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

I personally have not trained much with indian clubs and I do not know all the techniques and swings that can be done with them.  The more I have been doing and learning about them; the more I am liking them.

Probably the biggest problem I have with them is the cost.  They are very expensive and I just could not justify the cost to buy a pair.  So I made myself some!

I went to Wal-mart and looked through the kids toys section and found these small hard plastic bats that were covered in this spongy foam; but they seemed to be the perfect size I was looking for.  They were only $5.00 each and I figured what do I have to loose.  If they don’t work out, then my kids just got two new bats to play with.

What I did was; I drilled a semi-small hole in the end of the bat at the handle.  The hole was just big enough to sift sand down into the bat.  I filled the bat up with sand until I had about 1.5-2 inches until it would have been filled.  I the took “Great Stuff” gap/insulation filler and sprayed it into the end of the bat.  This stuff IS “great”.  It expands to fill in all the gaps; this way the sand will not be able to leave the bat through the hole and make a mess.  I let the stuff dry over night and the next day I was swinging.

The bats work great.  To be honest, better than I thought they would.  Now I have to learn more about all the different movements that are involved in training with them.  I feel great working with them; especially in my shoulders.

I would recommend making a pair of them for yourself and give them a try.  They may not be for everybody, but you should not knock it until you try it.  If you make a pair; let me know what you think of them.  So far for me they have been a positive addition to my training tools.

Hope that helps!

To your health,

Jerry

A speed and reaction training ball is a great training tool to enhance hand quickness as well as hand to eye coordination.  In most sports these are extremely important skills.  In my opinion, any athlete could always benefit from this type of training.  Heck, have you every paid attention to the old Rocky films.  Rocky carried a rubber ball with him and bounced it as he walked and squeezed it as he talked.  Many people may not have picked up on this, but the directors of the films did their homework.  These are things that old school boxers just did when they were out of the boxing gym.

Just take a speed and reaction training ball and bounce it and the object is to catch it when it comes back up.  The only thing is there are these nubby parts around the ball which makes it unpredictable as to the direction it is going to bounce back.  The athlete then has to react quickly to catch the ball.  Let’s face it, this training tool really works well.

The purpose of this post is to show you how you can make a homemade speed and reaction ball for around 25-50 cents a ball.  Hey everyone is trying to save money where they can and for a few bucks a coach could make enough of these for an entire team to train with for a few minutes every other day.  Just take a bouncy ball and with a utility knife shave away some of the sides of the ball.  These should be irregular cuts.  Just be careful not to cut off a finger in the process.

There you have it; a nice, easy, cheap way to train!  I personally perfer the smaller bouncy balls.  They are much harder and more challenging which requires much more focus.

Have fun with this.  An athlete can walk forwards, backwards, and side to side while bouncing and catching.  Also, athletes can come up with fun little competitions.  I took athletes down to our racket ball court and had them play a game we called getto pass.  Basically, they tried to get the ball past the other athlete from about 8 yards away.  If they could, that athlete got a point.  The only rule was the ball had to bounce twice before if passed the athlete.  The first to get 10 points won.  You would be surprised how competitive this gets and how much fun athletes have with this.  This equalled GREAT TRAINING RESULTS!  Just be a little creative.

Hope this helps!

To your health,

Jerry

]]> http://www.varietytrainer.com/how-to-make-a-homemade-speed-reaction-ball/feed/ 0 http://www.varietytrainer.com/how-to-make-a-homemade-loading-bar/ http://www.varietytrainer.com/how-to-make-a-homemade-loading-bar/#comments Wed, 02 Mar 2011 23:20:09 +0000 Jerry Shreck http://www.varietytrainer.com/?p=1688 I love making homemade strength training equipment.  I always seem to train harder when using something I made instead of an item I bought.  It must be some type of mentality or satisfaction because I created it.  Usually the best part is the low cost to make these items.  Working at a Division I University, you would think I would have a nice big budget but that is not the case.  It’s funny how athletes get  a kick out of training with homemade equipment.

