Diesel Crew - Muscle Building, Athletic Development, Strength Training

Cool Dip / L-sit Workout Finisher

Jim Smith — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 02:31:19 +0000

Cool Dip / L-sit Workout Finisher

During our last workout, Brad and I were running out of time so we decided to throw some exercise finishers at the end.

We combined a conventional dip with an l-sit. It was awesome.

It really jacked up the intensity. I think we hit it for 10 / 10. Alternating dips and l-sits until we had hit 10 reps of each.

I definitely want you to try it out!

Dip / L-sit Combo

After Brad went, I want to try a twist on the combo. I turned the dip into a dip press which means I basically went more into a push-up position. I REALLY LIKED IT. This is a great alternative and really killed my chest and triceps.

Dip Press / L-sit Combo

Other Great Finisher Combo Movements:

DB Bent Over Rows / DB Posterior Flyes
Push-ups / Mountain Climbers
RDLs / Shrugs
Burpee / Pull-up
Kettlebell Swings / Push-ups on Kettlebells
DB Curl / DB Press

Check out the Video!


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The Road to the Record Documentary DVD

Jim Smith — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:35:02 +0000

Photo Courtesy Michelle Carns

In December 2009, I set a new World Record in the Two Hands Pinch Lift with 256.04 lbs after many years of trying. The picture above shows the record breaking lift.

This was one of the main focuses of my training for quite some time and finally breaking the record was a tremendous thrill for me.

For whatever reason, during my training for the Gripmas Carol, I felt more confident than I ever had been. My left thumb, which gave me trouble throughout much of 2009, for some reason felt better after Nationals, adding to my confidence.

One day, Smitty said to me, “Man could you imagine if you taped all of your workouts from now until December. You could have a complete documentary if you actually break the record.”

With that, I promptly looked him straight in the eye and told him, “What do you mean IF I break the record…?”

At that point in time, the plan was clear. From October until December, I video-taped during all the pinch workouts I did. Almost every single set and rep got recorded.

I felt so good about my training, I began thinking about the record even more each day. I was falling asleep at night thinking about the record, dreaming about it, and seeing visions of it as I woke up in the morning.

During that period I did stuff in my training that I never did before: used different rep schemes, used different movement patterns, and used different movement patterns.

After the contest was over, I immediately went to work editing the video. It wasn’t long before everything was put together how I wanted it, from Day One of the Documentary where I stated my plan for the next 3 months of training, to the day of the contest when I set the new mark.

The process is almost complete, and The Road to the Record is almost here.

If you act fast, you can pre-register for your copy. If you pre-register, you will get $10 off and there’s no shipping charge. To take advantage of this introductory offer, just do one of two things.

1. Send in the mail. Fill out a check or money order for the introductory price of $27 (within the United States) or $37 (for international orders). You can send it to me at the following address:

Jedd Johnson
PO Box 806
Wyalusing PA 18853

2. Send with Paypal. You can send it to jedd (dot) diesel (at) gmail (dot) com, or click the button below
for US orders:

or here for International orders:

The Road to the Record will be ready soon. In it, you will see the exact workouts I did leading up to contest day and the lengths I went to in order to build the thumb strength I needed to break the record.

So, for the next few weeks or so, you have the opportunity to pre-order for the discount and free shipping. You have to complete the pre-order by April 1, 2010

Fast Action Bonus 1

In addition to the discount and the free shipping, the name of every single person who pre-orders The Road to the Record DVD will be thrown into a hat and the person who I choose will receive a one-on-one coaching call with me. In this coaching call you can ask me anything about training, business, websites, etc. You can’t put a price tag on that.

Fast Action Bonus 2

In addition to the one-on-one coaching call, the winner will also get 6 months of free access to my website, TheGripAuthority.com, where I cover everything from the tactics I use to build my grip, feats of strength instruction like tearing phone books and pinching two 45’s, as well as recuperative strategies and injury prevention tactics: everything you need to know to build World Class Grip Strength.

Time to train!

-Jedd-

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Hope – from a Coach

Jim Smith — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:55:06 +0000

Hope

An open letter to all athletes from their coaches.

I remember the first time you walked into the weight room. So cocky and self-assured, it made me smile. I smiled at your child-like view of the world and your innocence. It is these qualities that I hoped would never be taken from you. It is also this view that I hoped to build upon and develop as you grew older.

You would learn the meaning of “no regrets” through years of consistency, hard work and pain. It was this pain that I witnessed with every set, every rep and every loss. It was this pain that I shared with you every step of the way.

Now, as you move on to fulfill your dreams, I have some words of hope for you.

I hope that you understand that the lessons you learned in the weight room and on the field represent life and its never-ending obstacles that you must overcome.

I hope you remember that one workout where you were broken and couldn’t continue…but you did.

I hope that you remember that feeling of winning when you were way behind because you kept fighting.

I hope you remember that no one will ever give you anything. If you want something you have to take it.

I hope you remember that mental toughness drives everything.

I hope you know that hard work beats skill.

