In this video, NAPALM answers the question, “Do grippers get weaker over time, with use?” Many gripper guys and gals have asked me this and it’s a reasonable enough questions. So, does the gripper “season” and get easier? Will the spring weaken and make it easier to close the gripper over time? Will the spread of the gripper eventually narrow, and make closing the gripper easier? Or will the gripper get HARDER to close over time? All of this is explained in today’s quick Grip Strength QnA video.

GRIPPER RESOURCES:

CRUSH: Total Gripper Domination
The Must-Have Gripper Video for ANYONE Serious about their Gripper Training

Operation: Gripper Certification
Training to certify on the #3 Gripper, guys? Then you need to watch this video with Paul Knight, one of the best gripper guys in the USA.

Cadenced Based Gripper Training
Want an 8-week program, designed to build your gripper strength the way you’d build your Bench, Squat or Deadlift? Then you need this!

The Push and Crush Workout
Want to spice things up in the weight room a little bit? Try combining your gripper work with your upper body training to break through plateaus –

Full Sweep Crush Builder Is it time to specialize on the credit card set for a while? This workout helps build your crush strength by intensely working on the longer gripper stroke.

Captains of Crush Certification

I’ve gotten lots of questions recently about the Captains of Crush Certification, and how it works. Many viewers have asked about the process for getting certified on the Captains of Crush grippers, as well as the Red Nail. They want to know if they can film a close and send it in, or if they can use their own gripper or buy it from CPW, so I give my experience with it, based on what my coaching clients and friends have had to do in order to get certified by IronMind.

In today’s video, I cover all of that, to help set you in the right direction, once you’re ready to cert.

IronMind COC Certification

How to Train for the Captains of Crush Certification

If the Captains of Crush Certification is on your list of goals this year, then you need this DVD, that I put together with Paul Knight, one of the best gripper guys in the United States: Operation: Gripper Certification

Gripper Training

Gripper training continues to be the most popular form of grip training.

Gripper training has often been labeled the “gateway drug to grip sport” because once people get their hands on grippers, they often get hooked, and want to try out many other types of grip training, as well.

Once you get serious with your gripper work though, it’s time to start doing things the right way, and that means optimizing the way you train with grippers.

Gripper Training Frequency

It’s no surprise that many people want to know how often to train grippers is best. After all, lifters love the idea of closing big grippers.

However, if you’re not careful, you can really overdo it with your gripper training and make your finger skin and your hand tissues very sore.

Plus, with too much volume, or too frequent of training, you generally end up stalling on grippers or even sliding backwards.

Today, I share my views on the optimal frequency for gripper training in the video below.

How Often Should I Train with Grippers?

Gripper Training Programming

Hopefully, the video above makes sense for you. Doing anymore frequent training has never been effective for me, and generally it throws a monkey wrench into the rest of my training when I try to push the frequency.

In addition, approaching Gripper Training frequency with a 2-day-per-week program has been effective for close to 100% of all the people I’ve coached as well.

On top of that, I’ve received lots of feedback from customers who’ve bought my Cadence Based Gripper Training Program, who have said that the 2-days-per-week has been great and helped them make good strides in their gripper training.

In my opinion, based on my own training results, and the results of people I’ve designed programs for directly, and those who’ve followed my gripper products, 2 days/week is the DEFINITELY the way to go for grippers.

Gripper Training Technique

It should be noted, however, that if your gripper technique (placement and set) are not optimized, it’s likely that no matter how often you train them, you’ll never see much improvement past a #2 gripper.

Large-handed and naturally strong-handed individuals will be able to overcome grippers up to about the #2 through plain brute strength and raw power, but to go beyond that will require you to develop your technique.

Therefore, I recommend anyone who wants to seriously attempt to climb the gripper ladder get my DVD, CRUSH: Total Gripper Domination, so they can properly iron out their technique for maximized crushing power.

Wrap Up: How Often To Train on Grippers

I love hearing you guys tell me about hitting PR’s and smashing bigger and bigger grippers.

