me a great base to work from.

The carryover from hammer training to repetition snatching has been great too, I recently did a new best in the 24kg 10 min snatch test with 252 reps without any specific kettlebell work, it has also done a great deal for my grip strength (my hammer handle is nearly 2″ thick). The best thing about the training I have been doing is that it’s all been done in my half hour lunch break at work. It’s resulted in being a bit sweaty at work but really gives you a physical and mental boost for the afternoon and allowed me to do other training in the evenings.

My event on the 15th October is for Charity and to boost fundraising I have written my first ebook – ‘Unconventional Conditioning,’ a 45 page book packed with many videos, tips for training and program ideas.

To get hold of this ebook and be entered into a raffle for some strength and fitness goodies I am asking for a 2GBP minimum donation on my nation on my Just Giving Page.

Rob Russell

Thanks Rob! This event sounds AWESOME. I can’t imagine how brutally strong your hands, wrists and thumbs are getting from swinging the sledgehammer for such high volume. I know when I take my sledgehammer outside to swing it, my thumbs blow up like hot water bottles. All the best to you with your event – – Jedd

As I’ve said before, I can’t say enough how appreciative I am that so many years ago Richard Sorin had the balls enough to challenge himself to lift a dumbbell head off a broken 100-lb York Dumbbell, which he lovingly called the Blob.

After learning about this, Blob and Block Weight lifting have been the most fun types of training I have done over the course of the last almost ten years.

Block Weights

Block Weights, by definition, are any block-shaped weight that can be used for wide open hand pinch training. Here are a few types of Block Weights:

• Blobs (Fatmans, Next Gen’s, Legacy’s, Blob50’s, etc)
• Dumbbell Heads (severed, broken or cut heads of a dumbbell, especially Hex Blocks)
• Chunks (pieces of iron, steel or stone that are shaped like Blobs/Block Weights)
• Globs (dumbbell heads from globe-shaped dumbbells)
• Scale Weights (block-shaped weights with handles used in industry for calibrating scales)
• Weight Plates (somehow attached to form a solid structure, i.e. 6-tens duct taped together)
• Dumbbells (inverted and lifted by the ends)

To illustrate some of these types of Block Weights, aside from just York Blob implements, check out the following video.

My Block Weight Collection (circa Sept. 2009)

As Original-style Fatman Blobs and Next Generation Blobs become harder and harder to find, it has become much more common to see people training their wide open hand pinch with other types of Block Weights, especially Hex Blocks.

Since making the above video, I have continued to expand my Block Weight collection.

I recently expanded my collection once again, adding another half 120-lb dumbbell Hex Block. This one was sent to me by a pro wrestler named PITT from the Carolina region. You have seen PITT before. He has submitted many videos for the Diesel Grip Strength Challenge.

The new Hex Block came in this week. So I immediately attacked it and applied Napalm Theory #1 to it – MISSES ARE JUST WARM-UPS.

Half 120-lb Hex Block Lift

Click to get the = > Free Grip Strength Program

Here’s a funny story – PITT sent this to me in a Flat Rate Box, but he emailed me and told me that just in case the mailer box broke, he first encased the Block in an old car battery box with a note on it, saying “If found, deliver to Jedd Johnson, the guy with the coolest beard in Grip,” or something along those lines.

Sure enough, the only thing I received was the car battery box, the note, and the Block Weight. Had he not put it in the internal box with extra duct tape and the note, I might never have gotten this block weight, so make sure you do something similar if you plan on shipping anything heavy like this in the future.

I plan on continuing to expand my Blob and Block Weight collection. I am on the look-out for my own Original Style Fatman Blob, more Hexes as they come, chunks, and I also really want to start getting more Hex Head Dumbbells to pinch by the head, inverted style. I find some of these to be even tougher to Pinch Lift than some cut-off hex-head block weights.

If you get the opportunity to add Block Weights to your collection, DO IT. This type of training is beneficial for open hand grip strength, regardless of whether it is a York, Hex, or other piece.

Also, if you have any cool Block Weights in your collection, I’d love to see them. Take some pics or upload a video to YouTube and send it to me with a write-up.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

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Hello DIESELS!

