Blob Training

Here in Wyalusing, PA, there has been some serious training going on.

This is the kind of stuff that will scare most people.

One point of focus for us has been working with the Blob. The Blob is a type of Block Weight, a weight or object shaped like a Block that you lift in a wide, open-handed, pinch grip.

Why Perform Block Weight Training?

Block Weight Training is an EXCEPTIONAL way to train the hands due to the wide open position it creates. This makes your whole lower arm work harder, especially the thumb, but the wide position also works the fingers and wrists thoroughly.

For more information on Block Weight Training, check out my ebook => Lift the Blob

Here are a few recent highlights from some of the Blob Training that has gone down.

50-lb Fatman Blob to 50cm with 60-second Time Limit

For the recently ended Grip Monsters Challenge, the challenge was to lift a 50-lb Blob to a 50-cm platform for as many repetitions as possible in 60 seconds. I did this a few times. I didn’t really hit my potential for what I can do in this though, because my left thumb had a nasty split in it for at least two of my sessions.

Luke Raymond Hits a Blob & 5-Tens Combo Feat

Luke has been challenging himself more and more with his grip training. Here, he takes a couple of solid attempts at lifting a 50-lb Fatman Blob, then he combines a 50-lb Next Generation Blob in one hand with 5-Tens loose pinch in the other hand.

Blob Lifting Terminology

In case you are not familiar with Blob Lifting terminology, here is a short list of key terms you should know:

Fatman Blob: The original style of York pill-shaped Blobs. These Blobs are a bit wider and have a more rounded edge than later models. Although seemingly a small detail, the additional slope makes lifting them quite a bit more difficult.

Next Generation Blob: The style of Blob York produced some time later, after the Blue Blob. The Blue Blob was slightly narrower and had less slope. The Next Gen had an even narrower profile and still less slope.

Loose Pinch: Pinching done with plates that are not supported in anyway, such as with a pipe. In the video above, 5-Tens Pinch (with smooth sides of outside plates facing outward) is an example of Loose Pinch.

Stay tuned for more clips on Blob Lifting.

If you are looking for tips on how to improve your Blob Lifting, be sure to check out my ebook, Lift the Blob.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Improve Hand Strength for Strength Training and Sports

The hands and lower arms are often a forgotten aspect of a well-rounded strength training program, and they also are something that can hold us back from attaining what we want to accomplish if we fail to train them properly.

Thick about it this way…

Don’t think hand strength is important in sports?

• Try tackling a player on the football field with weak hands.
• Try holding the basketball in the paint with weak hands or fingers.
• Try maintaining control over your opponent on the wrestling mat without a good grip.

All of these things involve a great deal of general body strength in order to be successful, but if you grip is weak, then you might as well forget about all of them.

The same can be said for pulling movements like the Pull-up and the Deadlift. While both of these movements are mostly limited by the strength of the back and arm muscles, a weak grip will also be a hindrance.

Even pushing movements like Overhead Lifting and the Bench Press can be very affected heavily if you have weak hands.

With all of this in mind, it is important to include Grip Training in your routine regularly.

When speaking of Grip Training, there are several common questions that often come up…

• How much training should I do?
• When does it become too much?
• Should I buy a bunch of equipment in order to train my grip?

These are questions I am asked all the time, but the answers truly come down to what exactly your training goals are. You can’t write one program and have it work for everyone.

Instead, when I work with my clients and coach the the members of my site, The Grip Authority, I try to offer examples of movements and exercises that are high impact, meaning that you get a lot of benefit out of them regardless of your individual training goals.

One High Impact Grip Training Movement is Plate Pinch Around the World’s.

This movement is often overlooked but it is actually a fantastic movement for ANYONE to include in their training.

Here’s why:

1. Open Hand Movement – The best Grip Training movements for complete hand strength involve an open handed position. This is beneficial because since you can’t close your hand around the implement, you have to fire your first two fingers (the strongest ones), the last two fingers (the weakest ones) and the thumb very hard in order to complete the lift.