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

These are some key training tips when performing this exercise:

• Before starting the first jammer press make sure you are low and there is no slack in the strap.
• As you explode into the first rep make sure you are extending through the hips, knees, and ankles until your legs are straight.
• Keep your core tight throughout the movement.
• Drive and extend your arms after you have extended through the lower body.
• Move forward quickly and get into position to repeat process.

This training drill can be done for reps or for distance and could be incorporated right into a team practice session.  This is also a great training tool to use in summer training to prepare an athlete for the upcoming football season when they are not permitted to use football designed hitting sleds.

Hey folks, this is just an awesome exercise to do just to release some steam after a hard days work.  Trust me you will feel much better after doing some reps of this and you will also know that you accomplished some great work.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.

To your health,

Jerry

This is a great exercise for developing strength and power through the torso, but more importantly it trains you to load the back hip and extend through the glutes, down through the ground, while firing your torso muscles in a rotating motion.  This is the same neurological firing sequence you find in most athletic movements.  As a strength coach I find this a very desirable exercise to use with my athletes.

One of the biggest mistakes my athletes make with this exercise is not stepping far enough away from the sled to take up the slack in the strap.  You want the strap with no slack in it to start as seen in the picture.  From there you want to engage your torso musculature; particularly your abdominals as you start to load the back hip area.  Extend through the hip and knee to generate force through the ground as the torso begins it’s rotation.  Then follow through the full range of motion.

This is a training method I use to achieve rotational force and power.  It has proven itself to be a highly effect exercise over the years and I would encourage you to give it a try.  Try it even if you are no longer a participating athlete. You can slow down the power element and it will become more of a rotational strength exercise for your core.

To your health,

Jerry

I love this exercise and I do it with a lot of my athletes and clients.  The Squatting Power Row just produces great results and you can feel it working with the very first pull.  Here are some main points to focus on when performing this exercise:

• Keep the weight back on your heels.
• Drop down into a full squat and do not allow your knees to move forward over your toes.
• Drive up out of the squat maintaining good form in your torso.
• Pull the elbows back towards your sides and draw back the shoulder blades into a tight scapular retracted position.
• Back-peddle until tension is in the strap, get your feet set, and repeat explosively.

You can add plates and/or weight as needed.  Much of this will be dependant upon the surface you are dragging the sled across.  Perform repetitions down the full length of a field or by predetermined repetitions.

If you have a dragging sled then give this one a try and tell me what you think.  If you do not have a sled then go get a tire and build one.  This is one exercise you will want in your arsenal of exercises to add variety to your progressive routines.

To your health,

Jerry

]]> http://www.varietytrainer.com/squatting-power-row-with-a-dragging-sled/feed/ 0 http://www.varietytrainer.com/how-to-make-a-homemade-tire-dragging-sled/ http://www.varietytrainer.com/how-to-make-a-homemade-tire-dragging-sled/#comments Tue, 24 Aug 2010 02:38:45 +0000 Jerry Shreck http://www.varietytrainer.com/?p=1479 Training tools and fads will come and go but a dragging sled I will always have.  This is the most functional and versatile piece of training equipment that I have and the least expensive to make.  You can literally train every muscle in the body with this one tool and some creative thought.  The best part, is that you can make one for under $7.00 and in about half an hour you can be dragging, pushing, and pulling this sled everywhere.

First, get yourself a jeep or truck tire.  I just kept my jeep tires when I got them replaced but you can go to any tire shop and they will gladly give you as many tires as you want for free.  They have to pay to dispose of them, so you taking tires saves them more and adds to their profits.

Next, get yourself around 12-16 feet of strap for dragging the sled.  I get mine from Wal-mart in the craft/material department for around $3.00.  The strap seen on the sled in the video is around 12 feet but I would recommend getting it a little longer-closer to 16 feet.  You can get more heavy duty straps or towing straps but that will also increase the cost and that is entirely up to you and what you like.