Earlier this week, I posted a video of myself doing my second ever Double Inch Dumbbell Deadlift, and first one I was able to get on film. (Thanks to everyone who dropped a comment of congratulations!)

What I wanted to do was cover a few things that I have been doing to work towards developing the grip strength to do this feat after so many years of training on the Inch.

Sometimes when you work on something for years, you can get complacent, which I think I have been doing for a while, but by thinking outside the box and using some OUTLAW strategies, I am starting to see progress I am happy with.

I have really been wanting to do this feat for quite some time and last Winter I really started working my ass off to get it done. I implemented the following things on a routine basis to spend more time in the open hand position.

1. Nearly All Pull-ups on Rolling Thunders, Often with Weight Added

I generally do pull-ups every single week on my back days, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to work in more open-handed training.

Remember, the SAID principle, which is used in the Strength and Conditioning Field…

Specific
Adaptations
(to)
Imposed
Demands

What this means is your body will get better doing at what you throw at it. Since, the Inch Dumbbell is a thick bar implement, there is open hand grip strength cross-over from using RT’s for pull-ups.

Normally, I do pull-ups on RT’s in the rep-range of 8 to 12 reps, but I don’t have any of those video, so I posted this clip where I do a single with a 95-lb KB hanging from my waist.

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2. Lots of Suitcase Inch Dumbbell Lifts

There are three main ways to pick up the Inch Dumbbell: Straddled with the wrist in neutral, Straddled with the wrist pronated, and Suitcase-style, positioned outside the feet. For me, Straddled + Neutral is the easiest way for me to lift the Inch, Straddled + Pronated lies in the middle and I historically STRUGGLE to even lift it.

Since a Farmer’s Walk with the Inch Dumbbell would require picking the dumbbells up in a Suitcase Position, I have been doing a lot of work lifting the Inch outside my body.

Here is a clip from video where I was just plain dominating the Suitcase Deadlift with the Inch Dumbbell.

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3. Inch Dumbbell Hustle Lifts

The last thing I have been doing a lot of recently is what I call Hustles. I started doing these primarily because I wanted to develop the grip strength necessary to be able to lift the Inch in a hurry for medleys. I found very quickly that this method left my fingers and thumb MUCH more tired the next day, so I have continued doing them.

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You might be asking yourself…

How Do I Apply This Information to My Training?

Most of you do not have an Inch Dumbbell Replica so you may be wondering how this can be applied to your training. Let me explain a few ways.

1. Try incorporating your goal implement or something very similar into other methods of your training. For instance, if your goal is to develop the hand strength to pinch two 45’s, you could try performing rows or shrugs while pinching something of a similar size (SAID Principle)

2. Try modifying the position from which you lift the implement. If you are working toward developing the grip strength to lift the Blob, then take note of how you usually set up to make your attempts. You can move the Blob outside of your body, like a Suitcase Deadlift, or you could change the distance you pull the implement, among other position changes.

3. Try working with a less-than-optimal set-up. Normally when I lift the Inch, I make sure to synch my grip in tight. By not doing this, it make the lift a small percentage more difficult. This can be applied to any grip strength feats, even Grippers. Don’t take the time to get the set perfect every time. Rush it a bit or even purposely leave a finger off…

These tactics have all seemed to work pretty well for me. They represent the great majority of work I have done to improve performance on the Inch.

If you want to build your own Loadable Thick Bar Handle, I can show you how to make one for about $7 or so. Just check out my On-line DVD, Home Made Strength II and I will show you how to build your own grip equipment. It will take you about 20 minutes to put together and you can be training on it this weekend.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

Hub Lifting

What is Hub Lifting?

If you are not familiar with Hub Lifting, it is a form of Pinch Grip Training where you lift a plate by its center hub with your fingers and thumb in a Claw Grip.

This can be a very fun and beneficial form of training, but it can also be frustrating as hell, too! A lot of whether you can lift a plate by the hub depends on the finish of the paint, moisture in the air, actual shape of the hub, etc.

In addition to lifting plates by their hubs, there are also hub lifting devices that are sold and used in conjunction with loading pins. IronMind sells one that offers a large gripping area.