2. Full Body Engagement – Just as Muscle-ups, Hand Stands, and even Deadlifts require coordinated strength generation from very large portions of the body, so do Around the Worlds. At first glance, this lift may look like something that hits the hands only, but it actually will leave your wrists and forearms, biceps, shoulders, lats, back and glutes tired, if you do it the right way.

3. Endurance Based – Many Grip Training drills involve just picking something off the ground, but Around the World’s are different. With this drill, you have to be ready to put forth effort for anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds, depending on the intensity (% of 1 Rep Maximum) you are training.

4. Bonus! – You probably already have ALL THE EQUIPMENT YOU NEED to do this lift, which means you can save your money and put toward Detailed Grip Training Instruction.

I could go on about why you should do this movement, but instead, let’s look at How to do Around the World’s.

The movement is so named because you will be picking up two plates (from 25 to 45-lbs) positioned together smooth-sides-out in a Pinch Grip (thumb opposing the fingers) and working all the way around the plates.

Below is a video clip of myself and some people who traveled to my location to find out more about Grip Training for a day.

One of the main drills I put them through was Around the World’s, because it requires your whole body to work together as a unit. Observe:

Keys to Watch For:

Full Body Engagement: Notice as you watch the video how the legs and glutes are brought into play in order to transition grips placed on the plates. It is not an easy thing to control 90-lbs in your hands while keeping your body limp! You have to keep your core braced and fire the hips repeatedly in order to propel the plates upwards and shift them around…

Hand Speed: Take note that the movement involves a series of rapid firings of the body and the hands. Transitioning quickly around the circumference of the plates helps you keep moving steadily, while fumbling around will cause you to drop the plates and have to start over.

Concentration: Around the World’s also require hand-eye coordination. You’ve got to make sure you move far enough on the plates to make progress around them, but not too much, because you might miss and drop the plates. Take note that I continually cue the guys to involve the lower body. Newer trainees will become engrossed in executing strength with their hands and forget about keeping the rest of their body active. They will either relax their lower body and crumble or stiffen too much and not get the spring needed.

Loading: One plate combination may be too light for some trainees, while the next one up is too heavy. One easy way to load them further is with chains, as you can see done in the video. Chains are usually incorporated in lifts for the benefit of Accommodating Resistance, but in this case they are used as a way to increase the N-Planar Force demands of the lift, randomizing the movement of the implement.

Execution: Most trainees will be more comfortable executing this lift in just one direction, either clockwise or counter-clockwise. Don’t fall prey to this trap – make sure to work both directions.

As you can see, there is much more to this lift than you may have first thought. This is exactly why I consider it one of my High Impact Grip Training Movements.

Training of this nature no doubt will increase your performance in the Strength Game or with Sports.

If you are serious about strength and performance, then check out The Grip Authority. All aspects of lower arm strength are covered, in order to take your grip strength from being a liability you worry about to being an asset you are glad to have.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

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Just about every single product I’ve ever put out is discounted, with several other packages already set up for even further savings.

Don’t waste time though. These sale prices are only available until 10PM EST tonight.

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

Triple-Double Hub Lift Challenge

By Josh Mac (
Youtube Channel: Rox31313)

Hello Diesels!

In the long standing tradition of competition, the gauntlet has been thrown down once again! This grip challenge is called the Triple-Double Hub and it wont take you long to figure out why!

This one is a plate hub lift, so it makes it easier on those who don’t have a griptopz or Ironmind hub and loading pin. “What’s a hub lift?” you probably are asking.

HUB LIFTING:

The act of making gravity your bitch as you maliciously rip a steel plate from the earth by the most vulnerable part of its anatomy, its hub. Grabbing a plate by it’s nipple isn’t just a sure fire way to get noticed at your big box gym by the mirror screamers (and management), it’s also a terrific way to tax the thumb and all of the fingers.

The benefits of this lift aren’t just movie star good looks and major sex appeal. Strong hands and flanges pay dividends in the kitchen when you wife barks orders at you to open jars, or giving absolutely DEVASTATING purple-nurples, or turning door knobs with violent authority or simply holding on for dear life as Sylvester Stallone dangles you from a steel wire over an open chasm. Smooth move Gabe Walker!

The challenge won’t JUST be completing the feat, but will be judged by the heaviest plate used. Think you’ve got what it takes? Alright, lets get into it!