That’s why I put out all the gripper training information I do.

If you’re just starting out with grippers, do yourself a favor and get the best resource in the world on gripper training technique and drills: CRUSH: Total Gripper Domination

And if you’ve got a good handle on the proper gripper mechanics, then it’s time to formalize your training over the next 8 weeks with this solid program: Cadence Based Gripper Training.

All the best with your gripper training.

“Napalm” Jedd Johnson

Will “Greasing the Groove” Help Me Close Bigger Grippers

I got a question on my YouTube Channel about Greasing the Groove for Grippers, and I answered it in a recent video.

Mainly, the writer wants to know if the commonly known “Greasing the Groove” method, which is often used for Pull-ups, Push-ups, and other strength maneuvers, can work to help increase crushing strength with Grippers.

Additional Resources:

This Week in Grip

Still playing catch-up on the episodes of This Week in Grip that I’m behind on.

This Week in Grip – Episode 30

This Week in Grip – Episode 31 – Part 1

This Week in Grip – Episode 31 – Part 2

This Week in Grip – Episode 32 – Part A

This Week in Grip – Episode 32 – Part B

I hope you enjoy them.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

Grippers – Are You Wasting Your Time?

In many of my videos and DVD’s, I have said that Gripper Training is a waste of time.

This is a statement that catches many people by surprise when they hear me say it, since I do Gripper Training on a regular basis.

After about the 50th time getting asked what I mean by this, I decided to put together a quick video to explain.

Why Grippers are a Waste of Time

Want the BEST Grip Training Methods for MMA?
Then You Want Grip Training for MMA Athletes:

As you can see, sometimes Grippers ARE a Waste of Your Time.

Naturally, if your objective is to close big grippers just for the sake of closing big grippers, then you NEED to train grippers, and you need to train them the right way.

If you want to maximize your Gripper Training, then you need these resources:

CRUSH – Total Gripper Domination: The Video Encyclopedia of Gripper Training Technique and Crushing Strength Development. If your gripper technique is lacking, there’s no drill that will help you get to your ultimate gripper goal. This video will make sure you’re doing everything right.

Cadence Based Training: This is an 8-week Gripper Training program that works by helping you strengthen the entire range of motion of the gripper sweep. The drills in the CBT program will help you strengthen your set, improve your sweep, and ensure that you’re strong enough to finish off your goal gripper.

My hope is that the information in this post will help you get the best results from your training, and maximize your training time as well as possible.

Thanks and all the best in your training.

Jedd

A few weeks back, I released my first full-length Gripper Training Program, called “Cadence Based Gripper Training.”

And ever since it came out, the positive feedback has been rolling in.

I am PUMPED to share it with you.

Just finished reading your Cadence Based Training ebook, it has to be one of the best out there for improving gripper strength. I’m going to note down a few things from the book and implement when I start training hand grippers after King Kong… While going through CBT, I couldn’t help but notice something very interesting, that there is some similarities that is also in an experimental program I’ve been working on. Like volume and having the pr syndrome. Any how, it was a very good read and I’ll use a number of the ideas presented in there.

-John McCarter-

Loving it so far!

-Don Bentley-

I’ve been plateued for awhile on grip so I’ll see what your program does for me. I’ve dabbled in things like hose-clamped grippers, but have noticed how in many cases you end up holding the gripper slightly differently then you normally would which probably changes the strength curve and subsequent training effect. I’ve considered holding closes and it’s nice to find a program from someone with years of experience who has experimented with the concept.

William Bradt

Great e-book Jedd. It contains a lot of good information… I think the the most important factor in closing grippers is holding them in the closed position, preferably slightly (just 2-3 millimeters) beyond the range. That is what i started experimenting last Monday.

Jorg Keilbach

A little over a month ago I couldn’t quite close my 124 CoC 2.5. I have now closed my 132-rated #2.5 and my GHP 6 which is rated 132 as well. Both with a block set.