Also, the Shallow Hub is a lift in some legs of the World’s Strongest Hands Series, shown in the bottom left of the above picture.

The next leg of World’s Strongest Hands is September 10th and I have got plenty of room if you want to compete.

The Shallow Hub is NOT an event at Leg 2, but you can click the link to see what the events are! Worlds Strongest Hands Leg 2

Have a great weekend, DIESELS!

Jedd

P.S. If you have a video of yourself grip training, fighting, climbing Everest, etc., send it in!

Hello DIESELS!

Blob Lifting Update for you guys.

I want to show you a huge PR that I recently accomplished and at the same time give you some more information I have found out about the Blob itself.

First the Feat – Blob Snatch

The video below is a Snatch of the Blob. This particular one is one of the Next Generation Blob variety.

For an explanation on the different types of Blobs, go here = > Summer Strong and the Blue Blob.

I actually accomplished the Snatch shown above the same exact day I did the Farmers Walk with the Blob and Inch Dumbbell. I just never got the chance to post the video.

The day I did this, I knew I would be rolling into Nationals in pretty good shape with the chance to break the record in the Two Hand Pinch again. I just didn’t anticipate the back injury, which as you can see by how graceful I am in the clip above, was feeling fine that day.

I’ve come close to doing this feat in the past but never got it strong enough to go out on a limb and really claim the feat. I am glad to have finally gotten this done though.

New Blob Information

Fellow Blob Lifter, John Eaton took a micrometer, a device used to measure the diameter and thickness of things, to his Blobs’ handles, (he owns both next Generation and Fatman Blobs) and posted some of the findings.

If you have a 50-lb Blob and if you are not sure whether it is one of the original-style Fatman Blobs or a later model, maybe these measurements can help you out.

John says on both of his Fatman Blobs the handles are 1 & 1/16″ in diameter.

John also says on his Next Generation Blobs that the handles are 1 & 1/8″ in diameter.

This goes right along with what Richard Sorin has said about the Blobs and their handles.

So, if you come across a 50-lb Blob in a possible transaction, if you can’t make a good judgment of whether it is a Fatman or a Next Gen, measuring the handles might be the factor you want to consider in making the decision.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

P.S. If you want develop Pinch Strength to lift Blobs, you might want to check out some of the training methods I employed training for the Two Hand Pinch record in Late Fall / Winter of 2009. I do more than just Two Hand Pinch training to build thumb strength in my program. Click the banner below…

Here is my new World Record Lift in the Two Hands Pinch at Grip Nationals this past weekend.

Shot by Mike / Melissa Rinderle:

Shot by Darrin Shallman

There will be more on the contest soon! Check back for the write-up!

Jedd

P.S. If you want to see how I train on the Two Hands Pinch, check out the documentary I shot in 2009 when I broke it for the first time. The Road to the Record: How I Broke the Record in the Two Hands Pinch

Hello DIESELS!

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!

See what happened the rest of the day!

Summer Strong Part II
Summer Strong Part III

All the best in your training.

Jedd

P.S. Couple other pics for you…

Me and Kevin Kamphouse from Sorinex

Me with Rich Williams

Hello DIESELS!!

I hope you have all had a fantastic fourth of July. I also hope you got the chance to spend time with family and also to get a good training session in.

This week’s challenge is inspired by my buddy, Mike Rojas from Strong 101 Gym!

Mike won one of the weekly challenges a few weeks back, in the One Hand Dumbbell Snatch. When he received his shirt, he immediately threw it on and did some Grip Training, and this is what he did…

Two Hands Pinch Holds for Time

Two Hand Pinch Holds are great for developing thumb strength, full hand strength, and for endurance. Just look at how Mike had to focus in so that he could get a good time. He said he got to 1 minute, 14 seconds – BAD ASS!