First, the Triple:

This refers to the three elite grip feats that are performed. They are:
1. The hand to hand transfer (lifting the plate from the floor with one hand and tossing it to the other using only its hub)
2. The hub curl (curling the plate by its hub)
3. The hub clean (lifting the plate by the hub from below the KNEES to above the head)

Now, the double:
DOING IT WITH BOTH HANDS WITHOUT PUTTING THE PLATE DOWN!!!!

Kinda like this:

This just got REAL!

Rules

-Must film plate and the weight must be visible
-No tacky or spray adhesives. (Chalk is allowed)
-Plate must not touch the ground until all 6 feats are completed.
-Lifter may not allow plate to rest on any part of the body during the lift for leverage.
-Lifter is judged by weight plate used. (10, 25,35,45 or kg plates)
-Magnet weights (like platemates) can be used to increase the weight.
– The feat can be done in whatever order the lifter wants, so long as each hand performs all three lifts without putting the plate down or letting it rest on any part of the body.
-Event is NOT timed, but in the event of a tie the faster time would obviously win.
-Video submissions should have the title: “DieselCrew Triple-Double Hub lift challenge”
-Video description must contain: http://www.dieselcrew.com/grip-strength-hub-lifting-pinch-grip

*Completion of the 6 feats certifies you as a bon-a-fide BAD ASS in my book (“My book” is imaginary and its contents can’t be verified.)

Let’s get as many submissions as we can on this. I don’t care if it’s a 5# plate, this ain’t easy!

Special thanks to Jedd for allowing me to concoct this evil feat and share it here with his readers and also for motivating me to get into grip. His weekly challenges got me off my ass and into the gym to try thing I had never heard of, and also put me in touch with others like me all over the country.

Also shout out to Jason English (Youtube channel: BigJsExtremeFitness ) for the inspiration behind this challenge.

If you haven’t seen his channel yet, get on it. This guy either knows it, invented it or forgot it and he’s been hitting grip with Paul Knight down in Texas. Speaking of Texas, He’s hosting a HUGE Grip/Powerlifting/strongman/bodybuilding/figure Expo in Red Oak, TX At Brookshires starting at 9AM on April 28th 2012. Video’s, posters, t-shirts will be available for purchase and as many sick GRIP feats as your eyeballs can handle! You’ve been warned!

Good luck, Get the video’s in!!!!!!!!

Josh Mac
Youtube: Rox31313

With all of this talk recently about Block Weight Training, such as Blobs, Fatman Blobs, Fatman Clones, and the Iron Grip Monster, it can be pretty easy to think that you either have to spend an exorbitant amount of money in order to develop Grip Strength through block weight training, or you have to completely ruin one of your perfectly good dumbbells by cutting one of the heads off.

However, this is just not true. In reality you can get a similar open hand training response by training with the regular dumbbells you already have. This opens up a completely new chapter of Block Weight Training that I like to call Inverted Dumbbell Training.

Inverted Dumbbell Training

Inverted Dumbbell Training is simply lifting a dumbbell by standing it up on one end and then gripping it by the end in the air. This type of Block Weight Training allows you to use the dumbbells you already have without any cutting or other time-swallowing tasks.

How to Perform an Inverted Dumbbell Lift

The video below will show you exactly how to perform an Inverted Dumbbell Lift:

Key Points About Inverted Dummbell Lifting

• Dumbbells come in many shapes and sizes, and the paint job will also vary. Paint condition can be a huge factor in lifting a dumbbell.
• An attempt should be made NOT to put the fingers or thumbs into the numbering or lettering of the dumbbell in order to maximize the challenge, however, using the print on the dumbbell as a training means is fine as long as it does not become a crutch.
• Be careful with very wide dumbbells. Wide open hand positions can injure the thumb’s soft tissues, which can be very hard to bounce back from. It is best to thoroughly warm up the thumb in order to keep it safe.
• Watch out for your toes. Any block weight, and especially an inverted dumbbell can come slipping out of your hand quickly. Don’t break a toe.

