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Rare feat by one of the Geezer Gang! Outstanding lift Steve!

Still training. Just got off track with the log as I adjust my workouts at my friends home gym and the fitness center in my building. Today I attempted my 199 Rated GHP 9 for the first time ever. I didn't really feel on and I had trouble getting my CNS firing today. My set was also off big time and fumbled it bad and started wider than MMS. The set has always been my weakness and GHPs have a hard set and sweep making them always feel harder than their rating to me. Its the first time I have missed my goal gripper since coming back from surgery. After analyzing the video, I immediately noticed my mistake. See the big gap between the pinky and the other fingers. I fumbled the set and started wider than MMS and those fingers are too high causing me to loose leverage. If I can get an efficient set, I can close this gripper. "If you learn from defeat, you haven't really lost." GHP 9 -1, Chez - 0. Now I want revenge........

I gave it a go...did 140 total reps total and 6:58 for 100. Also finished with a RH blob curl at the end, LH couldnt do it. https://youtu.be/81cOcewfIbA

You know, this might be my favorite current thread on the forum right now. Everyone’s plans for whatever they were doing, going, watching this Spring, and now it looks like, Summer, are gone/changed/over/dropped/kaput. But the end of October, 2020? Even the most pessimistic person believes this “thing” ruining our plans will be over. And we don’t have to go to a gym to prepare for it. We are going to have a good time, it’s one of the only Sure Things we can predict for 2020. Every time I see a new venue added, a new country added, I feel good about Life. I think a lot of our hobby/sport/obsession is silly/goofy/overrated. But this year, this thing is BIG. It gives you something to look forward to, a certainty in a screwed up uncertain world. And trust me, unlike some, I do NOT feel like this Forum is a benevolent fraternity banding together and making the world a better place. But for one day, all across the world, for the participants, it ain’t too bad...

Hey all, Hope everyone’s staying safe and healthy. Hope no one minds me posting here! I’ve read most of the forum back to back at this point and this seemed like a good active thread to say say hi and thanks for all the information you’ve all put out - learned a lot reading everyone’s experiences and watching your videos I’m new to bending but with the gym closures and self isolation/work from home, powerlifting has been put on the back burner and I’m focusing on bending. My main aim this quarantine was to get the yellow nail, but I managed it yesterday (week 3) I’m working on snapping completed nails to get some more volume and conditioning and I’ll attempt the blue in a few weeks. Stay safe!

I know 3 people personally now that have tested positive. One still showing symptoms, one recovered, one thanked and was admitted to the ICU. These are all young healthy males and fellow gym rats. I think people are forgetting the death count is as low as it is because of the measures we're taking. It's easy to say X amount of cases doesn't justify the current quarantine, but if there was no quarantine, that number would be very different.

Cabin fever is setting in so a quick “test of sorts”. Trying to avoid max singles but come up with an easy test of sorts. I set up different bars etc. so I could go nonstop. 1. Overhead Squat 135# for 3 - have to go rock bottom (elevating your heels helps) – more a test of shoulder flexibility than leg strength but hit my legs more than expected. 2. Overhead Press ½ BW for 5 (100#) 3. Squat BW for 10 reps to parallel (used cambered bar) (200#) 4. Dead Lift BW for 10 reps – conventional (200#) 5. Curl ½ bodyweight for 3 – EZ Curl bar (100#) 6. Wrist Curl 135# for ten full range of motion reps 7. Eight Chin-ups (neutral grip for me) 8. Farmers Walk 70# dumbbells 100 yards no drops with Blue Fat Grips 9. 20 Ab Wheel roll outs on knees – all the way down 10. Hold breath for one minute (harder than expected as I was out of breath from everything done before) 11. Standing Long Jump my height (6’2”) – did 7’ even All done nonstop – turns out the hardest items were the neutral grip chin ups and the 70# Farmers carry with Blue Fat Grips after this morning’s workout. Grip is cooked. The whole thing was tougher than I expected - kicked my butt.

