One of my most favorite type of grip work is Block Weight training.

You can’t go wrong by including this kind of training in your routine.

Not only does it build your thumbs, but it increases your lumbrical strength, the fingers get worked, and your wrist and forearms get blown up.

At Gripmas, I was introduced to a new block weight challenge item, the “Unliftable” Manna-Nuff.

This was originated by John Manna and eventually another gripster, Nate Brous, ended up with it, and until Gripmas, it had supposedly never been fully lifted, although John Wojciechowski was successful in breaking it free from the ground…

The Manna Nuff is what’s called a “drop.” It’s essentially a left-over piece of steel or iron that didn’t get made into anything and was just left as scrap.

I’ve got a couple drops in my collection. Here’s one we call the “Chunk.”

The Chunk

The Chunk only weighs 56 lbs or so. The Manna Nuff is 88.

This isn’t the first time I’ve been presented with “unliftable” Block Weights.

At Nationals this year, Andrew Pantke introduced me to his “unliftable” Fatman Blob, half of a 100lb old-school York dumbbell. The original ones are quite a bit harder to lift because of their shape, and up until June of 2015, nobody had been able to do more than break it off the ground…

The Unliftable Pantke Blob

So, there I was, faced with the challenge of another unliftable block weight.

Would having experience on the Chunk be enough to lift this “unliftable” block of metal?

When you’re presented with a challenge, you can’t just stand around analyzing things.

Sometimes, you just gotta go after it!

The Unliftable Manna Nuff

Like I said, Block Weights are an extremely valuable manner of Grip Training, with all the benefits they provide.

The strength I’ve developed from my years of Block Weight work has helped me out greatly in being able to tackle many other grip challenges.

I strongly suggest you make Block Weights an integral part of your grip training, if you’re serious about developing your hand strength.

All the best in your training.

Jedd