DIESELS!

Recent #4 Gripper Attempt

I have worked with a LOT of people over the years on their Gripper form, and the biggest thing I see with them is TECHNIQUE ISSUES.

We need to talk about this RIGHT NOW.

Technique is EVERYTHING.

You can throw everything else out.

If your technique is off when you try to close a gripper, you are reducing your chance for a successful close by AT LEAST HALF and maybe more.

The number one thing I see people doing is they place the gripper wrong in their hand right from the very beginning.

Specifically, they place the Gripper too deep in their hand…

…so WHY is this a PROBLEM?

Well, think about it this way.

How far do you usually miss by when you fail on a gripper attempt?

My guess is that you probably miss by around 1/4 inch.

Maybe it’s an 1/8th, maybe 3/8ths, but it’s probably right around there.

Well, in my experience people are placing the gripper between 1/4 and 3/8 of an inch TOO DEEP INTO THEIR HAND.

This is a problem because the farther the back handle is in their hand, the farther their fingers have to move the front handle in order to complete the close!

If you make the adjustment on the placement of the Gripper, your hands will have a bit more gas left in the tank because they won’t have to work over such a long distance.

This one change in your form could give you just the boost you need to finally close that gripper you have been trying to close.

And that is just one TINY technical adjustment having to do with how you place the thing in your hand.

Imagine what else you will pick up on when you pick up CRUSH: Total Gripper Domination today.

CRUSH is a two-disk DVD that covers all the ins and outs of Gripper Training and it is loaded with technical information that you might not be thinking about.

I kid you not, I have seen guys going from missing the COC #1 to coming within 1/4 inch of closing the COC #2.5, just by making the right technical adjustments.

What are you waiting for? Pick it up today => CRUSH DVD

All the best in your training,

Jedd

P.S. CRUSH comes in digital or hard copy formats, so if you live overseas, you do not have to worry about paying big shipping charges or duties and other fees.

Blasting Apart a Phone Book

Hope you had an awesome Mother’s Day Weekend.

I have not had a chance to visit my Mom yet. I was only able to give her a call, as I was out of town from Thursday on and just got back late last night.

I was away to Spokane, Washington at the Empire Classic, a big expo consisting of bodybuilding, physique, strongman, and powerlifting competitions.

I had the opportunity to perform Feats of Strength in front of 1200 people and it is something I will never forget.

Strongman Feats Show

Here’s the video from Saturday Night’s performance…

You will see I struggle quite a bit with the phone book. I warmed up with the same dumbbells and plates that the bodybuilders were using and my hands got super greasy and were slipping on the pan and book.

Also, I have been fighting with a sinus infection for weeks and weeks and was struggling with the hot water bottle. The first night, I totally failed because my beard was not letting me get a good seal on my face. The second night, I just couldn’t breathe very well through my nose at all, making the feat 10 times harder.

I really wish I would have gotten the Friday show on tape, because I wasn’t as rushed and really did a better job speaking. Recognized the promoter, the competitors, talked about Grip Strength’s importance, the sport of Grip, explained the feats, and even recognized the Veterans in the crowd, which is something I always try to build into my shows.

Either way, I had a ton of fun and learned a lot over the course of the entire weekend about promoting contests. Ivan and Erin Ribic operate a whole other level compared to what we do in Grip Sport. I was blown away at the level of organization.

Public Service Announcement: If you try a hot water bottle, use safety glasses. I forgot my glasses both nights and could have really gotten hurt badly.

Grip Strength Challenge

While I was there, I also ran a Grip Challenge booth.

As always, one of the biggest attractions was the Grippers I had spread all over the table.

One dude, a strongman competitor, was trying as hard as he could to close a #1 gripper, but just couldn’t get it.

Just as I figured his technique was off.

He had it positioned wrong in his hand from the start.

Bad positioning throws off the way the fingers pull on the front handle, making a gripper 25 to 50 pounds harder to close.

So, I ran him through 3 or 4 simple technique modifications and within minutes he had not only smashed the #1 gripper shut, but had also managed to close the #2.5.

While this kind of a jump is rare, I see guys going from missing the #1 to closing the #2 just through technique improvements ALL THE TIME.

That is why I urge you to pick up CRUSH: Total Gripper Domination.

The technicality of Gripper training often surprises people.

They are blown away by how much easier it is to close grippers once they understand the right technique.

No other source out there comes close to my Gripper Video.

I show you the stuff you MUST know in order to get good at Grippers.

Pick it up here today: http://thegripauthority.com/gripper-dvd/crush-dvd2.htm

All the best with your gripper training,

Jedd

Is Your Gripper Technique Holding You Back?
Click the Banner Below to Finally Find Out

One of the great things about Gripper Training is that there is a nearly endless variety of training methods you can do with grippers as long as you get your imagination going a bit.

