Posts Tagged ‘grip training’

OK I made a couple of cheesey videos on my grip training.

First one is a montage from a 30 minute workout with some catchy keygen music added.

Please don’t be frightened.

Apart from heavy kettlebell swings there is another exercise that will give you a killer grip – its nail bending.

Once you find six inch hardware nails easy you can progress by snipping an inch off them with bolt cutters. The move on to bolts, screw drivers door hinge pins etc.

Admittedly I am new to the sport and have only bent a dozen nails so far. But they have all bent fully. I also have a “power twister” which the packaging says is 60KG torsion. A six inch hardware nail takes 280 – 350 lbs of force to bend but the power twister is much harder than a nail. I would say it takes 400 lbs of force (compared to the nails) so I don’t know where they get the 60KG from but its definitely much more.

Here I am bending a six inch nail.

Now my tendons are still getting broken in and boy – this really hurts like heck afterward. the first session it hurt all the next day – now I find it hurts for an hour or two after.

Yep its gotta be the simplest kettlebell exercise of them all – The Swing !!!

But not just any swing. What you need to do is get a kettlebell thats way beyond your strength level in most exercises. So if you normally do your presses and cleans with a 20KG or 24KG, use a 40KG for the heavy swings.

You will need to have developed your motor skill set with kettlebells before using heavy weights and remember to use tension throughout to stabilize the move.

Do high swings with one arm and you will feel it in your grip and forearms immediately. Much better than barbell curls.

Good Luck.

I just got my Iron Woody Super Gripper in the mail today. It does not come with any information on the grip poundages of the spring positions but there is a free program online with this information.

There are applications for IVANKO, Iron Woody & Hammar sports :

http://www.angelfire.com/ar/mathgod/sg/supergripper.html

I have four extra springs & have no idea how much force is the maximum but the software will chart it up to over 400 lbs with 3 springs. Even just two springs can achieve 250 lbs.

Hers a pic of me & my new super grippers…

I also got a set of five heavy grips about a month back & can nearly mash 250 lbs. But that last 7 mm seems to be the problem – the super gripper can be used to do partial reps on that final squeeze and I suspect the final squeeze of a wrist curl works the same muscles & tendons.

Finally I went to the hardware store and bought some thumb clamps to work my thumbs and fingers.

My goal is to close 400 lbs and I am doing additional forearm training such as hammer curls, reverse curls, pinches and weighted pull ups in addition to my regular training program.