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Rolling Thunder


Cannon

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I’m sure if anyone actually had an answer they would share. Dos tilting really help? I didn’t notice any advantage. I just bought a real RT finally. Its much harder than my homemade thing because it actually Rolls well.

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something I've been playing with is running my leverage club through the handle and lifting like that. when I lift the inch I get to much tilt and that's where it break out of my hand. this helps me to fight that and hopefully get a better lift the next time I get the chance.

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I've seen some people get a good tilt. I have no idea how they do it. I tried and the darn thing just levels itself back out. Kudos to those with enough wrist power to pull it off. At least my weak wrists will keep me training honeston the RT.

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Thanks for asking about this—here's a link to the rules and that point is covered in Rule #2 ("the handle remaining approximately parallel to the ground"): http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Main/rollingthunder.html

Thanks, I probably could have been a little more resourceful and thought to look there! :trout

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Thanks for asking about this—here's a link to the rules and that point is covered in Rule #2 ("the handle remaining approximately parallel to the ground"):

http://www.ironmind....ingthunder.html

Approximately meaning left up to whoever is judging the lift I guess?

The more precise a rule is, the better in my judgement.

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I have seen many Rolling Thunder contests, and I have never seen where "tilt" was an issue, where "parallel" was an issue. I don't understand the concern.

Edited by Hubgeezer
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It's not like the judge can run up with a protractor and determine no greater than a 10 degree tilt was used. Tilt will happen. Big tilts will get called. End of story.

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If you set your hand up off-center, but not off the rolling part, it tilts pretty naturally. I can lift more this way. I'll post a video if I can manage.

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If you lift tilted and or with the hand to one side, it becomes easier. The same with Inch type dumbbells it's easier to lift with one end of the dumbbell leaving the floor before the other.

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Josh has somewhat appropriately - and comically - labeled the tilted Rolling Thunder lift the "Rolling Thunder Vbar Lift."

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if handle had thin white stripes, would be easy to avoid lifters of-setting hand.

Yep, perfect idea. If you're strong enough to lever it with your hand centered then I say you've earned it!

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I'm with Josh's label although we could probably add the word torque in there too and agree that it might not really make the lift any easier as long as your hand stays free of the the stationary part of the handle. Too avoid problems down the road and keep the officiating clean and simple, though, we (IronMind and The Evil Dr. Strossen) thought it best to include the language limiting how much the handle could tilt.

To give you an idea of how bad things might have become in terms of acceptable lifting styles on the Rolling Thunder, in the early days, we had guys 1) jam their hand in into the triangular frame 2) lift thumbless 3) clamp onto the non-revolving part of the handle, and 3) use lifting straps (I kid you not).

Knocking out those three violations probably cuts out 99% of what you need to eliminate to keep the lift in its original spirit—a test of open hand crushing grip.

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Tilting definetly makes it easier and it seems very easy to tilt .... and to me, it is easy to see when someone is tilting it to their advantage. Last year at the Ronnie Coleman Grip Challenge, Eric approved the hand placement before the lifter was allowed to start their lift which eliminated the tilt. It was a great idea and left no doubt whether it was parallel

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I remember reading when you eliminated the thumbless, something about cocking your wrist was not what the feat was supposed to test. I train it thumbless for AW and don't train normal but I've never thought it was easier per se. Do you know what the top guys can pull thumbless vs. normal grip? I mean can Felix pull significantly more than 300# thumbless?

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I remember reading when you eliminated the thumbless, something about cocking your wrist was not what the feat was supposed to test. I train it thumbless for AW and don't train normal but I've never thought it was easier per se. Do you know what the top guys can pull thumbless vs. normal grip? I mean can Felix pull significantly more than 300# thumbless?

Interesting question. If Randall doesn't ask him on Sunday I will.

I've seen off the street strong guys do better thumbless just because of strong wrists but then again they were sub 200 pulls.

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I've never been even close using thumbless since my wrists have never been much to talk about. I think that's why it impresses me more when guys are able to pull more thumbless than the standard thumb-opposed grip. I tested thumbless this year and only got 171-right hand and 166-left hand. Both are about 30lbs under what I pull with the standard grip. Quite a difference.

I never tested thumbless back when I was pulling over 220lbs on the RT. I think the gap would've widened quickly.

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I'm trying to find the old post, but I think Wes also pulled huge numbers thumbless. He had super strong wrists though.

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I remember reading when you eliminated the thumbless, something about cocking your wrist was not what the feat was supposed to test. I train it thumbless for AW and don't train normal but I've never thought it was easier per se. Do you know what the top guys can pull thumbless vs. normal grip? I mean can Felix pull significantly more than 300# thumbless?

Josh -

I don't know a top number on thumbless, but guys who were around then will remember that the guy who won the 2000 Rolling Thunder World Championships (Jan Bartl) did it with a thumbless grip and he used that because he could lift more. You, as an arm wrestler, would be very strong in the cocked-wrist position, but then as a grip guy you've got a strong grip, too, so you might be equally good both ways.

There are guys who have the wrist, but not the grip and they're the ones who really benefit in terms of pulling higher numbers thumbless. I don't know what Felix can pull thumbless, but I'd guess he could well be the opposite of this pattern—his hands are huge (too big for grippers :) ) so they wrap way around the Rolling Thunder handle. Most guys, though, will probably do more thumbless.

Incidentally, we (at IronMind) first stumbled on this pattern because in the early 1990s we sold thick handled deadlift handles that did not revolve—then we discovered how you could cock your wrist, virtually taking the grip out of what was supposed to be test of grip strength, and that's why TEDS (The Evil Dr. Strossen) developed the Rolling Thunder.

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I've never been even close using thumbless since my wrists have never been much to talk about. I think that's why it impresses me more when guys are able to pull more thumbless than the standard thumb-opposed grip. I tested thumbless this year and only got 171-right hand and 166-left hand. Both are about 30lbs under what I pull with the standard grip. Quite a difference.

I never tested thumbless back when I was pulling over 220lbs on the RT. I think the gap would've widened quickly.

Ben -

Yes—that's it: your open-hand crushing grip is stronger than your flexed wrist.

I'd bet that with a few wrist curls, etc., you could beef up your wrist flexor strength pretty quickly and it would transfer to your thumbless Rolling Thunder PR.

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