If you have trouble thinking up cool and interesting variations in your gripper training, just think about a more conventional form of training and apply it to your gripper work.

For instance, one common method of increasing the number of reps and sheer volume you do in your regular strength and muscle building training is Drop Sets. This is where you perform a certain number of repetitions in a lift, and then once you come near to or actually hit the point of failure, you set the weight down and perform more repetitions with a lighter weight.

Drop Sets are also a great method for pre-exhaustion. The set is broken down into two or more parts with the earlier portion(s) of the set being used to pre-exhaust the part of the body doing the work and thus making the later portion(s) harder than normal.

For instance, in the Deadlift, you can hit a set number of repetitions with a starting weight, and then pull a plate off the bar and continue.

Here is an example of how to do Drop Sets with the Deadlift. Also make sure to check out the cool Lumberjack Beard that I am sporting. You will get a good close-up at the end.

In this case, I did not wait until I hit or came near to failure. I had the drops already planned. Either way will work fine for increasing the volume you are performing with grippers. Also, by the time I began lifting 135, my hands and posterior chain were thoroughly pre-exhausted and I had to put in more effort and drive in order to finish the set how I wanted.

The very same concept of Drop Sets can also be performed with Grippers.

In order to do this, you will need at least two grippers. One of them will be “heavier” and the other one will be “lighter.”

In this video, I perform a Gripper Drop Set, first hitting a filed Elite Gripper, then hitting a lighter, #3 gripper.

Normally, that #3 would go down no problem, but because I already attempted the Elite gripper and performed a static hold near the end range, I was pre-exhausted and it made the #3 gripper somewhat harder to close than it actually is.

This technique is especially useful if you have only a limited number of grippers in your collection. The lighter grippers will seem tougher to close and you will have to work harder to make the handles touch.

You can also set this up so that you do the lighter gripper first, followed by the heavier gripper. For instance, if you only have a #1 and a #2, you can perform a pre-exhaust set with the #1 gripper and then move to the #2. If you are currently closing the #2 when you are fresh, after pre-exhausting with the #1, the #2 will feel somewhat more challenging to close.

If you want to take this method even further, you can use a whole series of grippers and run down the table in almost a medley-type format.

Other variations for your gripper training include modifying the set depth used, the period of time holding the gripper closed, the number of repetitions with the grippers, etc.

Like I said at the beginning, the only thing limiting you in your gripper training is your own imagination. There’s no reason to ever get completely bored with grippers.

There are always more ways you can challenge yourself.

For more gripper training variations, check out the following posts:

• Common Gripper Questions
• How to Set a Gripper
• Advanced Gripper Training Methods
• My Complete Gripper Video PlayList on YouTube

Also, if you are really serious about your Gripper Training, then you need to pick up my On-line DVD called CRUSH: Total Gripper Domination. With over 2 hours of training instruction, you will increase your awareness of what is possible with grippers and see new progress moving up the gripper ladder.

All the best in your training,

Jedd Johnson

Grip Sport, like any sport, has its funny little quirky things about it that strike people funny.

At least once a month, I am asked by someone on YouTube the same question, so I thought I’d go ahead and do a video and blog post about.

What is the Metal Thing Used with Grippers?

The metal object that you often see used by those closing grippers, especially during official certification closes and when competing or training for contests, is called a Block. The Block is used to make sure all athletes are using the same set depth (or wider) when they close the gripper.

In this video, I show you exactly how this is done.

The History of Gripper Sets in a Nutshell

I found out about Grip specialization training in 2002 and since I was a bodybuilder at the time, I thought it was insane to spend so much time training so hard on such a small portion of your body.

The Old IronMind Set

Then, I found out that there were Gripper Certifications that you could attain, and being that I was always hungry to prove myself physically, I decided I wanted to pursue the Captains of Crush certification through IronMind.

By 2003, I was certified for closing the #3 Gripper. At the time, the rules stated you could pre-position the gripper with your off hand, provided the last full inch of the gripper sweep was clearly visible by the judge and unaided by the off-hand.

Mash Monster Set

Well, how easy is it to judge the space between two handles, exactly? Not really that easy, and pretty controversial, as it would turn out. Eventually another gripper certification was started by the Gripboard, called the Mash Monsters. A set of grippers in graduated difficulty was produced, and in order to make judging easier, instead of one inch, a parallel set was used, so you could set the gripper with the off hand, but before closing it, the video being shot of the attempt had to clearly show a parallel handle position prior to closing the gripper. This certification still remains unchanged to this day at Gripboard.com.

New IronMind Set – Credit Card Setting

The way I remember it, IronMind caught wind of some gripper certs that were done with deep sets, so they changed their certification around 2004 or 2005 (I don’t remember exactly without googling), and they began requiring a credit card set – the handles could still be pre-positioned with the off-hand, but prior to closing the gripper, a credit card had to be inserted width-wise between the handles. This is what they require to this day.

