Yes this is a clip of Bob Wiley, played by Bill Murray, from the movie “What About Bob,” where he lists the many problems he is having, both physically and mentally.

At first thought, you might not be able to see a connection between this movie clip and Gripper Training. Actually Grippers are probably responsible for creating more Grip Training Maniacs than any other form of Grip Training.

Just as marijuana can be considered a gateway drug, Grippers can be the catalyst for many other things down the road.

And who can blame people for enjoying Grippers so much? Grippers are awesome, after all. They go into your gym bag without taking up too much room. They can fit in your glove compartment or sit on your dashboard or front seat, and you can even fit most of them right into your back pocket.

Don’t try to take them through airport security though – LONG STORY.

Grippers are probably the most famous and alluring type of Grip Training tools on the market. In fact, once someone is bitten by the Gripper Bug, it is not uncommon for them to just go crazy buying Grippers.

For instance, check out some of the ways Grippers are used by some of the most extreme Gripper enthusiasts…

Warm-up Grippers: These grippers are on the lighter side and are used sparingly, just for guys to get the blood flowing and their hands ready to do damage later on in the workout.

Pet Grippers: Most guys have one or two grippers that they always squeeze, just about every workout. They may not admit to it, but they do. It might be a gripper that has a story behind it or maybe it took a while for the trainee to master, but they hit it every workout for that boost of confidence and that harkening of nostalgia.

Trophy Grippers: Grippers are sometimes given away at contests or may have been designed as gifts with cool images like skulls on the handles or personalizations like their names or initials stamped into them.

Guaranteed Closes: These Grippers are on the lighter end of the scale for the trainee. They are shoe-ins for a close. BAM – Easy Money.

Work Set Grippers: These grippers are in the middle of the pack in the gripper collection. The trainee may be able to close them occasionally, but perhaps not every workout, depending on the circumstances. Either way, these grippers take a long time to become guaranteed closes.

Goal Grippers: These are the grippers that are currently in the sites of the gripper training enthusiast. He has his cross-hairs focused intently on these grippers and most likely thinks about them when he wakes up in the morning, and may indeed sleep with them under his pillow, developing that deeper connection.

This kind of behavior is very common among the most serious of gripper training maniacs. It’s not uncommon for them to buy complete sets of grippers every time a new line of them comes out. They have the words “hand gripper” locked into their computer clipboard so that they can go to on-line auctions and web browsers and search with speed and precision in order to buy Grippers on the cheap when another gripster gives up on the Gripper Dream.

Unfortunately, along with the infatuation of collecting endless grippers in order to fill in the most miniscule gaps of gripper difficulty, there is also an obsession with squeezing them.

Some literally do stick them in their back pocket and squeeze them all day long when they first get them, especially when they are finally able close the Trainer or #1, and they are the only ones in the office who can do it!

In fact, there is a lot of misinformation out there that causes people to think that constantly squeezing grippers every single day is the only way to progress with Grippers.

Before you know it, guys who have never trained for grip strength before are blasting out 100 reps per day and they end up sounding like Bob Wiley in the movie clip above, reporting issues such as: tired hand muscles, raw hand skin, sore knuckles, fingernail sensitivity, confusion, and frustration.

This kind of thing doesn’t have to go on anymore. It’s OK to obsess about finally closing that Goal Gripper. It’s cool to obsess about them and lurk on forums and Craigslist looking for entire lots of grippers to buy in order to bolster your collection, but Gripper training itself should be fun, not some mysterious journey into the unknown labyrinth, not knowing whether the next turn you take or the next workout you do will get you closer or further from your goals.

There are now nearly double digit companies out there who produce hand grippers and the number of sites and other businesses that market grippers is unknown. More and more pop up every day in order to capitalize on the Gripper Training Craze, just like with kettlebells in the early 2000’s.

But not a single gripper is sold today that comes with instructions on what the best way is to train on them. No operator’s manual. No guidelines.

That’s where I come in.

I have designed CRUSH: Total Gripper Domination to help everyone from the leisure interest gripper trainee to the hardcore gripper-holic to show them how to go about gripper training the right way in order to accomplish their specific goals.