#153 1x1 #166 1x1 #178 3x1, each missed by a mm or 2, felt extremely good. Tried to crush each for around 3 sec. #159 1x1 #143 1x3 **** Left hand #153 1x1 4 sec crush #159 3or4 x1. #143 5x1 4 sec crush **** Finger curl 60kg 1x28,1x22,1x14 ***** My gripper videos arent the most exciting because you cant see the set on a heavy attempt because I set between the legs. But here's my first attempt with #3.5. I filmed it for @Lennix at his request and wasnt going to upload it because I look a bit ridiculous but why not : And an Elite close just to upload some more: For right hand, this is the best I have ever done. For Left it's up there. Which is a failure. You dont want to equal your previous best, I see no value in that. You want to move beyond it. Did it in the evening, so I was a little tired and had to hype myself up a lot, maybe it could have gone even better earlier. After a period of ccs closes, I always perform well on mms. I initially thought it was because I gained strength from ccs training but now I'm starting to think that ccs just functions as a 'rest period' and allow me to recover due to much less intensity. And therefore I perform well because I have a lot in reserve. Seems plausible. If that's the case I'm unsure wide sets are beneficial besides neurological reasons. There's always hypertrophy though. Rest for around 10 days now, which forces me to enjoy and focus on pinch and thickbar more. A good thing for sure. Letting grippers go for a bit.

New YouTube channel and an unofficial farmers walk world record. Thought some on here might want to see. Hope everyone's is staying safe and training has not been effected too badly.

When it's in stock, the Titan Axle is just about the cheapest way to go at $45-65 (depnding on if there is a sale). That being said, it's a cheap titan bar. You can also make your own out of 1 1/2" pipe (1.9" OD) for a similar price, give or take. I talked with @Lucasraymond about it and he really recommended using schedule 80 pipe versus schedule 40 pipe because it might bend. On that same note, Arm Assassin Strength Shop makes amazing gear, and even though an axle from him costs $100 it's going back into the grip community. I just bought a 2 3/8" axle from him which arrived today and I'm really stoked to try it out.

If we do too much and are wrong it will be bad financially and bad enough physically - if we do too little and are wrong many many people could die - which seems worse to me.

I read this, and thought it was the worst post I had ever read on this forum. And, I started typing something that would have been many times worse, and undoubtedly the lowest post ever on the forum. Thank goodness I deleted it. I wanted to make a Wager on how many deaths there would be in the US by April 30, and the Loser would purchase a Grab Ball for the Winner. i was focusing on the line “I’ll be concerned...” The reality is there is nothing anyone can present to you in the way of facts for you to be concerned. And I was almost ready to get a free “Grab Ball” to prove I am right and you are wrong? I imagine there are many on this Forum smarter than me who are simply withholding comments, because they learned it is pointless to argue with you. More than 50 years ago, I had a middle school essay on the WW I “Doughboys”. At the end of the paper, I was throwing out stats on the number of deaths each country had as a result of WW I. The US had a small fraction of other countries, and I think my last words were “the Doughboys only lost 83,000 lives.” The teacher gave me a 14 out of 15 on the project, but wrote me up on the use of the word “only”. He said when there is a war when one life is lost, I could use the word “only”. He went on about how casually I seemed to be discussing human life. It was the Vietnam era, he was of draft age, and months later, he was drafted. Dr. Deborah Birx, who has risen in the public eye recently almost to the level of Dr. Anthony Fauci, said a few days ago that no one will know how successful the steps the US has taken so far are until after this next week. The cases and deaths are going to be increasing until then, no doubt about it. And, it seems to me that we should all be concerned.

28.3.20 lift in the drive way All sets trimmed to one video

Finally wore him out. Porch time!

Operation. Dumpling was a go. Mission successful

I have made a pie, baked a cake, baked brownies, and made marshmallow treats with chocolate chips so far. My wife told me to stop making sweets and then a few hours later asked me what I was going to make next. I am thinking rice pudding sounds good.

One thing to consider with diy or cheap bars is collars and plates. Bumpers and high quality plates like Ivankos, Yorks, and certified plates won't fit on a 2" OD end and are made for standard 50mm oly bar ends. Most but not all cheap plates will fit. 1.9" OD pipe will work with all plates but spring collars and spin locks won't work with that. Just something to consider.

Buy a 7' length of 1 1/2" handrail or pipe. That will be 1.9" outside diameter - make a couple inside collars and you're setup about as cheaply as possible. If your Fatgrips are too slick - wash them.

In Iowa, we are actually one of the least affected states for some reason? We actually know someone who had the virus with full symptoms and has recovered. They did give him the Malaria med (combo?) that has helped people and it helped him. He is about 60 years old btw.

You may be right about that. It may be the Gripboard version of hoarding toilet paper...

