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.
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.
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.
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.
If you are on my newsletter, on the 4th of July you should have gotten a note from me on the 4th of July telling you to get out there and have an Independence Day Workout and to choose some stuff that you just plain wanted to do for the enjoyment and to celebrate the Freedom you have to do whatever the hell you want to!
I also did the same thing. I said screw it and went out and tried some stuff I have never done before in a training session here at my awesome home gym.
One of the things I tried was a Farmer’s Walk with both the Blob (Next Generation) and the Inch Dumbbell.
If you remember, at Sorinex, I couldn’t even deadlift the Inch and Blob at the same time, so I was pretty pleased to get such good results here in my drive way…
Blob and Inch Dumbbell Farmer’s Walk
As you can see, I walked them so far the first time, that I walked out of the screen on my Flip Cam. It was a total surprise to me to get this. My hands were just feeling so good! A couple days before this, I had spent a ton of time in a swimming pool, so maybe that had something to do with it. I went over to the filter return where it blows the water back into the pool from the filter cleaning unit and let it beat on my thumb pad and pinky pad – felt AWAZING.
I am really looking forward to Nationals, which are this weekend in Crooksville Ohio, this Saturday. If you are in the area and would like to watch, please leave a comment or email me. All I ask is $5 to go toward food and port-o-john expenses!
Once Nationals is over with, I plan on taking a week off of Grip Training to get rejuvenated, which is pretty much what I do each year, and is the only real Grip Training Drought I go through each year. I moderate volume and intensity throughout the year, but don’t do much along the lines of “time off” that much at all, as I have learned how to keep my training volume in check for the most part.
However, once that week of time off is over, it is right back into the swing of things with the World’s Strongest Hands Series.
Also as a quick addition, this year the contests I run here in PA will be part of a Regional Championship Series for the 2011-2012 Grip Sport Calendar. In addition to the 4 events pre-determined for WSH II, I will hold at least one additional event. I am not sure what name I will be going with. At first I thought of Pennsylvania’s Strongest Hands, but I may go with something a bit larger, like the East Coast Regional Grip Championship, as I know several people from Maryland and New York State may indeed be coming.
Either way, stay tuned for a lot of Grip action. I figure, if something is worth being done, it is worth being done RIGHT.
So stay tuned for more on this, and please post below if you are interested in coming!
All the best in your training.
Jedd
Sign up for Training Tips, Interviews, Reports and More
Well, my friends, as they say, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Next up on the docket was Rich Williams. On this day in history, Rich Williams would be attempting to Clean and Press the Inch Dumbbell.
Just in case you are not familiar with the Inch Dumbbell, let me give you a quick run-down.
The Inch Dumbbell Replica – 172lbs, 2 and 3/8 inch Handle
The Inch Dumbbell is named after the traveling strongman from the late 1800′s who used to take it around to circuses and expo’s and challenge people to lift it – his name was Thomas Inch. The original Inch Dumbbell is owned by Kim Wood, and at some point both Sorinex and IronMind got molds made and sold replicas up until about 2004 or 2005.
The Inch DB has a 2 and 3/8 inch handle that is roughly 4 or 5 inches long and has large globe heads. This is a solid dumbbell weighing in the neighborhood of 172-lbs, and because it is cast iron and one solid piece, once you try to lift it, the globes start to turn and rip your thumb away and pry your fingers open at the same time.
Deadlifting the Inch Dumbbell is a World Class feat. To walk with one or even Two is out of this world and to clean and press it is damn near godly.
Let me show you what it looks like to clean and press the Inch Dumbbell, Rich Williams style…
That feat is so freakin’ awesome that it it even has a WATER MARK.
As Richard Sorin states at the beginning of the clip, the Inch Dumbbell in this video has only been cleaned and pressed one other time and that was done by the WWE’s Mark Henry in 2002. Other Inch Dumbbells have been clean and pressed in the past, but the people that have done it can all be counted on one hand.
Now, once that was over, plenty of other people tried giving the Inch Dumbbell a ride.
Below, a serious Highland Games Competitor goes for a continental of the Inch Dumbbell. He doesn’t get it, but I am pretty sure he has gotten it in the past, I just can’t recall his name.
I did not bother trying to continental the Inch, but instead, I tried deadlifting it and the original Blob at the same time. As you’ll see, I miss pretty badly on the Inch…
…and then Andrew Durniat came up and hit it pretty easy. Before doing so, he talks about the different disciplines in Grip Sport and how strengths and weaknesses come into play.
Now, it was time to give the baby Inches a try. Both of these lighter Inch Replicas weigh in the neighborhood of 139. They were some of the original replicas that were cast and they did not come out quite right, so Richard just held onto them.
Again, I tried deadlifting the 172 Inch in one hand and one of the baby Inches in the other. Unfortunately, that didn’t go so well either, but instead of just stopping and setting the lighter Inch Dumbbell down, I kept my grip on it, walked it over to the other baby inch, picked the second one up and did a Slow Motion Irish Jig.
Now, something to point out. Sorinex also has a 150-something baby Inch, but I did not try it. I wish I had and here’s why…
I can control the 139 baby Inch like Andrew can control the actual 172 Inch. So does that essentially mean that he can out thick bar me by 30-lbs? If so, how much must Rich out thick bar me by if he is cleaning the Inch dumbbell? 60-lbs? 100-lbs?
Scary thoughts. I really wish i would have tried the 150-something Baby Inch.
More Baby Inch Mayhem
In this next video, a Pro Strongman from the area jumps up and does a continental and several presses. Again, sorry, but I did not catch his name. I then gave it a shot and cleaned it to my shoulder pretty easy and then got three push jerks. These guys are freakin’ monsters for being able to press these things with no leg drive. AWESOME!
Again, Rich came up and showed us how it is done, cleaning it with ease and then pressing it for 20+ like it was his job.
Andrew also tried to snatch the damn thing, but it proved to be just a bit beyond him. Some day it WILL happen.
OK DIESELS, that’s it for Part II. In Part III, we are going to break away from the Inch stuff and get some serious BLOB-bery going…
Hasta la proxima, all the best in your training.
Jedd
Sign up for Training Tips, Interviews, Reports and More
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!