CRUSH just became available this week. If you want to make gains in your Gripper Training, this is something you’ve got to get your hands on.  Check it out here=> http://tinyurl.com/GripperDVD

All the best in your Gripper Training.

Jedd Johnson
Grip-aholic

Guys if you have any interest in grip training or you might be considering looking into getting this DVD, you will not be disappointed-Get it!  It is amazing how much information Jedd provided.  It is well worth the small investment.

http://tinyurl.com/GripperDVD

Hope this helps.

To your health,

Jerry

Block weight training has been around for years and you can buy grip training devices or get really creative by simply picking items up and holding them.  Competition grip events are gaining in popularity and the importance of training grip for sports has become more of a priority than ever before.

Let’s face it, grip strength can make or break you.  Even female soccer players should be training grip.  Their limiting factor for training with weight is usually not leg strength.  It is usually how much weight they are able to hold in their hands for exercises like the dead lift, RDL, Lunges, Step-ups, etc..

I really like putting posts like these together to help athletes, coaches, and anyone else looking to improve and that is why I want to share with you how to build a simple block weight for great hand strength.

First, find a few scrap blocks of wood.  These can be of different lengths and thicknesses.  Look for new house construction sites.  They always are throwing away the ends of boards.  Just make sure you ask first so you don’t get in trouble for stealing.  Trust me they usually will not care about giving you what you are looking for-it is less for them to throw out.

Next, you will need a sturdy wood threaded eye bolt, spring clip, and a small length of chain that you can pick up at any hardware store for a few bucks.  Drill into the wood a little bit with a drill bit that has a smaller diameter than the threaded part of the eye bolt.  Place the eye bolt into the hole and start it with your hands until it bites into the wood.  Then take a screw driver into the eye of the bolt to use as leverage to twist it into the wood.  Make sure it is anchored into the wood very well.  Take your clip and attach it to the eye bolt, loop the chain onto the clip and place the other end of the chain through the hole of a weight plate and attach to the spring clip and you are ready to start pinch training.  If your wood has any splintered or sharp edges; sand it down a little bit with some sand paper.  There you go, it doesn’t get any easier than that!

Try holding the weight plate off the floor with your arms extended for time.  You should shoot for 30 seconds and you can progress from there.  You can also go heavier and dead lift the weight up and down for reps.  Typically, I will try to aim for 6-10 reps.  Another method to try is to  set weight for yourself and just hold it for time until failure and keep track of your time and watch how your it will improve as your endurance increases.

If you are a coach, try to make it competitive between athletes.  Have them face off for timed holds for bragging rights!  This will get heated and the athletes love the competitive spirit.

Remember, you can make single or double hand blocks and blocks of different thicknesses for progressive training cycles.

If you are serious about taking your grip strength and game to the next level then you NEED to checkout this information that Jedd Johnson has about training with grippers.  The information is top notch!  You can check that out here=> http://tinyurl.com/GripperDVD

Hope that helps!

To your health,

Jerry

This was a relatively cheap addition but worth it’s weight in gold for the benefits my athletes get from it.  Just trying to climb the rope takes a vast amount of strength.  A typical climbing workout would look like this:  I would have the athlete sit on the platform and grab the rope with a tight grip.  They would then be instructed to try and keep their legs straight and go hand over hand climbing up to the top of the rack and then work back down as many times as they are able.  Many athletes are not able to do this the first time they try and many female athletes might not ever reach this level.  This is where progression comes into play.

One way to make this a little easier is by lessening your body weight.  You can do this easily by keeping your feet in contact with the floor and then work on hand over hand techniques.  I normally have an athlete grab the rope and place their feet against the rack and lean back lowering themselves little by little and then climbing back (as demonstrated in the video).  The lower you go back towards the floor the harder it will be to climb back up to vertical.  You can see how this would be productive and everyone can work within their capabilities.

Another simple progression is to just stabilize your feet and lie back extending the arms and then without changing the grip or hand positions pull yourself back towards the rope like a rowing motion.  You can repeat for reps or until fatigued.  Make sure for variation you change your grip so that you are not always rowing with the right hand higher than the left or vise-versa.

You should always focus on keeping your core tight and you will feel the muscle tension build in the upper body as you squeeze your grip as tight as possible for each climb variation.

