New Personal Goal and On-line Challenge

Richard Sorin, Pinching Two York 45’s
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
with CRUSH: Total Gripper Domination.

Articles You Might Also Like:
- How to Build Hand Strength: Blob Lifting
- 39 Reps with the 50-lb Blob
- Diesel Grip Challenge: Week 10
- Grip Strength Training – Block Weight Lifting
- Double Blob Farmers Walk
Tags: old school york 45's, OSY 45's, pinch, pinch grip, pinch strength, pinching, plate pinch, thumb strength, two 45's pinch
April 11th, 2012 at 12:51 pm
It sounds pretty interesting and I’ll be looking forward to the content. Good luck with it!
April 11th, 2012 at 3:29 pm
Good luck, Jedd. I am sure you will destroy it with the same hard work and dedication that you bring to all your goals.
I am currently working on getting my grip strength up to be able to deadlift my 1RM with a double-overhand grip. Currently my max number is with an over-under grip, but I am sick of my grip being the weak point in my deadlift. Time to SMASH IT.
April 11th, 2012 at 3:43 pm
A worthy challenge for you Jedd; enjoy the journey and good luck.
April 11th, 2012 at 4:51 pm
Give it Hell bro! I know you will, can’t wait to see those plates get dominated!
April 11th, 2012 at 4:57 pm
With your drive, its as good as done..Got my sites on the Red Nail….
April 11th, 2012 at 8:23 pm
I’m sure you’ll end up succeeding, Jedd! You’re a grip strength inspiration.
My goal is not directly related to grip strength, but I’ll soon start working hard to get my one arm dip (was previously working on RPOAPU and OAHeSPU). I think I’m pretty close.
April 12th, 2012 at 1:22 am
You need a stand under the four so you can set your grip and get a good pull with out them slipping or rolling. That way you waist no strength fighting 4 loose plates rather 2 stable widths until they are lifted off the floor. could be as simple as wood blocks.
April 12th, 2012 at 9:29 pm
Wow the grip challenge is intense! Some of those guys are pretty impressive. Keep up the good work Jedd!