Biggest Inverted Dumbbell Lifts

Inverted Dumbbell Lifting is not really an event in Grip Sport by itself, however, they have shown up in a Medley here and there. To my knowledge, a 55-lb Dumbbell is the largest I have seen lifted in this manner. That is what I lifted in the video above, but I am not yet able to dominate it very time I try. I know I have also seen Andrew Durniat do this on a different dumbbell, and I think Brent Barbe got it as well.

Application into Your Training

Because of my goals of complete Block Weight Domination, I tend to try to go as heavy as possible 90% of the time when I do this lift. Using this movement in an athletic program or a general hand strength improvement program is not necessary though.

It can be just as effective at building beneficial grip strength by performing lifts with a lighter dumbbell and then adding weight, such as a chain wrapped around it or attached with a magnet, and then performing reps, or doing hand to hand transfers, hulas, or figure 8’s.

As awesome as Block Weights are, and as much as I love them, that does not mean the only way to get those benefits is with Single Dumbbell Heads. Inverted Dumbbells will get you these results very well, too.

Any questions, leave a comment below.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

Looking for other ways to train for thumb strength specifically? I love Grip4orce Handles and use them frequently in my training. Check them out through the banner below.

Hello DIESELS!

A pretty good group of submissions this week. Many of them were very, very close in performance as well. You need to check them out.

Special recognition for Elizabeth Horne, who took on the challenge while also being 6 months pregnant!!!
(more…)

Hello DIESELS!

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!

See what happened the rest of the day!

Summer Strong Part II
Summer Strong Part III

All the best in your training.

Jedd

P.S. Couple other pics for you…

Me and Kevin Kamphouse from Sorinex

Me with Rich Williams

This week’s challenge was the Two Hands Pinch and it was a Wild Card Qualifier for Nationals and a good group of dudes threw their hat in the ring! Check them out below.

PITT – 130

PITT’s only done this a couple of times and his plates look pretty damn slick. His best lift was 130, but this exercise is going to be great for him for developing thumb strength, stability and resistance to injury for his action in the wrestling ring!

Kevin Greto – 140

Kevin Greto seems a mild-mannered Gripster. However, I think you are going to see him Hulk up on the adjustable plates when it comes to the World’s Strongest Hands Series 2011.

Carlos Rodriguez – 140

Carlos has been hitting his Grip Training consistently and seeing improvements gradually. With a tighter fitting pipe, I think he would have had an even better performance. I’ve gotta give it to him though – he sacrificed his pull-up bar in order to Pinch – that’s what I’m talkin’ about BROTHER!!! Also, because the heavier end of the bar was in the back, that makes the lift harder as well.

Darrin Shallman – 146.4

Darrin continues to submit for just about every single challenge. Dude is a freak. I think with some training on the implements he has a future of success in competitions. I believe he is well under the 82.5-kg weight limit for the World’s Strongest Hands Series, so if he can make it to a comp locale, I think he could be a contender. Keep it up tough guy!

Mike Turpin – 148.5

Check out Mike’s video, as he brings some of the showman aspect in this weeks Grip Challenge Submission. Mike is a tall dude with good sized hands. I think he could Pinch over 200 on the Pinch Device with a few months of training, especially with the crew he trains with – a bunch of good strong guys.

Paul Tompkins -158.5

Paul is one fire-under-the-ass away from becoming a serious force to be reckoned with in Grip.

Jason Steeves – 177

Jason has been packing on some muscle evidently. Also, he has been posting a seemingly endless array of PR’s on The Grip Authority Facebook Group. He has increased his Two Hands Pinch and several types of One Hand Pinch, especially with Blobs/Block Weights using the Seriously Strong Thumbs program I devised. Keep up the good work, man!

Josh McIntyre – 181

Josh’s number of 181 took the title this week and so he qualifies for North American Grip Championships in July. Many competitors put 15 to 20 pounds on their Two Hand Pinch just by using the Euro-Pinch Device, and another 5 to 10 once they find the right width, so it is going to be exciting watching Josh go for a big number, if he can make it to Nationals.

Congrats to Josh for qualifying and great job to all who tested themselves in this week’s challenge.