There are many ways to utilize ropes into a training program.  Really your imagination is only your limiting factor.  Get creative with ropes and have fun challenging yourself.  I hope this helps give you some ideas and potential variation that you can include into your training program.

To your health,

Jerry

If your excuse is that pull-ups are boring then Monkey Pull-ups might just be what you are looking for.  I learned of this exercise variation years ago from the Diesel Crew guys (Jedd & Smitty) and have used it with my athletes ever since.  I am not sure if they called it monkey pull-ups back then, but they demonstrated it on a cable cross machine, climbing around back and forth on the crossbar.

Monkey Pull-ups:  Basically, you are performing a pull-up and each time you complete a rep you take one hand and change the grip position.  As you can see in the video, I have adapted this into my half racks with all my different pull-up grips, climbing rope, swivel grips, and the rack frame itself.

This is extremely taxing on the upper body, core, and grip.  By challenging my athletes, they really start to try and better themselves each time they do a set.  These are not easy.  If you are looking for some variety and you are pretty good at pull-ups; give these a try.  Ironically, you will find yourself starting to think they are fun.

If you have any other pull-up variations to add to this post; let me know or put it in the comments section below.  It is great to share training information with each other.  The benefits are for everyone!!

To your health,

Jerry

A blob is basically the end of a dumbbell that has been cut off at the handle.  Traditionally these are classic old York dumbbells but I have seen other types of dumbbell ends used.

The goal here is to hold a blob by pinching it; thumb on one side and the other four fingers on the opposite side.  Then rotate the blob in the air and catch it with the same hand grabbing it at it’s “face” or the widest part of the blob.  Depending on the size of the blob and your hand, many times you will be trying to do this with your finger tips.  Continue flipping this in this sequence until you either drop/miss it or your grip becomes fatigued.

This can get more challenging by flipping it around multiple times and trying to catch it or by alternating from hand to hand.  Either way you choose, this is a challenging and fun way that will produce not only improved grip strength but also good hand to eye coordination.

To your health,

Jerry

Our goals are simple:

• Stay Healthy
• “Finish” Games
• Win the Patriot League Championship
• Get into the NCAA Tournament!!!

A lacrosse player is a special breed of athlete.  Some have set skills and most hold certain field positions.  They can’t get too big or bulky and they must be strong, agile and explosive.  Toughness, both physical and mental, are required at this level of play.  I try to instill this into my lacrosse athletes each time they work with me in and out of the weight room.

During our conditioning workouts I have a “stand tall” rule.  No matter how tired or gassed you are you NEVER bend over and place your hands on your knees.  If someone does, the whole team gets punished.  This is a mental game (as are most demanding sports) and if your opponent sees you are sucking wind; they will have that mental edge.

We can carry this same physical and mental toughness into the weight room.  For example, this workout is taking place during the schools spring break and there are no classes.  They could have easily slept in but we decided to keep them on schedule and hold the workouts early in the AM.

In the video, I took random clips of the team going through Day 1 of their In-season program.  I personally, was not happy with the team’s performance and intensity of this workout on this day.  Actually, I believe this to be one of our worst workouts of the year and I let the team know about it with some colorful words off camera.  Hey this is reality and this is what I filmed on this particular day.  Here was the workout:

Functional Injury Prevention Work: Internal/External Shoulder Rotation & Scapular Retraction Exercises

Functional Core: Kettle Bell or Dumbbell Oblique Raise (windmill)

Emphasis Work:

• Hang Clean To Split Jerk 5 x 2
• Incline Bar Press/DB Press 2 x 6
• Swivel Grip Pull-up 1 x Failure
• Neutral Grip Pull-up 1 x Failure

Supplemental Work:

• Manual Resistance Posterior Shoulder 1 x Failure
• Dirty Thirty Calves 2 x 10/10/10
• Banded Biceps 1 x 100
• Wrist/Grip Work

Ab/Low Back Circuit w/Strength Coach 7min 30 seconds

Team Static Stretch

As you will see in the video background, some athletes will have other exercises that they are working on in their individual programs.

To your health,

Jerry

PS-Follow us in the NCAA Tourney!!

