Grip Masters Manual, Just for fun - can you do this?"

[Parabellum]

I bought a copy of the Grip Masters Manual by John Brookfield, I'm working my way to crushing a level 4 Captains of crush gripper.

There is a small section called "Just for fun - can you do this?"

It lists five challenges:
1. Break a key (house or car key) with your thumbs.
2. Break (not just bend) a 60 penny nail, spent 3 hours looking for these things.
3. Crack one walnut open with your bare hand, specifically thumb and index finger.
4. Crush an apple in flight, someone throws you an apple and you crush it as you catch it.
5. Make your forearm muscles dance without moving any other muscle in your body, I would like to see a video of this being done.


Thought this was an interesting challange. How many can you get through. I'm stuck on number 2. It took me a local hardware store and two Home Depots to find these, 16 cents a peice.

 

[skaman607]

I honestly doubt that I can do it, so are you going to post up a grip routine to help people pass this test?

 

[Got Help?]

In Mastery of Hand Strentgh also by Brookfield he has mor challanges for you.

1. Crush a RAW potato in your hand.
2. attach a towel to a bucket, fill it with 32. lbs of dirt or sand. Grab the towel and walk a full mile. Dont let the bucket touch you.
3. Tear a quater sized chunk off a full deck of plastic-coated playing cards.
4. *Be careful w/ this 1* Curl a 50-lb. plate
5. Bend a 60-penny nail behinf you back. You may want to wrap the nail in a towel or old shop rag.

Anyway, Im also working on those, but I'm only 14 so I got plenty of time ahead of me to acomplish them. Good luck to you, and John Brookfield is a freakin beast when it comes to hand-strength.

 

[jeremys]

maybe next year

 

[Parabellum]

Thanks Got Help?, I don't have that book yet. I know I'm working backwards here.

Skaman here are a ton of exercises by the author; http://www.ironmind.com/griptip.shtml , just keep hitting the "More" link at the bottom.

 

[Parabellum]

In Mastery of Hand Strentgh also by Brookfield he has mor challanges for you.

4. *Be careful w/ this 1* Curl a 50-lb. plate

Is that on like a wrist curl with a plate? Like this http://www.ironmind.com/griptip_3.shtml ?

 

[Got Help?]

Those are some good tips, but if you get really serious get one of Johns books. I dont know about his other but Master of Hand Strength has a lot of plans and excerises, he also tells what people in certain sports should do to optimise there grip.

 

[Got Help?]

Is that on like a wrist curl with a plate? Like this http://www.ironmind.com/griptip_3.shtml ?

No, try to find a section on 'Curling weight plates' in your book. You put the plate on the ground, pinch grip it, then you deadlift it off the gound and do bicep curls to your chest. This excersise puts tremendous strain on your wrists. Make sure your hand is flush with your arm, DONT let it bend back.

 

[Parabellum]

it's not in his new book, but I get the gist of what to do.
thanks for the info.

 

[skaman607]

Thanks Got Help?, I don't have that book yet. I know I'm working backwards here.

Skaman here are a ton of exercises by the author; http://www.ironmind.com/griptip.shtml , just keep hitting the "More" link at the bottom.

oh boy, fun fun fun, remind me to give you karma tomorrow when I'm recharged

 

[Got Help?]

Hey skaman, are you interested in being able to do those feats of strength or was there any kind of stregth (i.e. Crushing, pinching, supporting, wrist, beefing up your forearms)? Also you should always make sure you work your exsensor to prevent injury.

parabellum: No prob. And if anyone else need of help with grip strength, I've done plenty of rescearch on the topic an am willing to help.

 

[jeremys]

hey, humor me. i'm doing a strongman contest (probably) in may. shoot

 

[Got Help?]

hey, humor me. i'm doing a strongman contest (probably) in may. shoot

I may not be able to post a very much in depth tonight, but to help me out a little but i have a cuple questions: Do you know what events you will be doing (this will help me specify your plan)? Do you have a grippers at your house? It's fine if you dont, there are many alternitives.
Right now I'll tell you all areas of hand strength I listed before will be important to you.
Please reply quickly. Sorry for the lacking of real info in this, but you'll get much better info if you answer those 2 questions.

 

[jeremys]

max log clean and press
18" deadlift
keg toss
atlas stones or someother loading event
deadlift hold

i don't have grippers

i have deadlift holds in my split, or i will anyways, but i am looking for a little more grip stuff

 

[Got Help?]

Strongman Grip help, Part 1

max log clean and press
18" deadlift
keg toss
atlas stones or someother loading event
deadlift hold

i don't have grippers

i have deadlift holds in my split, or i will anyways, but i am looking for a little more grip stuff

Sorry, Im real pressed for time tonight, but here’s what I can quickly tell you:
Wrist strength will be very important along w/ finger and crushing strength. Forearm strength will also be very helpful. If you could describe what you hold onto when doing the Keg toss that would also help, thou I'm assuming it is pinch related.