-Chase Scott-

Cadence Based Training is my new secret weapon to finally get certified on the COC 2.5. Much of my baseline grip strength has come from years of training holds for time on a variety of events, both grip and strongman. While that approach has been highly effective, it’s now become my limitation. Cadence Based Training, not only integrates this concept, it provides detailed structure and direction to gripper training which WILL get me certified on the COC 2.5. Thank you for your direction, expertise and passion.

-Amy Wattles-

I am really excited to have received this feedback from so many different customers. Lots of my products are geared towards complete beginners ONLY, but in the case of Cadence Based Gripper Training, it is something that has appealed to many seasoned veterans as well, so it is nice to know this ebook is helping people at all levels of Gripper Training.

For instance, Amy Wattles is a certified Women’s Captain of Crush for the #2 Gripper. She is REALLY close to becoming the 1st Woman to certify on the #2.5. I truly feel the principles of this program are going to help her out toward finally certifying on the #2.5 and getting that monkey off her back.

Also, John McCarter just recently certified on the Mash Monster Level 3 Gripper, a gripper that I have failed on about 10 times, so to get the feedback from him that I did was really exciting.

But perhaps the best feedback I have received so far comes from Chris Andrade. He has been a member of both my members-only site, The Grip Authority, and my on-line one-on-one coaching, Grip Task Force, so I am very familiar with some of his frustrations.

After working so closely with him for so many months, it was awesome to get this from him the other day:

This program is the sh*t my man. I’m MANHANDLING grippers that were busting my balls a few weeks ago. Did my week 4 workout today and then did an attempt on my #2.5 and was a few mm from closing it. MILES better than my last attempt a few weeks back. I gotta thank you again brother man.

-Christopher Andrade-

Chris, it is AWESOME to hear it my man! That #2.5 will go down soon, brother.

Diesels, one thing you need to know about Chris. This dude is a worker. Believe me – he NEVER misses or blows off a workout and is willing to put in work in order to progress. He doesn’t let stuff bother him, or get in the way of his focus. He trains his ass off. I know, because he has been here and trained with me and he doesn’t just “try to close” grippers. He attacks them. It’s just a matter of time until he smashes that #2.5 and starts working toward the next gripper in his collection, and he’s got a lot of them!

Listen DIESELS, if you want to improve your grippers, get this program. That’s all there is to it.

Pick up the Cadence Based Gripper Training Program by clicking this link

All the best in your training.

Jedd

DIESELS,

Last week I was in New Jersey at a workshop. Several of us split the costs on a big apartment house, and I was one of the last guys to get there.

As always, even with GPS guidance, I found a way to get lost…

At one point, I thought I was at the right house, so I stumbled out of my car in the pitch-black dark to go knock on the door.

It was hard to walk for some reason, and to my surprise, the lawn and driveway were covered in sand from the hurricane that hit last year.

When I finally got there, I opened the door and this is the first thing I heard:

“I’ll never be able to close this damn thing,” and then there was this loud THUD on the table, the sound of aluminum handles and a steel spring against mahogany.

I knew exactly what was going on – this fella was trying to close a gripper!

I could tell he was super frustrated and seething in anger at failing to close the gripper in front of all these other dudes

This was something I’d heard so many times from guys who are new to grippers.

They train so hard and want to close them so bad, but the handles just won’t touch.

Some of the guys in the room I knew. Others I did not, so we got the introductions out of the way, and I went up to the guy who was squeezing grippers. His name was Roger.

“What’s the matter, brother?” I asked him.

“I have been working on this thing for 3 weeks, and I swear the handles are no closer now than when I broke the gripper out of the package. I don’t know how you can close a #3.5 when I can’t even close the #1…!”

I paused for a second and just looked at him smiling, waiting for him to get a couple of breaths in him so he could calm back down and hear what I was about to ask him.

Finally, when the rage was gone from his eyes and his pulse had slowed a bit, I let him have it.