I hope you never have to feel the worse pain; the pain of regret.

I hope you remember, “I Can, I Will”

I hope you remember every rep, every set and every laugh.

I hope you remember those workouts late at night when every one else was resting.

I hope you set your goals high and smash right through them to the next ones.

I hope you treat others with respect and give to others when no one is looking.

I hope you learned more from the losses than from the wins.

I hope that others will be as inspired by your actions as I have been.

Yes, training has changed you. Your cockiness has given way to confidence. Confidence is real and is built. Cockiness is fake and anyone can have it. You now know the difference.

Live your life with no regrets.

Your coach and friend,

JimSimilar Posts:

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4 Ways to Improve The Kink in Reverse Bending

Jim Smith — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:28:26 +0000

If you are bending steel with the reverse technique, you may be having trouble moving on to the next bending level. Chances are the thing holding you back in the reverse technique is your kink strength. If you get a good kink on the nail, bolt, or stock, it will be that much easier to finish the bend off. However, if your kink is weak, you will have to work harder in the transition to double overhand.

To clear a few things up, if you are new to steel bending, here are some pictures to show you what exactly I am talking about.

Reverse Bending (also known as Terminator Style)

LOTS OF TIPS ON REVERSE BENDING IN THIS POST ==>

In reverse bending, this is the initial grip used to get the kink started. The idea is to get a sizable arc into the piece of steel with the kinking grip. From there, if the objective is to crush the steel down into a U-shape, then a transition to double overhand is made.

Kink

The kink is the first arc put into the steel. A small angle is usually called a wobble, but generally the goal is to bend the nail as far as possible. In reverse bending contests, the objective is to bend the steel to a 40-degree angle within 30 seconds. (40 in 30). For a certification bend, such as for the Red Nail, there is a transition to DO.

Double Overhand

DO is usually the way steel is finished off in order to get it to the U-shape. The transition from reverse to DO is usually a quick one, so the steel stays warm and the bend can be more easily completed.

With these terms established and explained, now let’s look at some ways to strengthen the kink. Again, if we can improve on our kinking strength, then we can improve our chances of finishing the nail off. Let’s list several possible errors that take place with the reverse bending technique, and the follow it up with how to correct them.

Loose Upper Body / Bending the Nail with the Grip ONLY

Many benders make the mistake of being too loose in the upper body when bending. Although bending is associated with grip strength, it is not done solely with the grip alone.

I suggest to new benders and those trying to move up to their next level bend to flexing the arm pits prior to hitting the bend. What I mean by this is squeeze all the muscles around the shoulder – pecs, delts, lats, etc. This creates radiant tension from the upper torso down into the hands. Radiant tension should always be initiated prior to any bend, not just reverse style.

As you tighten up, you should be able to feel the radiant tension travel down your arms as it moves from the shoulders, to the upper arms, through the elbow, into the forearms, through the wrists and into the hands and fingers. Once you can feel that tension pulsing down your arms, then hit the bend.

Establishing this radiant tension will also help you transmit as much force into the nail or bolt as possible. If you are loose, you not only bend just with your lower arms, but you can also be unstable. If you shake a lot or if the nail or bolt moves around erratically while you are going for the kink, then you may need to assess your radiant tension a bit more.

Applying radiant tension correctly takes practice, and you have to go by feel in order to get good at it.

Short Cutting the Kink

Some benders are guilty of short cutting their kink on easier bends. Instead of powering through the kink and continuing the first pull on the nail or bolt, they give it just enough effort to put a wobble in it and then transition into DO. I suggest holding the kinking effort for a longer period of time or hitting it twice to work the wrists and go for a bigger kink, especially on pieces you murder. By working through your normal kink ranges, you build endurance, and this could mean a sizable difference in the amount of kink you get on your next attempt to bend a PR piece of steel. Remember, some bolts, like the grade 8, spring back, so you have to either pull through far enough or hard enough to negate the spring-back.

Loose Wraps

Wraps need to be tight, whether you use suede, cordura, or towels. Tight wraps make a huge difference when bending. If wraps are loose, they slide around when you try to bend the steel. If the wraps are tight, then the force you generate from your body will translate into the steel more efficiently. I wrote a post about this last year: The Best Way to Wrap Steel

Using Only One Action Hand

When bending reverse-style, as I mention in my Nail Bending eBook, one hand takes the roll of an anchor and the other is the action. Sometimes benders get into a habit of over-preferring one hand as the action hand. After a few near-maximal bends, if you use the same hand as the action hand every time, that hand is going to eventually get tired. While one hand may be stronger, or it may seem that one hand is more coordinated than the other, I suggest using both hands as the action hand. This will keep them more balanced in strength and will result in a better kink in the long run because you can hit it with your strong hand first and then follow it up with the other hand and get a few more degrees.

There’s a few techniques you can use to build up the strength to finish off tougher bends. If you need more information, please check out the Nail Bending eBook. I have more tips just like these, plus a ton of other exercises you can use to build more wrist strength to help you blow through the next piece of steel on your list of goals.