Many people who have worked with me over the years will say I am a bit of a pack rat; meaning I never throw something out right away.  The first thing my brain says when it sees something is: “how can I use this as a training tool?”.  That is exactly what happened when I was looking at some things I had laying around which turned out to be a loading bar.

A loading bar, or many times referred to as a loading pin (pictured to the left), is a grip training tool.  You basically place weight plates on it and attach a handle to it and then procede to pick it up with a straight arm using your legs lifting the weight a few inches off the floor.  This will build tremendous grip strength and it even has become a competition with grip enthusiasts.

In the video above, I describe how I made a loading bar with some strength equipment they were going to throw out and things I just had laying around.   As a bonus, you will also see how to make a homemade handle using basic PVC pipe, chain, and a climbing clip.  You could use a heavy duty piece of rope in place of the chain.  This is an excellet way to make a fat grip handle that could also be attached to any cable machine.

Although I have not tried this yet, here is another way I think you could make a loading bar.  Take the end of an old barbell off.  If you stood the end part up it would almost already look like a loading bar.  My thought is to get a heavy duty eye bolt and depending on the type of bar end you have; either try treading it into the end or have someone weld it on.   Again, I have not tried this (yet) and have no idea if it will work but i can’t see why it would not.  I will keep you posted in the future when I try it or if anyone has tried it let us know in the comment section how it turned out.

I hope this post helps a few of you out that are limited with a training budget or gets your creative juices flowing to build homemade equipment.  It is not only fun to do but it will give you awesome  satisfaction when you see your efforts paying off while training with something you created.

To your health,

Jerry

PS-If this kind of stuff excites you; Jedd Johnson from Diesel Crew just asked me to review his upcoming DVD: Home Made Strength II-Grip Edition.  Let me tell you this now; this DVD is awesome!!  I will keep you posted and inform you all when he is ready to release it.

Click here for Jedd’s FREE “Secret” video:  http://tinyurl.com/hmgrip

Hey Everyone,

This is a guest post done by Jedd Johnson from Diesel Crew.  I have known Jedd for years and he easily has some of the strongest hands of anyone I have ever met.  If you have any questions or comments for Jedd; please post them in the comments area and I will make sure he sees them.  Enjoy!

Hi, my name is Jedd Johnson.  I am a CSCS through the NSCA, an RKC through Dragondoor, and am co-founder of DieselCrew.com.  Our website is dedicated to exploring the development of strength and conditioning for all athletes in all sports.

Over the years, my favorite facet of strength training has been Grip Strength and I compete in several competitions every year.  Grip Competitions involve Crushing, Pinching, Support lifting and other forms of hand and lower arm strength.

One of the coolest parts of the sport of Grip is Nail Bending.  Bending nails, spikes, bolts, steel stock, drill rod, and other things is one of the most exciting and obsessive types of strength training you can do.

Up until now, Nail Bending might be one of the last things you would ever think of doing in your program, but there are actually a ton of benefits that you can get from Bending.

Check these out…
Nail Bending – How To Melt Steel With Your Bare Hands

1. Forearm size

Nail Bending involves a great deal of tension in the hands, wrists and forearms which leads to major forearm muscle development. Often, forearm work at the gym involves movements like wrist curls and other simple variations.

While wrist curls and similar classic forearm exercises bring about results, they pale in comparison to the bulk build by bending. The sustained tension of nail bending causes growth in both the flexor side of the forearm and the extensor side of the forearm, creating an impressive look of balance and control.

In short, your forearms will probably BLOW UP!
Nail Bending – How To Melt Steel With Your Bare Hands

2. Mental and Physical Toughness

Bending nails, bolts and other items involves taking a perfectly good nail and twisting it into a shape that makes it completely useless for any of its normal industrial applications. You’re doing something that was never meant to be done, and to do this requires you to focus all of your strength and your mental power into the bend. A lack of commitment from either end of the spectrum will end up in your inability to finish up the bend.

In order to Bend Big Nails, you have to work hard and be mentally strong.