“Roger, I feel your pain brother.”

“What do you mean, Jedd?” You’re smashing 3.5’s.

Yes, that’s true. NOW. But when I first started I couldn’t close the #1 either.

“WHAT?” said Roger…his eyes got all big like someone just told him Santa Claus was fake. “But someone told me on-line that all the people who have ever closed anything higher than a #3 were able to close the #1 right from the beginning…”

“Not true, dude,” I said in complete truthfulness.

“Nope – it took me about 3 weeks of squeezing that thing as hard as I could before I finally was able to close it. Then one day, it was like everything lined up right and when I squeezed, I could feel the knurling on the insides of the handle grinding like someone was dragging a sewer great on a sidewalk.”

“Really?” asked Roger.

“Yes,” I said, “And I bet there’s a chance you can close that gripper right now if you just play around with the placement of the gripper in your hand. Would you like to try?”

“Yeah man, let’s do it,” Roger said.

So, I grabbed the gripper out of his hand and placed it in mine. I showed him how he had the gripper in his hand (see the picture below).

Back Handle TOO Far Back

“You see Roger, with the gripper positioned like this, so deep into the back of the hand, the fingers have to pull the handle all that distance in order to get the handles to touch.

When you squeeze it like that, it will make the feat harder for EVERYBODY.

Back Handle in Good Forward Position

BUT – if you place it further forward in your hand, then when your fingers squeeze against the front handle, they don’t have to pull so far toward the back of the palm and you get much more horsepower over the distance of the sweep.

Left: Gripper Too Deep, Finish Effort Much Higher. Right: Gripper Forward, Finish Much Easier

“See the difference?” and I squeezed it one more time with each variation.

“I think I understand,” said Roger. “I can tell it’s easier for you because it shuts so much quicker when you position it forward in your hand.”

“You got it, man. Now you try,” and I handed the Gripper over to him.

Roger took the gripper and placed it in his hand the way he normally would and saw what I meant. The back handle was pointing towards his wrist and he could see just how far back his fingers would have to move in order to close it.

Then, he slid the back handle forward, so it set more in line with the crease in the middle of his palm.

He got his fingers onto it and squeezed as hard as he could, and I could hear the handles smash together so loud, it was like the first time I closed the #1.

Roger, sensing victory, squeezed as hard as he could, like he was trying to flatten the handles, feeling the glory of his first #1 gripper close and the PoweR of a new PR.

When it comes to closing grippers, yes, you have to have strong hands. However, when you combine that hand strength with the knowledge of the proper technique to use with them, your gains accelerate faster than you could even imagine.

Gripper training doesn’t have to be filled with frustration, staring at the same 1/8 of an inch between the two handles every time you squeeze the handles down. With the right info, you can dominate grippers in a hurry.

If you want to understand all the true technical secrets of Gripper training, get CRUSH: Total Gripper Domination today.

When you know what you are doing wrong and how to correct it, the gains come MUCH quicker.

Let me know how awesome it feels the first time you feel those handles grinding together.

All the best in your training,

Jedd

DIESELS,

First off, I am sorry for the lack of new posts lately. I have been distracted lately with many things.

Some of them, are just plain life issues that catch you off guard from time to time. For instance, my long-time friend in life and business, my Explorer, decided to finally leave me and go a completely new direction, so I had to spend two days researching vehicles. I ended up buying a Nissan Rogue, and it has been awesome.

I’ve also had two amazing trips in the last 3 weeks. The first was my first Strongman Performance gig, where I worked as a carnival strongman as part of a 4-act circus show. It was a great time, I learned even more about the feats of strength I do and teach, and it was great watching all the youngsters enjoy themselves.