All the best in your training!

Jedd

Get the Nail Bending eBook and start bending nails, bolts and other pieces of steel, today! = = > How to Bend Nails

Want more posts on bending? Check this out = = > BendingSimilar Posts:

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Mighty Mitts Report

Jim Smith — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:06:54 +0000

The Mighty Mitts grip competition, held this past weekend at the Arnold Sports Festival, was an outstanding experience for me. I thought I would put together a quick write-up here to let you all know how it went.

Before I get into the write-up though, I do most definitely want to send out my gratitude to Dr. Terry and Janice Todd, Richard and Bert Sorin and the rest of their colleagues, Dennis Rogers, Pat Povilaitis and anybody else involved in the organization of this endeavor for including me. This was a huge step for Grip and something I will never forget.

COMPLETE MIGHTY MITTS REPORT- CLICK HERE ==>

Here is the list of competitors in the Mighty Mitts competition:

Andrew Durniat: Grip and Kettlebell Practitioner
Mark Felix: Professional Strongman
Odd Haugen: Professional Strongman
Chad Woodall: Grip Specialist
Steve Gardener: Grip Specialist
Sergei _______: Not sure of his background
Tex Henderson: Powerlifter & Freak
Rich Williams: Powerlifter and Power Team Performer
Wade Gillingham: Grip Specialist
Jedd Johnson: Grip Specialist

Now, the labels I give each guy are not exhaustive. They are involved in many styles of training. I simply listed the types of training they are most widely known for.

The event took place over two days and we were paired up with the Strongman competition. We would start out the day with an event, the Strongmen would take over for two of theirs, and then finally we would finish things off.

On day one, the events were the Jowett Anvil Carry and the Sorin Monster Axle Deadlift.

Jowett Anvil Carry

We had to pick the 173-lb anvil up by its horn and carry it for distance. The horn was very smooth. I thought I had a pretty good grip on it, but I must have been mistaken because I took like two steps with the thing and it shot out of my hand like a greased goose turd. That stunk, because I expected way better of a performance.

Sorin Monster Axle Deadlift

Richard Sorin got a freakin’ huge monster axle deadlift apparatus designed that weighed 500-lbs and it had huge globes on it instead of weights. Having never fully deadlifted 400-lbs in the double overhand style on an axle, I was extremely happy with being able to pull the bar to just below knee height. Again, my best axle deadlift in competition (double overhand) is 396-lb, so pulling on 500-lb was crazy! Despite not being able to pull a 100-lb + PR, I did not finish last as I pulled it higher than another competitor.

On day two, the events were the Double Inch Replica Dumbbell Farmer’s Walk and the Mark Henry Challenge Dumbbell.

Double Inch Farmers Walk

For the DIFW, we had to pick up an Inch Dumbbell in each hand and carry them as far as possible. While I have lifted the inch dumbbell in each of my hands dozens of time in my life, I have never done it with one in each hand at the same time. However, I felt pretty damn good going into this event, despite having a weird finger injury on my right hand. Unfortunately, I could not get the dumbbells up to the lockout position in order to start walking them down the course, and had to settle for a zero in the event.

Mark Henry Challenge Dumbbell

Mark Henry, of WWE Wrestling fame, once had a huge dumbbell made in order to train for lifting, I believe, the Millennium Dumbbell. However, the dumbbell was made too big. Instead of 225-lbs on a 2 and 3/8 handle, it came out to 300-lbs. The dumbbell resides in a wooden box slightly larger than the dumbbell in all dimensions. The objective of the event was to pull the dumbbell out of the box and drop it to the floor without using the box to your advantage. This thing just spun and spun when I tried to pick it up, so again, no points for this event.

Regardless of my dismal performance, I was extremely excited to be part of the event. I trained extremely hard for Mighty Mitts but couldn’t catch up to the difficulty of the events in time.

I do have some video of the event, however, there is something wrong with my camera right now and I can’t get the pictures and clips off right now, but I promise I will get some stuff up on the site for everyone to see.

Thank You

I know a lot of people from the Diesel Universe came to wish me well because several of you came up and introduced yourselves and many others waved and cheered from the stands. I really appreciate the support you gave me. Hearing your cheers and chants up on the stage took a lot of the nerves away.

Big props to my man Steve Gardener, by the way. He experienced a very serious leg injury less than a week before the competition, but still toughed it out, flew across the ocean, and got up on the platform with us. That was big.

I also want to say thanks to my buds Brian Oberther and Joe Hashey for letting me blow off some steam on them about my frustrations with my performance.

And finally, a huge THANK YOU to Sean and Angela Dockery for inviting me to stay the entire weekend with them. You guys took me in and treated me like a member of the family. Much appreciated.

Back to Training tomorrow night. I did not hit it tonight because I had a basketball game. Tomorrow night it is back on to a complete Grip training approach as opposed to the thick bar emphasis of Mighty Mitts.

Keep up the good work in your training,

-Jedd-Similar Posts:

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