Grip Strength Feat: Double Inch Dumbbell Deadlift
Hello DIESELS!
I’m a happy dude today, DIESELS. There are many reasons.
First off, over the weekend, I made the trip to Ottawa, Ontario to the Canadian National Arm Wrestling Championship to officiate the Canadian National Hand Strength Challenge. So first off, I drove all the way up in back without any accidents, so that right there, makes me damn happy!
Second off, the event went extremely well. It was an awesome opportunity for the sport of Grip Strength. Arm Wrestlers naturally have very strong hands, wrists and forearms due to the demands of their sport, so I was really looking forward to seeing how well that carried over to specific Grip Strength Feats.
I have no idea of the count of people that were introduced to the Grip Challenge events and implements, but I’d say I met around 30 people and 15 went through the challenge, so there are at least 15 more people infected with the Grip Strength Contagion.
I will post a full written report from Eric Roussein, who organized the entire weekend-long arm wrestling tournament AND the Grip Challenge once he gets it to me. It might take a day or two because he has a LOT to catch up on since this past weekend was such a HUGE endeavor for him.
It would be great if for next year we could get some of these guys involved the World’s Strongest Hands (if it takes place, of course) and there’s no reason why they could not get involved in the 2011-12 Grip Sport Season, as there is plenty of time left to organize a National Championship involving Canada! That would really be awesome!
Third, I am happy to say that I was successful in both executing a Double Inch Dumbbell Deadlift on Sunday night as well as getting it on video to share with you.
Just some info on these specific Inch Dumbbells. The browner one is my Inch Dumbbell I got in 2004 from Rick Walker. Its handle has a nice texture and the only time I ever lifted it (on a locker room scale) it came out to 169. Inch Dumbbells are supposed to be in the neighborhood of 172, but I am not sure how much they all weigh.
The other Inch belongs to Eric Roussein, the organizer of the event. While my Inch in the video is a Sorinex Inch, what company made his, I do not know. I will have to ask him for more information. I am assuming it is an IronMind Inch Dumbbell. Both companies were selling them prior to the foundry shutting down that used to make them. Mine actually has Sorinex.com on it, but it is the only one I have ever seen that had this.
I have been trying to do this feat since 2005. I first got the chance while visiting The Human Vise, Pat Povilaitis during the AOBS-Dinner weekend that year in June. Pat has an Inch Dumbbell and I tried lifting it and mine that day, but only barely got both of them off the ground. Incidentally, the only other person in the group that day that lifted either Inch was Ron Mazza, and he has lifted the Milennium Dumbbell.
Since that day at Pat Povilaitis’s house, I have tried many times to lift two Inch Dumbbells, as I actually own two. The other one is currently with Adam Glass, after spending much time at Ryan Pitts’s.
I first did this feat this past Spring at York Barbell but did not have the camera out of my car in order to tape it because I did not expect to be able to do it. Then, once the camera was out, you would have thought I was trying to turn straw into Gold, because I tried as hard as I could and nothing happened.
I was surprised at how easily this came up. I was even able to keep both dumbbells fairly level without having to have them front load. It just goes to show if you work on something consistently, with the right effort, and stay determined, you CAN accomplish your goals.
Since I only have the one Inch Dumbbell at my gym these days, what I would occasionally do (although really not that frequent) is I would try to lift my Inch in one hand and my Inch Loadable that uses standard plates. I am not really sure how heavy it is loaded, but I would estimate around 175.
After struggling with this grip strength feat for so many years, it is nice to have finally gotten it and captured it on video. Now, I am happy to say that it has gotten easy enough that I expect to be able to do it each time I try.
That’s it for now. As I mentioned, I will post more about this weekend soon, so stay tuned.
All the best in your training,
Jedd

September 8th, 2011 at 8:17 am
Great Job Jedd. I expect to see you take a long walk with them by March.