Finally, off to the hardware store for some bolts, big washers, and seat belt floor attachments.  You could use eye-bolts in replace of the seat belt attachments.  Just know in advance what strapping material you are going to use to ensure it will fit through the chosen bolt. 

You will require a few tools to make your sled:  High powered drill, heavy duty drill bit, jig saw, and appropriate size wrenches or sockets.

Now you are ready to put it all together.  Measure from the inside rim of your tire about 2-3 inches and drill a hole.  You will use that hole to insert the blade of your jig saw and then cut the inside rim out while maintaining the same distance from the rim.  This will allow you to place standard 45 pound plates into the tire.  Only cut one side of the tire out.  The other rim will not be big enough to allow the plates to fall through the tire.  You will have the ability to stack multiple plates in the tire.

Next, drill a hole in the middle of the tread with your heavy duty drill and bit and insert your hardware as explained in the video.  Drill the second hole in the tread on the opposite side of the tire but slightly in front of a plum center diameter line.  I have found this to be a better set up when you are going to drag heavy weight.  The tire will slide more evenly across the surface creating more contact and greater resistance for you.

Lastly, tie your strap on and you are ready to start dragging!!!

I would recommend dragging outside.  The rubber will get warm and tacky and can leave drag marks on the floors inside. The best surface resistance you will get is off the pavement.  Oh and if you have kids; they love to climb in and get dragged all over the neighborhood.

Well, there you have it; a cheap but highly productive training tool.  Enjoy!!

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!!

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Hey everyone, you heard about it and it is finally here and completed-Jedd Johnson’s Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball guide.   I am aware that some of you may not be familiar with who Mr. Johnson is so I caught up with him and did a little interview.  I think it is important to have some information about a coach who shares his or her most vital training information to help athletes and coaches get all they can out of their training to reach their goals.  Enjoy reading the brief interview and then I will share with you some bonuses that I put together for you.

Jedd, Can you give my readers some quick back ground information about yourself leading up to why you created the Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball program?

Sure thing Jerry – anything for you buddy.  By the way guys, Jerry is a great coach and very innovative thinker.  He has shown me a lot of impressive things over the years.

Here’s a little bit about me.  The first part of my life, I loved playing baseball.  It was pretty much all I really cared about spending my time doing all the way to college.  I ended up playing two years at Division II Mansfield University of PA.  Unfortunately, a couple of injuries left my arm in some pretty bad shape, so I decided I would no longer play.

By leaving baseball, this led me to the second love of my life, strength training.  I started serious work with weights in 1999 and have never stopped.  Unfortunately, after a few years away from baseball, my competitive fire started burning again and I looked for something to compete in.  I found Strongman and Grip Strength competitions.

I did my first Grip comp in 2003 and loved it right away.  I began traveling all over the nation to compete and along the way I won the US National Championship in 2005 and set a World Record in one of the main lifts in 2009.

However, after all these years I have always loved baseball.  Each year I attend pro games, high school games, Little League games.  I work with some baseball youngsters on strength training – I just love being around the game and I always wanted to put together something for baseball.  Finally in early 2010, I decided I was going to put something together that combined the two sports I have been the most successful in over the years – baseball and grip strength, and just recently finished Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball, an ebook on training for forearm and grip strength, endurance, and safety.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE PROGRAM

How can the program elevate a proven baseball players game or skills?

Baseball players have known for years that leg strength, core strength, arm and shoulder strength and hand strength are important for high performance and longevity in the game.  If any of those elements are weak, your performance will go down.  If an injury takes place in any of those parts of the body, your performance will go down.  So, it is important to make these parts of the body as strong, flexible and healthy as possible for top performance.