Lift, Hold, and Control Seminar Group: Dan Creter, Jan Dellinger, Sarah Shafer, Jedd Johnson, Rebecca Klopp, Paul Tompkins, Stephanie Lewis

This past weekend was the Lift, Hold, and Control seminar at Vision Fitness of PA, home of Garage Ink Powerlifting. My friend, Niko Hulslander, invited me down to his gym to speak and it was great spending some time with him and getting to know him more as well. The attendees had a great time and they learned a lot. It was my privilege to have in attendance a well-known member of the strength world, Jan Dellinger, author of The Dellinger Files. Jan worked at York Barbell for years and years and was once assistant editor of Muscular Development Magazine.

So, now that I have my feet under me, I want to share a video with you that I put up on YouTube a week or so ago.

Grip Training: How to Train Crush and Open Hand

I always welcome comments and questions on my YouTube videos, and I have been getting lots of good ones. Recently, one of my YouTube Subscribers asked a question along the lines of “What is the best way to work Crushing Strength and Open Hand Strength at the same time?”

At first I responded by telling him that it couldn’t be done, simply by definition of the two types of grip strength. To understand what I mean, here are the definitions of these two types of grip strength.

Crushing Grip: Dynamic force produced by the hands and fingers, whereas the fingers move inward toward the palm, as in making a fist or closing a gripper.

Open Hand: Static force produced by the hand and fingers where no overlap of the fingertips and thumb can take place, as in lifting a Blob or thick handled dumbbell.

So, as you can see, by definition, these two categories of grip strength somewhat cancel one another out, especially when you consider the following:

1. Crushing is almost always dynamic in nature. Gripper closing involves movement. Even crushing down on a kettlebell handle in a Bottoms-up Press manner, while the movement is minimal, it is still taking place in order to control and adjust to the balance of the kettlebell.

2. Open Hand Training is almost always static in nature. With wide plate pinching, the thumb and fingers squeeze onto the outsides of the plates, but no movement takes place beyond this. The same is true when lifting the Inch Dumbbell or other thick-handled challenge bar.

However, as I thought more and more about this question, I realized that I was being too closed-minded. I was only considering very basic forms of Grip Strength Training, and I was leaving out many other forms that do have the potential to work both aspects of gripping ability. I was really pigeon-holing myself and looking at the question with tunnel vision.

Here is the video that I made in order to address this:

How to Combine Crushing and Open Hand Strength Training

This video will show you some examples of both Open Hand Training and Crushing Strength.

So, as you can see, it can be very, very easy to accomplish training the Crushing aspect and the Open Hand aspects at the same time with Bi-Polar Training, you just have to do each hand separately. Plus with the right equipment you can come very close to training the hands to crush without the benefit of a closed hand by using the Grip 4orce Handles.

There are other ways to accomplish this Hybrid form of Grip Training that have come to me since then. One such way is with Sandbags. When performing heavy sandbag lifts, as you clench the material on the body of the bag (using the handles they have would not count), the action of the fingers digging in would entail a degree of dynamic crushing (Crush Grip), while the hand stays open (Open Hand).

In most cases, Sandbag Lifting, especially when done with a large bag, will fit into another category of grip that is often not discussed, called Monkey Grip. Monkey Grip is when the orientation of the hand puts the fingers and thumb on the same side of the implement being used, instead of opposing one another in convention Pinch and Open Hand lifts.

We will go into more detail on Monkey Grip training later. For now, mull over what I talked about in today’s article and video, and as always, if you have a question, make sure to leave a comment. Also, if you can think of other ways to combine Crushing and Open Hand training, post them as well. Believe me, there are lots of them.

Want more detailed instruction to take you to your Grip Training Goals? The answers to your questions await you at my coaching site, TheGripAuthority.com. With hundreds of entries over the course of nearly three years of operation, it is the world’s most complete Grip Strength instructional Site. Join today for just $7 and let’s start working together toward your grip training goals.

What have you got to lose? Join today.

Jedd

Hello Diesels!

In just a few short hours, CRUSH: Total Gripper Domination will be available.

But now is the time to discuss the winner of the Free DVD Essay Contest.

