Diesel Crew - Muscle Building, Athletic Development, Strength Training, Grip Strength
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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
The trip to the Arnold Classic was a ton of fun this year, probably the best time I’ve ever had there when I wasn’t competing.
Here’s some of the footage I got from the trip.
Con-Crete Challenge
The one main place we wanted to be sure to hit was the Promera Booth so we could take the Con-Crete Challenge. Run by our new friend, James Stoppani, Sr, I’ve been hearing about this for over a year now and wanted to try it out.
First up was the Hub Lift challenge. They attach Hub Grips to Slater Stones and you must lift them to Lockout. I suck at Hubs, but Luke did really well.
Second, was the Fat Gripz row challenge. The guys have to Row a Vertical Bar with a Fat Gripz Extreme on it for as many reps as possible. I took this event. Nobody could touch my 67 reps, brotherrrr.
Lastly, there was a hold for time with 135lbs gripping onto Fat Gripz Extremes. The record was like 1:26. I was close, but the flexed position of my wrist was cutting off a nerve in my hand and it was burning like crazy, so I had to drop the bar at like 1:15. If not for that burning, I would have destroyed the record. Oh well, live to Grip another day.
Training at Durniat Strength
We got an awesome training session in at Durniat Strength on Friday. This first video shows you all kinds of stuff that we did. What a blast!
Luke also hit this awesome Concentric-Only 100-lb Preacher Curl. I tried it and couldn’t budge it. This dude is no joke, bro.
There you have it, some of the best footage from the Arnold 2015. It was an awesome time. I got to meet tons of people. Once again, I can’t wait until next year.
Finish the week strong, brother.
Jedd
This Spring I have begun adding a great deal more pulling movements into my training, especially types of Deadlifts.
In the past I would only perform Deadlifts or other pulls from the floor once a week in order to avoid a back injury, but these days I am trying to do more pulls from the floor, but from different heights.
Using the Farmer’s Walk handles has been great for this because there is not such a need to reach so far down to the ground in order to grip the weight and pull, as in a normal barbell deadlift.
In one recent video, I decided to see how much I could pull on the Farmer’s Handles.
Below is the video…
I weighed the implements and they are 17-lbs. My max pull was with 310-lbs added per implement, so in total it was 327-lbs per hand.
After posting the video, my friend Nate Brous asked if I’d be willing to run a little experiment. How much would Fat Gripz affect the amount I’d be able to lift in a max effort pull?
I had never seen anything like that done, and I thought it was a pretty cool idea, so I decided to give it a try in my upcoming workouts. Here are the results…
In this workout, I pulled 257-lbs per hand with the basic, blue Fat Gripz handles. I was pretty surprised that I immediately lost 70-lbs on the deadlift, but given that Fat bar work is my absolute biggest struggle in Grip Training, it does make some sense.
In this session, we used the Fat Gripz Extreme Handles, and amazingly enough, my grip dropped nearly another 70-lbs! This time I got 197-lbs per hand.
So, here is a rundown of the data:
Week 1 Regular Grips: 327 pounds per hand
Week 2 Fat Gripz: 257 pounds per hand (21.4% drop from Week 1)
Week 3 Fat Gripz Extreme: 197 pounds per hand (39.8% drop from Week 1, 23.3% drop from Week 2)
Naturally, I am not a Research Scientist, so there are some flaws to this “experiment.” First off, my Farmers Handles have duct tape over the gripping surface, because they are too heavily knurled for my liking. Over time, the duct tape has cracked and rolled and the adhesive residue has crept somewhat to the outside layer. So, they could have actually helped me on the Week 1 pulls, I suppose. It also could have hindered me though, because the tape is rolled up and seems to turn when in your grip.
Next, the training that took place on days prior to the days I shot these videos was not controlled. In other words, I may have not trained the day before shooting on some of the days so my hands would have been fresh, or I might have hit a killer grip workout the day before and my grip may have been a bit worn out.
Either way, despite these subtle inconsistencies, I think this experiment is still fairly accurate to show you what you can expect as far as reductions in pull numbers for lifts such as this.
It’s also important to note that in no way am I warning you NOT to buy Fat Gripz. I am not saying, “Oh No – don’t use Fat Gripz Handles because your numbers will go down.” Not at all.
Actually, this experiment just shows you that the two Fat Gripz handle will do their job – they will make your hands work harder and strengthen your grip.
Remember, Fat Gripz falls under the category of Open Hand Training because most people can not get a locking grip between their thumb and fingers. Open Hand Training is the BEST way to train your grip for increasing your general hand strength. In other words, if your hands are just plain weak, training with Fat Gripz can help you.
I plan to continue cycling through these three lift Farmer’s Deadlift variations in the coming months. It has been great getting more pulling in. My body responds well to pulls from the floor as far as muscle building and strength are concerned. So, you will see this topic revisited again in the coming months.
For now, get your Fat Gripz Handles here.
Any questions, leave a comment below.
All the best in your training.
Jedd
Last week’s Grip Challenge winner was David Wigren. Congratulations! Below is his video:
This week’s Grip Challenge is as many reps as possible in the Plate Hula with Two 25lb (or Two 10kg) plates.
Here is how this lift is done…
Complete list of rules, below. Please review:
Rules for the Weekly Diesel Grip Strength Challenge:
1. Every Sunday/Monday, check DieselCrew.com to see what the Grip Feat is for the week.
2. Shoot a video of yourself by the following Friday completing the feat.
3. In the video, you must include the following phrase: “I’m ____________, and this is my video for the Weekly Diesel Grip Challenge at DieselCrew.com.” Hit the feat and upload it to YouTube!
4. The Information for your YouTube Video Must Be:
Title: “DieselCrew.com Grip Strength Challenge – Name of the Feat”
Description: http://www.dieselcrew.com Name of the Feat for the Week
Tags: Grip Strength, Grip Training, Hand Strength, Hand Strength Training, Strong Wrists
5. Email me at jedd dot diesel at gmail dot com with the link to the video. I must receive the email with the video link no later than 8PM EST on Friday.
6. I will post all of the videos that qualify here on the Diesel site. My goal will be to post all of the videos I receive by Saturday at 8PM, EST.
7. Viewers at the Diesel site will leave comments, deciding who has the best video and who should win a prize. Voting will continue until Sunday at 8PM, EST.
8. Whoever is voted “Best Video” for the Weekly Grip Strength Challenge, will receive a special limited edition Diesel Tee Shirt.
9. Videos can not contain anything that may be offensive to Diesel readers. Getting pumped up is fine, but you WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED if you use racial, ethnic, sexual slurs and things like this. We do reserve the right to disallow a video if we deem it inappropriate.
Looking forward to the submissions this week, with the slightly altered rules.
Kick ass in your training this week.
Jedd
P.S. No dancing is required for this video…
P.P.S. If you want Seriously Strong Thumbs, check out TheGripAuthority.com