Requirements for this lift:

1. Must be two 45’s or two 20-kg plates with smooth sides

2. Plates must be positioned smooth-sides-out

3. Must use a double overhand (pronated grip)

4. Must lift the plates together off the floor with both hands and hold for time without touching the plates against your body

5. Your time begins when the plates leave the floor and ends when one or both plates slip out of the hands

6. Video requirements:

• Title: DieselCrew.com – Grip Strength Challenge – Two Hand Pinch Hold
• Description: http://www.dieselcrew.com Grip Strength
• Tags: grip strength, thumb strength, pinch grip training

7. Upload you video to YouTube and send me the link by 8 PM on Friday, July 8th, please!

8. Have fun. Try multiple attempts. Send in your best, even if you give it go multiple times per week!

Here is a video demonstration of the Two Hand Pinch Hold for Time:

Send me your submissions, DIESELS!

Jedd

Last week’s Grip Strength Challenge for the Wild Card Spot at Nationals was the Medley. What’s a Medley, you might ask?

Medley
from Wictionary.com

medley (plural medleys)
1. (now rare, archaic) Combat, fighting; a battle. [from 14th c.]
2. A collection or mixture of miscellaneous things. [from 17th c.]

As you can see from the definitions above, the Medley is like Grip Strength Combat, testing a variety of disciplines and finding the most well-rounded Gripster.

In order to find the most well rounded Grip Athlete, last week, the Medley was used. Below is the list of feats to be attempted in the medley and the point value for each feat:

Smooth Sides Out Pinch
2-25’s – 1 point
2-35’s – 1 point
2-45’s – 2 points

Hex DB Lift
30 – 1 point
40 – 1 point
50 – 2 points

8-lb Sledge 30″ Handle
Nose Lever – 1 point
Slim Lever – 1 point
Deadlift with coin – 2 points

Grippers with Blocks
1 – 1 point
2 – 1 point
3 – 2 points

Hubs
25 – 1 point
35 – 1 point
45 – 2 points
(You can add weight to a lighter plate to get the heavier plate

Towel Pull-ups
1 rep – 1 point
2 reps – 2 points
3 reps – 3 points

BW or Heavier Straddle Deadlift
1 rep – 1 points
2 reps – 2 points
3 reps – 3 points

The key to winning a medley is being well-rounded so that you can perform a variety of feats and challenges covering all disciplines. You never know what will be in a medley at an actual competition. It is also important to use your time wisely and not leave points “on the table.” One of the biggest errors is to not attempt easy lifts. Also, if you are a One Armed Bandit and can only lift things with your strong hand, you will tire out, so you have to be good with both hands.

Here are the submissions:

Mike Turpin

10 Points

Mike sent in the most humorous submission yet again this week. Bastard. I now have to use my compressed air to blow the snot out of my keyboard from those plate curls at the end. Comic genius.

Mike got the #1, Nose Lever, 25’s Pinch, 30 and 40 Hexes, 25 and 35 Hub and all three Towel Pullups! Great job. Keep working that wide pinch and your grippers and you are going to do well brother.

Scott Goguen

12 Points

Scott got the 25’s Pinch, 35’s Pinch, the 30 and 40 Hex, the 25 Hub, Nose Lever, all three Towel Pull-ups and all three BW One Hand Deads. I did not count the BB Gripper because it had to be a #1 for this challenge. First submission all year and he did a fine job!

Scott, on that Slim Lever, don’t leave any part of the handle hanging outside your hand. It makes it way harder! Looking forward to more submissions – great intensity!

Paul Tompkins

13 Points

Paul did great, getting the #1, Slim Lever, Nose Lever, 25’s, and 35’s pinch, 30, 40 and 50 Hex Lift, and the 25, 35, and 45 Hubs. Not sure if you got the #2. it looked close but I didn’t hear a click so i could not pass it. Still, a fantastic showing. Great job!

Jason Steeves – WINNER!

14 Points

Jason got the #1, #2 and came close on the #3 but I could not tell for sure so I did not pass it. He got the Slim Lever, Nose Lever, and pinched the 25’s and 35’s. He was able to lift the 30 and 40 Hex and hub the 25, 35, and 45. Plus he got all three Towel Pull-ups. Great job brother. You are qualified for Nationals. It’s time to make flight plans and get your passport ready!

This week’s feet will be a One Hand Deadlift, and I hope to have the video ready and posted on the site by tomorrow.

Thanks for all the great submissions. Looking forward to hundreds more.

Jedd

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