The rules were simple. Write an essay with 100-words or more describing why you should win a free copy of the CRUSH DVD.

There were many entries – 40, to be exact, and they included many names I recognized from past emails, purchases, Facebook, YouTube, and more, as well as many new names I have not seen before, which was cool. Thank you to all who participated. For such a small window of just 24 hours, I thought the response was pretty darn impressive!

Within the essays, I was impressed by the wide array of background each of you come from. From Martial Artists, to Strength Enthusiasts, to Teachers, it was AWESOME to see such the diversity.

Of course in a contest such as this, it is tough to decide on a winner and it would be the easy way out to just do a random drawing, but I said I was going to choose a winner, and that is what I am going to do.

As I had said previously, the winner would be the person who deserved it the most, and with so many deserving people, I decided to choose the person whose essay conveyed, in my eyes, the most passion in their essay.

With that in mind, my choice is Mike Watson. I chose Mike because when I read his essay about his love and drive for wrestling, it really resonated with me and I saw similarities with how I feel about the sport of Grip.

Below is his essay:

“First off I need help getting my grip power up for wrestling. I love wrestling more then anything, and nothing has been able to stop me from doing this sport, which I love. The key things you need in wrestling is: grip, neck strength, speed, technique and endurance. Each part is very important, grip is essential for performing moves and starting off in the match. I have wrestled in Japan for almost 3 years before I had to come back to the states. This sport means the world to me. It keeps me out of trouble, keeps my grades in check, keeps me fit and keeps me disciplined. People can talk about why they want it, but they don’t live and breathe something everyday. If you love something as much as I do, you would understand why I want help with my grip. Wrestling isn’t a sport, you don’t play wrestling. Wrestling is a lifestyle and you respect your opponent and yourself. It isn’t a game its life, and life isn’t something you play with. Thank you for your time to read this I hope I get this DVD would help me in my wrestling career in life.”

Mike, I thought your essay was great. Thanks for posting it and make sure to send me your address so I can get the DVD to you.

There were many other great submissions. Thanks again to everyone who posted.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Hello DIESELS!

This week’s Grip Strength Challenge was the Inverted Gripper Close for Reps! This is an interesting way to train with Grippers as it puts emphasis on the first two fingers in a different way from normal.

Here are the submissions. As I said I would be I was very strict with the judging and only counted the reps if I could easily tell the Gripper went between the handles for the legal set AND if I could easily tell the handles touched.

Rick Walker – 42 Reps

Rick potentially had a lot more closes that were completed, however, I only counted the ones that I felt were clearly touching. He managed the first place spot even while blaring what seems to be Bel Biv Devoe or some other crappy late 80’s / early 90’s Hip Hop garbage! Nice classic Diesel Shirt by the way!!!

Josh McIntyre – 37 Reps

Josh may have actually been up in the 70’s with his closes but they went so fast and his big meaty hands were so bulbous blocking the camera that I could not make out if the handles were indeed touching. Damn good speed brother!

Ben Edwards – 14 Reps with #2

Ben follows the same gripper loaning system I do – forgetting he has loaned stuff out completely! Ben got 14 reps (and maybe a couple more that were obscured with a #2 Gripper, plus he did them almost completely no-set style. Very impressive brother!

Paul Tompkins – 22 Reps

Paul provided a very clear video. Having his training partner film proved to be the ticket to getting clear closes. However, his rep total was just a little low to climb to the top of the ladder this week.

Mike Turpin – 11 Reps

Great work Mike. You had another good solid 4 or 5 reps in you if you would have utilized the thumb in the Gripper close.

Darrin Shallman – 10 Reps

Darrin sent me a submission and I accidentally left it out at first – my apologies, Darrin – I did not see your video when it came in. Darrin may have tied Mike – with a little closer video, I might have been able to clear one more rep. Either way, you have identified grippers as an opportunity and know what to work on. Thankfully, the Vulcan will not be done inverted during World’s Strongest Hands 2011.