When you become proficient in harnessing your mind’s and your body’s power in nail bending, imagine the results you will see in your other lifts or in the sport you play. You’ll be unstoppable compared to everyone else who has never truly tested themselves in the ways you have after taking on the challenge of bending.
Nail Bending – How To Melt Steel With Your Bare Hands

3. Make an Impression!

Take Note:  Nail bending is NOT some form of trickery or slight of hand like magic is.

However, it DOES bring about much the same reaction from a crowd.

Imagine talking about this new sort of strength training you are doing and when they ask you to show them, you bust out a nail, wrap it in a towel and bend it right before their eyes.

How awesome will that be?!?!

You could use this classic feat of strength of Bending to set yourself from everybody else at school, at the gym, or at your place of work.  Instead of just blending in with the rest of the people, you will automatically be set apart from everybody else.

Instead of just somebody in the crowd, you’ll become the Strong Guy/Gal (Yes, ladies bend too!!!), or The Nail Bender.

Every time people see you, even if it’s only occasionally, you’ll be burned in their mind as somebody with a strong grip – nobody to mess with, that is for sure.
Nail Bending – How To Melt Steel With Your Bare Hands

4. Get Your Name “Up in Lights”

Nail bending has been growing in popularity exponentially. In fact, you can now get certified for Serious Nail Bending.

The first widely known certification system for Bending was the IronMind Red Nail, a 7-inch long, 5/16-inch thick round piece of steel bar.  This bar takes over 450-lbs of strength in order to bend.

Other sites have come on board with certifications of other pieces of steel stock, including Fat Bastard Barbell and Bender’s Battlefield.  The numbers of people bending challenge bars steadily increases each day.
Nail Bending – How To Melt Steel With Your Bare Hands

5. Fun

Isn’t one of the reasons you train in the first place to have fun?  Well, the best thing about nail bending is that it is good pure fun. You are able to test yourself and see improvement in your technique and strength while seeing increases in confidence and mental edge.

You can crank up the music and go for a new personal best.

Over the course of time, all of the nails, bolts, and stock you bend can be saved for posterity. You can see how you progressed over the years.

One day, you’ll be able to tell your grand kids about when you first dominated the 60-penny nail or the grade-5 bolt. And maybe you can even log them onto one of the certification sites and show them the certifications you were able to acquire.

In short, nail bending is one of the most exciting parts of the sport of Grip Strength. For me, the physical and the mental benefits I have seen from nail bending are outstanding, not to mention the friendships I have made with some of the top nail benders in the United States and around the world.

In fact, I love the challenge of Nail Bending so much I recently put together a DVD showing you everything you need to know in order to get started.  This DVD contains info on Bending Techniques, Strength Building, and Hand Health so you can continue to bend and enjoy it for years to come.

This DVD is coming out this week.   Look for an email or message from Jerry very soon because he is going to tell you when it is available.

Until then, all the best in your training, and get ready to bend some steel!!!

Nail Bending – How To Melt Steel With Your Bare Hands

Jedd Johnson, CSCS, RKC

Red Nail Certified – 2007

The Diesel Crew

Hey Everyone,

This is an update on this original post.  Jedd’s Nail Bending-How To Melt Steel With Your Bare Hands is live and now on sale!  He is hooking up all my readers with this mad discount but it is only for a short time.  Do not pass this opportunity up and grab this DVD now!!  Click on any of the links in this post and it will take you over to get all the info.

Jedd, Thanks brother for hooking up my readers with this awesome DVD!!

To Your Health,

Jerry

Now that the baseball season is over for most players, the time begins to start building a bigger machine for next year.  It’s never too soon to start preparing for next season.  Getting started right away puts you ahead of the other losers who won’t do any training at all in the off-season, and will keep you at the same level with the other motivated players, like yourself, who know the value of hard work.

When it comes to getting bigger and stronger in the off-season, one thing you have to take into consideration is Grip and Forearm Training.  I’m not talking about doing a set of wrist curls at the end of your routine.  That’s Busch League Grip training.  You want to do movements that will help get you ahead of the rest off the people in your League.

The following movement pairings should be done for 3 to 5 sets at the end of your normal workouts in the off-season.  Following your normal training routine, set these high impact Grip Training lifts for huge benefits when the Spring rolls back around.

Plate Curls & Reverse Curls

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Get Jedd’s Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball!