Some great exercises for the wrist you could use are:
Curling weight plates (see above post) this a tremendous wrist builder. Also good for the forearms.
Using a Wrist roller is also a very good way to build wrist and forearm strength (this is also great for getting big forearms)

Crushing:
Wire cutting is a great exercise for crushing strength, also works forearms and wrist.
The 'ringing out the towel' exercise from the above link is also a good exercise, it also trains most aspects of your lower arm.
If you wish you can also do plier lifting, thou it doesn't help as many other aspects of your grip.

Fingers:
Weight plate curling helps your fingers but you can also try finger deadlifts.
If you have a fairly large bucket you could fill with sand, that is excellent for jabbing your hands into and working your fingers. You can also work your extensors in this fashion.
Finger walking (see link) can be done with plates or a sledge-hammer. You may not necessarily need this but it is a very good exercise.
Jar lifting is another great exercise for working the extensors, just put something with some weight to it in a jar, and put your fingers in and press them out against the rim to try and keep the jar in the air.
You can also use rubber-bands for the extensors.

If you can thick-handled lifts are an excellent over-all grip and arm worker. If you wish you can wrap tape around a handle until it is approx. 2" in diameter.

Doing farmers walks in any style where you hold onto the weight is very beneficial. What is trained depends on the style of your hold.

That’s all for now, if you need clarification on any of these exercises, want alternatives or anything else grip-related, just post and I will get back to you later (it's about 12:30 right now). Also I will post exercises for pinch strength.

 

[WarriorPL]

LoL i am trying those tomorrow, even though i can't do them. It'll be fun!

 

[jeremys]

i'm still trying to burst a can of soda. lol

 

[skaman607]

that'll show your aunt's boyfriend

 

[jeremys]

lol. if i tried to show him up, he'd probably burst my head

 

[skaman607]

wow he must have some strong hands

 

[teen1216]

5. Make your forearm muscles dance without moving any other muscle in your body, I would like to see a video of this being done.

Not sure what it means by dance, but I can make my forearm muscles jump without moving anything else.

 

[Parabellum]

Re: Re: Grip Masters Manual, Just for fun - can you do this?"

Not sure what it means by dance, but I can make my forearm muscles jump without moving anything else.

I think its the samething. From what I understand you just have to have well developed forearms and a certain degree of muscle control to accomplish that.

 

[jeremys]

what should a person do for sets and reps do you guys think?

could i maybe do these things on my off days? how many days a week? would it interfere with other lifting?

off to do some sledge hammer work soon. lol

 

[teen1216]

Re: Re: Re: Grip Masters Manual, Just for fun - can you do this?"

I think its the samething. From what I understand you just have to have well developed forearms and a certain degree of muscle control to accomplish that.

Lol, I think I have terrible forearms, nothin special. I may have good enough muscle control, as I can do that with basically any muscle.

 

[Got Help?]

Sorry, I won't be able to post for another day. As for sets and reps treat like any other muscle. If you want maximum crushin strength stay under 5 reps, 3-4 sets maybe, do whater works for you, try to use negitives also. If you want grip endurance train with more reps.

 

[DOM]

great thread parabellum! very motivational with all those challenges.

 

[Got Help?]

Before I make another long post adding to my previous one and including stuff one pinch grip among other things--is ne body acutally interested?

 

[DOM]

got help?,

I've been motivated by this post to start doing grip work, and I don't have any of the books or grippers or anything on hand strength, so I'm really interested what sort of basic program you recommend for a powerlifter or strongman competitor.

Today I did grip for the first time. I did pinch grip plate walks, which I saw on ironmind.com, 2 plate crushing hold for time which was the only thing I could think of for my crushing grip, and dumbell holds for time.

I don't know any of the main exercises so I'm really interested in those descriptions... and also how to set up a program for grip.

Thanks! DOM.

 

[Got Help?]

Longer version: I will post with descriptions, making a plan pinch grip work and maybe a few other things, but I dont know when. Finals are coming up, im workin on semster projects, and I have a games practices, etc. etc.

Shorter version: I'l post later, dont really know when, I'm VERY busy.

 

[Parabellum]

I'm interested Got Help. Keep it comming.

An easy what to make a pinch grip device is to get two 2 by 6's, cut them to about 6" in lenght and screw the two peices together, put a hook in the bottom at the middle,reinforce woth screws on either side and now you can use some rope to tie some weights up and attach to the hook and you can work on your pinch grip.

I originally used 3 2 by 6's but I read in the book that it should be about 3 inches in width, so I removed on, Inow i ahve 4 inches in width, seems to work.