Congratulations to Rick Walker for the win this week!

Sorry for the tough judging, but that is just how it has got to be. To remedy this we will most likely not do high rep stuff like this again to avoid controversy.

Jedd

DIESELS!!!

I was away most of the weekend and with today being Father’s Day, I waited until the afternoon to get caught up with last week’s video submissions for the Grip Strength Challenge and the Wild Card Submissions for Nationals.

Let’s look at what everyone sent in this week…

Mike Turpin – #1 COC Gripper

Mike came in with the lowest entry this week, but I think he has more in him once he gets more experience on the Grippers. Good job Mike!

Paul Tompkins – #1 & #2 COC Gripper

Paul tied for second place with Darrin Shallman with a #2 close. I think once he improves his set, he will be up to a #2.5 very soon. Paul, try pinning the back handle with your thumb and grabbing the front handle with the hook of your index finger on the set, brother!

Darrin Shallman – #2 COC Gripper

I thought we might have to invoke the hand size tie breaker on this one when I got Darrin’s video. His hands seem to be much smaller than Paul, so if push came to shove, Darrin would have won the challenge. Great job bro!

Chris Vaughn – HG 250

Chris sent in a good submission, making the challenge a bit harder for himself, closing the gripper down fully, then inserting the block, and closing it again. With the variation in the HG Grippers being quite substantial they were not built into the standings for the week. Chris, try the thumb on back leg, finger hook on front leg technique for your set and I think you will be able to come pretty close on the HG 300!

Daniel Reinard – #2.5 Gripper (Both Hands)

Daniel’s close of the #2.5 Gripper qualifies him for first place this week, but he actually closed the #3 as well, in the second video submission, below! Congratulations Daniel! Please contact me if you need additional information on Nations, because you just qualified, SON!

Daniel Reinard – #3 Gripper

Next week’s Wild Card Qualifier should be up tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Thanks and all the best in your training, and of course, Happy Father’s Day!!!

Jedd

Here is a Vlog (Video Blog) about the Vulcan Gripper.

Are you in the United States and want a Vulcan? If so, leave a comment or email me about your interest.

Thanks.

Jedd

UPDATES

Update #1 – Vulcan Pricing

I have received a note from David Horne – he could not get back to me yesterday because it was his little girl Lucy’s 5th birthday – HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY!!! But I should have info from him next week on the Vulcan Gripper Shipping situation!

Update #2 – Reader Question

I received a question in the comments from Ken, who writes…

Jedd, Thanks very much for the vlog. I now understand how it compares with the Ivanko Super Gripper. What kind of range of difficulty is available on the Vulcan? What is the easiest level (cf. the Guide in the Captains of Crush series), if I want to do very high reps? Ken

The Vulcan will accomodate you, Ken, no doubt about it. At its lowest setting with the Gold Spring, it feels like less than a #1 to me and I can click off reps so fast it sounds like an old-fashioned typewriter, clickety click click click – Just never have to slide that big long piece back to the left when you reach the end. Also, at the toughest setting the feels like you are trying to squeeze a slippery moss covered rock. It covers just about the entire full range of available Grippers on the market. Hope this helps. More updates to come as they materialize! Jedd

P.S. Get on the Strongman Training DVD Early Bird List. Put your name and email in the box below.

Right now, I guess you could say it is the Grip Sport Off-Season, if there is one of those.

We just got done with the World’s Strongest Hands Series in November. I have been told by the head promoter of that series, David Horne, that there will indeed be a WSH next year in the Fall, but there will be 3 Legs instead of 4, and there will be more like 5 events per Leg instead of just 3.

(more…)

While setting your grippers may seem easy, you have to do it right in order to get the most out of each attempt. I assembled 4 of the best gripper setting videos on YouTube that I know of and put them up on my blog. Check them out.

Napalm’s Corner – How to Set a Gripper

-Jedd-

How to Build Muscle | Muscle Building Workouts | How to Lose Fat | Six Pack Abs