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This combo is designed to build up forearm size.  To perform Plate Curls, hook your thumb on the rim of a 25-lb plate and put the fingers against the smooth side.  Grip the plate hard and curl the plate upwards, just like a dumbbell curl.  Try to keep your wrist straight, resisting the leverage of the plate.

Next, move on to Reverse Curls with either a straight bar, EZ-Bar, or dumbbells.  It is extremely important to work the forearms in opposing directions in order to maintain balance and avoid injuries.  When performing the Reverse Curls, go slow so that tension is maintained on the muscle throughout the movement.  Going fast on these makes the movement less productive.

Plate Hula & Rubber Band Extensions

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Get Jedd’s Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball!

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The Plate Hula involves putting two plates together smooth-sides-out, pinching them to the lockout position and then passing them around the body as many times as you can.  This movement strengthens your thumb while also keeping your shoulders limber in the off-season.  For an increased challenge, wear some thick work gloves.

Next, move on to Rubber Band Extensions.  This is a cheap yet beneficial exercise because it strengthens the extensors of the fingers and thumbs.  This keeps the strength levels balanced on both sides of your hands, keeping you strong and bullet proof against injury.

Gripper Crush Holds and Sledge Rotations

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Get Jedd’s Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball!

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Close the handles of a gripper down until they touch.  Keep them closed like this for as long and keep squeezing until the strength of the gripper forces your hand completely open.  If you can’t get the gripper closed with one hand, use the other hand to help yourself.  The main idea is to start with the handles touching and let the gripper pry your hand open.

For the sledge rotation, you will grip a sledge hammer towards the middle of the handle and slowly rotate it from the vertical position and down ward in both directions.  This rotation action is called pronation and supination and are important for the bat swing and for wrist action for pitchers.

These Grip combinations are going to help you build serious grip power.  While everyone else squeezing a tennis ball or doing wrist roller, you are going to build forearm and Grip strength that will increase your performance.

If you want more information on Real Grip Training for Baseball, I have put together the Ultimate Resource, Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball.  In it, you’ll find over 200 grip and forearm exercises, recovery methods, and other tactics that you can use to become the BIG DOG next season.

I would like to thank Jedd Johnson of Diesel Crew for contributing this article.  Jedd is an expert in grip training and currently holds world records in feats of grip strength.  I have every training manual Jedd has put together and I will tell you that he always over delivers with killer information you can use right away.  His most recent manual titled the Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball was put together specifically for baseball, but as a strength coach, I will tell you these techniques could be applied for any sport.  You can take a look at it and see if it is right for you here at the following link:

Get Jedd’s Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball!

To your health,

Jerry

The Thomas Inch Dumbbell is a thick handled 172 pound dumbbell that the old time strongmen would challenge people to try to pick up with one hand.  When men would attempt it; it would just roll out of their hand.  Their grip was not strong enough to hold something that thick or heavy.

This homemade rotating fat handle dumbbell will allow me to progressively add weight and mimic that famous dumbbell.

As seen in the video, this dumbbell was made with a piece of 2″ pipe, another shorter piece of pipe that fits around the 2″ pipe (handle), some plates and two bar collars.  I was given the chunks of pipe from a good friend of mine Mike Lacondro (thanks Mike!) and I had the bar collars and plates so the whole thing cost me nothing to make.  Hey guys, pipe is cheap and easy to pick up if you are looking for it.  Just start asking around to people who work with pipes.  Chances are they cut off pieces this size all the time doing a job and then just throw out the left over chunks.  Remember, it does not cost anything and never hurts to ask.

You can also make a thick barbell this way with longer pieces of pipe.  Also, there will be no gnarling so you may want to use a little chalk.

If you have never worked with fat handled equipment give it a try.  It will give your normal exercise a whole new feel and work your grip like never before.  If you do not feel like building a pipe dumbbell then just try this; take a towel with you to the gym and wrap it a couple of times around a dumbbell or barbell.  This will make your bar thicker to mimic a fatter bar.  You will notice a significant difference right away.

Hope this helps!

To your health,

Jerry

PS:  If I ever pick up the “Inch” I will let you know and hopefully I catch it on film!!