It's funny I see this post now. Earlier today I was going to post using a quote that I heard one time about having a conversation or argument about anything with people like you but I decided not to at the time. It goes something like this, "Never try to argue with or persuade somebody who already knows they are right." That one has saved me a lot of wasted breathe over the years. And by seeing many of your posts over the years there seems to be little doubt that you always know you're right as soon as those words are typed out. I could care less what anyone's opinion here is and I don't feel the need to constantly try to tell people why I "think' theirs may be right or wrong. It's just an opinion and only facts can prove it right or wrong. At this time, there are not enough facts to prove anyone right or wrong except that anyone, of any age, "could" have major problems with this virus. So, once you realize you can't prove anyone right or wrong, why worry about it? Having people agree with you doesn't make your brain, muscles or pecker bigger. It only makes your ego bigger. And by the posts of most people on here I doubt anyone really needs that.

Felt ridiculously strong ( for me ) today after a week off benching: 275 x 2 raw 300 x 4 MDSS 225 x 9 raw Then rotator cuff work and band triceps press downs.

Deadlifts today i struggle with crushing the horseshoes down enough to fold them in the leg crush. I have been utilizing a piece of flat bar for volume in this crush down position. it was decent outside today. I grabbed a kettlebell and went out into the yard. (I have a yard!) I attempted some juggling managing some flips to the front and figured out how to flip out to the side. New skillz! This is my blockweight cabinet. Even though they aren’t practicing social distancing, they are under lockdown. Info: I made this out of bed frame and total gym pieces, so technically Chuck Norris is right I can get strong working out on a Total Gym.

Here's the boy n me today.

03/26/2020 Rolling Thunder

Thinking about better times.

Thanks Andrew got the Ball & 2.25 Crusher this morning everything is complete now

Bench: 20x5 20x5 50x5 80x3 100x1 120x1 130x1 140x1@9 120×5 Apollons thumbless: 58x1 98x1 138x1 Doh: 158x1 178x1 PR sumo 183x1 PR 400lbs woop woop sumo 188x0 - sumo RT thumbless 46x1 56x1 66x10 76x1 86x0 vanlig Pony clamp 30x3 Platecurls 10kg 5 reps both hands Biceps Finaly 400lbs on the axle! 10kg PR.

I have rested for 10 days now since my heavy mms workout, and I'm getting some strength back. I also did my high volume ccs workout in between so possibly I can recovery fully within 10 days without it. So I think I'll try that for awhile now.

Had limited time today. Worked up to a 500 lb dl.

Maybe a smidge high, but Jeebus!

When I look at his face - he seems to have mentally just gone to another place entirely. What focus!

It's DOM tubing with a .25" thick wall which is much different than pipe. It's also been turned down on the ends so quality plates will fit, It has inner collars welded on. Only you can decide if a .1" difference is worth the money - it was to me and I'm one of the biggest do it yourselfers on the board.

There's no good answer I guess. If you plan to compete you will probably find more contests having the IM Axle which is 2". If the Inch DB is a big goal then the 2 3/8" will give more specific training towards that goal. If you have average sized hands you should have no problems with either but with very small hands the 2 3/8" might make your thumbs sore. For general strength I personally like 2" - it allows me to use more weight.

I recently made a 2" axel. Went to the local steel shop and had them cut 2" OD pipe to the exact length, works great. I have a welder so added the flanges, but you could just as easily use collars. Total price was about $20.

Sunday March 29, 2020 Silver bullet max time: right 194, 178, 171 left 171, 158, 148, 2" climber pinch work up to 180 then max holds 158×2 felt super slick today. Couldn't figure out the texture. Probably time to sandblast it again and start over. Axle deadlift 280×2×5 5 standard tens tight on a pipe 1/1, +2×1/1, +5×1/1, +7×1/1, +10×1/1,1/0 Blob trainer lift+5s hold 32×1/1×3 Little big horn up to 150 then 135×1/1×4, 120×1/1×10

Back when I was young and went to bars there was a little test we did to see who bought the first beer. You took a broom (the old kind with the wooden handle and had some kind of "straw looking" stuff to sweep with) - you set a six pack on the stitching and laid it on the floor. You grabbed the end of the handle and picked it up level (or not). If you failed you had to buy - give it a try. Use Corona LOL