GGC 2006 – I certified Tex Henderson.
He was the first to certify with the credit card.
My hair was awesome then, too.
Image: IronMind.com

In 2006, at our Grip National Championship, then called Global Grip Challenge, we implemented a credit card spacer that the judge would slide through the handles for the athlete. Unfortunately, this created a great deal of debate because for smaller handed individuals, the wide set was giving them serious troubles.

Block Sets

Around this time, the use of a marker narrower than a credit card also started popping up. You could see videos from European grip contests where the competitors would set their gripper and then either they or a judge would slide the marker between the handles.

20-mm Block Set with Vulcan Gripper

Over the years, this practice evolved. In some competitions, it was used, while in others it was not required. Then, in 2010, David Horne required a 20-mm block was required to be put between the handles prior to closing them together. In 2011, David shipped official setting blocks out to the all the promoters of the World’s Strongest Hands series. This has pretty much become the standard of setting blocks used in competitions. In almost all cases that I can think of, the athlete must pass the setting block between the handles himself. The judge is no longer permitted to do it.

20-mm/30-mm Block – Image: David Horne’s World of Grip

To me, while using a setting block makes the close slightly harder because there is a pause and hold prior to closing the gripper handles together, I think is a great addition to the sport. I think the blocks that David Horne produces are awesome because the narrow way they serve for a 20-mm set, and the wider way, they serve for a 30-mm set. These are the two most commonly used setting widths and they seem to be comfortable for just about everyone who competes.

Plus, with the use of the blocks, you always know that every single competitor has closed their gripper from a legal set width. There are no partially shielded closes, no drifting closes and no complaints or excuses. If someone has a weak set, they may end up taking an attempt from a wider distance, which is fine, but there’s virtually no chance someone uses too deep of a set because they must clearly show the properly swiped block between the handles.

DIESELS, I hope this has been a helpful post for you that clears up some of the questions. Setting Blocks may seem as foreign and strange as a right-handed pitcher being allowed to fake to third base before throwing to first base, but like that deceptive baseball pick-off move, setting blocks are just part of the game.

(Actually, I heard recently that the fake to third pick-off move to first is going to be out-lawed next season, but it rarely worked for anyone besides the Yankees’ Jeff Nelson anyway, and he’s been retired for several years now…)

All the best in your training,

Jedd

Are you looking for ways to improve your performance with grippers? Do you want to certify on the Captains of Crush, or finish higher at Grip Contests? Then, you should check out my Gripper Training Instructional Video.

Here is a review of the DVD, from Bill Long.

Thanks to Bill for his outstanding review.

When I designed this DVD, I wanted to make it very detailed so that you could literally follow along with the video improve your technique. Everyone has certain portions of gripper technique we need to improve.

Here are some common areas of opportunity that I often coach people on in their gripper training technique:

Gripper Placement

Where you place the gripper in your hand is very important. If you get this part of it wrong, then it has the potential to throw off everything else involved in closing the gripper. Closing big grippers is just as much about technique as is having a smooth jump shot in basketball or having a sweet homerun cut in baseball.

Thumb Training

Believe it or not, the thumb is also very important with grippers. The thumb acts as a base or foundation during the gripper close. Many of the guys closing the big grippers have big, meaty thumb pads which helps keep the gripper in position. But those with thinner hands can close big grippers, if you use your thumb properly, which is something I cover in detail in the video.

Last Two Fingers

Recently, I have read comments, messages, and emails from people discussing how much success they are seeing in their gripper training by putting more focus on training their last two fingers which help finish off the sweep of the gripper handles. Tools are sold to help train these fingers specifically, but I also show a couple of drills we have used in the past for last two finger training. One of them, you can make for about $5. The other one uses block weights. Both are easy to implement in your training without having to move a bunch of stuff around in your training week or having to play around with your volume. Most people will be able to just plug them into what they are already doing.

Mindset / Visualization

Right before you squeeze a gripper, do you think, “Man I hope i close this,” or even worse, “I probably won’t get this, but I will try anyway?” If so, I have some Mindset training at the end of the video that will really help you out.

Grippers are by far the most popular form of grip strength. Grippers are not only used by grip enthusiasts, but also strongman competitors, football players, track and field throwers, and the list goes on. With CRUSH, all of them can take their gripper training to another level.

And remember, Grip Training is multi-beneficial. Not only do you improve your hand strength for better performance on the field, but you also improve your hand strength for the rest of your training, and when you improve your numbers in the rest of your training, that will increase your sporting performance even more.

If you’re going to train with grippers, invest in something that will show you how to do it the right way for the maximum benefit.

All the best in your training,

Jedd