Over the years, there has been a tremendous amount of information developed around building strength in the legs, core, and arm for baseball.  Players understand they have to do work on the legs and run to stay fast and in shape.  They know they have to do ab work and rotational activities in order to be able to throw and hit the ball hard, and they know they have to keep their rotator cuff and the rest of the shoulder strong and healthy in order to have optimal arm speed, strength, and velocity.

Unfortunately, there is very little information out there about how to train the hands and forearms the right way to perform at a high level in baseball.  Most of the information that players get is hand-me-down information with very little carryover to baseball performance.

My manual is the definitive resource for building hand strength and forearm strength for baseball players.  The information inside will help batters, fielders, pitchers and catchers to be better players, while also keeping them healthy and in the game longer.  I include in it multiple ways to keep the lower arms healthy through stretching and other therapeutic means that most players, coaches, and trainers are not aware of.

Can your system be easily added into an athlete’s existing training program?

No doubt about it.  Including Grip training in the routine can be done several different ways and I go over this in the manual.  To make things easier, I include 20 full-scale Grip workouts that can be done either in their entirety or can be broken up into segments.  If time is limited, like I know it is for many teams, all the player or strength coach has to do is break my workout templates up into sections.  Each workout can be broken up into three separate smaller workouts.

Approximately how long will each workout take and how many days a week is recommended?

If doing a full-scale grip training workout, the workout can be done in 20 minutes, twice a week.  If broken up into segments, then the workouts can take as short as 5 minutes and can be done throughout the week.  This is all covered in the manual and you can pretty much sculpt the workouts however you would like to.  Plus, my exercise index in the manual includes over 200 movements, so if the template indicates a movement or lift for which you do not have the implement, you can go to that section of the manual and look for other similar movements that you can do that work the same movement patterns so you can get the most out of the time you put into your grip training.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE PROGRAM

What types of strength equipment or training tools will be needed to utilize the program?

I have covered an immense amount of equipment that can be used for training grip, but the great thing about it is about half of what I cover requires no special equipment.  You either already have it at your normal strength training facility, or it might be in your garage, or even your baseball equipment bag.  Specialized grip training equipment is available on the market and it is very good for developing hand and forearm strength, but with this manual I will show you ways how to build your own equipment or how to use hardware that is already at your home to build lower arm strength that will get you bigger numbers on the field.

I know this system was specifically created for baseball; but could other athletes and coaches use the training principles for their sports?

No question.  Hand strength is important for many sports, especially football, rugby, MMA, wrestling, and many others, and the movements in this manual can be used to assist those athletes as well.  The therapy section still applies to all those sports because injuries take place in them as well, and if you currently have a lower arm injury, I will show you in the manual some of the ways that I have overcome injuries in the past as well.

Jedd, I would like to thank you for your time and answering these questions.  Is there anything else you would like to add about the Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball program?

Yes, Jerry … Thousands of athletes are going to be picking this up and the ones that get this and start implementing the program are going to have a decided advantage over other players who do not.  So, strike while the iron is hot and get Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball now.

Awesome Jedd, I can’t wait to share this with my readers of variety trainer.  Thank you!

CLICK HERE TO GET THE PROGRAM

I really want everyone to know that Jedd is a first class coach and this 400+ page manual is NO JOKE.  Pure content and tons of extra bonuses.  Now let’s talk MORE bonuses!  When you get the manual here at VarietyTrainer.com, I’ll send you my Nutritional Guide For Serious Athletes.  This is full of valuable nutritional information that any serious athlete needs to understand how to maximize their training results.  THERE’S MORE: I am also giving away a 15 Week Baseball Strength Training Program to be used directly with Jedd’s Ultimate Forearm Training System.  I hope you truly take advantage of what is being offered to you.  To pick up these additional bonuses email me your receipt showing that you picked up the manual and I will forward you the link to the bonuses.  Click over now and you won’t believe what all is included!

To your health,

Jerry

DON’T WASTE ANYMORE TIME:  GET THE PROGRAM