Quarantine week 2. Borrowed some plates from my gym, ended up with 4x55 lb bumpers and 2x25 lb bumpers. Plates should go well with the 2 3/8" axle bar I bought from AASS that will get here on Monday. Quarantine seems like as good a time as any to start assembling a home gym. The gym I go to right now doesn't even have a proper axle, so it the addition of the 2 3/8" bar will be really nice. I'll be moving down to Long Island NY in a few months for school and if I can't find a nearby gym I might try and double down on a home gym. My other option is going to be a 45 minute drive each way... no ideal for working long hours in a hospital. My current gym is about a 5 minutes drive away, and it's going to be hard to give that up. If I can find some plates theoretically I could get by with just the axle and a decent yoke. Monday Napalm's Nightmare 2 3/8" 280x8 255x8x3 (reps x sets) 230x8x3 Turns out 4x55 and 2x25 is exactly as much weight as will fit on my BSS loading pin. Sandbag squat 110x5x3 (2x55 lb bumpers) Gripper TNS 112 miss 108x1x5 all misses 92x6 (right hand, missed all with left hand) Haven't done TNS in about a month and my technique definitely suffered. I was doing my 108 CoC2 for 5 reps with my left hand back in February and my best TNS was a 121 CoC2.5 around the same time. Pull up 5x5 Wednesday Handstand push up 1 rep Felt terrible on my wrists and I went up crooked. Decided to do pushups instead. Push ups +55 lbs x5 +25x10x5 Bumper plate placed on my back. Gripper MMS 133x1x6 121x1x6 Started doing left hand before my right and it made a huge difference. Had a bit of a breakthrough where I realized that one of the reasons that my left hand closes suck could be that I always do them right after my right. Time to switch it up! @Hannes recommended going up a "goal" gripper after closing it two weeks in a row, so next week I get to play with my 137 filed RB210. That gripper is about my current max lefty, as I haven't been able to close my 142 RB260 left handed yet. Hannes said he got tips on his sort of program from Nathan Holle, so I'm inclined to follow it for a while and see where it gets me. Saturday Sandbag squat 135x5x5 80x10x3 (reps x sets) Gripper CCS 92x1x6 78x1x6 127x1 (right hand, failed left hand by 1/2–3/4 cm) This was miserable. I think I just have to set it completely without my pinky before the credit card THEN put my pinky on. Found that keeping my thumb on the dogleg when opening up my hand for the card similar to how I do TNS seems to help keep the gripper keep from slipping back in my hand. Starting essentially at the bottom of my pile of grippers and then working my way up to focus on technique. The 127 CoC2.5 was technically a PR though I guess. I'm not focusing on CCS right now, but I am kind of hoping to certify on the CoC3 by the end of the year. Right now I'm just aiming to get my MMS consistently into the 170's, then try and figure out CCS like @Chez recommends. Pull ups (182.8 lbs BW) 5x5 BW down a few lbs from last week. Getting real tired of seeing the numbers move in the wrong direction. 😕

I realized today that I'm saving a fortune. It's a good time if you are still working, I only spend money on gas and groceries since everything else is closed. Credit card this month is less than half of what I normally spend.

Thank you, Jason! Hmmmm. So...just hard work. I don't know about all that seems a little excessive.

For those that were saying the mortality rate was up to 15%, Doctor Fauci and other noted scientists have penned an article in the New England Journal of Medicine stating that the overal death rate is probably going to shake out around 0.1%. It's only 2% if you are diagnosed with pneumonia from Covid-19. It's a good read that I recommend to all the non-virologists on this thread coming up with their own death rates. Still serious. If 100,000,000 caught it, that would still be 100,000 deaths, which as Dr. Fauci explains, is similar to an extremely bad flu season. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2002387 "On the basis of a case definition requiring a diagnosis of pneumonia, the currently reported case fatality rate is approximately 2%.4 In another article in the Journal, Guan et al.5 report mortality of 1.4% among 1099 patients with laboratory-confirmed Covid-19; these patients had a wide spectrum of disease severity. If one assumes that the number of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic cases is several times as high as the number of reported cases, the case fatality rate may be considerably less than 1%. This suggests that the overall clinical consequences of Covid-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza (which has a case fatality rate of approximately 0.1%) or a pandemic influenza (similar to those in 1957 and 1968) rather than a disease similar to SARS or MERS, which have had case fatality rates of 9 to 10% and 36%, respectively.2" NEJM: Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., H. Clifford Lane, M.D., and Robert R. Redfield, M.D.

I don't really try too hard to convince people of how bad this is if they are very skeptical, instead of arguing I just need to wait a few months and everything will be answered. The magnitude of true cases, hospital capacities and exponential growth make it very easy to predict what's going to happen. The lack of social distancing is also isn't doing us any favors.

This is how we spent our Thursday. Trying to keep the boy busy. Also took a hike.

Today was practice with CCS closes, gg2 x 5 x 2 Gg3 x 5 x 3 Gg4@114 missed 1st rep by >10mm, missed second rep after set slipped and crushed the third attempt on video, still need to work on this set, but this is a big milestone. I rarely do anything after a grip PR

Simpsons. Nailed it again.