Hopefully some of you got the chance to catch our live UStream Feed yesterday from my Garage Gym here in PA. The gym’s been finished since April, but we haven’t been able to schedule anything where all the guys could make it down until now.
Smitty, Eli, Brad and Brian all made it down. Also Joe Hashey and his brother Pat came down.
We started our squats about 9:30. Even early in the morning it was already hot in the garage. Eli went through like a half dozen shirts I think. We squatted outside the cage with spotters. It was nice having people there to spot me. It gave me more confidence considering the back tweaks I have been having. I actually loaded the bar up to 315 to feel the weight again. We did an intermediate stance, not narrow high bars, but not wide sumo stance with the bar lower either. It was in the middle and felt pretty good.
Hey, before I get into this post, does anybody know where I can pick up a pair of boots like this?
That is an image of Frederick Winters from the 1904 Summer Olympics. Seems like a crazy get-up for the summer time, but to each his own.
Speaking of summer, I hope everybody’s summer is rolling smooth. We have had a cool and rainy one here in Pennsylvania, but that seems to be turning around now.
Tonight it was so hot in my new garage that sweat was dripping off my head onto everything I was trying to lift in the gym. I was trying to pinch 3-25’s plus weight, but didn’t quite get a full pull and my camera battery was dead so I have no video anyway. It was so hot, even with shorts and a tee shirt on, i still felt like I was wearing ol’ Frederick’s wardrobe shown above.
Grip strength training can be a lonely endeavor. Unlike team sports, usually a grip strength practitioner undertakes his obsession by himself in a dusty basement surrounded by storage boxes, or in a small portion of the garage that’s just big enough to house a garage gym. When he beats a personal record, the radio and perhaps a pet are the only things around to share in his excitement. When he hears terms like hub lifts, pinch grip, CoC #4, or sledgehammer leveraging, he understands perfectly. When he tries to explain these terms to his friends and family, they rarely understand (or want to for that matter).
I hope you had as much fun on Independence Day as I did.
Let me tell you a quick story about what I did yesterday.
My family always gets together on the 4th of July to play lawn games. Over the years, we have played bean bags, horse shoes, even ladder golf, but this year we played something different – Kan Jam!
For several hours yesterday afternoon I played Kan Jam. Kan Jam is a game where you throw a big yellow frisbee disk at black cylinder (the Kan) for points.
Sounds pretty stupid, but it’s a ton of fun.
The cylinder reminds me of one of those flat plastic sleds I used to sled on when I was a kid back in the 80’s, rolled into a cylinder shape. It has an open top in it and a slit in the side.
If you hit the “Kan,” or if your partner helps you in hitting the Kan or getting it into the Kan, you get points. If you throw it into the “Kan” via the top opening or the slit, unassisted, it is an automatic win. My partner threw it through the slit unassisted 3 consecutive times yesterday. This has to be a record somewhere.
Right now I want to tell you about what I feel will be an automatic win for my Gripper Training.
In order to keep my gains going, I have to constantly be tweaking my gripper training.
I network with some of the best grip competitors in the nation every time I compete in order to pick their brains about what they are doing differently that I might be able to steal and use in my own training.
One of the things I have been doing this year is what I call Gripper Drop Sets.
I first learned about Drop Sets when my primary focus for weight training was bodybuilding. Drop Sets involved hitting one exercise and then immediately moving to another exercise. I recently decided to try and apply this concept to gripper training.
With Gripper Drop Sets, I grab two grippers. One is on the heavier side and the other is on the lighter side. I hit the heavier gripper first and then immediately come in with the lighter one.
Here’s a short video clip showing you what I mean.
You can do this yourself with a pair of grippers, or even more than that. You can set up an entire line of grippers and just go down one after the other from heaviest to lightest or the other way around.
What innovative techniques are you working on with your gripper training? Post below in the comments and let me know.
You can check out even more posts about grippers by clicking here ==> Gripper Training.
All the best in your training,
-Jedd-
P.S. Did you see my Grip history post on Josh Hanagarne’s Blog? If not, check it out now: Napalm’s Grip History
P.P.S. If you got the newsletter I sent out yesterday, you saw that one of my ebooks is on sale right now for a patriotically low price. I will be sending out another one to let everyone know how quickly this sale is going to be ending, so make sure you sign up for it now.
This week is the conclusion to the two-part interview with Gripboard Administrator and the man behind the login name, Wannagrip, Bill Piche. This one starts out modest and ends up a bit controversial. You’ll have to listen to see what I mean…
How important is hand strength for throwing sports (shot, discus, javelin)? Who inspires Bill Piche in the Grip World? What is the KTA gripper program, and how can it help you close heavier grippers? What accomplishment is Bill most proud of as far as the Gripboard is concerned?
P.S. I just got back from the Juniata Strength Clinic and helped a couple of dudes learn how to tear cards. You can too, just check out the Card Tearing eBook. Click here ==> Card Tearing eBook
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