Next week will be Grippers. I am expecting that a lot more people would submit videos, as Grippers a re a much more popular aspect of the sport. The video should be up by Monday.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

P.S. Check out one of our sponsors for Grip Sport Nationals, Oxygen 4 Energy – click the banner below:

Weekly Diesel Grip Strength Challenge

Here are the submissions for this week’s Grip Strength Challenge – the Plate Pinch Hula.

This is a great drill for building thumb / pinch strength without expensive equipment, because you can use the plates you already have.

SCORING PROCESS

The way I scored this was with a Stop Watch, and once the hands separated, I hit start and the hit stop once the athlete reached a minute, so, the count may be slightly different from what the athlete counted, but not much. (more…)

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.”

CHECK OUT THE REST OF THIS KILLER POST AFTER THE JUMP (more…)

Hey there everyone. Welcome to our Diesel strength blog.

Over the holidays, I found myself watching the movie Ace Ventura, Pet Detective.

If you haven’t seen this classic, Jim Carey plays a detective who hunts down the criminal that kidnaps the Miami Dolphins’ mascot, Snowflake. The culprit ends up being a former kicker for the Dolphins, Ray Finkle, who is trying to extract revenge on Dan Marino, the long time Dolphins Quarterback. (more…)

History is Made – A New Record in the Two Hands Pinch

As you saw in one of the recent posts below, this past weekend I set a new world record in the Two Hands Pinch – 256 lbs.

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP (more…)

Diesels,

Several of the Gripaholics that were going to be here today had to cancel out, so there is no live stream today, but we are in the process of scheduling more group training sessions soon, so please stay tuned.
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Recently I set out to hit a big mark on repetitions with the 50-lb Blob. The video of this feat is below, but before we get to that I want to make sure that everyone knows exactly what I am talking about.

Blob Facts

Richard Sorin lifting the Blob
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fter my workout tonight, I decided I’d sit on the bike in my gym and just pedal away and relax for a bit.

I had the music playing but I also wanted to read something, so I began to look around my basement for some sort of a book, catalog, flyer – SOMETHING!

Something caught my eye on top of a stack of papers. It was a very old magazine that was given to me by a friend at work whose father had hundreds of these magazines. It was an issue of Muscle Power from 1952.

I thought, “What the hell – maybe I’ll find something cool.”

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On June 20th, I went to Athens Georgia for the First Annual Woodall Grip Strength Challenge.

Below are some of the video clips from the contest.

Two Hands Pinch

The most common test of Pinch Strength is the Two Hands Pinch. The Two Hands Pinch is two 6 mm steel plates with rubber inserts between them.

The inserts are 6mm and 10mm and can be used to vary the thickness of the implement to allow the competitors to use widths that compliment the size of their hands.

There is a hole inside of the plates and inserts to allow for extra weight to be added on.

The objective is to grab the implement with both hands in a pinch grip and lift the implement high enough for the pipe to touch the cross bar 16.5 inches off the ground.

Here, I pinch 230, 240, and 245 pounds (on the second try).

This was by far the most I was ever pumped for a grip contest. The crowd was into it, the competitors were behind me, and I was feeling surprisingly well considering the woes I have been experiencing due to my thumb injury.

The next event was the Axle. The highlight of this event was Andrew Durniat breaking his own world record with a lift of 460+. He then went for 470+ and got it to knee height!

Next was the Rolling Thunder. Steve Gardener, Chad Woodall and Andrew Durniat all lifted ridiculous weight in this event.

The last event was the medley and it was sick. I had a rough time, but Chad got all but one implement, the shallow 45-lb hub. What a spectacle to watch.

After the event, we tried a few feats of strength. I did not do much because my back was killing me, but I did try my hand at the number 4 gripper that Aaron Corcorran brought. It is on the lighter end of the spectrum, but it still has a #4 stamped on the bottom, so getting it as close as I did gave me a good rush.

In this clip, several dudes try the number 4, but Steve Gardener actually closes two of them. Both Aaron’s and John Eaton’s which came out at 199 lbs. on a calibrator.

This was a great contest. I have more clips so make sure you sign up for our Feedburner email notifications so you don’t miss out when I post them. That is right up at the upper right hand side.

All the best in your training,

-Jedd-

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